Moar Chinese buyouts.

Chinese ownership is raising questions about the editorial independence of a major U.S. magazine

Dec. 14, 2017

When a Chinese company buys a major American magazine, does the publication censor its coverage of China? There is only one example so far, and the results are discouraging. In 2014, a Hong Kong-based investment group called Integrated Whale Media purchased a majority stake in Forbes Media, one of the United States’ best-known media companies. It’s hard to demonstrate causality in such cases. But since that purchase, there have been several instances of editorial meddling on stories involving China that raise questions about Forbes magazine’s commitment to editorial independence.

On Oct. 9, longtime China commentator and Communist Party critic Gordon Chang received an email from Avik S.A. Roy, the opinion editor at Forbes. “Due to a wide-ranging reorganization of Forbes’ content,” Roy wrote, “we are going to be concluding our official relationship with you.” Roy added, “As a result of the organization, the articles you’ve written for us will no longer be stored on the Forbes server nor appear at Forbes.com,” according to the email Chang forwarded to me at my request.

Many people who follow China — myself included — often disagree with Chang’s dire views of the country. That said, he’s a well-known China hawk. It’s very unusual for a publication to delete articles of a former contributor, unless there were credible allegations of editorial misconduct, which seems unlikely in this case. “I’m a huge fan of your work,” Roy wrote in his email to Chang. (Roy directed my queries to a Forbes spokesperson. In an emailed statement, the spokesperson said: “Your premise that the investors are interfering with Forbes’ editorial independence is simply wrong. Our investors respect Forbes’ editorial independence and they do not get involved with Forbes’ editorial decisions.”) It’s unclear why Forbes terminated Chang. “Forbes was very good to me,” Chang told me. “They would often promote my pieces and put them as the number one story on my website.” After 2014, however, “they basically stopped promoting me. I don’t know the motivation, but that’s what occurred.”

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/democracy-post/wp/2017/12/14/chinese-ownership-is-raising-questions-about-the-editorial-independence-of-a-major-u-s-magazine/

>>8092681

Should We Allow the Chinese to Buy Any US Company They Want?

JAN 09, 2018

We Americans blithely ignore the long-term effects of allowing foreign corporations to purchase the assets of our country in the form of companies, land, and resources. We are selling off our ability to produce wealth by allowing many American corporations to be purchased by foreign corporations. It is not just foreign companies buying our assets that is the problem ─ it is the state-owned and massively subsidized companies of China that are dangerous because China uses its state-owned enterprises as a strategic tool of the state. By pretending they are private companies abiding by free-market rules makes us the biggest chumps on the planet.

How many Americans paid attention to the news that the world's largest pork producer, American company Smithfield Foods, was acquired by a Chinese corporation in 2013? Shareholders approved the sale of the company to Shuanghui International Holdings Limited, the biggest meat processor in China.

Very few paid any attention to one of the earliest acquisitions by a Chinese corporation — when the Hoover brand was sold to Hong Kong, China-based firm Techtronic Industries in 2006 after Maytag, which owned Hoover, was acquired by Whirlpool.

In January 2014, Motorola Mobility was sold by Google to Chinese computer corporation, Lenovo, which means that the nation that invented smart phones is just about entirely out of the business of producing smart phones in America. This acquisition will give one of China's most prominent technology companies a broader foothold in the U. S. Lenovo is the same company that bought IBM’s line of personal computers in 2004.

Through strategic purchases, China is positioning itself to be our energy supplier as well. Since 2009, Chinese companies have invested billions of dollars acquiring significant percentages of shares of energy companies, such as The AES Corp., Chesapeake Energy, and Oil & Gas Assets. In 2010, China Communications Construction Co. bought 100% of Friede Goldman United, and in 2012, A-Tech Wind Power (Jiangxi) bought 100% of Cirrus Wind Energy.

• https://www.industryweek.com/the-economy/article/22024894/should-we-allow-the-chinese-to-buy-any-us-company-they-want

>>8092681

And let's not forget dirty Harry Reid and his bullshit. I think he still needs to answer for some things.

U.S. Senator Reid, son combine for China firm's desert plant

AUGUST 30, 2012

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Harry Reid recognized nine years ago that connections between his official duties and the lobbying activities of his relatives could lead to ethical questions.

In 2003, the Nevada Democrat publicly banned relatives from lobbying him or his staff after newspaper reports showed that Nevada industries and institutions routinely turned to Reid’s sons or son-in-law for representation.

Now, questions surrounding family ties are flaring again in Nevada around the Senate majority leader. He and his oldest son, Rory, are both involved in an effort by a Chinese energy giant, ENN Energy Group, to build a $5 billion solar farm and panel manufacturing plant in the southern Nevada desert.

Reid has been one of the project’s most prominent advocates, helping recruit the company during a 2011 trip to China and applying his political muscle on behalf of the project in Nevada. His son, a lawyer with a prominent Las Vegas firm that is representing ENN, helped it locate a 9,000-acre (3,600-hectare) desert site that it is buying well below appraised value from Clark County, where Rory Reid formerly chaired the county commission.

Craig Holman, a lobbyist for the non-partisan advocacy group Public Citizen, said the senator is dealing with “an iffy ethical landscape” because of the family connections and should recuse himself from the project. “Is this just happening because … it benefits the Reid family, or did Harry Reid actually believe in this?” Holman said.

The senator has supported numerous clean energy projects in Nevada. Rory Reid cites energy as one of his specialty areas at the law firm.

The two Reids deny discussing the ENN project.

“I have never discussed the project with my father or his staff,” said Rory Reid. Kristen Orthman, a spokeswoman for the senator, said he had not discussed the project with his son.

The Langfang, China-based ENN Energy Group hopes to build what would be the largest solar energy complex in America. The site chosen with Rory Reid’s guidance is in tiny Laughlin, Nevada, a gambling town of 7,300 along the Colorado River, 90 miles south of Las Vegas.

• https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-reid-solar-idUSBRE87U06D20120831

>>8092722

Do what you want with it I don't care, it's just the headline that the article had.

>>8092681

They aren't just messing around here in America either.

==In Africa, China Is the News=

AUGUST 13, 2019

Beijing’s infrastructure projects may grab headlines, but its efforts to shape the media are more dangerous.

Washington has long been concerned about China’s “no strings attached” infrastructure deals in African markets. These large port, rail, and road projects grab headlines and stoke fears about African government debt levels and Chinese political influence. But the real strategic threat for the United States is not bricks-and-mortar projects but rather China’s efforts to reshape African countries’ media landscape.

In just over a decade, China has dramatically expanded its media presence in Africa, urging not just African publics to “tell China’s story well” but also influencing the continent’s underlying telecommunications, data, and information standards. Given that the United States has historically held a competitive advantage in communications and media, it should pay attention.

Today, mobile devices and television have near-universal penetration in Africa’s media markets. China’s telecom investments through Huawei Technologies and ZTE, whose largest shareholder is a Chinese state-owned firm, have established more than 40 third-generation telecom networks in more than 30 African countries. And Chinese firms make a huge chunk of the cell phones sold there. Transsion Holdings, which does not operate in the United States or Europe, accounts for 30 percent of African phone sales (under its brand Tecno Mobile), ahead of second-place Samsung at 22 percent. Transsion recently announced plans to raise more than $420 million for expansion through an initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s STAR Market technology board.

In South Africa, meanwhile, Huawei accounts for 14.5 percent of phones sold, the second-highest share and significantly more than Apple’s 4 percent. Although much of Africa consumes media through mobile devices, TV sales are growing among the middle class, and Chinese electronics companies are aggressively pursuing that market. Konka Group has set up a factory in Egypt to serve the regional market and has partnered with Jumia as a sales platform. In South Africa, Hisense, with investment from the China-Africa Development Fund, operates production facilities in Cape Town and is the leading player in the TV market with more than 22 percent market share. By dominating how media is delivered, Chinese companies are literally acting as the window to the world for millions of Africans.

• https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/08/13/in-africa-china-is-the-news/

>>8092681

The 11 top U.S. companies targeted by China

China is looking to buy American - at a never-before-seen clip. Starwood Hotels & Resorts (HOT) is just the biggest and latest target.

Chinese investors and buyers have announced plans to spend $39 billion so far this year buying U.S. companies, says Richard Peterson, senior director at S&P Global Market Intelligence. This whopping total includes Anbang Insurance Group's offer for hotel chain Starwood Hotels & Resorts, which S&P Global says values at $15.2 billion.

The pace of Chinese buying of U.S. companies is unprecedented, Peterson says. The value of Chinese bids for U.S. companies just this year is roughly four times the $9.4 billion of Sino-U.S. deals announced last year and already well above the previous record of $11.8 billion Chinese companies announced spending in 2013. 2013 was the year China's Henan Shineway Industry Group agreed to buy food processor Smithfield Foods for $7.3 billion.

"The deal flow is self-explanatory," Peterson says. "It will be a record year for Chinese acquisitions of companies based in the U.S."

China's shopping spree in the U.S. is starting to get harder to ignore given some of the high-profile targets. Five of the six largest Chinese buyouts of U.S. companies have all occurred this year, Peterson says. Ingram Micro, a U.S.-based company that distributes electronics made by companies ranging from Apple (AAPL) to Microsoft (MSFT) was bought in February by China's Tianjin Tianhai for $7.3 billion - making it the third largest China offer for a U.S. company after Starwood and Smithfield.

Then there was China's Qingdao Haier's $5.4 billion buy of General Electric's (GE) GE Appliances unit in January.

Chinese buying is getting to levels that investors can't write off as just a blip, Peterson says. The dollar value of Chinese buyouts account for about a third of the total spent by all foreign buyers. "This could be a topic for the elections," he says.

LARGEST INVESTMENTS IN U.S. COMPANIES INVOLVING CHINESE BUYERS *

Target, $ value ($ millions), Buyer

Starwood Hotels, $15,188, Anbang Insurance

Smithfield Foods, $7,276, Henan Shineway Industry

Ingram Micro, $7,247, Tianjin Tianhai Investment

GE Appliances, $5,400, Qingdao Haier

Terex, $5,122, Zoomlion Heavy Industry

Legend Pictures, $3,500, Dalian Wanda

AMC Entertainment, $2,909, Dalian Wanda

Fairchild Semiconductor, FCS, $2,659

Devon Energy (5 U.S. shale oil and gas fields), $2,442, Sinopec Int'l Petroleum

Activision Blizzard (stake bought by group of investors), $2,339, Tencent Holdings (was one of several investors, including Los Angeles-based Leonard Green)

Waldorf Astoria New York, $1,950, Anbang Insurance

Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence

• Includes announced and completed deals.

• https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/markets/2016/03/18/11-top-us-companies-targeted-china/81970226/

>>8092681

Paramount China Partner Huahua Sold to Oriental Times Media (Exclusive)

July 11, 2017

Huahua and Shanghai Film Group committed to a $1 billion slate financing deal with Paramount earlier this year

Chinese film company Huahua Media, which agreed in January on a $1 billion slate financing deal with Paramount Pictures alongside Shanghai Film Group, has been acquired by fellow Chinese firm Oriental Times Media Corporation in an all-cash deal. Exact terms were not disclosed.

In March, TheWrap exclusively reported that Oriental Times’ planned purchase of Huahua had been held up by regulatory issues, as the Chinese government began cracking down on several high-profile entertainment deals, including Wanda Group’s aborted $1 billion acquisition of Dick Clark Productions. At the time, an individual with knowledge of the transaction said the delay or even cancellation of Oriental Times’ planned Huahua acquisition could threaten the slate financing deal.

However, a few days later, Huahua CEO Kefei Wang told TheWrap the slate financing deal was

progressing as planned, and said Huahua intended to work with Oriental Times. Four days after that, Huahua announced in a statement provided to TheWrap that it had become involved in a financial joint venture through collaborator Oriental Times Media with an affiliate of China Huarong Asset Management Company, a state-owned lender that specializes in distressed situations.

• https://www.thewrap.com/paramount-china-partner-huahua-sold-oriental-times-media-exclusive/

>>8092977

Yeah, kinda looks like Rudy was the/a stealth bomber.

>>8093002

o7 Morning Q., well, probably afternoon for you.

>>8093064

Don't forget this one, I think it's important to note that they are doing this globally.

>>>8092788

>>8093155

KEK. Probably cut himself while shaving his legs.