tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post6785507628934467517..comments2023-08-25T17:30:36.937+05:30Comments on Business Musings: Vanity thy name is Chinese internet companyRameshhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11782192840421019943noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-45024247179831845562011-05-05T07:27:11.826+05:302011-05-05T07:27:11.826+05:30Thanks for the props, Ramesh. Now if only the idea...Thanks for the props, Ramesh. Now if only the ideas I've had on other stocks worked as well as that SINA purchase! I'm learning that I by no means have the Midas touch!<br /><br />Getting into stocks has been such a good experience for me so far. Am learning so much about business and the way companies work. I can definitely see interest in the stock market being a life-long passion.Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00967364257656897151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-88476867643146612162011-05-05T06:38:14.535+05:302011-05-05T06:38:14.535+05:30@Mark - Weibo has been a big success and you are r...@Mark - Weibo has been a big success and you are right in distinguishing the biggies from the minnows in the Chinese online world. Congrats on the killing with Sina. Maybe there's some value in listing in the US - Sinophiles like you would buy !Rameshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11782192840421019943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-78449640084426285092011-05-04T08:47:23.217+05:302011-05-04T08:47:23.217+05:30My first ever common stock purchase was one of the...My first ever common stock purchase was one of the companies you listed in this post - SINA. Despite it dropping 10% today, it's still up over 100% from when I bought it late last year. It's like I hit jackpot on my first pull of the slot machine!!<br /><br />I agree with you on companies like QIHU and YOKU and RENN (IPOing tomorrow). I think that companies like BIDU and SINA are different stories than some of the smaller names, though.<br /><br />I've been particularly captivated with Sina's Weibo micro-blogging service. It's growing at ridiculous rates and is poised to have more users than Twitter within the next year despite being only in China. I might've missed selling at the high point a couple weeks ago, but I'm still liking Weibo's story.<br /><br />There was a great discussion on Chinese tech stocks and "China's Second Internet Bubble?" on the the always-insightful Sinica podcast <a href="http://popupchinese.com/lessons/sinica/chinas-second-internet-bubble" rel="nofollow">here</a>. Think you'll enjoy this.Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00967364257656897151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-2551205826686535962011-05-03T07:20:23.404+05:302011-05-03T07:20:23.404+05:30@hema - Touche. I should have known better than to...@hema - Touche. I should have known better than to needle a poet :)Rameshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11782192840421019943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-80345737935897213552011-05-02T22:56:27.917+05:302011-05-02T22:56:27.917+05:30"O, what men dare do! What men may do! What m..."O, what men dare do! What men may do! What men daily<br />do, not knowing what they do!" -WS<br /><br />Ahem...I mean 'What Chinese Internet Companies dare do.....":-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-69854952782648159872011-05-02T13:22:20.444+05:302011-05-02T13:22:20.444+05:30As Goundamani philosophises in one of his repartee...As Goundamani philosophises in one of his repartees, "Arassiyalla idhellaam sagajampa" (In politics, it is all fair) Great lead-in and a good conjecture. No vain, we wane! Thanks.RamNarayanShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01399693444460979865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-14324105766337885292011-05-01T21:13:25.375+05:302011-05-01T21:13:25.375+05:30@Vishal, Let me trumpet what Ramesh said. As an A...@Vishal, Let me trumpet what Ramesh said. As an American, I can guarantee Americans are not going to learn Chinese. GUARAN-TEE! The culture is already incredibly ethnocentric and the majority of Americans almost take a pathetic sense of pride in not getting to know other cultures. Throw in the incredibly high degree of difficulty in learning Mandarin:<br /><br />http://www.pinyin.info/readings/texts/moser.html<br /><br />With so much immigration coming from Mexico there was a huge push back in the 80's to become a bilingual culture and Americans couldn't even be bothered to learn survival Spanish. Mandarin, never happen here, and I rarely say never about anything.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-84120207151976650762011-05-01T17:47:06.444+05:302011-05-01T17:47:06.444+05:30@Sandhya - Touche. How can anybody score one over ...@Sandhya - Touche. How can anybody score one over you when you can quote Shakespeare back :):)<br /><br />@Vishal - There's no chance of it being used outside of China, with all the censorship inherent in them, even if others learned Chinese which is very unlikely. At best, the expat Chinese community, that's all.Rameshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11782192840421019943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-29135767916957482052011-05-01T15:42:07.489+05:302011-05-01T15:42:07.489+05:30Well said Sandhya!
@ Ramesh - thanks for providin...Well said Sandhya!<br /><br />@ Ramesh - thanks for providing insights into what I did not know at all. Vanity can only feed vanity. But are these companies going to continue in Chinese language? I am neither sure if Americans are going to learn Chinese?Vishalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09901902300962335348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-363315258223611932011-05-01T09:55:52.625+05:302011-05-01T09:55:52.625+05:30Now if you are expecting a riposte - tough luck!!
...Now if you are expecting a riposte - tough luck!!<br /><br />Vanity is one trait that distinguishes humans from animals - isnt it. If not for Shah Jahan's Vanity, would India boast of Seven Wonder, If not for Lalit Modi's Vanity, would all unknown faces of Ranji Trophy come into Limelite in the IPL, If not for the Vanity of D Markets that made them cost ineffective, that D & E Markets have emerged today.....and on and on.<br /><br />Also, it is better that frailty any day. So i think the Juxtaposing was intentionally done to create a more respectable quotation on women.<br /><br />So, You dont need to take cover.<br /><br />Coming back to your blog... i think Shakespeare answers this in Hamlet itself <br /><br />"Every man has business and desire, <br />Such as it is." :-)Sandhya Sriramhttp://sandhyasriram.sulekha.com/blog/posts.htmnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-28227609840093108192011-05-01T08:13:09.188+05:302011-05-01T08:13:09.188+05:30@gils - Oh, no doubt at all; the two nations of 1....@gils - Oh, no doubt at all; the two nations of 1.4 bn and 1.2 bn will rule the markets for sometime to come.<br /><br />@Hopfrog - Greed is surely the prime motivator, but what foxes me is that the greed can very well be satisfied by listing in Hong Kong. Your point about the China mania is absolutely valid. Similar to various mindless bubbles, there is the feeling that everything which has anything to do with China must be a huge success. One couldn't be more wrong.Rameshhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11782192840421019943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-26413545989982426662011-04-30T19:13:26.196+05:302011-04-30T19:13:26.196+05:30Wow, I had no idea this was taking place and it is...Wow, I had no idea this was taking place and it is odd to say the least. I think the motivations are a bit more nefarious than vanity. The sin I am going with, and one you alluded to in the post, is greed.<br /><br />China investment opportunities at this moment are like miniature versions of the tech offerings during the net boom. Throughout much of the 90's you could make a fortune manipulating the public's infatuation for tech. The idea and execution could be total crap, but investors ate every IPO up looking for the next Yahoo and Google. <br /><br />I think its clear to a lot of us at this point that Wall Street no longer has any resemblance of a soul. It's the only reason I can see for the stubbornness of the price of gold, which logically should be dropping with an improving economy. This all smells to me of the good ole boys on the street getting in bed with some Chinese counterparts in order to take advantage of the investing public's current panic to latch onto China's rising economy.<br /><br />To people like you (mainly you) and I, with China knowledge, this almost looks like a practical joke. No way will this work. But a lot of investors aren't going to do their own homework and some unsavory characters know all they have to do is say 'China!', and people will bite. Sad that my opinion of Wall Street has gotten this low.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4740849900073154554.post-51462227434677528582011-04-30T11:20:24.352+05:302011-04-30T11:20:24.352+05:30The Americans might've invented the car. But i...The Americans might've invented the car. But it was the Japs who made money selling it. Plagiarism or not..if you belong to a crowd of 1.5 billion..you've the majority opinion in ur side and you can make all wrongs right :)gilshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03259194565523548553noreply@blogger.com