Business this week
- Date: 12-Aug-2021
- Source: The Economist
- Sector:Transport
- Country:Saudi Arabia
Business this week
Son Masayoshi, the boss of SoftBank, said he was curbing his conglomerate’s enthusiasm to invest in Chinese startups until the extent of the Chinese government’s crackdown on the tech industry becomes clearer in the coming years. The Japanese company is a big investor in Alibaba and Didi Global, two targets of the ire of regulators in Beijing.
Uncertainty about the future of internet firms in China was one factor behind the poorly received IPO of Krafton, a South Korean video-games developer that produces the “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” series. Krafton is backed by Tencent, which distributes its games in China. However, Krafton also had to reduce the listing price for its shares when the Korean regulator questioned how it was calculated.
The American government’s ban on Chinese tech firms with suspected military ties obtaining American technology hit Huawei hard in the first half of the year. Revenue fell by almost 30% compared with the first six months of 2020, and by almost 50% in its consumer-electronics business, which relies on American chips for smartphones.
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