9:01 AM | Porsche's price drops below 400,000 yuan; Consumers claim to be inexplicably enabled with "Use First, Pay Later"; The "Queen of Men's Clothing" in Macao sells underwear with monthly sales of tens of millions of yuan.

TOP 3 Major News

Porsche's price drops below 400,000 yuan, and the dealer offers a naked car price of 358,000 yuan.

Porsche's price has reached a new low. Currently, the Macan quote given by a dealer in Shenzhen has dropped below 400,000 yuan - for example, the manufacturer's suggested retail price of the 2024 Macan 2.0T is 578,000 yuan, and a dealer in Shenzhen has given a naked car quote of at least 358,000 yuan, equivalent to a 40% discount. A dealer responded that this price is a limited-time promotion, but the report pointed out that previously, there were dealers who gave an even lower quote of 340,000 yuan. It is worth noting that the Porsche models with significant price reductions are not only the Macan. According to previous reports, Porsche's sales report for the first three quarters of this year shows that the global delivery volume of its Taycan model in the first nine months of 2024 has decreased by half compared to the same period in 2023. (Sina Technology, IT Home)

Consumers report that the payment method during online shopping has been inexplicably changed to "Buy Now, Pay Later" 

Recently, many consumers have reported that the payment method during online shopping has been inexplicably changed to "Buy Now, Pay Later", allowing them to place an order directly without having to scan their face or enter a password. Consumer Mr. Li stated: Placing an order with 0 yuan does not bring him a pleasant consumption experience. Instead, it deprives him of his right to know and is prone to impulsive consumption. Some other consumers only discovered that they had activated the "Buy Now, Pay Later" function after receiving multiple deduction text messages in a row. The "Regulations for the Implementation of the Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law", which came into effect on July 1 this year, also focuses on detailing the obligations of business operators in aspects such as online transactions and consumer rights and interests protection. It clearly mentions that "If a business operator provides services by means of automatic extension, automatic renewal, etc., it shall, before the consumer accepts the service and before the date of automatic extension, automatic renewal, etc., draw the consumer's attention in a significant manner". This has a strong guiding significance for business operators to legally and in accordance with regulations provide functions such as "Buy Now, Pay Later" and "Payment without Password". (Litchi News, Jimu News)

"Macau Sister Coco" sells underwear with monthly sales of tens of millions of yuan, and the cordyceps sinensis underwear she sells is suspected of false publicity

In the fierce competition of Double 11 recently, Macau Sister Coco, who claims to be the "Number One Sister in Men's Clothing", seems to have found a way out. According to the third-party data platform, in the recent several live broadcasts, Sister Coco's daily sales have reached the tens of millions of yuan range. Through the product details in the live broadcast room, it can be seen that Macau Sister Coco mainly sells white-label men's clothing. 72.44% of the viewers in the live broadcast room are men, aged between 31 and 40. Among them, seemingly outrageous products such as cordyceps sinensis underwear for 8.8 yuan for two pairs, ginseng underwear for 17 yuan for three pairs, and a 9.9-yuan golden Ultraman figurine have monthly sales of more than 2.5 million yuan in her live broadcast room. Liu Yong, an expert in traditional Chinese medicine at Changsha Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Changsha Eighth Hospital), introduced that "Cordyceps sinensis is an oral medicine in clinical practice. Simply adding it to clothing and making skin contact will not have any effect at all." (Blue Whale News, Xiaoxiang Morning News)

Big Companies/Big Events

Xiaomi SU7 Ultra Mass Production Version Opens Reservation and Consultation Channel, Prototype Vehicle Awaiting New Window at Nürburgring

36Kr has learned that Xiaomi Auto released a statement revealing that the mass production version of the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra will be launched on October 29, and the reservation and consultation channel has been opened since October 25. Xiaomi Auto explained that the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra Prototype (referred to as the "PT version") is a track prototype vehicle for verifying technologies, and the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra is a mass production vehicle equipped with track-verified technologies. Due to the local weather conditions at Nürburgring, the PT version has not yet obtained the opportunity for a formal lap time. "The driver and engineering team are still stationed at Nürburgring, waiting for a new window period."

The Li Ziqi Team Responds on When to Update: No Specific Information Received for Now

According to Red Star News, on October 24, the topic "Li Ziqi is Back in Business" topped the trending list. After being away from the screen for a year, Li Ziqi made a surprise appearance in the promotional video of "Strong Country Panda Week", inviting everyone to explore the panda's homeland. On the morning of October 25, a member of the Li Ziqi team responded to the reporter that they record a VCR to send blessings for Panda Week every year at this time. Regarding when Li Ziqi's personal social media platform will update videos, they said that no specific information has been received for now. (Red Star News) 

Existing Home Loan Interest Rate Reduction: Some Homebuyers' Monthly Payments to Decrease by Nearly $1000

On October 25, many netizens shared the good news of the successful adjustment of the interest rate for existing home loans on social media. For some homebuyers with a higher interest rate markup, the monthly payment will be reduced by nearly $1000.

The home loan interest rate reduction alleviates the monthly payment pressure on homebuyers and may reduce the behavior of early repayment. Industry insiders believe that whether to repay the loan in advance needs to be comprehensively evaluated. Xiao Wenxiao, the chief analyst of the Guangfo region of Kerui, said that after the interest rate for existing home loans is cut, the necessity of early repayment is further reduced. For ordinary citizens, when evaluating the necessity of early loan repayment, if the return rate of investment and financial management can cover the loan cost, it is recommended to make a decision after a comprehensive evaluation. (Times Finance)

Hengda Auto Trading Suspended

36Kr learned that Hengda Auto announced that the trading of the company's shares will be temporarily suspended from 1:00 p.m. on October 25. 

Vivo, in collaboration with the relevant R & D team of Alibaba, has launched the industry's first H.266 mobile phone software decoding heterogeneous optimization solution

36Kr has learned that recently, Vivo, in collaboration with the relevant R & D team of Alibaba, has launched the industry's first H.266 mobile phone software decoding heterogeneous optimization solution. Based on Alibaba's self-developed decoder Ali266, it achieves a 13% reduction in power consumption and a 12% increase in decoding speed in the high-definition video playback scenario. This solution has been the first to be implemented in the Vivo X200 series flagship phones. This is the first time that a mainstream mobile phone manufacturer has deeply supported H.266 decoding, providing an effective practical path for the comprehensive adaptation and support of the H.266 standard by smart phones, and will accelerate the popularization of the H.266 standard. 

Naixue's Tea Responds to Tax Arrears: The Tax Arrears Information Is Misinformation and Has Been Fed Back to the Tax Department

Recently, Shenzhen Pindao Catering Management Co., Ltd., the affiliated company of Naixue's Tea, has a new tax arrears announcement. The tax type in arrears is stamp duty, and the balance of tax in arrears is more than 310,000 yuan. In response, Naixue's Tea said that the tax arrears information is misinformation. After verification, Naixue's Tea has no tax arrears, and Naixue has also fed back this wrong information to the tax department. (Sina Technology) 

Commerce Minister Wang Wentao Meets Apple CEO Tim Cook

36Kr learned that, according to the information on the Ministry of Commerce's website, on October 25, Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met with Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Inc. The two sides exchanged views on Apple's business development in China and Sino-US economic and trade relations. Wang Wentao said that he welcomes Apple to seize the opportunity, continue to deeply cultivate the Chinese market, maintain stable cooperation with Chinese partners, and achieve common development. The Chinese side will further optimize the business environment and continue to provide high-quality services to foreign-funded enterprises.

BeiGene Responds to Investigation of Company Executive: The Incident Involving the Employee Has Nothing to Do with BeiGene

36Kr has learned that the official Weibo account of BeiGene released a statement saying that BeiGene has learned that an employee of the company is cooperating with the relevant investigation. According to the current situation, the incident involving the employee has nothing to do with BeiGene. BeiGene will, as always, attach importance to and follow the operational principles of legality, compliance, and high ethical standards. On October 25, it was reported that Yin Min, the Chief Commercial Officer of BeiGene in Greater China, was taken away for investigation by the relevant parties.

Apple's Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams Investigates 3 Supply Chain Companies

Recently, Apple's Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams investigated three Apple supply chain companies: Lens Technology, Luxshare Precision, and BZ Power Automation Equipment. It is understood that Apple started its business in China in 1993. Currently, more than 80% of Apple's 200 major global suppliers have factories in China engaged in the production of Apple products. (China Securities Journal) 

SK Hynix in Talks with Tesla

SK Hynix is in discussions with Tesla to supply the latter with enterprise-level solid-state drives (SSD or eSSD) worth up to 1 trillion South Korean won. (Cailian Press) 

Boeing Workers' Strike Affects Suppliers, Spirit AeroSystems Faces Layoff Risks

The large-scale strike by Boeing workers in the United States has dealt a heavy blow to the financial situation of its suppliers. A spokesperson for Spirit AeroSystems, a key supplier, said on Thursday that if the strike by Boeing mechanics lasts beyond November 25, the company is considering furloughing or laying off hundreds of employees. (Zhitong Finance App) 

The UK Launches a Formal Investigation into Google's Investment in Anthropic Deal

The UK's antitrust regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), has announced that it has launched a formal first-stage investigation into the partnership between Google's parent company, Alphabet, and AI startup Anthropic. Nearly two years after Microsoft-backed OpenAI released the chatbot ChatGPT, triggering an AI boom, regulatory agencies around the world are increasingly concerned about the collaboration agreements between large tech companies and small AI startups. Since July, the UK CMA has been evaluating the partnership between Alphabet and Anthropic. At that time, the CMA also began seeking opinions on whether this deal would undermine competition in the UK. (Sina Technology) 

Morgan Stanley CEO Ted Pick will succeed Gorman as Chairman

Morgan Stanley announced on October 24 local time that CEO Ted Pick will succeed James Gorman as Chairman in January. Gorman said in May that he would step down at the end of this year, and it is expected that Pick will take over. The bank said that to pay tribute to Gorman, Gorman will serve as "Honorary Chairman" after leaving the board. Gorman was just appointed as Chairman by Disney this week, and he has been helping the company find a successor to Bob Iger. (Jiemian News)

The Forefront of AI

Beautiful Images: The image generation capability of the MiracleVision large model is upgraded, and the one-stop AI short video creation tool MOKI is launched

36Kr has learned that Meitu has announced the upgrade of the image generation capability of its MiracleVision large model. It supports content input from ultra-short text to extra-long text, and the generated image texture presents an all-round cinematic-level picture from outline, light and shadow to composition. The one-stop AI short video creation tool MOKI is simultaneously launched. The duration of a single text-to-video and a single image-to-video can reach 5 seconds, and it can support the generation of an extra-long video with a duration of 1 minute, a frame rate of 24 FPS, and a resolution of 1080P. This function will gradually cover the product ecosystem of Meitu in the future. 

Sam Altman Debunks News About OpenAI's New Model

There is news that OpenAI plans to launch its next cutting-edge model, Orion. In response, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, publicly debunked the rumor on October 25, stating that it is false. (Jiemian News) 

H3C Releases More Than Ten New Computing Products Including Heterogeneous Computing Power Platform

36Kr learned that H3C has released more than ten new intelligent computing products, such as the H3C UniServer G7 series, a multi-heterogeneous computing power platform, and the H3C UniStor Polaris X20000 series, the next-generation AI data storage platform. It is introduced that the H3C multi-heterogeneous computing power platform relies on an evolvable architecture for AI, an operating system and management center with endogenous AI, and a multi-computing power system for AGI to provide stronger computing power support for large model training. 

Big Company Financial Reports

Great Wall Motors: Net profit in the third quarter is 3.35 billion yuan, down 7.82% year-on-year.

36Kr learned that Great Wall Motors disclosed its third-quarter report. The company's revenue in the third quarter of 2024 was 50.825 billion yuan, an increase of 2.61% year-on-year; the net profit was 3.35 billion yuan, a decrease of 7.82% year-on-year. The revenue in the first three quarters was 142.254 billion yuan, an increase of 19.04% year-on-year; the net profit was 10.428 billion yuan, an increase of 108.78% year-on-year.

Hasbro's Revenue in the First Three Quarters Decreased by 18% Year-on-Year

On October 24, the American toy and entertainment company Hasbro released its financial results for the third quarter of 2024: Revenue was $1.2813 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 15%; Excluding the impact of the eOne asset divestiture, the revenue decreased by 9%; Operating profit was $302 million, and the operating profit margin was 23.6%. In the first three quarters, Hasbro's revenue was $3.0339 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 18%. Excluding the impact of the eOne asset divestiture, the revenue decreased by 8%; Operating profit was $630 million, and the operating profit margin was 20.8%. (Jiemian News)

Kweichow Moutai: Net profit in the first three quarters increased by 15.04% year-on-year

36Kr learned that Kweichow Moutai issued an announcement. In the first three quarters of 2024, the company achieved operating income of 120.776 billion yuan, an increase of 16.95% year-on-year; the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 60.828 billion yuan, an increase of 15.04% year-on-year.

Skechers: Sales of $2.35 billion in the third quarter, with a year-on-year growth of 15.9%

36Kr learned that Skechers released its third-quarter financial report for 2024. The sales in the third quarter were $2.35 billion, with a year-on-year growth of 15.9%; wholesale sales increased by 20.6%; direct-to-consumer business (DTC business) sales increased by 9.6%; the adjusted earnings per diluted share was $1.26, with a year-on-year growth of 35.5%. 

Kia's Operating Profit in Q3 Increased by 0.6% Year-on-Year

On October 25, South Korean automaker Kia released its performance report, verifying that its operating profit in the third quarter of this year increased by 0.6% year-on-year to 2.8813 trillion won (approximately 14.8 billion yuan). Sales increased by 3.8% year-on-year to 26.5199 trillion won. Net profit increased by 2.1% year-on-year to 2.2679 trillion won. The operating profit margin was 10.9%. Kia's operating profit, sales, and net profit in the current quarter all reached the highest values for the same period in history. Kia's global sales in the third quarter were 763,639 vehicles, a decrease of 1.9% year-on-year. (Jiemian News) 

Investment and Financing

Life Sciences Intelligent Automation Enterprise "Benyao Technology" Secures Hundreds of Millions of Yuan in Series A3 Financing

36Kr has learned that "Benyao Technology" has recently received hundreds of millions of yuan in Series A3 financing. This round of financing is led by Panlin Capital, with Qiming Venture Partners and Boyuan Capital continuing to follow the investment. Since its establishment, Benyao Technology has completed multiple rounds of financing totaling hundreds of millions of yuan. The raised funds will be mainly used for the company's technology research and development, product development and production, market expansion, etc. 

"Liangjiang Zhizao" Completes Multi-Million Yuan Pre-A Round Financing

36Kr has learned that recently, "Liangjiang Zhizao" has completed a Pre-A round financing of several million yuan. This round of financing is led by Vertex Ventures, with Huaye Tiancheng Capital and the old shareholder Jiuhhe Ventures following the investment. Yiren Capital serves as the exclusive financial advisor for this round of financing. The funds of this round will be mainly used for core technology research and development, market brand building, marketing channel construction, and overseas business expansion. 

"Deli Smart Warehouse" Receives Tens of Millions of Yuan in Financing from JYM Asset Management

36Kr has learned that "Deli Smart Warehouse" has recently completed its first round of financing of tens of millions of yuan. The investor in this round is JYM Asset Management, and Suzhou Zhongchuang Yunji serves as the exclusive financial advisor. The funds from this round of financing will be mainly used for product research and development, technological iteration, and the exploration of the global market, to promote the implementation of Deli's products and solutions in more manufacturing warehouse scenarios and more overseas countries.

Cool Products

OPPO Releases Flagship Product Find X8 Series

36Kr has learned that OPPO has released the flagship product Find X8 Series. The whole device adopts a straight-screen design. The Find X8 Series is equipped with the "One-Click Query Screen" AI function, which can assist users in saving failed photos, expressing themselves, working efficiently, and handling various affairs. In terms of imaging, the Find X8 Series supports "Shadowless Snap", allowing for high-speed snapshotting without the need to switch modes. In terms of battery, the Find X8 Series is equipped with a 5910mAh "Glacier Battery". In addition, the Find X8 Series is also equipped with the Tidal Engine and the MediaTek Dimensity 9400 chip, running ColorOS 15, bringing a 22% improvement in the overall smoothness of the device, with a starting price of 4199 yuan.

Edited by |Hao Yuqi