Krypton Evening Post: Tongrentang Group has recently completed the industrial and commercial change of leadership and increased its registered capital to 724 million yuan; The public security organs have punished Kuaishou Company according to law; iFLYTEK: It plans to launch the first employee stock ownership plan.
Big Companies:
36Kr has learned that in order to further facilitate the exchanges of personnel between China and other countries, China has decided to expand the scope of visa-free countries. Half an hour after the announcement, the search popularity for relevant destinations in China on Ctrip's overseas platforms in Europe and Japan increased by 65% and 112% respectively on a month-on-month basis. Qin Jing, vice president of Ctrip Group, said that from January to October this year, the number of inbound tour orders on the Ctrip platform increased by about twice year-on-year. With the addition of these 9 new countries, China has implemented a unilateral visa-free policy for nearly 40 countries. Up to now, the tourist orders from these countries have accounted for more than 30% of the overall inbound tour orders in China.
36Kr has learned that according to the Aiqicha App, recently, Beijing Tongrentang (Group) Co., Ltd. in China has undergone industrial and commercial changes. Wang Guiping stepped down as the legal representative and chairman, and Dai Xiaofeng succeeded him. At the same time, the registered capital increased from approximately 655 million yuan to approximately 724 million yuan. Beijing Tongrentang (Group) Co., Ltd. was established in August 1992. Its business scope includes processing and manufacturing Chinese patent medicines and decoction pieces of Chinese medicinal herbs, selling Chinese medicinal materials, investment and investment management, etc. It is wholly owned by Beijing State-Owned Capital Operation and Management Co., Ltd.
The Public Security Organs Legally Penalize Kuaishou Company
36Kr has learned that according to the WeChat official account of the National Cybersecurity Notification Center, recently, in response to the problems of illegal information in short videos of Kuaishou Company, the public security organs, in accordance with the provisions of the Cybersecurity Law, have legally given Kuaishou Company a warning penalty. After investigation, Kuaishou Company failed to timely handle the information that is prohibited from being published or transmitted by laws and administrative regulations, and the implementation of the youth mode is not in place, resulting in the spread of illegal information, endangering the physical and mental health of minors, which violates the relevant provisions of the Cybersecurity Law. The public security organs have legally given administrative penalties to Kuaishou Company, ordering it to fully implement the youth mode, comprehensively investigate and clean up illegal information, and deal with illegal and irregular accounts in accordance with laws and regulations.
On November 22, the Zhejiang Province Science and Technology Progress Award for 2023 was announced. The "Key Technologies and Applications of Large-Scale Cloud-Edge Collaboration Based on Cloud Native" jointly developed by Alipay, Zhejiang University, Xieyun Technology, and Alibaba Cloud won the first prize of science and technology progress. It is introduced that the "Key Technologies and Applications of Large-Scale Cloud-Edge Collaboration Based on Cloud Native" is a set of large-scale cloud-edge collaborative computing technologies, which are the underlying core key technologies in the fields of distributed computing and cloud computing. At present, the project has been widely applied in multiple fields such as payment, finance, government affairs, medical care, and international events. Some core technologies in the project have been open-sourced, participating in industry co-construction, and have received praise from the international open-source community.
iFLYTEK: Plans to Launch the First Employee Stock Ownership Plan
36Kr has learned that iFLYTEK has released the draft of the first employee stock ownership plan. The participants of this employee stock ownership plan include the company's (including holding subsidiaries) middle-level management personnel and core technical (business) backbone employees, with an expected number of no more than 1,000. The shares of this employee stock ownership plan come from the company's A-share common stocks repurchased from the company's dedicated repurchase account. The total number of transferred shares is expected to not exceed 10.91 million shares, accounting for approximately 0.47% of the company's current total share capital. The price at which the employee stock ownership plan acquires the company's repurchased shares is 25.38 yuan per share, and the proposed total fundraising amount is capped at 276,895,800 yuan. The funds for this employee stock ownership plan come from the employees' legal salaries, self-raised funds, and other methods permitted by laws and regulations.
36Kr has learned that according to the official WeChat account of Nezha Auto, it is expected that by the first quarter of 2025, Nezha Auto will open more than 10 stores in Brazil to further expand market coverage and promote large-scale delivery. As of November 22, there are 5 supermarket exhibitions being held in the Brazilian market, mainly distributed in São Paulo State, Rio Grande do Sul State, and other places, and the pre-sale of AYA and X models has been launched. According to the plan, two more supermarkets will be opened this month, and three more supermarket exhibition points will continue to be added in December to increase exposure, increase popularity, and obtain orders locally.
DHL Express Signs Cooperation Agreement with Shell
On November 22, DHL Express announced that it has signed an agreement with Shell. This one-year agreement includes the delivery of 25,000 tons of sustainable aviation fuel certified by the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) system to Brussels Airport through a pipeline. (Jiemian)
Investment and Financing:
BP Will Invest 7 Billion US Dollars in the Indonesian Gas Field Project
The Indonesian Presidential Office issued a statement on November 22 stating that Indonesian President Prabowo met with executives of several companies including BP in London, UK on the 21st local time. Prabowo said that BP has committed to investing 7 billion US dollars in the gas field project in West Papua, Indonesia, and the total planned investment of other companies is 1.5 billion US dollars. BP confirmed its investment commitment in Indonesia in a statement. The company said that the Ubadari gas field is scheduled to start production in 2028, and the produced natural gas will be processed at the company's Tangguh LNG plant in West Papua. (Jiemian)
"Yao Lu Chuan Technology" Obtains Over 100 Million Yuan in Series A Financing
36Kr has learned that recently, the artificial intelligence enterprise "Yao Lu Chuan Technology" has obtained over 100 million yuan in Series A financing. This round of financing is led by Donghai Investment, with Huanghai Jinrong, Yueda Capital and other investment institutions participating in the investment. At the same time, Zhongcai Rongshang and Neijiang, Sichuan also participated in the investment, and the delivery work is currently being carried out in an orderly manner. Yao Lu Chuan Technology was established in December 2020, mainly providing machine vision devices, intelligent sensing hardware, intelligent industrial robots, AI intelligent platforms and intelligent digital factory system solutions for the manufacturing industry.
Today's Views:
ECB Vice President: The Path of Interest Rate Cuts Is More Important Than the Magnitude
ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos said that the central bank is clearly on the path of interest rate cuts, but the magnitude of interest rate cuts at each monetary policy meeting is not so important. He added that wage growth will slow next year, and the ECB expects inflation to approach the 2% target. "If our inflation forecast for next year does indeed become a reality, then the monetary policy path is clear," he said at a conference in Madrid on Friday. "The question of whether we cut interest rates by 50 basis points or 25 basis points is not so important." (Sina Finance)
JPMorgan predicts a global crude oil supply surplus of approximately 1.3 million barrels per day in 2025, with the average price of Brent crude at $73, but expects the year-end price to stabilize below $70. The price of WTI crude is expected to be $64. It is expected that the crude oil supply surplus will intensify in 2026, pushing the Brent crude price to fall below $60 before the end of the year. The average Brent crude price is expected to be $61 per barrel for the year, and WTI crude is $57 per barrel. (Cailian Press)
Other News Worth Noting:
36Kr has learned that the National Medical Products Administration has issued a reply agreeing to carry out the reform pilot of optimizing the review and approval procedures for drug supplementary applications in ten provinces (municipalities) including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Guangdong, Chongqing, and Sichuan. Please organize and carry out the pilot work in strict accordance with the requirements of the "Notice of the National Medical Products Administration on Issuing the Work Plan for the Reform Pilot of Optimizing the Review and Approval Procedures for Drug Supplementary Applications" (Guoyaojianyaozhu [2024] No. 10).
On November 14, 2024, the China Securities Industry Association held the plenary meeting of the Equity and Alternative Investment Business Professional Committee in Nanjing, Jiangsu. The meeting emphasized that industry institutions should perform their duties seriously, establish and adhere to the concepts of rational investment, value investment, and long-term investment, select investment targets with the main goal of fitting the "Five Major Articles" of finance, give full play to the leading and vanguard role of securities companies in venture capital and private equity investment, strengthen the management of the investment process, pay attention to maintaining and protecting the interests of investors, avoid capital "deviating from the real economy to the virtual economy", and make greater contributions to promoting the development of the real economy, optimizing resource allocation, and supporting scientific and technological innovation. (Securities Times)
In order to promote the construction and delivery of housing projects and protect the legitimate rights and interests of homebuyers, China established an urban real estate financing coordination mechanism at the beginning of this year. The Central Political Bureau meeting held in September proposed to increase the loan placement for "white list" projects. Recently, the Financial Regulatory Administration, in conjunction with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, has studied and formulated an expansion and efficiency enhancement plan for the "white list" project of the coordination mechanism to promote the inclusion of all commercial housing development loan projects in the "white list". It is learned from the Financial Regulatory Administration that under the coordination mechanism, as of November 18, the loan approval amount for the "white list" project has exceeded 3 trillion yuan; it is expected that by the end of 2024, the loan approval amount for the "white list" project will exceed 4 trillion yuan. (Shanghai Securities News)