8:01 AM | Douyin has dealt with more than 10,000 counterfeit foreign user accounts; It is a misinterpretation that Elon Musk's mother signed with an MCN company; The hotel in Sanya with a price of 220,000 yuan per night during the Spring Festival has been fully booked.
Listing in Progress
Dongpeng Beverage
36Kr learned that it is reported that Dongpeng Beverage is said to be close to hiring a bank to arrange a secondary listing in Hong Kong.
Joyson Electronics Co., Ltd.
36Kr learned that according to the documents of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Ningbo Joyson Electronic Corporation has submitted an application for listing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and the joint sponsors are China International Capital Corporation and UBS Group.
TOP 3 Big News
TikTok Vice President Li Liang: More than 10,000 counterfeit foreign user accounts have been dealt with
36Kr has learned that it is said that currently, a large number of user videos with IP locations displayed as the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Thailand, and other places can be seen on TikTok. In response, Li Liang, vice president of the TikTok Group, posted that having an overseas IP does not mean being an overseas registered user. "In addition, we found that in this wave, many people are taking advantage of the situation to carry videos and imitate foreign users, especially some black industry groups who want to take the opportunity to increase followers and cultivate accounts. It is somewhat difficult to identify these accounts. We have been actively managing them in the past few days, and more than 10,000 counterfeit foreign user accounts have been dealt with so far." According to the Sci-tech Innovation Board Daily, informed sources said that TikTok currently "has not opened overseas registration".
It Is a Misinterpretation That Elon Musk's Mother Signed with an MCN Company: It Is Actually Her Agency
Recently, a group of foreign TikTok users flocked to Xiaohongshu. Some American netizens discovered that Elon Musk's mother, Maye Musk, also opened an account on Xiaohongshu. According to the homepage of the account, the signed agency is Creative Artists Agency (Beijing) Co., Ltd. It is reported that Maye Musk is a client of CAA Global, and her business in global fashion, publishing, business cooperation, etc. is represented by CAA. However, CAA (Creative Artists Agency) is not an MCN company but an entertainment and sports agency. The MCN shown on the Xiaohongshu page is due to platform restrictions.
It is worth noting that "Maye Musk" has been registered as a trademark by a trading company, with an international classification of education and entertainment. Previously, an informed source revealed that Maye Musk's endorsement fee is approximately between $300,000 and $500,000, with slight differences in different cooperation channels, but basically within this range. (Xiaoxiang Morning News, Blue Whale News)
Tourists Shift from Thailand to Sanya as Interest in Thai Travel Drops, Hotels at 220,000 Yuan per Night Fully Booked
It is reported that the cooling of tourism in Thailand has brought more opportunities to the domestic tourism market. As a winter escape destination, Sanya in Hainan has become the top choice for many tourists to replace Thailand during the Spring Festival in 2024. During the Spring Festival, the flight prices from Beijing to Sanya are generally around 5,000 yuan, which is about double the price in mid-January and about triple the price in December.
In addition to the increase in air ticket prices, the demand for hotels in Sanya is also strong during the Spring Festival. With two weeks left until the New Year's Eve, most room types in Sanya hotels have been fully booked. Among them are the "Four-Bedroom Ocean View Pool Villa" at Capella Tufu Bay Hainan for 220,243 yuan per night, and the "Ease Water Residence - Fifty Deluxe Pool Villa" for 30,185 yuan per night, indicating the high popularity. (Haibao News)
Big Companies / Major Events
Alipay Responds to Payment Discount Error: No Text Messages for Recovering Funds, Will Not Chase Users for Payments
36Kr learned that for a small number of users who enjoyed an immediate discount when making a payment, Alipay's official Weibo post stated that the Alipay official did not send any text messages to recover funds. For the marketing discount funds that have already been issued, Alipay will not chase users for payments.
Xiaohongshu Responds to Adding One-Click Translation Feature: Team is Updating and Following Up
Recently, a large number of foreign netizens have flocked to Xiaohongshu to share their work and life. Some American users even expressed their willingness to pay to learn Chinese. However, some netizens in the comment section said that they hope the platform can develop a one-click translation feature. On January 16, the customer service staff of Xiaohongshu responded, "We have indeed received feedback recently. Some overseas accounts have registered and posted relevant notes. In response to the call for developing a one-click translation feature from netizens, Xiaohongshu has submitted it to the relevant team department. Currently, they are updating and following up on this aspect of the work. It is recommended that users continue to pay attention to the official information to keep abreast of the functional updates." (Jimu News)
Coca-Cola CEO Presents Trump with Inauguration Commemorative Coke, with the Bottle Featuring a Picture of the White House, Inauguration Date, etc.
It is reported that Margot Martin, Trump's deputy communications director, posted on the social media platform X on the 14th, "Tonight, President (elect) Trump received the first-ever inauguration commemorative Diet Coke from Coca-Cola Chairman and CEO James Quincey." Below the post, there is a photo of Trump and Quincey, as well as a picture of the Coke given by Quincey.
The bottle of Coke has a label with a picture of the White House. Below the picture, it is printed with "The Inauguration of the President of the United States", "Donald J. Trump", and the date of Trump's inauguration, "January 20, 2025". And next to the Coke, there is a box with a card featuring an introduction to the Coca-Cola Company. (Global Network)
The microcredit industry undergoes a deep reshuffle, with nearly 3,600 companies exiting in 9 years
Recently, another large enterprise has completely withdrawn from the microcredit industry. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Ping An of China recently completed the transfer of a microcredit company, and the transferee is FinVolution Group, a fintech company listed on the US stock market. In addition, in 2024, several subsidiary companies of central enterprises including Poly Group and China Telecom Group listed and transferred the equity of their microcredit companies at the property rights exchange. Since 2025, local financial management departments in regions such as Guangxi, Hunan, and Hubei have publicly announced a batch of microcredit companies that are out of contact or "shell" companies, with the number exceeding 20. As the regulation of the microcredit industry becomes more standardized and the threshold further increases, the number of microcredit companies and the industry scale have significantly shrunk, and the number of companies has decreased by nearly 3,600 since the peak at the end of September 2015. (Securities Times)
Carrying paid short dramas to free platforms involves infringement, and the court decides to compensate 46,000 yuan
It is reported that on June 20, 2023, a production team released a micro short drama, which immediately became a hit. Subsequently, the team authorized a platform to broadcast it, and set episodes 18 to 99 as paid viewing. However, the team's employees found that the popular short drama was secretly carried by other platforms and could be watched for free. Most viewers believed that the two dramas were the same.
The production team sued the company that carried the videos to the court. The court held that the micro short drama contained the content that a production team charged for playing on the authorized platform, which infringed the production team's right to modify and the right to disseminate information on the network for the micro short drama involved in the case, and should bear the tort liability. The court decided that the infringing company should compensate the production team for economic losses and reasonable expenses for rights protection totaling 46,000 yuan. Currently, the judgment has come into effect. (Big Reference)
US Users' Searches for Chinese Destinations Increase by 46%, Enthusiasm for Learning Mandarin Surges
Recently, the influx of a large number of overseas users into Xiaohongshu has attracted attention and discussions on the Internet. The enthusiasm of American netizens extends from online to offline. Data from an overseas site of a certain travel platform shows that in the past two days, the search volume of American users for destinations related to China has increased by 46% compared with the previous period. The first batch of overseas users may be on their way to travel to China.
At the same time, the interest of American netizens in learning Mandarin has also begun to rise rapidly, resulting in a surge in the number of American users signing up to learn Mandarin Chinese on the language learning platform Duolingo. It is learned from the data officially released by Duolingo that the growth rate of American users learning Mandarin has increased by 216% compared with the same period last year, and the growth is particularly significant when the number of Xiaohongshu users rose sharply in mid-January. (IT Home)
Zhipu Responds to Proposed Inclusion on the US Commerce Department's Entity List: Strongly Oppose, This Decision Lacks Factual Basis
36Kr has learned that the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the US Department of Commerce intends to add Zhipu and its subsidiaries to the Export Control Entity List. Beijing Zhipu Huazhang Technology Co., Ltd. issued a statement in response, saying: "This decision lacks a factual basis, and we strongly oppose it." Given the fact that Zhipu holds the core technology of the full-link large model, being included in the entity list will not have a substantive impact on the company's business.
Citigroup plans to allocate $600 million for severance packages in the new layoff plan in 25 years
Citigroup's Chief Financial Officer Mark Mason said that as the company continues to lay off employees and cut expenses, it plans to allocate $600 million as severance pay in 2025. This amount is about 14% less than that in 24 years, when the bank laid off more than 10,000 people. Mason said that usually, the severance pay would be around $300 million. (Sina Finance)
India Takes Antitrust Measures Against Meta's WhatsApp, Meta: May "Withdraw or Suspend" Certain Functions in India
According to reports, court documents show that due to an antitrust directive that prohibits its instant messaging app WhatsApp from sharing user data with Meta for advertising purposes, Meta may have to "withdraw or suspend" certain functions in India. Meta is seeking to revoke the November 2024 directive of the Competition Commission of India (CCI), which found that Meta abused its dominant position to "coerce" WhatsApp users into accepting a privacy policy. Allegedly, this policy expanded the collection and sharing of user data, giving it an unfair advantage over competitors. The CCI previously imposed a $24.5 million fine and a 5-year ban on Meta's data-sharing practices in India. (Jiemian News)
Insiders say the Biden administration will not enforce the TikTok ban and leave it to the Trump administration to handle
On January 16 local time, according to information from informed government officials cited by ABC, the Biden administration stated that it will not enforce the TikTok ban that was originally scheduled to take effect on January 19, and the relevant work will be handed over to the incoming Trump administration to handle. The official said in a statement that TikTok should continue to operate under US ownership, but given that the timing of the ban's entry into force coincides with the day before the Biden administration leaves office, it will be the responsibility of the next administration to handle it. (CCTV News)
Singapore Cybersecurity Agency Warns Apple iMessage Users to Beware of New Phishing Scams
The Computer Emergency Response Team Singapore (SingCERT) of the Singapore Cybersecurity Agency issued a notice on January 15, warning the public to be vigilant against a new fraud model targeting Apple iMessage that has emerged recently. The notice pointed out that the fraud gang induces Apple mobile phone users to reply with simple instructions such as "Y" in the iMessage text message to turn off the security settings of Apple's text messages, thereby activating the phishing link attached by the scammers and instructing the victims to click the link, causing the victims to fall into different scams. (Jiemian News)
Several investors are reportedly planning to raise $5 billion to establish an international basketball league to compete with the NBA
According to Bloomberg News on January 15, sources familiar with the matter said that several investors are seeking to raise $5 billion to establish an international basketball league to compete with the National Basketball Association (NBA). Maverick Carter, the business partner of Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, is advising these investors. The investors have hired UBS and Evercore to assist in raising funds, and the sources of funds may be wealthy individual investors and institutional investors such as sovereign wealth funds. Other supporters include Geoff Prentice, the co-founder of Skype, Grady Burnett, a former Facebook executive, and investment firm SC Holdings. (Jiemian News)
It is reported that Apple is negotiating a credit card partnership with Barclays to replace Goldman Sachs
According to two people familiar with the matter, Apple is in talks with Barclays to make the latter replace Goldman Sachs as its credit card partner. Goldman Sachs is giving up its ambition in the consumer finance field. One of the sources said that credit card issuer Synchrony Financial is also discussing credit card cooperation matters with Apple. (Sina Finance)
Blue Origin, owned by Bezos, sees its new flagship rocket lift off for the first time
The new flagship rocket of Blue Origin has lifted off for the first time, which is a crucial test for the company supported by Jeff Bezos to challenge SpaceX's seemingly unbreakable control over the launch market. At 2:03 am local time on January 15, the "New Glenn" roared off from the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. This mission is expected to last several hours, with the aim of sending the company's Blue Ring Pathfinder test satellite into orbit and landing the lower half of the New Glenn (referred to as the booster) on an unmanned ship in the Atlantic Ocean. (Caixin)
The Dutch court rules that the case of Google infringing the privacy of Android phone users can proceed
On January 15 local time, the court in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, approved that a Dutch foundation can continue to take legal action against Google for infringing the privacy of Android phone users. The court ruled that the foundation and its approach to handling this case are acceptable and can continue to act on behalf of Dutch Android users. Since the collective lawsuit was initiated at the end of 2023, more than 100,000 people have signed up to join the lawsuit. (CCTV News)
Vietnam Considers Allowing COMAC Aircraft to Operate in Vietnam
On January 15, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha met with Tan Wangeng, a director of Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. in Hanoi. In a statement released by the Vietnamese government after the meeting, Tran Hong Ha instructed the Ministry of Transport of Vietnam to re-examine the existing regulations, propose amendments based on the actual situation, and eliminate regulatory obstacles so that COMAC aircraft can operate in Vietnam in the future. Tran Hong Ha said that in the initial stage, Vietnam's major private airline, low-cost airline VietJet Air, may study cooperating with a Chinese airline operating COMAC aircraft to conduct tests on certain routes. (Jiemian News)
Southwest Airlines Sued by the US Department of Transportation for "Long-Term Flight Delays"
Southwest Airlines has been sued by the US Department of Transportation for allegedly violating the requirement that airlines develop and meet realistic flight schedules. The agency said in a statement on January 15 that the airline should be held responsible for "long-term, unlawful flight delays" that disrupted passengers' travel plans. In the lawsuit filed in the Federal Court in Oakland, California, the US Department of Transportation said it will seek the "maximum civil penalty" against Southwest Airlines. (Sina Finance)
The Forefront of AI
Trump, Musk and Microsoft CEO Meet to Discuss Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity Issues
On January 15 local time, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella met with the US President-elect Trump and the American entrepreneur Musk to discuss artificial intelligence and cybersecurity issues. Microsoft said in a statement that the talks covered a series of topics, including Microsoft's commitment to invest $80 billion to build artificial intelligence data centers globally. The statement said that more than $50 billion of it will be used in the US to create job opportunities in the US. Also present at the meeting was the US Vice President-elect Vance. (Jiemian News)
Alibaba AI's To C Strategy Changes Again: Tmall Genie Merges with Quark, to Explore AI Glasses
36Kr has learned from multiple independent sources that recently, Alibaba's Smart Connectivity Business Group has been officially placed under the management of Wu Jia, the president of the Smart Information Business Group. "Smart Connectivity" is a first-level business department established by Alibaba in 2022, and its core brand is "Tmall Genie", which is one of the few To C hardware businesses within Alibaba. In the future, Smart Connectivity will remain independently operated, and Song Gang, the head of the Tmall Genie Business Center, will report to Wu Jia. Currently, the hardware team of Tmall Genie has been integrating with the Quark product team. Their work focuses include the planning and definition of a new generation of AI products, as well as the integration with Quark's AI capabilities. In addition, after the team integration, the new team will also explore new hardware directions including AI glasses. When confirming the above information with Alibaba, as of the time of publication, there is no reply yet.
Smart Forms Strategic Cooperation with DeepRoute.ai to Deploy AI Large Model for Intelligent Driving
36Kr has learned that recently, Smart and the artificial intelligence enterprise DeepRoute.ai announced a strategic cooperation. The AI large model technology jointly developed by the two parties will empower the new-generation intelligent driving system. This system applies an end-to-end algorithm model and supports the intelligent driving function from parking space to parking space, being able to handle complex driving scenarios such as roundabouts, acute-angle turns, congested narrow roads, and roads without lane lines.
Big Company Financial Reports
Citigroup's net profit in 2024 is 12.7 billion US dollars, with a year-on-year increase of 37%
On January 15, Citigroup announced that its revenue in the fourth quarter of 2024 was 19.6 billion US dollars, with a year-on-year increase of 12%; the net profit was 2.9 billion US dollars, compared with a net loss of 1.8 billion US dollars in the same period of the previous year. For the whole year of 2024, Citigroup's revenue was 81.1 billion US dollars, with a year-on-year increase of 3%; the net profit was 12.7 billion US dollars, with a year-on-year increase of 37%. (Jiemian News)
Liangpinpuzi: Expected to lose 25 million yuan to 40 million yuan in 2024
36Kr learned that Liangpinpuzi issued an announcement. The company expects its net profit in 2024 to be -40 million yuan to -25 million yuan, while the net profit in the same period of the previous year was 180 million yuan.
Genki Forest's Smart Cabinet Business Achieves Annual Profit in 2024
36Kr learned that Genki Forest disclosed the three-year performance report of its smart cabinet business on January 16. In 2024, Genki Forest's smart cabinet once again achieved annual profit. It is understood that in 2024, Genki Forest's smart cabinet added 85 new strategic cooperation brands, and the commodity PSD increased by 10% year-on-year. Genki Forest's smart cabinet has become the group's standard testing channel for new products. In 2024, more than 30 new products were tested cumulatively, and the test accuracy rate reached 95%. In 2025, it is planned to add more than 150 new strategic cooperation brands, and to make independent packaging of smart cabinets for different scenarios such as campuses, gyms, and high-quality enterprises.
Investment and Financing
"Super Leopard Technology" Completes Hundreds of Millions of Yuan in Series B Financing
36Kr has learned that, according to China Renaissance, recently, the new energy heavy truck startup "Super Leopard Technology" has completed hundreds of millions of yuan in Series B financing. This round of financing is jointly invested by Yu Coal Fund and Yuyang District.
SMOROBOT Receives Strategic Investment of Several Million Yuan from Ecovacs
36Kr has learned that recently, SMOROBOT announced that it has received a strategic investment of several million yuan from the cleaning robot enterprise Ecovacs. In the future, the two sides will carry out a series of in-depth cooperations in product research and development, production, and sales. It is introduced that SMOROBOT is a high-tech enterprise focusing on the research and development, production, and sales of pool cleaning robots. Through the investment in SMOROBOT, Ecovacs has extended its layout of courtyard robots to the pool cleaning field.
Cool Products
It is revealed that the M4 MacBook Air has been mass-produced and is expected to be released in January or February
On January 16, Apple journalist Mark Gurman stated that the MacBook Air is Apple's first new product in 2025. This device has been put into production and is expected to be released in January or February. Its launch time is earlier than that of the iPhone SE 4 (iPhone 16E) and the iPad 11. (Fast Technology)
Nintendo Switch 2 Revealed, with a New "C" Button on the Right Controller
On January 16, the Nintendo Switch 2 handheld game console made its debut. It is understood that this product is also backward compatible with the games of the Switch handheld. The official will introduce this new console in detail at the special direct presentation on April 2.
According to the introduction details, a new "C" button has been added to the right Joy-Con controller of the Switch 2. Data miners found in the leaked information of the latest version of the Nintendo Switch operating system and SDK that this new button will introduce a function called "Campus". The "Campus" function will allow users to have group chats and voice chats, with a maximum of 12 Nintendo Switch Online paying users online simultaneously. If this news is true, then the "Campus" function will require users to subscribe to the Nintendo Switch Online service. In addition, data miners also found that this function will support screen sharing. (ITHome, Kuaitech)
Nvidia May Launch New CPO Switch in March
It is reported that the supply chain reveals that Nvidia will launch a new CPO (Co-Packaged Optics) switch at the GTC conference in March. It is expected that the trial production will proceed smoothly and mass production can be achieved in August. (Caixin)
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