8 o'clock, 1 Krypton News | The advertisement of A2 Dairy Cow is accused of mocking office workers; Xiaomi confirms that its car model YU7 won't participate in the Shanghai Auto Show; The three major players in the marinated food industry have significantly closed stores.
Going Public in Progress
Chagee Holdings Limited
36Kr learned that Chagee officially listed on the NASDAQ. On the first day of listing, the stock opened up more than 20.53%, at $33.75. Based on the issue price of $28, the fundraising scale of this IPO is $411 million. On March 6 this year, the International Cooperation Department of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) disclosed the "Record-filing Notice for Overseas Issuance and Listing of Chagee Holdings Limited". Chagee became the 89th enterprise to be filed for listing in the United States since the CSRC launched the overseas listing record-filing system. After obtaining the record-filing permission from the CSRC, Chagee publicly submitted its prospectus in the early morning of March 26. According to the prospectus, the funds raised from this IPO will be used for technology investment, new product R & D, expanding the store network, and building an overseas supply chain network.
Top 3 Big News
Adoption A Cow Responds to Allegations of Mocking Office Workers in Ads: It's to Show Our Attention to Cows, Just Like Recruiting Talents
Recently, an advertisement by the dairy brand Adoption A Cow has sparked controversy. In multiple subway stations in Hangzhou and Shanghai, the slogan on Adoption A Cow's posters reads, "COWS Direct Recruitment, Looking for a job? Moo directly to the boss!"; Additionally, in an elevator of a residential community in Hangzhou, one of its advertising posters says, "Job-hop, cows! Heard that your farm doesn't get any sunlight?" A netizen told reporters: "What makes me uncomfortable about this ad is that it seems to be mocking us office workers."
In response, Adoption A Cow told reporters: "These are a series of recent ads, and we did pay tribute to the design elements of BOSS Direct Recruitment in the ad images. 'Since cows need care and emotional support, the creativity behind this ad is to show our attention to cows by recruiting them, just like recruiting talents. Meanwhile, it can also convey the environment of our ranch.'" (Jiupai News)
Xiaomi Auto Confirms YU7 Won't Participate in Shanghai Auto Show, Vice President Says "Don't Be in a Hurry"
On April 15th, Li Xiaoshuang, the vice president of Xiaomi Auto, posted on his personal social media platform, saying, "Welcome everyone to visit Xiaomi SU7 Ultra and the entire Xiaomi SU7 product line at the Shanghai International Auto Show." Some netizens asked in the comment section if there really was no YU7. Li Xiaoshuang replied that there was no YU7 and said, "Don't be in a hurry. What's meant to come will come in the best state."
Previously, when the booth map of the Shanghai Auto Show was released, Xiaomi YU7 was the focus of industry attention. People in the automotive circle and netizens speculated whether the YU7 would be unveiled at this year's auto show. At the end of 2024, Xiaomi announced its first SUV, the Xiaomi YU7, and said that it would be officially launched between June and July 2025, which has attracted continuous attention. (China Blue News, Hangzhou Daily)
The "Big Three" in the marinated food industry have significantly closed stores
Recently, Zhou Hei Ya, Juewei Food, and Huangshanghuang have successively disclosed their 2024 financial reports. All three of the "Big Three in the marinated food industry" recorded a decline in both revenue and net profit last year, and the number of their stores also decreased significantly. It is reported that this is not the first time that the "Big Three in the marinated food industry" have experienced a decline in performance. In recent years, the topic of "marinated food is too expensive" has occasionally made it onto the hot search list, triggering a lot of complaints from netizens. (Jiangsu News)
Big Companies/Big Events
ADM Responds to Rumors of Closing Trade Business in China: Will Still Serve Key Business Areas
On April 15th, there were reports that ADM, one of the world's "Big Four Grain Traders," had started to shut down its trade business in mainland China and was laying off employees in its largest local business unit. In response to this news, on April 16th, ADM stated that this adjustment only involved the domestic trade business and related employees of Tofflon International Trade (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. in China, and the number of affected employees accounted for a relatively small proportion of the overall Shanghai office. Other businesses in the Shanghai office continued to operate as usual and were not affected. ADM also said that it would continue to serve key business areas including foreign trade, the nutrition division, and the starch and starch derivatives division, and would closely cooperate with partners at all links in the value chain. (Jiemian News)
Meituan's Xiaoxiang Supermarket to Open Offline Stores
36Kr has exclusively learned that Meituan's Xiaoxiang Supermarket has restarted its offline business. Initially, the exploration direction of the store format was benchmarked against the community store brand "Hema NB" under Hema. Recently, a large - store model similar to "Hema Fresh" has also become a possibility. This business is still in a relatively high - level confidentiality state within the company. It is understood that currently, the offline business of Xiaoxiang Supermarket has started recruiting for relevant positions such as engineering and operations.
Japanese Rice Prices Keep Hitting New Highs, Japanese People Go to South Korea to "Buy Rice"
The upward trend of Japanese rice prices has continued recently. The average price of a 5-kilogram bag of rice in the market has reached a record 4,214 yen (about 217 yuan), approximately twice that of the same period last year. According to reports from multiple Japanese media outlets, the number of Japanese tourists has significantly increased near the rice shelves in supermarkets in Seoul and other places in South Korea recently. On the 16th, Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries announced that it will auction the third batch of government - reserved rice from the 23rd to the 25th, with a quantity of 100,000 tons, which will be put into the market through winning - bid enterprises. Previously, the Japanese government had auctioned a total of 210,000 tons of reserved rice in two batches in March, but the upward trend of rice prices has not been effectively curbed. (Xinhua News Agency)
Tencent Launches Its Largest-Ever Employment Plan, Adding 28,000 Campus Recruitment Positions in Three Years
36Kr learned that on April 17th, Tencent announced the launch of its largest-ever employment plan. It will add 28,000 internship positions in three years and increase the conversion rate for full - time employment. In 2025 alone, 10,000 campus recruitment interns will be recruited, and 60% of the positions will be open to technical talents. Tencent said that the campus recruitment internship positions open this year cover five major categories and more than 70 types of positions, including technology, product, design, marketing, and functions, with multiple position functions such as large models, R & D, algorithms, marketing, planning, operations, sales, and art.
12306 Customer Service Responds to the Question of How High the Success Rate of Waiting Lists Is to Get Tickets: It Depends on the Number of Tickets Released in the Background
Reporters found through inquiries on the 16th that, taking the high - speed train tickets from Beijing South to Tangshan on April 30 as an example, the success rate of waiting for one train was 45%, and the estimated success rates of waiting for 5 trains and 10 trains were both 85%. On the 17th, a 12306 customer service staff explained that generally, the success rate of waiting for multiple trains is higher than that of waiting for a single train, but it doesn't mean that the more trains you wait for, the higher the success rate will be. The customer service emphasized that the number of tickets available through the waiting list mainly depends on whether other passengers refund their tickets. The fulfillment rate of the waiting list is only calculated based on the success probability of the waiting list during the same period last year and is only for reference. The customer service said that the success rates of waiting lists vary for different trains, and the success rates of waiting lists for the same train at different time periods also vary, which are determined by the number of tickets released in the background. (China News Service)
Gold jewelry price soars to 1027 yuan
The price of gold has continued to hit a new record high. On April 17th, both the spot price of London gold and the futures price of COMEX gold have reached $3,350 per ounce. The price of domestic gold jewelry has also soared significantly and reached a new high again. The marked price of pure gold jewelry of Chow Sang Sang is 1027 yuan per gram, a sharp increase of 24 yuan per gram compared with the marked price of 1003 yuan per gram after the adjustment of the previous day, and a rise of 32 yuan per gram in two days. (Caixin.com)
Zuckerberg Refutes Monopoly Allegations: Acquisitions Were Not to Suppress, I Made Instagram and WhatsApp Better
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on his last day on the witness stand portrayed Instagram and WhatsApp as successful investments that exceeded his expectations, rather than victims of a "buy and kill" strategy he adopted to solidify his monopoly position, as alleged by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). (Sina Finance)
Consumption volume of U.S. users through Alipay tripled year-on-year
36Kr learned from Alipay data that during the first half of April 2025, spending by inbound tourists via Alipay increased by 2.5 times year-on-year, while consumption from U.S. users through the platform tripled compared to the same period last year.
Elon Musk's Stronghold in Jeopardy: Tesla's Electric Vehicle Market Share in California Drops Below 50%
According to new registration data from California, the United States, Tesla no longer holds the majority share of newly registered electric vehicles in the state. California accounts for nearly one-third of all zero-emission vehicle purchases in the United States. The California New Car Dealers Association said on Wednesday that Tesla's electric vehicle market share in the state has dropped from 55.5% a year ago to 43.9% in the first quarter of this year. While Tesla's registrations declined by 15%, the sales of all other electric vehicle brands increased by 35% at the beginning of this year.
In addition, Tesla is also facing a continuous decline in its stock price. Since the beginning of this year, Tesla's stock price has fallen by 37%, and it has dropped by 50% from its 52-week high. Tesla's first-quarter earnings report for 2025 is about to be released. At that time, the annual vehicle delivery volume will be announced. Analysts expect Tesla's first-quarter revenue to increase slightly year-on-year to approximately $21.7 billion, but the earnings per share are expected to drop to about $0.43, lower than $0.45 in the same period last year and far lower than $0.73 in the previous quarter. (Jiemian News, Wall Street News)
Apple Becomes One of the Biggest Victims of Trump's Tariffs: Market Value Drops Below $3 Trillion
On Wednesday, Eastern Time in the United States, Apple's stock price closed down nearly 4%, and its market value slipped back below $3 trillion to $2.92 trillion.
Although earlier this week, the news that Trump "exempted" electronic category products from tariffs once pushed Apple's stock price to experience a so - called "relief rally", after Trump later clarified the exemption news and launched an investigation into exported semiconductor products, Apple's stock price was once again burdened with the pressure brought by tariffs. (Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily)
NVIDIA CEO Visits Beijing, Says China Is a Very Important Market
On April 17, Ren Hongbin, President of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, held talks with Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, in Beijing. This is Jensen Huang's second visit to Beijing in three months. During the talks, Jensen Huang said that China is a very important market for NVIDIA and expressed the hope to continue cooperation with China. (CCTV News)
China and Malaysia Sign Agreement on Mutual Visa Exemption
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian said on the 17th regarding the signing of the agreement on mutual visa exemption between China and Malaysia that this will surely further promote bilateral personnel exchanges and cooperation in various fields, and push the building of a China - Malaysia community with a shared future to a new level.
When answering questions at the regular press conference on the same day, Lin Jian said that the friendship between China and Malaysia has a long history. The two countries share similar concepts, integrated interests, and connected cultures. During President Xi Jinping's state visit to Malaysia, the two governments officially signed an agreement on mutual visa exemption for holders of ordinary passports and service passports. This will surely further promote bilateral personnel exchanges and cooperation in various fields, and push the building of a China - Malaysia community with a shared future to a new level. (Xinhua News Agency)
New features launched for WeChat official accounts: Mobile WeChat supports one - click publishing for personal official accounts
36Kr learned that WeChat officially announced that mobile WeChat supports one - click registration and content publishing for personal official accounts. For those who already have a personal official account, by entering "WeChat - Official Account - Top right corner (Personal Center)", the administrator can directly write and publish official account graphics/articles on the mobile phone and reply to messages and private messages. Currently, this feature is in a phased roll - out. In addition, when an official account post is shared on the Moments, the source can be directly viewed.
Santander Bank surpasses UBS Group in market value to become the largest bank in continental Europe
By market value, Santander Bank is now the largest bank in continental Europe, surpassing UBS Group. The share price of this Spanish bank has soared this year, with a market value reaching 91 billion euros ($104 billion). Meanwhile, UBS's share price has tumbled, and its valuation has shrunk to 86 billion euros. The bank is facing the possibility of a significant increase in capital requirements in Switzerland. HSBC Holdings in the UK remains the largest bank in Europe, with a market value of 139 billion pounds ($184 billion). (Cailian Press)
Ford Motor Company Recalls 24,655 Vehicles in the United States
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA): Ford Motor Company is recalling 24,655 vehicles in the United States because a damaged parking system may cause the vehicle to roll away when the vehicle is in the park (P) position and the parking brake is not engaged. An engine stall while driving may result in a sudden loss of driving force. Either of these situations increases the risk of a collision. (Cailian Press)
US Department of Homeland Security Cancels $2.7 Million in Grants to Harvard University
On April 16 local time, US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem announced the cancellation of two grants worth over $2.7 million provided by the Department of Homeland Security to Harvard University. (CCTV News)
Wuzhao Restructures DingTalk: "Undercover Visits" Customers in Three Regions and Promotes Middle - Level Managers to Return to the Front Line
36Kr exclusively learned that on the first day of his return to DingTalk, Wuzhao had met with all product R & D and design employees at the P7 level and above to understand the product situation. One of Wuzhao's current requirements is that all product and design staff conduct a comprehensive review of the product experience chain. The product review mainly includes two directions. Firstly, in terms of product experience, for each product function, DingTalk requires the sorting out of N minimum MVP scenarios. Additionally, Wuzhao also requires the internal team to compare these MVPs with the experiences of competing products one by one to better improve the product. The review is not limited to DingTalk internally. In the first week of his return, Wuzhao led the team to Beijing, Guangdong, and the East China region respectively for intensive on - site visits and research, and "co - created" with DingTalk customers.
Juran Smart Home: The company's actual controller, chairman and CEO has been placed under detention
36Kr learned that Juran Smart Home issued an announcement stating that the company received a notice from the family of Wang Linpeng, the actual controller, chairman and CEO. Recently, Wang Linpeng received the "Detention Notice" and "Case Filing Notice" issued by the Supervision Commission of Jianghan District, Wuhan City. At present, other directors, supervisors and senior management of the company are all performing their duties normally, and the control rights have not changed. The company's business is operating normally and will not have a significant impact on its daily business activities. The company will continue to monitor the progress of the matter and fulfill its information disclosure obligations in a timely manner.
Hermès Raises Prices of American Handbags and Scarves Due to Trump's Tariffs
The prices of Hermès luxury handbags, scarves and other goods in the United States will rise from May 1st. The company said in a conference call with analysts on Thursday that it would seek to "fully offset" the impact of the 10% across - the - board tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump - currently excluding the possible 20% tariffs that the EU may face. Earlier this week, Hermès overtook its French rival LVMH to become the world's most valuable luxury company. (Sina Finance)
The Cutting - Edge of AI
Grok Adds "Memory" Function, Capable of Providing Personalized Responses
On April 17th Beijing time, xAI under Elon Musk announced that Grok has added a "memory" function. It can now remember user conversations and provide personalized responses when users seek recommendations or advice. Meanwhile, the "memory" is also transparent. Users can clearly see what Grok knows and choose what to "forget". (Jiemian News)
OpenAI Releases o3 and o4 Mini: New Models Cost 18 Times More Than DeepSeek
Early in the morning on April 17th, OpenAI released its latest inference models, o3 and o4-mini, which serve as the latest replacement models for o1 and o3-mini. Greg Brockman, the long-unseen president of OpenAI, presided over the press conference.
o3 and o4-mini are currently the most intelligent models of OpenAI. They are more efficient than their predecessors, o1 and o3-mini, and also have lower costs. For example, in the 2025 AIME math competition, the cost-performance ratios of o3 and o4-mini are much higher than those of o1 and o3-mini respectively, which also makes it possible for the prices of the latest models to drop. However, the latest models are still much more expensive than DeepSeek-R1. For instance, the input and output prices of o3 are both 18 times those of R1. (Sohu Technology)
ByteDance's Seed Agent Model UI-TARS-1.5 Open-Sourced
36Kr learned that the Doubao large model team (Seed) of ByteDance has released and open-sourced UI-TARS-1.5. According to the introduction, this is an open-source multimodal agent built on a vision-language model, capable of efficiently performing various tasks in the virtual world. Currently, UI-TARS-1.5 has achieved SOTA performance in 7 typical GUI graphical user interface evaluation benchmarks, and for the first time demonstrated its long-term reasoning ability in games and interaction ability in open spaces.
Financial Reports of Large Companies
Hermès' revenue reached 4.1 billion euros in the first quarter, up 9% year-on-year
On April 17th, Hermès released data showing that its consolidated revenue in the first quarter reached 4.1 billion euros, up 9% at current exchange rates and 7% at constant exchange rates. By business segment, sales in the leather goods and saddlery segment increased by 10% year-on-year, sales in the ready-to-wear and accessories segment increased by 7% year-on-year, sales in the silk and textiles segment increased by 5% year-on-year, sales in the perfume and beauty segment remained basically flat year-on-year, and sales in the watch segment declined by 10%. (Jiemian News)
Hengdian Film and Television: Net profit in the first quarter was 343 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 56.77%
36Kr learned that Hengdian Film and Television released its first-quarter report for 2025. In the first quarter, it achieved an operating income of 1.172 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 39.15%; the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 343 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 56.77%; the basic earnings per share was 0.54 yuan. During the reporting period, the company's cinemas achieved a box office revenue of 997 million yuan (excluding service fees), a year-on-year increase of 50.76%. The cumulative number of moviegoers was 25.2787 million, a year-on-year increase of 47.16%, and the market share of the cinema box office was 4.53%.
SF Holding: Express logistics business revenue reached 17.897 billion yuan in March, a year-on-year increase of 10.61%
36Kr learned that SF Holding issued an announcement stating that the total revenue of the company's express logistics business, supply chain, and international business in March 2025 was 23.661 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.63%. Among them, the revenue of the express logistics business was 17.897 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.61%; the business volume was 1.295 billion pieces, a year-on-year increase of 25.36%.
Netflix's Q1 Revenue Reaches $10.543 Billion, Net Profit Up 24% Year-on-Year
Netflix, a U.S. video streaming service provider, has released its financial report for the first quarter of fiscal year 2025. The report shows that Netflix's revenue in the first quarter was $10.543 billion, a 12.5% increase compared to $9.370 billion in the same period last year; the net profit was $2.890 billion, a 24% increase compared to $2.332 billion in the same period last year; the diluted earnings per share were $6.61, showing an increase compared to $5.28 in the same period last year. (Sina Tech)
Investment and Financing
"Dongyi Technology" Completes Angel + Round of Financing
36Kr learned that recently, the general-purpose humanoid robot company "Dongyi Technology" announced the completion of an Angel + round of financing, with the cumulative financing amount in the Angel round exceeding 100 million yuan. The Angel + round of financing was led by Qingzhi Capital, followed by Puchao Capital. Old shareholders Fengrui Capital and Z Fund (Zhipu Ecosystem Fund) significantly over-invested, and Lingge Venture Capital, Sunyard, Ginkgo Valley Capital, and Tsinghua Alumni Seed Fund continued to increase their investments. It is understood that the funds from this round of financing will be mainly used for technological R & D, team expansion, and product commercialization to further consolidate the company's technological leading position in the field of embodied intelligence.
"X-ORIGIN-AI" Completes Nearly 100 Million Yuan Pre-A Round of Financing
36Kr learned that the consumer-grade AI robot company "X-ORIGIN-AI" (Xuanyuan Technology) announced the completion of a nearly 100 million yuan Pre-A round of financing. This round was led by Orient Fortune Capital, followed by Golden Ding Capital and Lenovo Star, with Renchen Capital serving as the financial advisor. It has been less than a quarter since X-ORIGIN-AI's angel round of financing. The previous angel round of several tens of millions of yuan was led by Alpha Commune, followed by multiple industrial investors. According to the introduction, this year, X-ORIGIN-AI will develop a number of differentiated interactive products according to market demand and gradually launch them into the market.
Cool Products
NeuroTiger Technology Achieves Breakthrough in High - Precision Real - Time Motion Decoding Clinical Trial
On April 17th, with the support of the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience (TCCI), NeuroTiger Technology, in collaboration with the research team led by researchers Tao Hu and Zhou Zhitao from the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has made another significant breakthrough in the high - precision real - time motion decoding clinical trial conducted at Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University. A 19 - year - old patient with right frontal lobe epilepsy successfully had a 256 - channel flexible brain - computer interface independently developed by NeuroTiger Technology implanted. After the operation, the patient recovered well and smoothly entered the clinical trial two days later. Through a total of 19.87 hours of training in classic paradigms such as Center - out and WebGrid, the subject achieved precise brain - controlled operations of classic games like "Pac - Man" and "Tank Wars", as well as large and complex games like "Honor of Kings" and "Black Myth: Wukong". (Jiemian News)
Compiled | Guo Zihe