Original link: https://www.latepost.com/news/dj_detail?id=1657
Tencentcustomers start spending, they keep saving
In the first quarter of this year, the main businesses of China’s largest Internet companies resumed growth.
According to Tencent’s announcement, the company achieved revenue of about 150 billion yuan in the first three months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 10.71%, which is the highest growth rate since the fourth quarter of 2021. Among them, revenue from value-added services (online games and social networking) stopped falling for four consecutive quarters, and revenue recovered to 79.3 billion yuan. The rebound in offline activities drove the growth of WeChat Pay revenue.
Tencent’s advertising revenue has grown by double digits for two consecutive quarters. “Our advertising revenue is strong in all walks of life, such as FMCG, e-commerce, finance, online services, medical care, travel, etc.” James Mitchell, Tencent’s chief strategy officer, told analysts by phone.
2022 is an important transition period for most of Tencent’s businesses. Some reorganized their strategic positioning this year, such as the cloud and smart industry business group (CSIG) increased the proportion of self-developed products and subscription revenue; some accelerated commercialization this year, such as WeChat video account For the first time, information flow advertisements were launched; some have fully turned to profitability, such as the platform and content business group (PCG).
When customers and users are willing to spend money again, according to “Wan Lian Cai”, cost reduction and efficiency increase are still one of Tencent’s important strategies this year, and a few departments are still optimizing personnel. This can also be seen from the first-quarter financial report-the total number of employees at the end of the quarter decreased by more than 2,000 from the previous quarter.
In addition to the slight increase of 4.35% in main business costs, the three major operating expenses of marketing, administration, and research and development expenses all decreased year-on-year, and the total cost was 3.2 billion yuan less than the same period in 2021.
At an internal meeting of Tencent CSIG in March this year, Qiu Yuepeng, president of Tencent Cloud, said that all products will still increase profits this year, and the most important thing is to pursue the ultimate cost. A person from CSIG relayed his statement to Wanwan Finance, saying that this year, discounts, volume prices, and contract terms will also be strictly agreed, and these are factors that will affect the gross profit of the business in the long run.
Returning to growing revenue and still restraining expenditures, Tencent achieved an operating profit margin of 26.33% (excluding other net income), the highest value since the second quarter of 2021, with a total of 39.4 billion yuan. In addition, the “profit pool” (deferred revenue), which can be regarded as unrealized, has once again returned to a high of 97.1 billion yuan, an increase of 18% year-on-year, second only to the 98.61 billion yuan in the same period in 2021.
Regarding the regulatory risks that analysts continue to pay attention to, Tencent said that regulation is necessary, and it will see regulators focus on normalized regulation and invest more resources to support the development and innovation of the entire industry. “I don’t think this (regulation) is unique to China, it’s the same all over the world.” Tencent Chief Operating Officer Liu Chiping said. (Gong Fangyi, Gao Honghao)
A Hearing to Seriously Discuss Issues, a CEO Calling for Regulation
At a U.S. Congressional hearing on May 16 local time, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (Sam Altman) said that the disinformation brought about by generative AI is disturbing, especially considering the upcoming election year.
In less than three hours of hearings, lawmakers showed far more patience and trust in Altman than other technology CEOs who have appeared on the same occasion.
“Washington Post” columnist James Hohman (James Hohman) commented that this hearing may become a watershed for artificial intelligence, because the lawmakers present are really trying to clarify and understand the facts, rather than just caring about the facts as in the past. Export politics and partisanship. Homan expects it to lay the groundwork for some real regulation, like a new AI law.
At the hearing, Altman talked about the hidden dangers that artificial intelligence may cause to human society. For example, he is most worried about people losing their jobs because of AI, so the government needs to come forward to help mitigate these effects. Altman said that artificial intelligence, which is better at tasks than jobs, will replace some human jobs and create better jobs for people who are good at using tools.
Altman proposed a three-step plan for how to regulate AI:
- Formation of a new government agency under which any AI experiments above a certain scale must be licensed, with the power to revoke licenses;
- Create a set of safety standards for AI models, including an assessment of their dangerous capabilities, such as whether the AI has the ability to “self-replicate” or act autonomously;
- Hire external experts to independently audit the performance of AI in various indicators.
At the scene, a congressman asked Altman whether he was qualified to oversee the role of the AI regulatory agency. The latter refused and said that he liked his current job, but suggested that OpenAI could draw up a list of candidates.
Members are also concerned about whether OpenAI will allow advertising on products such as ChatGPT. They believe that in the age of social media, the business model of relying on advertising has prompted technology companies to design traffic-oriented and addictive algorithms and products.
Altman said he wouldn’t completely dismiss the possibility, though he “really likes” the subscription model now. At present, the basic version of ChatGPT is still free to the public without ads, but if you want to use the new GPT-4 model, users must subscribe to ChatGPT Plus, paying $20 per month.
Some lawmakers worry that the current AI market is too concentrated in the hands of a few technology companies, and cited the cooperation between OpenAI and technology giant Microsoft as an example. Altman responded that there are indeed only a few suppliers currently capable of producing large-scale AI models, and he agrees that there needs to be enough competition, but only a few players also means that there are fewer objects that regulation really needs to focus on. (Qiu Hao)
Musk decided to advertise for Tesla, promising to mass-produce Cybertruck this year
Tesla CEO Musk said at the 2023 shareholder meeting that Tesla will also advertise. He also announced that the pickup truck model Cybertrucks will be mass-produced and delivered this year and news about new models.
The effect of the product price reduction strategy has become worse, and the reduction in gross profit margin seems to be the reason for Tesla’s change. In the first quarter of this year, Tesla sold 422,000 vehicles, and multiple rounds of price cuts brought only a 4% quarter-on-quarter growth. The gross profit margin of the auto business dropped from 28.5% last year to 21.1%.
Previously, Tesla had relied on consumer word-of-mouth and Musk’s personal influence, and had never advertised. Musk has said that the increasing number of Tesla vehicles on the road is an advertisement.
Tesla will launch more new models. Musk said that the Cybertruck pickup truck will be mass-produced and delivered within this year. The mass production of this model has been delayed many times before, and the delivery date is still unclear. He also predicted that Tesla’s two new products will achieve annual sales of more than 5 million vehicles. Among the known models, the next-generation Roadster supercar will be delivered next year, and the new Model 3 and Model Y will also be put into production. This is the first time that Tesla has released new cars so intensively since its establishment.
Tesla has only sold 4 models in the past 4 years, and the main model is still popular with consumers. In the first quarter of this year, Model Y was the best-selling model in the United States other than pickup trucks, the best-selling car in Europe, and the best-selling SUV in China.
At shareholder meetings this year and last year, Musk made predictions about a recession. This year, he believes that the difficult economic conditions in the next 12 months will cause many companies to fail, and Tesla will also be affected. In an email Monday, Musk asked Tesla to approve any hiring.
During the question-and-answer session, Musk dismissed rumors that he was stepping down as CEO and called the Twitter acquisition a “short-term distraction.” He likens the various steps he’s taking at Twitter to a major heart-opening surgery that Twitter needs to complete in order to survive. And now Twitter has been in stable operation. (Intern Chang Junfei)
The Family Planning Association has increased the promotion of marriage and childbirth, but the subsidy policy must also speed up to keep up
According to Xinhua News Agency, a few days ago, the China Family Planning Association announced that it will carry out the second batch of pilot projects for the construction of marriage and childbearing culture in the new era in 20 cities including Handan and Guangzhou. In March last year, the China Family Planning Association first announced this pilot plan, mentioning a support fund of 150,000 yuan for each prefecture-level project site.
The project focuses on publicity, including promoting new slogans, upgrading publicity carriers such as electronic display screens and light box advertisements, and carrying out publicity activities in communities, schools, and enterprises to encourage couples to share parenting responsibilities, reduce educational anxiety, curb high betrothal gifts, etc. to encourage people to marry and have children.
We also sorted out in March that in order to encourage childbirth, many places have introduced subsidy policies. Hangzhou will subsidize 5,000 yuan for the second child and 20,000 yuan for the third child, and Changsha will subsidize 10,000 yuan for the third child. Shenzhen is one of the few cities that subsidizes one child. The one-time plus regular subsidy for one child is 3,500 yuan, which is far lower than the 19,000 yuan for three children.
He Dan, director of the China Population and Development Research Center, believes that attention should be paid to having a child, and the experience of raising a child will affect the willingness to have children in the future. From 2019 to 2022, China’s total fertility rate will drop from 1.52 to 1.07, of which the one-child fertility rate will drop from 0.7 to 0.5. Earlier this year, a survey initiated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs showed that among nearly 105,000 valid questionnaires, about 28% of young people had no desire to have children.
Jin Yongai, a scholar at Renmin University, pointed out that it is necessary to distinguish between childbearing wishes and childbearing plans. People may be willing to have more children, but when it comes to having children, more practical factors will be considered, such as economic costs and availability of care. Taking Yuesao as an example, the basic monthly salary in first-tier cities is generally more than 10,000 yuan.
The Yuwa Population Research Think Tank calculated based on 2019 data and concluded that the average cost of raising a child to adulthood in a national family is 485,000 yuan, which is about 6.9 times the per capita GDP, second only to South Korea among major countries, and the highest in Shanghai is about 1.026 million. On the Internet, people also expressed concerns about employment, housing prices, marriage and maternity leave, maternity examination fees, workplace discrimination, and so on.
At the end of 2013, China began to allow single families to have a second child. In October 2015, the second child was fully liberalized, and in 2021, the third child was further liberalized. During this period, China’s total fertility rate will drop from 1.71 to 1.16, and the number of births will drop from 16.4 million in 2013 to 9.56 million in 2022. (Lin Guangying)
OTHER NEWS
The number of listings increased and transactions decreased. In April, the price of second-hand housing in many cities fell month-on-month.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, among the 70 large and medium-sized cities in April, the sales price of second-hand housing in 34 cities fell month-on-month, an increase of 21 from the previous month. According to the China Index Research Institute, the average sales price of second-hand housing in Baicheng in April fell by 0.14% month-on-month and 1.28% year-on-year. The analysis pointed out that as the number of listings in the second-hand housing market continues to increase, the transaction scale has declined month-on-month, which affects the trend of housing prices.
In the first two weeks of May, the retail sales of passenger cars increased by 24% month-on-month, and the Passenger Federation said that consumers are less likely to wait and see.
According to the Passenger Federation, from May 1st to 14th, the passenger car market retailed 706,000 units, an increase of 24% from the same period last month, and the performance exceeded seasonal effects. According to the China Travel Association, as the heat of the price war subsides, consumers’ wait-and-see mood eases, and the previously pent-up demand has been released. In addition, since the beginning of this year, the cumulative retail sales of passenger cars have increased by 3% year-on-year. Considering the special situation last year, sales still need to be further improved.
The two departments issued documents to encourage rural residents to purchase new energy vehicles.
The National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration recently issued a document, mentioning that rural household residents are encouraged to purchase new energy vehicles within the county where their household registration is located, local governments are encouraged to provide rural residents with consumption coupons, trade-in rewards, and increase credit support for automobile consumption in rural areas. The document also mentioned that the construction of charging infrastructure in rural areas should be strengthened, and party and government agencies, schools, hospitals and other units should be encouraged to use new energy vehicles.
Ctrip’s summer orders have exceeded the same period in 2019.
According to Ctrip data, as of May 16, the number of orders for this year’s summer vacation has fully exceeded the level of the same period in 2019. The report shows that the average air ticket price in the second half of May was 7.9% higher than that of the same period in 2019. In the second half of June, due to the approaching summer weather, the average air ticket price was nearly 30% higher than that of the same period in 2019. Ctrip said that the currently monitored summer ticket prices are also much higher than in previous years. The social zero data in April shows that the recovery of service consumption is better than that of commodity consumption at this stage.
Passenger traffic on domestic routes in April exceeded the same period in 2019 for the first time.
According to the Civil Aviation Administration, passenger traffic on domestic routes in April increased by 3.4% compared with the same period in 2019. Including international routes, a total of 50.275 million passengers were transported, recovering to 94.6% of 2019. The postal traffic volume in the same period was about 90% of that in the same period in 2019. In April, the daily utilization rate of aircraft in the industry was 8.2 hours, an increase of 0.7 hours month-on-month and 6 hours year-on-year.
Hangzhou City and Ant Group signed a comprehensive deepening strategic cooperation agreement.
On May 16, the Hangzhou Municipal People’s Government and Ant Group signed a comprehensive deepening strategic cooperation agreement. At the meeting, Liu Jie, Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, thanked Ant for its outstanding contribution to the development of Hangzhou, and mentioned that it is necessary to work together to create a source of global financial technology innovation. Jing Xiandong, chairman and CEO of Ant, said that he will take root in Hangzhou and increase investment in research and development. In October 2020, Hangzhou and Ant Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement, specifying that Ant’s headquarters will be located in Hangzhou.
The revenue of the parent company of RELX e-cigarettes in the first quarter fell by 89% year-on-year.
In the first quarter of this year, the parent company of RELX Electronic Cigarette, Fog Core Technology, had a revenue of 190 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 89% and a quarter-on-quarter decrease of 44%. The year-on-year decline in revenue was mainly due to the ban on the sale of fruit-flavored e-cigarettes implemented in October last year, and the e-cigarette consumption tax that began to be levied in November. Wuxin Technology had a net loss of 56.3 million yuan in the first quarter.
After franchising, HEYTEA has opened 430 new stores this year and entered 159 cities.
According to statistics from Mingliang Company, as of May 13, HEYTEA has opened 430 new stores and entered 159 cities this year. The total number of opened stores in China has reached 1,279, covering 241 cities. In addition, nearly 500 stores are in the process of renovation. . In November last year, HEYTEA announced the opening of non-first-tier cities to join.
Beijing and Shanghai suspended Xiaoguo Culture’s local performances.
On May 17, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism announced the results of the punishment of Xiaoguo Culture’s talk show actor House (Li Haoshi) for inappropriate remarks, including fines for Xiaoguo Culture, confiscation of more than 14 million yuan, and indefinite suspension of Xiaoguo Culture’s performances in Beijing. . In the afternoon, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism stated that it had simultaneously interviewed and admonished the person in charge of Xiaoguo Culture, and ordered him to suspend all performances in Shanghai.
On the same day, Xiaoguo Culture issued a statement saying that it would accept the punishment and make rectifications, immediately terminate the contract of the actor House, impose probation on the company’s senior management team and related business teams, and reduce salary, etc., and comprehensively rectify Xiaoguo’s offline performance business across the country , study, and promise to properly handle related refund matters.
The Japanese Prime Minister will discuss investment in Japan with global semiconductor giants.
According to media reports, Japanese Prime Minister Yufumi Kishida will meet tomorrow (May 18) with executives from major global semiconductor manufacturers such as TSMC, Samsung and Intel to discuss their investment plans in Japan. In the late 1980s, Japanese companies once held half of the global semiconductor market, but then gradually lost their competitiveness in the manufacturing field. At present, their industrial advantages are mainly concentrated in the upstream materials and equipment fields. The Japanese government’s goal is to triple domestic semiconductor revenue to 15 trillion yen (about 770 billion yuan) by 2030.
SHEIN raised $2 billion in a new round of financing, which may be used for platformization.
According to sources quoted by the media, the fast fashion e-commerce giant SHEIN has raised US$2 billion in its latest round of financing, with a valuation of US$66 billion, which is one-third less than a year ago and basically consistent with what we learned at the beginning of the year. unanimous. Due to high freight and production costs, SHEIN’s net profit fell 36% year-on-year to US$700 million last year. At the beginning of this month, SHEIN officially announced the platformization, and the platform model has been launched in Brazil, followed by the United States, and further promoted to the world.
Slashing marketing spending, Sea continued to be profitable in the first quarter, and revenue fell short of expectations.
Sea’s revenue in the first quarter of this year increased by 4.9% year-on-year to US$3 billion, and its net profit was US$88.07 million, both of which were lower than expected. The stock price once fell by 18%. During the period, Sea reduced sales and marketing expenses by more than 60% year-on-year, saving hundreds of millions of dollars, but also dragging down revenue growth. The most affected is the game department. In the first quarter, the number of paying users decreased by 36% year-on-year, and revenue decreased by more than 40%. The revenue of e-commerce Shopee and digital financial business increased by 36% and 75% year-on-year respectively, contributing more than 80% of the total revenue.
The WHO claims that long-term consumption of zero-calorie sugar cannot help weight loss.
On May 15, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a report recommending against the use of non-sugar sweeteners (NSS) for weight control. The report mentioned that based on experimental data, long-term use of NSS does not help control weight, and there may be potential adverse effects, such as increased risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
However, the WHO stated that the report did not refer to the safety and pathological evaluation of NSS, and could not explain that NSS was the cause of the disease. The connection between the two data may also be related to other factors such as consumer habits. Common NSS include acesulfame K, aspartame, cyclamate, stevia, etc.
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