Corporate China | Weibo: Qihoo, The9 at play; Lenovo defends McDonald's
Top executives from software security maker Qihoo 360 (NYSE: QIHU) and struggling game operator The9 (Nasdaq: NCTY) were getting chummy in the blogosphere last week
These two sets of posts don't really share any common themes, as one involves a new alliance while the other criticizes the government for responsibility in the food safety scandal involving a major meat supplier to not only McDonald's, but also KFC (NYSE: YUM) and Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX). But they do reflect the fact that the microblogging airwaves often go quiet during the summer holiday months, and only major events like the ChinaJoy gaming trade show in Shanghai and the scandal involving McDonald's can get executives buzzing during this period.
I'm also cheering just slightly for a comeback by The9, which was once a Chinese online gaming superstar but fell into obscurity a few years ago after losing the license for its top money-earning game. Investors weren't too impressed by the new alliance, bidding down The9 stock by nearly 17 per cent in the two days after the announcement on the sidelines of ChinaJoy. Of course it's worth noting that Wall Street had one of its worst days of the year last week, though that sell-off was far smaller than The9's drop.
Meantime, a number of Qihoo's top executives also made posts on their way to ChinaJoy, led by the company's controversial founder Zhou Hongyi. In two of his posts, Zhou notes how he's come to the show many times in the past, but how this is the first time he's visited and been entertained by the hordes of avid gamers at the show's main hall open to the public. I've visited that same hall in the past, and am always amazed by the droves of people dressed up as characters from their favorite games.