U.S. media titan AOL Time Warner is selling a 64 percent stake in its China TV unit to a firm backed by Asia's richest man Li Ka-shing for US$37 million, Li's tom.com said on Wednesday.
AOL's decision to sell its controlling stake in China Entertainment Television (CETV) continues a pullback from China by the media giant, which held out big hopes for the market when it won the right to broadcast in the province of Guangdong. It was seen as a beachhead for an expansion to reach China's estimated one billion-plus viewers.
By keeping its stake in the venture, AOL has found a powerful ally in the world's most populous media market. The partnership is one in a new generation of alliances forming between western media companies eager to tap the China market and well-connected local partners.
CETV is bleeding red ink and has managed to capture just two percent or less of the market in the southern city of Guangzhou after a year and a half of operations, analysts say.
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News source: Reuters
AOL's decision to sell its controlling stake in China Entertainment Television (CETV) continues a pullback from China by the media giant, which held out big hopes for the market when it won the right to broadcast in the province of Guangdong. It was seen as a beachhead for an expansion to reach China's estimated one billion-plus viewers.
By keeping its stake in the venture, AOL has found a powerful ally in the world's most populous media market. The partnership is one in a new generation of alliances forming between western media companies eager to tap the China market and well-connected local partners.
CETV is bleeding red ink and has managed to capture just two percent or less of the market in the southern city of Guangzhou after a year and a half of operations, analysts say.
View: Article News source: Reuters
"Europe is under-exposed to the PC market and is therefore not benefitting to the same degree from the seasonal demand improvements," Woolf said. "If a higher exposure to the telecoms market has led Europe to underperform in May, then this increases the likelihood that STMicroelectronics could miss its second quarter revenue target."
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expect STMicroelectronics to report revenue of $1.7 billion for the three months ended June 30. Some of the weakness in the European market could be offset in coming months by the region's strength in the automotive and industrial markets.
The entire chip market witnessed an unexpected upswing in May with the Semiconductor Industry Association reporting that its three-month moving average figures showed sales improved as the effects of SARS on the sector began to wane.
Actual May chip sales rose even more strongly as unit shipment surged at a double-digit rate. Worldwide sales increased to $12 billion, up 11% from $10.7 billion in the year-ago month. Sales increased from $41.2 billion in April.
"The revenue increased chiefly because of strong shipment of 12% month-over-month and 54% year-over-year," said Jay Kim, an analyst at Goodmorning Shinhan Securites, Tokyo, in a report. "Although the shipment growth of 54% year-over-year is lower than the previous months' 73% in March and 69% in April, strong pricing in recent weeks bodes well for the global DRAM outlook."
On a regional basis, sales in the Americas declined 7%, to $2.47 billion from $2.65 billion in May 2002, continuing a trend that has seen the region lose market share to Asia-Pacific, which grew 12%, to $4.65 billion from $4.16 billion. Japan recorded the strongest year-over-year sales increase in May, rising 26% to $2.93 billion from $2.33 billion in the year-ago month.
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