MSN is looking for a China partner

Weird news as Chinese media report that MSN has lost its joint venture partner Shanghai United Investment in MSN China. Foreign companies can only run this kind of operation when their Chinese partner has a majority. So, its Chinese partner is looking for a buyer, otherwise there would not be an operation anymore.
It underlines a story by one of our Chinabiz Speakers Paul Denlinger, who explains in Chinabiz why more US entries in China fail.

Stock market passed 5000 mark

The Shanghai stock market not only stayed today firmly in the red (that is positive here in China, where some things do go differently), but the index even passed the 5,000 point mark, another record.
Some observers, like Billsdue, expect that the investors will take now a break from their hard work and will a little psychological dip. One way or the other, if there is a dip, it will only be a short one, since the fundamentals have not changed.

Mr. China is making money

Danwei points at the return of Mr. China Jack Perkowski, the man who inspired Tim Clissold to write his book "Mr. China: A Memoir", a hilarious account of how he helped Perkowski to lose millions in investments in China.

Now, that was far away in the 1990s, although some people estimate that most US companies still have no clue to make money. According to the last rumors Mr. China is now making tons of money and is of course blogging about it at Managing the Dragon.

KFC: dare to differ

Our speaker Warren Liu finishes his third installment at Chinabiz on the development of KFC in China. He has brought together nice material about a success story in China, and his result will be published later this month in Chinese.

Main take-away: KFC tries elsewhere in the world to outsource as much as possible, but dared to take in China a different approach. You cannot just take a success in the US and hope it will also work in China:

In order to maximize flexibility in a rapidly growing and highly dynamic market environment, KFC leased its warehouses whenever restaurant expansion required new warehouses or expanded warehouse space. This system of distribution and logistics based on direct ownership and direct management of local assets and leased warehouses provided enormous benefits in terms of maximum flexibility at minimum expense. Above all, this system provided the foundation and the infrastructure for a "growth engine."

More at Chinabiz.

Public outcry on Blackstone losses

China has lost about 500 million US dollars of its 3 billion US dollars investment six weeks ago in Blackstone, causing public anger, writes the International Herald Tribune.

"O senior officials of the Chinese government, please do not be fooled by sweet-talking wolves dressed in human skin," said one of several Internet postings compiled by an anonymous blogger on Sina.com, a Chinese Web site. "The foreign reserves are the product of the sweat and blood of the people of China, please invest them with more care!"
In a sign that the Chinese government may be censoring criticism on the sensitive issue of government investment losses, the blogger's entry was visible on the Web site on Thursday afternoon but had disappeared by Thursday night. Other entries by the same blogger were blocked, but milder criticisms of the Blackstone investment could still be found.
"It is really alarming the speed with which the Chinese government entered into this investment," said another posting, signed as "anonymous person 586215," that remained on Sina.com through Thursday night.