A bike share company goes bust – China’s latest business and technology news
A summary of the top news in Chinese business and technology for June 21, 2017. Part of the daily The China Project newsletter, a convenient package of China’s business, political, and cultural news delivered to your inbox for free. Subscribe here.
Wukong Bicycle has become the first casualty of an increasingly crowded market for shared bikes in China’s major cities, the South China Morning Post reports. The relatively smaller, Chongqing-based startup announced that after five months in circulation, 90 percent of its bikes were presumed lost or stolen, and the company had lost one million yuan ($147,000) during its short-lived operation. While the case indicates the high competitiveness of the new sharing economy, there were also a few key catches:
- Wukong apparently “failed to provide a top quality bicycle supplier,” leading to easily damaged bikes.
- The company neglected to install GPS devices on its bicycles, making them easily stolen or lost.
- Billionaires’ fortunes are being wiped out in China’s IPO frenzy / Bloomberg
- China’s State Grid seals acquisition of stake in Greek power grid / Reuters
- Changing of the guard: China Vanke founder Wang Shi steps down / Reuters
- As China trial looms, Crown’s offshore network seems to vanish / Bloomberg
- Chinese students and political uncertainty drive rise in applications for financial courses / Financial Times (paywall)
