A ban on booze, gold buying, Huang Guangyu and Gome

A document by a large insurer banning all booze consumption has caused a stir. Yesterday, the Party committee of People’s Insurance Company (PICC) 中国人民财产保险, a state-owned insurance firm, issued a set of prohibitions on the use of alcohol, including a blanket ban on booze consumption in all company activities and events. As a result, liquor stocks across the board fell in trading today. PICC has declined to comment on the document.

Purchases of gold during this year’s Spring Festival increased by 18.2% year-on-year, according to the China Gold Association (CGA). Fueled by inflation and geopolitical risks, 2022 had the highest gold demand in more than a decade, according to a report released in January by the World Gold Council (WGC), and this trend is expected to continue in 2023. And China is mining more gold: In 2022, domestic gold production was 372 tons, an increase of 43 tons or 13.09% year-on-year.

Gome and its largest shareholder continue to shrink: Huáng Guāngyù 黄光裕, CEO and founder of embattled big box retailer Gome, has now reduced his shareholding in Gome to a mere 10.79% (from just under 60% in January). Huang is jumping off a sinking ship: From 2017 to 2022, the company reported a cumulative loss of more than 22 billion yuan ($3.24 billion). Since the end of 2021, Huang and his wife have reduced their holdings more than ten times, cashing out about $127 million.

Baidu’s CEO thinks that AI will solve traffic congestion before 2032 in first tier Chinese cities, as technological developments like intelligent transportation help China boost its COVID-ravaged economy. But chief Robin Li ( 李彦宏 Lǐ Yànhóng) also noted that the digital transformation of the economy “has not yet been fully realized, and digitalization has not [yet] resulted in a substantial increase in efficiency.”