Masks off in Hong Kong, BeiGene and Li Auto report annual losses, Tencent’s foreign investments tank

Hong Kong will abolish the COVID-19 mask mandate from March 1 after 945 days, per an announcement earlier today by Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu (李家超 Lǐ Jiāchāo). According to Lee, the pandemic in Hong Kong is under control, and social distancing measures are no longer necessary. Several large events are scheduled to take place in the city in March, including the Clockenflap music festival, the Art Basel fair, and the Rugby Sevens tournament. In nearby Macao, the mask mandate was fully lifted yesterday.

Biotechnology firm BeiGene has reported 2022 annual revenue of 9.56 billion yuan ($1.34 billion), a year-on-year increase of 26.1%, and a net loss of 13.64 billion yuan ($1.96 billion), which is 40% greater than the previous year. In 2019, BeiGene’s zanubrutinib became the first cancer drug developed in China to gain approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In 2022, BeiGene invested $1.6 billion in research and development, an increase from $1.43 billion in 2021.

Li Auto has reported 2022 annual revenue of 45.29 billion yuan ($6.50 billion), a year-on-year increase of 67.7%, and a net loss of 2.03 billion yuan ($291.78 million), which is nearly six times larger than the 320 million yuan ($45.99 million) net loss in 2021. In 2022, Li Auto sold 133,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 47.2%. According to the company, the large annual net loss is mainly due to the controversy of the replacement of its Li ONE SUV with the L8 model, and a 106.3% increase in research and development expenditure to 6.78 billion yuan ($974.52 million).

Tencent’s foreign investments in 2022 decreased by 77.6% year-on-year, according to a new report by Ifeng.com, although it was not alone in this regard: the 2022 foreign investments of Alibaba, Meituan, ByteDance, Baidu, and Bilibili collectively decreased by 61%. It was reported in October 2022 that Tencent had changed its investment strategy to focus on buying stakes in overseas gaming companies.