News aggregator Toutiao now valued at over $20 billion – China’s latest business and technology news

Entrepreneur Zhang Yiming 张一鸣, age 34, founded Toutiao in March 2012. It’s a mobile app that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to personalize streams of news, videos, and other digital content for its readers, and generates revenue through advertising that is also tailored to precision-target consumers. Reuters reports that Toutiao, valued at $500 million in 2014, is “raising at least $2 billion at a valuation of over $20 billion in its latest funding round.”

The supersize valuation validates the new Chinese internet industry jargon “TMD,” referring to Toutiao, Meituan Dianping (something like a combination of discount offer site Groupon and restaurant review site Yelp), and Didi Chuxing, the ride-hailing company that destroyed Uber in China. TMD is, Reuters says, “seen by some industry insiders and analysts as China’s next BAT,” the country’s tech trinity of Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent.

One theory to explain the popularity of Toutiao: Most Chinese news sites and apps are full of boring content because of state control, censorship, and propaganda. There is plenty of interesting stuff on the Chinese internet, but you have to sift through advertising, propaganda, and a lot of boring content to find it. Toutiao makes it possible to see a feed of only the stuff that interests an individual reader, and ignore everything else.

• Gray rhinos (?)
  Who owns Anbang of China? A U.S. labor union wants to know. / NYT (paywall)
  HNA finalizes purchase of money-losing German airport / Caixin
  Fosun fighting China Inc. for Arbor is no fool’s errand / Bloomberg
• Apple
  China casts a wary eye at an iPhone cash cow, the App Store / NYT (paywall)
• Energy – coal
  China halfway to target to reduce coal capacity by 800m tonnes / SCMP
• Sportswear
  Li Ning’s interim profit up 67pc to US$28.4m, beating forecasts / SCMP
• Autos
  China car sales accelerated in July / WSJ (paywall)
• Television
  World Wrestling Entertainment gets toehold in China with streaming deal / WSJ (paywall)
• Insurance
  For Chinese insurers, is party over? / Caixin (paywall)
  Can tax breaks boost private health insurance in China? / Sixth Tone
• Financial risk and regulation
  One of Chinese Central Bank’s key economists leaves job / Bloomberg
  China police arrest 5 after rumor sparks bank run / FT (paywall)