Kindergarten company hit by lawsuits and short sellers
Business & Technology
RYB Education, the company at the center of a child abuse scandal, runs about 1,800 kindergartens and education centers around China.
- Caixin reports (paywall) that this week “at least six law firms filed or threatened class action lawsuits against the company” over the abuse allegations.
- RYB listed on the New York Stock Exchange in September this year. Its shares rose steadily until news of the abuses at the Beijing kindergarten spread. Caixin says that RYB shares are now trading at “more than 20% below levels from shortly before the scandal broke.”
- The South China Morning Post says that as early as October, short sellers had already positioned themselves for a slump in the company’s value, possibly because of “the company’s 200-plus-page prospectus document, in which it strangely devoted 37 pages to the risks facing its business.”
- Alibaba and Tencent
Tech turmoil dumps Tencent out of US$500 billion club / SCMP
“Chinese internet giant Samsung and Taiwanese chip maker TSMC lose combined US$35 billion in market value.”
Alibaba casts spell over bond buyers / Caixin (paywall)
The ecommerce giant raised $7 billion in dollar bonds “in the world’s largest corporate bond offering of the year.”
Jack Ma praises Chinese government, says the era of ‘guanxi’ is over in China / TechNode
China’s tech giants have a second job: helping Beijing spy on its people / WSJ (paywall) - Paid content — video
Netizens increasingly willing to pay for video content, survey finds / Caixin
“Nearly 43% of online video users were paid subscribers to some form of video service by the end of this year.” - Bonds and banking
Short sellers seen fueling China’s worst bond rout in four years / Bloomberg
“The nation’s government notes are headed for the worst selloff since 2013, with the 10-year yield surging 86 basis points this year.”
