Air France service to Tianjin suspended, 5 passengers positive

BusinessTianjin 2021-10-09

Air France service to Tianjin suspended after 5 passengers tested positive

The Chinese Civil Aviation Authorities are to suspend all Air France flights from Paris to Tianjin from Monday for a minimum of two weeks, after five Covid-positive passengers were detected on board a flight from the French capital.
The French national airline has been offering three flights to China each week since last summer, two to Shanghai and the other to Tianjin, about 100 km to the east of the capital, Beijing.

The Chinese authorities have been limiting foreign airlines to one flight per week, but Air France has been allowed to exceed this rule.

Earlier this month, five passengers on the Tianjin flight tested positive for Covid-19 on arrival. The suspension was announced on Thursday. It comes into effect from 25 January.
Return flights for passengers will continue from the main international airport at Beijing-capital.
熔断！一入境天津航班5人阳性！
1月20日，民航局再发熔断指令，对法国航空公司和埃及航空公司的2个航班实施熔断措施。　　法国航空公司1月8日入境的AF202航班（巴黎至天津）核酸检测阳性旅客5例，自1月25日起，暂停该航班运行2周。该公司1月25日以前的航班可继续执行，如期间触发熔断机制，熔断时间将予以累加计算。
埃及航空公司1月8日入境的MS958航班（开罗至广州）核酸检测阳性旅客6例，自2月1日起，继续暂停该航班运行2周。根据此前熔断指令，该航班已于1月18日起暂停运行2周。

Ant Group’s Valuation Seen Dropping to $108 Billion on Crackdown

Ant Group Co.’s valuation may be cut further under new measures proposed by China to curb market concentration in its online payments market, according to new estimates from Bloomberg Intelligence.
Jack Ma’s fintech giant may be worth less than 700 billion yuan ($108 billion) under the draft proposals, which could reduce the value of Ant’s Alipay service by half, according to senior analyst Francis Chan. Earlier this month, Chan lowered his Ant valuation to less than 1 trillion yuan, from about 1.44 trillion yuan.
”Ant Group’s valuation may plunge further if its payment unit is forced to break up due to potential anti-trust probes by China’s central bank,” Chan wrote in a research note.

The revised estimate for Ant is a far cry from valuations that ran as high as $320 billion before the company was forced to scrap its record initial public offering in November. China’s crackdown forced Ma’s firm to withdraw the $35 billion IPO just days before its planned listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

China’s central bank said on Wednesday that any non-bank payment company with half the market share for online transactions, or two entities with a combined two-thirds share could be subject to antitrust probes.
If a monopoly is confirmed, the central bank can suggest the cabinet impose restrictive measures including breaking up the entity by its business type. Firms already with payment licenses would have a one-year grace period to comply with the new rules, the central bank said.
Alipay, with about 1 billion users, controls 55% of the mobile payments market. A break up could reduce its 600 billion yuan valuation in half, Chan said, adding it’s questionable whether Ant can relaunch its IPO this year.
蚂蚁集团估值暴跌至1080亿美元
1月21日消息，根据彭博情报的最新分析，蚂蚁集团的估值可能会进一步下调。

彭博情报高级分析师弗朗西斯•陈（Francis Chan）预计，蚂蚁集团旗下支付宝服务的估值可能会减少一半，这将导致蚂蚁集团的估值不到人民币7000亿元（约合1080亿美元）。

本月初，该分析师曾把蚂蚁集团的估值从约人民币1.44万亿元下调至不到人民币1万亿元。弗朗西斯•陈表示：“如果被迫分拆支付部门，蚂蚁集团的估值可能会进一步暴跌。”

彭博情报对蚂蚁集团的最新估值，较该公司去年11月被迫取消创纪录的首次公开募股前高达3200亿美元的估值暴跌了66%。

With Trump Gone, China Telcos Appeal to Stay Listed in New York

Telecom companies China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd, China Mobile and China Telecom Corp said on Thursday they had requested the New York Stock Exchange to review its decision to delist their American depositary shares.
The NYSE - after some flip-flopping - had delisted the three Chinese telcos earlier this month, following an executive order by former U.S. President Donald Trump that barred Americans from investing in public companies Washington deems to have links with the Chinese military.

The U.S. investment ban has triggered a wider fallout for the companies, with U.S. investors quickly selling off their stakes and index providers cutting them from their benchmarks.

Index providers MSCI Inc, FTSE Russell and S&P Dow Jones Indices removed the telcos from benchmarks this month, wiping a combined $5.6 billion off the value of their Hong Kong-traded shares.

The companies said the NYSE's review would be scheduled within 25 days from their filing on Wednesday, and requested that trading suspension on the telcos stay in place until the outcome is finalised.

LG planning to quit smartphone market as Chinese Rivals Power Ahead

LG is reportedly planning to quit the smartphone market. The electronics giant is said to be considering all means from a potential sale to downsizing to taking back its footprint from the competitive smartphone segment. LG is also said to be relocating 60 per cent of its staff in the smartphone segment to other business units within the company affiliates. Nothing has been decided for the remaining 40 per cent of the employees but regardless of all the changes, LG has made clear that their employment with the company will be retained.
A report by Korea Herald said that LG CEO Kwon Bong-Seok has informed all the employees via email about its intentions of shutting down the smartphone segment owing to huge losses. The company incurred losses mounting about $4.5 billion in the last five years in the smartphone market making LG take a ‘cold judgement’ said an official.

LG faces fierce competition in its home from Samsung, also a Korean electronics brand in the smartphone business along with several newcomers from China be it Xiaomi, OnePlus, Oppo or Vivo. As 60 per cent of the job holders that have been moved to other segments, the remaining 40 per cent can be retained if the company wants to not completely exit but focus on a few flagship models only. Last year, LG launched two new handsets, the dual-screen Velvet and flip LG Wing handsets with the aim to stand out from the rest in the market.

曾经全球第三，LG手机如今要退出了
曾经的全球第三大智能手机品牌LG，在近期频频曝出要放弃手机业务的消息。并且根据多家外媒报道显示，这家韩国科技巨头，要将LG手机智能业务外包，并且将会停止手机项目的研发。通过韩联社最新的消息来看，LG电子移动部门，已经连年亏损，该公司正在计划出售移动业务在内的各种方案。

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