China's Mobile Economy (eBook)

WINSTON WENYAN MA is a Managing Director of China Investment Corporation (CIC), the sovereign wealth fund of China, with a focus on long-term investments in large-scale concentrated positions. Since joining CIC in 2008, he has held leadership roles in major direct transactions involving natural resources, financial services and high-tech sectors. Prior to joining CIC, he served as the Deputy Head of Equity Capital Markets at Barclays Capital. Previously, he was a Vice President at J.P. Morgan investment banking, and a corporate lawyer at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and Freshfields. He is the author of the bestselling book Investing in China: New Opportunities in a Transforming Stock Market (Risk Books, 2006) and has been widely quoted in global financial media. Winston was selected as a 2013 Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum (WEF) and in 2014 he received the Distinguished Alumni Award from NYU.

Foreword xi

Preface xv

Acknowledgments xxiii

About the Author xxvii

Introduction 1

Chapter 1 The World's Biggest Mobile Economy 5

Chapter 2 Users, Partners, Investors and Competitors: Global Stakeholders 37

Chapter 3 Xiaomi: The Most Valuable Start-up in China 67

Chapter 4 The Omni-Channel Age of e-Retailing 97

Chapter 5 Mobile e-Commerce and Online-to-Offline (O2O) 127

Chapter 6 Mobile Entertainment 159

Chapter 7 "Internet+" Movies 189

Chapter 8 Internet Finance 221

Chapter 9 Going Overseas: A Bumpy Road 253

Chapter 10 Launched in China 279

Bibliography 313

Index 331

Every company - and every country - must succeed at digitalization to compete successfully in the 21st century. Winston Ma delivers a rare book that is both an outstanding survey of a fast-changing and vitally important economic landscape and a delightful 'field guide' that will enrich your understanding of what's really happening on the ground."
--Dominic Barton, Global Managing Partner, McKinsey and Company

"Winston has written a first of its kind - a timely, insightful and eminently readable analyses of the world's fastest growing mobile economy. A must-read for anyone interested in China, the mobile economy, or technology, more broadly. Eye-opening and thoroughly enjoyable."
--Reuben Jeffery III, President and CEO, Rockefeller & Co., Inc.

"China is determined to make innovation an engine for the next stage of the country's development, and no sector has been more creative or dynamic than the mobile economy, which in some areas has surpassed even the United States. Winston Ma's deep dive into this fiercely competitive, constantly evolving industry dissects the companies, personalities and forces that are transforming China and that will inevitably influence commerce far beyond its shores."
--John L. Thornton, Co-Chairman, Brookings Institution

"As the world moves to mobile technologies, and with China now the world's largest market of Internet users, all stakeholders have to think about China's economy, market, and society from a completely new perspective. This is an indispensable book for understanding the emerging shape and scale of opportunities in the Middle Kingdom and beyond."
--Rod Beckstrom, Co-Author of The Starfish and the Spider; Former President and CEO, ICANN

"Chinese society is experiencing a rapid transformation, becoming increasingly industrialized and digital-based. The Chinese Internet population has officially entered into the age of mobile Internet. This extraordinary book explains how the Internet has been the engine that catapults commercial activities from offline to online and towards ubiquity."
--Xiaodong Lee, President & CEO, China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC)