Chinese Net Rundown: Weibo Hurts Sina, Tudou Down, and More

Between the release of most companies’ Q2 financials, the downgrading of the US’s credit rating, Tudou’s IPO, and a variety of interesting rumors, it’s been a crazy couple weeks for Chinese net companies, especially those listed in the US. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the most interesting stories.

Sina reported its Q2 financials today, revealing a net income of just $10 million, down from $25 million last year. What caused the drop? Sina Weibo. Sina’s microblogging platform has grown to become the dominant one in China, but the company has been slow to monetize it. In July, Sina announced the launch of a Weibo micro-currency and social games, but it’s too early to tell whether or not those initiatives will help Sina earn back some of the money it has been spending on Weibo.

Netease also announced its Q2 results today. It’s apparently doing quite well, with net revenues of about $280 million and profits of $120 million US. That’s a 59 percent jump from Q2 2010.

Tudou saw a bit of a blemish on its successful IPO last night, as shares opened down 13 percent from their offer price and finished the first day still 12 percent down. Still, given the horrible state of the market right now, Tudou’s performance on day one wasn’t too bad, even if it doesn’t compare to the massive first-day jumps of Chinese net stocks in happier times.

Baidu stock has been dropping all week under the weight of a series of attacks from CCTV accusing the company of all manner of bad practices. But it ended yesterday slightly up as it becomes more and more clear that the CCTV attacks represent some kind of vendetta against the company rather than unbiased investigative reporting.

Youku was one of the few companies to see a small bump in its stock yesterday, which ended the first day of rival Tudou’s launch up almost 13 percent partially on the news of a rumored cooperation with Tencent.