Merger Archives - Gizmochina

Vivo to merge iQOO to reduce costs and increase efficiency

Soumyakanti — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 08:40:17 +0000

Chinese smartphone giant Vivo is reportedly planning to integrate its popular sub-brand iQOO into its core business operations, in a move that could help the company increase efficiency and reduce costs. According to a recent report from 36Kr, Vivo and iQOO have shared several resources such as R&D, supply chain, and media procurement in the past, but have operated independently in areas such as planning, media strategy, and e-commerce.

Courtesy: 91mobiles

The new move would involve merging iQOO’s branding and online business teams with Vivo’s existing teams, though it is unclear whether iQOO will retain a separate business unit. According to a source from Vivo, senior management has already discussed the possibility of eliminating iQOO’s independent stores and counters.

According to the latest data from CINNO Research, the top five mainstream smartphone brands in the Chinese market all experienced negative growth in January, with a range of decline between 4.2% and 23.5% compared to the same period last year. Among the Android camp, only Xiaomi’s sales decline was smaller than the overall decline in the smartphone market. OPPO, Honor, and Vivo all saw significant sales declines, with decreases of 13.5%, 19.2%, and 23.5%, respectively. Vivo (excluding iQOO) is currently the fifth-largest player in the Chinese smartphone market.

The integration of iQOO into Vivo’s operations could help the company consolidate its resources and improve its competitive position in the market. However, it remains to be seen how this will affect the two brands’ product and branding strategies moving forward. Vivo and iQOO have not yet responded to the reports.

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OnePlus will be a sub-brand of Oppo: Leaked Memo

Sean — Mon, 21 Jun 2021 10:30:53 +0000

Earlier this month, it was revealed the OnePlus will be merging with Oppo, although, it wasn’t revealed how closely the two companies would integrate. Now, a leaked memo has stated that the former will become the latter’s sub-brand.

A tweet from known tipster Evan Blass shared the leaked internal memo that was for the OnePlus PR team. It explains the integration of the two companies, stating that “With the integration, OnePlus becomes a brand within Oppo, however will continue to function as an independent entity.” The memo further added that the CEO, Pete Lau, will become the chief product officer at Oppo, while also being responsible for product strategies for both Chinese smartphone brands as well.

In other words, the memo has basically confirmed that OnePlus will be a part of Oppo. It states that “With the merging of both the firms, we will have more resources at hand to create even better products. It will also allow us to be more efficient in our operations.” At the moment, the research and development departments of both vendors have already been merged, and will be integration between both firms will grow to streamline day to day business as per TheVerge.

Just received these talking points on the new relationship between Oppo and OnePlus. Might help to clear up some confusion. pic.twitter.com/mIVyjcmeKD

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) June 18, 2021

Keep in mind, OnePlus users shouldn’t expect any changes that would directly affect the customers in any drastic manner. Despite the shared ownership and supply chain that have always existed between the two companies, OnePlus will still function individually for the most part. Furthermore, the company isn’t portraying itself as a startup any longer either, prior to the launch of its upcoming flagship series of smartphones.

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US Senator aims to ban all major tech mergers and acquisitions

Sean — Tue, 13 Apr 2021 08:50:19 +0000

Image Via AppleInsider

US Senator Josh Hawley introduced a proposal earlier this week that would ban companies with a market value of more than 100 billion US Dollars for going forward with acquisitions or conduct mergers.

According to an AppleInsider report, Hawley is seeking to bar mergers and buyouts for America’s top performing or big companies. This includes major tech giants like Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, and Google. For those unaware, the Senator is a conservative who has been attacking Big Tech after major platforms were accused of “censoring” Republican voices. Thus, Hawley’s legislation has also been dubbed as the “Trust-Busting for the Twenty-First Century Act.”

The legislation in question will also supplement existing antitrust laws with higher penalties and a lower threshold for prosecution. An example being, companies facing prosecution under federal law would be for “the protection of competition,” rather than just “consumer harm.” This would imply that the firms that lose antitrust lawsuits would be required to “forfeit all their profits resulting from monopolistic conduct” under the new regulation.

Furthermore, the Federal Trade Commission or FTC would also receive a new power to regulate “dominant digital firms.” The Senator stated that “This country and this government shouldn’t be run by a few mega-corporations.” He further added that the Republican Party “has got to become the party of trust-busting once again. You know, that’s a part of our history.” Similar to Big Tech, Hawley is also taking steps against major pharmaceuticals based firms that are dominating the medical market.

Tencent to accept concessions to receive approval for its game streaming merger: Report

Sean — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 10:55:45 +0000

Tencent had announced that it planned to merge Huya and DouYu, China’s two largest online streaming platforms, for the first time last year. Although, this major merger would apparently require the company to accept certain concessions.

According to a Reuters report, the Chinese tech and social media giant has plans to merge the two streaming platforms, which account for about 80 percent of the entire market that is worth more than 3 billion US Dollars and still growing fast. However, due to the size of the merger, local regulators in China have shown concern as the move would also further grow the dominance of Tencent in the market.

Thus, to have the deal be approved by the authorities, the company is willing to accept certain conditions that it might be subjected to, as per sources close to the matter. Furthermore, the SAMR (or China’s State Administration of Market Regulation) had stated back in December that it was reviewing this merger deal. Unfortunately, Tencent, Huya, DouYu, and even SAMR have yet to comment on this matter or respond to any requests for comment.

The move from the regulators is also a part of the Chinese government’s anti monopoly crackdown on local tech giants. As per one source, the anti trust review against Tencent has been an “elongated process,” although, nothing has been confirmed at the moment. For those unaware, Huya and DouYu are the the first and second most popular online streaming platforms in China. The Chinese company is currently the largest shareholder of Huya with 36.9 percent and also owns about a third of DouYu as well.