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We update you on the most essential news from Asia in tech, media, and business—the things you need to know that you probably haven’t heard in Western media.
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Liquor Brand Kweichow Moutai Hurt by Corruption 🍶
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how Chinese liquor brand Kweichow Moutai has become the most valuable alcohol company in the world with a market cap of $260 Billion. The company experienced significant growth in the first half of 2020 and served as a good illustration of the size of the Chinese market!
Since that article, Kweichow Moutai has not been doing so well. Last week, the company lost $25 Billion in market cap after Chinese state publication People’s Daily wrote an article accusing Moutai of benefitting from corruption.
The article referenced comments from Moutai’s former chairman Yuan Renguo, who acknowledged that liquor sales related to corruption are part of business. Yuan was since removed as chairman in May 2018 and arrested on corruption charges. In the past few weeks, several senior executives have also faced investigations relating to corruption. Moutai is still one of the top ten biggest companies in China, making this a major issue for the business community.
AirAsia Rehires Workers For Agriculture E-Commerce 🌽
AirAsia is one of the most successful low-cost carriers in Asia, owned by famous Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes. The Kuala Lumpur-headquartered company laid off 300 employees in June due to coronavirus-related financial difficulties. While this has been a rough situation for the company, AirAsia has been both creative and compassionate with their recently laid off employees.
AirAsia has also launched an agriculture e-commerce platform called Ourfarm delivering fresh produce to Food & Beverage businesses. Many of the new employees at Ourfarm were former AirAsia employees who have now been rehired. This is an interesting pivot for an airline to get into agriculture e-commerce, which is definitely an industry growing more than airlines right now.
AirAsia also benefits from being part of the Tune Group, the broader holding company founded by Tony Fernandes. Whether this new agri-business works for AirAsia or not, it required true determination and creativity.
New Regulation for Young Online Fans 🚸
The Cyberspace Administration of China is launching a new campaign to monitor the online activity of minors in China. This includes prohibitions against pornography, violence, and “inappropriate cartoons.” The campaign also targets young fans of virtual idols and influencers from engaging in certain behaviours.
Internet culture in China can have some pretty intense, passionate young fans. Huge groups of fans under the age of 18 often purchase mass quantities of merchandise without having their own stable income or with aggressive influence from fan groups. Social media platform Weibo has started implementing new rules around fan management, after controversial examples of exploitation such as the fanbase of actor/singer Xiao Zhan using high-pressure sales tactics to mass purchase products and encourage users to file complaints.
If you understand internet culture, you might see some parallels with the West. Internet watchdogs, especially in Europe, are looking at ways to regulate the behaviour of young people on the internet, who are often vulnerable to things like buying loot boxes for video games. No matter the regulation, people will always be able to influence, young impressionable internet users.
Update #30 - Chinese Liquor, Air Asia Rehires, and Online Fans