Huge Bid for Starwood Hotels Puts Chinese Firm in Spotlight
Beijing — A $14 billion bid for Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc. surfaced Monday, putting a spotlight on Chinese firm Anbang Insurance Group and complicating a plan to meld Starwood and Marriott International Inc. into the largest hotel company. Starwood told Marriott on Friday that it received an unsolicited offer from a consortium led by Anbang, according to a statement released Monday by Marriott. Starwood confirmed that...
Fewer Chinese Auto Brands in U.S. Than Predicted
Ten years ago, as new-vehicle sales were slipping and incentives were rising, auto manufacturers faced a potentially greater issue: Chinese brands were gearing up to sell low-cost vehicles in the U.S. that threatened to undercut the established brands. The first Chinese vehicles were due to arrive as early as 2007, and industry analysts said it was almost certain they would be here by 2010. Fast forward to 2016, and the only Chinese...
U.S. Markets Plunge After China Sell-Off
Washington — Stocks on U.S. exchanges plunged Monday in the wake of an overnight sell-off in China that was triggered by fears of a weakening global economy and heightened Middle East tensions. The Dow Jones industrial average fell more than 450 points before recovering somewhat to close down 276.09 points, or about 1.6 percent, at 17,148.94. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed down 1.5 percent while the technology heavy...
A Holiday That Shows the ‘Power of Chinese Consumption’
In just a few years, Nov. 11 has become the busiest online shopping day on Earth. It is known as Singles Day in China, an event in which online retailers offer massive promotions and shoppers happily gobble up the bait. Some have called it “a 24-hour orgy of consumption.” The informal holiday was started as a joke by a group of Chinese college kids in the 1990s, a kind of anti-Valentine’s Day to commiserate over breakfast about their...
U.S.-China: First Step on Cybertheft
Washington — China’s pledge to help crack down on hackers who steal commercial secrets from the United States, even coming as it did amid a bit of arm-twisting by President Obama, is a big breakthrough that could reduce U.S.-China tensions and end huge losses for American companies. Analysts say the agreement between the world’s two biggest economies is just a start but could lead to real progress on the cybertheft issue — depending...
