Pandaily's Digest #20220525
Airbnb is going to stop its operations in mainland China on July 30 and will lay off about 60 local employees. Airbnb’s co-founder and chairman of Airbnb China Nathan Blecharczyk announced.
Airbnb to Quit Chinese Domestic Market on July 30, Laying Off About 60 Employees
Pandaily has learned from sources that Airbnb is going to stop its operations in mainland China on July 30 and will lay off about 60 local employees. Airbnb’s co-founder and chairman of Airbnb China Nathan Blecharczyk announced the change at an internal meeting on Tuesday morning.
Audi Apologizes and Withdraws Plagiarized Ad Featuring Andy Lau
On May 21, FAW-Volkswagen Audi published an advertisement endorsed by Chinese actor Andy Lau, and it became a hit online. But that very night, a blogger named Beida Mange with 3.7 million followers on Douyin – the Chinese mainland version of TikTok – claimed that the ad had taken its script “from an original poem” he had composed on May 21 of last year. Content with “Audi Xiaoman (Grain Buds) Advertising Plagiarism” and “Audi and Andy Lau” emerged as trending topics on Weibo.
Tesla’s Shanghai R&D Center Heavily Recruits New Talent
Tesla China released a recruitment message for R&D staff on Monday through its official job advertising platform, covering more than 100 positions in various fields such as vehicle software, hardware design engineering, power and energy engineering, and vehicle engineering, with the workplace mainly in the Shanghai Lingang New Area.
TikTok to Begin LIVE Creator Subscriptions on Thursday
TikTok, a short video platform owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, will start testing subscriptions on Thursday for TikTok LIVE, a new program that will allow creators to generate recurring revenue via payments from their top fans.
Taobao to Launch Metaverse Shopping for 618 E-Commerce Festival
Tech Planet reported on Wednesday that in order to prepare for the upcoming 618 Shopping Festival, Chinese e-commerce giant Taobao has set up a special metaverse project team to create an optimized virtual shopping venue.
Autonomous Driving Firm WeRide Receives Strategic Investment From Bosch
WeRide, a Guangzhou-based level-4 autonomous driving (AD) technology company, announced that it has obtained strategic investment from Bosch, one of the world’s leading automotive suppliers. The two parties have also signed a strategic cooperation agreement involving the joint development of AD software. This cooperation will accelerate the process of developing Bosch China’s advanced driving solution, moving SAE level 2-3 AD towards mass production.
Meituan Travel and Tujia Look to Capitalize on Airbnb’s Exit From China
Following Airbnb’s announcement to withdraw from Chinese domestic market, Chinese local homestay platform Tujia opened a “green audit channel” and set up a special business services team that is responsible for communicating with Airbnb hosts to help them launch their properties on the platform. Meituan Travel, Fliggy, and a few other major travel service platforms all issued similar measures.
Huawei Adds Carbon Emission Reduction Requirements for Suppliers
The 2022 Huawei Supplier Carbon Emission Reduction Conference was held on Tuesday. During the event, Huawei Chief Supply Officer Ying Weimin said, “Huawei has integrated green requirements into its procurement quality priority strategy and the entire procurement business process, and has clarified green requirements in all aspects of the entire process, including supplier certification, selection, site audits and performance management.”
Kuaishou Reaches Game Cooperation With Tencent
Kuaishou Technology, a leading Chinese social media firm, announced on Tuesday that Beijing Dajia (on behalf of Kuaishou) and Tencent Computer have entered into the “2022 Game Cooperation Framework Agreement,” as well as the “Other Marketing and Promotion Services Framework Agreement.”
April Mobile Phone Shipments in China Exceed 18M, Down 34.2% YoY
The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) released a report on Wednesday analyzing the Chinese mobile phone market in April 2022. The report indicates that during the month, the domestic market shipped 18.079 million smartphones, down 34.2% year-on-year. Specifically, 14.585 million were 5G smartphones, down 31.9% year-on-year, accounting for 80.7% overall.
