Top China Stories Today: Letao Raises Only $15M? Ping’An Selling Yihaodian Stake

Xiu.com Trimming Down Beijing Office: Luxury goods etailer Xiu.com was said to trim down Beijing office with 20 to 30 staff retaining. Company reps said that certain Beijing divisions like BD, sales will be merged into its Shenzhen headquarters.

Rumor Says Letao Raises Only $15M: We mentioned Letao said raising US$ 30 million couple weeks ago, which a rumors claimed that the Chinese Zappos actually raised only US$ 15 million. An analyst predicted that Letao roughly brought in RMB 200 million in 2011 (the company claimed 400 million), he also said that the company’s valuation in its latest round of financing plummeted to US$ 80 million.

Ping’An to Sell 50% Stake in Yihaodian to Wal-mart? Yihaodian said no way, while Wal-mart suggesting “it’s possible”. However, according to a person close to Yihaodian, Ping’An has been considering an exit for a long while.

Now You Can Group Buy BF/GF from Meituan: One thing might be missing from the Groupons in the States, is wild imagination of what you could offer for customers. Meituan, the Beijing-based daily deal site is campaigning its free lottery of winning a boyfriend/girlfriend for your Chinese New Year. Oh, Meituan said, they for sure are not blow up doll.

Marketing Expenditure Rising for Mobile Games: Marketing expenditure is rising for mobile games as the marketing channels are quite fragmented in China.

Founder Talk

Chen Nian, founder of VANCL:

 We did make some mistakes in last year in expanding blindly into new categories, like mops and electric rice cooker.