SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Apple Inc has paid $60 million to Proview Technology (Shenzhen) to end a dispute over the iPad trademark in China that saw the world’s most valuable technology company engaged in a protracted legal tussle with a near-bankrupt Chinese firm.

The lawsuit had hampered some sales and delayed the launch of the new iPad in China. Prior to the launch, Proview requested Chinese authorities in scores of Chinese cities to order re-sellers to take all iPads off their shelves.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Daisy Liu epitomizes China’s obsession with luxury brands: her shoes are Guiseppe Zanotti, her brooch Chanel, a floral Hermes scarf is stylishly knotted over one shoulder. She won’t, however, tote a monogrammed Louis Vuitton handbag ever again.

Wealthy shoppers like Liu are increasingly turning up their noses at labels they believe have been tainted by the common touch, seeking out understated, and exclusive, merchandise from the likes of Chanel or Hermes instead. That is becoming a big challenges for designers hoping to cash in on the world’s fastest growing luxury market.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Chinese fund managers boosted their suggested equity weightings in May to the highest level in six months, encouraged by signs that Beijing may ease policy further to bolster flagging economic growth, the latest monthly Reuters fund poll showed.

The average recommended stock weighting in the next three months rose to 83.9 percent from 79.8 percent, the poll which surveyed nine China-based fund managers this week showed.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China, long known for its reputation as being a copycat nation, is emerging as a favored place for entrepreneurs looking to start mobile and Internet application businesses, due to the size and dynamic nature of the domestic tech market.

What makes China so attractive, say entrepreneurs, is a mix of lower operating costs compared to Europe or the United States, a willingness to work at start-ups, and the opportunity to feel first-hand the rapidly changing tastes of Chinese app users, which are seen to be leading the rest of the world.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s Alibaba Group could command a Facebook-rivalling valuation of $100 billion when it comes to list its shares, possibly by 2015 – but its more immediate challenge is to hang on to top spot in the country’s $36 billion e-commerce market.

Founded and led by Internet entrepreneur Jack Ma, Alibaba faces increasingly tough competition in its e-commerce stronghold from well-funded rivals 360buy, which is backed by Digital Sky Technologies, Dangdang Inc and Amazon.com Inc. Tencent Holdings, China’s leading online games and social networking firm, has also said it will build up its e-commerce business by creating a separate unit.

SHANGHAI/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Yahoo Inc will sell as much as half of its 40 percent stake in Chinese e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba Group for $7.1 billion (4.48 billion pounds), ending years of fractious talks over how to extract value from its most prized asset.

Yahoo also increased its stock buyback authorization by $5 billion to $5.5 billion as a result of the deal but said it might instead opt to distribute some of the proceeds through a dividend.

SHANGHAI/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Chinese Internet entrepreneur Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group is buying back up to half of Yahoo Inc’s 40 percent stake for $7.1 billion (4.49 billion pounds) in a deal that moves the Chinese e-commerce leader closer to a public listing.

Under the agreement, Yahoo will sell one-half of its stake in Alibaba for at least $6.3 billion in cash and up to $800 million in new Alibaba preferred stock. The deal, announced on Monday, caps years of often-acrimonious talks between Alibaba and Yahoo over how the Chinese company could reclaim some or all of the stake that Yahoo bought for about $1 billion in 2005.

SHANGHAI/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Chinese Internet entrepreneur Jack Ma is buying back up to half of a 40 percent stake in his Alibaba Group from Yahoo Inc for $7.1 billion, in a deal that moves the Chinese e-commerce leader closer to a public listing.

Under the agreement, Yahoo will sell half of its stake in Alibaba for at least $6.3 billion in cash and up to $800 million in new Alibaba preferred stock. The deal, announced in a joint statement on Monday, caps years of talks between the two firms over Alibaba reclaiming some or all of the 40 percent stake that Yahoo bought for about $1 billion in 2005.

SHANGHAI/NEW YORK, May 21 (Reuters) – Chinese Internet
entrepreneur Jack Ma is buying back up to half of a 40 percent
stake in his Alibaba Group from Yahoo Inc for $7.1
billion, in a deal that moves the Chinese e-commerce leader
closer to a public listing.

Under the agreement, Yahoo will sell half of its stake in
Alibaba for at least $6.3 billion in cash and up to $800 million
in new Alibaba preferred stock. The deal, announced in a joint
statement on Monday, caps years of talks between the two firms
over Alibaba reclaiming some or all of the 40 percent stake that
Yahoo bought for about $1 billion in 2005.

May 15 (Reuters) – Sina Corp sounded a bearish note
for the coming quarters, warning that further losses may lie
ahead because of increased investment into its microblogging
platform Weibo, China’s version of Twitter.

China’s largest Internet portal and media website posted a
first-quarter loss that was smaller than Wall Street had
expected after advertising revenue shot up 9 percent despite a
weak domestic market, propelling its shares 7 percent higher in
after-hours trade.