Tencent Music Officially Closes Ximalaya Acquisition—Total Price Tag Hits About 18.6 Billion Yuan
On May 18, Tencent Music (01698.HK / TME US) dropped the news that its merger agreement with Ximalaya Holding and a few other parties to buy out Ximalaya was all wrapped up as of May 18, 2026.
Here’s how it went down: Under the deal, Ximalaya’s shareholders and employee stock plan participants had their equity securities canceled in exchange for some serious compensation. That compensation includes cash up to $1.26 billion (roughly 8.568 billion yuan) and up to 175 million Tencent Music Class A ordinary shares—some freshly issued at closing, others tied to equity-based incentives. Now that the acquisition is done and dusted, Ximalaya has become a fully owned subsidiary of Tencent Music.
If you do the math based on Tencent Music’s closing price of $8.47 per share on May 15, those 175 million shares are worth about 10.1 billion yuan. So, all told, the total consideration comes to around 18.6 billion yuan.
iPhone 17 Pro Series Drops 1,000 Yuan, Triggers Buying Stampede—Huawei and Xiaomi Follow Suit
On May 18, Tmall told the press that right before this year’s 618 shopping festival, Apple’s official flagship store slashed prices on the entire iPhone 17 Pro lineup by 1,000 yuan. The discount lit a fire under sales. Just three days after the deal kicked in, searches for “iPhone” on Taobao and Tmall skyrocketed seven times compared to normal days. The iPhone 17 Pro series grabbed the top spot in the 6,000–10,000 yuan phone price bracket, with the iPhone 17 Pro Max quickly becoming the hottest seller—especially the 256GB silver version. This promo runs from May 15 all the way to June 21, covering the whole 618 shopping spree.
Some shoppers took to social media to share that thanks to the big price cuts on Apple’s iPhone 17 series, the Costco store in Hangzhou’s Xiaoshan district saw long queues and a mad rush over the weekend.
Baidu’s Q1 Revenue Hits 32.08 Billion Yuan—Beats Expectations
On May 18, Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU / 09888.HK) rolled out its unaudited financial results for the first quarter of 2026. The report shows total revenue for the quarter came in at 32.08 billion yuan, down 2% from the previous quarter but still above market forecasts of 31.49 billion yuan. iQiyi chipped in 6.2 billion yuan during the quarter, though that was down 8% compared to the last quarter.
Benchmark Hikes Intel Target Price to $140, Sees Strong AI Growth Ahead
News on May 18: U.S. brokerage Benchmark gave Intel a big thumbs-up, raising its price target to $140 and keeping a Buy rating. They’re betting on the company’s AI computing business charging ahead.
Ant Group Invests in Lingling Wuxian—a Machine Vision Control Solutions Provider
On May 18, Beijing Lingling Wuxian Technology Co., Ltd. updated its business registration to include a new shareholder: Shanghai Yunyang Enterprise Management Consulting Co., Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Ant Technology Group. Founded back in 2014, the company’s scope covers tech development, tech transfer, tech services, and tech consulting, plus computer system services. Public info shows the company focuses on using cutting-edge embedded AI to build world-class intelligent devices, and it also offers machine vision and high-precision computer control solutions.
Indian Court Grants Apple More Time in Antitrust Probe—Fine Still on the Table
Apple caught a small break in its Indian antitrust case recently. The Delhi High Court ordered Apple to “fully cooperate” with the investigation and hand over audited financial statements from 2022 to 2024. But at the same time, the court told the Competition Commission of India not to issue a final ruling until July 15, 2026. That pushes the original deadline of May 21 back by about two months.
Matrix Super Intelligence Unveils MATRIX-3—a Full-Featured Flagship Humanoid Robot
On May 18, Matrix Super Intelligence, a hard-tech company born in Shanghai’s Zhangjiang area, showed off the MATRIX-3, a top-of-the-line humanoid robot, with a starting price of 580,000 yuan.
Reporters learned that the MATRIX-3 stands 170cm tall, weighs 65kg, and packs self-developed bionic hyper-linear joints. Its core driving parts use a three-linear-joint parallel setup plus multiple planetary roller screws. What’s more, it runs on the WAVE physical base model, which taps into tons of real-world data to let the robot pull off “zero-shot generalization” and “mistake learning loops.”
Sources say Matrix Super Intelligence already has the capacity to deliver 5,000 comprehensive test units this year, and it’s kicked off deep stress testing in real industrial environments. As production lines keep getting upgrades, the company expects to hit a 100,000-unit production capacity by the first half of 2027.
