Alec Hogg: Xi demands higher pay for Tencent’s workers

Shortly after Beijing's assault on Chinese tech companies began, pundits emerged advising investors to take advantage of their "cheap" share prices. We thought differently, selling the BizNews Share Portfolio's entire stake in long-held Naspers whose market value is determined by the performance of Chinese internet company Tencent..So far, so good. In our weekly chat yesterday, veteran money manager Piet Viljoen quipped that "When communists are around there's never a bargain." Like every joke, there's some underlying truth – and it turned into the perfect cue for Chinese leader-for-life Xi Jinping's latest strike in his "common prosperity" ideal..Unfortunately for South Africans, Xi is again swinging at already groggy tech companies including Tencent. This time issuing a direct order that they cut their profit by raising wages and improve conditions for employees, including tech platforms' 84-million contract workers..___STEADY_PAYWALL___.It's a 180 degree reverse from earlier in the year when Beijing's police jailed the activist leader of an alliance of food delivery riders. Chen Guojiang, who was pushing for better working conditions and is still behind bars, was accused of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble." Tough place, China..That full story is in The Wall Street Journal. Click here..Closer to home, two excellent articles to better inform you about developments to the north..I first came across British journalist Michaela Wrong after reading her eye-opening book about the DRC titled In the footsteps of Mr Kurtz. She is back on similar turf with a superb article published in The Spectator headed When will Britain wake up to the horror of Rwanda's President. She offers a very different perspective on the West's African hero, Rwanda's constitution-altering president-for-life Paul Kagame You can access the piece by using the UK publication's taste-before-you-eat option..Another insightful article is about the continent focuses on the recent coup in Guinea where another one-time leader beloved by Western governments, Alpha Conde, was ejected. It's by Good Governance Africa's Stephen Buchanan-Clarke and freely accessible – here's the link..Given the Left's strident campaign to vaccinate anything that moves, including infants, you may also be surprised to read a cautionary piece in The Guardian headlined Boys more at risk from Pfizer jab side-effect than Covid, suggests study..Finally, among life's pleasures is knowing a much admired ex-boss still cares enough to still keep an eye on your work decades later..Richard Rolfe, one of the best editors to grace SA media and my uber-fuhrer in the early 1980s at then excellent Finance Week, took out his red pen once more to point out my incorrect attribution of that "when the facts change I change my mind" quote..RR wrote: "The "great leader" you quote was the Bursar of King's College Cambridge, AKA J M Keynes." Not Churchill, whom I incorrectly referenced. Sorry Richard. Won't happen again..Two lighter pieces for your weekend reading….* A surprise hit among the WSJ's opinion pieces is Why God Created Dogs.* An ambition for property-owning golfers: St Andrews is a golf "Mecca". Well heeled home buyers happen top flock there, too..PS The next BizNews Investment conference, BNIC#3, will again be held at Champagne Sports resort and will include a special concert at the nearby Drakensberg Boys Choir school. For full details of March 2022's gathering of the BizNews tribe, click here. Please book early – we had dozens of disappointed wanna-be participants for BNIC#2 earlier this month..NB FOR YOUR WALL STREET JOURNAL ACCESS….As a Premium subscriber you are entitled to full membership of wsj.com (normal price $29 a month). Be sure to action your access through the Premium link on the BizNews website. Because of The Wall Street Journal's credential requirements, be sure to create a password which has at least 8 characters and includes at least one letter and one number – NB it MAY NOT contain any special characters (ie #, !, @ etc). To maintain access to WSJ.com, you MUST enter our partner's website via BizNews Premium at least once a month. A final PS, if you had previously signed up for WSJ you'll need to clear the cookies from your device. Our help desk can assist – support@biznews.com.If you'd like to help sustain our independent voice, why not share the love by making a gift that keeps giving? Click here to access the BizNews Premium subscription signup form, and be sure tick the relevant box (see below). At R100 a month and inclusive of full membership of The Wall Street Journal, it's a mind-expanding gift at an incredibly modest price.

Alec Hogg: Xi demands higher pay for Tencent’s workers

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