Brilliance loses 300 million yuan China Brilliance Auto announced yesterday that due to falling profits from its mid-sized and full-sized car divisions, it lost 300 million yuan (US$37.0 million) in the first half of 2005, where in the same period last year it had posted a net profit of 408 million yuan (US$50.4 million). Revenues are down from 3.86 billion yuan (US$476 million) in the first half of 2004 to 2.8 billion (US$405 million), on a 6.6% drop in vehicle sales, from 44799 vehicles to 41840 vehicles in the first half of this year. China Business Daily reports that CBA has dropped its sales forecast for the year by 11%. Car exports are up, however; this year CBA has exported 4500 vehicles, compared with just 777 in 2004. Link: http://dycj.ynet.com/article.jsp?oid=6435580   Huawei denies Marconi acquisition Huawei has denied speculation in international media that it would pay GBP682 million (US$1.2 billion) for British telecom equipment firm Marconi, The Beijing News reports. A spokesperson for Marconi called the acquisition reports "market rumors" and would not comment further. Link: http://www.thebeijingnews.com/news/2005/0927/09@002915.html   Alibaba to surpass MSN next year Alibaba CEO Jack Ma has declared that by next year, users of the company's instant messaging services would top MSN users, reports Southern Metropolitan Daily. Speaking to an audience of Yahoo China employees in Hangzhou, Jack Ma predicted that the combined user base of Alibaba's Alitalk, with 170,000 current users, Yahoo China's Yahoo Messenger, with 130,000 users, and Taobao's Wangwang, with 150,000 users, would surpass MSN's China user base of 500,000 to 800,000 by the end of 2006, putting Alibaba in second place after Tecent. Ma also said that Alibaba may launch a free Taobao auction service in the US to compete with eBay. Link: http://www.southcn.com/finance/nfcm/nanfangdsb/200509270192.htm   Mengniu looks for new president Mengniu Dairy head Niu Gensheng announced in July that he would step down as president at the end of the year, retaining only his position as chairman of the board. The Beijing Times reports that the company is preparing an announcement seeking candidates for his replacement from across the globe. This is the first time a domestic dairy company has cast an international recruitment net for an executive. A Mengniu human resource representative said that the board has decided to offer the new president a salary identical to what Niu Gensheng currently receives, as well as a profit bonus which would be considerably larger. Recruitment will close by the end of October. Link: http://www.bjt.net.cn/news.asp?newsid=120777   China Brilliance Auto: 1114.HK Mengniu Dairy: 2319.HK