Ep. 65 (Extra Buzz Special): Luckin’s luck ran out

Episode 65 of Tech Buzz China is a special one — a reading of the seventh issue of Extra Buzz, our new biweekly newsletter written by co-host Rui Ma. Listen (and read along) to follow Rui’s thoughts on the biggest story in China tech last week: the alleged fraud of China’s on-demand coffee company, Luckin Coffee 瑞幸咖啡. At its core, we at Tech Buzz believe Luckin is a story of information asymmetry, with voices on either side of the Pacific at times seeming to be telling different stories altogether. Rui explains why investors and other observers who did the proper digging would never have been bullish, or mistaken Luckin for Starbucks.  Tech Buzz is holding a Virtual Happy Hour with a special guest, Dan Grover, this Thursday, April 16, 3:00–4:00 p.m. PST / 6:00–7:00 p.m. EST. We have a few spots left, over at techbuzzchina.com/community. Our discussion will center on how Chinese internet companies came together to create initiatives that helped combat COVID-19, and how perhaps you as a technologist or entrepreneur can do more, too.  Listeners can find our transcripts and more at pandaily.com. If you enjoy our work, please do let us know by leaving us an iTunes review, and by tweeting at us @techbuzzchina. We also read your emails, at [email protected] and [email protected]. As always, thank you for your support.  We are grateful for our talented producers, Caiwei Chen and Kaiser Kuo, as well as SupChina production associate Jason MacRonald. Stay healthy, everyone! Like the podcasts at SupChina? Help us out by taking this brief survey.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.