SKIN DEEP. Chinese beauty app Meitu is trying to apply gloss to its business. The Hong Kong-listed company, best known for its photo-editing app popular among selfie-takers, has purchased $40 million worth of ether and bitcoin and is assessing whether it can integrate blockchain into its overseas businesses. It looks more desperate than opportunistic though, spending a sum equal to nearly 3% of its market capitalisation compared to the roughly 0.2% Tesla splurged last month when the electric-car maker put $1.5 billion into cryptocurrency. Meitu stock slumped on Monday, and its shares are down almost 70% since they started publicly trading in 2016. Investors are right to be cynical. It’s eking more money out from premium subscription services but online advertising revenue is its mainstay and that declined 12% in the six months ended June compared to a year earlier. Meanwhile, the company has ricocheted between businesses, attempting everything from making smartphones to selling skincare products offline. Meitu’s latest facelift looks all wrong. (By Sharon Lam)