■ PrivatizaitionState-run firms on sale list
Shares of Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控), Taiwan's second-largest financial company, and Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) are on the government's sale list, according to the Taiwan Stock Exchange Web site. The Ministry of Finance plans to sell 52.8 million shares in Mega Financial and 68.2 million shares in Chang Hwa Commercial Bank, the exchange said. Chang Hwa is Taiwan's sixth-biggest lender by assets. The ministry's holding in Mega Financial will fall to 9.4 percent from 10.1 percent after the sale, and its stake in Chang Hwa will drop to 15.7 percent from 16.8 percent, according to the Commercial Times newspaper.
■ Mobile phones
Panasonic cuts orders
Panasonic Mobile Communications Co of Japan is reducing its orders to Taiwanese mobile phone makers Quanta Computer Inc and Compal Communications Inc on lackluster mobile phone business, the Commercial Times reported, without saying where it obtained the information. Quanta Computer's mobile-phone shipments will decrease by more than 25 percent in the fourth quarter, the Taipei-based paper said. Panasonic accounts for 70 percent of sales of Quanta Computer's mobile phone division, according to the paper. Compal Communications, which gets 30 percent of its revenue from Panasonic, will be under pressure to cut prices, the paper said. Quanta Computer and Compal Communications spokesmen did not answer phone calls for comments yesterday.
■ Microchips
Judge refuses AMD request
A US federal judge on Thursday refused a request by chip maker Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) to order its larger rival Intel Corp to turn over company documents to the European Commission. The commission, a regulatory board that enforces EU antitrust laws, is investigating a complaint filed by AMD alleging that Intel improperly used its industry dominance to keep other companies from winning market share in Europe. As part of that ongoing probe, AMD sought a federal court order in 2001 forcing Intel to hand over thousands of pages of company documents to the foreign board, even though lawyers for the board itself later told the Supreme Court it did not want the records and argued that US courts should not be involved in a European regulatory matter. Intel released the written ruling on Friday after receiving it late Thursday.
■ Software
Microsoft plays hard to get
Under a judge's orders to disclose sensitive details about some of its software, Microsoft Corp wants to publish the information in a protected electronic format that is awkward to use and can be viewed only using Microsoft's own Web browser software, the US government complained in court papers on Friday. The Justice Department and 17 states that negotiated a landmark antitrust deal with Microsoft said the company's current plan "significantly limits the practical usability" of the information Microsoft was compelled to reveal to its competitors. Microsoft said it was cooperating to resolve such concerns within the next 60 days, adding it believes it needs to keep the sensitive information from falling into the hands of companies that haven't agreed to license its technology. Friday's legal papers were the latest among periodic reports by the government to the trial judge monitoring Microsoft's behavior under the settlement.
RSS