■ Eastern may sell big stake
Major shareholders for Eastern Multimedia Co (東森媒體科技) may sell a stake worth as much as NT$10 billion (US$302 million), the Chinese-language Economic Daily News reported, without saying where it obtained the information. Interested buyers include Liberty Media Corp of the US and Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) and Fubon Group (富邦集團), the Taipei-based newspaper said. Eastern Multimedia is the nation's largest cable television operator with a market share of 20.3 percent, the paper said. Macquarie Media Group, Australia's biggest commercial radio operator, on Dec. 19 agreed to buy Taiwan Broadband Communications (台灣寬頻) in a A$1.19 billion (US$890 million) deal that will give it 12 percent of Asia's third-largest cable television market. Macquarie Media will buy the cable-TV network from US buyout firm Carlyle Group, which acquired the company in July 1999.
■ Cross-strait trade rises
Total trade between Taiwan and China in the 10 months to October rose 15.9 percent to US$58.58 billion, the Board of Foreign Trade said yesterday. This was equal to 19.1 percent of the nation's total external trade in the period, compared with 18 percent a year earlier, it said. In that 10-month period, Taiwan registered a surplus of US$26.01 billion with China, up 9.1 percent. Exports to China rose 13.7 percent to about US$42.29 billion, while imports were up 22.1 percent at US$16.28 billion.
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