■ Graduates have gloomy job view
Around 50 percent of recent graduates think jobs are harder to find than expected this year, and a similar percentage of the graduates are considering joining professions that are different from their fields of training, according to the results of a recent survey. The survey was conducted by Career magazine from April 7 to April 12 on 2,371 students who are set to graduate this summer. Fifty percent of the respondents expect their starting salaries to range between NT$24,000 and NT$30,000, with those having a master's degree expecting NT$36,000 on average, those having a bachelor's degree expecting no more than NT$30,000, and those having a technical college diploma expecting no more than NT$28,000. The survey also shows that graduates from the fields of agriculture, tourism and leisure as well as education have the strongest desire to switch professions, while graduates from the fields of art and design, mass communications, and science and technology have the least desire to do so.
■ MediaTek board supervisor quits
MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world's largest maker of chips for DVD players, said the representative of its major shareholder, United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), resigned as a supervisor of MediaTek's board. The supervisor was scheduled to serve until May 15, MediaTek said in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange late on Tuesday, without providing details. UMC has a policy to sell its stakes in companies when they reach a mature stage, and that's the reason for its retreating from MediaTek's board, according to UMC chief financial officer Liu Chi-tung (劉啟東).
■ Intralot gets lottery contract
Intralot SA, the world's third-biggest gaming technology and services company, received a 35 million euro (US$43.2 million) contract for Taiwan's Public Welfare Lottery, helping expansion in Asia. Athens-based Intralot will provide IT systems and maintenance for the duration of the seven-year contract, the company said in a statement late on Tuesday. The contract is with ChinaTrust Commercial Bank (中信銀), which has received the license to run the lottery from the government. The Taiwanese gaming market is estimated at 3 billion euros and will provide Intralot with a springboard into Asia, the world's biggest gaming market, the company said. The Taiwan contract may also allow Intralot to participate in the running of the lottery, the statement said. Cooperation may also be extended to sports betting games should such betting be permitted, the statement said.
■ BOE to sell extra shares
BOE Technology Group Co (京東方), China's biggest maker of flat-panel displays for computer monitors and televisions, plans to sell extra shares to fund 3.2 billion yuan (US$399 million) of projects to expand production and cut costs. The Beijing-based company intends selling 1.5 billion yuan-denominated A shares to investors, BOE said in a statement to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange yesterday. The shares will be priced at the average of the stock's past 20 trading days, the statement said. The private sale will raise 4.6 billion yuan, according to Bloomberg calculations. BOE will spend 2.5 billion yuan to build a production line to make color filters for flat-panel displays at its Beijing plant, the statement said.
■ NT dollar up
The New Taiwan dollar gained ground against its US counterpart yesterday, rising NT$0.078 to close at NT$32.408 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$1.073 billion.
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