BenQ Corp (
The loss in the 12 months until Sept. 30 includes the company's own-branded business and its contract-manufacturing operations, Rick Lei (
There were two reasons for the delays, Lei said. First, Munich-based BenQ Mobile GmbH & Co sold custom-made phones for operators, so the customization and modification process took time.
But the more important factor was poor product management at the German unit, he said.
"The unit's management team didn't make enough effort to integrate their project, customer, supply chain operations," Lei said.
The loss was "unbearable" for BenQ, which has registered capital of NT$26.2 billion (US$794 million), Lei said.
If BenQ were to continue to keep the German unit, it would have to inject 800 million euros into the unit in the coming year, he said.
BenQ, the world's No. 6 mobile phone vendor by market share, filed for insolvency last week for the German operations it took over from Siemens AG last October, endangering 3,000 jobs.
Taiwan's biggest mobile-phone maker said it can still use the Siemens brand for four more years under the sale agreement.
BenQ expects Siemens to honor an agreement to pay an outstanding amount of at least 150 million euros from the deal, said Eric Yu (
Siemens, which faces criticism from workers, unions and politicians over BenQ's decision, and said on Friday it may take legal steps against the Taiwanese company.
Greek tourism student Katerina quit within a month of starting work at a five-star hotel in Halkidiki, one of the country’s top destinations, because she said conditions were so dire. Beyond the bad pay, the 22-year-old said that her working and living conditions were “miserable and unacceptable.” Millions holiday in Greece every year, but its vital tourism industry is finding it harder and harder to recruit Greeks to look after them. “I was asked to work in any department of the hotel where there was a need, from service to cleaning,” said Katerina, a tourism and marketing student, who would
i Gasoline and diesel prices at fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.1 per liter, as tensions in the Middle East pushed crude oil prices higher last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week rose for the third consecutive week due to an escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, as the market is concerned that the situation in the Middle East might affect crude oil supply, CPC and Formosa said in separate statements. Front-month Brent crude oil futures — the international oil benchmark — rose 3.75 percent to settle at US$77.01
RECORD LOW: Global firms’ increased inventories, tariff disputes not yet impacting Taiwan and new graduates not yet entering the market contributed to the decrease Taiwan’s unemployment rate last month dropped to 3.3 percent, the lowest for the month in 25 years, as strong exports and resilient domestic demand boosted hiring across various sectors, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. After seasonal adjustments, the jobless rate eased to 3.34 percent, the best performance in 24 years, suggesting a stable labor market, although a mild increase is expected with the graduation season from this month through August, the statistics agency said. “Potential shocks from tariff disputes between the US and China have yet to affect Taiwan’s job market,” Census Department Deputy Director Tan Wen-ling
As they zigzagged from one machine to another in the searing African sun, the workers were covered in black soot. However, the charcoal they were making is known as “green,” and backers hope it can save impoverished Chad from rampant deforestation. Chad, a vast, landlocked country of 19 million people perched at the crossroads of north and central Africa, is steadily turning to desert. It has lost more than 90 percent of its forest cover since the 1970s, hit by climate change and overexploitation of trees for household uses such as cooking, officials say. “Green charcoal” aims to protect what
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