■INTERNET
Google founders sell shares
Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin each plan to sell 5 million shares in the Internet giant, a move that would reduce their joint holdings to below 50 percent, a filing TO the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said on Friday. The SEC filing said the stock sales, which will occur over the next five years, are part of a pre-determined stock trading plan set up by Page and Brin on Nov. 30.
■BREWERIES
Beer blockade lifted
A blockade that threatened to strangle supplies of top Belgian beers to home and neighboring European markets ended on Friday, after management and unions said a compromise was reached. Two weeks after workers first barricaded Stella Artois, Jupiler and Hoegaarden breweries, in protest at owners Anheuser-Busch InBev’s plans to cut 10 percent of its European workforce, drinkers can breathe easier. AB InBev produces around 60 percent of the beer consumed in Belgium’s bars and cafes.
■COMPUTERS
Wife punishes Oracle chief
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and Oracle Corp president Charles Phillips has learned that lesson in a very public way. Huge billboards depicting the married software executive with YaVaughnie Wilkins, his former mistress, appeared this week in New York, Atlanta and San Francisco, setting tabloid tongues wagging. The billboards with the words “You are my soulmate forever!” appeared to be an attempt by Wilkins to embarrass Phillips after their relationship ended and he returned to his wife. The billboards also featured the address of a Web site that contains photos of Wilkins and Phillips, karaoke tracks and articles written by Wilkins.
■BANKING
Barclays’ bonuses deferred
Top staff at Barclays will defer payment of up to 100 percent of their bonuses for up to three years as they seek to respond to public anger about banking pay, the Financial Times reported Saturday. The business daily said this would apply to members of the British bank’s 11-member executive committee, led by chief executive John Varley, while the next 2,000 or so staff could defer upwards of 75 percent for three years.
■INDUSTRY
GE income down 19 percent
General Electric Co’s fourth-quarter net income fell 19 percent, but the industrial bellwether is seeing signs of stability as it moves into a key rebuilding year. For the quarter, GE posted net income of US$2.94 billion, or US$0.28 per share. That compared with US$3.65 billion, or US$0.35, a year earlier. GE said that orders improved late in the year in its businesses that supply equipment like turbines for power plants and sonogram machines for hospitals.
■FAST FOOD
McDonald’s profit rises
McDonald’s dollar menu keeps gaining fans in the recession, and its profit rose last fall, but the world’s largest burger chain said on Friday that its annual revenue slipped for the first time in at least a quarter century. For the three months that ended on Dec. 31, McDonald’s rang up revenue of US$5.97 billion — 7 percent more than the same period last year. Falling commodity costs and currency fluctuations helped boost the company’s fourth quarter profit, which amounted to US$1.22 billion, or US$1.11 per share. For the full year, McDonald’s profit climbed 6 percent to US$4.55 billion, or US$4.11 per share.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
‘IMMENSE SWAY’: The top 50 companies, based on market cap, shape everything from technology to consumer trends, advisory firm Visual Capitalist said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the 10th-most valuable company globally this year, market information advisory firm Visual Capitalist said. TSMC sat on a market cap of about US$915 billion as of Monday last week, making it the 10th-most valuable company in the world and No. 1 in Asia, the publisher said in its “50 Most Valuable Companies in the World” list. Visual Capitalist described TSMC as the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry operator that rolls out chips for major tech names such as US consumer electronics brand Apple Inc, and artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers Nvidia Corp and Advanced
Pegatron Corp (和碩), an iPhone assembler for Apple Inc, is to spend NT$5.64 billion (US$186.82 million) to acquire HTC Corp’s (宏達電) factories in Taoyuan and invest NT$578.57 million in its India subsidiary to expand manufacturing capacity, after its board approved the plans on Wednesday. The Taoyuan factories would expand production of consumer electronics, and communication and computing devices, while the India investment would boost production of communications devices and possibly automotive electronics later, a Pegatron official told the Taipei Times by telephone yesterday. Pegatron expects to complete the Taoyuan factory transaction in the third quarter, said the official, who declined to be
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