TOYS
Mattel loses Bratz case
A US judge has ordered Mattel to pay just under US$310 million to its rival MGA Entertainment in the protracted legal battle over the Bratz doll and refused to allow it a new trial. The California federal judge on Thursday ordered that Mattel pay its competitor US$170 million in damages, and nearly US$140 million in legal fees and other costs in a dispute over ownership claims for the lucrative doll line aimed at pre-teen girls. A jury had earlier this year already rejected copyright infringement claims by the maker of the world-famous Barbie doll against MGA.
BANKING
RBS plunges into the red
Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS) reported a second-quarter loss yesterday after it wrote down the value of its Greek bond holdings by £733 million (US$841 million). The bank said it posted a net loss of £897 million, compared with a profit of £257 million in the same period last year. It also set aside a previously announced £850 million charge for customers who were missold payment protection insurance on mortgages and other loans. RBS, which is 83 percent owned by the British taxpayer, has hundreds of millions of pounds of exposure to Greek debt, making it vulnerable to the country’s ongoing crisis. Many of those losses are tied to its acquisition of Dutch bank ABN Amro.
INSURANCE
AIG back in the black
Bailed-out American International Group (AIG) reported a profit for the second quarter on Thursday as tax benefits and its one-third stake in Asian insurer AIA offset a decline in operating income at its main businesses. The company’s chief executive also confirmed it is working on taking its aircraft leasing business public, though that may not happen this year. Sources had previously said that the company was working on hiring bankers to pursue an initial public offering. AIG reported a net profit of US$1.84 billion, or US$1 per share, compared with a year-earlier loss of US$2.66 billion, or US$19.57 per share.
INSURANCE
Allianz hit by bond losses
Allianz SE says net profit slipped 7.4 percent in the second quarter as the company took a loss of 326 million euros (US$460 million) on its holdings of Greek bonds. Net profit was 1.071 billion euros, down from 1.157 billion euros last year, falling short of analysts’ estimates. Revenues were down 3.2 percent to 24.6 billion euros. Chief executive Michael Diekmann said the results were “satisfying” since the company had maintained “stable profitability” through a difficult period of currency and market fluctuations, as well as the Greek debt crisis. The company confirmed its earnings outlook for the year of 7.5 billion eurods to 8.5 billion euros in operating earnings, which excludes some financial items.
AVIATION
Tiger’s court case adjourned
Budget carrier Tiger Airways Australia will remain suspended until at least Thursday after court proceedings in Australia over the issue were adjourned yesterday, its Singapore-based parent firm said. Tiger Airways Holdings said its wholly owned Australian subsidiary was working “constructively” with Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) to resolve issues that led to the carrier being grounded last month. At a court hearing yesterday, both parties requested an adjournment to Thursday as CASA has asked for more information from the carrier.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six