INTERNET
AOL to fire employees
AOL Inc is firing as many as 40 people in the group that includes its AOL Instant Messenger service, while executives Eric van Miltenburg and Jason Shellen depart, three people with knowledge of the matter said. David Tempkin, who now runs the mobile group, will become head of the consumer applications division, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the changes have not been announced. That arrangement indicated that AOL wanted to impose fiscal discipline on the unit, Clayton Moran, an analyst at Benchmark Co in Delray Beach, Florida, said in December. Last year, the company combined the dial-up Internet access business with Web services, including AIM, into a new group reporting to chief financial officer Arthur Minson.
INTERNET
Google+ aims to add users
Google Inc aims to more than double the number of people on its social networking service this year, which has already reached 100 million active users. The growth of Google+ has surpassed any estimates the company had, said Vic Gundotra, a senior vice president in charge of social initiatives. Google unveiled the service in June last year, challenging the dominance of Facebook Inc’s site. Google added the social networking service in a bid to keep users on its site longer and boost ad revenue. The company said in January that Google+ had topped 90 million members, more than double the amount in October. Still, its user base is dwarfed by Facebook Inc’s 845 million-plus members. Moreover, ComScore Inc estimates that Google+’s members spend a fraction of the time on the site that their Facebook counterparts do.
AUTOMAKERS
Brazil wants Mexican limits
The Brazilian government officially asked Mexico to set a US$1.4 billion annual limit on the automobiles it exports to Brazil, an official with direct knowledge of trade talks between the two nations said on Friday. Brazil has threatened to scrap a decade-old automotive trade pact with Mexico and start charging tariffs on Mexican-built cars as it battles a growing trade deficit in the auto sector. Officials from the two nations have held talks since February in an effort to reach an accord. Brazil’s imports of Mexican vehicles jumped 40 percent last year to a value of more than US$2 billion. Brazil exported just $372 million worth of cars to Mexico, generating complaints from Brazil’s domestic auto sector.
MEDIA
Robinson package revealed
Janet Robinson, the New York Times Co CEO who was pushed out in December, received an exit package, including stock options and retirement benefits, of more than US$23 million. Robinson gets pension and supplemental retirement income valued at US$11.4 million, performance awards of US$5.39 million, restricted stock units worth US$1.07 million and stock options worth US$694,164, according to the company’s proxy statement filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday. She will also earn US$4.5 million in consulting fees this year. The December departure of Robinson, 61, left a leadership vacuum at Times Co, publisher of the namesake newspaper. The company faces falling revenue, profit squeezed by pension costs and pressure from members of the Ochs-Sulzberger family to restore a dividend once worth more than US$20 million a year.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure