Hong Kong-listed Next Media Ltd (壹傳媒集團) said in an e-mail yesterday that the company had no intention of selling its Taiwanese businesses.
The statement indicated that the media group led by mogul Jimmy Lai (黎智英) had no plans to sell the Apple Daily news-paper, Next Magazine or Next TV.
“Mr Lai has also confirmed to the company that he has not negotiated with any party in respect of such a disposal,” the e-mail statement said.
Earlier this month, media reports said that Next Media, a pioneer in the field of animated news, had entrusted an unnamed investment bank with finding a buyer for its Taiwanese business, after allegedly suffering huge losses on the operation’s TV branch.
The reports added that Lai had initially only been looking to sell the money-losing TV division, but had been advised that selling the whole company would attract more buyers, those reports said.
Lai launched his Taiwanese media empire in 2001, with the launch of Taiwanese editions of the weekly Next Magazine and the Apple Daily newspaper, both of which have appeared to be big commercial successes.
However, his venture into the nation’s crowded TV market in the middle of last year, with several channels featuring news and entertainment programs, has been deemed a failure and is believed to be dragging down the group’s profitability.
Next TV Broadcasting Ltd (壹傳媒電視廣播) spokesman Chang Hsiu-cher (張修哲) attributed the difficulties faced by the company to problems in generating sufficient ad revenue because of the TV station’s limited news exposure.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
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
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last