PATENTS
Motorola suit tossed
The US International Trade Commission (ITC) on Monday tossed out a Motorola Mobility patent claim that threatened to block the import of some Apple iPhone models into the US. The commission dismissed a complaint by Google-owned Motorola Mobility accusing Apple of infringing on patented technology that makes touch screens ignore fingers when people are holding smartphones to their ears for calls. The ITC reasoned that the technology at issue in the patents was not original enough to support the accusation.
AVIATION
Virgin takeover backed
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission yesterday approved the takeover by Virgin Australia of budget rival Tiger Airways Australia. The commission said it would not oppose the transaction because it is unlikely to substantially reduce competition in the nation’s aviation market. The proposed acquisition of a 60 percent stake in Tiger for A$35 million (US$36 million) still requires approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board.
RETAIL
CP All buys Siam Makro
CP All Pcl, the owner of 7-Eleven stores in Thailand, agreed to pay about US$6.6 billion to acquire Siam Makro Pcl, putting control of the discount retailer back in the hands of billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont. CP All, controlled by Dhanin’s Charoen Pokphand Group, will pay 787 baht a share for the 64 percent of Siam Makro owned by SHV Holdings NV, the company said yesterday. It will also make a tender offer to other shareholders at the same price, a 15 percent premium to Siam Makro’s share price of 682 baht before it was suspended from trading on Monday.
ENTERTAINMENT
Netflix gaining customers
Netflix’s decision to feature original programming on its Internet video service appears to be pulling in more customers. Numbers released on Monday showed Netflix Inc added 2 million US subscribers to its video streaming service during the first three months of the year. Through last month, Netflix had 29.2 million US streaming subscribers. The subscriber growth helped Netflix eke out a profit of US$3 million, or US$0.05 per share, in the quarter. That contrasted with a loss of nearly US$5 million, or US$0.08 per share last year.
UNITED STATES
S&P case dismissal sought
The parent company of Standard & Poor’s (S&P) wants a federal judge to dismiss a US government lawsuit that claims the ratings agency gave falsely high ratings to mortgage investments that helped trigger the financial crisis. Attorneys for McGraw-Hill Cos Inc delivered their arguments in documents filed on Monday in US District Court in California. The motion asserts that the US government’s complaint against S&P is a stretch, noting that other agencies issued ratings identical to S&P.
GREECE
Eurobank needs help
Eurobank says it will not be able to privately raise money to complete its 5.84 billion euro (US$7.61 billion) recapitalization, and would rely on a national rescue fund instead. The bank’s governing board on Monday said it would make the recommendation at investor meeting to draw all the money from the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund — a move that could mean handing over management of the bank to the state.
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
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
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