ENTERTAINMENT
Sony mulls spin-off proposal
The head of Sony told shareholders yesterday the company’s board was studying from “all sorts of angles” a proposed plan to spin off part of its profitable entertainment arm, but said it would not be rushed into a decision. US billionaire Daniel Loeb, who says his hedge fund Third Point has amassed the largest stake in Sony, last month made the call to hive off and list up to 20 percent of the arm, which includes a music label and Hollywood movie studio. Sony chief executive officer Kazuo Hirai told the firm’s annual investor meeting in Tokyo that the board will reach a decision by discussing and analyzing Third Point’s proposal from all sorts of angles. “We want to take our time and get necessary information from outside,” he said.
NEW ZEALAND
Drought drains GDP
Economic growth slowed to a crawl in the first quarter of this year as a major drought hit the farming sector, official data released yesterday showed. Statistics New Zealand said GDP expanded just 0.3 percent in the three months to March 31, about half the level the market expected. It said the drought meant agricultural output slipped 4.7 percent in the quarter and it would continue to weigh on growth. The agency said GDP growth for the 12 months to the end of March was 2.5 percent.
SOUTH KOREA
Aging population a concern
Nearly one-third of the nation’s citizens will be aged 65 or older by 2040, government data showed yesterday, confirming one of the greatest challenges facing Asia’s fourth-largest economy. The 65-plus bracket will make up 24.3 percent of the population in 2030, rising to 32.3 percent a decade later, Statistics Korea said. In 1980, those aged 65 and over accounted for just 3.8 percent of the population. Last year, the figure stood at 11.8 percent. By 2040, “every 1.7 working people will have to bankroll one senior citizen,” Statistics Korea said in a press statement.
MOBILE PHONES
Microsoft, Nokia talks falter
Microsoft Cort was in talks to boost its position in the mobile phone market by buying the devices business from Nokia Oyj, but failed to seal a deal, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The Journal cited unnamed sources as saying the US technology titan and the pioneering Finnish mobile phone company were involved in serious talks that recently faltered. The two companies joined forces about two years ago in an alliance aimed at making inroads with handsets powered by Windows Phone software. Windows, boosted by the Windows Phone 8 introduced last year, boosted its US market share to 5.6 percent from 3.8 percent, according to a recent Kantar Worldpanel ComTech survey.
LOGISTICS
FedEx posts profit growth
Global package delivery giant FedEx on Wednesday reported a 7 percent increase in quarterly profits, as increased volumes of some North American deliveries offset declines in some premium international services. FedEx said profits for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013, which ended on May 31, rose to US$679 million from US$634 million the previous fiscal year. Those figures are “adjusted profits” and exclude a US$0.98 per share charge related to a cost-saving downsizing plan and a US$0.20 per share aircraft charge. Revenues came in at US$11.4 billion compared with US$11 billion a year ago.
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”