FINANCE
China mulls transaction tax
A top Chinese financial regulator has suggested the country could introduce a tax on foreign exchange transactions among other steps to guard against speculative capital flows amid further economic liberalization. Yi Gang (易綱), head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), wrote in an article for the Communist Party theoretical journal Qiushi on the question of whether China should “study in depth” the so-called “Tobin Tax” on financial transactions. Yi also called for studying measures including fees on foreign exchange trading and curbing short-term speculative fund flows.
ENTERTAINMENT
Sirius buyout proposed
US conglomerate Liberty Media said on Friday it wants to buy the shares it does not already own in satellite broadcaster Sirius XM in a stock swap deal worth about US$10 billion. The holding company controlled by tycoon John Malone announced the proposal which would give Sirius public shareholders a 39 percent stake in Liberty Media. “Our proposal will allow Sirius public shareholders to convert from a non-controlling stake in a subsidiary into a direct equity position in Liberty, the parent company,” said Liberty’s president and chief executive, Greg Maffei. The offer at US$3.68 per share represents a 4.5 percent premium for Sirius shareholders. Liberty, which owns stakes in a variety of companies including cable operator Charter Communications and the entertainment operator Live Nation, bought a stake in Sirius in 2009 for US$530 million.
REAL ESTATE
Manhattan sales surge
Manhattan apartment sales surged in the fourth quarter, setting a record for year-end transactions, as the prospect of rising interest rates and prices pushed buyers to make deals before purchases became costlier. Sales of condominiums and co-ops jumped 27 percent from a year earlier to 3,297, the highest fourth-quarter total in 25 years of record-keeping, according to a report today from appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. and brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate. The previous record was set in 2012, when sellers sought to finish deals before an expected jump in capital-gains taxes. Buyers are rushing into Manhattan’s market after a jump in mortgage rates since May, heightening competition for properties at a time when supply is dwindling.
FINANCE
Deflation recorded in Cyprus
Cyprus registered its first negative annual inflation for 49 years last year, official data showed on Friday, as demand nosedived on the recession-hit island. The inflation rate for last month decreased by 2.3 percent compared with a 2.1 percent fall in November and 1.1 percent increase in December 2012, the Cyprus Statistical Service said. It said increases were recorded in the prices of certain fresh vegetables. Cyprus is suffering an unprecedented recession and record unemployment after a signing in March a 10 billion euro (then US$13 billion) rescue deal with a “troika” of international lenders. A delegation from the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank is expected to visit Cyprus later this month to conduct a third assessment of the Mediterranean island’s economy and banking system.
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],”