ENTERTAINMENT
Disney to cut jobs
Disney is to lay off 700 people from its interactive unit that makes video games and operates Web sites, about a quarter of the workforce in the division. The move narrows the company’s focus on mobile and social games that use key Disney characters. Some games that Disney acquired when it bought social game maker Playdom in 2010 for US$563 million, such as Sorority Life, are to be discontinued.
ENERGY
BP received regulators
BP PLC, the third-largest European energy producer, said regulators in Japan and South Korea sought information regarding potential manipulation of oil prices, amid ongoing probes in Europe and the US. The Japanese Fair Trade Commission made an initial request for information in June last year and the Korea Fair Trade Commission began an investigation in December, the London-based company said in its annual report for last year, which was released yesterday.
ENERGY
OPEC to cut exports: report
OPEC will reduce crude exports this month as refiners in Asia prepare for seasonal maintenance, according to tanker-tracker Oil Movements. OPEC, which is responsible for 40 percent of global oil supplies, will decrease shipments by 400,000 barrels a day, or 1.6 percent, to 24.2 million barrels in the four weeks to March 22, Oil Movements said in an e-mailed note. The figures exclude two of OPEC’s 12 members, Angola and Ecuador. Exports had climbed from January through early this month on winter demand and stockpile-building in China, according to the consultant.
AUTOMAKERS
Canada, S Korea in talks
Canada and South Korea are getting closer to a free-trade agreement, with auto industry issues one of the few remaining obstacles. Negotiators are finalizing details surrounding auto-safety standards required by the South Korean government, said a person briefed on the talk. US-based automakers with operations in Canada are concerned such standards could be used as indirect trade barriers, the person said. The countries are discussing how to phase out tariffs on South Korean cars imported into Canada and how to develop a dispute-settling mechanism, according to the person.
INTERNET
Facebook probe sought
Two privacy activist groups asked US regulators on Thursday to put on hold the Facebook acquisition of messaging service WhatsApp to ensure against misuse of user data. An administrative complaint filed with the US Federal Trade Commission calls on the agency to investigate the deal and protection against “unfair and deceptive data collection practices,” which could be implemented by WhatsApp after the takeover. Facebook last month unveiled a cash-and-stock deal worth up to US$19 billion for WhatsApp, which allows for communications over mobile devices.
ENTERTAINMENT
Macau hotel announced
Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld and a Macau casino operator announced plans yesterday to create a hotel. The 270-room Karl Lagerfeld Hotel will open in 2017 in a 20-story tower in the gambling enclave, according to Lagerfeld and the Sociedade de Jogos de Macau. The Lisboa Palace complex is also to include a Versace-themed hotel designed by the Italian fashion label and announced by Sociedade de Jogos in September. Yesterday’s announcement gave no financial details.
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
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last