BANKING
OCBC seeks to buy HK bank
Singapore’s Overseas-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) said yesterday it has offered to buy Hong Kong’s Wing Hang Bank (永亨銀行) for US$4.95 billion as it seeks to boost its presence in the giant Chinese market. OCBC said in a statement the acquisition would provide it with a platform to grow its yuan-denominated businesses, and broaden its access to US and Hong Kong dollar funds. The company offered to buy each Wing Hang share at HK$125, or a total of HK$38.43 billion (US$4.95 billion) in cash. The offer price gives a 1.6 percent premium to Wing Hang shares as of their last closing price of HK$123, and about 67.3 percent over the 90-day average price, OCBC said.
ONLINE VIDEO
Yahoo to vie with YouTube
Yahoo is in talks to buy the online video service NDN, which could help it compete with YouTube, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. Yahoo could pay US$300 million in the deal for News Distribution Network, according to unnamed sources cited by the Journal. The deal could be Yahoo’s second-largest acquisition under Mayer, the report added. Last year, Yahoo bought Tumblr for US$1.1 billion.
COMPUTING
Microsoft unveils shakeup
Microsoft Corp chief executive Satya Nadella on Monday unveiled a leadership shakeup at the technology giant, including a new head for the Xbox division. In an e-mail to Microsoft employees, Nadella also formalized the role for former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, saying he would head the Microsoft Devices Group when the deal for the Finnish group’s handset business closes by the end of this month. Nadella also said he had promoted Scott Guthrie, the acting chief for cloud and enterprise, to executive vice-president.
E-COMMERCE
Amazon workers strike
Hundreds of workers at online retailer Amazon in Germany went on strike on Monday, the first stoppage this year in a pay dispute that has dragged on for months. A spokesman for the Verdi labor union had said that about 500 of about 1,200 workers at Amazon’s distribution center in Leipzig were expected to strike. An Amazon spokeswoman said fewer than 340 workers took part and deliveries had not been delayed.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Facebook CEO reaps gains
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reaped a US$3.3 billion gain last year by exercising stock options in the social networking company. The windfall saddled Zuckerberg with a huge tax bill, even though he limited his Facebook salary to just US$1, according to regulatory documents filed on Monday. It marks the second straight year that Zuckerberg has realized a huge gain on the holding that he has accumulated in Facebook Inc since he started the company in 2004. In 2012, Zuckerberg made US$2.3 billion off his stock options.
TRADE
Indonesia surplus surprises
Indonesia swung to a higher-than-expected trade surplus in February as a jump in palm oil prices and slowdown in imports boosted Southeast Asia’s top economy, official data showed yesterday. The surplus of US$785.3 million came after a US$431 million deficit in January caused by a controversial ban on mineral ore shipments that hit exports. Economists had expected a surplus of about US$420 million.
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],”