TAXATION
Luxembourg faces scrutiny
EU anti-trust regulators are to challenge Luxembourg over its tax deals with Internet shopping giant Amazon that Brussels believes amount to illegal state aid, the Financial Times said yesterday. The EU’s Competition Commission is preparing to launch an in-depth probe of Luxembourg’s tax dealings with Amazon, focusing on a 2003 special arrangement that effectively capped the online giant’s tax exposure to the Grand Duchy, the report said. If confirmed, the probe would follow in the tracks of investigations revealed last week into the tax dealings of Apple in Ireland and of the financial arm of automaker Fiat, also in Luxembourg.
MACROECONOMICS
German output slides 4%
German industrial production plunged in August, weighed down by falling manufacturing and construction output, data compiled by the economy ministry showed yesterday. Industrial output contracted 4 percent in August, after rising 1.6 percent in July. Manufacturing output fell 4.8 percent and construction output was down by 2 percent, while energy construction output edged up 0.3 percent, the ministry said.
AUTOMAKERS
Venezuela output falls 82%
Venezuela’s automobile production plummeted 82 percent in the first three quarters of this year, a casualty of the shortage in imported materials, an industry group said in its monthly report on Monday. As of last month, the total number of vehicles produced was 10,286, less than a fifth of the 58,073 vehicles made from January to September last year, the Automotive Chamber of Venezuela reported.
INTERNET
WhatsApp deal completed
Facebook has completed its acquisition of the mobile messaging service WhatsApp for almost US$22 billion, up from the original US$19 billion when the cash-and-stock deal was struck early this year thanks in part to the rising price of Facebook shares. Facebook named WhatsApp cofounder and CEO Jan Koum to its board on Monday. WhatsApp is by far the largest acquisition for the Menlo Park, California, company, and bigger than any deals made by Google, Microsoft or Apple. The acquisition was approved by the EU’s antitrust authority on Friday last week.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Sanofi starts bribery probe
French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi said on Monday that it initiated a probe into alleged bribery by company officials in the Middle East and Africa to healthcare workers. Sanofi said it hired “experienced external counsel” to investigate anonymous allegations of “wrongdoing related to improper payments to healthcare professionals in connection with the sale of pharmaceutical products” in the Middle East and Africa from 2007 to 2012. It also alerted US Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission officials about the investigation.
LABOR
German train drivers strike
A union representing German train drivers called members out on a nine-hour strike last night, starting a campaign of walkouts after members voted for strikes in a pay dispute. The GDL union set the strike at national railway Deutsche Bahn for 9pm yesterday through 6am today. GDL wants a 5 percent pay increase and shorter working hours for train drivers. Separately, a union representing Lufthansa pilots announced a walkout today and tomorrow at the airline’s cargo unit over payment issues.
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