The world’s 400 wealthiest people dropped US$26.2 billion from their collective net worth this week as stocks slumped amid concern global growth is slowing.
The heirs to Wal-Mart Stores Inc founder Sam Walton shed US$6.9 billion from their combined holdings in the world’s biggest retailer after the company cut its sales growth forecast and acknowledged the need to do a better job stocking shelves.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has plummeted 6.2 percent from a record last month amid concerns that central banks are running out of tools to fuel growth in the global economy.
European stocks fell for the most consecutive days since 2003 and yields on US 10-year treasuries slid to the lowest level since June last year.
The decline in equity markets was exacerbated by war in the Middle East, street protests in Hong Kong and the spread of Ebola.
Luxottica Group SpA founder Leonardo del Vecchio dropped US$1.3 billion after the Milan-based manufacturer of Ray-Ban eyewearlost its second chief executive officer in a little more than a month.
The 79-year-old is scheduled to take over as interim chief executive officer of the company after Enrico Cavatorta resigned “following disagreements on the current governance structure,” according to a statement on Monday last week.
Las Vegas Sands Corp chairman Sheldon Adelson, 81, defied the trend with a US$1.4 billion gain.
Adelson has a US$30.5 billion fortune and is ranked No. 15 in the world.
Microsoft Corp founder Bill Gates remains the world’s richest person, even after his fortune fell US$900 million. Gates, 58, has a net worth of US$80.9 billion.
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],”