BANKING
Wells Fargo ranked top bank
Wells Fargo & Co finished trading on Friday as the most valuable US bank ever, surpassing Citigroup Inc’s 2001 record. Wells Fargo closed with a market capitalization of US$285.5 billion, based on 5.19 billion shares outstanding on Oct. 31, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That beats the previous record set by Citigroup on Feb. 5, 2001, when its value reached US$283.4 billion, the data showed. Wells Fargo, which counts Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc as its largest shareholder, doubled its size in 2008 by outmaneuvering New York-based Citigroup to purchase Wachovia Corp. Chief executive officer John Stumpf made one out of every four US mortgages last year and now oversees the most US bank branches. Wells Fargo stock rose 1 percent to US$55.03 per share in New York, and the 21 percent gain this year tops the 7.7 percent advance for the KBW Bank Index of 24 US lenders.
INVESTMENT
Buffet rises on rich list
Warren Buffett became the world’s second-richest person on Friday after shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc reached a record high. The Omaha, Nebraska-based company has soared 27 percent this year as the dozens of operating businesses the 84-year-old chairman bought over the past five decades churned out record profit. Berkshire’s Class A shares traded above US$200,000 for the first time in August after a rally that followed the release of the company’s annual report, in which Buffett wrote that the company’s actual worth has been rising faster than suggested by metrics such as book value. Since that milestone, the shares have climbed another 13 percent, elevating Buffett’s fortune to US$73.7 billion, US$300 million more than Mexico’s Carlos Slim.
FINANCE
IMF to assess Ukraine aid
The IMF on Saturday said it would dispatch a team to Ukraine to determine just how much extra aid the war-wrecked and energy-starved nation needs to make it through winter. The fund has helped piece together a US$27 billion global rescue package — promising to contribute US$17 billion of that sum over two years — in the weeks that followed the February ouster in Kiev of a Russian-backed president Viktor Yanukovich. However, it has since said that the new pro-Western government might need at least US$19 billion in additional assistance should its war against pro-Russian insurgents in the eastern industrial heartland drag on through the end of next year.
AVIATION
American Airlines to update
American Airlines Group Inc plans to spend US$2 billion on new aircraft seats, in-flight entertainment and onboard power outlets as it chases its rivals, led by Delta Air Lines Inc, in updating amenities for passengers. The plan announced on Saturday marks a shift by the carrier to add a focus on changes that passengers would notice most. It is also completing the basic work of meshing flight and airport operations with merger partner US Airways that has been under way during the first year of their combination. The airline has produced record profits since the merger, paid its first dividend since 1980 and announced a US$1 billion share buyback plan. Those moves have assuaged bankruptcy creditors who ended up with stakes in the new American Airlines when it left court protection through the merger. The company’s improved financial condition is set to help pay for the aircraft changes. The airline’s shares have more than doubled in the past 12 months.
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],”