UNITED STATES
Cuomo to lead Cuba mission
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will lead one of the first trade missions to Cuba from the US since the Obama administration loosened travel and trade restrictions on the Communist-ruled Caribbean island, his office confirmed on Saturday. The Democratic governor will be promoting an initiative which seeks to attract foreign investment to New York State, spokeswoman Melissa DeRosa said. Cuomo will be among the first high-profile US politicians to visit Cuba since last month’s policy shift. Details of the trip will be released “at the appropriate time,” his office said. Separately, the US and Cuba are holding high-level talks in Havana next week on normalizing ties.
ENTERTAINMENT
Disney bumps CEO’s pay
Walt Disney Co’s board handed chairman and CEO Bob Iger a 35 percent pay increase for delivering a record profit and stock price last year. Iger, who runs the world’s largest entertainment company, was already one of the US’ highest-paid executives. His compensation rose 35 percent to US$46.5 million last year, according to a filing on Friday. Disney stock has more than quadrupled in Iger’s nine years as CEO, and the board has twice extended his tenure. Iger, 63, received US$2.5 million in salary, unchanged from the previous year, according to the filing. He received a US$22.8 million bonus and US$17.3 million in stock, plus other items worth US$3.9 million. His pay dropped 15 percent in fiscal 2013 after the company failed to beat internal targets by as much as in the prior year.
MADAGASCAR
IMF urges economic reform
Madagascar’s economy showed early signs of recovery last year with growth estimated at 3 percent, which could rise to 5 percent this year, but political instability, weak institutions and weak governance are hurting prospects, the IMF said. The Indian Ocean island’s economy was battered after a 2009 coup that drove away donors and investors. A peaceful 2013 election has brought back some aid, but the nation is still struggling to impose stable government and economic reforms. However, the IMF said weak tax revenue meant spending on vital areas such as health and education was constrained, adding that funding fuel subsidies and the under-funded civil service pension fund were also imposing budgetary pressures. The IMF called for “an acceleration of economic and structural reforms to unleash Madagascar’s significant potential,” a demand that will be difficult to meet as long as politicians are haggling over who will be in the next cabinet.
PETROLEUM
SABIC net income plummets
Falling global oil prices dragged down the net income of Saudi petrochemical giant Saudi Basic Industries Corp (SABIC) by 29 percent in the fourth quarter, the company said yesterday. SABIC, the largest publicly traded firm in the Persian Gulf, reported net profit of 4.36 billion riyals (US$1.16 billion) for the three-month period ended last month. That compared with 6.16 billion riyals in the same quarter a year earlier. “The decrease in net income is mainly attributable to lower average sales prices, partially offset by lower costs for certain feedstocks [raw materials],” SABIC said in a statement. The result was lower than the mean estimate of 5.39 billion riyals forecast by seven analysts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Full year net profit was 23.43 billion riyals, a drop of seven percent from the 25.28 billion reported the previous year.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure