SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter shares plunge
Twitter Inc’s stock dropped sharply as the company’s revenue and outlook fell short of expectations at a time investors are looking for stronger advertising growth to make up for less-than-stellar user numbers. The company posted a loss of US$162 million, or US$0.25 per share, in the January-to-March period, while revenue rose 74 percent to US$436 million from US$250 million a year earlier. Twitter’s adjusted earnings for the first quarter topped Wall Street estimates, but revenue fell short of expectations and of Twitter’s own guidance. Twitter attributed the shortfall to lower-than-expected contributions from some of its newer “direct-response” advertising products.
ELECTRONICS
TV losses dent LG Q1 profit
LG Electronics Inc said its quarterly profit plunged 59 percent from the prior year as losses from TVs offset a modest improvement in its smartphone business. The South Korean company said its first-quarter net profit fell to 38.4 billion won (US$36 million) from 92.6 billion won in the same quarter last year. Sales were flat at 14 trillion won, while operating profit slumped 37 percent to 305 billion won. Its TV business lost money as weak currencies in emerging markets sapped demand. Even after selling 15.4 million smartphones, up 26 percent, the division’s operating profit margin was just 2 percent. Apple’s margin was more than 20 percent and Samsung’s was about 10 percent.
BANKING
Barclays adds to fine stash
Barclays PLC set aside an additional £800 million (US$1.2 billion) to cover the cost of allegations that it manipulated foreign-exchange markets as Britain’s second-biggest bank seeks to put the scandal behind it. Barclays said the provisions helped push first-quarter net income down 52 percent to £465 million. However, the bank said it is making progress in its effort to rebuild the business, with adjusted pretax earnings from core operations rising 14 percent to £2.1 billion. This figure excludes one-time items and results from businesses that Barclays plans to exit. Chief executive Antony Jenkins says the performance is evidence that the bank’s strategy is working.
AUTOMAKERS
Volkswagen Q1 profit up
Volkswagen AG said its first-quarter profit rose 19 percent as cost-cutting improved profit margins at its namesake brand. Net profit rose to 2.932 billion euros (US$3.225 billion) in the quarter ending last month, up from 2.468 billion euros in the same quarter a year ago. Volkswagen yesterday said that its efforts to reduce costs had saved more than 100 million euros in the quarter alone at the Volkswagen brand, raising the profit margin to 2 percent from 1.8 percent. Group sales rose by 10.3 percent to 52.7 billion euros, benefiting from higher sales volumes, a better model mix and exchange-rate changes.
TELECOMS
AT&T fires president
AT&T Inc on Tuesday confirmed that it has fired Aaron Slator, a president who became the subject of a US$100 million discrimination lawsuit for using his work phone to send racially offensive images. “There is no place for demeaning behavior within AT&T and we regret the action was not taken earlier,” the company said. The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, names as defendants Slator, the company, chief executive Randall Stephenson, other executives and board member Joyce Roche.
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