BANKING
Deutsche Bank faces change
Deutsche Bank AG on Sunday said that it would split its investment bank in two and overhaul its top management as the lender, Germany’s largest, tried to overcome legal problems and address criticism that it is inefficient. As part of the reorganization, which was approved by the bank’s supervisory board at a meeting on Sunday, several top executives are to leave, including two who were criticized for their handling of accusations that Deutsche Bank colluded with other banks to rig benchmark interest rates — Michele Faissola, head of the bank’s asset management unit, and Stephan Leithner, a member of the Deutsche Bank management board, said.
ENTERTAINMENT
App inspires NBC show
Executives at NBC have placed a bet that one of the world’s most popular mobile game apps would translate into a hit show. Late last month, the network announced plans to develop the trivia game QuizUp into a prime-time game show that would invite viewers to use the app during the broadcast. It ordered 10 episodes of QuizUp America, and the British network ITV has ordered a pilot. NBC is also in talks to sell the show in eight other countries, including China. QuizUp joins the ubiquitous game Angry Birds, which now doubles as a cartoon series in Finland.
INTERNET
Netflix adds three from EU
Netflix is to add Spain, Portugal and Italy to its current European roster of 13 countries, including Britain and Germany, this week. However Netflix’s efforts to expand overseas are facing a series of challenges that could hamper future growth, including patchwork regulatory restrictions worldwide and stiff competition in individual countries. In the EU, rules often limit what content can be made available in each of the region’s 28 countries.
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
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
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