INTERNET
YouTube still dominant
Over the past year or so, Facebook Inc has made increasingly aggressive attempts to chip away at YouTube’s dominance in the world of Internet video clips. It has not made a dent yet, according to one key measure. Sandvine, a networking company that reports on which services use the most bandwidth, just published its numbers. YouTube’s market share of US Internet activity grew to 17.9 percent, up 14 percent from the same period last year. Facebook’s share was only 2.5 percent, down from 3 percent in the same period last year.
BONDS
India’s 10-year bonds drop
India’s 10-year bonds dropped, pushing the yield to a one-week high, on speculation demand for debt is weakening ahead of a potential increase in US interest rates this month. Overseas holdings of rupee notes fell 20.7 billion rupees (US$310.18 million) from Sunday through yesterday, National Securities Depository Ltd data show. Primary dealers rescued a sale of sovereign bonds on Friday last week by picking up unsold debt, fueling speculation investors sought higher coupons after benchmark 10-year yields last month rose by the most since June.
AUTOMAKERS
Toshiba to restructure
Toshiba Corp plans to restructure its operations and sell additional assets after Japan’s securities regulator recommended fining the company about ¥7.37 billion (US$59.91 million) for falsifying earnings, the largest financial penalty ever sought by the watchdog. Toshiba misled investors by filing false financial statements for several periods including 2012 and 2013, according to Japan’s Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission. The commission is still considering whether to recommend penalties against former top company executives, people familiar with the matter have said.
CURRENCIES
Mozambique sets credit limit
Mozambique is to set the limit for citizens using credit and debit cards abroad at 700,000 meticals (US$13,644) per year as it seeks to curb foreign-exchange outflows amid a slump in commodity prices, the central bank said. Bank of Mozambique Governor Ernesto Gove last month said that the cap was necessary because depressed commodity prices have put the economy under strain. The metical has plunged 37 percent again the US dollar this year. Credit and debit-card transactions by Mozambicans abroad jumped to US$800 million last year from US$300 million in 2012 — equivalent to more than half of the country’s exports last year of about US$1.5 billion, according to Gove.
ENERGY
Paramount mulls asset sale
Paramount Resources Ltd, the Canadian natural gas producer run by billionaire Clay Riddell, is exploring options for its midstream assets including a possible sale, according to people familiar with the process. The Calgary-based company is working with Royal Bank of Canada on possible sales or partnerships for facilities that include gas processing plants, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is confidential. First-round bids have been submitted, they said. Potential bidders could include the new midstream venture between Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Wolf Infrastructure Inc, as well as Apollo Global Management LLC’s CSV Midstream Solutions Corp, the people said.
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