AIRLINES
Lufthansa pilots reject offer
Deutsche Lufthansa AG’s pilots’ union rejected the German airline’s latest pay offer on Friday, but lifted the immediate threat of extending their strike beyond yesterday. Lufthansa earlier said it had made a new offer to try to break the deadlock in a long-running pay dispute with its pilots, who have been on strike since Wednesday. This week’s walkout — the 14th since early 2014 — has already grounded about 2,600 airplanes and affected more than 315,000 passengers. The union dismissed the airline’s latest offer as a “public relations move” and said it was not new.
REAL ESTATE
‘Trump Tower’ bid rejected
Buenos Aires has declined to authorize a permit to build an office tower linked to US president-elect Donald Trump, and developers will have to file new paperwork for it to be reconsidered, the city government said in a statement on Friday. The “Trump Tower” project near Buenos Aires’ central obelisk made international headlines after a local news report said Trump mentioned the proposed office complex when Argentine President Mauricio Macri put in a congratulatory call to Trump after his Nov. 8 election victory. The Macri administration said the reports were untrue and that the project was not mentioned during the call.
INTERNET
Stripe raises US$150 million
Stripe Inc raised new financing that values the start-up at about US$9 billion, cementing its status as a major player in the crowded digital payments space and heralding a possible initial public offering. CapitalG, the late-stage investment arm of Alphabet Inc, and venture capital firm General Catalyst Partners led the US$150 million round, with participation from existing investors including Sequoia Capital Operations LLC. The San Francisco-based start-up has raised more than US$450 million to date. Money from the new round is to be used for faster international growth, possible acquisitions, more developer tools and new software to help businesses in different ways, Stripe said.
PHARMACEUTICALS
J&J in talks to buy Actelion
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is in talks with Actelion Ltd about a potential takeover of the US$19.9 billion Swiss drugmaker, the companies said on Friday, as the US healthcare giant works to expand its pharmaceutical lineup. Actelion and J&J confirmed the approach in separate statements on Friday, saying it is not certain that a deal will happen. Actelion is working with an adviser to explore options, and the deliberations are still at an early stage following J&J’s initial offer, people familiar with the matter said.
UNITED KINGDOM
GDP growth slows to 0.5%
The economy grew by 0.5 percent in the third quarter, unrevised official data showed on Friday. GDP expanded in the three months ending in September, but at a slower pace compared with growth of 0.7 percent in the second quarter, the Office for National Statistics said in a second estimate. The data comes two days after the government said the economy would grow far slower than expected next year as state borrowing jumps, mainly as a result of a projected financial fallout from Brexit.
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