INTERNET
EU approves LinkedIn deal
The EU on Tuesday approved Microsoft Corp’s buyout of the professional networking site LinkedIn, provided the US technology giant meets commitments to allow fair competition. The European Commission said it approved the merger after Microsoft offered promises, including leaving personal computer manufacturers and distributors free not to install LinkedIn on Windows operating systems. “The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of LinkedIn by Microsoft,” the commission said. Microsoft’s US$26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn was announced in June, the biggest-ever deal for a social media company. “Today’s decision ensures that Europeans will continue to enjoy a freedom of choice between professional social networks,” EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said.
AUTOMAKERS
Tesla recalls US adapters
Tesla Motors Inc said it is voluntarily recalling about 7,000 adapters for electric-vehicle charging after two reports of overheating that resulted in melted plastic on the plugs. The rarely used item is sold through the company’s online store. Two customers reported overheating last month, according to an e-mail the company sent to customers on Tuesday. No damage besides the melted plastic was reported and Tesla said it has notified US regulators of its voluntary recall. The two cases of overheating equipment involved the NEMA 14-30 adapters, which are sometimes used to charge Tesla vehicles via clothes-drier appliance outlets in US homes. International customers are not affected. Replacements are to be shipped beginning in the next few weeks and customers should avoid using them in the meantime. The company is also replacing the NEMA 10-30 and 6-50 adapters, which have a similar design. Those replacements would take about three months, but as there have not been any reported instances of overheating in those versions, customers who rely on them can continue to use them.
RESTAURANTS
Chipotle eyes better service
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc joint chief executive Steve Ells said that half of the burrito chain’s more than 2,100 restaurants have less-than-excellent customer service and that the company is now training employees to clean dirty napkins off tables, make sure the soda fountain is organized and keep the glass on its front doors free of fingerprints. Ells said at a conference on Tuesday that the company let customer service slip as it focused on adding new food safety protocols after an E. coli outbreak last year sickened some of its customers. It is now turning to improving its customer service to try and win back customers.
CEMENT
Firms eye Tanzania projects
Three companies plan to invest as much as 20 trillion shillings (US$9.2 billion) in Tanzanian cement production in projects that could double the nation’s installed capacity, Tanzanian Trade and Industry Minister Charles Mwijage said. The government of East Africa’s second-biggest economy, with GDP of US$45 billion, has infrastructure projects planned, including a US$10 billion Bagamoyo port development, a US$7 billion railway and a US$4 billion crude oil pipeline from neighboring Uganda that would require cement. “There are big projects which are attracting people to put cement industries here,” Mwijage said on Tuesday by telephone from Dar es Salaam. He declined to identify the potential investors or give their time lines.
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