FINANCE
G7 to target tax evasion
Finance ministers from seven rich countries yesterday were wrapping up work on efforts to make growth more inclusive and to fight tax evasion, terror financing and cybercrime. G7 officials are also taking the opportunity to hear more about the US President Donald Trump administration’s economic proposals from US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin. Italy, the host nation for the informal forum this year, wants the meeting to produce separate statements about fairer growth and fighting tax evasion. The gathering in a 13th-century seaside fortress in the southern Italian town of Bari is paving the way for a meeting of national leaders in Taormina, Sicily, on May 26 and 27.
MEDIA
Pandora CTO resigns
Pandora Media Inc said its chief technology officer (CTO) Chris Martin is stepping down, just weeks after the online radio company introduced a new service to lure new users and fend off growing rivals, such as Spotify Ltd. Martin “has decided to move on,” the company said on Friday in an e-mailed statement. He had been with Pandora since 2004. Pandora, based in Oakland, California, is counting on its new on-demand music-streaming service, Pandora Premium, to help it reverse a streak of financial losses and a tumbling stock price. The company said this week it is shaking up its board and stepping up efforts to find a possible buyer.
BANKING
CIBC takeover bid approved
PrivateBancorp Inc shareholders approved a US$4.9-billion takeover by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) after the Toronto-based lender sweetened its deal twice to win over investors. The majority of PrivateBancorp shareholders endorsed CIBC’s bid, the Chicago-based lender said on Friday in a statement. CIBC first proposed the acquisition on June 29 last year, and in its latest offer agreed to pay US$27.2 in cash and 0.4176 of a CIBC common share for each PrivateBancorp share.
EDUCATION
Aldo to open retail school
The founder of the Aldo shoe empire is donating C$25 million (US$18 million) to McGill University to help create a school of retail management at his alma mater. Aldo Bensadoun said in a statement on Friday the school is to provide a new generation of retailers with solutions for the industry’s transformation. He said success in retail depends on the integration of big data, artificial intelligence and neuroscience. The new Bensadoun School of Retail Management is to educate undergraduates to doctorate students. Aldo has more than 2,000 stores worldwide.
TECHNOLOGY
Globalstar in sales talks
Globalstar Inc, which won US approval to use its satellite airwaves for a mobile broadband service, is working with financial advisers on a potential sale, people familiar with the matter said. Shares climbed 15.2 percent to US$2.20 in New York at 1:35pm, giving the company a market value of about US$2.5 billion. Globalstar could attract interest from major wireless and cable companies, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the details are not public. Deliberations are at an early stage and there is no certainty a deal can be reached, 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