INTERNET
Snap confirms Placed deal
Snap Inc on Monday confirmed that it has acquired Placed, a start-up that measures the offline success of digital advertising campaigns, for about US$125 million. The acquisition is to help Snap expand its efforts to show that ads on its picture and video-sharing app Snapchat are driving users to stores. Seattle-based Placed is to continue to operate independently, with David Shim, the start-up’s CEO, reporting to Snap chief strategy officer Imran Khan. Placed is Snap’s most significant purchase since its March initial public offering, in which it raised US$3.4 billion. The company has been on the lookout for deals and strategies that will help it make the case that its ads offer a return on investment, as it looks to boost sales. The company reported US$149.7 million in revenue in the first quarter of this year and is expected to post almost US$1 billion in revenue for the year, analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg showed.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Wuxi Biologics lists in HK
Wuxi Biologics (Cayman) Inc (藥明生物技術), a Chinese contract drug manufacturer, and its existing investors are poised to raise HK$3.98 billion (US$510.6 million) after pricing 193 million shares in a Hong Kong initial public offering at the top end of a marketed range of between HK$18.6 and HK$20.6 per share, people with knowledge of the matter said. Wuxi Biologics is raising capital for expansion amid rapidly rising demand for biologic drugs, which are made from live substances and used to treat conditions such as cancer or rheumatoid arthritis.
MINING
Adani to begin development
India’s Adani Group is to proceed with its US$16.5 billion Carmichael coal project in Australia’s Queensland state after its board approved a final investment decision on the development. After delaying a decision due to uncertainty over royalty payments, Adani yesterday said it would start pre-construction work in the July-to-September quarter on the project, which would eventually create more than 10,000 direct and indirect jobs. The project has faced opposition over concern that Australia’s largest coal project will increase carbon pollution and risk damage to the Great Barrier Reef marine park in northern Queensland.
APPAREL
J. Crew CEO to step down
J. Crew Group Inc CEO Mickey Drexler is to step down from the job, entrusting the company’s turnaround to a veteran of Williams-Sonoma Inc subsidiary West Elm Inc. James Brett, who served as West Elm’s president, is to take the CEO role at J. Crew next month, the company said in a statement on Monday. Drexler, who ran the apparel chain for more than 14 years, is to remain as chairman. Earlier this year, Drexler announced plans to shake up management and cut 250 jobs.
REAL ESTATE
London rent falls amid glut
The cost of renting a home in the British capital last month fell the most in eight years as a glut of rental properties came onto the market and affordability issues led Londoners to seek cheaper accommodation. The average monthly rent paid last month for new lettings in Greater London was £1,502 (US$1,939), a 3 percent decline from a year earlier, HomeLet, Britain’s largest reference-checking and rental insurance company, said in a statement yesterday. Rent across the UK fell 0.3 percent from a year earlier, the first annual decline since December 2009, the data showed.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained