DRUGMAKERS
Novartis CEO quits
Novartis AG announced the surprise departure of chief executive officer Joseph Jimenez after eight years at the helm of Europe’s largest drugmaker, during which time he reshaped the company with asset swaps and prepared the sale of underperforming assets. Vasant Narasimhan, the chief medical officer and global head of drug development, will succeed Jimenez from Feb. 1 next year, Novartis said in a statement yesterday. Jimenez, 57, who will retire at the end of January, said his family is ready to return to Silicon Valley after spending 10 years in Switzerland. Jimenez is handing over the reins to a behemoth that includes the struggling Alcon eyecare business and a stake in crosstown rival Roche Holding AG. The former H.J. Heinz Co executive, who had no scientific background before joining Novartis, reshaped the drugmaker by acquiring GlaxoSmithKline PLC’s mature cancer drugs portfolio and offloading a vaccines business.
AUTOMAKERS
Hyundai names China chief
Hyundai Motor Co appointed a new chief for its China operations after payment disputes with vendors resulted in temporary shutdowns last month at four of its factories in the automaker’s biggest market. Tao Hung Tan replaced Chang Won-shin as the chief executive officer of Beijing Hyundai Motor Co (北京現代汽車有限公司) from Friday, the Seoul-based company said in an e-mail yesterday, without elaborating on the reasons for the change. Hyundai Motor’s joint venture with BAIC Motor Corp (北京汽車) in China has five factories, of which one is not operational yet. One of the vendors suspended delivery of fuel tanks, citing payment delays, causing the brief output disruptions last month, according to a Hyundai Motor spokesman. The replacement of the top executive comes on the heels of the shutdowns that have exposed the failings of Hyundai in China, where its sales tumbled 42 percent in the first half of this year.
UNITED KINGDOM
Construction growth slows
Construction growth last month unexpectedly slowed to the weakest in a year, as the industry was hit by reduced business investment and heightened economic uncertainty, IHS Markit said. The purchasing managers’ index fell to 51.1, the lowest since August last year, and down from 51.9 in July. That is below the 52 forecast by economists in a Bloomberg survey, although it remains above the 50 level dividing expansion from contraction. New business volumes fell for the second straight month, Markit said, with survey respondents highlighting a lack of fresh orders to replace completed projects.
AUTOMAKERS
Fiat to spin off components
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, lacking a potential deal to combine with another automaker any time soon, will push ahead with separating from its components business, chief executive officer Sergio Marchionne said. Marchionne, who has actively sought a partner for Fiat Chrysler, cooled speculation of a pending deal to tie up with a competitor, saying he had not received any approach or offer for the Italian-US automaker. He also said that the upscale Alfa Romeo and Maserati brands are not ready to be independent. That puts the near-term focus on smaller portfolio adjustments. Fiat Chrysler stock dropped the most in two months. Marchionne, 65, is preparing his final five-year business plan before he leaves Fiat Chrysler in the first half of 2019.
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