REAL ESTATE
Berkshire adds German unit
Berkshire Hathaway’s real-estate brokerage is expanding overseas with a new franchisee in Germany. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices on Monday said it is adding Berlin-based Rubina Real Estate to its network. Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal gives Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate another affiliate in Germany and helps raise the Omaha, Nebraska-based company’s profile in Europe. Gino Blefari, CEO of the real-estate network, says more international franchises are likely. Irvine, California-based Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices includes more than 45,000 agents and 1,400 offices in America. Rubina Real Estate focuses on helping international investors buy German property.
AGRICULTURE
Big data for raising shrimp
Cargill Inc plans to offer big data to boost shrimp production, expanding technology tools that bolster agriculture to aquaculture. Predictive software that relies on machine learning and sensors will help farmers analyze everything from the size of shrimp and feeding patterns to water quality and weather on devices, including phones and tablets, executives from the Minneapolis-based company said on Monday. Cargill, one of the world’s biggest agriculture companies, has been harnessing big data used across diverse industries and applying it to farming. In January, the company said it was backing an Irish start-up that uses facial recognition to help increase milk output from cows. Last year, it offered an application providing reams of data to make the animals more comfortable and productive.
STEEL
Execs, Trump to meet: Cohn
White House economic adviser Gary Cohn has orchestrated a meeting of executives from US aluminum and steel users with President Donald Trump as part of a last-ditch effort inside the administration to stop or blunt tariffs announced last week, two people familiar with the matter said on Monday night. The meeting was scheduled as Republicans in Congress are waging an extraordinary campaign to halt the move. Cohn and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill are worried about repercussions, including a trade war that could harm the economy. Cohn planned the meeting for tomorrow, and it is to include representatives of breweries, beverage can manufacturers, the oil industry and automakers. Trump was scheduled to attend the meeting, said the two people, who were granted anonymity to discuss a policy disagreement.
BREXIT
EU cools on May’s proposal
British Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan to sign companies up to EU regulators to maintain their access to markets after Brexit was cast into doubt as a senior EU official expressed reservations. May proposed that the UK could remain part of EU agencies that regulate the medicine, chemicals and aviation industries to keep close to the bloc after Brexit in areas where it suits the UK economy. Stefaan De Rynck, an adviser to EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, late on Monday said that the plan raised potential conflicts. The agencies enact the decisions of the European Commission, they “operate in a context where single market principles operate,” and while their work is technical, “it can become political,” he said. Only three non-EU countries now sign up to the regulators — Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein. De Rynck was also cool on the prospect of mutual recognition for finance, underlining the importance of financial stability and the risks posed by integration without common oversight.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure