TECHNOLOGY
Apple buying Texture
Apple Inc said it is acquiring Texture, a digital magazine service that lets users subscribe to more than 200 magazines for US$9.99 per month. Texture, offered via the app stores of Apple, Google and Amazon.com Inc, bolsters Apple’s efforts in online services and media. The Cupertino, California-based company aims to top US$50 billion in annual services revenue by 2021, and a magazine subscription service would likely contribute to that. The deal might help Apple boost relations with news outlets that have become wary of Facebook Inc and Google. Some publishers reported losing online traffic from Facebook after the social media network recently refocused on content from friends and family. Texture’s magazine catalog includes Entertainment Weekly, Billboard, Vanity Fair, Vogue and Bloomberg Businessweek.
INDIA
Inflation falls to 4.44 percent
Inflation dropped to less than 5 percent for the first time in three months, giving the central bank room to keep interest rates on hold for longer while providing relief to battered bond investors. Government data on Monday showed inflation at 4.44 percent last month, less than the 5.07 percent in January and less than the 4.7 percent estimate of economists polled by Bloomberg News. The easing for the second straight month offers bond investors in the country — the worst-performing market among major Asian economies — something of a temporary cheer. The benchmark 10-year bond yield fell three basis points to 7.6 percent.
UTILITIES
EON to cut up to 5,000 jobs
German utility EON SE on Monday said it plans to cut up to 5,000 jobs as part of its takeover of renewables unit Innogy from rival RWE AG, in a deal that would redraw the country’s energy landscape. In a joint statement, EON and RWE said they planned to complete their asset swap transaction, which surprised investors when it was unveiled this weekend, “by the end of 2019.” EON said it expects the takeover to generate about 600 million to 800 million euros (US$739.7 million to US$986.2 million) in savings annually from 2022, but added that the “integration process” would lead to “a reduction of a maximum of 5,000 jobs” out of a total of about 70,000 jobs. The ultimate goal of the transaction is to allow EON to focus on retail customers and on managing energy networks, essentially buying and selling electricity, while RWE is to specialize in generating power from fossil fuels and renewables.
CRYPTOCURRENCIES
Coincheck refunds US$440m
Japan-based virtual currency exchange Coincheck yesterday said it had refunded more than US$440 million to customers following the hack of its systems, which was one of the largest thefts of its kind. The company said it used its own funds to reimburse about ¥46.6 billion (US$434.8 million) to all 260,000 customers who lost their holdings of NEM, a leading cryptocurrency. “Procedures have been completed with the accounts of all 260,000 customers,” company spokesman Yosuke Imai told reporters. Thieves siphoned 523 million units of the cryptocurrency from Coincheck — then valued at US$547 million — during the Jan. 26 hack, which exceeded the US$480 million in bitcoin stolen in 2014 from another Japanese exchange, Mt. Gox. The 2014 hack prompted Japan to issue regulations requiring exchanges to obtain a license, but Coincheck was allowed to continue operating while the Japanese Financial Services Agency was reviewing its application.
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