SOUTH KOREA
Export recovery stirs growth
The economy returned to growth in the first quarter, buoyed by an ongoing export recovery and corporate investment. GDP expanded 1.1 percent from the previous quarter, when it contracted 0.2 percent, the central bank said yesterday. The growth figure matched the median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg survey. GDP rose 2.8 percent from a year earlier, compared with the 2.9 percent median estimate of economists.
GERMANY
Consumer confidence wanes
Confidence among consumers is on the wane as the public frets over conflict lines being drawn between world powers that could sap growth, a survey showed yesterday. “The West’s confrontation with Russia in the Syrian conflict is becoming more acute and causing increasing disquiet,” pollster GfK said in a statement, downgrading its forward-looking barometer by 0.1 points for a reading next month of 10.8 points. Expectations for future economic activity fell back sharply in the survey, GfK said.
GAMING
Switch console boosts profit
Nintendo Co yesterday said its annual net profit soared 36.1 percent, thanks to the immense popularity of its Switch console, and announced it was appointing a new president. Net profit for the year to last month reached ¥139.6 billion (US$1.28 billion), beating its own expectations despite repeatedly raised annual targets. Shuntaro Furukawa, 46, who currently oversees marketing and other divisions at the Kyoto-based video game giant, is to succeed 68-year-old Tatsumi Kimishima, who has headed the firm since 2015.
INSURANCE
Zurich to cut Malaysian stake
Zurich Insurance Group AG is working with advisers to cut its stake in its Malaysian life insurance unit, people with knowledge of the matter said, joining a wave of foreign players planning more than US$2 billion in such deals in the nation. The Swiss insurer is considering options including a possible stake sale or domestic initial public offering of the business, which would help it comply with a 70 percent limit on foreign ownership, the people said.
RETAIL
Lotte sells Beijing stores
Lotte Group’s retail unit is selling 22 of its stores in Beijing to China-based grocer and hypermarket rival Wumei Holdings Inc (物美控股) for 256 billion won (US$237.15 million), the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported, without citing its source. Lotte had hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc to help sell stores in China after years of investing aggressively in the nation.
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