AVIATION
JAL details budget carrier
Japan Airlines (JAL) yesterday said its planned budget airline would run medium-haul international services between Tokyo and major cities in Asia, the US and Europe from summer 2020, hoping to take advantage of an expected expansion in the nation’s low-cost market ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The budget carrier, which is to be named later, is to become a subsidiary of JAL, the firm said, adding that it might seek other investors to expand its business model. JAL has thus far limited its low-cost operations to its partial control of Jetstar Japan Co, which is owned by JAL and Australia’s Qantas Group.
ENTERTAINMENT
Sony to buy Peanuts stake
Japanese electronics maker Sony Corp’s music unit yesterday said that it is buying a stake in Peanuts Holdings LLC, the company behind Snoopy and Charlie Brown. Sony Music Entertainment signed a deal with DHX Media Ltd, based in Nova Scotia, Canada, to acquire 49 percent of the 80 percent stake DHX holds in Peanuts. Sony Music is to own 39 percent and DHX 41 percent. The family of Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, is to continue to own 20 percent of Peanuts. The parties hope to complete the acquisition on or about June 30, Tokyo-based Sony said. It said it sees Peanuts as “world-class,” and hopes to use its character business expertise to strengthen the brand and push the business to grow.
AVIATION
Airbus CFO to step down
Airbus SE chief financial officer (CFO) Harald Wilhelm plans to step down next year, meaning the European planemaker would have entirely new top management as it grapples with the future of the A380 superjumbo jet and a long-running bribery investigation. Wilhelm, 52, decided “in agreement with the board of directors” that he would leave in April next year after 27 years with the company, Toulouse, France-based Airbus said in a statement yesterday. Airbus is searching for a replacement for chief executive officer Tom Enders, who decided in December last year that he would leave in April next year. His No. 2, chief operating officer Fabrice Bregier, left after Airbus decided to pass him over for the chief executive officer job.
TELECOMS
Vodacom misses target
Vodacom Group Ltd’s full-year earnings missed estimates after Africa’s biggest wireless carrier by market value invested heavily in its network and integrated the acquisition of a stake in Kenya’s Safaricom Ltd. Headline earnings per share were flat at 9.23 rand for the year through March, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement yesterday. That compared with an average analyst estimate of 9.27 rand. Even so, the unit of Vodafone Group PLC boosted sales and added customers after selling more smartphones in South Africa.
AUTOMAKERS
Nissan profit down 32%
Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Co’s profit last quarter fell 32 percent from a year earlier as a strong yen, rising raw materials costs and research expenses bit into earnings. The company yesterday said that its January-to-March profit was ¥168.8 billion (US$1.5 billion), down from ¥249 billion last year. Quarterly sales fell 0.9 percent to ¥3.4 trillion. Nissan said some losses for the fiscal year through March, such as costs from production halts in Japan due to illegal inspections that surfaced last year, have ended.
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
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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