E-COMMERCE
Alibaba profits rebound
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) on Friday posted a 54 percent boost in revenue for last quarter and saw profits rebound ahead of Singles Day, the largest shopping holiday of the year in China. Alibaba reported a net profit of 20 billion yuan (US$2.9 billion), a 13 percent year-on-year increase, with strong revenue from its core business. The company has cut back its fiscal 2019 annual revenue predictions from 383 billion yuan to 375 billion yuan.
TRADE
Europe ‘regrets’ sanctions
The EU, France, Germany and Britain in a joint statement on Friday said that they regret Washington’s decision to reimpose sanctions on Iran. New sanctions are due to come in tomorrow. “Our aim is to protect European economic actors who have legitimate commercial exchanges with Iran, in line with European legislation and the United Nations’ Security Council resolution 2231,” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini and the foreign and finance ministers of the three countries said.
UNITED STATES
Mauritania benefits to end
President Donald Trump intends to end trade benefits for Mauritania on Jan. 1 for not making sufficient progress on ending forced labor practices, the Trade Representative’s Office said on Friday. The office said in a statement that Trump has determined after an annual eligibility review that Mauritania is not in compliance with requirements of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which provides duty-free treatment for certain goods.
COLOMBIA
Migrants might cost US$1bn
The World Bank is estimating it will cost the Latin American country upward of US$1 billion to tend to the surge of Venezuelan migrants fleeing their nation’s economic and humanitarian crisis. In a report published on Friday, bank analysts said that Bogota would need to make substantial investments in areas like health and education to cope with an influx of more than 1 million Venezuelans. However, the study also said that in the longer term, the massive Venezuelan migration could boost the economy.
ENERGY
Exxon to focus on dividends
Exxon Mobil Corp has posted its biggest third-quarter profit in years, but unlike peers it would not be spending any of that cash on buybacks. “We’re not going to prioritize buybacks,” investor relations chief Neil Hansen said during a conference call. The oil giant instead wants to focus on dividends and growth projects, he said. Royal Dutch Shell PLC this week expanded share repurchases by 25 percent to US$2.5 billion.
ELECTRONICS
GoPro tumbles on estimates
GoPro Inc shares tumbled the most in almost 10 months after giving an outlook for sales in the holiday period that missed analysts’ estimates. The camera maker beat Wall Street revenue estimates for the third quarter, but gave a forecast for revenue of as much as US$380 million for this quarter. GoPro reported sales of US$286 million for the third quarter.
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