SOUTH AFRICA
Consumer index steady
Consumer confidence held steady in the fourth quarter of last year as a net majority of respondents in a survey anticipated an improvement in household finances. The consumer confidence index was seven in the last three months of last year, matching the reading in the prior quarter, FirstRand Ltd’s First National Bank retail lending unit said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. The survey suggests that “most consumers are fairly optimistic that the outlook for the South African economy and their own household finances will improve during the next 12 months,” it said.
E-COMMERCE
Alibaba cuts furniture stake
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) is reducing its stake in a partly owned Chinese furniture retailer. Shenzhen-listed department-store operator Wuhan Zhongshang Commercial Group Co (中商集團) yesterday said it is issuing shares to Beijing Easyhome Furnishing Chain Store Group Co (居然之家). The US$5.6 billion transaction is an effective backdoor listing for the country’s second-largest home-improvement chain. It also reduces Alibaba’s stake to 5 percent just 11 months after the company bought up 15 percent of Easyhome as part of the e-commerce giant’s push toward bricks-and-mortar businesses.
MEDIA
BuzzFeet culling staff
BuzzFeed Inc is eliminating 15 percent of its headcount across the company, the latest pullback for digital-media companies dealing with a challenging advertising market. As it trims staff, BuzzFeed has been examining the “the evolving economics of digital platforms,” CEO Jonah Peretti said in a memo to employees. “We’ve developed a good understanding of where we can consolidate our teams, focus in on the content that is working and achieve the right cost structure,” he said. The cutbacks are part of a wave of media layoffs. Verizon Communications Inc on Wednesday said that it would be cutting about 7 percent of its digital-media operations, a business that includes AOL, Yahoo and the Huffington Post.
GERMANY
Low rivers hit growth
Sinking water levels on Germany’s industrial rivers probably shaved at least 0.7 percentage points off economic growth last year, adding to a series of shocks that almost tipped the nation into a recession. JPMorgan economist Greg Fuzesi estimated the impact of the high temperatures and low rainfall that dried up waterways — most notably the Rhine River — hindering transport and curbing production processes that use river water for cooling, and said that the “Rhine impact” would add 0.55 percentage points to GDP this quarter.
CRYPTOCURRENCIES
Bitcoin ETF bid pulled
Cboe Global Markets Inc on Wednesday pulled its application to list the first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), blaming the US government shutdown. Bitcoin’s price fell following the disclosure. Most commission employees are furloughed because of the partial closure of the federal government. That poses a problem for Cboe, because the regulator’s deadline to decide on the application was fast approaching. Cboe’s application would have permitted a fund from VanEck Associates Corp and SolidX Partners Inc to list on the Cboe BZX Exchange. The commission has indicated it is not comfortable approving an ETF until it can be proven that the underlying spot market for bitcoin is less susceptible to manipulation.
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