STOCK MARKET
China selects supervisor
China appointed banking veteran Yi Huiman (易會滿) as chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, people familiar with the matter said. People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Deputy Governor Zhu Hexin (朱鶴新) is to replace Yi as chairman at Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC, 中國工商銀行), the people said. Yi, 54, is to take over from commission chairman Liu Shiyu (劉士餘), who ran the commission for three years, they said.
AVIATION
Tan denies stock sale to ANA
Billionaire Lucio Tan (陳永栽), who controls Philippine Airlines Inc, denied reports about a forthcoming stake sale days after ANA Holdings Inc confirmed that it is in talks with the carrier’s listed parent, PAL Holdings Inc. There is “no plan” to sell, Tan, 84, said in an interview on the sidelines of a central bank event in Manila on Friday. News that a stake sale is coming is “just a rumor,” he said when asked about talks with ANA, declining to elaborate.
AUTOMAKERS
Ford CEO not satisfied
Ford Motor Co chief executive Jim Hackett called Ford’s performance last year “mediocre by any standard” in an e-mail to employees late on Thursday, a source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Yes, we made US$7 billion last year,” Hackett wrote. “But think of it this way: This represents a 4.4 percent operating margin, about half what we believe is an appropriate margin. So we are aiming for much closer to US$14 billion.”
BRANDS
Kering might owe back taxes
Kering SA, the French owner of the Gucci luxury brand, owes about 1.4 billion euros (US$1.60 billion) to Italy in back taxes, according to the conclusions of a government audit. The probe scrutinized business activities by Kering’s Swiss subsidiary, Luxury Goods International, from 2011 through 2017, the company said in a statement. Kering said it contests the findings of the Italian audit. The auditor’s report is to be reviewed by the Italian Agency of Revenue, which is to reach a final conclusion.
DEVELOPERS
Indian firm to pick auditor
India’s beleaguered Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd could appoint an auditor to look into the financial statements of the company and its subsidiaries dating back five years, the Economic Times reported, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter. The newly appointed company would also scrutinize the role of the firms’ previous auditors, Ernst & Young, Deloitte and KPMG.
GREECE
IMF bullish on GDP growth
The IMF on Friday said that it is optimistic on Greece’s growth and employment prospects for this year, but urged the government to stick to reforms to maintain the momentum. In a report published following five-day talks with officials in Athens, IMF officials said that the battered Greek economy is set to grow 2.4 percent this year, up from 2.1 percent last year. The report also argued that the heavily indebted country’s medium-term ability to repay its creditors — mostly its European partners and the IMF — remains “robust.”
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
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