RIDE-HAILING
Uber eyes US$100bn IPO
Uber Technologies Inc is seeking to raise about US$100 billion in what would be the largest stock offering of the year, with details coming this week, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The global ride-hailing giant is seeking a valuation close to US$100 billion — an impressive figure, but below some earlier estimates amid an ebbing of enthusiasm on growth and profitability, the report said. The Wall Street Journal said that details of Uber’s initial public offering (IPO) would be released this week and the market debut is expected next month.
AUTOMAKERS
Ghosn’s wife in court
The wife of ousted Nissan Motor Co chief executive officer Carlos Ghosn arrived at the Tokyo District Court, the Kyodo news agency reported yesterday, where she was expected to be questioned by prosecutors. Carole Ghosn returned to Japan on Wednesday, days after she left the country to seek help from the French government. Authorities had wanted to question Carole Ghosn on suspicion that her husband had siphoned off payments through a company where she is an executive to purchase a yacht and a boat, public broadcaster NHK has reported.
CHINA
Inflation rises
Factory and consumer inflation picked up last month, indicating some much-needed stability in the world’s No. 2 economy, although analysts warned that it is not yet out of the woods. Government data released yesterday showed that the consumer price index rose 2.3 percent last month from the same time last year, sharply up from 1.5 percent in February. The producers’ price index climbed 0.4 percent, from a 0.1 percent gain in February.
BANKING
Takeover timing debated
Deutsche Bank AG and Commerzbank AG are at odds over how quickly to update shareholders on their takeover talks, according to people familiar with the matter. While Commerzbank chief executive officer Martin Zielke wants a decision as soon as possible, Deutsche Bank chief executive officer Christian Sewing wants time to assess the deal, the people said, asking not to be identified. Sewing would like to wait until after April 21, Die Welt reported on Wednesday.
REAL ESTATE
China Vanke eyes listing
China Vanke Co (萬科), the country’s largest developer by market capitalization, is considering a Hong Kong listing of its property management business, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The Shenzhen, China-based company has discussed with potential advisers a share sale that could raise as much as US$1 billion, one of the people said. The offering could happen next year, the people said.
INTERNET
Yahoo settlement disclosed
Nearly 200 million people who had sensitive information snatched from their Yahoo accounts are to receive two years of free credit-monitoring services and other potential restitution in a legal settlement valued at US$117.5 million. The deal, disclosed in documents filed on Tuesday, revises an earlier agreement that was rejected by US District Court Judge Lucy Koh. The value of that settlement had been pegged at US$50 million, but Koh questioned the calculations. If approved, the settlement would become part of the financial fallout from the digital burglaries in 2013 and 2014.
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
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the