■ Auto Market
GM names new executive
General Motors Corp said yesterday it has named a top executive from its European operations to replace Philip Murtaugh as its president for China, a day after it announced Murtaugh's resignation. Although most recently vice president for GM Europe, Murtaugh's successor Kevin Wale previously spent 15 years heading GM's operations in the Asia-Pacific region, the company said in a statement. Wale's earlier time in Asia "laid the groundwork for our current presence," Troy Clarke, president of GM Asia Pacific, said in a statement. "We are excited to have him back." Wale, an Australian, was also chairman of GM's Vauxhall Motor Co and head of GM's operations in Britain.
■ Mergers
EU approves MGM deal
The EU's antitrust office yesterday said it approved the acquisition of the famed film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc by a consortium led by Sony Corp, arguing it would not seriously affect competition in Europe. In a deal valued at nearly US$5 billion, Sony and Comcast Corp will allow MGM to operate as a separate private business, with Sony Pictures distributing MGM's films and television shows as well as MGM's valuable library of more than 4,000 films. MGM owns the rights to the James Bond, Pink Panther and Rocky movies. Comcast will use Sony Pictures' and MGM's catalog of films and TV programs to feed its nascent video-on-demand service. "The transaction would neither create nor strengthen a dominant position or otherwise impede effective competition" in the 25-nation EU market, the European Commission said in a statement.
■ Conglomerates
GS Group starts operations
A new South Korean conglomerate was born yesterday as the GS Group, a spin off from the LG Group, officially began operations with its 15 affiliates focusing on energy and distribution. Chairman Huh Chang-Soo said at a launch ceremony that the new group would put the priority on enhancing corporate transparency and increasing shareholders' value rather than expanding market share. With GS Holdings as its flagship company, former LG affiliates such as LG-Caltex Oil, LG Mart and LG Home Shopping now fall under GS and were renamed accordingly with GS replacing LG in their titles. GS Group hopes to achieve sales of 24 trillion won (US$23.4 billion) this year, following revenues of 22 trillion won last year. With the new group's assets estimated at 16.1 trillion won as of the end of 2003, GS ranks as the nation's seventh-largest conglomerate, excluding public corporations.
■ Aviation
Continental pilots ratify deal
Continental Airlines pilots on Wednesday ratified a 45-month contract designed to save the financially strapped airliner US$200 million a year, the pilots union said. About 58 percent of those who voted agreed to ratify the contract, the union said. The ratification is contingent on the acceptance of unions representing flight attendants, mechanics and dispatchers of their contracts negotiated with the Houston, Texas-based carrier as part of the cost-saving plan. Continental said it would issue stock options for approximately 10 million shares of common stock in connection with the pay and benefit reductions. The shares represent approximately 15 percent of the currently outstanding shares of common stock of Continental.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2