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World Business Quick Take

■ MEDIA
Bancrofts face deadline
Members of the family that controls Dow Jones & Co Inc were asked to decide by midnight last night whether they would support Rupert Murdoch's News Corp's US$5 billion bid for the news organization, a source familiar with the situation said on Sunday. News Corp made its US$60 a share bid for Dow Jones, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, on May 1. The board of Dow Jones endorsed the offer two weeks ago, sending the deal to the Bancroft family for approval. The Bancrofts holds 64 percent of the firm's voting shares. The WSJ reported that as of late Sunday night, nearly 28 percent of the votes favored the deal, citing a person close to Dow Jones's board. News Corp needs 30 percent to assure a comfortable margin, the WSJ reported.

■ JAPAN
Industrial output rises 1.2%
Japan's industrial output grew 1.2 percent last month, the first increase in four months as factories stepped up output after a recent soft patch, official data showed yesterday. The month-on-month rebound was seen as supporting the central bank's case for an interest rate rise next month although views are divided on the chances of a hike. Production was 1 percent higher last month compared with a year earlier, lifted by rising output of electronic parts and devices, automobiles and IT equipment, according to the report, which matched market expectations. But the government was reluctant to upgrade its assessment of the overall trend in industrial output. Manufacturers were upbeat about the outlook, forecasting on average that output would rise 1.8 percent this month from last and by 4.9 percent next month.

■ AVIATION
Boeing looks to India
Boeing Co raised its 20-year sales outlook for India as demand for transporting passengers and cargo grows in India. The country is expected to buy as many as 911 new planes worth US$86 billion by 2027, Chicago-based Boeing said in a statement in New Delhi yesterday. That's 6.4 percent more than the forecast for 856 planes until 2026 made by Boeing last August. Indian carriers ordered more than 450 planes for US$30 billion in the past four years to capitalize on an annual 25 percent growth in air travel.

■ AUTOMOBILES
Ghosn denies overreaching
Carlos Ghosn has denied he overstretched himself by taking the top job at both France's Renault and Nissan Motor Co, following the Japanese automaker's recent profit slump. Nissan's financial troubles are "disappointing" but the automaker is still "extremely profitable," Ghosn said in the Financial Times yesterday. He said it made sense for him to head both firms. "If I were running two independent companies with no synergies, it would be too much. These two companies have a lot in common [and] that's why I'm here," he was quoted as saying. He said the move earlier this year to give up the running of Nissan's US operations had been long planned, adding, "It's not that I was overstretched."

■ TELECOMS
Phone deal reached
A Venezuelan-Chinese firm will begin producing mobile telephones in Venezuela, Telecommunications Minister Jesse Chacon said on Sunday. A joint venture involving Telecom Venezuela and Huawei would produce as many as 2 million mobile phones annually, Chacon told the state-run Bolivarian News Agency. The model will also use the GSM system, he said.


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