■ INVESTMENT
Gates takes a drink
Microsoft founder Bill Gates has invested about US$364 million in Mexican drink giant FEMSA, the distributor of Coca-Cola in Latin America and dozens of beers including Tecate and Dos Equis. Gates' investment firm, Cascade Investment LLC, filed a document with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday showing it was acquiring 1.2 percent of FEMSA capital through "B" shares. Cascade acquired about 10.81 million of FEMSA's American Depository Shares Street traded in New York. FEMSA closed at US$33.68 late on Wednesday.
■ ELECTRONICS
BlackBerry brings Q3 profit
Research in Motion (RIM) Ltd's fiscal third-quarter profit more than doubled on strong demand for its BlackBerry smart phones and related services by consumers and businesses. For the quarter ended Dec. 1, Canada-based RIM earned US$370.5 million or US$0.65 per share, compared with US$175.2 million, or US$0.31 per share, in the same quarter last year. The company's third-quarter revenue rose to US$1.67 billion from US$835.1 million last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected earnings of US$0.62 per share on US$1.65 billion in revenue.
■ COMMUNICATIONS
Brazil auctions 3G licenses
An auction of third-generation (3G) mobile telephone licenses covering Brazil has netted the government nearly US$3 billion, regulators said on Thursday. The operators paid, on average, nearly twice as much as the minimum fee to grab the hotly sought-after licenses. In total, the auction raised 5.3 billion reais (US$2.9 billion), the National Telecommunications Agency said. Winning bids were received from Vivo (controlled by Portugal Telecom and Spain's Telefonica), Telecom Italia's TIM, Claro (controlled by Mexico's Telecom Americas), and Brazil's OI and four other companies.
■ FOOD
Campbell to sell Godiva
Campbell Soup Co said it has agreed to sell its upscale Godiva Chocolatier brand to a Turkish food company for US$850 million. Campbell said on Thursday that the buyer, Yildiz Holding AS, would add the brand to its Ulker Group. Campbell, the world's largest soup maker, announced in August that it was looking for a buyer for the brand, which does not fit squarely into its main business of selling healthy meals and beverages. Annual sales for Godiva are around US$500 million. Margins are strong for the company, but analysts said it just did not fit with what Campbell is trying to do.
■ SUBPRIME LOANS
Tax break bill signed
US President George W. Bush on Thursday signed a measure to provide financial relief for homeowners facing foreclosure or bankruptcy. The bill gives a tax break to US homeowners who have mortgage debt forgiven as part of a foreclosure or renegotiation of a loan. No taxes would be owed on the value of any debt forgiven or written off. Such debt forgiveness is taxable income under existing rules. While the measure is anticipated to reduce taxes of some homeowners by US$650 million, the cost to the government would be offset in part by limiting a tax break on the sale of second homes. An estimated 2.5 million adjustable-rate mortgages will jump from low initial rates to higher rates this year and next.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique