World Business Quick Take

■ INTERNET

China boasts 220m users

China now has about 220 million Internet users, overtaking the number of Web surfers in the US for the first time, a Beijing-based technology consulting and research firm said yesterday. The Chinese figure dates from late February, when the US online population was estimated at about 217 million, BDA China said. "It's driven by continued economic growth and improved broadband infrastructure," said Liu Bin, an analyst with BDA China. By the end of the year China is expected to have 280 million Internet users, he said. The government-backed China Internet Network Information Center said earlier that China had 210 million Internet users as of the end of last year, a rise of 53.3 percent from a year earlier.



■ CONSTRUCTION

Cambodia touts skyscraper

Cambodian officials yesterday broke ground on the country's first skyscraper, a 42-story tower that when completed will dwarf all other buildings in the low-rise capital Phnom Penh. The 192m tall Gold Tower 42 project is being touted by Cambodia's leaders as a symbol of the country's galloping economy, which has averaged 11 percent growth over the past three years. The US$240 million high-rise, which will include a library and medical facilities along with luxury apartments, is backed by South Korea's Yon Woo company and is expected to be completed by 2011.



■ AUTOMAKERS

Chrysler enforces vacation

After losing US$1.6 billion last year and watching its US sales plummet in the first two months of this year, Chrysler LLC is taking a drastic new step to right the ship: requiring all employees worldwide to take a two-week vacation this summer. Chrysler informed employees of the plan in an e-mail on Tuesday. Chrysler spokeswoman Mary Beth Halprin confirmed the e-mail was sent. "This year, in order to create better alignment and efficiency across organizational lines and boost productivity, Chrysler will use a corporate-wide vacation shutdown for the weeks of July 7 and July 14," the e-mail said.



■ INTERNET

Yahoo moves to Switzerland

Yahoo Inc said on Thursday it is moving its European headquarters to Switzerland from London. The Internet pioneer from California said it would move to a site on the shores of Lake Geneva within 18 months. Yahoo said 5 percent of its European work force will be involved in the move. A spokeswoman declined to say how many staff Yahoo has in Europe and whether the move would result in job losses elsewhere. Swiss media have reported that Yahoo will benefit from a special tax break in Switzerland. Yahoo declined to comment on the reports.



■ ELECTRONICS

LG expects display profit

South Korea's LG Electronics Inc expects its display division to make a profit in the first half of this year on improved performance from its money-losing plasma display panel business, the company's top executive said yesterday. "Profitability at the PDP business is improving very rapidly," chief executive Yong Nam told the company's annual general meeting. "I expect our display division to make a turnaround in the first half." LG's display division, which makes plasma display panels and flat-screen TVs, posted a consolidated operating loss of 10.9 billion won (US$11.3 million) in the three months ended Dec. 31.