■ BANKING
Citigroup plans streamlining
Citigroup, reeling from the subprime mortgage crisis, said on Friday it planned to sell roughly US$400 billion in assets in a streamlining reorganization aimed at restoring the US banking giant to profit. The announcement was made by the new chief executive, Vikram Pandit, in a presentation to the financial community on the ailing bank’s strategy. Citigroup has hemorrhaged nearly US$45 billion in the past nine months in losses and write-downs amid soured subprime-related bets. The bank said it wants to sell the non-core assets, representing about 20 percent of its US$2.2 trillion in assets, over the next two or three years. The vast majority of the assets to be shed are within its consumer banking and securities banking operations.
■ AVIATION
Qantas faces worker action
Qantas Airways Ltd, Australia’s biggest airline, faces overtime bans and stop-work meetings by maintenance engineers starting next week, after refusing to improve a pay offer. The actions, notified by the engineers’ labor association, will probably result in delays for passengers on Friday and May 23, Sydney-based Qantas said late on Friday in an e-mailed statement. The airline said it planned to ensure all travelers reach their destination on those days. Qantas is refusing to break its wage policy of 3 percent annual pay increases and a 1 percent additional pension contribution. The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association has rejected the offer, the Sun-Herald said last Sunday, citing president Paul Cousins.
■ ELECTRONICS
JVC, Kenwood set to merge
Japanese electronics manufacturer Victor Co of Japan Ltd (JVC) and Kenwood Corp have reached a final agreement to merge on Oct. 1 under a holding company, a newspaper reported yesterday. The two companies, which were working out details of their merger plan, are expected to announce the accord as early as Monday, the Nikkei business daily said. They will then seek shareholder approval at their respective general shareholders meetings late next month, the daily said.
■ INTERNET
Facebook to follow MySpace
Facebook Inc is loosening its grip on millions of personal profiles to allow inhabitants of its popular Internet hangout to transplant the information and applications to other Web sites. With the changes announced Friday, Facebook joins a growing movement to make it easier for people to share their favorite pictures, information and applications with family and friends anywhere on the Internet. Facebook, which has about 70 million users worldwide, unveiled its plans the day after its bigger rival, News Corp’s MySpace, made a similar commitment. Unlike MySpace, Facebook plans to allow users to take their personal profiles to any Web site that wants to host them.
■ ECONOMY
Lula scoffs at US risk rating
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva marveled at the US’ “zero risk” financial rating on Friday, raising some laughs as he wondered how ratings agencies could call the troubled US economy perfectly safe. “I’m amazed to see that the American risk is zero. It’s in a miserable crisis, and there’s no risk,” Silva said at the inauguration of a gas pipeline in Espirito Santo state. “Brazil’s risk [and] Russia’s risk increase, but the Americans, who are in debt up to here, have zero risk,” Silva said. “It’s an invention of the ratings agencies, that’s what I think.”
WAITING GAME: The US has so far only offered a ‘best rate tariff,’ which officials assume is about 15 percent, the same as Japan, a person familiar with the matter said Taiwan and the US have completed “technical consultations” regarding tariffs and a finalized rate is expected to be released soon, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference yesterday, as a 90-day pause on US President Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs is set to expire today. The two countries have reached a “certain degree of consensus” on issues such as tariffs, nontariff trade barriers, trade facilitation, supply chain resilience and economic security, Lee said. They also discussed opportunities for cooperation, investment and procurement, she said. A joint statement is still being negotiated and would be released once the US government has made
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
Taiwanese exports to the US are to be subject to a 20 percent tariff starting on Thursday next week, according to an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump yesterday. The 20 percent levy was the same as the tariffs imposed on Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh by Trump. It was higher than the tariffs imposed on Japan, South Korea and the EU (15 percent), as well as those on the Philippines (19 percent). A Taiwan official with knowledge of the matter said it is a "phased" tariff rate, and negotiations would continue. "Once negotiations conclude, Taiwan will obtain a better
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