■INTERNET
Amazon’s Q2 earnings soar
Amazon.com’s second-quarter earnings more than doubled to US$158 million thanks to strong sales around the world and strong demand for toys and electronics. The company said its sales rose 41 percent to US$4.06 billion compared to US$2.89 billion in the year-ago quarter. The profit of US$158 million, or US$0.37 a share, was up from US$78 million, or US$0.19 a share. International sales rose by 47 percent helped by the US dollar’s decline against other currencies. The company also revised its annual forecasts, saying that full- year sales may rise to as much as US$20.1 billion, higher than an earlier forecast of as much as US$20 billion.
■AUTOMOBILES
Chrysler cutting more jobs
Chrysler LLC, the third-largest US automaker, plans to cut an additional 1,000 salaried jobs after its first-half US sales tumbled 22 percent. The reductions will be completed by Sept. 30 through “retirements, special programs and attrition,” spokesman Dave Elshoff said ON Wednesday. The jobs represent 5.4 percent of Chrysler’s salaried workforce. The company is responding to “an expected prolonging of the current market conditions,” Elshoff said. Chrysler has announced 28,500 job cuts since February last year, including Wednesday’s, Bloomberg data shows.
■SOFTWARE
Johnson leaving Microsoft
Microsoft Corp said on Wednesday that Kevin Johnson, who as president of the firm’s largest business division spearheaded the company’s pursuit of Yahoo Inc, is leaving the software maker. Microsoft will undergo a reorganization, splitting the division that Johnson runs — platforms and services — into two groups, one focusing on the Windows operating system and the other on search and other online services. A source briefed on the matter said Johnson will leave to become the chief executive at Juniper Networks Inc, which makes equipment for communications networks.
■BANKING
No plans to split Citigroup
Citigroup Inc chief financial officer Gary Crittenden said on Wednesday there are no plans to split up the company because of credit-related problems and that its capital levels remain strong. Crittenden, speaking on a conference call with fixed-income investors, told investors that Citi managers “have no intention to split up the various elements of the bank” and that “it’s not something we focus on at all.” He said Citi has doubled its stockpile of cash and easy-to-sell securities to about US$65 billion at the end of last month compared to US$24 billion a year earlier. He said Citi will be able to handle any losses created by new accounting rules that will force banks to move off-balance-sheet securities onto its books. The bank has about US$1 trillion of assets, much of it loans, asset-backed securities and other obligations, off its balance sheet.
■VIETNAM
Finance officials arrested
Police have arrested two Finance Ministry officials for illegally reducing or waiving taxes for several foreign-invested enterprises, the People’s Police reported yesterday. Phan Van Hien, deputy director of the Foreign Finance Department, was arrested on Wednesday along with his subordinate Hoang Ngoc Nang Hong on charges of “deliberately violating state regulations on economic management,” the newspaper said. Another deputy director of the department is also under investigation, the paper said.
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
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
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
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,