■BREWERIES
InBev profits up, sales down
Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s biggest brewer following a merger last year, reported US$1.5 billion in third quarter net profit yesterday, but sales and volumes fell. The company’s net profits were more than double the US$690 million reported for the same period last year by InBev alone. InBev’s takeover of US-based Anheuser Busch last year created the new company. Anheuser-Busch InBev’s flagship beer brands include Budweiser, Stella Artois and Beck’s. InBev bought US brewing giant Anheuser-Busch last November for US$52 billion.
■SEMICONDUCTORS
Hyosung drops Hynix bid
South Korean business conglomerate Hyosung said yesterday it would drop its bid to buy a major stake in Hynix Semiconductor, the world’s second-biggest memory chip maker. Hyosung Corp, the conglomerate’s flagship company, submitted a letter of intent in September to buy a 28 percent stake in Hynix from creditors. But the group has since been hit by what it called unfounded rumors of favoritism by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak toward group boss Cho Suck-rai. One of Lee’s daughters is married to Cho’s nephew.
■INSURANCE
AIG chief to stay on
Robert Benmosche, the chief executive of bailed-out insurance giant AIG, said on Wednesday he would remain at the helm after reportedly threatening to step down over compensation limits imposed by the government. At a board meeting last week, Benmosche told fellow AIG directors that he was “done” but agreed to think it over after other board members reacted with shock, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, quoting people familiar with the matter. Benmosche was unhappy with constraints imposed by AIG’s government overseers, the paper said.
■ENTERTAINMENT
Churchill buys Youbet
Churchill Downs Inc, host of the Kentucky Derby, agreed to buy Youbet.com Inc for US$126.4 million to tap into new technologies as it expects more people to place bets online. The cash-and-stock deal values Youbet at about US$2.86 a share, a premium of 19 percent over its Wednesday close of US$2.41. Churchill expects the deal to add new technology and features that horse-racing customers who wager online want, chief executive Robert Evans said. Currently less than 14 percent of the bets on US horse racing are placed online and Churchill expects the number to rise.
■MANUFACTURING
Applied Materials hurting
Applied Materials Inc said on Wednesday that fiscal fourth-quarter net income fell by 40 percent year-on-year to US$137.9 million, or US$0.10 per share, and announced it would cut 1,300 to 1,500 jobs to save money. The chip equipment maker said the job cuts represent 10 percent to 12 percent of its global work force and are part of a restructuring plan to save US$450 million a year. That’s in addition to the US$460 million in cost cuts it achieved in fiscal 2009, which ended on Oct. 25.
■SOFTWARE
Bing, WolframAlpha link
Microsoft’s new search engine Bing, which is seeking to chip away at Google’s dominance in Internet search, is teaming up with WolframAlpha, another rival for the Google crown. WolframAlpha, which was launched in mid-May, announced that starting on Wednesday, Bing would incorporate results from WolframAlpha in answers to certain search queries.
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
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
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
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