■MUSIC
MySpace buys imeem
MySpace on Tuesday announced that it has bought online music service imeem and is weaving it into the social networking community. “We’ll start that transition today by redirecting imeem users to MySpace Music to discover their favorite music,” MySpace chief executive Owen Van Natta said in a blog post. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Imeem launched in San Francisco in 2003 and became a popular online locale for streaming and sharing music free of charge. It reported having more than 16 million users worldwide by the time it was bought by MySpace and went offline.
■REAL ESTATE
Nakheel loses US$3.64bn
Real estate giant Nakheel, at the center of the Dubai debt crisis, reported a 13.4 billion dirham (US$3.64 billion) loss on Wednesday for the first half of the year after a large writedown of asset values. The developer, whose US$3.5 billion Islamic bond debt sparked parent Dubai World’s move to ask lenders for a temporary payment suspension, said revenues had plunged 78.1 percent in the six months to June 30 to 1.97 billion dirhams from 9 billion dirhams a year earlier. The company took 12.2 billion dirhams in “impairment losses” stemming from a writedown of land values as the property market in Dubai has plunged in the past year.
■MANUFACTURING
3M cautious on outlook
Manufacturing conglomerate 3M Co on Tuesday issued an unsettling profit outlook for next year and maintained a cautious profit prediction for this year. The company forecast earnings next year between US$4.85 per share and US$5 per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters predict income of US$4.94 per share next year. 3M also reiterated its forecast for this year below analyst’s expectations. Excluding one-time gains and losses, it sees full-year income of US$4.50 per share to US$4.55 per share.
■ELECTRONICS
TI struggling to fill demand
Texas Instruments Inc (TI), the second-largest US chipmaker, maintained the top end of its sales forecast during a mid-quarter update, saying it was having difficulty keeping up with demand. Sales will be US$2.9 billion to US$3.02 billion this quarter, compared with a previous forecast of US$2.78 billion to US$3.02 billion, the Dallas-based company said yesterday. Analysts in a Bloomberg survey had forecast US$2.93 billion on average. The company is coping with a surge in orders, which is making it harder to supply enough chips, vice president Ron Slaymaker said.
■FINANCE
GE expects better profits
General Electric Co (GE) says profits at its lending arm will start improving by 2011, but first it will have to slog through another year of big losses on loans gone bad in areas like commercial real estate. The conglomerate told analysts on Tuesday that profit is expected to be flat next year, ranging between US$2 billion and US$2.5 billion, and then rise in 2011. Overall losses are expected to peak next year at US$13.6 billion. GE said that while some other previously troubled lending areas have stabilized, such as consumer credit cards and mortgages in Britain, losses in commercial real estate could reach US$2.9 billion next year. That would be up from a US$2.1 billion for this year.
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
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,
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
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2