■STEEL
ArcelorMittal may cut jobs
ArcelorMittal, the world’s biggest steelmaker, could cut 10,000 jobs worldwide next year to boost productivity and reduce general expenses by around US$500 million, French newspaper Les Echos said yesterday. The company, which employs 285,300 people, wants to regain lost market share and has a goal for general expenses to account for less than 3.5 percent of revenue, the paper said, citing trade union representatives who attended a European workers committee meeting last week.
■FINANCE
Lloyds cash call does well
Lloyds Banking Group said yesterday the take-up for its record £13.5 billion (US$21.9 billion) rights issue totaled more than 95 percent, drawing a line under a turbulent few months for Britain’s largest retail lender. Lloyd’s cash call — the world’s largest to date — is a key plank of its bumper capital raising effort launched last month to enable the bailed-out bank to avoid a state-backed insurance scheme for bad debts. A high take-up is the strongest indication yet of shareholder support for its turnaround efforts. After the 95 percent take-up, just over £600 million in shares will be left to be placed by its underwriters, Bank of America Merill Lynch, UBS and Citigroup — considerably better than Lloyds’ last rights offer in June, which left 13.1 percent to be placed by its bankers.
■FOOD
Cadbury rejects Kraft offer
British confectionary group Cadbury yesterday rejected a takeover bid from US giant Kraft Foods, describing the offer as insufficient. Cadbury management said it was offering shareholders maximum value by keeping the company independent, notably as it was raising its long-term financial targets. “Kraft is trying to buy Cadbury on the cheap to provide much needed growth to their unattractive low-growth conglomerate business model,” Cadbury chairman Roger Carr said in a circular to shareholders. “Don’t let Kraft steal your company with its derisory offer.” Cadbury said it now foresaw organic growth of 5 percent to 7 percent a year, a profit margin of 16 percent to 18 percent by 2013 and double-digit growth in dividends per share starting next year. Kraft, which has been repeatedly snubbed by Cadbury management, had appealed directly to Cadbury shareholders with details of its offer.
■INTERNET
AOL may sell ICQ
AOL is in talks to sell ICQ, an instant-messaging service, to Digital Sky Technologies of Russia, a person briefed on the matter said on Sunday. The discussions, which are still in the early stages and may not result in a deal. The talks come in the wake of AOL’s new independence after spinning off from Time Warner last week. AOL’s chief executive, Tim Armstrong, said recently that the company would seek to sell noncore assets as it reshaped itself into an online media company. AOL may fetch at least US$200 million for ICQ, an early instant-messaging client that initially competed against AOL’s own offering. Other AOL holdings, like the Bebo social network, may also be put up for sale. While not big presences within the US, both ICQ and Bebo have big user bases abroad. Digital Sky Technologies, a Russian investment firm, paid US$200 million for a 3.5 percent stake in Facebook this summer. AOL acquired ICQ’s parent, Mirabilis, from its four founders in 1998 for US$287 million in upfront cash and US$120 million in payments tied to performance milestones.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from