■LIFE INSURANCE
Samsung sets IPO record
Samsung Life Insurance shares jumped nearly 9 percent in their first day of trading in South Korea after a US$4.3 billion initial public offering that set a record as the country’s largest. The shares opened yesterday at 119,500 won, 8.6 percent above the IPO price of 110,000 won. They later surrendered some of those gains to trade at 114,500 won. A total of 44,437,420 shares were offered to the public with a value of about 4.9 trillion won (US$4.3 billion) at the IPO price. That far exceeded the previous record IPO by Korea Life Insurance earlier this year of 1.78 trillion won.
■STEEL
ThyssenKrupp back in black
German steel maker ThyssenKrupp AG says it returned to profitability in the second quarter due to a rise in demand and cost-cutting measures. The Duesseldorf company said yesterday that earnings before taxes rose by 497 million euros (US$631.1 million) to 206 million euros in the three months through March, its fiscal second quarter. No net profit figures were released. Sales increased 3 percent to 10.1 billion euros, while order intake increased 36 percent to 10.4 billion euros.
■MEDIA
Games unit boosts Vivendi
Vivendi SA says its net profit rose 21 percent in the first quarter thanks to strong earnings at its Santa Monica, California-based Activision Blizzard unit and the integration of newly acquired Brazilian telecom operator GVT. Activision Blizzard is the video game producer behind titles such as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. Net profit in the January-to-March period rose to 598 million euros from 493 million euros a year earlier. Revenue was 6 percent higher at 6.9 billion euros.
■VIDEO GAMES
EA ends long losing skid
US videogame giant Electronic Arts (EA) posted a quarterly net profit on Tuesday, snapping its losing streak of 12 consecutive quarters in the red. The Redwood City, California-based company reported a fourth-quarter net profit of US$30 million, compared with a net loss of US$42 million in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue was up 14 percent in the quarter that ended on March 31 at US$979 million, better than forecast by Wall Street analysts. EA said it expected revenue of between US$710 million and US$750 million in the current quarter.
■TELECOMS
Deutsche Telekom profit up
The German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom yesterday posted a jump in first-quarter net profit while sales slipped owing to weak results from its domestic market. Deutsche Telekom said net profit jumped to 767 million euros in the three-month period, compared with a loss of 1.12 billion euros in the first quarter of last year. But sales at Deutsche Telekom, the biggest European operator, slipped by 0.6 percent to 15.81 billion euros owing to a drop of 2.9 percent in Germany itself.
■AUTOMAKERS
Nissan reports annual profit
Japan’s No. 3 automaker, Nissan Motor, yesterday posted a return to the black, reporting an annual profit of ¥42.4 billion (US$460 million) from a previous loss of ¥233.7 billion. The company saw a much narrower fourth-quarter net loss of ¥11.6 billion in the three months ended March. Nissan forecast a 254 percent surge in profit to ¥150 billion for the fiscal year ending March next year.
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
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
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
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