■TELECOMS
Vodafone profits soar
British mobile phone giant Vodafone yesterday announced that group net profits almost trebled to £8.645 billion (US$12.5 billion) in the 12 months to March 31. The sharp jump in earnings, which compared with profit after tax of £3.078 billion in 2008 and last year, came as Vodafone cut costs and increased sales of its broadband Internet services, chief executive Vittorio Colao said in comments accompanying the earnings data. “In particular, mobile data and fixed broadband services continue to grow while we increased the contribution being made by our operations in emerging economies, primarily by gaining market share,” he said.
■EQUITIES
Fidelity NIS bid dropped
A group of private equity firms led by the Blackstone Group has dropped plans for a US$15 billion bid for Fidelity National Information Services (NIS), people briefed on the matter said on Monday. The group, which also included THL Partners and TPG Capital, declined to meet a demand from Fidelity National’s board for a “substantial increase” over the US$32 a share that was proposed, these people said. Representatives for the private equity firms and Fidelity National, a financial information firm, declined to comment or could not be reached for comment. In a statement earlier on Monday, Fidelity National said it was considering both a leveraged buyout and a leveraged recapitalization, in which the company would borrow money to pay a special dividend to shareholders. One other concern was that Fidelity National’s largest shareholder, Warburg Pincus, had expressed dissatisfaction over the Blackstone-led group’s proposed price, these people said.
■INVESTMENT
Berkshire cuts holdings
Billionaire Warren Buffett’s firm says it cut its holdings in a dozen different companies in the first quarter, including Kraft Foods and Procter & Gamble, as it finished raising cash for its US$26.7 billion acquisition of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad. Berkshire Hathaway detailed the changes to its roughly US$51 billion US stock portfolio in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. The filing offers a snapshot of the Omaha-based company’s holdings as of March 31. During the first three months of the year Berkshire also reduced its stakes in ConocoPhillips, Costco Wholesale, Gannett and Johnson & Johnson.
■PHARMACEUTICS
Novartis slapped with fine
A jury has decided that the drug company Novartis AG engaged in a pattern of discrimination against women, paying them less than men and treating pregnant women unfavorably. The verdict was returned on Monday in Manhattan federal court. The jury awarded several million dollars total in compensatory damages to a dozen women who had worked at the company.
■BANKRUPTCIES
Icahn reopens Trump battle
Carl Icahn and Dallas-based Beal Bank appealed a bankruptcy court ruling they lost to Donald and Ivanka Trump and company bondholders over the three Trump Entertainment casinos in Atlantic City. The billionaire investor asked a judge to put off granting control of the three Trump Entertainment Resorts casinos to the Trumps and the bondholders, saying the bankruptcy court made several mistakes. The Trumps and the bondholders, led by New York-based Avenue Capital Group, offered US$225 million for the company.
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
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
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