■AUTOMOBLIES
Porsche triples profits
Luxury sports car maker Porsche AG said on Monday its net profit this fiscal year more than tripled with help from a revaluation of its 22 percent stake in Volkswagen AG and strong results from its core business. Porsche said it earned 4.24 billion euros (US$6.18 billion) for the full year, up from 1.39 billion euros a year earlier. The revaluation resulted in a one-time addition of 520.80 million euros. Pretax profit for the year ended July 31 more than doubled to 5.86 billion euros from 2.11 billion euros in the previous fiscal year.
■ INVESTMENT
Gore joins capital firm
Former US vice president Al Gore is becoming a partner at Silicon Valley's most storied venture capital firm. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers said on Monday that Gore, who campaigns to slow global climate change, will join the Menlo Park, California-based venture capital firm as a partner focused on alternative energy investments. The venture firm, which since 1972 has backed seminal computer start-ups ranging from Sun Microsystems to Compaq Computer to Amazon.com and Google Inc, has emerged in recent years as a leading funder of alternative energy companies.
■ AID
IMF to help Liberia
The IMF struck a "milestone" deal with member countries allowing it to provide debt relief to Liberia, the fund said on Monday. Member states have made pledges totaling more than US$842 million, the IMF said in a statement. "Today's milestone is a critical step in moving Liberia onto a path toward comprehensive debt relief," IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in the statement. It was the first concrete achievement for the new IMF director, who took over his post on Nov. 1. Ravaged by a decade of civil war, Liberia has a multilateral debt of US1.5 billion for a total debt of US$3.7 billion.
■ AVIATION
Saudi buys jumbo jet
The world's 13th-richest man has taken executive jetsetting to a new level with the first VIP order for the A380 superjumbo. Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who topped the Forbes Arabia rich list last year, has invested a small piece of his estimated US$20 billion fortune in an Airbus "Flying Palace." The plane is out of most tycoons' range with a retail price of US$310 million. Airline customers for the mega-jet, which can seat up to 850 people, have won sizeable discounts by placing bulk orders, but the Riyadh billionaire is expected to have paid the full price.