■ Retail
Wal-Mart executive resigns
A high-profile Wal-Mart Stores Inc board member resigned on Friday after an internal probe turned up evidence of financial improprieties of up to US$500,000. Three Wal-Mart employees, including a company officer, also lost their jobs. The world's largest retailer said it asked Thomas Coughlin, who is also a former president and CEO of the company's stores division, to step down because of "a disagreement" over the results of the probe, which involves between US$100,000 and US$500,000, and his "response to questions concerning his knowledge of certain transactions," according to a regulatory filing.
■ Entertainment
New CEO stirs up Disney
Nearly two weeks after being named Disney's new chief executive, Robert Iger has made his first significant move to change the way decisions are made at the media conglomerate. The Walt Disney Co said on Friday it is restructuring its corporate Strategic Planning unit to give each of the company's businesses more authority to make acquisitions and start new ventures. Peter Murphy, Disney's chief strategic officer, will leave that role and become a senior adviser to Iger, the company said. Iger, who will take over from Michael Eisner in October, has said he wants to foster a more entrepreneurial atmosphere at the company while holding the heads of Disney's film studio, media networks, consumer products and theme parks divisions more accountable.
■ Electronics
ATI profits rise 20% in Q2
ATI Technologies Inc, the world's No. 2 computer-graphics chipmaker, said second-quarter profit rose 20 percent as computer and cell-phone makers used more of its chips that display games and pictures. Net income advanced to US$57.2 million, or US$0.22 a share, from US$47.6 million, or US$0.19, a year earlier. Sales in the quarter ended Feb. 28 rose 31 percent to US$608.2 million, the Markham, Ontario-based company said in a statement. Profit rose as sales of higher-margin chips for televisions and mobile phones increased 41 percent, Chief Financial Officer Patrick Crowley said in an interview. Semiconductors for personal computers, which make up the rest of ATI's business, gained 13 percent to US$550 million, he said. The consumer unit's rapid growth is expected to slow this quarter and resume in the fourth period.
■ Macroeconomics
Japan's retail prices fall
Consumer prices in Japan fell 0.4 percent last month from the same month a year earlier, their steepest drop since June 2003 and the latest sign that the country remains mired in a nearly seven-year battle with deflation. Steep declines in telephone rates and a fall in the price of rice drove overall prices lower in February, according to Japan's statistics bureau. Japanese consumer prices have been flat or have fallen every month but one since April 1998, an unprecedented streak that has sapped some of the country's economic strength. Friday's new drop in prices made it unlikely that the Bank of Japan would abandon its ultra-easy monetary policy. For nearly four years, the central bank has been trying to kindle growth and a bit of inflation by keeping short-term interest rates near zero and pumping cash into the money markets. The central bank has pledged to maintain this policy until there are convincing signs that prices are headed higher.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
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