■ Entertainment
MGM's sale to Sony finalized
The sale of venerable film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to a consortium led by Sony Corp of America was completed, marking the end of MGM as an independent player in the entertainment industry. The Sony-led group paid US$12 a share for MGM, or about US$2.94 billion cash, and assumed about US$1.9 billion in MGM debt. The sale was completed on Friday. MGM will release films already in production, including the Steve Martin comedy The Pink Panther this fall. In the future, Sony plans to co-produce films with MGM. Movies already in production by the United Artists unit of MGM also will be released. But it was unclear whether Sony, which has its own independent film companies, will continue the UA label. As a result of the deal, Sony and consortium partner Comcast Corp will gain access to MGM's library of more than 4,000 movies. Comcast has said it will use the films on its video-on-demand service and as the basis for new cable channels. MGM will continue to develop and produce TV shows such as Stargate SG-1.
■ Cosmetics
Avon comes back to China
The Avon lady is coming back to China. Cosmetics giant Avon Products Inc said on Friday it had won Chinese government approval to test direct selling in three regions beginning this month. "The objective of the test is to help the government find a suitable direct selling model that would fit the needs of Chinese consumers, promote social stability and help protect consumers against illegal practices," the president of Avon China, S.K. Kao, said in a statement. China closed the door on Avon's direct selling in 1998, worried about potential fraud and abuse by sales representatives, confining the company to selling through retail outlets. But last July, Avon said it had won verbal approval from the government to once again send its famed army of sales staff directly to Chinese homes.
■ Energy
Chevron awards gas contract
ChevronTexaco has awarded a US$1.7 billion contract to build Nigeria's third natural gas-to-liquids plant to a consortium including Halliburton Co subsidiary KBR, the company said on Friday. The project, converting the natural gas that is currently flared off into fuels for a worldwide market, is expected to produce 34,000 barrels a day of diesel, naphtha and a small amount of liquefied petroleum gas, the company said. The consortium JKS -- including JGC Corp of Japan, US-based KBR and Snamprogretti of Italy -- will construct the plant using technology developed by ChevronTexaco and Sasol of South Africa, it said.
■ Employment
Canada quotes stable figures
Canada's unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage point in March to 6.9 percent of the active population, the government said on Friday in a report suggesting stable labor market conditions. "Employment continued to show little change in March as an increase of 34,000 part-time jobs was offset by a similar decline in the number of people working full time," Statistics Canada said in a statement. "With fewer people looking for work, the unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage points to 6.9 percent." Over the first three months of 2005, employment rose 0.2 percent, or 25,000, a growth rate similar to that in the US, the agency said. The number of hours worked was unchanged in March and has edged up 0.2 percent so far this year.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電) forecast that its wafer shipments this quarter would grow up to 7 percent sequentially and the factory utilization rate would rise to 75 percent, indicating that customers did not alter their ordering behavior due to the US President Donald Trump’s capricious US tariff policies. However, the uncertainty about US tariffs has weighed on the chipmaker’s business visibility for the second half of this year, UMC chief financial officer Liu Chi-tung (劉啟東) said at an online earnings conference yesterday. “Although the escalating trade tensions and global tariff policies have increased uncertainty in the semiconductor industry, we have not
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
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