■AVIATION
Shareholders back merger
Continental Airlines and United Airlines shareholders voted overwhelmingly to merge on Friday, paving the way for the creation of the world’s biggest airline. The firms announced an all-stock merger of equals on May 3 which is expected to close by Oct. 1. The new airline will serve more than 144 million passengers per year with 370 destinations in 59 countries.
■INTERNET
SouFun soars on debut
Shares of SouFun Holdings Ltd (搜房控股) leaped more than 70 percent during their US market debut on Friday, well ahead of the price the Chinese real estate Web site operator set for its initial public offering. The Beijing-based company’s American Depositary shares rose to US$73.21 in afternoon trading after being priced a day earlier at US$42.50 each.
■ECONOMY
IMF reaches funding deal
The IMF announced on Friday it had reached a deal with authorities in Japan, Britain, France and China to provide US$8 billion worth of funding to low-income countries. “The agreements ... expand the IMF’s capacity to help low-income countries hit hard by the current global crisis,” the Washington-based body said.
■BANKING
Bank closures continue
Georgia’s Community & Southern Bank picked up US$800 million in deposits as it acquired three of the six US banks that collapsed this week, bringing the year’s failure count to 125. Banks in Georgia, New Jersey, Ohio and Wisconsin were closed by regulators, according to statements posted on Friday on the Web site of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, which was named receiver. This week’s failures cost the agency’s deposit-insurance fund US$347.6 million. US regulators closed 140 banks last year.
■TELECOMS
Bharti Airtel, IBM ink deal
India’s top mobile phone firm Bharti Airtel said on Friday it had chosen US computer giant IBM to supply information technology services to drive the modernization of its new African networks. Under the agreement, IBM will manage the computing technology, customer and other services underpinning Bharti Airtel’s mobile communications network spanning 16 African countries including Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya. Bharti gave no financial details.
■AUTOMOBILES
Toyota settles lawsuit
A report says Toyota Motor Corp has settled a lawsuit brought by relatives of four family members killed in a high-speed crash near San Diego that galvanized attention around safety flaws in the firm’s vehicles and led to the recalls of millions of cars. The Los Angeles Times said on Friday that Toyota revealed the settlement in a letter to a US Superior Court judge, gave no details about the terms.
■BANKING
Citi leaves student loans
Citigroup Inc said on Friday it is selling its student loan business and about US$32 billion in related assets to Discover Financial Services and the student lender Sallie Mae, Citi’s latest move to focus on its core consumer banking business. The company has been looking for a buyer for its 80 percent stake in the Student Loan Corp for some time as it refocuses it operations. Citigroup said on Friday it will take a loss of about US$500 million on the deal in this year’s third quarter.
Anna Bhobho, a 31-year-old housewife from rural Zimbabwe, was once a silent observer in her home, excluded from financial and family decisionmaking in the deeply patriarchal society. Today, she is a driver of change in her village, thanks to an electric tricycle she owns. In many parts of rural sub-Saharan Africa, women have long been excluded from mainstream economic activities such as operating public transportation. However, three-wheelers powered by green energy are reversing that trend, offering financial opportunities and a newfound sense of importance. “My husband now looks up to me to take care of a large chunk of expenses,
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday signed a letter of intent with Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC), expressing an interest to buy liquefied natural gas (LNG) and invest in the latter’s Alaska LNG project, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. Under the agreement, CPC is to participate in the project’s upstream gas investment to secure stable energy resources for Taiwan, the ministry said. The Alaska LNG project is jointly promoted by AGDC and major developer Glenfarne Group LLC, as Alaska plans to export up to 20 million tonnes of LNG annually from 2031. It involves constructing an 1,290km
NEXT GENERATION: The company also showcased automated machines, including a nursing robot called Nurabot, which is to enter service at a Taichung hospital this year Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) expects server revenue to exceed its iPhone revenue within two years, with the possibility of achieving this goal as early as this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) said on Tuesday at Nvidia Corp’s annual technology conference in San Jose, California. AI would be the primary focus this year for the company, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), as rapidly advancing AI applications are driving up demand for AI servers, Liu said. The production and shipment of Nvidia’s GB200 chips and the anticipated launch of GB300 chips in the second half of the year would propel
‘MAKE OR BREAK’: Nvidia shares remain down more than 9 percent, but investors are hoping CEO Jensen Huang’s speech can stave off fears that the sales boom is peaking Shares in Nvidia Corp’s Taiwanese suppliers mostly closed higher yesterday on hopes that the US artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer would showcase next-generation technologies at its annual AI conference slated to open later in the day. The GPU Technology Conference (GTC) in California is to feature developers, engineers, researchers, inventors and information technology professionals, and would focus on AI, computer graphics, data science, machine learning and autonomous machines. The event comes at a make-or-break moment for the firm, as it heads into the next few quarters, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) keynote speech today seen as having the ability to
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