JAPAN
Economy recovering quickly
Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Banri Kaieda told ASEAN member nations that the country’s economy was recovering at a quicker pace than initially expected from the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami, Kyodo news agency reported. Kaieda was speaking at a meeting with his counterparts from the 10-member association in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday, Kyodo said. He was quoted as saying that the output of Japanese manufacturers in the areas devastated by the earthquake and tsunami is expected to return to levels before the disaster by the end of this month. The country’s automotive industry officials said this month that car sales were well off the post-disaster trough. New vehicle sales slumped by more than a fifth last month as the production disruption from the earthquake lingered, but the data showed a big improvement from the previous months as more parts became available.
AVIATION
Air Transat, staff reach deal
After more than nine months of talks, Air Transat and the union representing its 1,500 flight attendants have reached a tentative labor agreement and avoided the threat of a strike, both sides said on Saturday. In the middle of last month, flight attendants from the Canadian airline Air Transat, whose collective labor agreement expired in November last year, threatened to strike beginning on July 20. However, on Friday an agreement between the company and the Canadian Union of Public Employees was reached, according to both sides. The tentative agreement is expected to be presented to union members in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver by the end of this month, Air Transat employees’ union representative Nathalie Stringer said. According to a statement released by the company, the agreement will last five years and will come up for renewal in 2015.
TOYS
IPO expected next year
The initial public offering (IPO) of Toys R Us, the world’s largest toy retailer, is now expected next year, two sources told Reuters. The company filed for an IPO of up to US$800 million in May last year. It had contemplated coming public in the first half of this year, but delayed its IPO after lackluster holiday sales. It later contemplated an IPO this month. Toys R Us has made it through the US Securities and Exchange Commission review process, so it could technically launch an IPO any time it wants — yet it is expected to delay the offering until next year, one of the sources said. The sources declined to be named as the information is not public. Toys R Us declined to comment.
INTERNET
Schmidt to testify at hearing
Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt has agreed to testify at a US Senate hearing in September into online competition. Google had initially been reluctant to send Schmidt or chief executive Larry Page to the hearing of the Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights. However, subcommittee chairman Senator Herb Kohl, a Democrat, said on Friday that the Internet search giant had agreed to send Schmidt, who stepped down as CEO in April to become executive chairman. “We look forward to Eric Schmidt’s participation at our Antitrust Subcommittee hearing in September,” Kohl said in a statement. “This will allow us to have a truly informational and thorough public hearing.”
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Ashton Hall’s morning routine involves dunking his head in iced Saratoga Spring Water. For the company that sells the bottled water — Hall’s brand of choice for drinking, brushing his teeth and submerging himself — that is fantastic news. “We’re so thankful to this incredible fitness influencer called Ashton Hall,” Saratoga owner Primo Brands Corp’s CEO Robbert Rietbroek said on an earnings call after Hall’s morning routine video went viral. “He really helped put our brand on the map.” Primo Brands, which was not affiliated with Hall when he made his video, is among the increasing number of companies benefiting from influencer
Taiwan’s property market is entering a freeze, with mortgage activity across the nation’s six largest cities plummeting in the first quarter, H&B Realty Co (住商不動產) said yesterday, citing mounting pressure on housing demand amid tighter lending rules and regulatory curbs. Mortgage applications in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung totaled 28,078 from January to March, a sharp 36.3 percent decline from 44,082 in the same period last year, the nation’s largest real-estate brokerage by franchise said, citing data from the Joint Credit Information Center (JCIC, 聯徵中心). “The simultaneous decline across all six cities reflects just how drastically the market
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