MEDIA
Murdoch’s daughter says no
Rupert Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth will not be joining News Corp’s board as had been planned, after criticism that the board was populated by corporate and family insiders. It is the latest fallout after a phone-hacking scandal led News Corp to close its British newspaper, News of the World. “The independent directors agreed that the previously planned nomination should be delayed,” a board statement said. Elisabeth Murdoch had suggested to independent directors at this year’s annual general meeting weeks ago that she felt it would be inappropriate for her to join the board, according to the statement. “Both Elisabeth and the Board hope this decision reaffirms that News Corp aspires to the highest standards of corporate governance and will continue to act in the best interests of all stakeholders,” the statement said.
FINANCE
Citi Cards compromised
Private data for more than 90,000 customers of Citigroup’s Japanese credit-card subsidiary has been stolen and unlawfully resold, the company said on Friday. Citi Cards Japan Inc has come to know that certain personal information of 92,408 customers has allegedly been obtained and sold to a third party illegally, the company said in a statement. The compromised data includes account numbers, names, addresses and dates of birth, but does not include PIN numbers or security codes for the affected cards, the Citigroup subsidiary said. “No unusual or suspicious credit cards transactions relating to these customers have been detected at this point,” it said. The theft of the Japanese customers’ data was not carried out by hackers, but rather by parties who had been given access to the data legitimately and abused their trust, a source familiar with the situation said.
AUTOMAKERS
Honda recalls vehicles
Honda is recalling about 1.5 million vehicles in the US to update the software on the automatic transmission to reduce the possibility of damage. The recall affects certain 4-cylinder Accord, 2007-2010 CR-V and 2005-2008 Element vehicles manufactured between 2005 and last year. The company said on Friday that without the change, the transmission’s secondary shaft bearing could be damaged when the car is shifted too quickly. Honda said that could happen when a driver tries to get the vehicle dislodged from mud or snow. Honda said it would begin sending recall notifications to customers on Aug. 31. It said that no injuries or deaths had been reported because of the problem.
ENTERTAINMENT
Movie rentals up
Americans spent more money renting home movies than buying them in the second quarter, marking only the second time that has happened in the DVD era. The big switch in consumer behavior shows the rising popularity of cheap alternatives like Netflix and Redbox and suggests people are pinching pennies in this economy. Rental revenue rose 11 percent from a year ago to US$2.06 billion, while sales of discs and digital purchases fell 15 percent to US$1.93 billion in the three months through June, according to a report released on Friday by the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG), an industry consortium of studios and electronics makers. The resurgence in rentals is noticeable mainly because the DEG started including subscription plans such as Netflix’s in the rental category this year, executive director Amy Jo Smith said. Still, she said, consumer behavior was changing.
Three experts in the high technology industry have said that US President Donald Trump’s pledge to impose higher tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors is part of an effort to force Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to the negotiating table. In a speech to Republicans on Jan. 27, Trump said he intends to impose tariffs on Taiwan to bring chip production to the US. “The incentive is going to be they’re not going to want to pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 percent tax,” he said. Darson Chiu (邱達生), an economics professor at Taichung-based Tunghai University and director-general of
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) is reportedly making another pass at Nissan Motor Co, as the Japanese automaker's tie-up with Honda Motor Co falls apart. Nissan shares rose as much as 6 percent after Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that Hon Hai chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) instructed former Nissan executive Jun Seki to connect with French carmaker Renault SA, which holds about 36 percent of Nissan’s stock. Hon Hai, the Taiwanese iPhone-maker also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), was exploring an investment or buyout of Nissan last year, but backed off in December after the Japanese carmaker penned a deal
WASHINGTON POLICY: Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs are tipped to hit shipments of small parcels, cutting export growth by 1.3 percentage points The decision by US President Donald Trump to ban Chinese companies from using a US tariff loophole would hit tens of billions of dollars of trade and reduce China’s economic growth this year, according to new estimates by economists at Nomura Holdings Inc. According to Nomura’s estimates, last year companies such as Shein (希音) and PDD Holdings Inc’s (拼多多控股) Temu shipped US$46 billion of small parcels to the US to take advantage of the rule that allows items with a declared value under US$800 to enter the US tariff-free. Tariffs of 10 percent or more and other new costs would slash such
‘LEGACY CHIPS’: Chinese companies have dramatically increased mature chip production capacity, but the West’s drive for secure supply chains offers a lifeline for Taiwan When Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) entered a deal with the eastern Chinese city of Hefei in 2015 to set up a new chip foundry, it hoped the move would help provide better access to the promising Chinese market. However, nine years later, that Chinese foundry, Nexchip Semiconductor Corp (合晶集成), has become one of its biggest rivals in the legacy chip space, leveraging steep discounts after Beijing’s localization call forced Powerchip to give up the once-lucrative business making integrated circuits for Chinese flat panels. Nexchip is among Chinese foundries quickly winning market share in the crucial US$56.3 billion industry of so-called legacy