RETAIL
Wal-Mart stores reopen
US retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc said yesterday it has reopened stores in southwest China that were temporarily closed after they were found to be selling pork falsely labeled as organic. The 13 stores in the city of Chongqing resumed operations after a 15-day closure for “internal enhancements,” Wal-Mart said in a statement. The company has opened inspection laboratories in each store in the city to improve “food management” and packaged meat will be clearly labeled to show if it is “pollution-free” or “organic.” Wal-Mart will also hold “afternoon tea sessions” with customers to gather feedback, while employees will be trained in Chinese laws and regulations.
TECHNOLOGY
Oracle buying RightNow
Oracle Corp said on Monday that it is buying RightNow Technologies Inc for about US$1.5 billion so it can offer a broader range of software and services that help businesses manage customer service. Oracle is offering US$43 a share for the tech service company. That is a 19.6 percent premium over RightNow’s closing price of US$35.96 on Friday. Oracle expects to complete the deal by late this year or early next year.
ELECTRONICS
TI forecasts lower Q4 sales
Texas Instruments Inc (TI), the largest maker of analog semiconductors, forecast lower fourth-quarter sales than estimated, indicating that demand for electronic components remains sluggish. Revenues will be US$3.26 billion to US$3.54 billion in the period, the Dallas-based company said on Monday in a statement. Profit in the fourth quarter, including costs related to the acquisition of National Semiconductor, will be US$0.28 to US$0.36 a share. The company said its third-quarter profit fell to US$601 million, or US$0.51 a share, from US$859 million, or US$0.71, a year earlier. Revenues declined 7.3 percent to US$3.47 billion.
BANKING
Deutsche Bank’s profits rise
Deutsche Bank AG said yesterday that it made 777 million euros (US$1.1 billion) in net profit in a turbulent third quarter, beating analysts’ estimates. The third quarter earnings figure contrasts with a loss of 1.2 billion euros in last year’s third quarter, when the bank took a 2.3 billion euro writedown related to consolidating its acquisition of Postbank. The bank also wrote down 228 billion euros worth of shaky Greek bonds, whose value has fallen during the eurozone’s government debt crisis.
ENTERTAINMENT
Netflix earnings rise
Netflix Inc’s third-quarter earnings rose 65 percent year-on-year to US$62.5 million, or US$1.16 a share, even though the video subscription service suffered the biggest customer losses in its history. The company ended last month with 23.8 million US subscribers, down about 800,000 from June. Management on Monday expected to gain US subscribers in the current quarter.
ENTERTAINMENT
Zynga IPO coming soon
Zynga Inc is planning to price its initial public offering (IPO) and have its shares begin trading the week before the US Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 24, two sources said on Monday. The sources cautioned that the social gaming company’s plan has not been finalized and could change. Zynga’s debut is among a clutch of highly anticipated dot-com IPOs. Groupon launched its own roadshow this week and hopes to price its shares early next month.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday introduced the company’s latest supercomputer platform, featuring six new chips made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), saying that it is now “in full production.” “If Vera Rubin is going to be in time for this year, it must be in production by now, and so, today I can tell you that Vera Rubin is in full production,” Huang said during his keynote speech at CES in Las Vegas. The rollout of six concurrent chips for Vera Rubin — the company’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) computing platform — marks a strategic
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
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