Sun, Nov 06, 2011 page11

• Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  INTERNET

  Yahoo boardroom row erupts

  A major Yahoo Inc shareholder believes the slumping Internet company would be better off without Jerry Yang (楊致遠) on its board as it mulls a possible sale. In a letter on Friday to Yahoo’s board, hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb said Yang has too many conflicts of interest to keep the board seat he has held since starting the company more than 16 years ago. Loeb, who owns a 5.2 percent stake in Yahoo through a fund called Third Point LLC, based his conclusion on published reports that Yang has been talking to several buyout firms about joining forces to buy a controlling stake in the company. The letter lists the Texas Pacific Group, Providence Equity Partners, Silver Lake, KKR & Co and the Blackstone Group as the firms talking to Yang. In a statement, Yahoo reiterated that its board has been exploring various ways to boost the company’s stock price and brushed off the reports cited in Loeb’s letter as “rumor and speculation.”

  GERMANY

  Tax revenues forecast to rise

  The tax take this year is expected to come in 16.2 billion euros (US$22.3 billion) higher than previously forecast, which should help the country balance its budget by 2016 at the latest, the government said on Friday. The new tax projection forecasts a total tax take this year of 571.2 billion euros minutes — up from the 555 billion euros estimated in May. This year’s projection was already revised upward in May and the new estimate provides the government further leeway to cut this year’s budget deficit down from an expected 48 billion euros to “less than half” of that, Deputy Finance Minister Steffen Kampeter said. That would bring the deficit down to about 1 percent of GDP — well below the 3 percent deficit ceiling mandated by the eurozone. As growth in the economy — Europe’s biggest — shows signs of slowing, the Finance Ministry expects next year’s tax take to be only slightly higher than projected in May, up by 7.4 billion euros to 584.6 billion euros.

  IRELAND

  New austerity cuts unveiled

  Dublin announced a deepening austerity drive on Friday, committing itself to cut 3.8 billion euros from next year’s deficit and to keep increasing taxes and slashing spending through 2015 to meet the terms of its international bailout. Finance Minister Michael Noonan said the rising level of cuts and tax increases outlined in his 2012-to-2015 fiscal plan are needed for Ireland to claw its 2015 deficit back within 3 percent of GDP, the key target in last year’s bailout deal. Such cuts, Noonan said, were forecast to reduce Ireland’s deficit for next year to 8.6 percent of GDP, 7.5 perecent in 2013, 5.1 percent in 2014 and 2.9 percent in 2015.

  BANKING

  New Delhi to aid State Bank

  India’s government will invest 40 billion rupees (US$814 million) of capital in State Bank of India by the end of March, bank chairman Pratip Chaudhuri said. The country’s biggest bank will need about 400 billion rupees in fresh capital during the next three years, Chaudhuri told reporters in Chennai yesterday. State Bank also aims to raise the capital from its shareholders and own funds, he said. Mumbai-based State Bank has been in talks with the government to raise capital since at least February last year. Moody’s Investors Service cut State Bank’s financial strength rating on Oct. 4, citing deteriorating asset quality.

  Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    German warships to pass through Strait

  • 2

    Sino-Russian air patrol designed to counter US

  • 3

    Court orders Ko Wen-je’s detention

  • 4

    Silicon photonics alliance formed

  • 5

    Ko Wen-je release quashed