ENERGY
Shell names new CEO
Royal Dutch Shell PLC yesterday appointed its downstream director Ben van Beurden to replace Peter Voser as CEO when Voser retires next year. Van Beurden’s promotion marks a return to a Dutchman leading the Netherlands-British multinational after the tenure of Voser, who is Swiss. Van Beurden has worked for Shell’s upstream and downstream businesses in Europe, Africa, Asia and the US. He will take over from Voser on Jan. 1. Voser will retire at the end of March after 29 years with the company.
CONGLOMERATES
LVMH acquires Loro Piana
French luxury conglomerate LVMH will assume control of Italian exclusive ready-to-wear fashion group Loro Piana by buying an 80 percent stake for about 2 billion euros (US$2.5 billion), the company said in a statement on Monday. LVMH said that the Loro Piana family would keep the remaining 20 percent share, and that the Italian company’s current directors, Sergio and Pier Luigi Loro Piana, would keep their posts. It said the change in ownership would have a positive earnings effect as of the first year. Loro Piana’s turnover for this year is expected to reach about 700 million euros, while its pre-tax profit is forecast to come in at about 150 million euros.
INTERNET
Hulu gets more bids: report
The Wall Street Journal on Monday reported that several bidders have stepped up to vie for Hulu, an online video Web site that Internet pioneer Yahoo was said to be eyeing as an acquisition. The Journal cited unnamed sources as saying that Hulu had several suitors, including satellite television company DirecTV and a partnership led by US telecom titan AT&T. A Friday deadline had been set for submitting final bids for Hulu, which was launched in 2007 in a partnership between Comcast, 21st Century Fox and The Walt Disney Co.
AUTOMAKERS
Tesla to join NASDAQ
Tesla Motors Inc, the world’s best-performing automotive stock this year, will join the NASDAQ-100 Index next week, filling the spot vacated by Oracle Corp, which is moving to the New York Stock Exchange. The electric-car maker will be added to the gauge, which tracks the biggest firms on the NASDAQ, before the start of trading on Monday, NASDAQ OMX Group Inc said in a statement on Monday. Shares of Tesla have more than tripled this year in New York as the popularity of its new Model S sedan helped the company turn profitable for the first time.
FOOD
Abbott to cut formula prices
Abbott Laboratories will cut the prices of its main infant formula products in China by as much as 12 percent, the fourth foreign company to do so in a week after the government began a probe into possible price-fixing. Abbott will reduce the prices of products such as Similac and Pediasure by 4 percent to 12 percent in China, Pamela Harrison, a spokeswoman for the company, said by telephone yesterday. The Abbott Park, Illinois-based company joins Nestle SA, Danone and Dutch producer Royal FrieslandCampina NV in lowering prices after the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planning agency, started a probe into their pricing of milk powder. The investigation includes Mead Johnson Nutrition Co and domestic firm Biostime International Holdings (合生元國際控股).
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
Industrial production expanded 22.31 percent annually last month to 107.51, as increases in demand for high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove demand for locally-made chips and components. The manufacturing production index climbed 23.68 percent year-on-year to 108.37, marking the 14th consecutive month of increase, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. In the first four months of this year, industrial and manufacturing production indices expanded 14.31 percent and 15.22 percent year-on-year, ministry data showed. The growth momentum is to extend into this month, with the manufacturing production index expected to rise between 11 percent and 15.1 percent annually, Department of Statistics
An earnings report from semiconductor giant and artificial intelligence (AI) bellwether Nvidia Corp takes center stage for Wall Street this week, as stocks hit a speed bump of worries over US federal deficits driving up Treasury yields. US equities pulled back last week after a torrid rally, as investors turned their attention to tax and spending legislation poised to swell the US government’s US$36 trillion in debt. Long-dated US Treasury yields rose amid the fiscal worries, with the 30-year yield topping 5 percent and hitting its highest level since late 2023. Stocks were dealt another blow on Friday when US President Donald
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