Italy’s cash-strapped government has raised more than 370,000 euros (US$511,200) by selling 52 luxury cars owned by the state through online auction site EBay, the prime minister’s office has said.
On the first day of sales, Rome managed to sell executive vehicles worth 371,400 euros from the sale of auto blu cars, the name given to those owned by Italian ministers and state officials.
The sell-off was sanctioned by new Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.
He has pledged to produce government savings of up to 7 million euros, but the sell-off of part of the state’s fleet of cars was seen as highly symbolic, an attempt to reduce the costs of the political class, which has been tainted by corruption scandals.
More than 1 million people had visited EBay to view the cars up for sale, which included such iconic nameplates as Alfa Romeo, Lancia and Audi. The vehicles belonged to Italy’s Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Defense.
The next sale of state vehicles, again via EBay, is to take place on April 28 and include eight state-owned Maseratis being put up for auction.
A statement from the Chigi Palace, the prime minister’s official residence, said “the cars auctioned were selected from among those that the government no longer deemed essential.”
The government on Thursday asked the EU to push back a deadline for cutting its public deficit to 2016, days after France reportedly tried and failed to get another extension.
Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said record unemployment and weak growth — exasperated by measures to pay tens of billions of euros of overdue arrears to companies — were making it difficult to cut Italy’s towering debt.
“Despite the positive signs, the economic recovery is still fragile and the situation in the job market is still difficult,” he told parliament.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said its materials management head, Vanessa Lee (李文如), had tendered her resignation for personal reasons. The personnel adjustment takes effect tomorrow, TSMC said in a statement. The latest development came one month after Lee reportedly took leave from the middle of last month. Cliff Hou (侯永清), senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer, is to concurrently take on the role of head of the materials management division, which has been under his supervision, TSMC said. Lee, who joined TSMC in 2022, was appointed senior director of materials management and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Thursday met with US President Donald Trump at the White House, days before a planned trip to China by the head of the world’s most valuable chipmaker, people familiar with the matter said. Details of what the two men discussed were not immediately available, and the people familiar with the meeting declined to elaborate on the agenda. Spokespeople for the White House had no immediate comment. Nvidia declined to comment. Nvidia’s CEO has been vocal about the need for US companies to access the world’s largest semiconductor market and is a frequent visitor to China.
Hypermarket chain Carrefour Taiwan and upscale supermarket chain Mia C’bon on Saturday announced the suspension of their partnership with Jkopay Co (街口支付), one of Taiwan’s largest digital payment providers, amid a lawsuit involving its parent company. Carrefour and Mia C’bon said they would notify customers once Jkopay services are reinstated. The two retailers joined an array of other firms in suspending their partnerships with Jkopay. On Friday night, popular beverage chain TP Tea (茶湯會) also suspended its use of the platform, urging customers to opt for alternative payment methods. Another drinks brand, Guiji (龜記), on Friday said that it is up to individual
READY TO BUY: Shortly after Nvidia announced the approval, Chinese firms scrambled to order the H20 GPUs, which the company must send to the US government for approval Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) late on Monday said the technology giant has won approval from US President Donald Trump’s administration to sell its advanced H20 graphics processing units (GPUs) used to develop artificial intelligence (AI) to China. The news came in a company blog post late on Monday and Huang also spoke about the coup on China’s state-run China Global Television Network in remarks shown on X. “The US government has assured Nvidia that licenses will be granted, and Nvidia hopes to start deliveries soon,” the post said. “Today, I’m announcing that the US government has approved for us
RSS