Thu, Jan 14, 2016 page15

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  LIFE INSURERS

  MetLife mulls separation

  MetLife Inc, the largest US life insurer, plans to separate much of its domestic retail business as chief executive officer Steve Kandarian works to shrink the company amid tighter US government oversight. The stock rallied in extended trading. The insurer is weighing a possible sale, spin-off or public offering of the operation, New York-based MetLife said in a statement on Tuesday. The new company would have about US$240 billion of assets and account for approximately 20 percent of MetLife’s operating earnings, it said.

  AUTOMAKERS

  Volkswagen plan rejected

  Regulators in California on Tuesday formally rejected Volkswagen’s (VW) plan to fix its polluting diesel engines, underscoring their frustration with the German automaker’s ability to repair its defective vehicles. The California Air Resources Board, which is investigating VW’s use of a so-called defeat device to cheat on diesel emissions tests, said that a recall plan presented in November and last month was “incomplete, substantially deficient and falls far short of meeting the legal requirements” to be approved.

  RAILROADS

  CSX Q4 profit falls

  CSX Corp on Tuesday said that its fourth-quarter profit declined 5 percent as coal demand remained weak and total volume slipped 6 percent. The results raise questions about the health of the overall economy. The Jacksonville, Florida-based railroad hauled fewer agricultural products, chemicals and construction materials, among other categories, in the quarter.

  BEVERAGES

  Starbucks expects China rise

  Starbucks said it expects China to eventually overtake the US as the coffee chain’s largest market. The Seattle company said it is on track to open 500 stores in China this year. It expects to have a total of 3,400 stores in China by 2019. Starbucks currently has 2,000 stores in China, making it the company’s second-largest market after the US. “Over time, it’s conceivable that China could become our largest market,” Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said in a statement.

  PHARMACEUTICALS

  Pfizer, Allergan tout deal

  The heads of drugmakers Pfizer and Allergan on Tuesday said that the record US$160 billion combination they are planning is meant to produce more medicines and boost revenue, not to just slash jobs and other costs as the companies previously have done. The deal announced in November would move Pfizer’s official headquarters for tax purposes from New York to Allergan’s base in Ireland. The strategy, called a tax inversion, would sharply decrease Pfizer’s income tax bill compared with US tax rates.

  SMARTPHONES

  Chinese shipments rise

  China’s shipments of smartphones from Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and other makers that do not use the Android operating system rose by about 33 percent in the final quarter of last year, according to Chinese government and analysts’ data, indicating strong sales for the iPhone in its largest market outside the US. About 24.32 million smartphones not powered by Google Inc’s software shipped within China from October to last month, according to data provided by the China Academy of Telecommunication Research (中國信息通信研究院), a research arm of the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
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