A Shanghai court has fined three local tech firms for helping spread rumors about Yum Brands Inc’s KFC fast food chain that included doctored photographs of deformed chickens and allegations the birds had six wings and eight legs.
In a statement on its official microblog, the Xuhui District People’s Court said Yingchenanzhi Success and Culture Communication, Taiyuan Zero Point Technology and Shanxi Weilukuang Technology had “damaged KFC’s reputation” and “caused it economic losses” by permitting the allegations to be posted on their social messaging accounts.
The companies were ordered to make an official apology and fined a combined 600,000 yuan (US$91,191), an amount that fell far short of the 1.5 million yuan Yum had asked each company to pay.
“We brought suit against these individuals for making false statements about the quality of our food and we are pleased with the outcome,” China-based Yum spokeswoman Cindy Wei said in e-mailed comments.
Reuters was unable to find contact numbers or Web sites for the three companies fined by the court.
Yum is battling to turn around its fortunes in China, its largest market, where its sales have taken a serious hit after a series of food safety scares since the end of 2012. The firm is planning to spin off its China unit by the end of this year.
KFC China brought the suit against the firms in June last year for using 10 accounts on Tencent Holdings Ltd’s (騰訊) popular messaging platform WeChat to spread the defamatory posts.
Food safety is a major concern in China, with frequent scandals ranging from recycled “gutter oil” and years-old “zombie meat,” to dairy laced with industrial chemicals.
A food scandal in 2014 that dented Yum and rival McDonald’s Corp came to a close earlier this week when a Chinese court fined US food supplier OSI Group and jailed 10 of its executives over allegations it had reused returned food products to avoid losses.
China’s economic planning agency yesterday outlined details of measures aimed at boosting the economy, but refrained from major spending initiatives. The piecemeal nature of the plans announced yesterday appeared to disappoint investors who were hoping for bolder moves, and the Shanghai Composite Index gave up a 10 percent initial gain as markets reopened after a weeklong holiday to end 4.59 percent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dived 9.41 percent. Chinese National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie (鄭珊潔) said the government would frontload 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) in spending from the government’s budget for next year in addition
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) suffered its biggest stock decline in more than a month after the company unveiled new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, but did not provide hoped-for information on customers or financial performance. The stock slid 4 percent to US$164.18 on Thursday, the biggest single-day drop since Sept. 3. Shares of the company remain up 11 percent this year. AMD has emerged as the biggest contender to Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market of AI processors. The company’s latest chips would exceed some capabilities of its rival, AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said at an event hosted by
AVIATION: Despite production issues in the US, the Taoyuan-based airline expects to receive 24 passenger planes on schedule, while one freight plane is delayed The ongoing strike at Boeing Co has had only a minor impact on China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), although the delivery of a new cargo jet might be postponed, CAL chairman Hsieh Su-chien (謝世謙) said on Saturday. The 24 Boeing 787-9 passenger aircraft on order would be delivered on schedule from next year to 2028, while one 777F freight aircraft would be delayed, Hsieh told reporters at a company event. Boeing, which announced a decision on Friday to cut 17,000 jobs — about one-tenth of its workforce — is facing a strike by 33,000 US west coast workers that has halted production
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
RSS