TECHNOLOGY
Bitcoin breaks US$12,000
Bitcoin surpassed US$12,000 for the first time amid speculation that the widespread use of futures would help lead to digital currencies being viewed as a legitimate asset class for mainstream investors. Cboe Global Markets Inc has said it would start trading bitcoin futures on Sunday, while CME Group Inc’s contracts are set to debut on Dec. 18. NASDAQ Inc is planning to offer futures next year, according to a person familiar with the matter. Cantor Fitzgerald LP’s Cantor Exchange is creating a bitcoin derivative and LedgerX already offers options.
RETAILERS
Steinhoff CEO resigns
Steinhoff International Holdings NV chief executive Marcus Jooste resigned with immediate effect after the global furniture and clothing retailer reported irregularities in its accounts that require further investigation. The owner of the France-based Conforama furniture store chain and Pep clothing stores in Africa has appointed auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers to probe the matter, it said in a statement on Tuesday. South African billionaire and chairman of the company, Christo Wiese, is to run the company on a temporary basis. The retailer, which has its origins in South Africa, has a base in Amsterdam and a primary listing in Frankfurt, on Monday said it was not able to release audited full-year financial results yesterday due to matters related to a criminal and tax investigation in Germany. Steinhoff shares have slumped 18 percent over the past two days, the most since the Frankfurt listing in December 2015.
SHIPBUILDERS
Samsung Heavy sells shares
Samsung Heavy Industries Co is seeking to raise 1.5 trillion won (US$1.4 billion) in a new share sale as it works to improve its finances. Samsung Heavy aims to complete the sale by early May, the company said in a regulatory filing and e-mailed statement. The company is among the South Korean shipbuilders that have struggled to emerge from a slowdown after excess global capacity and a plunge in crude oil prices crimped demand for vessels and deep-sea platforms used to drill for oil. Shipyards in South Korea — home to the world’s top three builders — eliminated at least 20,000 jobs last year.
TRANSPORTATION
Lyft funding round grows
Lyft Inc said its latest funding round is growing 50 percent to US$1.5 billion, giving the ride-hailing start-up more financial firepower to compete with its larger, troubled rival Uber Technologies Inc. The round, led by Alphabet Inc’s CapitalG investment unit, brings Lyft’s post-money valuation to US$11.5 billion, the start-up said on Tuesday in an e-mailed statement. Fidelity Investments Inc and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan took part in the latest round, along with existing investors including AllianceBernstein, Baillie Gifford, KKR, Janus Henderson and Rakuten, Lyft said.
FINANCE
MUFG to buy Danamon stake
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc (MUFG) is likely to buy 40 percent of PT Bank Danamon Indonesia in two phases, the first of which might take place early next year, Aristiadi, head of foreign bank supervision at the regulator OJK, told a group of reporters in Jakarta yesterday. The Japanese bank’s main lending unit is seeking to spend ￥200 billion (US$1.8 billion) on the stake and might consider obtaining a majority holding in the future, the Nikkei Shimbun reported last month. OJK said at the time that MUFG should consider merging its local unit with Danamon.
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
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