WEAPONS
Remington files bankruptcy
US gunmaker Remington on Sunday filed for bankruptcy, as the Wmore than 200-year-old firearms manufacturer vies to restructure its massive debts. Remington had announced it would file for bankruptcy last month, just two days before a shooting at a Parkland, Florida high school that killed 17 people and reignited a national debate on gun control. The restructuring agreement would allow Remington to reduce about US$700 million of its consolidated debt, as well as inject a contribution of US$145 million of new capital into its operating subsidiaries, the company said.
FASHION
JD buys Finish Line
JD Sports Fashion PLC has agreed to buy US sportswear retailer Finish Line Inc, expanding into the North American market and snatching away a company in which Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct International PLC had built a stake. The takeover agreement is valued at US$13.50 per Finish Line share in cash, or a total of US$558 million. Due to the distinct geographies in which the two companies operate, JD Sports does not see any significant adjustments in headcount, the company said. The deal represents a 28 percent premium to Finish Line’s closing price on Friday.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Toshiba awaits approval
Embattled Japanese conglomerate Toshiba yesterday said it was still waiting for regulators to approve the key sale of its chip unit, a delay that could stymie plans to complete the deal this month. The firm agreed in September last year to sell its memorychip business to a consortium led by US investor Bain Capital, which was seen as crucial to keeping it afloat after multibillion-dollar losses. Under the deal, Toshiba had expected to meet all the sale conditions by Friday last week and complete them this Friday.
AUTOMAKERS
Great Wall goes global
Great Wall Motor Co (長城汽車), the king of sport utility vehicles in China, is feeling the rising heat from competition. After reporting earnings that more than halved last year, it is turning to potential customers abroad for its next phase of growth. The automaker plans to initially focus on countries such as Russia and those in the Middle East that have similar regulations as China, founder and chairman Wei Jianjun (魏建軍) told reporters in Hong Kong yesterday. The company will build its vehicles in Russia, with a factory capable of rolling out 80,000 vehicles annually set to start operations next year, he said. Plans to sell cars in the US starting 2021 are also on the cards, he said. Great Wall on Friday reported that its profit fell 52 percent last year to 5.03 billion yuan (US$796 million) as it spent more on incentives and discounts to help secure market share.
TECHNOLOGY
Google eyes China for AI
Google CEO Sundar Pichai expects China to play a crucial role in artificial intelligence (AI) as he keeps expanding the search giant’s workforce in the country, even as many of its services are blocked. Google has invested in Chinese start-ups, forged a patent alliance with Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊) and is pushing its TensorFlow AI tools in the country, despite key services, such as search and e-mail, remaining blocked. The company recently opened a research lab in Beijing focused on AI, a blossoming field but one at the center of tensions between China and the US. Google’s lab falls under its cloud unit, and the company has suggested it is open to entering China with that business if it is allowed to.
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic gas stations are to fall NT$0.2 and NT$0.1 per liter respectively this week, even though international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices continued rising last week, as the US Energy Information Administration reported a larger-than-expected drop in US commercial crude oil inventories, CPC said in a statement. Based on the company’s floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil rose 2.38 percent last week from a week earlier, it said. News that US President Donald Trump plans a “secondary
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