E-COMMERCE
Amazon in Flipkart talks
Amazon.com Inc might put in a rival bid to acquire Bangalore-based Flipkart Online Services Pvt even as the Indian e-commerce market leader is in talks with Walmart Inc for a majority stake sale, according to the Mint newspaper. Amazon has held early exploratory discussions to buy Flipkart, the newspaper reported, citing unidentified people. However, it said a deal with Walmart is more likely to go through. The world’s biggest retailer is closing in on acquiring 55 percent of Flipkart through a mix of primary and secondary share purchases that could value the Indian company at US$21 billion, the report said.
AUTOMAKERS
US sales rise by 6.3 percent
US auto sales last month grew 6.3 percent on rising sales of sports utility vehicles (SUV) and pickup trucks. Automakers sold more than 1.6 million vehicles for the month as buyers came out of hibernation after a cold, snowy winter in much of the country. Truck and SUV sales rose 16.3 percent, while car sales plunged 9.2 percent, Autodata Corp said. Nearly two-thirds of all vehicles sold were trucks or SUVs. General Motors Co posted the biggest sales increase at 15.7 percent to 296,138 vehicles and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV reported almost a 13.6 percent increase to 216,063 vehicles. Ford Motor Co also saw sales rise 3.5 percent to 243,021 units.
JAPAN
BOJ spends record on funds
It has been a bad year for the Tokyo stock market. Without record purchases by the Bank of Japan (BOJ), it could have been even worse. The central bank spent ￥833 billion (US$7.85 billion) on exchange-traded funds tracking the country’s shares last month, the biggest amount in data stretching back to late in 2010. In the first quarter it also bought more than ever before. The bank stepped in as the market slumped in a global equity rout, deserted by foreign investors, with the benchmark Topix index sinking to its first back-to-back monthly declines since the beginning of 2016.
INSURANCE
Softbank mulls Swiss deal
Swiss reinsurance giant Swiss Re AG yesterday said talks were ongoing with Softbank Group Corp, but that the Japanese group would likely take a stake of no more than 10 percent, much less than earlier expectations. Swiss Re announced that it was in talks the technology investor in February, but had never mentioned the size of the possible stake. Financial news media, including Bloomberg, have cited sources familiar with the talks as saying the Japanese firm could take up to a third of Swiss Re for more than US$10 billion. At current share prices, a 10 percent stake in Swiss Re would be worth about US$3.5 billion.
BANKING
New York Fed selects head
The New York Federal Reserve Bank on Tuesday said that it has selected John Williams to take the helm of the institution that is key to monitoring financial markets and implementing US central bank policy. Williams, who heads the San Francisco Fed and previously served as Former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen’s deputy, is to assume the New York position on June 18. He is to replace William Dudley who announced in November last year that he would be retiring a few months early.
BIG BUCKS: Chairman Wei is expected to receive NT$34.12 million on a proposed NT$5 cash dividend plan, while the National Development Fund would get NT$8.27 billion Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday announced that its board of directors approved US$15.25 billion in capital appropriations for long-term expansion to meet growing demand. The funds are to be used for installing advanced technology and packaging capacity, expanding mature and specialty technology, and constructing fabs with facility systems, TSMC said in a statement. The board also approved a proposal to distribute a NT$5 cash dividend per share, based on first-quarter earnings per share of NT$13.94, it said. That surpasses the NT$4.50 dividend for the fourth quarter of last year. TSMC has said that while it is eager
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
‘IMMENSE SWAY’: The top 50 companies, based on market cap, shape everything from technology to consumer trends, advisory firm Visual Capitalist said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) was ranked the 10th-most valuable company globally this year, market information advisory firm Visual Capitalist said. TSMC sat on a market cap of about US$915 billion as of Monday last week, making it the 10th-most valuable company in the world and No. 1 in Asia, the publisher said in its “50 Most Valuable Companies in the World” list. Visual Capitalist described TSMC as the world’s largest dedicated semiconductor foundry operator that rolls out chips for major tech names such as US consumer electronics brand Apple Inc, and artificial intelligence (AI) chip designers Nvidia Corp and Advanced
Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Aramco), the Saudi state-owned oil giant, yesterday posted first-quarter profits of US$26 billion, down 4.6 percent from the prior year as falling global oil prices undermine the kingdom’s multitrillion-dollar development plans. Aramco had revenues of US$108.1 billion over the quarter, the company reported in a filing on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange. The company saw US$107.2 billion in revenues and profits of US$27.2 billion for the same period last year. Saudi Arabia has promised to invest US$600 billion in the US over the course of US President Donald Trump’s second term. Trump, who is set to touch
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