ENTERTAINMENT
Netflix to buy ABQ Studios
Netflix Inc is buying its first production studio — the New Mexico facility used to make The Avengers and Sicario — to accommodate its growing output of original movies and television shows. The world’s largest paid online TV network said it was in final negotiations to purchase ABQ Studios, with eight sound stages in Albuquerque, it said in a statement on Monday. Terms were not given. Netflix already shoots the supernatural drama Chambers and the epic Messiah in New Mexico and previously shot its Emmy-winning series Godless there as well. New Mexico offers tax incentives to attract productions. Together the state and the city of Albuquerque would provide Netflix with US$14.5 million in funding. Netflix said it would create up to 1,000 jobs a year and spend US$1 billion on production over the next 10 years.
CRYPTOCURRENCIES
Start-up receives license
Crypto Finance AG has obtained the same license as professional fund managers from Switzerland’s financial regulator as the country pushes to become a leader in the growing virtual-currency industry. The Zug-based company is now being recognized as an asset manager of collective investment schemes, meaning it can manage and distribute domestic and foreign funds and provide advice to investors, the company said. Obtaining the license removes a hurdle for the company of former UBS Group AG banker Jan Brzezek, allowing it to cater to wider group of professional investors managing cryptofunds in Switzerland after getting a license to distribute investment schemes in the country earlier this year.
INVESTMENTS
Qatar offers incentives
Qatar has allocated US$2 billion to attract multinational companies to its financial center in its latest effort to rival Dubai. Companies that set up a hub in Doha are to be provided free offices and tax incentives as well as seed capital to cover five years of operating expenses in return for a commitment of at least a decade, Qatar Financial Center Authority CEO Yousuf al-Jaida told Bloomberg TV. Qatar’s financial hub aims to launch the incentive plan in the first quarter once all the governance structures have been put in place. The plan comes after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut economic and diplomatic ties with Qatar in June last year, accusing the country of financing terrorist groups and having close ties with Iran, charges Qatar rejects. The rift forced Qatar to shift import routes to Kuwait and Oman, and buy goods from Iran and Turkey.
GERMANY
Exports edge down 0.1%
German exports unexpectedly fell in August, the Federal Statistics Office said yesterday, in a fresh sign that manufacturers in Europe’s largest economy shifted into a lower gear over the summer months. Seasonally adjusted exports edged down 0.1 percent from July, missing a Reuters forecast of a 0.3 percent rise. Imports dropped 2.7 percent, undershooting a predicted 0.2 percent fall. ING economist Carsten Brzeski blamed the low trade volumes over the summer months on a general weakening of global manufacturing activity and a temporary blip in domestic demand. Volker Treier from the DIHK chambers of industry and commerce said the weak data meant that he would probably have to cut his forecast for 5 percent export growth this year. The seasonally adjusted trade surplus widened to 18.3 billion euros (US$21 billion) in August from 15.9 billion euros in July, the data showed.
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
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