SELF-DRIVING CARS
California grants Zoox permit
Self-driving vehicle start-up Zoox Inc has won permission to start offering rides to passengers in California. The Californian Public Utilities Commission on Friday granted Zoox a permit to ferry riders in autonomous vehicles under a pilot program. However, Zoox cannot charge for the service and a backup driver must be in the car. Zoox is the first company to win authorization for passenger service in the state, but dozens of others already have permits to test driverless cars on public roads.
IRAN
Bitumen smuggler executed
The government yesterday executed a trader known as the “Sultan of Bitumen” who was charged with fraud and the large-scale smuggling of bitumen, according to Mizan Online, a Web site affiliated with the judiciary. Hamidreza Bagheri Dermani is the third businessman to be executed since an anti-corruption drive was launched over the summer. He was convicted for “corruption on earth” after swindling more than 10 trillion rials (US$237.5 million at the current exchange rate) through “fraud, forgery and bribery,” Mizan reported.
DERIVATIVES
Natixis stops risky practice
Natixis SA is no longer creating the structured products that led to the huge Asian trading loss that it reported on Tuesday. The French bank reported a 260 million euro (US$295.97 million) hit from Asian equity derivatives. It booked a provision of 160 million euros to cover the management of a trading book of so-called “autocallables” linked to stocks in South Korea and an additional 100 million euros in lost revenue. “We have stopped the production of these products,” the bank said on Friday.
BANKING
UniCredit to raise capital
UniCredit SpA is seeking to sell as much as 1 billion euros in German real-estate assets as part of a plan to boost capital, people with knowledge of the matter said. The Italian bank is working with real-estate company Cushman & Wakefield on the sale of office buildings and bank branches belonging to its HypoVereinsbank unit, the people said, asking not to be identified as the process is private. The sale involves about 30 assets and formally begins next month, they said.
INTERNET
Takeaway.com buys rival
Takeaway.com NV agreed to acquire the German businesses of Delivery Hero SE for about 930 million euros, ending an expensive rivalry in a country where both were competing for market share. Amsterdam-based Takeaway is paying about 508 million euros in cash and the rest in equity for Delivery Hero’s Pizza.de, Lieferheld and Foodora businesses in Germany. Delivery Hero is also acquiring an 18 percent stake in its Dutch rival, it said on Friday.
MANUFACTURING
Nike sales avoid trade spat
Nike Inc on Thursday scored higher second-quarter profits, thanks in part to strong sales in China, where the company reported no fallout from ongoing trade tensions between Beijing and Washington. Net income for the quarter ending Nov. 30 was US$847 million, up 10.4 percent year-on-year from the year earlier. Revenue was US$9.4 billion, up 9.6 percent. A key driver was China, where Nike notched a 26 percent increase in revenue to US$1.5 billion.
TECH PARTNERSHIP: The deal with Arizona-based Amkor would provide TSMC with advanced packing and test capacities, a requirement to serve US customers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is collaborating with Amkor Technology Inc to provide local advanced packaging and test capacities in Arizona to address customer requirements for geographical flexibility in chip manufacturing. As part of the agreement, TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, would contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor at their planned facility in Peoria, Arizona, a joint statement released yesterday said. TSMC would leverage these services to support its customers, particularly those using TSMC’s advanced wafer fabrication facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, it said. The companies would jointly define the specific packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated
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
Sales RecORD: Hon Hai’s consolidated sales rose by about 20 percent last quarter, while Largan, another Apple supplier, saw quarterly sales increase by 17 percent IPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) on Saturday reported its highest-ever quarterly sales for the third quarter on the back of solid global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) globally, said it posted NT$1.85 trillion (US$57.93 billion) in consolidated sales in the July-to-September quarter, up 19.46 percent from the previous quarter and up 20.15 percent from a year earlier. The figure beat the previous third-quarter high of NT$1.74 trillion recorded in 2022, company data showed. Due to rising demand for AI, Hon Hai said its cloud and networking division enjoyed strong sales
Protectionism: US trade chief Katherine Tai said the hikes would help to counter unfair trade practices from China, while boosting domestic clean energy investments US Trade Representative Katherine Tai (戴琪) defended stiff tariff hikes against countries such as China, saying that paired with investment, they were a “legitimate and constructive” tool for reinvigorating domestic industries. Tai’s comments come a week after sharp tariff increases on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), EV batteries and solar cells took effect — with levies down the line on other products also recently finalized. The latest moves targeting US$18 billion in Chinese goods come weeks before next month’s US presidential election, with Democrats and Republicans pushing a hard line on China as competition between Washington and Beijing intensifies. In an interview on Thursday
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