FOOD
Pepsi to buy Be & Cheery
PepsiCo Inc plans to buy online snacks company Hangzhou Haomusi Food Co (杭州郝姆斯食品) — known as Be & Cheery — for US$705 million from Haoxiangni Health Food Co (好想你健康食品), as the maker of Doritos and Lay’s potato chips expands in China. Be & Cheery’s products include nuts, dried fruits, meat snacks, baked goods and confectionery items that are sold mainly online through major Chinese e-commerce platforms. The deal is subject to a Haoxiangni shareholder vote and regulatory approvals, the companies said in a statement.
FINANCE
Intuit eyes Credit Karma
Intuit Inc is close to a US$7 billion deal to acquire personal-finance portal Credit Karma Inc and beef up its position in the consumer-finance market, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Citing sources familiar with the talks, the Journal said that a deal involving cash and stock could be announced as soon as yesterday. Intuit makes TurboTax. Buying Credit Karma would be the biggest acquisition in the company’s 37-year history. Privately held Credit Karma was valued at about US$4 billion in a private share sale two years ago, the report said.
PHARMACEUTICALS
Clover Bio, GSK team up
China’s Clover Biopharmaceuticals Co (三葉草生物製藥) yesterday said that it would work with the UK’s GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) on a research tie-up that would develop the Chinese firm’s protein-based coronavirus vaccine candidate “COVID-19 S-Trimer.” Clover said GSK would provide it with its pandemic adjuvant system for further evaluation of the vaccine candidate in preclinical studies. GSK Vaccines chief medical officer Thomas Breuer said earlier this month that it would take at least 12 to 18 months to find a vaccine or effective treatment.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Xperi receives takeover bid
Xperi Corp said it has received an unsolicited takeover proposal from a consortium led by its former CEO, posing a potential challenge to its merger with TiVo Corp. Metis Ventures LLC, where former Xperi CEO Tom Lacey is a managing member, proposed an all-cash bid of US$23.30 a share for all outstanding Xperi shares, a statement said on Sunday. The offer values the company at almost US$1.2 billion. Xperi said it would not be engaging in discussions with Metis Ventures and reiterates its “continued support and enthusiasm” for the pending transaction with TiVo.
BANKING
UniCredit CEO to stay on
UniCredit SpA chief executive Jean Pierre Mustier has ruled himself out of the running to take the helm at HSBC Holdings PLC, deciding to stay at the Italian lender, a person familiar with the situation said. According to the Financial Times, which first reported the story, Mustier on Sunday telephoned HSBC chairman Mark Tucker to tell him that he was no longer interested in the job.
TRADE
Johnson ready for US talks
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is prepared to begin trade talks with the US within the coming two weeks, the Telegraph reported on Sunday. The UK government’s “red lines” for the trade negotiations, due to be published next week, are expected to push back against US demands for its pharmaceutical firms to have greater access to the UK market, the report said. Johnson is expected to meet US President Donald Trump in June.
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
Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) suffered its biggest stock decline in more than a month after the company unveiled new artificial intelligence (AI) chips, but did not provide hoped-for information on customers or financial performance. The stock slid 4 percent to US$164.18 on Thursday, the biggest single-day drop since Sept. 3. Shares of the company remain up 11 percent this year. AMD has emerged as the biggest contender to Nvidia Corp in the lucrative market of AI processors. The company’s latest chips would exceed some capabilities of its rival, AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said at an event hosted by
AVIATION: Despite production issues in the US, the Taoyuan-based airline expects to receive 24 passenger planes on schedule, while one freight plane is delayed The ongoing strike at Boeing Co has had only a minor impact on China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), although the delivery of a new cargo jet might be postponed, CAL chairman Hsieh Su-chien (謝世謙) said on Saturday. The 24 Boeing 787-9 passenger aircraft on order would be delivered on schedule from next year to 2028, while one 777F freight aircraft would be delayed, Hsieh told reporters at a company event. Boeing, which announced a decision on Friday to cut 17,000 jobs — about one-tenth of its workforce — is facing a strike by 33,000 US west coast workers that has halted production
TECH JUGGERNAUT: TSMC shares have more than doubled since ChatGPT’s launch in late 2022, as demand for cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips remains high Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday posted a better-than-expected 39 percent rise in quarterly revenue, assuaging concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) hardware spending is beginning to taper off. The main chipmaker for Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc reported third-quarter sales of NT$759.69 billion (US$23.6 billion), compared with the average analyst projection of NT$748 billion. For last month alone, TSMC reported revenue jumped 39.6 percent year-on-year to NT$251.87 billion. Taiwan’s largest company is to disclose its full third-quarter earnings on Thursday next week and update its outlook. Hsinchu-based TSMC produces the cutting-edge chips needed to train AI. The company now makes more
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