TECHNOLOGY
Chinese LGBTQ app lists
The owner of Blued, China’s biggest LGBTQ dating app, climbed 46 percent in its trading debut after raising US$85 million in a US initial public offering. BlueCity Holdings Ltd’s (藍城兄弟) shares, which rose as much as 124 percent earlier on Wednesday, closed at US$23.43 in New York trading. The Beijing-based company had sold 5.3 million shares at US$16 each. BlueCity CEO Ma Baoli (馬保力) said his company is listing in the US to showcase that China has a company that serves the LGBTQ community. “I am very confident that China will create a better environment for the LGBTQ community,” he said in a phone interview on Wednesday.
APPAREL
Uniqlo cuts profit outlook
Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing Co yesterday reported plunging profits and lowered its annual profit outlook, with the Japanese giant citing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced lengthy store closures. The firm expects annual net profit to August of ￥85 billion (US$792 million), down from an earlier projection of ￥100 billion announced in April, and nearly a half of what it earned in the previous year. Annual operating profit is forecast at ￥130 billion and sales at ￥1.99 trillion, compared with earlier forecasts for ￥145 billion and ￥2.09 trillion respectively. The revisions were necessary as previous forecasts did not account for the full effects of a state of emergency Japan declared earlier in the pandemic, which forced the firm to shut stores, as well as the slower-than-expected reopening of its branches overseas.
DEFENSE
Pentagon, IBM end dispute
An 11-year-old Pentagon case against International Business Machines Corp (IBM) ended quietly in October last year when it agreed to pay US$900,000 to settle claims involving hacking attacks on the National Defense University (NDU) that began in 2006. “It was alleged that IBM submitted false claims for the information technology services that it provided NDU,” the US Department of Defense’s inspector general said, disclosing the settlement in its latest semiannual report. “IBM allegedly did not fulfill its contractual obligations to provide substantial network security services” under an army contract that began in 2003. The department had initially sought to recover US$9 million. IBM filed a motion to dismiss the case that a judge for the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals denied in March 2018.
GERMANY
Exports jump in May
Exports in May rose sharply as COVID-19 containment measures eased, official data showed yesterday, adding to signs of a recovery in Europe’s top economy even if trade remains well below pre-pandemic levels. Exports climbed 9 percent to 80.3 billion euros (US$90.94 billion), compared with April, when they had their biggest plunge since records began, federal statistics office Destatis reported. Imports grew at a slower clip of 3.5 percent month-on-month, widening the trade surplus to 7.6 billion euros in seasonally adjusted terms. Analysts surveyed by Factset had predicted a stronger uptick in foreign trade, suggesting that firms met with weaker than expected demand as they reopened after weeks of lockdown. Compared with a year earlier, exports were down almost 30 percent, while imports were nearly 22 percent lower.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
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