Sat, Nov 21, 2020 page10

• World Business Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  AUTOMAKERS

  Nissan mulls electric pickup

  Nissan Motor Co is looking to breathe new life into its full-size gasoline-powered pickup by electrifying it with the help of a Detroit-based start-up, people familiar with the matter said. The Japanese automaker is considering buying a battery-electric powertrain from Hercules Electric Vehicles for its Titan pickup and sharing parts for the start-up’s own truck in a prospective strategic partnership, said the people, who declined to be named. The talks are ongoing and could still fall apart before a deal is signed, they said. The two planned vehicles would join a crowded field of new electric trucks chasing an as-yet untested market for battery-powered haulers. Hercules plans to produce its first vehicle, a luxury electric truck called the Hercules Alpha, at niche volumes starting in mid-2022.

  CHINA

  US firms more optimistic

  More than 60 percent of US businesses in the nation are more optimistic about doing business after the US presidential election, a survey released yesterday showed. However, nearly one-third of firms believed that trade tensions would continue indefinitely, according to the survey of 124 companies by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, which also found that 33 percent of company heads were concerned about the personal safety of employees as a result of exit bans or detentions. Most respondents to the survey, which was conducted from Nov. 11 to Sunday, did not expect trade restrictions or tariffs to increase. Companies also showed increased optimism on expected revenues this year compared with a July survey.

  UNITED KINGDOM

  Borrowing hits record

  Government borrowing climbed to a record ￡214.9 billion (US$285.4 billion) in the first seven months of the fiscal year, underscoring the tough choices facing Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak as he prepares for a major announcement on spending next week. Office for National Statistics data yesterday showed that the deficit in October alone totaled ￡22.3 billion, leaving the nation on course for a shortfall approaching ￡400 billion for this fiscal year as a whole and debt above 100 percent of GDP for the first time since the early 1960s. There was better news on retail sales, which rose for a sixth consecutive month. At almost one-fifth of the economy, the deficit is set to be the largest in peacetime — a staggering deterioration from March, when the Office for Budget Responsibility was expecting just ￡55 billion, or about 2.5 percent of GDP.

  GAMING

  Roblox files for IPO

  Online gaming company Roblox Corp has filed for an initial public offering (IPO), aiming to capitalize on a pandemic-fueled sales surge and the growing popularity of its platform. The size of the offering was listed at US$1 billion in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Thursday, although that is a placeholder that is likely to change. The company is to disclose plans for the size and price range for the sale in a later filing. Roblox hosts millions of games that are built by its users, who then get a share of any related revenue. It says that two-thirds of all children aged nine to 12 in the US use the platform. The company had 31 million daily active users during the first nine months of the year, up 82 percent from the same period last year, the filing said. The amount of time those users spent engaged on the platform more than doubled from last year to 22 billion hours, the company said.
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