WEALTH
Buffett worth US$100bn
US businessman Warren Buffett on Wednesday joined the small circle of executives worth more than US$100 billion, which also includes Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bernard Arnault and Bill Gates, Forbes magazine reported. The share price of Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway, reached a record level, pushing his fortune to US$100.3 billion — the first time that his net worth has crossed the US$100 billion threshold. Buffett, 90, known as the “Oracle of Omaha,” is one of the most successful and respected executives of all time, but his fortune has never before reached such a peak, with investors in the past few years betting on the values of the technology sector.
AVIATION
GE announces US$30bn deal
General Electric Co on Wednesday announced a deal to sell its aircraft leasing business to AerCap Holdings NV for US$30 billion, establishing a new industry giant amid the COVID-19-pandemic-induced downturn in air travel. Under the transaction, the GE unit would be integrated into the Irish company. GE would have a 46 percent stake in the new entity and would nominate two members to AerCap’s board, the announcement said. The combined company would have more than 2,000 owned and managed aircraft, more than 300 helicopters and more than 300 customers worldwide, AerCap said.
AVIATION
Rolls-Royce posts ￡4bn loss
British engine-maker Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC plunged to a worse than expected ￡4 billion (US$5.57 billion) loss last year, as the COVID-19 pandemic stopped airlines flying, but is sticking to its forecast to burn through less cash this year, it said yesterday. Last year’s cash burn of ￡4.2 billion was in line with analysts’ expectations, and Rolls guided that would reduce this year to ￡2 billion, turning positive in the second half when travel is expected to pick up. On an underlying pretax basis, Rolls posted a loss of ￡4 billion, worse than the ￡3.1 billion loss forecast by analysts. Despite that, the company said its liquidity position was strong and it could cope even in a severe downside scenario.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Russia restricts Twitter
Russia’s state communications watchdog yesterday said it had offered discussions with Twitter Inc after restricting access to the platform for Russian users, but that the company was not responding, the Interfax news agency reported. Russia on Wednesday said it was slowing Twitter down in retaliation for what it called a failure to remove banned content, and threatened to block the US social media platform outright. The Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media said it was “absurd” of Twitter to accuse Russia of seeking to throttle online public conversation, Interfax reported.
CUBA
Government opens up
Foreign-based Cubans are to be allowed to invest in small projects, such as rice, orange and avocado plantations, the government said on Wednesday in a bid to attract investment from the country’s diaspora. “We’re focusing on small projects ... that could be worth up to US$1 million,” in sectors such as agriculture, fishing, light industry and manufacturing, said Katia Alonso, the official responsible for foreign investments. With just more than 11 million inhabitants, the country also has a diaspora of 1.5 million people in 40 countries, although the majority live in the US.
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
‘DECENT RESULTS’: The company said it is confident thanks to an improving world economy and uptakes in new wireless and AI technologies, despite US uncertainty Pegatron Corp (和碩) yesterday said it plans to build a new server manufacturing factory in the US this year to address US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policy. That would be the second server production base for Pegatron in addition to the existing facilities in Taoyuan, the iPhone assembler said. Servers are one of the new businesses Pegatron has explored in recent years to develop a more balanced product lineup. “We aim to provide our services from a location in the vicinity of our customers,” Pegatron president and chief executive officer Gary Cheng (鄭光治) told an online earnings conference yesterday. “We
LEAK SOURCE? There would be concern over the possibility of tech leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, an analyst said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday stayed mum after a report said that the chipmaker has pitched chip designers Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc and Broadcom Inc about taking a stake in a joint venture to operate Intel Corp’s factories. Industry sources told the Central News Agency (CNA) that the possibility of TSMC proposing to operate Intel’s wafer fabs is low, as the Taiwanese chipmaker has always focused on its core business. There is also concern over possible technology leaks if TSMC were to form a joint venture to operate Intel’s factories, Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺)
It was late morning and steam was rising from water tanks atop the colorful, but opaque-windowed, “soapland” sex parlors in a historic Tokyo red-light district. Walking through the narrow streets, camera in hand, was Beniko — a former sex worker who is trying to capture the spirit of the area once known as Yoshiwara through photography. “People often talk about this neighborhood having a ‘bad history,’” said Beniko, who goes by her nickname. “But the truth is that through the years people have lived here, made a life here, sometimes struggled to survive. I want to share that reality.” In its mid-17th to
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