LOGISTICS
Railway giants to merge
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd on Wednesday said that it had reached an agreement to buy US freight company Kansas City Southern Railway Co. Canadian Pacific said in a statement that it plans to buy the firm for approximately US$27 billion and take on its US$3.8 billion debt. The boards of directors of both companies have agreed to the deal. The tie-up — to be called “Canadian Pacific Kansas City” — would be the sixth-largest rail company by revenue in the US, employing nearly 20,000 people and generating an average of US$8.7 billion in revenue per year. The companies expect to complete the deal in the second half of next year.
AIRLINES
Ryanair lifts growth target
Ryanair Holdings PLC yesterday lifted its growth target to 50 percent over the next five years, as the Irish low-cost carrier expands at European airports where the COVID-19 pandemic has forced other carriers to pull back. The push to more than 225 million passengers by 2026 would be powered by a fleet of new Boeing Co 737 MAX jets, Ryanair said in a statement. Europe’s biggest discount airline had previously targeted a 33 percent increase from pre-COVID-19 levels of 149 million per year. Ryanair might increase its share of the European short-haul market to about 20 percent by 2025 from 13 percent in 2019, Citigroup Inc analysts said in a note. The company said in July that it would keep ticket prices low during the winter months to drive demand.
SMARTPHONES
Oppo to lay off staff
Smartphone maker Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp (歐珀) is cutting about 20 percent of staff in key software and device teams after it merged operations with affiliate OnePlus (一加). Oppo, which in 2016 became China’s top-selling brand, is retrenching after expanding too rapidly on the hiring front in the past few years. The cuts affect important units, including a team that customizes Android into its in-house ColorOS, and an Internet of Things division that develops a spectrum of wearables, such as smartwatches and earbuds, said people with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified.
BANKING
ING speeds up fuel pullout
ING Groep NV is to cut lending to fossil-fuel companies at a faster pace than previously planned, as the finance industry races to slash its carbon footprint in time to meet goals laid out in the Paris Agreement. The Dutch bank intends to reduce financing for upstream oil and gas projects by 12 percent from the 4 billion euros (US$4.7 billion) it loaned the industry in 2019, ING said in a revised sustainability report. The lender wants to reach the new target in four years, compared with a previous goal of a 19 percent cut in such funding by 2040.
MEDIA
Vivendi bids for Lagardere
Vivendi is planning to make a bid for Lagardere SA if regulators approve its plan to buy out Amber Capital’s stake, a deal that would create one of Europe’s biggest media companies. Vivendi agreed to buy 25.3 million shares of Lagardere, owner of assets including Paris Match magazine and Europe 1 radio, held by the activist investor for 24.10 euros apiece, Vivendi said in a statement on Wednesday. The deal would push Vivendi’s holding above 30 percent of Lagardere, triggering a requirement to bid for the rest of the business under French law.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six