■ IPO
Google delays offering
Google Inc is delaying its initial public offering (IPO) by a week because of logistical problems related to institutional investors registering to bid on the shares, according to a per-son familiar with the matter. The delay wasn't caused by a technological problem or a lack of bidders, the per-son stressed. Rather, the process of registering bid-ders for the auction-style IPO is taking longer than anticipated, the source said. Part of the problem, the person said, was that the IPO, which is being led by Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse First Boston, is being handled through an auction format that had never been tried before. "It's all new," the person said. "We just hit a speedbump." Officially, Google had never set a date for the deal, though people familiar with the matter had pegged the date for next week. A delay would push the deal later into a month that is traditionally light on IPO volume.
■ Banking
HSBC buys stake in China
British bank HSBC is buying a 19.9 percent stake in one of China's biggest state banks for US$1.7 billion, dramatically expanding the foreign presence in the top ranks of Chinese finance, state television reported yesterday. HSBC signed an agreement yesterday to buy into Shanghai-based Bank of Communications, one of the country's main state-owned commercial banks. The deal is the biggest move yet by a foreign bank into the nation's rapidly evolving banking industry. Beijing has promised to let foreign banks compete on an equal footing with Chinese institu-tions by 2006 under commit-ments to the WTO. It would give HSBC a platform to promote credit cards and other products to China's growing consumer market, possibly giving it an edge over foreign rivals such Citibank and Standard Chartered.
■ Entertainment
Sony BMG launched
Sony Music Entertainment and BMG, the music unit of the German media conglom-erate Bertelsmann AG, said on Thursday they have formally combined their music businesses. Sony BMG Music Entertainment will rival Vivendi's Universal Music Group for market share. Sony BMG will be headquartered in New York. Sony and Bertelsmann each own half of the new com-bined company. The deal did not include the parent companies' music publish-ing, manufacturing or physical distribution busi-nesses. The Federal Trade Commission approved the merger last week. Andrew Lack, Sony Music's former chairman and chief execu-tive, was named chief executive of the new firm.
■ Investment
Merrill Lynch buys stake
Merrill Lynch Securities
has signed a deal with South Korea's LG Card Co to invest US$400 million in the heavily indebted credit card issuer, LG Card said yester-day. "It is true that Merrill Lynch has agreed to buy
all the US$400 million worth of asset-backed securities which we are going to issue in mid-October," a LG Card spokesman said. LG Card said earlier Merrill Lynch would serve as the lead manager in the issuance of the securities which would be backed by LG Card's receivables. Ahn Sung-eun, managing director of Merrill Lynch's Seoul branch office, told Moneytoday, an Inter-net financial news provider, that the firm would buy all the issue. "The reason that Merrill Lynch Securities is investing US$400 million
in LG Card ... is because Merrill Lynch trusts the [South] Korean economy."
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
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