■ Auto Market
GM names new executive
General Motors Corp said yesterday it has named a top executive from its European operations to replace Philip Murtaugh as its president for China, a day after it announced Murtaugh's resignation. Although most recently vice president for GM Europe, Murtaugh's successor Kevin Wale previously spent 15 years heading GM's operations in the Asia-Pacific region, the company said in a statement. Wale's earlier time in Asia "laid the groundwork for our current presence," Troy Clarke, president of GM Asia Pacific, said in a statement. "We are excited to have him back." Wale, an Australian, was also chairman of GM's Vauxhall Motor Co and head of GM's operations in Britain.
■ Mergers
EU approves MGM deal
The EU's antitrust office yesterday said it approved the acquisition of the famed film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc by a consortium led by Sony Corp, arguing it would not seriously affect competition in Europe. In a deal valued at nearly US$5 billion, Sony and Comcast Corp will allow MGM to operate as a separate private business, with Sony Pictures distributing MGM's films and television shows as well as MGM's valuable library of more than 4,000 films. MGM owns the rights to the James Bond, Pink Panther and Rocky movies. Comcast will use Sony Pictures' and MGM's catalog of films and TV programs to feed its nascent video-on-demand service. "The transaction would neither create nor strengthen a dominant position or otherwise impede effective competition" in the 25-nation EU market, the European Commission said in a statement.
■ Conglomerates
GS Group starts operations
A new South Korean conglomerate was born yesterday as the GS Group, a spin off from the LG Group, officially began operations with its 15 affiliates focusing on energy and distribution. Chairman Huh Chang-Soo said at a launch ceremony that the new group would put the priority on enhancing corporate transparency and increasing shareholders' value rather than expanding market share. With GS Holdings as its flagship company, former LG affiliates such as LG-Caltex Oil, LG Mart and LG Home Shopping now fall under GS and were renamed accordingly with GS replacing LG in their titles. GS Group hopes to achieve sales of 24 trillion won (US$23.4 billion) this year, following revenues of 22 trillion won last year. With the new group's assets estimated at 16.1 trillion won as of the end of 2003, GS ranks as the nation's seventh-largest conglomerate, excluding public corporations.
■ Aviation
Continental pilots ratify deal
Continental Airlines pilots on Wednesday ratified a 45-month contract designed to save the financially strapped airliner US$200 million a year, the pilots union said. About 58 percent of those who voted agreed to ratify the contract, the union said. The ratification is contingent on the acceptance of unions representing flight attendants, mechanics and dispatchers of their contracts negotiated with the Houston, Texas-based carrier as part of the cost-saving plan. Continental said it would issue stock options for approximately 10 million shares of common stock in connection with the pay and benefit reductions. The shares represent approximately 15 percent of the currently outstanding shares of common stock of Continental.
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
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