■ Media
Comcast, Disney pen deal
Comcast Corp and the Walt Disney Co said on Tuesday they signed a landmark multibillion-dollar distribution deal that allows the cable operator to distribute Disney content through its video-on-demand service. As part of the multiyear deal, Comcast, the largest US cable TV operator, also agreed to buy Disney's 39.5 percent stake in the E! Entertainment Television channel for US$1.23 billion. Comcast currently holds a 60 percent interest in the channel. No other financial terms of the deal were disclosed.
■ Property
China raises project fees
The Chinese government will double land use fees for new construction projects from Jan. 1 to cool frantic expansion in the property market, state media reported yesterday. This means that the fee will rise to up to 140 yuan (US$18) per square meter, according to a notice issued by the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Land and Resources and the central bank. The aim is to curb excessive growth in fixed asset investment, the 21st Century Business Herald said, citing a notice published by the central bank.
■ Computers
Dell looking up
Driven by solid sales of laptops and a more diverse product line, computer maker Dell Inc finally had some good news for investors amid an ongoing federal investigation of the company's accounting and financial reporting. In a delayed, preliminary earnings report for the last quarter, Dell beat analysts' expectations, earning US$677 million, or 30 cents per share, on revenue of US$14.4 billion, compared with earnings of US$606 million, or 25 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago. Analysts had been looking for quarterly earnings of 24 cents per share on sales of US$14.44 billion, a survey by Thomson Financial said.
■ Internet
Livedoor strips segment
Japanese Internet startup Livedoor Co plans to sell all its financial segment to investment firm Advantage Partners LLP, news reports said yesterday. Business daily Nihon Keizai reported the plan, adding that Livedoor will convene a board meeting as early as this week to approve the sale of Livedoor Financial Holdings Co, whose seven firms include brokerage and consumer credit operations. Livedoor's financial businesses generated 80 percent of the group's operating profit and the sale would mark the collapse of a business model built by former President Takafumi Horie, the business daily said.
■ Mergers
French energy deal delayed
French government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope said yesterday that a court decision that delays the proposed merger of energy groups GDF and Suez did not fundamentally put the deal in question. "There was certainly a decision by the appeals court but it does not put the project's relevance in question," Cope told the television channel I-Tele. On Tuesday, the Paris appeals court upheld a decision by a lower court in favour of Gaz de France's works council -- institutions in French companies through which trade unions have a voice in operations -- that sought a postponement of a company board meeting on the merger, scheduled for yesterday.
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
RSS