■ CLOTHING
Limited Brands sells interest
Limited Brands Inc will sell a majority interest in its underperforming Express apparel brand and is considering options for its Limited Stores chain, the retailer said on Tuesday. Limited Brands, the operator of Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works, said it is selling 67 percent of its interest in Express to affiliates of private equity firm Golden Gate Capital for US$548 million. The sale is expected to be completed by July. There is no time period for what Limited Brands will do with Limited Stores, which company founder Les Wexner used as the starting point for the specialty retailer when he opened his first store in 1963.
■ INTERNET
Yahoo to expand mapping
Yahoo Inc's online mapping service in the US was due to begin giving driving directions in 34 European countries yesterday as part of an upgrade aimed at luring traffic away from rivals AOL and Google Inc. Besides guiding US motorists around Europe for the first time, Yahoo said it also will feature more landmarks and other visual cues to help people find their way around. The company is hoping the improvements can help reverse a recent erosion in its share of the online mapping market. In April, AOL's Mapquest service attracted 49.2 million US visitors, a three percent increase from last year, while traffic to Google's maps surged 49 percent to 30.8 million visitors, according to comScore Media Metrix.
■ INTERNET
Yahoo hires veteran banker
Yahoo Inc has hired veteran investment banker Blake Jorgensen as its new chief financial officer, the latest indication that the Internet icon is more interested in expanding through acquisitions than selling to potential suitors like Microsoft Corp. With the appointment announced on Tuesday, Yahoo finally designated a replacement for Susan Decker, who has been the company's CFO for seven years. She is widely viewed as the most likely successor to Yahoo chairman Terry Semel, who is under increasing pressure to boost the company's recently sagging profits.
■ COMPUTERS
Oracle buys Agile Corp
Business software maker Oracle Corp added yet another acquisition to its bulging shopping basket on Tuesday with a US$495 million deal to buy Agile Software Corp. After the latest all-cash purchase closes in July Oracle will have spent more than US$25 billion snapping up smaller software makers since 2004 in an audacious challenge to Germany's SAP AG, the leading provider of business applications used to automate a wide range of administrative tasks. Agile specializes in software that helps companies manage key products.
■ INVESTMENT
Singapore sets up Asia trust
Singapore's government investment company, Temasek Holdings, said yesterday it set up a trust with an initial endowment of S$500 million (US$330 million) to promote development in Asia. The Temasek Trust will disburse up to 4 percent of its endowment funds every year to support civic and community programs in the region, Temasek chairman Dhanabalan said at a briefing. Dhanabalan said the trust symbolizes Temasek's "commitment to play a constructive role in the continued progress and success of Asia and people in Asia."
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer began talks with high-ranking Chinese officials in Switzerland yesterday aiming to de-escalate a dispute that threatens to cut off trade between the world’s two biggest economies and damage the global economy. The US delegation has begun meetings in Geneva with a Chinese delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰), Xinhua News Agency said. Diplomats from both sides also confirmed that the talks have begun, but spoke anonymously and the exact location of the talks was not made public. Prospects for a major breakthrough appear dim, but there is
The number of births in Taiwan fell to an all-time monthly low last month, while the population declined for the 16th consecutive month, Ministry of the Interior data released on Friday showed. The number of newborns totaled 8,684, which is 704 births fewer than in March and the lowest monthly figure on record, the ministry said. That is equivalent to roughly one baby born every five minutes and an annual crude birthrate of 4.52 per 1,000 people, the ministry added. Meanwhile, 17,205 deaths were recorded, resulting in a natural population decrease of 8,521, the data showed. More people are also leaving Taiwan, with net
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