■ INVESTMENT
Gates takes a drink
Microsoft founder Bill Gates has invested about US$364 million in Mexican drink giant FEMSA, the distributor of Coca-Cola in Latin America and dozens of beers including Tecate and Dos Equis. Gates' investment firm, Cascade Investment LLC, filed a document with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday showing it was acquiring 1.2 percent of FEMSA capital through "B" shares. Cascade acquired about 10.81 million of FEMSA's American Depository Shares Street traded in New York. FEMSA closed at US$33.68 late on Wednesday.
■ ELECTRONICS
BlackBerry brings Q3 profit
Research in Motion (RIM) Ltd's fiscal third-quarter profit more than doubled on strong demand for its BlackBerry smart phones and related services by consumers and businesses. For the quarter ended Dec. 1, Canada-based RIM earned US$370.5 million or US$0.65 per share, compared with US$175.2 million, or US$0.31 per share, in the same quarter last year. The company's third-quarter revenue rose to US$1.67 billion from US$835.1 million last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected earnings of US$0.62 per share on US$1.65 billion in revenue.
■ COMMUNICATIONS
Brazil auctions 3G licenses
An auction of third-generation (3G) mobile telephone licenses covering Brazil has netted the government nearly US$3 billion, regulators said on Thursday. The operators paid, on average, nearly twice as much as the minimum fee to grab the hotly sought-after licenses. In total, the auction raised 5.3 billion reais (US$2.9 billion), the National Telecommunications Agency said. Winning bids were received from Vivo (controlled by Portugal Telecom and Spain's Telefonica), Telecom Italia's TIM, Claro (controlled by Mexico's Telecom Americas), and Brazil's OI and four other companies.
■ FOOD
Campbell to sell Godiva
Campbell Soup Co said it has agreed to sell its upscale Godiva Chocolatier brand to a Turkish food company for US$850 million. Campbell said on Thursday that the buyer, Yildiz Holding AS, would add the brand to its Ulker Group. Campbell, the world's largest soup maker, announced in August that it was looking for a buyer for the brand, which does not fit squarely into its main business of selling healthy meals and beverages. Annual sales for Godiva are around US$500 million. Margins are strong for the company, but analysts said it just did not fit with what Campbell is trying to do.
■ SUBPRIME LOANS
Tax break bill signed
US President George W. Bush on Thursday signed a measure to provide financial relief for homeowners facing foreclosure or bankruptcy. The bill gives a tax break to US homeowners who have mortgage debt forgiven as part of a foreclosure or renegotiation of a loan. No taxes would be owed on the value of any debt forgiven or written off. Such debt forgiveness is taxable income under existing rules. While the measure is anticipated to reduce taxes of some homeowners by US$650 million, the cost to the government would be offset in part by limiting a tax break on the sale of second homes. An estimated 2.5 million adjustable-rate mortgages will jump from low initial rates to higher rates this year and next.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
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