■ 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.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) met in Beijing yesterday, where they vowed to bring people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait closer to facilitate the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” The meeting was held in the East Hall of the Great Hall of the People, a venue typically reserved for meetings between Xi and foreign heads of state. In public remarks prior to a closed-door meeting, Xi, in his role as head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), said that Taiwan is historically part of China, and remains an “inalienable” and
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