■ COSMETICS
L'Oreal Q4 revenues rise
French cosmetics giant L'Oreal SA said on Thursday that its fourth-quarter revenues rose 6.6 percent amid strong growth in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe. Revenues for the fourth quarter were 4.42 billion euros (US$6.48 billion). L'Oreal did not provide last year's figure in its revenue statement, but previous releases show it was 4.15 billion euros. The latest revenue figure met analyst expectations of 4.4 billion euros, according to a Dow Jones Newswires poll of five analysts. For all of last year, revenues rose 8 percent to 17.1 billion euros, the company said.
■ TECHNOLOGY
Broadcom founders probed
Federal prosecutors identified Broadcom Corp co-founders Henry Nicholas and Henry Samueli as "unindicted potential co-conspirators" in an investigation into the illegal backdating of stock options. The revelation came as former human resources executive Nancy Tullos pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of justice as part of the probe. Tullos struck a deal with prosecutors late last year and agreed to the plea in exchange for her cooperation in the case. Nicholas and Samueli were identified as "Executive A" and "Executive B" in the plea agreement, but US District Judge Cormac Carney told prosecutors not identifying them would undermine the factual basis of the plea deal and violate the principles of open court hearings.
■ AUTOMOBILES
Porsche sales up 14.2%
German luxury sports car maker Porsche said yesterday that sales in the first half of its 2007-2008 fiscal year grew by 14.2 percent to 3.5 billion euros (US$5.2 billion). Unit sales gained 18.7 percent to 46,600 between Aug. 1 and Jan. 31, the company said in a statement which cited provisional figures. For the full year, Porsche was confident of continuing on its growth path, company chief Wendelin Wiedeking was quoted as saying. The group did not release an estimation of net profit, and would wait until March and the release of fourth-quarter results of Volkswagen, in which it has a 31 percent stake.
■ TECHNOLOGY
Sun's profit nearly doubles
Sun Microsystems Inc's fiscal second-quarter profit nearly doubled to edge past Wall Street's estimates on Thursday, reflecting the server and software maker's cost-cutting efforts and maneuvers to shore up demand amid fierce competition. Sun's net profit leaped 95 percent to US$260 million, or US$0.31 per share, for the three months ended Dec. 30. That was a penny higher than the average estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, and nearly twice as high as Sun's profit during the same period a year earlier.
■ SOFTWARE
IBM acquisition approved
IBM Corp on Thursday won EU approval for its largest acquisition ever, the US$5 billion cash purchase of business intelligence specialist Cognos Inc. EU antitrust officials said the deal would not cause competition problems in Europe because the combined market share for business analytics would be moderate with several strong rivals that could offer alternatives to customers. Business-intelligence software helps large organizations gather data that can be used to model such things as the financial impact of staffing changes or marketing moves.
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
TRIP TO TAIWAN: The resumption of group tours from China should be discussed between the two agencies tasked with handling cross-strait tourism, the MAC said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday reassured China-based businesspeople that he would follow former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) cross-strait policy to facilitate healthy and orderly exchanges with Beijing and build a resilient economy. “As president, I have three missions. First, I will follow president Tsai’s ‘four commitments’ to ensure that the country continues to exist and survive,” Lai told participants at a Lunar New Year event in Taipei hosted by the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF). Lai said his second mission is to uphold the “four pillars of peace” by bolstering national defense, developing a growing and resilient economy, building partnerships with
‘INVESTMENT’: Rubio and Arevalo said they discussed the value of democracy, and Rubio thanked the president for Guatemala’s strong diplomatic relationship with Taiwan Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Guatemala City on Wednesday where they signed a deal for Guatemala to accept migrants deported from the US, while Rubio commended Guatemala for its support for Taiwan and said the US would do all it can to facilitate greater Taiwanese investment in Guatemala. Under the migrant agreement announced by Arevalo, the deportees would be returned to their home countries at US expense. It is the second deportation deal that Rubio has reached during a Central America trip that has been focused mainly on immigration. Arevalo said his