■ADVERTISING
Publicis to buy Razorfish
French advertising company Publicis Groupe SA has agreed to buy Microsoft Corp’s digital advertising firm Razorfish in a move to boost its share of advertising on the Web, a joint statement said on Sunday. The deal is valued at US$530 million, comprised of cash and 6.5 million Publicis Groupe treasury shares. The two companies also signed a five-year strategic alliance agreement that will allow Publicis to purchase display and search advertising from Seattle-based Microsoft on favorable terms across Microsoft’s digital properties in exchange for certain minimum guaranteed purchases. Under terms of that agreement, Razorfish will continue to be a preferred provider to Microsoft for digital strategy, creative and marketing services and Microsoft has committed to spend a minimum amount for those services each year. In addition to Microsoft, Razorfish’s major clients include Ford Motor Co, Best Buy Co, McDonald’s Corp and Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide Inc. Razorfish will continue to operate under its brand name and be part of VivaKi, the new Publicis Groupe entity created in June last year to reflect independent operations of Digitas, Starcom MediaVest Group, Denuo and ZenithOptimedia.
■FASHION
Aussie boycott threatened
Britain’s leading fashion retailers are threatening to boycott Australian wool after farmers said they would continue sheep mulesing, or cutting of the hide to prevent disease, a report said yesterday. Next and Marks & Spencer are among major chains to condemn the decision as “totally unacceptable,” and have pledged to seek wool from non-mulesed Australian farms, or from other countries, the Guardian newspaper said. Marks & Spencer has pledged to use non-mulesed merino wool for suits in its menswear range after next year. In a letter to Australian wool industry leaders, the retailer is said to have stressed the “2010 deadline is not negotiable and loss of confidence in M&S wool products could well lead to widespread customer boycotting and loss of revenue for the whole supply chain,” the newspaper said. The British Retail Consortium said it was “disappointed” at the announcement by the farmers last month, and at the end of next year its members “will seek to use suppliers who don’t use mulesing.”
■FINANCE
BNP appoints China head
BNP Paribas SA said Margaret Ren (任克英) has been appointed chairwoman and chief executive officer of corporate finance for Greater China to expand the investment banking business of France’s biggest lender in the region. Ren’s appointment is effective yesterday, BNP Paribas said. She is a former managing director and chairman of China investment banking at Merrill Lynch & Co. Merrill was bought by Bank of America Corp this year.
■PETROLEUM
Oil hovers at US$71 a barrel
Oil prices hovered near US$71 a barrel yesterday in Asia as investors looked to signs later this week of US consumers health. Benchmark crude for September delivery was up US$0.17 to US$71.10 a barrel by midday in Singapore in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, the contract fell US$1.01 to settle at US$70.93. Crude prices have fluttered near US$71 a barrel and US$72 for about a week as investors try to gauge how strong a US economic recovery will be this year.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
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