■SOFTWARE
Ballmer sees weak growth
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer yesterday said that corporate spending on information technology would not recover to levels seen in recent years before the global economic slowdown. “The economy went through a set of changes on a global basis over the course of the last year which are, I think is fair to say, once in a lifetime,” Ballmer told a meeting of South Korean executives in Seoul. Spending on information technology, which accounted for about half of capital expenditures in developed countries before the crisis, was unlikely to rebound fully because capital was more scarce these days, he said. “While we will see growth, we will not see recovery,” he said. Ballmer was in Seoul to tout Microsoft’s new Windows 7 operating system. He said company purchases of PCs and servers were down about 15 percent globally. “It reflects the fact that CEOs have much more tightly constrained IT budgets,” he said.
■AVIATION
Ryanair warns of losses
Irish low-cost airline Ryanair yesterday reported that its net profit nearly quadrupled in the first half of the year, but warned a fall in fares would make for losses in the second half. “Ryanair’s ability to grow both traffic and profits during the half year is a testament to the strength of Ryanair’s lowest fare model, and our relentless cost discipline,” Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said in a statement. “However, these results are heavily distorted by a 42 percent fall in fuel costs, which has masked a significant 17 percent decline in average fares,” he said. “We expect average fares to decline by up to 20 percent during quarters 3 and 4, which will result in both these quarters being loss making,” he added.
■FINANCE
Firm offers bags for loans
A Hong Kong firm has launched a series of TV commercials offering personal loans in exchange for ladies’ luxury handbags, the South China Morning Post reported yesterday. Yes Lady Finance will pay cash-strapped socialites up to 70 percent of the bag’s value with 28 percent annualized interest, the report said. A Louis Vuitton handbag valued at US$2,600 in the second-hand market would fetch a US$1,800 three-month loan, the paper said, adding that owners would lose the bags if they failed to settle the debt on time. “It is a good fund-raising option for some tai tais,” company cofounder Wallace Tung was quoted as saying, referring to the wives of wealthy Hong Kong businessmen. “They may not want to sell their handbags, which may be a gift from husbands and mean a lot to them.”
■TIRES
No more F-1 for Bridgestone
Bridgestone Corp, the world’s largest tiremaker, will stop supplying tires for the Formula One racing championship series as it aims to cut costs and streamline research and development efforts. The company won’t renew its current contract, set to expire at the end of the 2010 season, the Tokyo-based company said in a statement yesterday. The company is the sole supplier of tires to F-1 racing teams. Bridgestone spends as much as US$100 million a year on Formula One-related costs, the company said. Honda Motor Co, Japan’s second-largest carmaker, and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG have also announced their withdrawal from the championship in the past year as the global recession cuts automobile sales. Bridgestone forecasts net income will drop 42 percent to ¥6 billion (US$67 million) this year.
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CHANGE OF TONE: G7 foreign ministers dropped past reassurances that there is no change in the position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including ‘one China’ policies G7 foreign ministers on Friday took a tough stance on China, stepping up their language on Taiwan and omitting some conciliatory references from past statements, including to “one China” policies. A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored last month’s Japan-US statement in condemning “coercion” toward Taiwan. Compared with a G7 foreign ministers’ statement in November last year, the statement added members’ concerns over China’s nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for “constructive and stable relations with China” and
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
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