■FINANCE
ADIA to drop stock deal
Citigroup Inc said the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) is seeking to end an agreement to buy the bank’s stock for more than eight times its current price, or to receive more than US$4 billion in damages if the deal is upheld. ADIA, as one of the world’s top two sovereign wealth funds is known, filed a claim alleging “fraudulent misrepresentations” tied to its agreement to buy US$7.5 billion in common stock, Citigroup said on Tuesday in a statement. The claims have no merit, Citigroup said. ADIA would buy the shares for US$31.83 to US$37.24 apiece under the agreement.
The New York-based bank announced this week that it would sell common shares to help repay US$20 billion in bailout funds to the US government. “It is going to be tough” for ADIA to evade losses tied to the agreement, said Eric Barden, chief investment officer of Barden Capital Management in Austin, Texas.
■FINANCE
Wells Fargo to buy stake
US banking group Wells Fargo is to buy British insurance company Prudential’s stake in a joint brokerage venture — Wells Fargo Advisors — for US$4.5 billion in cash by year’s end. Wells Fargo made the announcement on Tuesday, a day after it agreed that it would repay the US Treasury Department US$25 billion in public money it received at the peak of the financial crisis. Prudential announced a year ago its plans to sell its stake in the brokerage venture. “The purchase price for Prudential’s interest is based upon an agreement between the parties on the value of Wells Fargo Advisors (then known as Wachovia Securities) on Jan. 1 last year, prior to the contribution of the retail securities businesses of A.G. Edwards & Sons,” the statement said.
■COMPUTERS
Dell to cut hundreds of jobs
US computer giant Dell will cut 700 jobs in Malaysia as it looks to slash costs, newspaper reports said yesterday. The company said the affected workers from its plant in Penang state would leave Dell between January and June through a voluntary separation scheme, the Star and New Straits Times reported. The move will see Dell’s workforce in Malaysia reduced to 3,800. The company has another support center in Cyberjaya, a high-tech hub south of Kuala Lumpur. Spokeswoman Jasmine Begum said the layoffs were a result of the plant stopping production of notebooks for Latin America, Canada and the US. The company will still make products for South Asia and Australia.
■COMPUTERS
Mobile sales may drop
Worldwide sales of mobile devices are expected to decline by nearly 0.7 percent this year and pick up again next year with 9 percent growth, Gartner research group said on Tuesday. Gartner’s forecast of an 0.67 percent decline in sales this year compared with last year was better than its September forecast of a 3.7 percent drop in sales this year. Gartner said it expected smartphones to account for 14 percent of the total 1.214 billion mobile devices sold this year and 38 percent of total units sold by 2013. “Despite a projected return to growth in 2010, the times of 20 percent growth are certainly over as mature markets are saturated and most growth will come from emerging markets,” Gartner research director Carolina Milanesi said. “Software, services and content will be much bigger drivers than hardware, pushing traditional mobile phone vendors to reinvent themselves to remain at the top of their game,” she said.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
KAOHSIUNG CEREMONY: The contract chipmaker is planning to build 5 fabs in the southern city to gradually expand its 2-nanometer chip capacity Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday confirmed that it plans to hold a ceremony on March 31 to unveil a capacity expansion plan for its most advanced 2-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung, demonstrating its commitment to further investment at home. The ceremony is to be hosted by TSMC cochief operating officer Y.P. Chyn (秦永沛). It did not disclose whether Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and high-ranking government officials would attend the ceremony. More details are to be released next week, it said. The chipmaker’s latest move came after its announcement earlier this month of an additional US$100 billion
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
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