■TELECOMS
Vodafone profits soar
British mobile phone giant Vodafone yesterday announced that group net profits almost trebled to £8.645 billion (US$12.5 billion) in the 12 months to March 31. The sharp jump in earnings, which compared with profit after tax of £3.078 billion in 2008 and last year, came as Vodafone cut costs and increased sales of its broadband Internet services, chief executive Vittorio Colao said in comments accompanying the earnings data. “In particular, mobile data and fixed broadband services continue to grow while we increased the contribution being made by our operations in emerging economies, primarily by gaining market share,” he said.
■EQUITIES
Fidelity NIS bid dropped
A group of private equity firms led by the Blackstone Group has dropped plans for a US$15 billion bid for Fidelity National Information Services (NIS), people briefed on the matter said on Monday. The group, which also included THL Partners and TPG Capital, declined to meet a demand from Fidelity National’s board for a “substantial increase” over the US$32 a share that was proposed, these people said. Representatives for the private equity firms and Fidelity National, a financial information firm, declined to comment or could not be reached for comment. In a statement earlier on Monday, Fidelity National said it was considering both a leveraged buyout and a leveraged recapitalization, in which the company would borrow money to pay a special dividend to shareholders. One other concern was that Fidelity National’s largest shareholder, Warburg Pincus, had expressed dissatisfaction over the Blackstone-led group’s proposed price, these people said.
■INVESTMENT
Berkshire cuts holdings
Billionaire Warren Buffett’s firm says it cut its holdings in a dozen different companies in the first quarter, including Kraft Foods and Procter & Gamble, as it finished raising cash for its US$26.7 billion acquisition of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad. Berkshire Hathaway detailed the changes to its roughly US$51 billion US stock portfolio in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. The filing offers a snapshot of the Omaha-based company’s holdings as of March 31. During the first three months of the year Berkshire also reduced its stakes in ConocoPhillips, Costco Wholesale, Gannett and Johnson & Johnson.
■PHARMACEUTICS
Novartis slapped with fine
A jury has decided that the drug company Novartis AG engaged in a pattern of discrimination against women, paying them less than men and treating pregnant women unfavorably. The verdict was returned on Monday in Manhattan federal court. The jury awarded several million dollars total in compensatory damages to a dozen women who had worked at the company.
■BANKRUPTCIES
Icahn reopens Trump battle
Carl Icahn and Dallas-based Beal Bank appealed a bankruptcy court ruling they lost to Donald and Ivanka Trump and company bondholders over the three Trump Entertainment casinos in Atlantic City. The billionaire investor asked a judge to put off granting control of the three Trump Entertainment Resorts casinos to the Trumps and the bondholders, saying the bankruptcy court made several mistakes. The Trumps and the bondholders, led by New York-based Avenue Capital Group, offered US$225 million for the company.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
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