■ INVESTMENT
E.Sun to buy back bonds
E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) said it would buy back US$267 million of bonds convertible into shares. E.Sun will purchase the bonds, issued in 2006, after an investor exercised the right to sell the securities, the Taipei-based company said in a filing to the stock exchange. The investor held a put option, which gives the holder of a security the right to sell under certain conditions. The terms of the bond and the identity of the seller were not provided in the statement. Temasek Holdings Pte, the Singapore government's investment company, bought the bonds in March 2006, the two companies said in a statement at that time.
■ INTERNET
'Spam king' admits guilt
A man once described as one of the world's top e-mail spammers pleaded guilty in Seattle, Washington, on Friday to federal charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, and failure to file a tax return. Robert Alan Soloway, 29, was dubbed "the spam king" by prosecutors who said he used networks of compromised computers to send out millions upon millions of junk e-mails since 2003. He was arrested last summer and charged in a 40-count indictment. He agreed to plead guilty to the three charges and the rest were dropped, including e-mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and numerous other counts of mail and wire fraud. He could face up to 20 years in prison.
■ FOOD
Venezuela buys meat chain
The Venezuelan government has bought a private chain of meatpacking plants and has its sights set on a major dairy company, President Hugo Chavez said on Friday, as the country seeks to stem sporadic shortages of food staples. Chavez said the government purchased the meat plants as part of its efforts to improve food distribution while moving toward a socialist state. He did not identify the company or give details, but said it represents a majority of the country's meatpacking and cold-storage transport facilities. "We've nationalized a great chain," Chavez said, adding that the government bought it outright without "trampling" the seller's rights.
■ ELECTRONICS
US game sales jump 34%
US sales of video game hardware and software last month jumped 34 percent to US$1.33 billion, as Sony's PlayStation 3 outsold Microsoft's Xbox 360 for the second month running. Both consoles still trailed far behind Nintendo's Wii, which sold 432,000 units, compared to the PS3's 281,000 and Xbox 360's 255,000 units, market research firm NPD said. Overall the top selling console was Nintendo's handheld DS, which sold 588,000 units. Software sales last month were up 47 percent year-on-year, while hardware sales rose 19 percent, NPD said.
■ BANKING
Dresdner to split activities
Dresdner Bank, part of the giant Allianz insurance group, will split up its investment and retail banking activities, a spokesman said on Friday. The two entities would initially remain under the control of a single holding group, the spokesman said, confirming a report in the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. No job cuts were foreseen, he said, speaking after a meeting of Dresdner Bank's supervisory board that sealed the deal. The announcement had been expected because the investment bank division, known as Dresdner Kleinwort, has posed problems for some time and has been hit hard by the US subprime home loan crisis.
PROTECTION: The investigation, which takes aim at exporters such as Canada, Germany and Brazil, came days after Trump unveiled tariff hikes on steel and aluminum products US President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered a probe into potential tariffs on lumber imports — a move threatening to stoke trade tensions — while also pushing for a domestic supply boost. Trump signed an executive order instructing US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to begin an investigation “to determine the effects on the national security of imports of timber, lumber and their derivative products.” The study might result in new tariffs being imposed, which would pile on top of existing levies. The investigation takes aim at exporters like Canada, Germany and Brazil, with White House officials earlier accusing these economies of
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) would not produce its most advanced technologies in the US next year, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the comment during an appearance at the legislature, hours after the chipmaker announced that it would invest an additional US$100 billion to expand its manufacturing operations in the US. Asked by Taiwan People’s Party Legislator-at-large Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) if TSMC would allow its most advanced technologies, the yet-to-be-released 2-nanometer and 1.6-nanometer processes, to go to the US in the near term, Kuo denied it. TSMC recently opened its first US factory, which produces 4-nanometer
Teleperformance SE, the largest call-center operator in the world, is rolling out an artificial intelligence (AI) system that softens English-speaking Indian workers’ accents in real time in a move the company claims would make them more understandable. The technology, called accent translation, coupled with background noise cancelation, is being deployed in call centers in India, where workers provide customer support to some of Teleperformance’s international clients. The company provides outsourced customer support and content moderation to global companies including Apple Inc, ByteDance Ltd’s (字節跳動) TikTok and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. “When you have an Indian agent on the line, sometimes it’s hard
‘SACRED MOUNTAIN’: The chipmaker can form joint ventures abroad, except in China, but like other firms, it needs government approval for large investments Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) needs government permission for any overseas joint ventures (JVs), but there are no restrictions on making the most advanced chips overseas other than for China, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. US media have said that TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a major supplier to companies such as Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp, has been in talks for a stake in Intel Corp. Neither company has confirmed the talks, but US President Donald Trump has accused Taiwan of taking away the US’ semiconductor business and said he wants the industry back
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