■GREEN BUSINESS
Buffet buys share of BYD
Billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc agreed to pay HK$1.8 billion (US$231 million) for a minority stake in BYD Co (比亞迪), China’s largest maker of rechargeable batteries. Berkshire Hathaway unit MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co will buy 225 million BYD shares, equivalent to a stake of about 10 percent, in the Shenzhen-based manufacturer, a statement issued yesterday. The partnership with MidAmerican would help BYD bring its electric vehicles and other environmental protection measures to the global market, Wang Chuanfu (王傳福), the Chinese company’s chairman, said in the statement. BYD aims to start selling gasoline-electric hybrid cars in the US as early as 2010, it said in January. It also plans to roll out its first all-electric auto in China next year.
■SHIPPING
Yang Ming launches ships
Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海運), Taiwan’s second-largest shipping line, launched two new container ships on Friday, increasing the number of vessels in its fleet to more than 100. Lu Feng-hai (盧峰海), chairman of Yang Ming, and Cheng Wen-lung (鄭文隆), chairman of CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船) — the builder of the two ships — jointly presided over the launching ceremony for YM Upward and YM Enhancer at CSBC’s deep-water wharf in Kaohsiung. YM Upward can carry 4,250 containers, known as 20-foot equivalent units (TEUs) , while YM Enhancer has a capacity for 8,241 TEUs.
■AIRLINE
Pilots agree to takeover
Pilots at Alitalia SpA gave their green light to a rescue plan for the Italian airline after nearly 15 hours of nonstop negotiations, Italy’s ANSA news agency reported yesterday. The pilots agreed to a takeover by a consortium of private investors after negotiating a reduction in sackings and manager contracts for captains. The agreement meant only Alitalia’s flight attendants union had yet to approve the deal designed to keep Italy’s flagship carrier from collapse. Talks were scheduled with that union tomorrow. Under plans for the takeover, the private investor group, the Italian Air Co, has demanded at least 3,000 jobs be cut.
■AUTO
Chrysler fires 250 workers
Chrysler LLC has resorted to firing 250 salaried workers in order to meet targeted job reductions as it shrinks its struggling US operations, the automaker said on Friday. “There are involuntary separations underway,” Chrysler spokeswoman Shawn Morgan said. “It’s certainly very difficult. But we have to take these steps to ensure the long term financial health and competitiveness of the company.” The layoffs are part of a cost cutting plan announced in June that involved the elimination of 1,000 white-collar positions. The company said at the time that it hoped to eliminate the positions through buyouts and retirements.
■COMPUTERS
Apple unlocks iPhones in HK
Apple has started selling unlocked models of its popular iPhone 3G in Hong Kong that allow users the freedom to select the telecom provider of their choice. The eight gigabyte version was on sale yesterday at Apple’s online store for HK$5,400 (US$700), while the 16 gigabyte model was HK$6,200. Apple said the phone can be activated with any wireless carrier. The move is a shift from Apple’s previous strategy of tying the phone exclusively to a single mobile operator in each country or territory.
INVESTMENT: Jun Seki, chief strategy officer for Hon Hai’s EV arm, and his team are currently in talks in France with Renault, Nissan’s 36 percent shareholder Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the iPhone maker known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) internationally, is in talks with Nissan Motor Co’s biggest shareholder Renault SA about its willingness to sell its shares in the Japanese automaker, the Central News Agency (CNA) said, citing people it did not identify. Nissan and fellow Japanese automaker, Honda Motor Co, are exploring a merger that would create a rival to Toyota Motor Corp in Japan and better position the combined company to face competitive challenges around the world, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. However, one potential spanner in the works is
SEMICONDUCTORS: Samsung and Texas Instruments would receive US$4.75 billion and US$1.6 billion respectively to build one chip factory in Utah and two in Texas Samsung Electronics Co and Texas Instruments Inc completed final agreements to get billions of US dollars of government support for new semiconductor plants in the US, cementing a major piece of US President Joe Biden administration’s CHIPS and Science Act initiative. Under binding agreements unveiled Friday, Samsung would get as much as US$4.75 billion in funding, while Texas Instruments stands to receive US$1.6 billion — money that would help them build facilities in Texas and Utah. The final deals mean the chipmakers can begin collecting the funding when their projects hit certain benchmarks. Though the terms of Texas Instruments’ final agreement is
Call it an antidote to fast fashion: Japanese jeans hand-dyed with natural indigo and weaved on a clackety vintage loom, then sold at a premium to global denim connoisseurs. Unlike their mass-produced cousins, the tough garments crafted at the small Momotaro Jeans factory in southwest Japan are designed to be worn for decades, and come with a lifetime repair warranty. On site, Yoshiharu Okamoto gently dips cotton strings into a tub of deep blue liquid, which stains his hands and nails as he repeats the process. The cotton is imported from Zimbabwe, but the natural indigo they use is harvested in Japan —
Japan ramped up its warnings against currency speculation on Friday after the yen slid to a five-month low following a hint from the central bank chief that he might wait longer than expected before raising interest rates. “The government’s deeply concerned about recent currency moves, including those driven by speculators,” Japanese Minister of Finance Katsunobu Kato said. “We will take appropriate action if there are excessive moves in the currency market.” The yen regained some ground against the dollar after Kato’s remarks, strengthening to as much as ￥156.89 after earlier weakening to ￥157.93. The Japanese currency strengthened a little further after currency
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