■ TELECOMS
Sony Ericsson slips into red
Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson yesterday reported a third-quarter net loss of 25 million euros (US$33.7 million), down from a net gain of 267 million euros a year earlier. The Japanese-Swedish group also saw its operating income slump to 33 million euros from 393 million in the same period last year. “As expected the third quarter has continued to be challenging for Sony Ericsson,” company chief executive Dick Komiyama said in the earnings statement. Sony Ericsson booked sales of 2.8 billion euros in the third quarter, a 10 percent drop from the 3.1 billion euros it posted a year earlier. The company also saw the number of phones sold during the quarter slip to 25.7 million from 25.9 million a year earlier, but the figure was a slight improvement from second quarter’s 24.4 million.
■ AVIATION
Jet drops lay-off plans
India’s biggest private airline, Jet Airways, said it had dropped plans to sack hundreds of staff following angry protests. Jet chairman Naresh Goyal also apologized to the 800 people laid off earlier in the week as part of a bigger cost-cutting plan involving the shedding of 1,900 jobs. “I could not sleep at night. I was mentally disturbed when I saw tears in their eyes. I apologize for all the agony you went through,” Goyal said at a press conference in Mumbai late on Thursday. Most of the employees laid off were newly hired flight attendants and ground crew, mostly in their early 20s.
■ BANKING
Bank chief gives up bonus
Deutsche Bank head Josef Ackermann will forgo his annual bonus of several million euros to show solidarity with staff in this time of financial crisis, he told a Sunday newspaper, Bild am Sonntag, in comments to appear in its next edition. The Swiss national intended to express a “personal sign of solidarity,” which would see him do without “a few million” euros in pay. Three other senior board members at Germany’s biggest bank would follow his example, the bank said. Last year, they received a combined total of 33.2 million euros (US$44.7 million) in pay, of which 4.3 million euros were performance bonuses.
■ FINANCE
CIC to up Blackstone stake
China Investment Corp (CIC, 中國投資公司), the government’s sovereign wealth fund, may raise its stake in US investment group Blackstone LP after the two agreed to boost the Chinese company’s ownership limit. CIC had paid US$3 billion for a stake in Blackstone’s initial public offering in June last year, but has seen the value of that investment sink in the bear market, to the consternation of many in China. According to a regulatory filing, a revised agreement reached on Thursday between Blackstone and CIC unit Beijing Wonderful Investments Ltd (北京萬德福投資公司) has raised the limit on the Chinese company’s stake to 12.5 percent from 9.99 percent.
■ STEEL
Group to buy mining stake
A consortium of Japanese and South Korean steelmakers will take a US$4 billion stake in a Brazilian miner to secure supplies of iron ore, the Nikkei Shimbun reported yesterday. Five Japanese steelmakers, including Nippon Steel and JFE Steel, as well as South Korea’s Posco — will buy a roughly 40 percent stake in Nacional Minerios SA, the report said, citing unnamed company sources. The miner, a unit of Companhia Siderurgica Nacional, produces about 20 million tonnes of iron ore a year.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
At least 35 people were killed and dozens more injured when a man plowed his car into pedestrians exercising around a sports center in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai on Monday night. Footage showing bodies lying on the pavement appeared on social media in the hours after the crash, but had vanished by early Tuesday morning, and local police reported only “injuries.” It took officials nearly 24 hours to reveal that dozens had died — in one of the country’s deadliest incidents in years. China heavily monitors social media platforms, where it is common for words and topics deemed
Typhoon Usagi yesterday had weakened into a tropical storm, but a land warning issued by the Central Weather Administration (CWA) was still in effect in four areas in southern Taiwan. As of 5pm yesterday, Tropical Storm Usagi was over waters 120km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost tip of Taiwan proper, and was moving north at 9kph, CWA data showed. The storm was expected to veer northeast later yesterday. It had maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126kph, the data showed. The CWA urged residents of Kaohsiung, Pingtung County, Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) to remain alert to
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