■AVIATION
JAL to cut thousands of jobs
Japan Airlines is to cut 6,800 jobs and pursue a tie-up with a foreign carrier in an effort to return to profit, its president Haruka Nishimatsu said yesterday. “We are talking about a personnel cut of 6,800,” he told reporters. “It’s a significant figure. The personnel reduction cannot wait.” JAL, which lost more than US$1 billion in the April-June quarter, has already slashed thousands of jobs in recent years. Nishimatsu said JAL aimed to seal a tie-up with an overseas carrier by the middle of next month. According to local media, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines’ parent company are both interested in taking stakes in the Japanese group.
■BANKING
Citigroup plans to pare stake
The US Treasury Department and Citigroup Inc have begun discussing how to sell the 34 percent stake that the government acquired in the rescue of the bank, people familiar with the matter said. The Treasury, which owns 7.69 billion common shares after a recent preferred-stock conversion designed to shore up the bank’s capital, may start unloading the stake as soon as next month, one of the people said. It aims to sell the holdings over the next six to eight months, the person said. The planning is in the early stages, and some transactions may need regulatory approvals, the people familiar with the matter said. Other bailed-out banks, including Bank of America Corp and Wells Fargo & Co, have pledged to repay government money.
■BEVERAGES
Coca-Cola reports arrests
Coca-Cola said yesterday two former employees of its Shanghai bottling company had been arrested for corruption. The two employees worked for Shanghai Shenmei Beverage and Food Co (上海申美飲料食品), which is licensed to produce Coca-Cola in China and which is part-owned by the US soft drink giant, a Hong Kong-based spokesman for Coca-Cola said. “We can confirm that two former employees at our Shanghai [Shenmei] bottling plant have been detained by the police,” said the spokesman. Coca-Cola dismissed reports that the case involved bribes to government officials, saying the investigation focused on “allegations that the former employees extracted kickbacks from suppliers and embezzled from our bottler.”
■INTERNET
Yahoo to sell Alibaba stake
Yahoo has cashed out of its investment in Chinese e-commerce site, Alibaba.com (阿里巴巴). The sale, announced on Monday, is expected to generate a pretax windfall of about US$150 million for Yahoo. The Internet company had owned a 1 percent stake in Alibaba.com. Yahoo invested about US$100 million in Alibaba.com as part of an initial public offering completed in November 2007. The shares have soared since then, and Yahoo decided it was time to capitalize on the run-up. Yahoo still holds a roughly 40 percent stake in Alibaba.com’s owner, the Alibaba Group.
■AUTOMOBILES
Ssangyong proposes plan
Debt-burdened South Korean carmaker Ssangyong Motor yesterday proposed a rescue package that would weaken links to China’s SAIC Motor Corp (上海汽車), its biggest shareholder. The plan submitted to a bankruptcy court involves a major capital writedown and a debt-for-equity swap, the company said in a statement. SAIC’s holding of 51 percent would be cut to 11.2 percent through a five for one writedown of its stake, while other shareholders would face a three for one reduction.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
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