GAMING
Sony invests in Discord
The Sony Group has said that it has invested in chat app Discord and is looking to get it into the PlayStation next year. Sony Interactive Entertainment made a “minority investment” in the platform with more than 140 million monthly users, many of them gaming enthusiasts, Sony Interactive Entertainment chief executive officer Jim Ryan said. The news followed reports that Discord had terminated acquisition talks with Xbox producer Microsoft, while other firms expressed interest in partnering with the service.
INVESTMENTS
Berkshire names successor
Berkshire Hathaway Inc plans to name Greg Abel as chief executive when the conglomerate’s longtime chief, Warren Buffett, eventually exits, CNBC reported on Monday. Buffett, 90, confirmed the plan to the business network after Berkshire’s annual meeting over the weekend. “The directors are in agreement that if something were to happen to me tonight, it would be Greg who’d take over tomorrow morning,” Buffett told CNBC. Abel, 59, is vice chairman of Berkshire’s non-insurance operations.
SEMICONDUCTORS
Infineon runs at ‘full speed’
First-quarter results at German semiconductor manufacturer Infineon Technologies AG were boosted by strong demand, but it said that bottlenecks continue to plague a manufacturing supply chain that is running at “full speed.” Sales in the first quarter hit 2.7 billion euros (US$3.25 billion), compared with the average analyst estimate of 2.69 billion euros. Previous guidance from Infineon placed second-quarter revenue between 2.5 billion euros and 2.8 billion euros, while third-quarter revenue is expected to be between 2.6 billion euros and 2.9 billion euros.
APPAREL
Under Armour fixes charges
US athletic apparel company Under Armour Inc on Monday agreed to pay US$9 million to settle charges by US financial regulators that it misled investors about its revenues. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said that for six quarters from the third quarter of 2015 through 2016, Under Armour inflated sales to meet analysts’ expectations. Under Armour said the settlement resolves the charges, while “the company neither admitted nor denied the SEC’s charges,” it said in a statement.
RIDE-HAILING
Bolt unveils car-sharing pilot
Bolt Technology OU, which competes with Uber Technologies Inc in Europe and Africa, would launch a car-sharing project in the Estonian capital, Tallinn, chief executive officer Markus Villig said. If the pilot proves successful, Bolt would quickly expand it to other cities, as it has done with its food delivery service, which operates in 20 countries, Villig said, adding that 500 cars would initially be leased.
ELECTRONICS
Samsung widow’s stake leaps
Hong Ra-hee, the wife of the late Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee, boosted her fortune to more than US$7 billion after receiving billions of dollars in stocks in the much-awaited transfer of her husband’s assets. Hong, 75, inherited about 83 million shares in Samsung Electronics Co, making her the largest individual shareholder in the tech giant with a 2.3 percent stake, a filing last week said. Hong is the richest woman in South Korea, with a net worth of US$7.4 billion as of Monday’s stock market close, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index showed.
Merida Industry Co (美利達) has seen signs of recovery in the US and European markets this year, as customers are gradually depleting their inventories, the bicycle maker told shareholders yesterday. Given robust growth in new orders at its Taiwanese factory, coupled with its subsidiaries’ improving performance, Merida said it remains confident about the bicycle market’s prospects and expects steady growth in its core business this year. CAUTION ON CHINA However, the company must handle the Chinese market with great caution, as sales of road bikes there have declined significantly, affecting its revenue and profitability, Merida said in a statement, adding that it would
MARKET LEADERSHIP: Investors are flocking to Nvidia, drawn by the company’s long-term fundamntals, dominant position in the AI sector, and pricing and margin power Two years after Nvidia Corp made history by becoming the first chipmaker to achieve a US$1 trillion market capitalization, an even more remarkable milestone is within its grasp: becoming the first company to reach US$4 trillion. After the emergence of China’s DeepSeek (深度求索) sent the stock plunging earlier this year and stoked concerns that outlays on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure were set to slow, Nvidia shares have rallied back to a record. The company’s biggest customers remain full steam ahead on spending, much of which is flowing to its computing systems. Microsoft Corp, Meta Platforms Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Alphabet Inc are
RISING: Strong exports, and life insurance companies’ efforts to manage currency risks indicates the NT dollar would eventually pass the 29 level, an expert said The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rallied to its strongest in three years amid inflows to the nation’s stock market and broad-based weakness in the US dollar. Exporter sales of the US currency and a repatriation of funds from local asset managers also played a role, said two traders, who asked not to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly. State-owned banks were seen buying the greenback yesterday, but only at a moderate scale, the traders said. The local currency gained 0.77 percent, outperforming almost all of its Asian peers, to close at NT$29.165 per US dollar in Taipei trading yesterday. The
The US overtaking China as Taiwan’s top export destination could boost industrial development and wage growth, given the US is a high-income economy, an economist said yesterday. However, Taiwan still needs to diversify its export markets due to the unpredictability of US President Donald Trump’s administration, said Chiou Jiunn-rong (邱俊榮), an economics professor at National Central University. Taiwan’s exports soared to a record US$51.74 billion last month, driven by strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products and continued orders, with information and communication technology (ICT) and audio/video products leading all sectors. The US reclaimed its position as Taiwan’s top export market, accounting for
RSS