Bloomberg Australia’s government sold A$9.3 billion ($7 billion) of notes maturing in December 2021, its biggest-ever bond transaction. The offering was snapped up by investors even as doubts swirl about the country’s top credit rating and the government’s ability to rein in its budget deficit. While credit assessors refrained from taking any action following December’s mid-year budget update, S&P ...
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Apple sues Qualcomm over patent licensing practices
Bloomberg Apple Inc. sued Qualcomm Inc., accusing it of monopolizing the market for chips for wireless devices and withholding $1 billion in retaliation for cooperating with South Korean antitrust authorities. Apple is demanding Qualcomm hand over money that was supposed to be a rebate for licensing fees. Qualcomm is holding back the money as punishment for Apple cooperating with ...
Read More »Nissan, Toyota back UK plants despite May’s Brexit plan
Bloomberg Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. say they’ll keep making cars in the UK despite Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan to leave the European Union’s single market, which could make exporting from British factories less lucrative. May’s Brexit plan won’t derail Nissan’s commitment to build new versions of its Qashqai and X-Trail sport utility vehicles at its ...
Read More »London home presales slump to four-year low
Bloomberg Sales of London homes under construction last year dropped to the lowest level since 2012, leaving developers with a record number of unsold properties. Purchases of homes currently being built fell 22 percent to 20,695 from a year earlier, according to a report by Molior London seen by Bloomberg. The number of unsold properties that are under construction ...
Read More »Buffett back in money on IBM, reversing $2.6 billion loss
Bloomberg International Business Machines Corp. has climbed above the price that Warren Buffett paid for shares in the computer company, reversing more than $2 billion in paper losses for his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. IBM rose 2.2 percent to $170.55 at 4 p.m. Friday in New York after giving 2017 profit guidance on Thursday that was higher than analysts’ estimates. ...
Read More »MIST signs MoU to develop applications for innovative airship
Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, (MIST) an independent, research-driven graduate-level university focused on advanced energy, and sustainable technologies, signed a memorandum of understanding with French company Thales/Thales Alenia Space and French engineering university MINES ParisTech to develop applications for the StratobusTM drone-satellite hybrid airship. In the presence of the French ambassador to the ...
Read More »Global diamond market reels under India’s cash crunch
Bloomberg As diamond traders descend on Botswana this week for one of the year’s biggest sales, the $14 billion industry is struggling to recover from India’s war on black money. De Beers, the world’s top producer of gems, will offer customers concessions for a second consecutive buying round to support the market, according to people familiar with the process, ...
Read More »Rustbelt China province admits it faked fiscal data
Bloomberg The rust-belt province of Liaoning fabricated fiscal numbers from 2011 to 2014, local officials have said, raising fresh doubts about the accuracy of China’s economic data just days ahead of the release of the nation’s full-year growth report. City and county governments in the northwestern region committed fiscal data fraud in the period, Governor Chen Qiufa said at ...
Read More »South Korea’s lifelong and conflicted ties with Samsung
SEOUL / AP The family smartphones? An assortment of Samsung Galaxies. The flat-screen TV that illuminates the living room? A Samsung SUHD, with the brand name sparkling on the nameplate. The maker of the digital toilet seat? You guessed it: Samsung. It’s difficult for people outside South Korea to fully grasp what Samsung, a truly global brand, means inside ...
Read More »Toshiba mulls spinoff of memory-chip business
Wiesbaden / AFP Toshiba Corp., facing billions of dollars of writeoffs in its nuclear business, is considering spinning off its well-performing flash-memory unit to raise funds. Toshiba is considering an infusion of cash as part of the spinoff, said Kaori Hiraki, a spokeswoman for the Tokyo-based company. While a spinoff is one of the options, nothing has been decided ...
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