August, 2021

• 24 August

  Is Amazon following Sears’ footsteps

  

  After years spent driving many conventional retailers into bankruptcy, Amazon just announced plans to open its own physical “department stores” that would sell both its own private-label good as well as brand-name apparel, housewares and other items. The move may seem counterintuitive, even self-defeating. But in pursuing this strategy, Amazon is merely following a playbook developed by its forerunners, particularly ...

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• 24 August

  Malaysia’s new premier carries old baggage

  So much for a changing of the guard in Malaysia. The new governing coalition looks a lot like the one that collapsed last week amid defections, record Covid-19 cases and a diminished outlook for economic recovery. The resemblance doesn’t bode well for the durability of PM Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s administration. Ismail Sabri, a former deputy premier, was sworn in by ...

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• 24 August

  Central bankers risk their independence

  Central bankers and journalists will assemble for the virtual Jackson Hole conference later this week. Their agenda will be broad. The future path of quantitative easing, the health of the labour market, and other critical monetary and regulatory matters will command center stage. But we can also expect pronouncements on issues once considered the domain of elected politicians, including climate ...

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• 24 August

  India plans $81b sales of its infrastructure assets

  

  Bloomberg India plans to raise 6 trillion rupees ($81 billion) from selling state-owned infrastructure assets over next four years to help bolster the government’s finances and plug its budget deficit, according to people familiar with the matter. The plan will include sale of road and railway assets, airports, power transmission lines and gas pipelines, said the people who asked not ...

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• 24 August

  Intel spends $6m to meet Vietnam coronavirus rules

  

  Bloomberg Intel Corp has spent 140 billion dong ($6.1 million) in just one month to meet strict Vietnamese anti-virus mandates for factories in Ho Chi Minh City to ensure it can keep operations going. The costs include providing sleeping accommodations for workers, according to Ho Thi Thu Uyen, head of external affairs for Intel in Vietnam and Malaysia. Intel Vietnam ...

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• 24 August

  SoftBank makes first Africa bet on OPay at $2b valuation

  Bloomberg SoftBank Vision Fund 2 led a $400 million funding round for OPay, valuing the Nigerian mobile-payments platform at $2 billion and marking the investment vehicle’s first bet in Africa. Also participating in the round were Sequoia Capital China, DragonBall Capital, the venture arm of Chinese food-delivery giant Meituan, Redpoint China, Source Code Capital, SoftBank Ventures Asia and 3W Capital, ...

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• 24 August

  Southeast Asia’s green shift may yield $12.5tn in gains

  

  Bloomberg Southeast Asia stands to reap $12.5 trillion in economic gains by 2070 if it takes urgent moves to slow climate change, while inaction could yield losses more than double that size, according to the Deloitte Economics Institute. The region’s gross domestic product could grow by an average of 3.5% per year over the next five decades if it nurtures ...

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• 24 August

  Infosys asked to explain bugs in portal

  Bloomberg India’s finance ministry has summoned the chief executive officer of Infosys Ltd, Asia’s second-largest software service provider, asking him to explain why glitches in the nation’s new electronic tax filing portal have not yet been fixed. The snags in the portal haven’t been resolved after two and half months since its launch, and it hasn’t been available at all ...

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• 24 August

  Toyota supplier says bottom line hit already factored in

  

  Bloomberg Denso Corp, Toyota Motor Corp’s top supplier, says production at the automaker should recover swiftly, leaving Denso on track to beat its own profit forecast for the current fiscal year. Denso will likely take a profit hit of about 20 billion yen ($182 million) to 30 billion yen in September due to Toyota’s production cuts, Chief Financial Officer Yasushi ...

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• 24 August

  Taliban warns of ‘consequences’ if US delays withdrawing its troops

  

  Bloomberg The US military is speaking with the Taliban several times a day, as the group warn of “consequences” if the US delays withdrawing all troops from Afghanistan past an end of month deadline. “It’s a red line,” Qatar-based Taliban spokesman and negotiator Suhail Shaheen said in an interview with Sky News. If the US or UK were to seek ...

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