December, 2018

• 8 December

  Tencent Music executive accused of defrauding investor

  

  Bloomberg A Chinese investor accused the co-president of Tencent Music Entertainment Group, which could fetch as much as $1.23 billion in an IPO this month, of using lies and threats to get him to sell his stake in a company that eventually became part of China’s largest music-streaming service. The investor made the claim in an arbitration proceeding in China ...

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• 8 December

  Volkswagen slashes costs by $6.8bn to fund Tesla pursuit

  

  Bloomberg Volkswagen AG is accelerating a push to lower costs and lift profits at its biggest car brand to add financial muscle as the world’s largest automaker pursues a $50 billion technology shift to counter Tesla Inc. To improve profitability after lagging behind mass-market peers for years, the VW nameplate will trim management ranks, slash factory costs and eliminate a ...

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• 8 December

  Trade drags down euro-area economy

  

  Bloomberg Falling exports and a slowdown in spending and investment caused euro-area growth to lose more of its luster in the third quarter, with recent numbers casting doubts over the economy’s potential to rebound. Net trade was the biggest drag on the economy in the period, when growth was the weakest in almost five years. Since then, reports from the ...

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• 8 December

  France fines appliance makers for collusion

  

  Bloomberg Whirlpool Corp and five other appliance manufacturers were fined a total of 189 million euros ($214 million) to settle a six-year French price-fixing investigation — the country’s largest antitrust penalty levied this year. Whirlpool must pay 102 million euros to cover its own penalty and one handed to Indesit, which it owns, according to a statement from France’s competition ...

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• 8 December

  Akorn CEO steps down after Fresenius fallout

  

  Bloomberg Akorn Inc’s CEO stepped down after the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that a rapid downturn in its business was grounds for Fresenius SE to walk away from a $4.3 billion buyout of the generic drugmaker. Officials of Akorn said that Chief Executive Raj Rai was retiring now that its dispute with the German pharma company had been ended by ...

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• 8 December

  Cooling in US labour market arrives earlier than expected

  

  Bloomberg The US labour market moderated somewhat in November, a development economists have been preparing for — though maybe not this soon. While job gains of 155,000 missed all forecasts, and the prior month’s reading was revised down, the figures are still consistent with solid economic growth. At the same time, wages which rose less than expected on a monthly ...

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• 8 December

  Merkel notches victory with ally’s ascent to head CDU 

  

  Bloomberg Angela Merkel installed an ally at the head of Germany’s governing party, notching a victory at the end of a tumultuous political year and boosting her chances of serving out her fourth and final term. Christian Democratic Union (CDU) delegates chose Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, a moderate party insider largely aligned with Merkel’s world view, over BlackRock Inc.’s Friedrich Merz in ...

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• 8 December

  India exit polls split as Modi in close fight in state elections

  

  Bloomberg Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity is in doubt as exit polls for elections that ended Friday in five states showed inconclusive projections before the federal vote next year. Six major exit polls showed Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress party neck-and-neck in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Three polls showed BJP ahead, while the ...

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• 8 December

  Malaysian PM faces first big rally in capital

  

  Bloomberg Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad faced his biggest rally since taking power in May, as opposition parties led thousands of ethnic Malays in Kuala Lumpur to protest a United Nations convention against racial discrimination. The capital was flooded with protesters dressed in white, who were bused in from around the country to assemble. Police estimate about 55,000 people had ...

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• 8 December

  ‘Tanzania bill threatens democracy’

  Bloomberg A Tanzanian opposition leader has criticised proposed amendments to the country’s Political Parties Act, warning it could destroy democracy in the East African nation. The bill, which was introduced to lawmakers in November, will enable the Registrar of Political Parties to halt government grants to parties for up to six months and the authority to deregister them and supervise ...

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