'Perfect storm': phones, consoles could get pricier as chip crisis bites

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) -- Prices of popular gadgets such as PlayStations and iPhones could rise because of microchip shortages caused by a "perfect storm" of coronavirus-driven demand, supply chain disruptions and trade war stockpiling, experts warn. In the months after the pandemic hit, people stuck at home went on a spending spree to buy items including extra monitors, new computers and tablets -- each of which runs on all-important chips. Compounding the crisis are US-China tensi

Feb. 18, 2021

Masayoshi Son just pushed SoftBank shares past dot-com peak

For Masayoshi Son, these days are even better than the dot-com bubble. Shares in the Japanese billionaire’s SoftBank Group surged in Tokyo on Tuesday to the highest close since the company went public in 1994, rising past a long-standing record two decades ago. The shares rose 4.2 percent to finish at 10,420 yen, surpassing its previous record of 10,111.09 yen marked on Feb. 18, 2000. SoftBank’s share price increases have been backed by a surging stock market which lifted

Feb. 16, 2021

Uber posts big loss as pandemic clobbers ridesharing, despite delivery offset

Uber on Wednesday reported another hefty loss in the final three months of 2020, though the company's food delivery operations partly offset the hit taken from the decline in ridesharing during the pandemic. Thanks to that offset, the loss of $968 million was narrowed slightly from $1.1 billion in the same period a year earlier, according to Uber. Revenue in the quarter was $3.2 billion, a 16-percent decrease from the same period a year earlier. "While 2020 certainly tested our resili

Feb. 11, 2021

[Newsmaker] Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder, will step down as CEO

NEW YORK (AP) -- Jeff Bezos, who founded Amazon as an online bookstore and built it into a shopping and entertainment behemoth, will step down later this year as CEO, a role he's had for nearly 30 years, to become executive chairman, the company announced Tuesday. Bezos, 57, will be replaced in the summer by Andy Jassy, who runs Amazon's cloud-computing business. In a blog post to employees, Bezos said he planned to focus on new products and early initiatives being developed at Amazon. He

Feb. 3, 2021

[Graphic News] LG Energy Solution ranks second in EV battery market in January to November

　South Korean battery maker LG Energy Solution was the second-biggest supplier of electric vehicle batteries in the first 11 months of 2020 following China’s CATL, according to a market research firm. 　LG Energy Solution, which spun off from LG Chem earlier this month, shipped 26.4 gigawatt-hour equivalents of EV batteries in the January-November period, accounting for 22.6 percent of the global market, according to the data by SNE Research. 　China’s CATL supplied 24.4 GWh eq

Jan. 20, 2021

Volkswagen triples electric car sales ahead of climate rules

Automaker Volkswagen tripled sales of battery-only cars in 2020 despite the pandemic as its new electric compact ID.3 came on the market ahead of tough new European Union limits on auto emissions. It's an early sign of what will likely be an upcoming year of increasing market share for electric cars as EU regulations drive their adoption despite the economic upheaval caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, and as the EU's largest economy, Germany, sees more demand. Volkswagen said Tuesday its name

Jan. 12, 2021

Where is Jack Ma, China's e-commerce pioneer?

BEIJING (AP) -- China's best-known entrepreneur, e-commerce billionaire Jack Ma, made his fortune by taking big risks. The former English teacher founded Alibaba Group in 1999, when China had few internet users. Online payments service Alipay launched five years later, before regulators said such businesses would be allowed. Both long shots grew to dominate their industries. Ma's latest gambit backfired after he called regulators too conservative in an Oct. 24 speech and urged them to be more

Jan. 6, 2021

Fiat Chrysler, Peugeot shareholders vote on merger

The marriage of carmakers PSA Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is built on the promise of cost-savings in the capital-hungry industry, but what remains to be seen is if it will be able to preserve jobs and heritage brands in a global market still suffering from the pandemic. PSA Peugeot shareholders on Monday overwhelmingly approved the deal to create the world's fourth-largest carmaker, to be called Stellantis, with the capacity to produce 8.7 million cars a year, behind Volkswagen, Toyot

Jan. 4, 2021

Britain first to approve AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine

Britain on Wednesday became the first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca, hoping that rapid action would help it stem a surge of infections driven by a highly contagious variant of the virus. Boris Johnson's government, which has already ordered 100 million doses of the vaccine, said it had accepted a recommendation from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to grant emergency authorization. The approval

Dec. 30, 2020

AstraZeneca COVID vaccine has 'winning formula': chief executive

The Covid-19 vaccine developed by the British drugs group AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford has achieved a  "winning formula" for efficacy, the company's chief executive said on Sunday. The vaccine, currently being evaluated by Britain's independent medicines  regulator, provides "100 percent protection" against severe Covid disease  requiring hospitalisation, Pascal Soriot said in an interview with the Sunday Times newspaper. He added he believes tri

Dec. 27, 2020

[Graphic News] S. Korea has 5th largest video game market in world

　South Korea’s video game market was the fifth largest in the world in 2019, falling one position from the previous year, a report showed. 　The country's video game market reached sales of 15.6 trillion won ($14.2 billion) last year, up 9 percent from the previous year, according to an annual report by the Korea Creative Content Agency. 　The country ranked behind the United States, China, Japan and the United Kingdom in the global video market worth a total $186.5 billion last year.

Dec. 25, 2020

[Graphic News] Paris, Zurich and HK world’s most expensive cities

　Paris and Switzerland’s Zurich tied Hong Kong as the world’s most expensive cities this year as the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the prices of everyday items, according to a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit. 　Singapore fell to fourth place as foreign workers left the country after losing their jobs. 　The research was based on the prices of 138 everyday goods and services in around 130 cities worldwide.

Nov. 24, 2020

Alibaba posts solid revenue ahead of shopping festival

SHANGHAI (AFP) -- Chinese e-commerce leader Alibaba on Thursday reported solid 30 percent year-on-year revenue growth for the July-September quarter, providing some much-needed good news amid turmoil over its Ant Group affiliate's abandoned IPO. Hangzhou-based Alibaba said revenue -- a key measure of the internet giant's business health as well as overall Chinese consumer spending -- rose to 155 billion yuan ($23 billion).The announcement comes ahead of China's November 11 "Single's Day&qu

Nov. 5, 2020

EU cuts 2021 economic outlook as virus spreads

BRUSSELS (AP) -- The European Union's executive commission on Thursday lowered its growth forecast for the economic rebound from the coronavirus pandemic next year and said the economy wouldn't reach pre-virus levels until 2023. The regular autumn forecast foresees the economy of the 19 countries that use the euro growing only 4.2 percent in 2021 instead of the previous estimate of 6.1 percent. The downgrade comes as governments record increasing numbers of infections, sick people in hos

Nov. 5, 2020

World markets, Wall Street futures rise on US election day

BEIJING (AP) -- Global stock markets and US futures rose Tuesday on investor hopes that a possible victory by challenger Joe Biden in the American presidential election might lead to more economic stimulus. Dow futures were up 1.6% while those for the S&P 500 were 1.3 percent higher ahead of the start of trading on Wall Street. European indexes were up firmly in midday trading, while Asian markets closed higher. Traders are betting Biden might push for a bigger US stimulus package if

Nov. 3, 2020

Global watchdog proposes tax overhaul for Big Tech

LONDON (AP) -- A global economic watchdog on Monday proposed an overhaul of international tax rules to make sure big tech companies pay their dues, and warned that failure to adopt it would make the economic recovery from COVID-19 harder. The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which advises the world's top economies, said its global tax overhaul framework will be presented to Group of 20 finance ministers meeting this week and could be implemented by mid-2021 if

Oct. 12, 2020

Global shares rise with US stimulus, virus cases in focus

TOKYO (AP) -- Global shares mostly rose on Monday as investors weighed the prospects of more US economic stimulus and rising coronavirus cases across the world. US shares were set for a steady outset to the week, with Dow futures rising 0.1 percent and S&P 500 futures up nearly 0.6 percent. France's CAC 40 rose 0.8 percent to 4,985, while Germany's DAX rose 0.6 percent at 13,126. Britain's FTSE 100 added 0.1 percent to 6,024 after European Union officials say they finally are seeing progr

Oct. 12, 2020

Amazon envisions new palm reading tech in stadiums, offices

SEATTLE (AP) -- Amazon has introduced new palm reading technology in a pair of Seattle stores and sees broader uses in places like stadiums and offices. Customers at the stores near Amazon's campus in Washington can flash a palm for entry and to buy goods. The company chose palm recognition, according to Dilip Kumar, vice president of Physical Retail & Technology, because it's more private than other biometric technology, and a person would be required to purposefully flash a palm at the

Sept. 29, 2020

[Graphic News] Global views on economy turn sharply negative

　Public attitudes about the economy have become bleaker as the coronavirus pandemic continues to weigh globally, according to a Pew Research Center survey released recently. 　Overall, a median of only 31 percent of adults across the surveyed nations assess their country’s current economic situation as good, while more than two-thirds say conditions are bad. 　In Germany, while the majority continue to view the economy positively, the percentage who view it negatively has more than dou

Sept. 10, 2020

GM to make electric vehicle, supply batteries for Nikola

General Motors formed its second major electric vehicle partnership in less than a week, this time a $2 billion deal with startup Nikola. GM will take an 11 percent ownership stake in the Phoenix company and will engineer and build Nikola's Badger hydrogen fuel cell and electric pickup truck. The Badger is expected to be in production by the end of 2022. GM also will help with cost reductions for Nikola's other vehicles including heavy trucks, and the company will use GM's battery system and

Sept. 8, 2020