WORLD
Meituan’s billionaire co-founder joins China’s AI chatbot rush
Wang, who’s largely stayed out of the limelight in recent years, declared in a WeChat post he’ll join a Series A investment round for fellow Meituan co-founder Wang Huiwen’s AI startup.
WORLD
Mark Mobius says chip stocks are top bets amid US, China investments
Chipmakers are “the number one category we have in our portfolio,” Mobius said in a Thursday interview on Bloomberg Television.
BUSINESS
Abu Dhabi Investment Authority nears buying $500 million stake in India’s Lenskart, sources say
The Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund is finalizing an agreement to buy a mix of existing Lenskart shares and new equity, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is not public.
BUSINESS
Rolex, Patek Investment beats S&P gains over five years
The S&P 500 stock index averaged annual returns of 8% from August 2018 to January 2023 while a basket of pre-owned watch models from top Swiss brands grew at more than twice the pace, the report from Boston Consulting Group Inc. and secondary market dealer WatchBox said.
BUSINESS
Competition Commission squeezed by staff vacancies and workload
The Competition Commission of India, which has imposed million dollar penalties on Alphabet Inc.’s Google to Amazon.com Inc., is functioning with just two members — half the sanctioned strength and one short of quorum.
WORLD
Japan’s economy narrowly avoids a recession in fragile recovery
Gross domestic product grew at an annualized 0.1% in the fourth quarter from the previous period, revised figures from the Cabinet Office showed Thursday.
WORLD
Nomura cuts entertainment Budget as rising costs hurt profit
The firm decided to cut the spending plan by about 30% for the current fiscal year following weak earnings in the first half, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.
WORLD
Recession risk looms large as bond markets price in steeper rate hikes globally
Just weeks ago, traders were expecting almost every developed-market central bank to cut benchmark rates within a year, the swaps market showed.
WORLD
DBS CEO Piyush Gupta’s total pay last year rises to $11.4 million
Piyush Gupta received a cash bonus of about S$5.8 million ($4.3 million) and a salary remuneration of S$1.5 million that contributed to an overall compensation of S$15.4 million for 2022, according to the bank’s annual report released on Thursday.
WORLD
Covid lab leak fight obscures the global rise of high-security biolabs
There are 69 so-called Biosafety Level 4, or BSL-4, facilities designed to study dangerous infectious pathogens in operation, under construction or planned worldwide, according to Global Biolabs, a tracking project run out of King’s College London and George Mason University in Virginia. About a decade ago, there were only 25.
BUSINESS
Sanjeev Gupta takes on father’s group in metals empire reshuffle
Ownership of the Simec Group will be transferred to his son from Parduman Gupta as he retires near the age of 80, according to a GFG spokesperson.
BUSINESS
More stock in Adani Group firms pledged to lenders, trustee says
SBICap Trustee said in a notice to exchanges that a further 0.99% shares in Adani Green Energy Ltd. were pledged “for the benefits of the lenders” of Adani Enterprises Ltd. An additional 0.76% shares in Adani Transmission Ltd. were also pledged to banks, the trustee said.
BUSINESS
Adani rout puts spotlight on billions flowing through Mauritius
The Hindenburg report which sent Adani stocks on a $153 billion downward spiral, said that entities controlled by Adani's brother, Vinod, or his associates used Mauritius as a conduit for money laundering and share-price manipulation.
BUSINESS
Apple to shake up international sales operations to make India its own region
The shift will mark the first time that India becomes its own sales region at Apple, which has seen demand surge in the country.
BUSINESS
Higher cap on power price to ensure factories keep humming
Unusually high temperatures for this time of year are fueling predictions that electricity demand might rise to a record this summer, overwhelming domestic coal supplies and transportation networks and resulting in a repeat of last year’s blackouts.
WORLD
In Pics: Floating solar panels are being used around the world to power electric grids
In nearly a dozen countries around the world, floating solar farms are providing a welcome alternative to ground-mounted modules, with the potential to significantly boost clean power as the world races to cut carbon emissions.
WORLD
Private debt shops are flexing their muscles in race for loan deals
In the race to win debt deals that fund leveraged buyouts, direct-lending firms are in discussions to deploy one of the more unusual tools of finance: allowing a company to pay interest by taking on additional debt.
ECONOMY
Global investors try to assess the impact of US rates reaching 6%
Powell’s comments set the stage for the Fed to revert to a half-point hike and put the central bank at odds with some of its peers which are preparing to halt their tightening campaign
BUSINESS
Rupee bear StanChart now sees it rising to highest since August
The British lender now sees the base case for the rupee at 81 per dollar by end-2023 but says the currency can easily gain to even 79 levels, Parul Mittal Sinha, head of financial markets for India, said in an interview.
BUSINESS
JPMorgan expects another busy year for dealmakers in India
India sealed its busiest M&A year ever with about $191 billion worth of transactions in 2022, bucking a global slump in deal activity, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
ECONOMY
China backs Sri Lanka debt recast, paves way for $2.9-billion IMF lifeline
The bailout will pave the way for more funding and set the bankrupt nation’s debt restructuring on a steadier path since last year’s default
ENVIRONMENT
Less than 1% of Earth has safe levels of air pollution, study finds
About 99.82 percent of the global land area is exposed to levels of particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) above the safety limit recommended by the Word Health Organization
BUSINESS
Asia investors beat the market when they bet on women, BofA says
A basket of the MSCI Asia Pacific Index’s members with the highest proportion of women in management posted average five-year returns that were four percentage points higher than the benchmark
BUSINESS
Meta plans to lay off thousands more this week
The world’s largest social networking company is eliminating more jobs, on top of a 13 percent reduction in November
