Apple to spend billions of dollars on US-made 5G tech

SAN FRANCISCO, United States — Apple announced a multi-billion-dollar collaboration with US tech firm Broadcom to make "cutting edge" components for wirelessly connecting to high-speed 5G telecom networks.

The iPhone maker did not specify exactly how many billions of dollars it would put into the Broadcom alliance, but said it is part of a commitment to invest in the US economy.

"We're thrilled to make commitments that harness the ingenuity, creativity, and innovative spirit of American manufacturing," Apple chief executive Tim Cook said in a statement.

"All of Apple's products depend on technology engineered and built here in the United States, and we'll continue to deepen our investments in the US economy because we have an unshakable belief in America's future."

The alliance will include designing and manufacturing sophisticated radio frequency components and other "cutting-edge wireless connectivity" parts in the United States, according to Apple.

"5G technology is shaping the future of next-generation consumer electronics -- and Apple is spending tens of billions of dollars to develop this field in the United States," the company said.

Apple is on pace to meet a commitment it made in 2021 to invest $430 billion in the US economy over the course of five years, according to the Silicon Valley technology titan.

It said those investments include money put into data centers, capital projects and suppliers.

Agence France-Presse

Google to invest $10 billion in India

NEW DELHI - Google said Monday it will invest $10 billion in India over the next five to seven years as it battles rivals like Facebook and Amazon in the vast market of 1.3 billion consumers.

Chief executive Sunder Pichai told a virtual Google in India event that its fund would help "accelerate India's digital economy" and will include investing in local firms and infrastructure in areas like digital payments, education and health.

"There's no question we are facing a difficult moment today, in India and around the world. The dual challenges to our health and to our economies have forced us to rethink how we work and how we live," Pichai said.

"But times of challenge can lead to incredible moments of innovation," Indian-born Pichai said according to a transcript of his remarks released by the US search engine giant.

Foreign firms have spent tens of billions of dollars in India in recent years as they fight for a piece of the Asian giant's burgeoning digital economy.

This has included only this year around $16 billion in investments from Facebook, Intel and others in stakes in the digital services unit of Jio, controlled by Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani.

Pichai on Monday briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his plans, but a government statement suggested that Modi also expressed concerns about data security and privacy.

Modi "said that tech companies need to put in efforts to bridge the trust deficit," the statement said.

Earlier this month the Indian government banned 59 Chinese cellphone apps including the hugely popular TikTok over concerns the firms were passing user data to the Chinese government.

The move came amid a dramatic worsening in relations with China following a brawl on their disputed Himalayan border on June 15 that left 20 Indian soldiers dead.

Agence France-Presse

Tencent to invest $70B in new digital infra, backing Beijing’s stimulus

Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings plans to invest 500 billion yuan ($70 billion) over the next five years in new digital infrastructure, a major hi-tech initiative that would bolster Beijing's efforts to drive economic recovery in the post-coronavirus era.

That massive investment will focus on fields that include cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain technology and Internet of Things, as well as the infrastructure to support them like advanced servers, supercomputers, data centers and 5G mobile networks, according to an announcement on Tencent's official WeChat account on Tuesday.

Shenzhen-based Tencent's new digital infrastructure program followed its move to raise fresh capital for general corporate purposes. The company plans to issue medium-term notes, with a maximum limit of $20 billion, to certain professional investors, according to its filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange on Monday. It said $12 billion of these notes were already outstanding.

The company's infrastructure program includes development across the country of a new network of large-scale data centers, with a million servers deployed at each site, according to the company's WeChat post. That would follow the company's construction of its largest data center complex on a 51-hectare site, which includes more than 30,000 square metres of tunneled areas inside a 100-metre-high hill, in southwest Guizhou province.

A design sketch for the Guian Seven Stars Data Centre complex, the largest facility of its kind developed by Tencent Holdings, located in southwest China's mountainous Guizhou province. Photo: Handout

Citing an interview of senior executive vice-president Tong Taosang with state-owned newspaper Guangming Daily, the Tencent post said the company will also escalate collaborations with "internal scientific research experts and laboratory resources at top universities" to cultivate talent, tackle scientific issues and take part in the formulation of industry standards.

A Tencent representative said the company does not have any further details to share beyond its WeChat post.

The latest initiative by Tencent, which runs the world's biggest video games business by revenue and China's largest social media platform, represents a strong commitment from the nation's hi-tech sector to support economic recovery, following the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 outbreak across the country and around the world.

"This new infrastructure is set to play a more important role amid the global economic slowdown, the disrupted supply chains as well as weak domestic and foreign demand," said Pang Ming, head of macro and strategic research at China Renaissance Securities. He indicated that the scale of new digital infrastructure investments could grow larger, as more companies pursue a similar strategy as Tencent and invest in data centers, AI, advanced communications and other hi-tech programs.

Such moves would follow the direction set by Premier Li Keqiang last Friday, when he announced details of the Chinese government's fiscal stimulus package of nearly 3.6 trillion yuan at the National People's Congress. Beijing will also issue 1 trillion yuan of special treasury bonds for the first time since 2007 as part of that program.

In March, Tencent's Tong highlighted the company's intent to "explore the value of digital infrastructure" across different industries.

Tencent already ranks among nine major tech companies in the world that are driving the future of AI and development of critical digital infrastructure, according to a recent report by American think tank Future Today Institute. The other firms are Google, Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com, Facebook, IBM Corp, Apple, Baidu and Alibaba Group Holding, the parent company of the South China Morning Post.


Copyright (c) 2020. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Google pledges new $10 billion investment in US in 2020

SAN FRANCISCO - Google said Wednesday it would invest more than $10 billion in US offices and data centers in 2020, including its new campus planned for New York City and projects in 10 other states.

The pledge comes on top of some $22 billion invested by the US tech giant unit over the past 2 years.

"These investments will create thousands of jobs -- including roles within Google, construction jobs in data centers and renewable energy facilities, and opportunities in local businesses in surrounding towns and communities," said a blog post by Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google parent Alphabet.

One of the big projects will be the opening of the Hudson Square campus in New York City, where Google has the capacity to double its workforce by 2028.

Google's investments are spread over all US regions and will include expanded offices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The plans also call for an expanded Google Cloud campus in Seattle, Washington and new locations around San Francisco and Los Angeles. 

The money includes a previously announced $1 billion committed to easing the housing crunch in the Bay Area near Google's Silicon Valley headquarters.

Google cited a study by the Progressive Policy Institute which indicated its parent Alphabet was the largest investor in the United States last year.

Alphabet reported a profit in 2019 of $34 billion on $162 billion in revenues, and added some 20,000 jobs to bring its total workforce to 118,899 at the end of December.

Pichai said Google, which has a presence in 26 states, will focus the new investments on 11: Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, Oklahoma, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington and California. 

Agence France-Presse

Wall Street learns the high cost of sexist comments

NEW YORK — The #MeToo movement recently reached dramatically into the world of high finance, as one prominent Wall Street figure learned after losing the management of at least $1 billion in assets over his disparaging remarks about women.

Ken Fisher, whose slickly produced videos promoting his financial expertise still air regularly on American financial news networks, was invited in early October to a conference in San Francisco.

The conference, which advertises a "no media" policy, was supposed to remain private.

But one participant, Alex Chalekian, said he felt so disturbed by some of Fisher's remarks, many with strong sexual undertones, that he took to Twitter to vent his outrage.

He posted a video blasting Fisher's references to "genitalia" and drug use, as well as his comparison of the recruiting of a new client to a crass and boorish attempt to pick up a girl in a bar.

"Things that were said by Ken Fisher were just absolutely horrifying," Chalekian said. He said several women who attended the event later told him Fisher's remarks made them feel "very uncomfortable."

Fisher subsequently expressed regret for his comments, saying in a message to AFP that "I realize this kind of language has no place in our company or industry. I sincerely apologize."

But the damage was done. Several financial entities broke ties with Fisher Investments, which manages some $112 billion.

The city of Boston was among those.

"Boston will not invest in companies led by people who treat women like commodities," said Mayor Marty Walsh.

'WE ARE VERY CONCERNED'

According to a tally by the CNBC network, Fisher Investments lost around $1 billion in managed assets within days.

The total could grow, since Fidelity Investments, one of the world's largest asset managers, expressed its unhappiness and said it was reviewing the relationship.

"We are very concerned about the highly inappropriate comments by Kenneth Fisher," a Fidelity spokesperson said. "The views he expressed do not align in any way with our company's values. We do not tolerate these types of comments at our company."

Fisher manages about $500 million in Fidelity's assets, CNBC said.

While Wall Street traders' excesses and verbal outrages have been the subject of numerous films, the heads of big companies and financial groups generally have done their best to stay above the fray, though not all have succeeded.

"The brand is the company's value and the CEO is identified with the brand," said Charles Elson, a specialist in corporate governance at the University of Delaware, "which is why it's just a really good idea for a CEO to focus on running the business and to avoid getting into political or social controversy when speaking publicly.

"When they do, it naturally creates problems."

'EVERYONE IS AFRAID'

Travis Kalanick, a co-founder of Uber, was thus forced out in 2017 amid reports that the company's workplace culture included sexual harassment and discrimination.

Elon Musk had to give up the chairmanship of Tesla this year after his Twitter use got him in trouble with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, Wall Street's "policeman."

In September, the co-founder of WeWork, Adam Neumann, stepped down as chief executive amid complaints about his lavish lifestyle and some impulsive actions that he himself said had become "a significant distraction."

Across the world of high finance, meanwhile, Fisher's remarks were widely denounced.

Art Hogan, chief market strategist with National Holdings, said that "it's never appropriate to use that kind of language. That would be true today, and it was 20 years ago."

"Maybe it was the norm back to a time of the TV show 'Mad Men,'" which was set mostly in the New York advertising world of the 1960s, "but it has not been in my career."

And in a world where the "ESG investing trend" is growing, Hogan said -- referring to an emphasis on environmentalism, social issues and governance concerns -- "it even speaks louder."

Gregori Volokhine, president of Meeschaert Financial Services, said that Fisher's remarks were not necessarily anything new in the financial world.

"Except now, everyone is afraid between the rise of the #MeToo movement and ESG management," Volokhine said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

India investing $60 billion on gas grid to link up nation by 2024

NEW DELHI - India, one of the world's largest consumers of oil and coal, is investing $60 billion to build national gas grid and import terminals by 2024 in a bid to cut its carbon emissions, the oil minister said on Sunday.

India has struggled to boost its use of gas, which produces less greenhouse gas emissions than coal and oil, because many industries and towns are not linked to the gas pipeline network.

Gas consumption growth was running at 11 percent in 2010 but growth slid to just 2.5 percent in the financial year 2018/19.

Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told reporters at India Energy Forum by Ceraweek that companies were investing $60 billion in the network and building new gas import facilities to link all states by mid-2024, when the government's term ends.

"I am not talking about potential investment. This number relates to the project that are under execution," he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has previously set a target to more than double the share of gas in India's energy mix to 15 percent by 2030.

India's biggest gas utility Gail Ltd has said it was close to completing the 2,660 km (1,660 miles) Urja Ganga pipeline project, connecting the eastern states of Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha. The pipeline will have capacity for 16 million standard cubic meters per day (mscmd) of gas.

"The Urja Ganga project ... will be ready by the end of 2020," Pradhan said on the conference sidelines.

India's overall gas consumption is about 166 mscmd.

The minister said the government had started building the northeast gas grid to connect eight states in northeastern India, a region bordering Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and China. He said the grid would be ready by 2023.

He added that, before the end of government's current term, "India will be connected by a pipeline ring that will help transport gas from any corner of India to a demand center."

Most of India's liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminals are in the west, making it difficult for the industry in the east and elsewhere to secure regular gas supplies.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Investors with $11 trillion in assets pledge shift from fossil fuels:report

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Institutional investors holding assets worth $11 trillion have now pledged to divest from fossil fuel assets, a significant jump in the number committing to clean energy, a report said on Monday.

A growing number of investment and wealth funds have been looking to pull away from fossil fuels and shift to renewables, especially since the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

The $11 trillion figure was released in a report as part of the "Financing the Future" summit in Cape Town for advocates for investment in clean energy transition.

More than 1,000 institutional investors are committed to dropping fossil fuel assets, including wealth funds, banks, insurance firms as well as scores of city councils, universities, and religious organisations.

By comparison, institutional investors with holdings of $52 billion in assets had made the same commitment in 2014.

"We are seeing a clear shift away from fossil fuel investments in every sector," said Clara Vondrich, Director of Divest-Invest, one of the report authors.

"Coal, oil, and gas assets are being recognized as toxic -- not just morally due to the climate crisis but also increasingly financially."

The $11 trillion figure represents around 16 percent of the total global equity markets in 2018, the organizers said, citing World Bank figures. 

Activists for fossil fuel divestment say it is one way to reduce carbon emissions by pressing investors to get rid of shares, bonds or other assets in those companies.

Across all business sectors, global companies responding to pressure from society and shareholders are looking for low-emissions ways for growth that are "Paris-compliant".

But oil and gas projects set up by major fossil fuel companies over the last 20 months threaten both shareholder value and efforts to keep Earth from overheating, according to an analysis released last week.

Greenhouse gas emissions stemming from new investments totaling $50 billion could push already tough Paris climate treaty goals for capping global warming out of reach, warned Carbon Tracker, a non-profit financial think tank.

Earth's average surface temperature has gone up 1C since the late 19th century, and is on track -- at current rates of CO2 emissions -- to warm another two or three degrees by century's end.

The Paris Agreement calls on humanity to block the rise in Earth's temperature at "well below" 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) compared to pre-industrial levels, and 1.5C if possible.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

How a shadow banking crisis sent India's autos sector into a tailspin

MUMBAI - Sudhir Gharpure and his sales team sat chatting at a big Maruti Suzuki dealership on the outskirts of Mumbai some 2 hours after its doors were opened on a recent Saturday morning - not a single customer was in sight.

"There used to be close to 15-20 bookings each day, but now we're down to 3-5 on good days," said Gharpure, the general manager at the dealership.

Gharpure's experience is not an isolated one. Across India dealerships are being pushed out of business and the Indian auto sector is going through its biggest slump in nearly two decades. Passenger vehicle sales fell for 8 straight months until June, and in May sales dropped 20.55 percent - the sharpest recorded fall in 18 years.

Preliminary data indicates passenger vehicle sales may have plunged as much as 30 percent in July. The slump in India, along with a simultaneous slide in Chinese auto sales, is a blow for automakers wrestling with higher costs driven by more stringent emission norms and a push to develop electric cars.

Unlike in China, where the plunge in cars sales has been caused largely by new emissions rules, India has seen a mix of factors that have combined to erode demand for automobiles.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 2016 ban on high-value bank notes, higher tax rates under a new goods and services tax regime, a boom of ride-sharing firms such as Uber and Ola, and a weak rural economy have all played a role.

But many dealers and automakers agree it is a deepening liquidity crunch among India's shadow banks that has been the biggest single factor in an auto sales collapse, which some fear may lead to more than a million job losses.

Non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), or shadow banks, have dramatically slashed lending following the collapse of one of the biggest, IL&FS, in late 2018.

IL&FS, or Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd, was a behemoth in shadow banking and its defaults and unraveling, amid fraud allegations, have dried up funding for rivals and led to a surge in their borrowing costs.

Non-bank or shadow banking firms generate credit outside traditional lenders, by means such as collective investment vehicles, broker-dealers or funds that invest in bonds and money markets.

In India, NBFCs have in recent years helped fund nearly 55-60 percent of commercial vehicles both new and used, 30 percent of passenger cars and nearly 65 percent of the 2-wheelers in the country, according to rating agency ICRA.

To aggravate matters, the stress in the autos market has also prompted banks to begin trimming their exposure to the sector.

"The car doesn't sell, it's the finance that sells," said R. Vijayaraghavan, a senior marketing consultant at the same Mumbai dealership. "Today the finance is not selling, so the cars are not selling."

PROBLEMS AMPLIFIED

Some 286 dealerships have shut down in the last 18 months across India as rising costs for inventory management have made businesses unviable, according to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA), a lobby group of auto dealers.

"The slowdown in the (NBFC) sector has dragged down vehicle sales growth," said A.M. Karthik, financial sector head at ICRA. "Now the auto slowdown is becoming more visible as the liquidity squeeze continues."

Automakers including Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors , and Mahindra & Mahindra are feeling the heat and have either cut production or temporarily closed plants to correct mounting stocks.

According to FADA data, passenger vehicle inventories now stand at 50-60 days up from around 45 days earlier, while those of 2-wheelers are even higher at 80-90 days. For commercial vehicles, inventory levels range between 45 and 50 days.

"We are asking dealers to maintain an inventory of 21 days, which is almost half of the current levels," said Ashish Kale, president of FADA.

At least 4 dealers from different brands said, however, there was little scope to reduce inventories as automakers were pushing them to buy stock despite there being no demand even with heavy discounting and other sops on offer.

While 70-75 percent of car sales were previously financed in-house by NBFC or bank agents sitting at a dealership, that has fallen to about 50 percent, say dealers, as buyers struggle to qualify under more stringent lending norms put in place by lenders that are under pressure to shore up their books.

Moreover, as many NBFCs typically lent to less creditworthy clients, banks are reticent to rush in to fill the void, as they themselves struggle to cope with an existing pile of about $150 billion in bad loans.

"The banking sector is certainly one of the factors that has affected the growth of the industry," said R.C. Bhargava, chair of Maruti Suzuki, noting interest rates for car buyers have gone up in the last 12 months despite the central bank cutting rates.

EARLY RECOVERY UNLIKELY

With the autos sector employing more than 35 million people directly and indirectly, and contributing more than 7 percent to India's GDP and accounting for 49 percent of its manufacturing GDP, the fallout from the autos slump is huge and presents a big challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government as it begins its second term.

The entire supply chain, from vehicle manufacturers to component makers, are bleeding amid the slump.

"I've been making my payments for the last 30 years and the lenders know me," said Adarsh Gupta, the director of finance at Autolite (India), a component manufacturing firm. "But even a two-day delay has people crying that I will default.

"I too want to pay, but because of the fall in cashflows I'm facing short-term issues and because of that it's difficult to get more financing. This is the vicious cycle we are in."

Kale, the FADA president, said on Sunday the trade body estimated that dealerships had collectively already cut around 7-8 percent of their workforce, or around 200,000 jobs nationwide.

"Most of the cuts which have happened are in front-end sales jobs but if this continues, then even the technical jobs will be affected because if we are selling less then we will also service less," he said.

Still, automakers are hopeful of a recovery in the months ahead, helped by the September-December festive season that traditionally sees a surge in consumer spending.

"One can only wish that things improve sooner rather than later. With festive demand starting to seep through, we should start seeing a gradual improvement in sales," said P.B. Balaji, group CFO at Tata Motors.

Analysts are more skeptical though, and say without vehicle financing becoming cheaper and easier the chances for that are low. With no silver lining in sight, analysts fear bad debts could mount in the auto sector, forcing banks to further reduce their exposure.

"We see market prices and sales coming down so there may be issues," said a top official at the Indian Banks' Association. "We could see a spillover in terms of bad loans for the overall sector, but we are going to wait and watch."

Dealers said they were hopeful of tiding over the current downturn as the broader growth story for India remains intact, but there could be a lot more pain before a recovery kicks in.

"The future is going to be multi-brand car showrooms," said marketing consultant Vijayaraghavan. "That is the only way for dealerships to survive going forward as overhead costs need to be shared."

(Additional reporting by Derek Francis in BANGALORE; and Aftab Ahmed and Aditi Shah in NEW DELHI Editing by Euan Rocha and Alex Richardson)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Google to spend over $13-billion on US data centers, offices

Alphabet Inc's Google said on Wednesday it would spend more than $13 billion on data centers and offices in the United States this year.

"These new investments will give us the capacity to hire tens of thousands of employees, and enable the creation of more than 10,000 new construction jobs in Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Virginia," Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post.

With the new investment Google will now be in 24 out of the 50 states in the US

Google will continue to expand its presence in Chicago and Washington, and the company's workforce would double in Virginia and Georgia, according to the blog post.

The company said it had hired more than 10,000 people in the United States and made over $9 billion in investments in the last year.

For the fourth quarter, Google reported $31.07 billion in costs and expenses, up 26 percent from last year. Capital expenditure rose 64 percent to $7.08 billion.

Last week, Reuters reported Amazon.com Inc was exploring alternatives to locate part of its new headquarters in New York in case the plan fails due to local opposition.

Google has seen some pushback about its plans to expand in San Jose, near its Mountain View headquarters, but otherwise has not met strong local opposition.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Saudi Arabia eyes billions of dollars in entertainment investments

RIYADH -- Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday it expected billions of dollars to be pumped into a nascent state-backed entertainment sector and is eyeing dozens of Western acts, including an exhibition NBA basketball game and a Spanish-style running of the bulls.

The kingdom is trying to shake off its ultra-conservative image in a drive to keep tourist dollars at home, lure foreign visitors, create jobs for young Saudis, and improve the quality of life in a country where cinemas and public concerts were banned until recently.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has loosened social strictures, including ending a ban on women driving, curbing the powers of the religious police and easing gender segregation rules.

The government has put on Arab and Western performances, including a Black Eyed Peas concert last month, that were once unimaginable in a country where bearded religious police patrolled the streets with sticks to guard against public immorality like singing and dancing.

But the reform push has been accompanied by a crackdown on dissent, including the arrests of women's rights activists, clerics and intellectuals. The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last October has also tarnished the country's image and scared off some potential investors.

At the launch of the 2019 entertainment calendar, Turki al-Sheikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority (GEA), listed dozens of events the kingdom hopes to host this year, including auto races, magic shows and theatrical performances.

"I hope national companies, banks, businessmen, artists and all sectors put their hands together. There are golden opportunities," he told an audience that included princes, ministers, Arab celebrities and a few Muslim clerics.

"This is a big door for tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of jobs and for tens of billions if not hundreds of billions" of riyals, he added.

Al-Sheikh said the kingdom aims to become among the top 10 global entertainment destinations and in the top four in Asia, but provided no timeline and few concrete figures for his targets.

Officials have previously said that reforms aim to capture up to a quarter of the $20 billion currently spent overseas every year by Saudis seeking entertainment.

Last year, GEA said infrastructure investments over the next decade would reach 240 billion riyals ($64 billion) that would contribute 18 billion riyals to annual gross domestic product and generate 224,000 new jobs by 2030.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Google to invest $1 billion in new New York campus

Google's parent company Alphabet on Monday said it was investing more than $1 billion to set up a new campus in New York City.

In a blog post, Alphabet and Google CFO Ruth Porat said it would lease large office buildings in Manhattan's West Village neighborhood which will become the centerpiece of a campus of more than 1.7 million square-feet (160,000 square meters).

The new campus, which should be operational starting in 2020, will be known as Google Hudson Square and "will be the primary location for our New York-based Global Business Organization," Porat wrote.

"New York City continues to be a great source of diverse, world-class talent -- that's what brought Google to the city in 2000 and that's what keeps us here," she said.

Alphabet earlier this year said it was buying the Manhattan Chelsea Market for $2.4 billion, and planned to lease space at Pier 57.

The company currently employs some 7,000 people in New York.

"With these most recent investments in Google Chelsea and Google Hudson Square, we will have the capacity to more than double the number of Googlers in New York over the next 10 years," Porat said.

She said the company's "investment in New York is a huge part of our commitment to grow and invest in US facilities, offices and jobs."

The new site is located close to the Hudson river.

The expansion would make California-based Alphabet one of the city's largest commercial tenants, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The announcement comes after rival Amazon said last month that it was splitting its new headquarters between the Long Island City district in New York and Crystal City, a Virginia community across the Potomac River from the US capital Washington.

It also comes after Apple unveiled plans for a $1 billion campus in Austin, Texas.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Qatar to invest $20-billion in US energy sector: minister

DOHA, Qatar -- Energy-rich Qatar, under blockade by its Gulf neighbors, said on Sunday it plans to invest more than $20 billion in the US energy sector over the next five years.

Saad al-Kaabi, minister of state for energy affairs and CEO of Qatar Petroleum, told a conference in Doha the Gulf state is looking to invest in US oil and gas sectors as well as unconventional resources.

"North of $20 billion will be invested over the next five years in the United States in different projects," Kaabi told the Doha Forum.

He said Qatar's main target was to revive the multi-billion dollar Golden Pass LNG (liquefied natural gas) terminal in Texas.

"We are contemplating moving (the project)forward with our partners," said Kaabi, adding that a final decision on the matter would be taken shortly.

Qatar Petroleum owns 70 percent of the project, with ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips splitting the rest.

Kaabi said Qatar's LNG production would rise by 16 million tons annually, with an aim of reaching 110 million tonnes a year in five years.

Qatar Petroleum on Sunday signed a deal with Italy's Eni to acquire 35 percent in three offshore oil blocks in Mexico in the second major Qatari investment in the North American country this year.

The deal is to develop production at the three fields to around 90,000 barrels per day of oil in 2021.

Qatar announced earlier this month that it was withdrawing from the Saudi-dominated OPEC oil cartel, a decision Kaabi said was not "political".

Saudi Arabia, along with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, severed diplomatic ties with Qatar in 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism and fostering close ties with their regional rival Iran -- charges Doha denies.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

World Bank promises $200 billion in 2021-2025 climate cash

KATOWICE, Poland -- The World Bank on Monday unveiled $200 billion in climate action investment for 2021-25, adding this amounts to a doubling of its current 5-year funding.

The World Bank said the move, coinciding with a UN climate summit meeting of some 200 nations in Poland, represented a "significantly ramped up ambition" to tackle climate change, "sending an important signal to the wider global community to do the same."

Developed countries are committed to lifting combined annual public and private spending to $100 billion in developing countries by 2020 to fight the impact of climate change -- up from 48.5 billion in 2016 and 56.7 billion last year, according to latest OECD data.

Southern hemisphere countries fighting the impact of warming temperatures are nonetheless pushing northern counterparts for firmer commitments.

In a statement, the World Bank said the breakdown of the $200 billion would comprise "approximately $100 billion in direct finance from the World Bank."

Around one-third of the remaining funding will come from two World Bank Group agencies with the rest private capital "mobilized by the World Bank Group."

"If we don't reduce emissions and build adaptation now, we'll have 100 million more people living in poverty by 2030," John Roome, World Bank senior director for climate change, warned.

"And we also know that the less we address this issue proactively just in three regions -- Africa, South Asia and Latin America -- we'll have 133 million climate migrants," Roome told AFP.

'FIGHT THE CAUSES'

The bank's financing package amounts to "about 40 billion a year, but the direct (finance) is 27 billion per year on average," Roome said.

He added that in the 2018 fiscal year, running from July 2017 to June this year, the World Bank had committed $20.5 billion to climate action, compared with an annual average of $13.5 billion for the 2014-2018 period.

Roome said the money now being earmarked amounted to "about 35 percent" of the World Bank Group's total financing.

Much of the climate action financing is being set aside for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, notably through development of renewable energy strategies.

However, the World Bank stated that "a key priority is boosting support for climate adaptation," given the millions of people already battling the consequences of extreme weather.

"By ramping up direct adaptation finance to reach around $50 billion over (fiscal) 21-25, the World Bank will, for the first time, give this equal emphasis alongside investments that reduce emissions," the bank stated.

Given the urgency to act in the face of sea level rise, flooding and drought "we must fight the causes, but also adapt to the consequences that are often most dramatic for the world's poorest people," said World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva.

By stepping up financial aid to developing countries worst affected, Georgieva said the bank was committed to adapting infrastructure while investing in "climate smart agriculture, sustainable water management and responsive social safety nets" as well as early response networks.

"Even if we can keep global warming down to 2 degrees Celsius we know you're gonna need a significant amount of adaptation in places like Chad, Mozambique or Bangladesh," said Roome.

The countries whose representatives are meeting at the UN climate summit which opened Sunday in the Polish city of Katowice are seeking to make good on commitments made in the 2015 Paris climate accord.

That agreement saw countries commit to limiting global temperature rises to well below two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), and to the safer cap of 1.5C if at all possible.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Panama studies building train to Costa Rica with China

LIMA - Panama is considering building a passenger train to Costa Rica with China, a project that would require an initial investment of $5 billion, Panama's President told Reuters in an interview, a sign of the Asian country's growing interest in Latin America.

President Juan Carlos Varela said Panama is promoting infrastructure investment in general and will also auction off a third metro line, with an expected $4 billion investment requirement.


China has become more involved in Latin America as the United States, under President Donald Trump, has taken a more protectionist stance on trade.

"We are doing with China a feasibility study of a 450-kilometer train between Panama and the border of Costa Rica," Varela said on the sidelines of the Americas Summit in Lima on Friday evening.

Varela also said he expected a $6 billion copper mine under construction by Australia's First Quantum Minerals to start producing next year, adding 2.5 percent to Panama's gross domestic product.

In reference to the US-China trade dispute, Varela said if any country wanted to renegotiate trade agreements, it should do so without generating conflict. Panama welcomed investment from all countries, he said.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Google confirms investment in Indonesian ride-hailing firm Go-Jek

SINGAPORE - Google has made its first ride-hailing investment in Asia by pumping money into Go-Jek, as the Indonesian start-up and deep-pocketed rivals rapidly expand their app-based services and digital payments in Southeast Asia.

The funding deepens Google's commitment to Indonesia's internet economy," Caesar Sengupta, a vice president at Google said in a company blog on Monday.

The announcement by Alphabet Inc's Google comes two weeks after sources told Reuters that Google and Singapore state investor Temasek were among those investing in Go-Jek as part of a $1.2 billion fundraising round.

Rivals Grab and Uber are backed by Japan's SoftBank Group, while Go-Jek has secured investments from Chinese technology giants Tencent Holdings Ltd and JD.com Inc.

Google's blog did not specify how much Google is investing but two sources had told Reuters that Google was investing about $100 million.

Ride hailing firms are investing tens of millions of dollars to expand their digital payment systems and are also seeking to allow their users to pay for third-party services.

With more than 133 million people online, Indonesia is home to the fifth largest population of internet users in the world but half of the country's population has yet to connect to the internet, Google's Sengupta said.

Both Grab and Uber are expanding in Go-Jek's home market, which is Southeast Asia's most populous country and where locals are keen to lap up an array of mobile-based services. Southeast Asia is the world's third-biggest ride-hailing market after China and the United States.

Go-Jek, a play on the local word for motorbike taxis, delivers everything from meals and groceries to cleaners, masseuses and hairdressers across Indonesia's capital city Jakarta, all at the touch of a smartphone app.

The company, which began as a ride-hailing app for motorcycle taxis, was set up by Nadiem Makarim, a graduate of the Harvard School of Business and a former associate with McKinsey, who has quickly become a poster child for start-up success in Indonesia.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Buying your first home? Here are 7 things to consider

MANILA - We all dream of owning a home someday. And why not? A home means stability and permanence, where one’s family can grow roots, seek refuge and build a life together. At the same time, it is always a valuable asset and an investment in itself.

Have you thought about buying your own home but don’t know where to start? Have you ever wondered if you can even afford it? If you can, do you have an idea of what your money can buy? Whether you’re thinking of getting a tiny studio unit or a sprawling house with a large yard, you will need to put considerable thought into your plan.


Owning a home calls for responsibility and commitment. It calls for a lot of thought and a careful evaluation of your lifestyle, finances, as well as your present and future needs. Here are 7 factors to consider in deciding if you are ready to own your first home.

1. Are you ready for this investment?

Do you have enough funds to buy your dream home? Do you have a regular source of income? Are you getting a big inheritance soon? A house is usually a considerable investment, and you need to have enough money to be able to purchase one. If you plan to take out a loan for your home, you still need to have the financial capacity in order to qualify for financing schemes offered by both banks and developers.

2. Consider your present and future plans.

A house is not exactly easy to dispose, considering the sums involved as well as the paperwork and taxes that it entails. This is why you have to know your reasons for buying a house, and think how this fits with your life plans. For instance, are you planning to move out of the country anytime soon? If so, having a house makes you less mobile. Are you planning to have children soon? If so, you might want to think about getting something bigger than a tiny studio in order to accommodate your growing brood.

3. Location, location, location.

This is one of the most important considerations you have to think about when getting a house. Location almost always dictates price, which means while you may be able to afford a townhouse outside Metro Manila, you may have to shell out more for a similar unit in the city. At the same time, its location will affect your life – the amount of time you need to go to work, or the places you will most likely frequent. You need to think of a location that is best suited for your needs.

4. Let's talk financing.

Even if you do not have cash to pay upfront for a house, you may actually qualify for financing. Banks offer loans, as well as developers. Loans could stretch for as long as 25 years, depending on your age. Gauge your capacity to do regular amortizations, and check how it would impact your cash flow. Most financial experts recommend that payments on homes should constitute no more than 1/3 of your regular expenses. Also look at interest rates.

5. Look to the future and appreciation potential.

When buying a house, you should also consider how its value is likely to increase in the future. Look at developments that could possibly lead to an increase in the property’s value – new roads, malls or other commercial developments usually push property values higher. This means that you can actually sell your property later on and stand to earn from the transaction.

6. Remember the warning "Buyer Beware."

When buying property, you need to make sure that everything about the transaction is above board – the title should be free from liens and encumbrances, taxes should have been paid, and association dues settled. You also want an assurance that your house was built well and in keeping with building standards. This is why it is important to know the background of the seller. Some developers have a solid track record, but even then, make sure to do your research about the seller.

7. Ask yourself: To build or to buy?

Do you prefer to build your own house instead of buying one? This allows you to design everything according to your own wishes. However, it is also a more time-consuming process since you have to deal with an architect and contractor, while checking regularly on the work. You also need to find people that you can trust to build your home.

Owning your first home is a major decision, so make sure to think through the process before making any decision. Ask questions, do your research, and think about your life plans before you make the decision.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Houston native Beyonce wants a stake in the Rockets: report

Can pop superstar Beyoncé become the next part-owner of the Houston Rockets?

Bloomberg on Wednesday has reported that Beyoncé is interested in "an investment in the Rockets," after the team was put up for sale by Leslie Alexander last July 18.

Beyoncé is a native of Houston.

While there was no comment from Beyoncé's side or from the Rockets, it is not new for celebrities to invest in sports teams. Beyoncé's own husband, Jay-Z, used to own a small piece of the Brooklyn Nets before selling his shares in 2013.

Bloomberg noted that Beyoncé "would add superstar fizzle to any ownership group, likely helping the team with local and international marketing."

"She is one of the most influential celebrities, and on par with soccer star Lionel Messi, according to the Marketing Arm’s Celebrity DBI database. She ranks 150th out of more than 4,000 celebrities, and is particularly effective reaching females between the ages of 13 and 17," Scott Soshnick wrote in the report.

According to Forbes, Beyonce is second to Sean “Diddy” Combs on its 2017 list of highest-paid celebrities at $105 million. Her net worth is $350 million, Forbes said, while Jay-Z is worth $810 million.

The 73-year-old Alexander bought the Rockets back in 1993 for $85 million. Forbes has pegged the franchise's value at $1.65 billion, making them the eighth most valuable franchise in the NBA.

Bloomberg estimates that the Rockets may fetch more than $2 billion, thanks in part to their popularity in China.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Dropbox seeks to hire IPO underwriters - sources

Data-sharing business Dropbox Inc is seeking to hire underwriters for an initial public offering that could come later this year, which would make it the biggest US technology company to go public since Snap Inc, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.

The IPO will be a key test of Dropbox's worth after it was valued at almost $10 billion in a private fundraising round in 2014.

Dropbox will begin interviewing investment banks in the coming weeks, the sources said, asking not to be named because the deliberations are private.

Dropbox declined to comment.

Several big U.S. technology companies such as Uber Technologies Inc and Airbnb Inc have resisted going public in recent months, concerned that stock market investors, who focus more on profitability than do private investors, would assign lower valuations to them.

Snap, owner of the popular messaging app Snapchat, was forced to lower its IPO valuation expectations earlier this year amid investor concern over its unproven business model. Its shares have since lingered just above the IPO price, with investors troubled by widening losses and missed analyst estimates. It has a market capitalization of $21 billion.

Still, for many private companies, there is increasing pressure to go pubic as investors look to cash out.

Proceeds from technology IPOs slumped to $6.7 billion in 2015 from $34 billion in 2014, and shrunk further to $2.9 billion in 2016, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Dropbox's main competitor, Box Inc, was valued at roughly $1.67 billion in its IPO in 2015, less than the $2.4 billion it had been valued at in previous private fundraising rounds.

San Francisco-based Dropbox, which was founded in 2007 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduates Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi, counts Sequoia Capital, T. Rowe Price and Greylock Partners as investors.

Dropbox started as a free service for consumers to share and store photos, music and other large files. That business became commoditized though, as Alphabet Inc's Google, Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc started offering storage for free.

Dropbox has since pivoted to focus on winning business clients, and Houston, the company's CEO, has said that Dropbox is on track to generate more than $1 billion in revenue this year.

The company has expanded its Dropbox Business that requires companies to pay a fee based on the number of employees who use it. The service in January began offering Smart Sync, which allows users to see and access all of their files, whether stored in the cloud or on a local hard drive, from their desktop.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Moody's keep South Africa's credit rating unchanged

JOHANNESBURG - International credit rating firm Moody's has left South Africa's sovereign debt grading unchanged two notches above junk status, but warned Saturday of a possible future downgrade if reforms to support growth fail to materialize.

Moody's rates Africa's most developed economy as Baa2 -- meaning it is of investment grade for banks -- albeit with a negative outlook.

Instead of the much anticipated formal review of South Africa's credit rating, Moody's issued an updated credit opinion overnight, warning that the negative outlook remained because of political tensions and weak growth.

"The negative outlook on South Africa's Baa2 government bond rating reflects risks related to the implementation of structural reforms aimed at restoring confidence and encouraging investment," it said in a statement released early Saturday.

It added that the country's political scene continued to be "noisy" but that key institutions remained resilient.

One of the credit challenges for South Africa is "protracted political infighting that generates policy uncertainty and impedes structural reforms," it said.

On Friday, another international credit rating firm, Fitch, dropped its outlook for South Africa from stable to negative, citing the country's recent political turmoil under President Jacob Zuma.

Zuma has been engulfed by graft scandals and a power struggle with Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, while economic growth has fallen to 0.5 percent and unemployment hit a 13-year high.

Moody's warned that South Africa's rating "would likely be downgraded in the absence of fundamental structural reforms supporting higher and sustainable medium term growth".

It also hinted that a rating upgrade was unlikely.

Standard & Poor's is expected to make its key announcement on South Africa's investment grading on December 2.

Like Fitch, S&P currently has South Africa rated at the lowest investment grade.

A junk rating by S&P could trigger a bond sell-off by foreign investors, as well as hiking Pretoria's borrowing costs.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Billionaire Warren Buffett invests in 3 big US airlines

NEW YORK - Billionaire investor Warren Buffett has taken stakes in three large US airlines, in a $1.3 billion bet that marks a sharp U-turn of his antagonistic views on the sector.

Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. invested $797 million in American Airlines, $249 million in Delta Air Lines and $237 million in United Continental Holdings, according to a regulatory filing reviewed Monday by AFP.

Berkshire Hathaway also took a stake in Southwest Airlines, CNBC television network reported Monday.

The financial guru was known for his dislike of the airline industry after his disastrous bet on preferred shares of US Airways in 1989, calling the sector a "death trap."

The surprise Berkshire news pushed airline shares sharply higher in after-market trades. American Airlines jumped 3.5 percent, Delta was up 2.9 percent and United Continental, parent of United Airlines, gained 2.6 percent.

Buffett, the head of the massive Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate, is the world's third wealthiest person.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com