The Korea Herald

Apple hires YSL Group CEO

Jul 3, 2013

Apple Inc. is hiring Paul Deneve, the former chief executive officer of luxury fashion house Yves Saint Laurent Group, to work on special projects for CEO Tim Cook. Deneve returns to the iPhone maker after working for Apple in Europe during the 1990s. He was also CEO of Lanvin and Nina Ricci prior to joining Yves Saint Laurent. While Apple has traditionally promoted from within, the move shows that Cook is looking outside the company to fill some senior roles. Apple is also hiring Hulu LLC execu
Yahoo buys iPhone video tool Qwiki in mobile push

Jul 3, 2013

Yahoo Inc. has acquired Qwiki Inc., a mobile tool for creating videos on Apple Inc. iPhones, as Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer seeks to add technology and engineers in the area of mobile software. Qwiki’s app will continue to be supported and its employees will move to Yahoo’s New York offices, the Sunnyvale, California-based company said in a statement Tuesday. Yahoo paid as much as $50 million for the startup, technology blog AllThingsD reported. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. May
U.S. auto sales maintain momentum

Jul 3, 2013

DETROIT (AP) ― Three years ago, U.S. car buyers started trickling back into showrooms after largely sitting out the recession. That trickle has turned into a flood.From owners of revitalized small businesses that need to replace aging pickups to new hires who need a fresh set of wheels for the daily commute, increasingly confident buyers pushed auto sales back to pre-recession levels in the first six months of this year. Sales in the January-June period topped 7.8 million, their best first half
EU says U.S. trade talks should go ahead

Jul 3, 2013

BRUSSELS (AP) ― The European Union confirmed Tuesday that free-trade negotiations with the United States should kick off as planned next week, despite widespread concerns over the alleged eavesdropping of EU diplomats.The Commission, the EU’s executive branch that leads the negotiations on behalf of its 28 members, said the planned start of talks in Washington next Monday “should not be affected” by the surveillance scandal that has emerged in recent days.However, it insisted that the trans-Atla
Barclays, Credit Suisse and Deutsche ratings cut by S&P

Jul 3, 2013

Barclays Plc, Deutsche Bank AG, and Credit Suisse Group AG had their credit ratings lowered by Standard & Poor’s as new rules and “uncertain market conditions” threaten their business. Long-term counterparty credit ratings for the three banks were cut to “A” from “A+,” S&P said Tuesday in a statement. The ratings company also affirmed its A long-term rating and “A-1” short-term rating on UBS AG, according to the statement. The outlook for all four companies is stable. Banks are still in recovery
Mitsubishi UFJ to buy Ayudhya in biggest Thai bank takeover

Jul 3, 2013

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. plans to buy Thailand’s Bank of Ayudhya Pcl for as much as 560 billion yen ($5.6 billion) in the largest banking takeover in the Southeast Asian nation. Japan’s biggest bank will seek to buy as much as 75 percent of the Bangkok-based lender from shareholders including General Electric Co. through a tender offer, Mitsubishi UFJ said in a filing to the Tokyo Stock Exchange Tuesday. The Japanese company plans to offer 39 baht a share for the Thai bank, or 5.4 per
Fed strengthens bank capital rules

Jul 3, 2013

Fed approves higher bank capital standards aimed at preventing repeat of 2008 bank crisis
Zynga CEO steps down, Microsoft exec to take post

Jul 2, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) ― He’s not heading out to pasture, but the CEO of “FarmVille” maker Zynga Inc. is stepping aside as the troubled online game company looks to revive itself and lift its stalled stock price. Mark Pincus will be replaced on Monday, July 8, by Don Mattrick, who was most recently head of Microsoft’s Xbox division. Zynga said Monday that Pincus, who founded Zynga Inc. and named it after his American bulldog in 2007, will stay on as chairman and chief product officer. Mattrick, 49, had s
Tribune to acquire 19 TV stations

Jul 2, 2013

CHICAGO (AP) ― Tribune Co. said Monday that it reached a deal to buy Local TV Holdings LLC’s 19 TV stations for $2.73 billion in cash, significantly boosting its television business as it looks to sell its newspaper operations.Tribune currently owns 23 TV stations and cable network WGN America, along with the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and other newspapers. The deal will give it 42 stations, making the Chicago-based company one of the nation’s top TV station owners. Tribune said it will
Golden era fades for China’s banks

Jul 2, 2013

Chinese banks’ valuations are close to their lowest on record as the nation’s interbank funding crisis exacerbated investors’ concern that earnings growth will stall and defaults may surge as the economy slows. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world’s largest lender by market value, ended Hong Kong trading last week at 5.3 times estimated earnings, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The Beijing-based bank may report profit of $41 billion for 2013, according to the average of 17 anal
Kim: WB budget may see massive shifts

Jul 2, 2013

President plans World Bank budget overhaul to achieve poverty goal
EU accuses top banks of collusion

Jul 2, 2013

Investigators accuse Goldman, JPMorgan, Citi, 10 other banks of collusion
Nokia buys Siemens stake in joint unit for $2.2b

Jul 1, 2013

Nokia Oyj agreed to buy Siemens AG’s share in their six-year venture for 1.7 billion euros ($2.2 billion), a deal that would give the Finnish company full access to the phone-equipment manufacturer’s cash flow. Nokia will pay 1.2 billion euros for Siemens’s 50 percent stake in Nokia Siemens Networks, with the remainder as a secured loan from Siemens due a year after the deal’s completion, the companies said in a statement Monday. Nokia Siemens will keep its headquarters in Espoo, Finland, and Ra
Taiwan’s TSMC gets orders from Apple: report

Jul 1, 2013

TAIPEI (AFP) ― Apple has struck a deal with the world’s biggest contract microchip maker in what analysts see as an attempt to reduce its reliance on arch-rival Samsung, a report said. The U.S. tech giant forged the agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. earlier this month, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited unidentified TSMC executives.It said manufacturing of the chips, to be used in Apple mobile devices, would start early next year.The Journal said the move is th
Halving world hunger by 2015 ‘within reach’

Jul 1, 2013

GENEVA (AFP) ― Despite economic crisis and dwindling aid, the U.N. said Monday huge progress had been made towards meeting the so-called Millennium Development Goals, including its bid to slash world hunger in half between 1990 and 2015. “Given reinvigorated efforts, the target of halving the percentage of people suffering from hunger by 2015 appears within reach,” said a U.N. progress report on its eight Millennium goals.Thirteen years ago, world leaders drew up the MDG’s, with specific targets