Taiwanese authorities on Wednesday slapped a fine of 20 million Taiwanese dollar ($667,000) on US tech giant Apple for violating a fair trade law over local iPhone pricing. The Fair Trade Commission said an Apple unit in charge of Taiwan sales had interfered in the pricing and mobile phone payment rates of three local telecom service providers, despite selling them the distribution rights to the phones. It said investigations found that Chunghwa Telecom, Far Eastone Telecommunication and Taiwan Mobile had submitted their pricing plans to Apple for approval or confirmation before new models hit the market, while Apple had also asked the Taiwanese companies to change or adjust prices. “Apple deprived the telecom operators of liberty to decide on the prices based on their own cost structures and competitive market situation, to restrict competition … and violate the fair trade law,” the commission said in a statement.
BB co-founder trims stake after huge loss
BlackBerry co-founder Michael Lazaridis has trimmed his stake in the troubled smartphone pioneer to just below 5% after selling 3.5 million shares during the past two days. The sales disclosed in a Tuesday regulatory filing came after BlackBerry announced a third-quarter loss of $4.4 billion last week. The setback marked the latest sign of the company’s deepening distress as BlackBerry’s products fall further behind the iPhone and devices running on Android software. Lazaridis previously owned a 5.7% stake in the Waterloo, Ontario company that he once ran. Lazaridis and BlackBerry co-founder Douglas Fregin said they were mulling a bid to buy the company in October. But BlackBerry in November said it had abandoned a bid to sell itself.
China to re-examine duties on US chicken after ruling
China’s commerce ministry said on Wednesday it will re-examine its decision to impose anti-dumping duties on US chicken broiler parts after the World Trade Organisation ruled against Beijing in the four-year-old dispute. US chicken exports to China have fallen by 90% over the past four years, costing sellers an estimated $1 billion, after China imposed high anti-dumping duties on the meat. A WTO panel ruled in favour of a US complaint on August 2 and the WTO adopted the decision on September 25 without an appeal from China. “The commerce ministry has decided, with effect from the release of this notice, to carry out another investigation in this case in accordance with the ruling and suggestion of the relevant report by the WTO experts group,” the ministry said in a statement on its website (www.mofcom.gov.cn).
China names new state assets regulator chief
China’s state assets regulator has named a new chief, more than three months after the previous chairman was removed under suspicion of graft. The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) said late on Tuesday that Zhang Yi had been appointed, replacing Jiang Jiemin. Zhang was previously SASAC’s deputy head, and prior to that had worked as secretary-general for the ruling Communist Party’s anti-corruption watchdog. SASAC is a ministerial-level body run by China’s cabinet and is directly responsible for more than 100 state-owned companies, including Sinopec , Asia’s top oil refiner, and China Mobile , which runs the world’s biggest network of mobile phone users. Zhang will be expected to take a major role in reforming China’s sprawling state sector as the Communist Party seeks to allow private investment into important sectors of the economy, such as energy, transport and finance, over the next five years.
Japan to suspend part of Mizuho ops over mob loans
Japan’s banking regulator is set to order Mizuho Financial Group to suspend part of its operati-ons for a month as an additional penalty over its loans to organised crime syndicate members, sources familiar with the matter said on Wed-nesday. The Financial Services Agency plans to impose a month-long suspension of Mizuho’s core banking unit’s loan business with consu-mer credit companies, where the problem transactions took place, said the sources.
