Volkswagen will invest EUR 2.5 billion to expand its production and research facilities in China. Jassy is banking on generative AI to be Amazon's next growth pillar. CITIC Securities and Haitong Securities were suspected of violating laws and regulations and were filed by the China Securities Regulatory Commission. Leju Holdings ADS will be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. Fast Retailing, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, BlackRock report results. Volkswagen will invest 2.5 billion euros to expand its production and research facilities in China as part of its strategy to compete in the world's largest automotive market. The German auto giant said on Thursday that it would invest the money at its production center in Hefei, Anhui province, to accelerate innovation and strengthen local R&D capabilities. The company said the investment will accelerate the development of two Volkswagen-branded EVs in collaboration with Chinese partner XPeng. The investment is part of Volkswagen's strategy to develop new vehicles in China that will appeal to local consumers and bring them to market faster.
Volkswagen reported an unexpectedly strong increase in deliveries of electric vehicles and internal combustion engines in China in the first quarter of 2024, driven by price cuts, while deliveries of electric vehicles in Europe fell sharply as demand decreased. Europe's largest automaker said deliveries in China rose nearly 8% to 694,000 units in the first three months of the year compared to 2023, with deliveries of battery-powered vehicles up 91% year-on-year from a low base.
Global sales of pure electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) rose 12% year-on-year to 1.23 million units in March, according to market research firm Rho Motion. Sales in China and the U.S. increased by 27% and 15%, respectively, while sales in Europe decreased by 9%. Demand for electric vehicles has cooled in recent months after several years of significant growth as consumers wait for more affordable models to hit the market.
In FY 2023, new electric vehicle (EV) sales in Japan were 79,198 units, up only 2.5% from the previous year. Although EV sales hit a record high, the share of total sales of new vehicles, including gasoline vehicles, remained flat at 2.1%. EV onlyIn terms of vehicle name, Nissan Motor's SAKURA mini car topped the list for the second year in a row, with sales up 3.0% to 34,083 units. On the other hand, sales of plug-in hybrids, including plug-in, increased by 21.5% to 1,971,445 units.
A Tesla Model Y owner posted on X how he relied on Tesla's FSD (Full Self-Driving) feature to save his life during a recent illness outbreak, driving 13 miles without human intervention to the hospital, and receiving timely help from doctors, thus saving his life. The post has now been viewed more than 12 million times, and Musk responded: "I'm glad Tesla FSD can help you, and you feel good too!"
Elon Musk's fledgling artificial intelligence startup xAI is seeking $3 billion to $4 billion in funding, and the company could be valued at $18 billion. The company highlighted potential selling points to investors — publicizing Musk's track record at Tesla and Space, noting that xAI will be able to train AI using high-quality data from Musk's social network x. Large language models empower AI chatbots, and access to data is critical to building large language models. xAI wants to compete with well-funded companies like OpenAI in this space.
Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, said generative artificial intelligence (AI) could be one of the biggest technological changes in decades. In his annual letter to shareholders, Jassy laid out how generative AI will be the company's next pillar of growth after Marketplace, Prime and cloud computing division Amazon Web Services. In addition to AI, the company also sees potential in business units such as grocery business and Prime Video. Amazon has invested $4 billion in AI startup Anthropic.
South Korean internet giant Kakao said on Friday that it had joined a global coalition to promote open-source artificial intelligence (AI) research and development, becoming the first South Korean corporate member of the alliance. The AI consortium, led by global tech giants IBM and Meta, was founded in December last year by a range of organizations from the world's largest tech companies and startups, public institutions and universities, and now has about 100 members.
Samsung Electronics unveiled plans to invest $44 billion in U.S. chip manufacturing as early as next week. The world's largest memory chip maker has received more than $6 billion in U.S. government grants for an investment program that is expected to expand to $44 billion within a few years. In 2021, the company announced a $17 billion project in Taylor, Texas, not far from the existing Samsung factory in Austin.
CITIC Securities and Haitong Securities both disclosed on the evening of April 12 that they were suspected of violating laws and regulations in the process of transferring CNNC titanium dioxide's non-public issuance of shares in 2023 in violation of restrictive regulations, and both securities firms were filed by the China Securities Regulatory Commission.
ExxonMobil's CEO is nearly four times more paid in 2023 than the bosses of rivals BP and Shell, highlighting the huge pay gap between Europe and the US in the booming oil industry. The largest U.S. oil company reported in a securities filing that Darren Woods received a total of $36.9 million in salaries, stock options and bonuses in 2023. That's $1 million more than last year.
The UAE's Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has recently been studying a potential takeover bid for British Petroleum (BP), but the company has ultimately decided not to act. The deal did not pass initial discussions, and political considerations also affected the deal evaluation. This decision boils down to the fact that the company is not in line with ADNOC's current strategy. With BP underperforming its peers in recent years, analysts and investors alike believe that the British company could be a potential acquisition target. Currently, US oil majors are in the midst of the industry's biggest wave of consolidation in decades, but European oil majors have so far not been involved.
Thyssenkrupp plans to cut significant workforce while cutting steelmaking capacity. ThyssenKrupp said steelmaking capacity would be reduced by as much as 22 percent, after company executives and members of the supervisory board discussed a strategic review to help end years of losses in the division. ThyssenKrupp said the capacity drop would lead to layoffs at the company's largest steel plant in Duisburg, without providing details of the layoffs. There is news that thousands of jobs could be affected.
Fujifilm Holdings plans to quintuple its current production capacity for biopharmaceuticals for cancer treatment by 2028, and will invest approximately JPY 700 billion to add new facilities in the U.S. and other places to expand its production capacity for contract manufacturing for pharmaceutical companies. Fujifilm will invest USD 1.2 billion in its North Carolina, U.S. plant for additional production facilities. Equipment will also be added to the bases in Europe and Japan. By 2028, Fujifilm's global production capacity will increase to approximately 750,000 liters. Fujifilm is the world's No. 4 manufacturer of biopharmaceuticals. By increasing production capacity, the company will compete with leading companies Lonza of Switzerland and Samsung Group of South Korea.
Southwest Airlines continues to be one of the U.S. airlines most affected by the sharp drop in Boeing 737 MAX passenger aircraft production due to increased safety inspections and regulatory oversight that Boeing has faced. The airline giant currently expects to deliver only about 20 aircraft in 2024, compared to 46. The airline does not expect to take delivery of any MAX 7 aircraft this year. In addition, certification delays forced Southwest Airlines to convert some of its orders to the MAX 8 modification. Due to stalled potential capacity growth, Southwest has stopped hiring pilots and flight attendants for now.
Leju Holdings announced on April 11 that the company received a notice from the New York Stock Exchange that the regulators of the New York Stock Exchange have decided to initiate the process of delisting the company's American Depositary Shares (ADS) from the New York Stock Exchange. Trading in the company's shares has been suspended. Leju Holdings was listed on the New York Stock Exchange on April 17, 2014 with an issue price of $10 per share. Over the course of 10 years, its stock price experienced a lot of ups and downs, and finally fell into a long decline. As of the close of trading on April 11, Leju Holdings' share price was $1.08 per share, corresponding to a total market capitalization of $14.92 million. Leju Holdings is still a U.S.-listed company that complies with the relevant laws and regulations of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and will be traded on the over-the-counter (OTC) market.
Financial Reporting Information
UNIQLO'S PARENT COMPANY, FAST RETAILING CO., LTD. Announced results for the first half of the fiscal year ending February 2024 (September 2023 to February 2024). Revenue for the current period was 1,598.9 billion yen, compared with 1,467.3 billion yen in the same period last year, a year-on-year increase of 9%. Operating profit for the period was 257.0 billion yen, compared to 220.2 billion yen in the same period last year. Net income attributable to owners of the parent company for the period was 195.9 billion yen, compared to 153.3 billion yen in the same period last year.
J.P. Morgan Chase announces first-quarter 2024 results. Net revenue for the quarter was $41.934 billion, compared to $38.349 billion in the year-ago quarter. Net profit for the quarter was $13.419 billion, compared to $12.622 billion in the same period last year. Net interest income for the quarter was $23.1 billion, up 11% year-over-year.
Citigroup reports first quarter 2024 results. Total revenue after interest expense for the quarter was $21,104 million, compared to $21,447 million in the year-ago quarter. Net income for the quarter was $3,371 million, compared to $4,606 million in the year-ago quarter.
Wells Fargo reports first-quarter 2023 results. Total revenue for the quarter was $20,863 million, compared to $20,729 million in the year-ago quarter. Net income for the quarter was $4,619 million, compared to $4,991 million in the year-ago quarter.
BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, announced its first-quarter 2024 results. Total quarterly revenue increased 11% year-over-year to $4.73 billion. Net income for the quarter was $1.57 billion, up 37% from $1.16 billion in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted net income increased 23% from the year-ago quarter to $1.5 billion. Assets under management (AUM) jumped to a record $10.47 trillion in the first quarter, up 15% year-over-year. Investment advisory and management fees, BlackRock's main source of revenue, jumped nearly 8.8% to $3.63 billion.
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