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SYDNEY (Reuters) -Asian shares faltered on Monday as anxious investors wait to see if U.S. earnings can justify sky-high valuations, while a rally in bonds could be tested by what should be very strong readings for U.S. inflation and retail sales this week. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was off 1.1% in slow trade. Shares in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd rose 16% after China slapped a record 18 billion yuan ($2.75 billion) fine on the e-commerce giant.
China's Alibaba does not expect any material impact from changes to its exclusivity arrangements with merchants, CEO Daniel Zhang said on Monday, after regulators fined the e-commerce giant a record $2.75 billion for abusing its market dominance. Shares in Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd rose as much as 9% in Hong Kong trade as a key source of uncertainty for the company was removed, and on relief the fine and steps ordered were not more onerous. Alibaba has come under intense scrutiny since billionaire founder Jack Ma's public criticism of the Chinese regulatory system in October.
(Bloomberg) -- Most equities markets in the Middle East advanced on Sunday, with investors focusing on first-quarter earnings as reporting season picks up.Kuwait’s Premier Market Index led gains in the region, climbing more than 1%, while Egypt’s EGX 30 Index added 0.9% and Dubai’s DFM gauge rose 0.4%. Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index dropped 0.7%.Investors are gearing up for a recovery in company earnings across the region as economies rebound from the worst of the coronavirus pandemic. Banks may lead the way. About two-thirds of lenders covered in the Middle East and North Africa are expected to show profit gains, according to CI Capital, with aggregate net income up about 11% from a year earlier and 21% from the previous quarter, analysts Sara Boutros in Cairo and Maryam Saleh wrote in a note.Qatar National Bank, the Middle East’s biggest listed lender, said after the close of trade Sunday that net income dropped a less-than-forecast 7% in the first quarter. The shares gained 0.2% during the day.Almarai Co., the Saudi food and beverage producer, slipped 0.4% even after reporting profit for the first three months of the year that met estimates.Banks in the UAE are likely to outperform on earnings, while Saudi lenders should still stand out in terms of balance-sheet growth, according to Boutros and Saleh.“We see loan growth in Saudi Arabia continuing to be fueled by mortgage lending, with corporate lending recovery becoming a 2022 story,” they said.MIDDLE EASTERN MARKETS:In Saudi Arabia, the Tadawul All Share Index trimmed gain this year to 14%MORE: Advanced Petrochemical Resumes Operations of Two PlantsREAD: Almarai 1Q Profit Meets EstimatesDubai’s DFM General Index rose 0.4%, and Abu Dhabi’s ADX General Index advanced 0.2%Business conditions in Dubai remained flat last month even as the Middle East’s business hub showed signs of recovery from the pandemicMORE: UAE Names Jassem Al Zaabi as Central Bank Vice ChairmanQatar’s QE Index gained 0.2%Qatari stocks are expected to exhibit a “sequential recovery in earnings” on a normalized basis in the first quarter, with a 28% increase from the previous quarter, mostly due to a recovery in non-financial stocks and commodity prices, according to QNB Financial ServicesQatar National Cement slid 1.4% following a gain of 2.1% Thursday, when it posted a 29% increase in quarterly net incomeMORE: Will the Wisdom of Steepening Yield Curves Profit Saudi Banks?For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
Saudi oil producer Aramco has agreed a $12.4 billion deal to sell a 49% stake in its pipelines to a consortium led by U.S.-based EIG Global Energy Partners. Announced late on Friday, it is the company's largest deal since its record $29.4 billion initial public offering in late 2019. The lease and leaseback agreement includes a 49% stake of newly formed Aramco Oil Pipelines Co and rights to 25 years of tariff payments for oil carried on Aramco's pipelines, it said in a statement.
A deluge of corporate earnings results and economic data due for release this week will test investors after the stock market's latest record-setting rally.
(Bloomberg) -- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. said that it’s unaware of any other probes by China’s antitrust regulator after the e-commerce giant was slapped with a record fine for its business practices.Apart from inquiries into mergers, acquisitions and strategic investments that span the entire internet industry, the company isn’t aware of any other investigations into its business by the State Administration for Market Regulation, executives told analysts on a conference call Monday. Going ahead, the firm will focus on providing better services for its customers and merchants while complying with regulators.“We experienced this scrutiny and we’re happy to get this matter behind us,” Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai told analysts. Large-scale internet companies are doing a lot of things to grow the economy, he added, “and we’re in the middle of this, promoting government policy.”Beijing fined Alibaba a record $2.8 billion after wrapping up a landmark probe into China’s e-commerce leader in just four months, versus the years such investigations take in the U.S. or Europe. That sent a clear message to the country’s largest corporations and their leaders that anti-competitive behavior will have consequences.Following the probe into the e-commerce platform, regulators will now be keen to look at other areas where unfair competition may exist, Tsai said. They are also focusing on data privacy and protection, something that the firm is cooperating with the government on.For Alibaba, the fine was less severe than many feared and helps lift a cloud of uncertainty hanging over founder Jack Ma’s internet empire. The 18.2 billion yuan penalty was based on just 4% of the internet giant’s 2019 domestic revenue, regulators said. While that’s triple the previous high of almost $1 billion that U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. handed over in 2015, it’s far less than the maximum 10% allowed under Chinese law.The fine came with a plethora of “rectifications” that Alibaba will have to put in place -- such as curtailing the practice of forcing merchants to choose between Alibaba or a competing platform -- many of which the company had already pledged to establish.Record Alibaba Fine Shows China’s Big Tech Can’t Fight BackAlibaba on Monday said it doesn’t rely on exclusivity to retain merchants and doesn’t expect “material negative impact” from changes to such arrangements. Only a small number of flagship stores had been under exclusive arrangements previously, but businesses today are operating on multiple platforms, Chief Executive Officer Daniel Zhang said.The impact of the fine will be reflected in the company’s earnings for the March quarter. Alibaba has also set aside billions of yuan of additional spending to support initiatives for merchants, executives said.(Updates with more details from the call starting in fifth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
A growing number of Chinese tech start-ups are cancelling plans to list on Nasdaq-style markets at home with some eyeing Hong Kong share sales instead, as regulators tighten scrutiny of IPO applicants after the halting of Ant Group's $37 billion float. Over 100 companies have voluntarily withdrawn applications to list on Shanghai's STAR Market and Shenzhen's ChiNext since Ant's termination of its initial public offering (IPO) in November, according to Reuters review of exchange filings. The unprecedented withdrawals come against the backdrop of sharply intensified grilling of listing prospects by regulators, leading to IPO delays, outright rejection or even penalties, say bankers and company executives.
(Bloomberg) -- Asia’s top ride-hailing startups are pushing ahead with listing plans, as they seek to take advantage of a boom in equity offerings to fund expansion in everything from food delivery to autonomous driving.Beijing-based Didi Chuxing has filed confidentially with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering that could raise several billion dollars, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Its Southeast Asian peer Grab Holdings Inc. aims to announce a merger with a blank-check company in the U.S. as soon as this week in a deal valued at more than $34 billion, the people said.These listings pave the way for some of the largest tech debuts globally this year as demand for ride services and ride-sharing jumped after pandemic-induced disruptions in Asia. Didi and Grab are also capitalizing on a rebound in tech stocks as the Nasdaq Composite Index is again charging toward an all-time high.Didi has tapped Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley as underwriters for its U.S. listing which could value the company at as much as $70 billion to $100 billion, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. It is raising $1.5 billion through a revolving loan facility to shore up capital ahead of the share sale, Bloomberg News reported last week.The startup is also exploring a potential dual listing in Hong Kong at a later time, one of the people added.Didi, the Chinese version of Uber Technologies Inc., acquired its U.S. rival’s China business in 2016. The SoftBank Group Corp.-backed company is stepping up efforts to grow its presence in strategically important sectors like autonomous driving and technologies like artificial intelligence chips. It has also just raised about $1.5 billion for its on-demand trucking unit earlier this year, Bloomberg News has reported.Separately, Singapore-based Grab has attracted backing from T. Rowe Price Group Inc. and Temasek Holdings Pte for its planned merger with Altimeter Growth Corp., the people said. The firms have expressed interest in joining a private investment in public equity offering, or PIPE, to support Grab’s combination with the blank-check company, the people said. BlackRock Inc. is also in talks to participate in the PIPE, which could raise about $4 billion, they added.At a valuation of more than $34 billion, Grab’s deal could become the biggest SPAC merger ever, according to data complied by Bloomberg, and would see the startup become one of the first Southeast Asian unicorns to go public through a blank-check company.Read more: Grab’s $34 Billion SPAC Deal Puts Southeast Asia Tech on the MapDidi and Grab are set to test investor appetite for the capital-intensive ride-hailing business. Uber, which raised $8.1 billion in an IPO in 2019, saw its share dive in March 2020 as the pandemic led to lockdowns in major cities globally. The stock has since quadrupled and even reached a new high in February this year.Details of Didi and Grab’s listings could still change as deliberations continue, the people said. Representatives for Didi, Grab, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
(Bloomberg) -- Stocks slipped Monday as investors weighed inflation risks and an uneven global recovery that marred the latest upbeat economic outlook from Washington. The dollar ticked up.Europe’s main gauge opened 0.3% lower, with banks and miners posting the biggest declines in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. The moves were mirrored in U.S. equity futures, which retreated following a third straight week of gains and fresh records for the S&P 500 Index. The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell before a round of auctions that will be widely watched for their potential to extend the rate surge that’s shaken stocks to commodities to emerging markets this year. The U.S. sells three-, 10- and 30-year Treasuries at the start of the week. China Led The Recovery Trade; Now Almost Everyone Is CautiousWhile the U.S. recovery is accelerating, economies are still at risk from rising Covid-19 cases and vaccination setbacks. At the same time, massive government spending and central-bank stimulus could drive excessive inflation. In an interview aired Sunday with CBS’s 60 Minutes, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said any rebound in inflation will be temporary.“The big thing markets are trying to price currently is what does the world look like with another period of U.S. economic outperformance,” said Kyle Rodda, analyst at IG Markets Ltd. “Europe can’t get its economic or health affairs in order, China doesn’t look like it wants to run its economy too hot.”Oil fell and Bitcoin rose above $60,000, not far from its all-time high. The forthcoming listing of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc. in the U.S. has put the spotlight back on the digital-token sector.Elsewhere, traders will be watching for any further escalation between Russia and Ukraine, after Russia warned that growing violence in Ukraine could set off a broader military conflict.Some key events to watch this week:Banks and financial firms begin reporting first-quarter earnings, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.U.S. officials and company executives are due to discuss the global shortage of computer chips on Monday.The U.S. releases inflation data Tuesday.Chinese trade data are scheduled for Tuesday.Economic Club of Washington hosts Fed Chair Jerome Powell for a moderated Q&A on Wednesday.U.S. Federal Reserve releases Beige Book on Wednesday.U.S. data including initial jobless claims, industrial production and retail sales come Thursday.China economic growth, industrial production and retail sales figures are on Friday.These are some of the main moves in financial markets:StocksFutures on the S&P 500 Index sank 0.3% as of 8:45 a.m. London time.The Stoxx Europe 600 Index sank 0.3%.The MSCI Asia Pacific Index sank 0.9%.The MSCI Emerging Market Index sank 1.2%.CurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index increased 0.1%.The euro sank 0.2% to $1.1877.The British pound gained 0.1% to $1.3726.The onshore yuan was little changed at 6.554 per dollar.The Japanese yen strengthened 0.2% to 109.49 per dollar.BondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries sank two basis points to 1.64%.The yield on two-year Treasuries decreased less than one basis point to 0.15%.Germany’s 10-year yield dipped two basis points to -0.33%.Japan’s 10-year yield dipped one basis point to 0.105%.Britain’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 0.76%.CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.9% to $58.81 a barrel.Brent crude fell 0.7% to $62.50 a barrel.Gold weakened 0.3% to $1,739.40 an ounce.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
The program used past bid data to boost the tech company’s win rate in advertising auctions, according to a court filing.
Delivery apps thrived during COVID-19, and they're now aggressively positioning themselves for life after the pandemic.
Bill Gates appeared on CNBC on Good Friday to discuss his climate-related work for the Economic Club of New York. The conversation veered off into the wild and wooly world of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). Gates, an early backer of QuantumScape (NYSE:QS) and QS stock, suggested that people do what he’s doing and only get involved with quality SPACs. Source: Paolo Bona / Shutterstock.com The assumption here is that QuantumScape is such a company. Is he right? I’ll explore this subject further. It Helps to Own QS Stock If You’re a Billionaire If you bought 100 shares of QuantumScape stock on three occasions in 2021: Jan. 6 ($63.03), Feb. 17 ($66.52), and March 22 ($64.29), a back-of-the-napkin estimate suggests you’ve got a paper loss of $35,134, 26% less than the $19,384 you would have paid for 300 shares. InvestorPlace - Stock Market News, Stock Advice & Trading Tips That’s not so great. Of course, if you bought 100 shares each time it fell back to earth, you’d be a very happy person. Maybe not Bill Gates-happy, but content, nonetheless. 7 Great Stocks to Buy Under $10 Bloomberg Quint contributor Chris Bryant recently discussed how Gates is right to suggest private companies are going public way too quickly, in large part, because SPACs are raising gobs of money and issuing boatloads of shares to merge with these immature businesses. Never mind that they’re doing so at ridiculously high financial projections. However, Bryant’s link to Yet Another Value Blog makes me think most of these SPAC IPOs aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. I had been moving in that direction myself in February when I wrote that I was skeptical of Lucid Motor’s ability to garner 8% of the global electric vehicle (EV) market share. Here’s what I wrote on Feb. 25: Companies like Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) have struggled for years before tasting success. So, I’m highly skeptical when someone implies it will be simple to go from zero production to 8% global market share of any product, let alone something as complicated as an electric vehicle. In that regard, this SPAC era reminds me of the dot-com bubble. The fact that Canoo’s (NASDAQ:GOEV) business model is leaking profusely tells me that even SPACs, I think, have a chance really don’t. Mind you, in fairness to myself; I did say on March 15 – before it released a dreadful Q4 2020 report on March 29 – that it was only a fun money play below $15. Everyone else should stay away. If you bought at $9, your margin of safety is significantly higher, although not by much. So, back to billionaire Bill Gates. Gates Can Afford to Be Wrong Bill Gates didn’t become one of the richest people in the world by being wrong a lot. Sure, as a lifelong risk-taker, he’s probably failed more than you or I, but he’s got the lakefront home in Seattle to lick his wounds. The fact that Gates is backing QuantumScape – not to mention Volkswagen (OTCMKTS:VWAGY) is in for an additional $100 million investment on top of its original $100 million – suggests that if there’s a company whose projections might pan out, it would be the maker of next-generation solid-state lithium-metal electric batteries. On the other hand, while his risks might get bigger and bigger, they become less and less of his financial net worth. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about losing money – every penny lost is a penny that doesn’t go to the big issues his foundation is trying to overcome – that was evident by his statement he’ll try to stick to quality SPACs like QS. InvestorPlace’s Tom Taulli recently stated that its stock remains extremely volatile, as evidenced by the big move when it announced issuing 10.4 million shares. As part of the additional $100 million from VW, it will issue an additional 15.2 million shares. That, too, will likely rile investors. As a result, Taulli suggests caution is wise in this situation. Especially if the market is worth the estimated $1 trillion by 2040 that Baird analyst Ben Kallo says it is. More volatility might enable you to buy QS stock below where it’s currently trading. As volatile as QS stock has been in 2021, it appears $42 is the resistance line. Year-to-date, it’s bounced off $42 on three occasions, just as it’s bounced off $65 on the high side. The Bottom Line Bill Gates is right about SPACs and QuantumScape. Be skeptical about most SPACs and cautiously optimistic about QS stock. I know I will be. On the date of publication, Will Ashworth did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. Will Ashworth has written about investments full-time since 2008. Publications where he’s appeared include InvestorPlace, The Motley Fool Canada, Investopedia, Kiplinger, and several others in both the U.S. and Canada. He particularly enjoys creating model portfolios that stand the test of time. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia. At the time of this writing Will Ashworth did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. More From InvestorPlace Why Everyone Is Investing in 5G All WRONG It doesn’t matter if you have $500 in savings or $5 million. Do this now. Top Stock Picker Reveals His Next Potential 500% Winner Stock Prodigy Who Found NIO at $2… Says Buy THIS Now The post Bill Gates Is Right About SPACs and QuantumScape appeared first on InvestorPlace.
Americans have tons of questions about their stimulus checks and 2020 taxes. Here’s what you need to know about 2021 COVID-relief payments and more.
(Bloomberg) -- After taking over the helm of the world’s biggest pension fund in 2015, Hiromichi Mizuno helped chart a course that not just made sustainable investing big in Japan, but also raised the strategy’s global profile.The Government Pension Investment Fund’s former chief investment officer sidestepped public bemusement and criticism at home, as he sought to turn GPIF into a fund that -- as one Harvard Business Review article put it -- tried to “change the world” through its approach to environmental, social and governance investing.But at a time when the pandemic has accelerated the global push toward ESG themes, the $1.63 trillion-fund seems to be mostly treading water. While its peers around the world have cut fossil-fuel investments and threatened to pull funds from firms that fail to meet ethical standards, the GPIF, constrained by stricter legal restraints, has largely been quiet on impact investing since Mizuno was succeeded in April 2020 by the more reclusive Eiji Ueda.“The GPIF doesn’t have a mandate to pursue ESG investing in the face of lower returns,” said Takatoshi Ito, a professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs who headed a government panel to reform the fund. “It’s difficult to balance with the fund’s fiduciary duty.”The GPIF’s overriding principle is legally mandated gains -- the fund is required above all else to pursue a real investment return of 1.7%. With Japan’s massive working generation retiring in droves and not being replaced, pensions are a more sensitive subject than climate change, and despite the fund’s long-term returns, questions are asked whenever it posts a quarterly loss.Some rules also prevent the GPIF from taking a more hands-on approach to governance: it can’t legally hold direct stakes in companies, or vote at shareholder meetings, and it outsources investments to asset managers.The hands-off approach stands in contrast to Norway’s wealth fund, which blacklisted Glencore Plc and other firms, and put Japan’s own Kirin Holdings Co. on watch due to ties to Myanmar. Two of Finland’s largest pension funds plan to make their portfolios carbon neutral over the next decade and a half.“Under current legislation, we can’t sacrifice returns for the sake of buying environmental names or ESG names,” Kenji Shiomura, senior director of the fund’s investment strategy department, who oversees selection of ESG indices, told Bloomberg News in an interview.Japan-focused ESG funds returned 5.2% on average this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, underperforming the 8.6% return of the benchmark Topix index. Fiduciary MonsterMizuno once called fiduciary duty the “monster in the room,” arguing that failing to integrate ESG factors ran contrary to the duty for clients with long-term investing horizons. The fund’s investing principles say it promotes incorporating ESG factors into the investment process but only in addition to financial factors.At the same time, GPIF is coming up against other hurdles that prevent it from keeping pace with other pension funds -- from the lack of a unified scoring method for sustainable investing to legal restraints that handcuff its ability to change companies’ behavior.“I acknowledge that we need to produce results by dealing with ESG investment over the long term,” said Hirohide Yamaguchi, the newly-appointed chairman of the GPIF board of governors, which oversees the fund.‘Gone Quiet’The GPIF had about 5.7 trillion yen ($52 billion) invested in five ESG equity indices as of March 2020, the most recent date for which information is available. Last December, it added two more for overseas equities, with 1.3 trillion yen invested against them, and has formed a number of partnerships globally to promote green bonds. But that’s still less than 5% of its assets, and how the funds are allocated is opaque.“To say we’ll invest 10 or 20 trillion yen in ESG is not the most appropriate for our goals. We’re not driven by a numerical target,” GPIF’s Shiomura said. “When you consider those factors, we can’t give a set amount or percentage of ESG investing we will do.”Masaaki Kanno, chief economist at Sony Financial Holdings Inc. and another former member of the expert panel to reform the fund, said there needs to be more disclosure.“It’s laudable that the pension fund promoted ESG so early on,” he said. “But it needs to do a better job of explaining the relationship between returns and ESG to the wider public.”Unlike the outspoken Mizuno, who now shares his views on ESG investing and other subjects on his increasingly prolific Twitter account, his successor Ueda prefers to operate from the background. He has yet to give a media appearance in more than a year overseeing the fund, with President Masataka Miyazono deflecting questions in January by saying he, not Ueda, would be the one to face the public. He declined to give the size of GPIF’s ESG investments, citing the potential impact on the market.“The fund’s ability to communicate externally has gone quiet,” said Tamami Ota, a researcher at Daiwa Institute of Research Ltd. “Mizuno was a skilled communicator.”(Updates with data on ESG returns in the ninth paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
HSBC and Huawei Technologies' Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou have reached an agreement in a dispute about the publication of documents relating to U.S. fraud allegations against her, their lawyers told a Hong Kong court. The legal dispute reached the Hong Kong court last month after a British judge in February blocked the release of internal HSBC documents relating to the fraud allegations against Meng.
Max out your 401(k) each year, and be sure to get your 401(k) employer match, if you have one. And for you super savers, here are other ways to save for retirement.
Cannabis deals in Europe will help pot giant Aphria build up a war chest ahead of an expected frenzy of M&A in the U.S., the company’s chair and chief executive told MarketWatch ahead of the group’s earnings on Monday.
If successful, the acquisition would be Microsoft's second-largest ever, behind 2016's $24 billion purchase of LinkedIn.
(Bloomberg) -- Toshiba Corp.’s Chief Executive Officer Nobuaki Kurumatani has seen a sharp drop in support from executives and other employees in internal surveys, according to people familiar with the matter.Employees who have confidence in the CEO fell to less than 60% in an internal January poll, down from more than 90% last year, said the people who asked not to be identified as the process is private. More than 20% expressed a lack of confidence in his leadership, up from less than 5% previously they said.The survey results prompted Toshiba to conduct detailed interviews with a narrower group of about 30 top executives and more than half of them expressed a lack of confidence in Kurumatani. Toshiba implemented its internal survey system in 2016 as the company was recovering from a years-long accounting scandal.Toshiba spokeswoman Midori Hara confirmed that the company conducts the survey every year without disclosing the results.Shares gave up some of their gains after Bloomberg’s report, with the stock up 5.7% after rising as much as 7.6% earlier in the day.The declining confidence raises questions about Kurumatani’s future at the company as it confronts activist shareholders and a potential buyout offer. CVC Capital Partners, a U.K.-based fund where Kurumatani previously worked as Asia chief, expressed preliminary interest in acquiring the company for about 5,000 yen per share, Bloomberg News has reported. The University of Tokyo graduate and longtime banker has been CEO and president of Toshiba since 2018.Kurumatani is aware of the survey results and that they may affect his future at the company, one of the people said. The board is skeptical of the CVC proposal because it included few concrete details, the person said, adding that the private equity firm said it would respect current management.Read More: Toshiba Board Urges Caution Over CVC Offer, Sending Stock LowerThe surveys don’t have any binding force. But the result could prompt Toshiba’s nominations committee to remove Kurumatani from its list of director recommendations put forward to shareholders in June, one person said, because the no-confidence levels were by far the highest since the system was installed.Kurumatani faces opposition outside the company too. He held on to his position by a slim margin last year, when only 57.2% of Toshiba shareholders approved of keeping him in the job. Questioning the transparency and process of that vote, Toshiba’s largest investor Effissimo Capital Management has requested an independent investigation, which was green-lit at an extraordinary shareholder meeting in March.(Updates with share price in fifth paragarph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
While some saw the legal dispute as a trademark-relation issue, others considered it to be a free speech one.
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