Word: corps
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...going nowhere. Also easing anti-Chinese sentiment in the U.S. were setbacks last week to two attempted acquisitions of U.S. firms by Chinese companies. Mainland appliance maker Haier dropped its $1.28 billion offer for Maytag, and a politically controversial $18.5 billion bid by China National Offshore Oil Corp. to buy U.S. oil giant Unocal has run into stiff headwinds after Unocal's board voted to stick with an improved offer from American company Chevron. Revaluing the yuan "buys the Chinese significant political capital," says Hong Kong-based Merrill Lynch strategist Spencer White...
...entirely on price, such as those in the toys and textiles industries, say even this 2.1% increase in the yuan's value will hurt sales to cost-conscious U.S. retailing giants such as Wal-Mart and Target. Yu Zhihua, export manager for the Hangzhou Silk and Garment Import Export Corp. in Hangzhou, says her profit margins are so thin already that she can't afford to lower prices to offset the 2.1% difference in currency values. "We expect contracts that would have gone to us will switch to Bangladesh and Indonesia," Yu says...
Price-savvy shoppers look to big-box stores for bargains on everything from T-bones to tires. Will health insurance be next? Since 2003, Sam's Club has offered a free brokerage service to consumers in 48 states who are shopping for a health-insurance plan. Now Costco Wholesale Corp. is joining the market with a pilot program to sell medical coverage directly to consumers. In 34 Southern California stores this month, Costco will begin selling individual and family health insurance to its executive members--those who pay a $100 annual fee. The policies, in partnership with PacifiCare Health Systems...
...Some found the assurances unconvincing. "Regardless of how many disclaimers there are, the fact is that a general in the P.L.A. made a highly provocative threat about using nuclear weapons first in a conflict with the U.S.," says Evan Medeiros, an expert on the Chinese military at the Rand Corp., a think tank in Virginia. "This reinforces longstanding American concerns about China's willingness to use force over Taiwan and the potential for nuclear escalation." Near the end of his comments last week, Zhu added that he was confident the U.S. and China would not go to war "unless...
Members of the board of directors of China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) had an inkling that something was up the day they gathered in Hong Kong this spring for a regularly scheduled meeting with the firm's top management. Rumors that CNOOC, the third largest oil company in China, might make an audacious bid to buy Unocal, the ninth largest oil company in the U.S., had appeared in the financial press as early as January, although CNOOC never confirmed the stories. Board members also knew that CNOOC, in an effort to boost its ability to fuel China's booming...