Continue reading North Korea Wants Your Money, Opens New Foreign Investment Zones

North Korea Wants Your Money, Opens New Foreign Investment Zones originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Its sights set on the United States and Asia, South Korea's $30 billion sovereign wealth fund is hunting for equities. Korea Investment Corp. (KIC) doesn't see bonds outperforming stocks over the long term, which is what has prompted the move.

Once the reallocation is executed, equities will account for half of KIC's "traditional" investments. Today, it stands at 40%. High quality equities and fixed income securities comprise 90% of KIC's portfolio, with the rest, one would gather, consisting of "non-traditional" investments.

Continue reading Korean sovereign, pension funds preparing to load up on equities

Korean sovereign, pension funds preparing to load up on equities originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It has been widely anticipated that the EU would bring new antitrust charges against Intel (NASDAQ: INTC). The FTC and other US authorities are chasing the largest chip company in the world for similar reasons. South Korea has already fined Intel for anti-competitive behavior.

The theory behind the charges is that Intel induced PC companies and their retailers to use its chips and not those from rival AMD (NYSE: AMD). According to The Wall Street Journal, "The European Union launched new antitrust charges against Intel Corp., saying the chip giant paid rebates to a major retailer to encourage it not to carry computers using chips from smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc ."

If the charges are true, it shows the extent to which a company of real size, like Intel, can be its own worst enemy. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) ran into similar problems a decade ago for being too aggressive killing off competition in the browser and media player markets.

The irony of Intel's legal bind is that it almost certainly did not need to pressure or give incentives to keep AMD in a distant second place. It had the balance sheet to keep margin pressure on AMD and the engineering prowess to offer better chips.

Arrogance and carelessness often go with being in first place. This time it appears that it has caught up to Intel.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

EU finally brings antitrust charges against Intel originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) wants to capture more market share for its imported passenger cars in South Korea. To do this, the automaker is considering launching its Chevrolet brand in that country after examining the results of a recent Korea-specific feasibility study.

GM, which already sells its Cadillac and Saab brands in South Korea, wants to make sure that rival Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) doesn't get into South Korea with its extremely popular passenger cars and beat it in that market, much like it's doing in many national auto markets. Toyota is now public enemy number one for GM, and it's not getting any easier for the iconic U.S. auto brand. Although its latest quarter was somewhat disappointing, Toyota is still very much on top of its game.

Another motivation for GM is the fact that imported car sales in South Korea increased to 6.2% of all car sales in April of this year, up from 4.9% from a year ago. GM hopes that it can double its South Korea sales this year, which sounds like a pretty hefty goal. GM is facing some headwinds though: the big three Detroit automakers saw their first-quarter car sales in South Korea shrink to 11.7% of the market, down from 2004's 15% first quarter total.

General Motors may introduce Chevy in South Korea originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 21 May 2008 11:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Ex-Daewoo chief gets amnesty

Ex-Daewoo chief gets amnesty originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 31 Dec 2007 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The U.S. car market will probably total just above 16 million cars and light vehicles this year. And next year, a tight economy may take the figure down. GM (NYSE: GM) has about a quarter of the market, or 4 million units. With a shrinking market and competition from Japanese imports, holding that number may be hard.

But GM is doing well in China, where its is tied with Volkswagen for the No. 1 spot, and the U.S. car company's numbers get better in Latin America each year.

GM has another market which is rarely mentioned, but it is an example of how the firm is accelerating its investments and returns overseas in a bid to diversity geographically.

Continue reading GM Daewoo's success shows drive outside U.S.

GM Daewoo's success shows drive outside U.S. originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 18 Dec 2007 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), finally seeing the writing on the wall after losing in the European courts, decided today to withdraw its appeal [subscription required] of an antitrust ruling by the South Korea Fair Trade Commission, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal today. "It is important to note that Microsoft remains committed to Korea and continues to work closely with the FTC to ensure that Korean consumers benefit from vibrant competition in the IT industry," the company said in a statement. I bet that's how they really feel. I don't think Microsoft truly wants to help the competition, but they are being forced to do so by the antitrust regulators.

In February 2006, South Korea's FTC imposed a fine of 32.5 Korean ($35.4 million) against Microsoft for abuses related to its dominance in certain software, primarily its Windows operating system. Microsoft must provide two versions of Windows in Korea, one stripped of the Windows Media Player and Windows Messenger and the other carrying links to Web pages that allow consumers to download competing versions of such software. Microsoft appealed this decision in March 2006. This appeal was turned down in May 2006 by the FTC and it asked the antitrust regulator to review the fine. Today Microsoft dropped the appeal most likely because it realized it would lose.

Microsoft drops South Korea antitrust appeal originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Man crashes car into office to protest bad service originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 12 Apr 2007 11:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Periodically we hear mention of "Bullet Trains" being developed between large metropolitan areas. Last week I posted Serious Money: Freight Railroads - BNI, CSX, UNP & more and the first comment I received was about Bullet Trains. Not exactly on topic, but a hot topic nevertheless. That article was about investment ideas. Now to explore bigger ideas!

Bullet Trains are an ultra fast, ultra sleek, ultra modern way to get quickly and efficiently between major cities. Although utilized to great success in such countries as Japan and France, bullet trains apparently are too futuristic for the likes of the United States. They are always a part of some future plan, but always passed on as too expensive.

In California we have discussed high speed trains from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and from Los Angeles to Palmdale -- this one in hopes of moving some Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) traffic to the high desert. There is very high demand at LAX but the airport is congested, complicated, and hemmed in. A speedy, reliable transportation option between San Francisco and Los Angeles would be welcome by millions of residents.

High speed trains are under discussion or being planned for Australia, China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, and many other places. The Japanese and French, not surprisingly, are leading the way. The New York Times reported: French Train breaks rail speed record achieving speeds of 357 miles per hour. The report concludes that high speed trains have not caught on in the U.S. as they have in Europe, "where TGV travel is generally considered faster transportation than air travel for distances that the TGV can cover in less than three hours."

An obvious observation for anyone who's done any traveling. But sentiment tends to become official when the New York Times states it in print.

From what I have been able to find out The Florida Overland Express (FOX) is probably the furthest along, but, while the train will move fast - the development moves very slow. According to the website, Florida Governor Jeb Bush canceled this project in 1999. Once again the United States lags behind the rest of the developed (and developing) world when it comes to sensible solutions to environmental and social issues. So what else is new?

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the vice president for de.sign and research at an architecture & planning firm. Check out his other posts for BloggingStocks here.

Freight train follow-up: Bullet trains originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 10 Apr 2007 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• The Wall Street Journal reported that New Century Financial Corporation (OTC: NEWC) is expected to announce as soon as today that it is filing for bankruptcy projection.
• The Wall Street Journal reported that EMI Group plc (OTC: EMIPY) will hold a special media event on Monday with Apple Inc's (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs as its special guest, fueling speculation that EMI will sell music without anti-piracy software.
• The Financial Times reported that the U.S. and South Korea said they had agreed on the terms of a landmark free trade deal which will boost trade by as much as $20B a year.
• The Financial Times reported that French stock market regulators are looking into unusual share price movements in France Telecom ADS (NYSE: FTE) and a few other CAC40 stocks, as there is concern that unknown forces could be profiting from false rumors and speculation in the stocks.

• The U.K. Times has learned that GlaxoSmithKline plc ADR (NYSE: GSK) is in talks with the World Health Organization, or WHO, over a proposal for a subsidized mass avian flu vaccine for developing countries.

• According to an internal memo obtained by SUSE-IRC.org, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is in talks to acquire Novell Inc (NASDAQ: NOVL).

Newspaper wrap-up 4-2-07: EMI to hold media event with Apple's Steve Jobs today originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 02 Apr 2007 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Starbucks and 'luxury spending' debate in Korea

Starbucks and 'luxury spending' debate in Korea originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 08 Aug 2006 16:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The key to Yahoo!'s Internet strategy is to make strategic investments - such as its deal with Alibaba in China.

The latest deal for Yahoo?  An investment for 10% of GMarket, which is a leading etailer focused on the South Korean Market.

What's more, last night, GMarket filed its prospectus with the SEC to go public.

GMarket has more than 1.7 million products for sale on its web site. In the first quarter of 2006, the company had revenues of $72.4 million and net income $1.99 million.

Korea has one of the most advanced Internet infrastructures. About 68.4% of Korea's total population, or 33 million people, are Internet users.

According to Gmarket's prospectus:  "The ability to reach a large number of customers at a relatively low cost has made retail e-commerce an attractive sales and marketing channel."

And, now Yahoo! has a seat at the table of a market that is expected to grow at a rapid clip for years to come.

Links:

Reuters -- Yahoo to buy 10 pct stake in S.Korea's Gmarket

SEC Prospectus -- GMarket

Yahoo! Doubles Down on S. Korea originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 07 Jun 2006 10:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Perhaps a misread of South Korean culture led Wal-Mart to exit country

Perhaps a misread of South Korean culture led Wal-Mart to exit country originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 26 May 2006 11:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Wal-Mart sells all South Korean stores and exits country originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 22 May 2006 11:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.