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Yum Brands said China would surpass the United States as the fast-food restaurant operator’s top profit generator this year, and the Chinese market’s potential is still largely untapped.
Yum has more than 3,700 restaurants in China, mostly KFC outlets, and has a big lead over Western rivals like McDonald’s in the world’s fastest-growing major economy. Get the full story »
Chicago-based Groupon has offices at 600 W. Chicago, pictured here on Nov. 30, 2010. (Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune)
Daily deal startup Groupon is on a shopping spree of its own, even amid feverish speculation that Google is on the verge of making a big offer for the Chicago company.
Groupon said late Tuesday it has bought three daily deal sites based in Asia, moving the company into Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines and Taiwan. Terms of the deals with uBuyiBuy, Beeconomic and Atlaspost were not disclosed. Groupon’s first foray into Asia was in August, when it acquired a Japanese rival. The company said it is now in 35 countries.
Closer to home, Groupon has acquired Ludic Labs, a Silicon Valley technology company, for an undisclosed amount. Groupon said Ludic Labs’ most well-known products are Offer Foundry, an advertising and promotional platform for local businesses, and Diddit, a Web-based community where members can browse through local activities and attractions. Ludic Labs and Groupon have both raised money from Accel Partners, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Get the full story »
Caterpillar Inc. plans to move “as much as possible” of the sourcing for its most complex parts from Japan to China, the Financial Times reported Monday on its website.
The company imports 40% of components for its excavator factories from Japan, according to the FT. However, it plans to cut that by at least a quarter within five years as it prepares for a bigger shift. Get the full story »
Northern Trust celebrated the opening of its first China branch, in Beijing, on Tuesday.
Chicago-based Northern has had a representative office in Beijing since 2005. Such an office can be used to build relationships in the market, but many services have had to be provided from offices in Singapore, Hong Kong or elsewhere. Having a branch enables Northern to provide more client services from Beijing. Get the full story »
U.S. construction equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. plans to issue a 1 billion yuan, or $150 million, two-year bond issue in Hong Kong, people familiar with the situation said Wednesday, becoming the second non-financial multinational company to tap the city’s growing yuan-denominated bond market. Get the full story »
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hit back on Friday at critics of the U.S. central bank’s bond-buying program and issued a thinly veiled attack on China’s policy of keeping its currency on a leash.
Bernanke, facing a chorus of protests about the asset-buying spree from within and outside the central bank, said a more vigorous U.S. economy was essential to fuel the global recovery and dismissed charges he was debasing the dollar. Get the full story »
A woman walks out of a McDonald's outlet in Beijing Nov. 17, 2010. (Christina Hu/Reuters)
McDonald’s has raised menu prices in mainland China by 0.5 yuan to 1 yuan per item with immediate effect because of rising materials costs as the country grapples with accelerating food inflation.
McDonald’s, which has more than 1,000 outlets in China, was raising prices for the first time this year, while Yum! Brands, parent of KFC and Pizza Hut chains, had so far kept prices unchanged, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
“Because some materials prices have increased, we have adjusted menu prices accordingly,” a McDonald’s (China) Co. Ltd spokeswoman said. Get the full story »
McDonald’s Corp. said it raised prices of some food items sold at its China outlets 7 to 15 cents per item effective Wednesday because of higher costs, which come amid growing concerns about spiralling inflation.
The increase “is because of higher raw material prices and we’ve adjusted our prices accordingly,” said Sophia Luan, vice president of corporate affairs and communications at McDonald’s China. Get the full story »
Commodity prices are sinking amid concerns about inflation in China and European talks about bailing out Ireland.
Some of the steepest declines came Tuesday in agriculture products and industrial metals. Traders are concerned that demand may diminish because of the developments in other countries.
China’s SAIC Motor Corp. Ltd has agreed to take a stake in General Motors Co if Chinese regulators approve a deal to deepen an existing alliance between the two automakers, four people familiar with the matter said.
The potential investment from SAIC is part of a surge in investor interest in GM that is expected to push the pricing of its shares to $29 or above in the the U.S. automaker’s initial public offering, one of the sources said. Get the full story »
General Motors Co. is in the final stage of talks to sell equity to long-time Chinese partner SAIC Motor Corp. in conjunction with its landmark initial public offering, two people familiar with the matter said.
The two government-funded automakers are determining how much of a stake SAIC would buy in the top U.S. automaker after discussions involving technology sharing and SAIC’s ambitions to move beyond China, the sources said. Get the full story »
A honey import executive who pleaded guilty to conspiring to avoid more than $5 million in U.S. anti-dumping duties has been sentenced to 30 months in prison.
Hung Ta Fan, who also used the name Michael Fan, was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Chicago and was ordered to pay about $5.38 million in restitution. He pleaded guilty to the charges in August. Get the full story »
General Motors Co.’s strength in China and its global growth potential are the focus of the automaker’s sales pitch as it shops for investors ahead of its initial public offering this month. Get the full story »
The Girl Scouts of the USA announced Monday its uniforms will continue to be made in America following a public uproar over reports it was considering bids from overseas manufacturers.
The owners of a family run Passaic, N.J., factory that has been the main supplier of Girl Scout uniforms and sashes for years were told recently that the organization would be seeking bids for the job — including from a company in China. Get the full story »
China will become the world’s biggest airplane market after the U.S. over the next 20 years and will likely require 4,330 new commercial airplanes valued at $480 billion over the same forecast period, with the bulk of new deliveries expected to be for smaller, single-aisle planes, according to a projection by Boeing Co. Get the full story »
