The Star Online: Business
The Star Online: Business |
- Panasonic, in one-upmanship, unveils biggest - 56 inch - OLED TV(update)
- Whale of a job change for JPMorgan's Staley
- Nasdaq's Greifeld: Debt ceiling no place for stand on spending
| Panasonic, in one-upmanship, unveils biggest - 56 inch - OLED TV(update) Posted: 08 Jan 2013 06:42 PM PST LAS VEGAS: Panasonic Corp, in a display of technological one-upmanship with its South Korean rivals, unveiled a prototype of the world's largest OLED screen on Tuesday. The half-inch thick, 56-inch television, based on organic light-emitting diode technology, is a mere inch bigger than ones offered up by Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics a year ago in Las Vegas. The technology in theory allows for thinner screens that consume less power. Japan's Sony Corp , which is cooperating with Panasonic in OLED technology, on Monday unwrapped its own 56-inch ultra high-definition model. Sony on Monday also said it will widen its range of ultra high-definition LCD sets to three this year, as it stakes out its territory in next-generation TVs. LG, which has started to take orders for its thin OLED screens, plans sales in the United States of a $12,000, 55-inch model beginning in March, making it the first company to commercialize the new technology. Nonetheless, Kazuhiro Tsuga, the president of Panasonic, told industry executives and reporters at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas that "Many people think of Panasonic as a television manufacturing company. In fact, for nearly 100 years we have been making a vast range of products." Tsuga said that Panasonic will focus on selling products like batteries for cars, in-flight entertainment systems, hydrogen cells, solar panels and LED lighting to businesses, while boosting its appliance unit and reducing its exposure to the hyper-competitive consumer electronics arena. "Panasonic's future is being built on far more than a single product category," Tsuga said. Panasonic and Japan's two other big TV makers, Sony and Sharp Corp , have been hammered in conventional LCD screens by competition from Korean rivals led by Samsung. Japan's share of the world's flat panel TV market this year likely contracted to 31 percent from 41 percent in 2010, according to the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association. Tsuga has also vowed to deliver the details of a revival plan by the end of March. So far, he has said that businesses that fail to achieve a 5 percent operating margin within two years will be shuttered or sold. Sales of its weakest units may start next business year. Panasonic is forecasting a net loss of $8.9 billion in the year to March 31. - Reuters AFP meanwhile reported tha TV makers showing off their new wares at a huge trade fair will seek to dazzle consumers with bigger, bolder displays, and smarter technologies for consumers who want television to be a "multiscreen" experience. Companies like Samsung, Sony, LG, Sharp and Panasonic showing at the International CES in Las Vegas this week are making a new push for so-called "ultra HD" high definition of 4K, which can provide stunning, lifelike images at a steep price. Size is on the rise, with many consumers looking at screen measuring 60 inches (152 centimeters or bigger), especially in the United States, according to the industry. "For US consumers, bigger is absolutely better," said John Herrington of the US division of Japan's Sharp, one of biggest sellers of jumbo TVs in the American market. Sharp is selling TVs with displays up to 84 inches (213 cm) using its high-definition display technology called IGZO, using indium gallium zinc oxide. South Korea's Samsung meanwhile unveiled a new television that lets two people watch two different shows at the same time. The F9500 television is the first in the world to offer this feature, dubbed "multi-view," using screen technology called "organic light-emitting diode" or OLED. Viewers must wear special 3D glasses, which come with personal speakers built in to deliver the audio, in stereo, directly to them. But "ultra HD" and other new televisions remain slow to capture the market because of their prices upwards of $10,000, according to a forecast released by the Consumer Electronic Association which showed the segment capturing just five percent of the US market by 2016. TV makers are still making aggressive moves to get consumers on new TVs, including addressing the issue of a lack of content available in the new format. Sony, for example, announced plans to launch at 4K video service in the United States this year, and also unveiled plans for more affordable TVs at 55 and 65 inches (140 and 165 cm) in addition to its 84-inch set. LG said it was the first to launch an OLED set and said it would be selling one in the US market, at a retail price of around $12,000 for a 55-inch model. "OLED TV will usher in a whole new era of home entertainment," said Jay Vandenbree, senior vice president, LG Electronics USA. "With its lifelike color, infinite contrast ratio and slim profile, LG OLED delivers an outstanding viewing experience; it's undoubtedly a premium product worthy of its premium price." Samsung meanwhile on Tuesday unveiled what it called the world's first curved OLED TV, saying it offered "a more immersive viewing experience." Chinese makers are also getting into the high end with sleek new TVs coming from makers such as Haier and TCL, which unveiled a new smart TV which can use the Google 3.0 platform and which will be sold in the United States later this year. Yet analysts say that consumers are focused on other features of new TVs, including the ability to stream content from their mobile devices to the big screen or vice-versa. "We are living in an app-dominated world, whether it's on your smartphone, tablet or television," said Kevin Tillmann, senior research analyst at CEA. "Consumers want access to their apps at all times and they will use whatever device, TVs included, that offer the best and most convenient user experience." CEA found more than one in five US adults own a smart app-enabled HDTV and 90 percent use the apps available on their displays in some capacity. "To me, content synchronization is where the magic is. People use an average of five or six devices, and now you can seamlessly have that across these," said Danielle Levitas, consumer tech analyst at IDC. Levitas said a new initiative being pushed by cable firms is known as "TV everywhere," which enables consumers to take their subscriptions to other devices or even on the road. "Because of how content is licensed a lot of those experiences are limited to the home," she said. "People want to get that content on a tablet in a remote location, or in a hotel room." James McQuivey of Forrester said consumers "are focused on tablets" and prepared for a major new TV purchase. And most already have a capable HD set, and would see only marginal improvement with ultra HD. "Consumers don't need that resolution. There is no way you can discern the difference unless you have a screen the size of a wall," he told AFP. "And there is no content available in 4K. So anyone who buys a 4K televison is showing they have money to burn." - AFP |
| Whale of a job change for JPMorgan's Staley Posted: 08 Jan 2013 06:34 PM PST NEW YORK: James "Jes" Staley is leaving his job as chairman of the investment banking unit of JPMorgan Chase & Co to join a hedge fund that profited from the bank's $6.2 billion (3.8 billion pounds) "London Whale" loss. The 56-year-old Staley, who was moved aside in July from his position as chief executive for investment banking at JPMorgan, is becoming a partner at BlueMountain Capital Management, the hedge fund company said on Tuesday. BlueMountain was among a group of hedge funds that profited by betting against JPMorgan in credit derivatives transactions known as the "London Whale" trades, which cost the bank billions of dollars. Later, BlueMountain worked for JPMorgan to help the bank close the positions, according to a person familiar with the matter. The hedge fund manages more than $12 billion and was founded by JPMorgan alums. Staley, a 34-year veteran of JPMorgan, was sidelined in a management reshuffle in July that foreshadowed his departure. He had long been seen as a possible successor to JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon, but both men are the same age, and Dimon seems to be focusing on promoting younger executives now. At BlueMountain, Staley will focus on cultivating relationships with clients and developing new strategies, the firm said, echoing the kind of talk about financial innovation that used to be routine at investment banks. Many bankers complain that regulations are making it harder to innovate. The new rules were put in place after a financial crisis that was fuelled in large part by abuses of innovations such as securitization. Staley will buy a stake in BlueMountain and the money will be used on new technology and staff, the firm said. The amount of his investment was not disclosed. Staley spent nearly 22 of his 34 JPMorgan years at its investment bank. He was a founding member of its equities business in the early 1980s. He later worked as CEO of its asset management unit, which includes its private bank. As Dimon reorganized business units, he named two younger executives to be co-CEOs of commercial and investment banking and made Staley chairman of the unit and head of a committee to consider the future of global banking. Staley, appearing on CNBC on Tuesday, said of no longer being in contention for Dimon's job, "There is a generational issue. The bank has to get ready for that. The transition that Jamie and I have been able to execute from JPMorgan to a firm like BlueMountain, I feel very proud of." Staley said he expects changes in the financial system will shift more trading, particularly of credit instruments, from banks to firms like BlueMountain. Staley will become BlueMountain's ninth managing partner. He declined twice on CNBC to discuss the trade other than to make the point that JPMorgan had trusted BlueMountain enough to use it to resolve the position. The Whale trades were made through JPMorgan's chief investment office in London, which was a separate business unit from the investment bank. One of the key engineers of the trade was Bruno Iksil, who took big enough positions to earn the nickname "the London Whale." At a conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, CEO Dimon complained about the way some JPMorgan employees dealt with the crisis. "We have some people who acted terribly and we had some leaders who acted like children. It was unbelievable," Dimon said. Andrew Feldstein, the CEO of BlueMountain, worked for JPMorgan for more than a decade before starting the hedge fund in 2003. His jobs at JPMorgan included heading structured credit and the global credit portfolio. Dimon, in a memo to senior managers after the announcement of Staley's departure, said, "BlueMountain is an important client of ours, and we look forward to working with Jes in the future." - Reuters |
| Nasdaq's Greifeld: Debt ceiling no place for stand on spending Posted: 08 Jan 2013 06:31 PM PST NEW YORK: The U.S. borrowing limit should not be used as leverage by members of Congress to force the Obama administration to cut spending as there will be other opportunities to make a stand, said Robert Greifeld, chief executive of Nasdaq OMX Group. The debt ceiling, which could be hit as early as mid-February, has been dragged into a high-stakes fiscal battle snarling Washington, with Republicans refusing to raise it unless Democrats agree to deep spending cuts to tame the ballooning national debt. Neither side is giving much ground. "The full faith and credit of the U.S. government is an important concept that we should not violate, because these are debts that have been incurred and are coming due, so it is just not right," Greifeld said in an interview on Tuesday. A failure by Washington to reach a deal to increase the $16.4 trillion legal limit on the nation's debt raises the threat of a U.S. default, another credit downgrade and a panic in the financial markets. Greifeld is one of more than 100 CEOs who are part of a group called "Campaign to Fix the Debt." The group has been pushing Congress to work together to create a long-term plan to get the federal deficit under control through both increased taxes and spending cuts. TRIPLE FISCAL FIASCO Fix the Debt mounted a media blitz in the two months leading up to the so-called fiscal cliff - a package of automatic tax increases and indiscriminate spending cuts scheduled to start at the beginning of the year that threatened to push the nation back into recession, until averted by last-minute legislation. During the media campaign, the business leaders lined up to say it was okay to raise taxes on the wealthy, but that spending cuts in programs such as Medicare and Social Security were needed as well to put the United States on a more sound fiscal footing. But the 11th-hour bill, which included tax hikes on household incomes over $450,000, pushed forward the decision on spending cuts, known as the "sequester," by two months, setting up another, possibly more damaging scenario. In late February-early March, the delay in the sequester ends, the federal government hits its borrowing limit, and authorization for the federal budget runs out. Erskine Bowles, a former chief of staff to Bill Clinton who along with former Republican senator Alan Simpson founded Fix the Debt, called it "a triple fiscal fiasco." "If you think you saw uncertainty and concern when we were facing the fiscal cliff, man, you haven't seen anything yet," Bowles told reporters at a press conference at Nasdaq's MarketSite in New York. SEVERELY DISAPPOINTED Raising the debt ceiling periodically has not traditionally been a major issue, as government must account for the deficits resulting from its tax and spending decisions. But last August was an exception. Congress attempted to make spending cuts a condition of raising the debt ceiling, causing volatility in the markets as the United States was pushed to the brink of default and its credit rating was cut. Greifeld said he and other CEOs were "severely disappointed" that meaningful spending cuts were not addressed in the fiscal cliff negotiations, but that they are hopeful a more balanced approach will be taken in the near future. There will also be other opportunities to force the issue. "The sequester - we kind of stand out there as the place to make a stand. The debt ceiling is not the place to do it," he said. - Reuters |
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