07/03/2025

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BIZ & FINANCE

Malaysian Paper

/thesundaily /

Seven & i announces measures to fend off takeover

Alibaba shares surge after it unveils reasoning model BEIJING: The Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba Group surged more than 8% yesterday following the release of a new reasoning model that the company said was on par with global hit DeepSeek’s R1. Qwen, the e-commerce leader’s artificial intelligence unit, said on X that its QwQ-32B, with 32 billion parameters, can achieve performance comparable to DeepSeek’s R1 model, which boasts 671 billion parameters. The announcement came a day after the Chinese government pledged increased support for industries including artificial intelligence, humanoid robots and 6G telecom, as AI models see increasing adoption by government agencies and smaller companies in China. Alibaba said the new model is accessible via its chatbot service, Qwen Chat, for which users can choose various Qwen models including Qwen2.5-Max, the most powerful language model in the Qwen series. The firm said the QwQ-32B demonstrated capabilities in mathematical reasoning, coding and general problem-solving in benchmark tests, performing close to top models such as OpenAI’s o1 mini and DeepSeek’s R1. DeepSeek has emerged as the new poster child of China’s AI prowess, rivaling top models from OpenAI for a fraction of its costs with less powerful computing. Analysts said initiatives laid out by the government will expand usage of AI in China. “China is rapidly building an application-driven AI ecosystem that isn’t just about research – it’s about immediate, tangible economic impact,” said Sun Wei, principal AI analyst at research company Counterpoint. Alibaba’s shares surged 8% to HK$140.5 a share. – Reuters

create a global convenience store behemoth. Japan’s Yomiuri daily reported this week that a special committee scrutinising ACT’s raised offer of reportedly around US$47 billion had decided formally to say no to that, too. While Seven & i stressed on Tuesday that all options remained on the table, its latest moves are seen as a way to boost its own valuation and avoid the need for a buyout. 7-Eleven, the world’s biggest convenience store brand, began in the United States but has been wholly owned by Seven & i since 2005. Its stores are a beloved institution in Japan, selling everything from concert tickets to pet food and fresh rice balls, although sales have been flagging. ACT, which began with one store in Quebec in 1980, runs nearly 17,000 convenience store outlets worldwide, including Circle K. The Nikkei said yesterday that the IPO of 7-Eleven Inc was expected to raise more than ¥1 trillion, depending on business conditions. Seven & i aims to use the US subsidiary as a springboard to expand its global convenience stores business, it said. – AFP best-paid banking CEOs for 2024, behind peers such as Shemara Wikramanayake at Macquarie Group with A$29.4 million (RM82 million). Successor Tan highlighted continuity in comments in the annual report. “While there are challenges ahead, opportunities abound,” she said. “The strategic moats we have built mean our successes are not easy to replicate and there is momentum in our business.” Gupta last month said DBS would cut 4,000 temporary jobs over the next three years in anticipation of artificial intelligence fulfilling more roles.

shareholder values and implement transformative policies,” outgoing company president Ryuichi Isaka said in a statement. “We have decided to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) of our SEI shares that operate the North American convenience store business, 7-Eleven, on one of the major US stock exchanges by the second half of 2026,” Seven & i said. It also said it plans to buy back ¥2 trillion of its own shares using funds generated by that IPO and other restructuring measures. Reports of the raft of measures that appeared before the retailer’s announcement had caused its shares to surge as much as 10% in afternoon trade. They later trimmed those gains and were trading up 6.5% before the market close. The company also announced the sale of its non-convenience-store business – comprising supermarkets, restaurants and other assets – to US private investment firm Bain Capital. ACT’s takeover would be the biggest foreign buyout of a Japanese firm, merging the 7-Eleven, Circle K and other franchises to

o 7-Eleven owner plans ¥2 trillion share buyback, IPO of North American unit TOKYO: The Japanese owner of 7-Eleven announced yesterday a raft of measures to fend off a takeover by a Canadian rival, including a ¥2 trillion (RM58 billion) share buyback and an IPO of its US unit. The announcements are the latest twist in a saga that began last year when Seven & i rebuffed a takeover offer worth nearly US$40 billion (RM177 billion) from Canada’s Alimentation Couche-Tard (ACT). Seven & i, which operates some 85,000 convenience stores worldwide, also named Stephen Hayes Dacus as its first foreign chief executive. “We’re convinced that now is the time to take our initiatives to the next level, and our leadership will further pursue the improvement of

DBS outgoing CEO pay up 57% in 2024 SINGAPORE: DBS Group paid outgoing CEO Piyush Gupta ( pic ) S$17.6 million (RM58 million) for 2024, up 57% on year, as Singapore’s biggest bank reported record annual revenue and profit. Southeast Asia’s largest lender by assets also has “momentum”, its incoming CEO Tan Su Shan said in the bank’s annual report published yesterday. the past decade, especially the digital transformation and growth of high-ROE businesses such as wealth management, transaction services and treasury customer sales,” chairman Peter Seah said in the report. Gupta is set to step down on March 28. During his 15-year tenure, DBS became a regional banking powerhouse, bolstered by

DBS stock has been riding high since mid-February when the bank forecast improved net interest

acquisitions that established significant presence in markets

income for 2025 and announced a dividend capital return plan – after booking a jump in quarterly earnings. “Our strong performance reflects the structural changes Piyush has implemented over “We have to fully embrace the possibilities, which should lead to a fundamental rethink of our operating models and even the creation of new business models,” Gupta said in the annual report. – Reuters Japan’s largest union group says average 6% wage hike sought for 2025 including China, India, Indonesia and Taiwan. One notable blip came in 2023 when disruption to digital banking saw Gupta take a steep pay cut. His remuneration made him one of Asia’s

TOKYO: Japan’s largest labour union group Rengo said yesterday its member unions are seeking an average wage hike of 6.09% for this year, outpacing last year’s demand, which resulted in the highest wage increase in three decades. The demand could mean another year of sizeable wage increases in Japan’s annual labour-management talks, which Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba sees as key to the world’s fourth-largest economy. A broad-based pay rise is also a prerequisite for the Bank of Japan to continue monetary policy normalisation after the central bank raised interest rates to the highest level since 2008 in January. The average demand surpasses Rengo’s wage growth target of least 5% in 2025, including a rise in the base pay of at least 3%. Base pay rises exclude the seniority-based automatic annual increase already built into the pay scale. Last year, Japanese companies agreed to an average 5.1% wage hike, the biggest increase in 33 years, following a 3.5% rise the previous year, according to Rengo. Its member unions had sought an average 5.85% increase around this time last year. The union group has about seven million members. Talks between management and labour unions over the 2025 wage levels typically conclude around mid-March at major firms, and go into effect a few months later. – Reuters

A worker walking beside newly produced cars at Keihin industrial zone in the Japanese city of Kawasaki. – REUTERSPIC