27/03/2026

BIZ & FINANCE FRIDAY | MAR 27, 2026

READ OUR

HERE

18

Malaysian Paper

/thesun

ISPs not liable for music piracy by users: Top US court

Porsche SE reports blow to 2025 earnings BERLIN: Porsche SE, the holding company that controls Volkswagen, said on Wednesday it suffered a blow to its 2025 after-tax profit, weighed by costs at the German auto group and luxury sports-car maker Porsche AG. Porsche SE reported adjusted earnings after tax of €2.9 billion (RM13.4 billion), down by around 9% year on year. The group’s net debt fell slightly to €5.1 billion. The holding company of Germany’s Porsche-Piech auto dynasty is Volkswagen’s largest investor with 31.9% of shares and 53.3% of voting rights. It also owns 12.5% of Volkswagen subsidiary Porsche AG. The top shareholder’s profit was hit by billions of euros in costs after Porsche AG slammed the brakes on its electric vehicle rollout in response to weak demand. Despite the drop in adjusted earnings, Porsche SE said its smaller investments generated €193 million in profit last year, highlighting efforts to diversify its portfolio. – Reuters secondary sales and isolated losses rather than an abrupt correction. – Reuters Barclays: Private credit poses limited risk to broader financial system LONDON: Private credit has limited ability to cause significant losses that could hurt the broader financial system, Barclays said yesterday, despite growing strains on the asset class. Jitters in private credit have rippled through markets this month, with major US banks tightening lending and funds capping withdrawals as mounting concerns over valuations, transparency and the health of the economy prompted some investors to exit the sector. In a note, Barclays said most private credit holdings are with long-term institutional investors, such as pensions, endowments, sovereign wealth funds and insurers, whose obligations are not easily shaken by short-term market volatility. At the same time, private credit’s retail exposure has grown but remains concentrated. This combination reduces the risk of sudden, correlated selling pressure that could trigger broader financial contagion, Barclays said. “Scale alone does not imply systemic risk.“ Shares of alternative asset managers have also come under pressure this year amid growing concerns over the valuations of software firms they own or finance. Barclays says any shakeout is likely to unfold slowly through lower payouts, discounted

“A provider induces infringement if it actively encourages infringement through specific acts. “Cox neither induced its users’ infringement nor provided a service tailored to infringement.” In a statement, Cox Communications welcomed the court’s decision, calling it a “decisive victory for the broadband industry and for the American people who depend on reliable internet service”. “This opinion affirms that internet service providers are not copyright police and should not be held liable for the actions of their customers.” The ruling was also welcomed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which called it a “win for freedom of expression online”. “If defined too broadly, secondary

copyright liability for internet service providers can pose a serious threat to free speech online,” Evelyn Danforth Scott, an ACLU attorney, said. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) meanwhile expressed disappointment. “To be effective, copyright law must protect creators and markets from harmful infringement,” RIAA chairman and CEO Mitch Glazier said. During oral arguments before the Supreme Court in December, Joshua Rosenkranz, an attorney representing Cox, had warned of “cataclysmic” consequences if the court did not limit the company’s copyright liability. The only way for an ISP to avoid liability is to “cut off the internet, not just for the accused infringer, but for anyone else who happens to use the same connection”, he said. – AFP

o Civil liberties union hails ‘win for freedom of expression online’

WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday in a landmark copyright case that internet service providers (ISPs) are not liable for online pirating of music by their users. Cox Communications, a major broadband ISP, had asked the top court to throw out a jury verdict awarding US$1 billion in damages to Sony Music Entertainment and other record labels. Cox was accused in the case of failing to take action against customers accused of illegally downloading copyrighted music.

In a unanimous 9-0 ruling, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of Cox and said an ISP was liable “only if it intended that the provided service be used for infringement”. “A company is not liable as a copyright infringer for merely providing a service to the general public with knowledge that it will be used by some to infringe copyrights,” the court said in an opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas. “Cox repeatedly discouraged copyright infringement by sending warnings, suspending services, and terminating accounts,” the court said.

People look at the Supreme Court building in Washington. – R EUTE R S PIC

German chemical giant BASF opens vast China complex SHANGHAI: German chemical titan BASF officially opened a giant, €8.7 billion (RM40 billion) production complex in China yesterday, a major but controversial expansion in the world’s number two economy. BASF CEO Markus Kamieth said in an interview with the Handelsblatt financial daily this week. BASF has been axing jobs at its historic site of Ludwigshafen in southwest Germany, and announced in February that it planned to cut back-office jobs in Berlin and shift them to India. abuses against the local Uyghur minority. In addition, analysts have

questioned whether the investment will pay off – the Chinese economy is facing a long slowdown and there is already overcapacity in the market. Over 2,000 people are employed at the Zhanjiang site, which will produce a range of chemicals for sectors ranging from transport to consumer goods and electronics. Most of the products manufactured at the site are intended for customers in China. It is BASF’s third-biggest complex worldwide, after Ludwigshafen and Antwerp in Belgium. – AFP

“The strong focus on new industries, renewables, and the green transition is a huge opportunity for an innovative chemical company like BASF.” The greater focus on Asia comes with Germany’s crucial chemical sector in crisis as it battles high energy costs, red tape and fierce competition, in particular from Chinese producers. But the Chinese project has proven controversial at a time that the world’s biggest chemical company has embarked on a major cost-cutting drive in its home market.

There have also been concerns about boosting investments in Communist Party-ruled China, particularly after Berlin urged companies to “de-risk” from the country by diversifying into other markets. BASF has run into problems before in China; last year the company exited two joint ventures in the Xinjiang region after its local partner was alleged to have participated in rights

The complex in Zhanjiang, Guandong province, sprawls over an area of about four square kilometres and brings together numerous plants producing a vast array of chemicals. It is the biggest ever investment project by BASF, which has long insisted that expanding in China, the world’s biggest chemical market, is necessary to ensure its future prospects. “China remains the market offering the greatest growth for our industry,“