TOP NEWS
* Toshiba Corp. completed the approximately ¥2 trillion sale of its memory chip business to KK Pangea, a special-purpose company controlled by a consortium led by U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital LP. Meanwhile, Jiji Press reports that Innovation Network Corp. of Japan and the Development Bank of Japan Inc. — both backed by Japan's government — plan to hold talks with Bain on investing in Toshiba Memory Corp. Western Digital Corp., on the other hand, is seeking the Japanese government's support for its joint venture with Toshiba, according to the Financial Times (U.K.)
* Tencent Holdings Ltd. is suing the two units running Toutiao's news aggregator app Jinri Toutiao and short video app Tik Tok, also known as Douyin, for allegedly defaming Tencent repeatedly in the past month through negative news, damaging its reputation, Reuters reports, citing a WeChat post. The Chinese tech giant wants to be compensated 1 Chinese yuan, along with public apologies on Toutiao's social media platforms.
JAPAN
* SoftBank Group Corp. announced the appointments of Katsunori Sago, Rajeev Misra and recently named COO Marcelo Claure as executive vice presidents. Sago will take on the position of Chief Strategy Officer, while Misra continues in his role heading the SoftBank Vision Fund. The promotions, to be formalized at a June shareholders meeting, set off speculation of a three-way race to succeed SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, according to The Nikkei.
* The Japanese government will seek to dramatically boost the number of the country's AI researchers through training programs as part of an upcoming integrated innovation strategy, Jiji Press reports. Japan is projected to face a shortage of 50,000 advanced researchers in AI, big data and other technologies by 2020, according to the report.
* NTT DoCoMo, the mobile arm of Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp., and NEC Corp. achieved 5G transmission of a 4.5GHz signal to multiple mobile terminals by reducing interference through beam-forming and inter-base station coordination.
SOUTH KOREA
* KT Corp. will enter the electricity brokerage market, utilizing blockchain and AI technologies, Yonhap News Agency reports. The telco will start brokerage services for the dealings of less than 1 megawatt worth of electricity.
* LG Electronics Inc. released its latest smartphone G7 ThinQ in the North American market on June 1, ZDNet Korea reports. The company plans to enter other global markets including Europe, Middle East, Africa and South America in the near future.
CHINA
* Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. will invest billions of dollars to build a smart logistics network that will improve delivery efficiency at lower cost, executive chairman Jack Ma said at the Global Smart Logistics Summit in Hangzhou, China.
* Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd., or Foxconn Technology Group, is in final talks with Xiaomi Inc. to manufacture the brand's television sets in India, Caijing reports, quoting Indian media. Production will start earliest in July or August, and will be launched in the high season of Hanukkah at the end of the year.
* HelloBike raised 1.9 billion yuan from Shanghai Yunxin Venture Capital Management Co., a wholly owned subsidiary of Ant Financial Services Group, whereas parent company Youon Bike gave up its preemption rights in the shares. Yunxin's stake in HelloBike will add up to 36.73% after the deal while Youon's share will fall to 8.86%.
INDIA
* Idea Cellular Ltd. called for an extraordinary general meeting on June 26 to seek approval for changing the company's name to Vodafone Idea Ltd., just as the company approaches the completion of its merger with Vodafone India. The company will also discuss at the meeting the issuance of up to 150 billion Indian rupees worth of "Non-Convertible Securities including but not limited to Non-Convertible Debentures ("NCDs"), secured or unsecured, in one or more series/tranches."
* Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group raised 14 billion Indian rupees by listing its U.K.-based gaming unit under Reliance Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., The Codemasters Software Co. Ltd., in the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. Reliance Group monetized about 60% stake in Codemasters, but will continue holding 29% of the company following the offering.
* The Indian government is seeking applications for the position of chairperson of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India by July 2, as the term of the current Chairman RS Sharma nears the end on Aug. 10, The Economic Times (India) reports, citing a notice from the Department of Telecommunications.
* In other TRAI news, the regulator is planning to put tariff plans of all incumbent telecom service providers on a unified digital platform across 22 licensed services areas by year-end, The Economic Times (India) reports, citing TRAI Chairman RS Sharma.
SOUTHEAST ASIA
* Indonesian telco operator Telkomsel introduced a video-on-demand app called MAXstream, Kompas.com reports.
* Malaysian telco operator Celcom Axiata Bhd. launched an intelligent virtual agent service in collaboration with Microsoft Corp., Berita Harian reports. According to Celcom Axiata CEO Michael Kuehner, the virtual agent would be available in English for now but they are working to make it available in Bahasa Melayu and other languages.
* Indonesian telco operator PT Indosat Tbk bought some capacities of the Jakarta-Surabaya subsea cable which is being constructed by PT Ketrosden Triasmitra, Indotelko reports. The purchase is part of Indosat's plan to boost its subsea cable communication system.
* Thailand's National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission is expected to establish a new price ceiling for multiplexer rentals, reducing the cost by as much as 25%, Prachachat reports. The regulator will also subsidize 50% of the rental fee charged to digital TV operators for 24 months, using the new ceiling as a price point reference.
* Thai pay-TV operator TrueVisions was accused of running misleading promotions and mishandling revenue from the nine Thai sponsors of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, the Bangkok Post reports. The company denied the allegations.
AUSTRALIA
* The Australian government granted community television broadcasters in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth a two-year extension of terrestrial broadcasting to help them transition to online streaming, after initially being notified in 2014 of the need to vacate the terrestrial spectrum and instead use the internet as their distribution platform.
* Nine Entertainment Co. and Australian News Channel Pty. Ltd.'s Sky are teaming up to create a free-to-air 24-hour business channel, sources close to the agreement told The Sydney Morning Herald. The channel's operations will reportedly be based in Sydney and "a number of new people" will be hired, the sources added.
FEATURED NEWS
Analysts expect potential iOS, HomePod updates at Apple's developers conference: Analysts predict the main attraction will be a preview of iOS 12, followed by potential enhancements to the company's new HomePod smart speaker as well as various augmented reality initiatives.
MarketWeek: Disney shares fall amid battle for Fox, 'Roseanne' cancellation: Walt Disney shares ended May on a difficult note as the company's brewing bidding war over 21st Century Fox continued to escalate and as a social media controversy caused the company's ABC network to cancel its sitcom "Roseanne."
FEATURED RESEARCH
Economics of Advertising: Positive signs for 'New FOX' from recent 21st Century Fox earnings: Executive co-Chairman Lachlan Murdoch said during the recent earnings call, "We saw continued strength in sports and news, demonstrating the competitive advantage of our outstanding brands and content that are primarily viewed live."
Nozomi Ibayashi, Nicole Shiwon Kim, Emily Lai, Wil Hathaway and Ed Eduard contributed to this report. The Daily Dose has an editorial deadline of 7 a.m. Hong Kong time. Some external links may require a subscription. Links are current as of publication time, and we are not responsible if those links are unavailable later.
