Tausi Insider

Foxconn’s flagship iPhone plant in China is set to see a further reduction in November shipments after the latest bout of worker unrest this week, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Friday, as thousands of employees quit. The world’s largest Apple AAPL-Q iPhone factory has been grappling with strict COVID-19 restrictions that have fuelled discontent among workers and disrupted production ahead of Christmas and January’s Lunar New Year holiday, as many workers were either put into isolation or fled the plant. Following Wednesday’s escalation that saw workers clash with security personnel, Foxconn could now see more than 30 per cent of the site’s November production affected, up from an internal estimate of up to 30 per cent when the labour issues erupted in late October, the source said. The factory is the only one that makes premium iPhone models, including the iPhone 14 Pro, and the source said it is unlikely to resume full production by the end of this month. Foxc...

The German government plans to impose a levy to skim off electricity companies’ windfall profits from Dec. 1, 2022, scrapping a previous plan to apply the tax retroactively from September this year, government sources told Reuters. The tax is to expire by the end of April 2024, the sources said, confirming a report published first by Frankfurter Allegemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper, citing sources. Berlin had originally planned to possibly extend the levy until the end of 2024. The economy ministry was not immediately available for comment. Germany’s traditional and renewable energy lobbies criticized applying the levy retroactively as too bureaucratic and hardly feasible. https://www.tausiinsider.com/german-government-to-impose-electricity-windfall-tax-beginning-dec-1-sources-say/?feed_id=332701&_unique_id=64628cadc5e61

HSBC is cutting as many as 15% of its 2,000 senior operations managers worldwide, as it attempts to streamline its management ranks and reduce costs, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. The global job cuts at the London-headquartered bank will fall across several business units and geographical locations and result in the loss of at least 200 positions, mostly with the title of Chief Operating Officer (COO), the sources said. HSBC, which used to position itself as the world’s local bank, employs many COOs because country and business lines have their own separate COO, the sources said. HSBC declined to comment. The lender has been shrinking its sprawling global business for several years, downsizing in many regions and exiting some countries entirely as it tries to improve shareholder returns. The latest cuts are already under way, one of the sources said. CEO Noel Quinn said on Thursday HSBC has identified $1.7 billion of extra cost cuts it will make next year as it battl...

OPEC+ is likely to stick to its current oil output target when it meets on Sunday, two OPEC+ sources said on Friday, although some say a further output cut is not completely off the table given concern about economic growth and demand. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies led by Russia, a group known as OPEC+, has switched its planned in-person meeting in Vienna on Dec. 4 to a virtual one, which sources in the group say signals the likelihood of it leaving policy unchanged. “It is unlikely there will be any change to the policy,” an OPEC+ source said. Another source made similar remarks, also declining to be identified by name. Talks begin on Saturday when OPEC ministers hold a virtual meeting at 1100 GMT. OPEC+ begins talks at the same time on Sunday with a meeting of the advisory Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee (JMMC) panel, followed by the full ministerial conference. With oil prices and the economic outlook weakening, the group agreed in ...

First Quantum Minerals Ltd. FM-T says it will use “all available legal means” to preserve the value of its Cobre Panama mine, after the Panamanian government ordered it to cease operations, and as fears persist that the asset could be either nationalized or sold to another mining company. A source familiar with the negotiations said that Panama has been working with an investment bank to shop the mine to third parties. Tausi Insider is not identifying the source as the person was not authorized to speak publicly. The government of Panama did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a dramatic televised address to the nation on Thursday night, President Laurentino Cortizo said that production would be halted at the mine after the Central American country clashed with the big Canadian copper miner over a profit-sharing agreement. First Quantum and Panama had been in talks for more than a year to try to hammer out a new profit-sharing agreement to replace the existing pact t...

Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS-N is planning to cut thousands of employees to navigate a difficult economic environment, a source familiar with the matter said. The layoffs are the latest sign that cuts are accelerating across Wall Street as dealmaking dries up. Investment banking revenues have plunged this year amid a slowdown in mergers and share offerings, marking a stark reversal from a blockbuster 2021 when bankers received big pay bumps. Goldman Sachs had 49,100 employees at the end of the third quarter after adding significant numbers of staff during the pandemic. Its headcount will remain above pre-pandemic levels, the source said. The workforce stood at 38,300 at the end of 2019, according to a filing. The bank is weighing a sharp cut to the annual bonus pool this year, a separate source familiar with the matter said. That compares with increases of 40 per cent to 50 per cent for top-performing investment bankers in 2021, Reuters reported in January, citing people with direct kn...

Twitter Inc.’s public policy chief has left the company amid additional layoffs to the unit on Thursday, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, as billionaire owner Elon Musk continues to slash costs. Sinead McSweeney, global vice president for public policy, has left Twitter, according to two sources. McSweeney’s departure has not been previously reported. The layoffs and departures of a high-ranking leader comes as regulators around the globe question Twitter’s content moderation work and protection of user data after Musk cut the staff from more than 7,000 to under 2,000. The public policy team is responsible for interacting with lawmakers and civil society on issues including free speech, privacy and online safety. It handles requests from governments and civil rights groups to remove problematic content and sets rules to protect vulnerable users. With fewer staff, backlogs could increase and some policies in development could be ignored, one of the sources said. Nick Pic...

Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg at the UN Climate Change Conference, in Glasgow, Scotland, on Nov. 2, 2021. POOL/The Associated Press Billionaire Michael Bloomberg, the owner of Bloomberg L.P., is interested in acquiring either Wall Street Journal parent Dow Jones or the Washington Post, news website Axios reported on Friday, citing an unnamed source familiar with the matter. Such a merger would create a financial data and news giant, further firming up the world’s 12th-richest man’s strong hold on the business and likely allowing his company to sell more Bloomberg Terminals – the main source of its revenue. According to the Axios report, Mr. Bloomberg sees News Corp-owned Dow Jones, also the publisher of Barron’s and MarketWatch, as the ideal fit but would buy the Post if Amazon.com Inc founder Jeff Bezos was interested in selling. Bloomberg L.P., the Washington Post and Dow Jones did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. Shares of News Corp were up ...

Canada’s trade minister has been in contact with her counterpart in Panama in an effort to resolve a dispute over future payments First Quantum Minerals Ltd. FM-T must make to operate its flagship copper mine in the country, a government source said on Friday. After efforts to reach a deal failed, Panama on Dec. 15 said First Quantum must shut down its Cobre Panama mine. “Obviously, we have a keen interest in seeing resolution to this, and are optimistic that both parties are negotiating in good faith,” said the source, who is familiar with the discussions. Canada’s Trade Minister Mary Ng spoke with Panama’s Commerce and Industries Minister Federico Alfaro about a week ago, the source said, and they have remained in contact by chat since then. “We have also heard from (the company) to ensure that Minister Ng and our team stays engaged in keeping this on the front burner,” said the source, who was not authorized to speak on the record. The Cobre Panama mine is considered the largest p...

The Goldman Sachs stall on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, on July 16, 2013. Brendan McDermid/Reuters Goldman Sachs Group GS-N will start cutting thousands of jobs across the firm from Wednesday, two sources familiar with the move said, as it prepares for a tough economic environment. Just over 3,000 employees will be let go, one of the sources said, but the final number is yet to be determined. That scale of layoffs would be the largest since the 2008 financial crisis, one of the sources said. The sources could not be named as the information was not yet disclosed publicly. Goldman Sachs declined to comment. Bloomberg News reported on Sunday that Goldman would eliminate about 3,200 positions. Goldman had 49,100 employees at the end of the third quarter, after adding significant numbers of staff during the coronavirus pandemic. The layoffs are likely to affect most of the bank’s major divisions, but should centre on Goldman Sachs’ investment banking arm, one of the sources ...

The Goldman Sachs company logo on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, on July 13, 2021. Brendan McDermid/Reuters Goldman Sachs GS-N began laying off staff on Wednesday in a sweeping cost-cutting drive, with around a third of those affected coming from the investment banking and global markets division, a source familiar with the matter said. The long-expected jobs cull at the Wall Street titan is expected to represent the biggest contraction in headcount since the financial crisis. It is likely to affect most of the bank’s major divisions, with its investment banking arm facing the deepest cuts, a source told Reuters this month. Just over 3,000 employees will be let go, the source, who could not be named, said on Monday. A separate source confirmed on Wednesday that cuts had started. The cuts are part of broader reductions across the banking industry as a possible global recession looms. At least 5,000 people are in the process of being cut from various banks. In addition to th...

CIBC says Laura Dottori-Attanasio, senior executive vice-president and group head for Canadian personal and business banking, is retiring. Evan Buhler/The Canadian Press Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce’s CM-T head of personal and business banking is leaving the lender to take the top job at another company, according to a source, removing a potential CEO candidate from CIBC’s succession plans. Laura Dottori-Attanasio is departing from the bank on Feb. 1 after 14 years there, CIBC said in a press release Friday. She is leaving to become chief executive of another institution that is not a bank, according to the source, who is familiar with the matter. Tausi Insider is not naming the source because they are not authorized to speak publicly about her departure. Ms. Dottori-Attanasio declined to comment on her exit. Ms. Dottori-Attanasio has run CIBC’s largest division since early 2020, making her one of the most senior women in Canadian banking. Previously, she oversaw CIBC’s risk-ma...

Michele Romanow is stepping down as CEO of the financier and will become co-executive chair. Bruno de Carvalho/Reuters Michele Romanow is stepping down as CEO of Clearco, as the e-commerce financier prepares to slash its work force for the third time in six months. Clearco, officially known as CFT Clear Finance Technology Corp., is set to lay off 50 employees, roughly 25 per cent of its work force, on Monday, bringing its ranks to 140 people, a source familiar with the situation told Tausi Insider. It had 500 employees last July. The source also said the company is naming U.S. finance industry executive Andrew Curtis as CEO. He has served as an adviser to Clearco for the past six months. Mr. Curtis takes over for the star of TV’s Dragons’ Den and serial entrepreneur, who made the decision to leave the post 11 months after she replaced co-founder Andrew D’Souza as CEO. She will become co-executive chair along with Mr. D’Souza. Tausi Insider is not identifying the source as they are n...

U.S. private equity giant Thoma Bravo is acquiring waterloo-based cybercrime software maker Magnet Forensics and combining it with Grayshift LLC of Atlanta. Magnet CEO Adam Belsher (pictured) will become CEO of the combined company. Fred Lum/Tausi Insider U.S. private equity giant Thoma Bravo has agreed to buy cybercrime software maker Magnet Forensics MAGT-T, a darling of Canada’s technology scene, for $1.8-billion and will merge it with another company it owns. Thoma Bravo said Friday it will pay $44.25 per share to holders of subordinate voting stock in Waterloo, Ont.-based Magnet, which sells digital investigation software used by law enforcement agencies and corporations to investigate cybercrimes. That is a 15.4-per-cent premium to closing price Thursday. It will also pay $39 a share to the three holders of Magnet’s multiple voting shares: co-founders Adam Belsher and Jad Saliba, and chairman Jim Balsillie. The trio, who own 28.9 million supervoting shares and hold 95-per-cent ...