Unilever wants to buy GSK consumer health care business.

Unilever offered GlaxoSmithKline PLC £50 billion ($68 billion) for its consumer health business last year, but was rejected by GSK and its minority shareholder, Pfizer Inc, on the grounds that the price was too low. Unilever officially confirmed the matter, saying that GSK's consumer healthcare business took the lead in this attractive track and was strategically complementary in Unilever's asset restructuring process. It is not certain whether any agreement can be reached in the future. Unilever did not confirm the amount of the offer in its statement.

Summary: GSK hired British retail giant Tesco CEO Dave Lewis (Dave Lewis) as chairman of the consumer health business in December last year. The main job is to lead the division's spin-off and strive to complete the listing this year. Dave Lewis worked for Unilever for more than 20 years and served as president of personal care.

2. Take-Two announced the acquisition of Xingjia

Video game developer Take-Two has announced that it will buy social game developer Zynga for about $12.7 billion in cash and stock. The equity value of the deal is $11.04 billion. Take-Two is a major game developer and publisher in the United States and a distributor of video games and peripherals. It has a number of studios, including "Grand Theft Auto" series and "biochemical Raiders" series. Zynga is a social gaming company whose masterpieces include the FarmVille (Happy Farm) series, Treasure Isle and Texas hold'em (Texas Hold'em).

Brief comments:The deal, the largest ever in the gaming industry, will create a gaming giant with a market capitalization of nearly $30 billion.

3. Cinda withdrew from Ant Consumer Finance share subscription

China Cinda, one of China's top four asset managers, announced last month that it plans to invest 6 billion yuan to buy a stake in Ant Consumer Finance and become the second-largest shareholder, but the company recently said that it plans not to participate in the subscription after further commercial consideration. the company's Nanyang Commercial Bank currently holds a 15 per cent stake in Ant Xiaojin. Other shareholders who plan to participate in the capital increase have also announced one after another to suspend the capital increase transaction. Ant Xiaojin responded that it respects the business decisions of investors and will actively consult with investors under the guidance of the regulatory authorities, continue to determine a new capital increase plan as soon as possible in accordance with the principle of marketization, and ensure that the rectification and reform of consumer credit business is in place.

Brief comments: Yuyue Medical, Sunny Optical also announced a moratorium on the subscription of ant consumer financial shares.

4. Apple Inc paid the developer $60 billion in 2021.

Apple Inc (Apple) said that a total of $60 billion was paid to developers in 2021 and $260 billion since the launch of Apple Inc's app store App Store in 2008, indicating that App Store sales continue to grow rapidly. Apple Inc pays developers 70% to 85% of his App Store revenue, with App Store sales accounting for 15% to 30% of app digital purchase sales. Apple Inc said he currently has 745 million paid subscriptions, including services provided by Apple, such as Apple Music and iCloud.

Summary: in the past year, Apple Inc has changed his commission structure several times, including the launch of the "Small Business Program" plan to increase the percentage of fees to 15 per cent for developers with annual revenues of less than $1 million.

5. TSMC's annual capital expenditure will exceed 40 billion US dollars.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, the world's largest contract chipmaker, said it would invest more to expand capacity this year, up to 47 per cent from last year, at a time when demand continues to surge amid tight global chip supplies. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd said the budget for capital expenditure for this year was between $40 billion and $44 billion, an all-time high, compared with about $30 billion last year. Wei Zhijia, president of the company, said that demand from industries such as high-performance computing equipment and automobiles will keep Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd's capacity utilization high. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd will start construction of a new "2nm" factory in Taiwan this year, which is two generations ahead of the most cutting-edge products.

Brief comments:Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) reported that full-year sales in fiscal year 2021 rose 18.5 per cent to T $1.5874 trillion, while net profit rose 15.2 per cent to T $596.5 billion. All set new highs for the whole fiscal year.

Toyota ranks first in the world in terms of car sales for the whole year.

Toyota Motor has ranked first in new car sales worldwide for the second year in a row. Volkswagen of Germany announced on January 12th that it sold 8.88 million new cars worldwide in 2021, 5 per cent less than in 2020. Toyota has not yet released full-year results for 2021, but Toyota does not include equity law company SUBARU, which sold 9.56 million vehicles from January to November 2021, up 12% from a year earlier, surpassing Volkswagen's full-year results. Toyota's sales performance in major markets remained strong, ranking first as a foreign company in the U. S. market for the first time in 2021. Toyota's sales in China also hit an all-time high.

Summary: the global shortage of semiconductors has seriously affected Volkswagen's production, with its car sales falling to its lowest level in 10 years in 2021. Despite strong orders, a shortage of spare parts hit production. Sales in China, Volkswagen's largest market, fell 14 per cent.

7. BMW won the top spot in global luxury car sales in 2021.

BMW beat longtime rival Mercedes-Benz in 2021 to win the top spot in luxury car sales for the first time since 2015. BMW has responded more effectively at a time when global car production is constrained by a shortage of semiconductors. Sales of BMW-branded cars rose 9 per cent in 2021 to a record 2.2 million, surpassing Mercedes' about 2.1 million. Production under Daimler's Mercedes brand shrank by 5 per cent after chip shortages intensified sharply in the second half of last year. Sales of all-electric vehicles such as BMW plug-in hybrids and iX have jumped 70 per cent to 328316, while all-electric vehicle sales have more than doubled, a feat aimed at repeating this feat in 2022.

Summary: data show that Audi delivered 1.6805 million new cars to customers worldwide in 2021, almost the same as in 2020.

8. Airbus aircraft delivery surpassed Boeing Co for three consecutive years

Airbus has been crowned the world's largest aircraft manufacturer for the third year in a row. According to the data, the company delivered 611 aircraft in 2021, an increase of 8 per cent over the previous year and surpassing Boeing Co. This figure gives Airbus an unshakable lead in revenue-generating aircraft deliveries, the industry's main measure. Airbus said it sold 771 aircraft in 2021 and sold 507 after deducting the cancellation of orders.

Brief comments:Boeing Co (Boeing) surged in sales and delivery of new aircraft last year, but still lags behind its arch-rival Airbus. Boeing Co said the company delivered 340 passenger aircraft to airlines and other buyers in 2021, up from 157in 2020. Aircraft delivery is dominated by the 737 Max, which has been grounded by global regulators for nearly two years after fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019.

9. New Oriental Education & Technology Group dismissed 60, 000 employees in 2021

New Oriental Education & Technology Group, one of China's largest after-school tutoring companies, laid off 60, 000 employees in 2021. The company also generated nearly 20 billion yuan in expenses, said Yu Minhong, the company's founder and chairman. These expenses include the refund of prepaid tuition fees, staff severance pay and the return of rent at the teaching site. Yu Minhong said the company's revenue plummeted 80%, but did not specify the relevant period of the collapse.

Brief comment: as a colleague of New Oriental Education & Technology Group, TAL Education Group released its financial report on January 14, 2022. In the six months ended August 31, 2021, TAL Education Group's operating income in the first half of fiscal year 2022 was 2.829 billion US dollars, an increase of 40.46 percent over the same period last year, and a net loss of 928.6 million US dollars, compared with a net profit of 96.62 million US dollars in the same period last year.

10. O'Micron affects global business operations.

With the novel coronavirus Omicron variant sweeping the UK, British companies are grappling with about twice the usual rate of absenteeism. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said its members reported an average absenteeism rate of about 10-15 per cent across the country, up from the usual 5-6 per cent in January, with higher absenteeism rates in some hotels and retail and in areas hardest hit by the epidemic. About 3000 employees of United Airlines tested positive in a recent COVID-19 test, more than 4 per cent of the company's total workforce. The Goldman Sachs Group Group of the United States has once again postponed plans to return employees to the office in response to the spread of the COVID-19 variant of Omicron.

Brief comment: Albert Bourla, CEO of US pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc (Pfizer), said on January 10 on the novel coronavirus vaccine jointly developed by the company and Germany's BioNTech that "a vaccine specifically targeted at the mutant Omicron will be ready in March." Bora said production of a vaccine specific to the Omicron strain had begun.