11/02/2016 Asia Business Report


11/02/2016

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Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.

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It is hard to turn a profit in under 140 characters. The latest earnings

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results from social media site Twitter.

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Markets in Hong Kong reopened after the Chinese New Year holidays.

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Hello and welcome to Asia Business Report. I'm Rico Hizon.

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Starting with Twitter. It has just reported its results for the last

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three months of 2015 and it has been disappointing. It lost money again.

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The loss has no road to $90 million, but the bigger news is it's user

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number has not grown for the first time since the company listed in

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2013. -- has narrowed. Its shares are down 70% since the highs of last

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April. Investors have been unhappy because of concern about the

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company's inability to retain senior executives, with four vice

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presidents leaving in January. Early I asked what our technology

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correspondent made of the results. This showed something we didn't

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think was possible. Twitter has eventually lost active users. They

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share a different way of counting how many users they have. One of

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their council put the active user base down, which is unthinkable for

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a social network, especially on that trades because they need user growth

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to make sure investors are still interested. The fact that Twitter

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has never made a profit isn't a problem. But it is you that growth

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-- user growth that is a huge problem and the fact that they are

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going in reverse is a big problem. They are very disappointing. The

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co-founder has his work cut out for him. He says becoming CEO of the

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company late last year has been about trying to improve the website

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user experience, but many users are disappointed. Here is the problem.

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The active users of Twitter, about 300 million, they like it how it is.

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Any time there's any kind of minor change to the service or even a

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suggestion of a minor change they are up in arms and not very happy

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about that. The problem is that for Twitter to attract new people it

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needs to make big changes to the site. Whenever it does it runs the

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risk of annoying those people who use it, so loyally already. We saw

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worries over the weekend how people were tweeting hashtag RIP Twitter,

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after rumours that they might be changing how the timeline appears on

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people's apps and so on. Any change makes people nervous and therefore

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Twitter tends to shy away from big decisions. And it isn't only this

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changing timeline that is basically disappointing investors, it is also

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an exodus of some top executives last month?

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Yes. There was a kind of half clear out, half exodus. Some managers were

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pushed, some seemed to seek changes elsewhere, such as YouTube. At the

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bottom end of the company, many of the development staff, around 300

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people, were let go at the end of last year. There is a sense that

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Twitter has become quite a bloated company. It grew fast and has

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offices all over the world. One of the things they are trying to get

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under control is to simplify the company, downsize it slightly and

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perhaps be the nimble start-up it was in the beginning when things

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were going so well. Dave Lee in San Francisco.

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Starting out with markets in Hong Kong which opened this Thursday

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after closing for the Chinese New Year holiday. The last few days have

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been brutal for Japanese and Australian shares. Right now the

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Hang Seng index has fallen by more than 4%, this is led by HSBC. HSBC

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is down by a hefty five -- by over 5%. Investors have today ingested a

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whole lot of issues, especially the falling Asian markets and oil

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prices. That's right. This is the year of the monkey. Astrologically

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it is meant to be a good year for global growth. As well as for the

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stock market, especially here in Hong Kong. It looks like certainly

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at the beginning of the year those expectations will be very difficult

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to meet. As you know, Hong Kong essentially imports US interest rate

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policy and we heard from the chair of the Fed reserve yesterday. She

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says she doesn't intend to back off from a rate hike in cycle, although

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it isn't a pre- chartered course, so they may hold back. Certainly next

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month when they decide whether or not to hike rates. Investors are

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digestive that, but clearly they don't seem to like what they've

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heard and of course overnight oil prices have fallen again, suggesting

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weak demand globally. Hong Kong is an export oriented economy to some

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extent, facing a lot of other headwinds such as uncertainty in the

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Chinese economy. Chinese markets aren't open today. Didn't open until

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next week. But this could be a sign of what we might be able to expect

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when they do open. Hong Kong isn't just an export created economy but

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also a tourism back. Will the clashes last week between police

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authorities and stall vendor owners impact retail and tourism? That's

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the big question. Last year 46 million visitors came to Hong Kong.

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That's still more than six times the local population. But it is down

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from what we can see in previous years and big tourist attractions

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have certainly reported falls in visitor numbers. These tourists at a

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crucial not just for the tourism industry directly but they also

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account for a lot of retail. Certainly visitors, especially

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Chinese visitors, not coming to Hong Kong, we will see the impact of the

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2014 umbrella movement on that and it will certainly not bode well for

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the year of the monkey. And queues are much for updating us. -- thank

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you. The Hang Seng is down by more than 4% at the open.

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Tesla motors has lost money for the 11th quarter in a row. The firm,

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owned by a billionaire, says its loss has tripled over 300 million

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dollars in the last three months of 2015 and this is due to rising

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costs. Japan's biggest brewer Asahi is in exclusive negotiations to buy

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Peroni and other brands. The firm wants to offset slower growth in the

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market and is willing to pay $3 million for the brands. The US

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Senate has voted to tighten economic sanctions on North Korea following

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its recent nuclear and missile tests. South Korea and Japan have

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also announced further measures to punish their neighbour. It is no

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secret that Asia's population is ageing, what for Thailand declined

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in the number of working age citizens is expected to be the

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fastest of any developing country in Southeast Asia. To ease the

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pressure, the World Bank says Thailand will need to employ more

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women and migrant workers and the later retirement age. The government

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is encouraging businesses to hire all the people and keep them on for

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much longer. At 72, this woman is still cleaning the floors of this

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rice noodle factory outside Bangkok. TRANSLATION: I am not ready to

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retire yet. I still have the support two of my grandchildren to study.

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But working is a pleasure here. It is like working with brothers and

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sisters. And she isn't the only older worker. TRANSLATION: The

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factory owner is so kind. He told me not to retire if I would be staying

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home and doing nothing. It would be too quiet and lonely. Encouraging

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more older workers to stay on the job, past retirement age, is part of

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a government project aimed at easing the burden of its rapidly ageing

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population. For the factory owner it makes sense. TRANSLATION: It takes

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so much time to train new workers. Some of them don't work hard and

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lack responsibility. It can't be compared to the older workers. So I

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would rather have confidence in older workers and some of them work

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so hard. The saying at this factory is expected to become a common one

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across Thailand. -- the scene. The World Bank says the country's

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working population would shrink by 11% by 2040, faster than Thailand's

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developing neighbours. TRANSLATION: When older people have an income

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they will spend money, which will generate cash flow. If there are

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many old people who don't have an income or money to spend, the

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economy will not go smoothly. Already nearly 40% of Thai people

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who are above the retirement age of 60 are still working. TRANSLATION: I

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have children but they are all married and I don't know whether

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they will take care of me. So I am still working here. Even without the

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government's encouragement, limited pensions leave many with little

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choice but to remain in the workforce.

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Thank you so much for investing your time with us. I'm Rico Hizon. See

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you again soon. The top stories this hour: There's

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been more fallout from North Korea's

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