:00:00. > :00:13.Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:14. > :00:24.A U-turn on Yahoo. They plan to unload Alibaba but they will sell
:00:25. > :00:36.off other assets -- they do not plan. Air -- AirAsia's chief
:00:37. > :00:43.executive talks about his struggles in a very competitive Asian market.
:00:44. > :00:50.Good morning Asia and hello world. Thank you for joining us for Asia
:00:51. > :01:02.Business Report. Holding on to Alibaba, that is what struggling
:01:03. > :01:07.technology giant, Yahoo has done. Yahoo will spin off its other assets
:01:08. > :01:12.including a stake in Yahoo Japan. The endgame for Yahoo! Is to make
:01:13. > :01:18.itself and its other components easy to sell if buyers were to emerge. I
:01:19. > :01:22.spoke at my colleague earlier and asked why Yahoo was holding onto
:01:23. > :01:27.Alibaba win a stake sale would bring in billions of dollars in profits.
:01:28. > :01:34.It was meant to be a way to raise lots of money but it could have cost
:01:35. > :01:37.them lots in taxes. That is what had investors so worried. The chairman
:01:38. > :01:42.and chief executive admitted as much in a conference call earlier on
:01:43. > :01:47.Wednesday with investors. So instead, Yahoo has abandoned the
:01:48. > :01:50.plan in favour of spinning off parts of their company that consumers can
:01:51. > :01:57.see like their search engine, tumbler and Flickr. Given its large
:01:58. > :02:04.user base, it still has a business which might revoke Ealing to
:02:05. > :02:10.potential buyers -- Tumblr. -- might prove appealing. What is their
:02:11. > :02:16.timetable? You are right to mention Yahoo Japan earlier, that is a core
:02:17. > :02:21.part they are thinking of selling. It will probably take about a year
:02:22. > :02:30.or so to unravel all of this and it will be a bit of a dilemma. Yahoo is
:02:31. > :02:36.the second biggest shareholder after Softbank and the CEO has been happy
:02:37. > :02:39.to leave the running of Yahoo Japan to them but whoever purchases the
:02:40. > :02:44.state may not feel the same way which could be a problem for their
:02:45. > :02:48.CEO. Does he buy the stake or hope that someone friendly steps in to
:02:49. > :02:55.help or does he take a gamble and have the stake sold on the open
:02:56. > :03:00.market? In other business news, the Australian dollar is up by more than
:03:01. > :03:05.1% against the US dollar in midmorning Asian trade following a
:03:06. > :03:10.surprise jump in employment. The Australian economy added more than
:03:11. > :03:15.71,000 jobs in November, beating expectations for a fall in jobs. The
:03:16. > :03:23.latest data puts the unemployment rate in Australia at 5.8%. In New
:03:24. > :03:28.Zealand, the Federal bank there has lowered its lending rate to a record
:03:29. > :03:32.low of 2.5% and that was the fourth rate cut since June this year. The
:03:33. > :03:37.economy has been struggling because of falling global dairy prices and a
:03:38. > :03:47.slowdown in China, which is their largest trading partner. American
:03:48. > :03:52.energy company Chevron is plenty to cut its budget by 15% next year.
:03:53. > :04:00.Will prices have fallen by more than half over the past 18 months. From
:04:01. > :04:03.2016, they now plan to shift their focus to international oil and gas
:04:04. > :04:09.exploration as well as production projects around the world. It is not
:04:10. > :04:12.exactly the New York Stock Exchange or the Nikkei by Myanmar's first
:04:13. > :04:19.stock exchange will open early next year -- but. The names of the first
:04:20. > :04:23.six companies will be announced. It has been made possible by the easing
:04:24. > :04:28.of international sanctions and technical assistance from the
:04:29. > :04:34.Japanese government. Now we go to our correspondent. This is where
:04:35. > :04:39.Myanmar's first-ever stock exchange will be. It is a colonial era
:04:40. > :04:47.building built in 1939. It used to be this country's reserve Bank.
:04:48. > :04:53.We're inside the building now, let me show you around. This the trading
:04:54. > :04:57.floor in here, and you can see, it is quite nice, really. The old
:04:58. > :05:02.colonial interior is still very much intact. But compared to than York
:05:03. > :05:09.Stock exchange or something like that, it is pretty small -- the New
:05:10. > :05:11.York Stock Exchange. There will only be six companies floated in the
:05:12. > :05:16.initial listing and they're not starting trading today. The bell is
:05:17. > :05:23.only going to start to ring here properly at the end of February,
:05:24. > :05:30.possibly March. For Myanmar to get access to funds to the world
:05:31. > :05:34.economy, the stock exchange will be a very important instrument for
:05:35. > :05:38.companies in terms of investment. How big of a difference will it make
:05:39. > :05:43.to companies here that they can raise money through the stock
:05:44. > :05:46.market? It will be very big, because it opens another window for
:05:47. > :05:53.companies to get funding instead of going to the banks. There is not
:05:54. > :05:55.much transparency in business here, are you worried that the stock
:05:56. > :06:04.exchange might be vulnerable to manipulation? No, no because under
:06:05. > :06:11.the recent stock exchange regulations, transparency is one of
:06:12. > :06:17.the most important aspects. Budget is only good the enforcement
:06:18. > :06:21.authority -- but it. If a company wants to be listed, they have to
:06:22. > :06:27.follow our rules and relations. Is this going to be a small, sleepy
:06:28. > :06:34.stock exchange like the one in Cambodia or her Laos? I don't think
:06:35. > :06:38.so, because they have one or two companies only and we are starting
:06:39. > :06:49.with six. In my opinion and observation, they are qualified
:06:50. > :06:52.public companies. They will come under the regulatory framework of
:06:53. > :07:02.our stock exchange. So you expected to grow rapidly? Yes. -- expect it.
:07:03. > :07:06.Last year AirAsia India became the first carrier with foreign
:07:07. > :07:11.investment to start operations in the country but it is facing major
:07:12. > :07:16.challenges and reported losses of more than $9 million from the end of
:07:17. > :07:20.September this year. In an exclusive interview, we asked the chief
:07:21. > :07:27.executive why his airline is losing money. These are not unexpected
:07:28. > :07:30.losses, when we put this business plan together... India is a massive
:07:31. > :07:36.market but it is a market that is still developing, both in terms of
:07:37. > :07:40.infrastructure, airports and so forth. It is a very price sensitive
:07:41. > :07:44.market so we knew that from day one. You were quoted as saying that by
:07:45. > :07:47.the end of 2015, you wanted to have as many as 30 aircraft flying in the
:07:48. > :07:55.air and you have six at the moment. Yes. Why the gap? Honestly I was
:07:56. > :08:00.just waiting for clarity under our new regulatory laws. We been waiting
:08:01. > :08:04.for a year and we delayed a lot of our plans. Have you been put off by
:08:05. > :08:08.the market? Are you less enthusiastic about it than you were
:08:09. > :08:13.when you started operations last year? No, hand to heart, it is a
:08:14. > :08:18.market we are still so excited about. That being said, it is very
:08:19. > :08:23.frustrating in the sense that things are moving a lot slower than we
:08:24. > :08:30.would like. Being in the private sector, we don't have the luxury of
:08:31. > :08:37.having patients, and we are using thin margins and you need to grab
:08:38. > :08:42.opportunities quickly. The government has set out a draft
:08:43. > :08:44.aviation policy and they have set quite an ambitious target for
:08:45. > :08:50.passenger numbers they want to see. They want them to grow more than
:08:51. > :08:53.four times over in four -6 years. Is that achievable given what you have
:08:54. > :08:56.seen in the past year with the new government and what has been
:08:57. > :09:01.happening on the ground? I have personally seen what we went through
:09:02. > :09:05.from getting our licenses to struggling to get what we had. I can
:09:06. > :09:09.tell you it has become a lot better. It has been slow-moving to
:09:10. > :09:14.get to where we are, but it is nice to see a draft policy. Not everyone
:09:15. > :09:19.will be happy with it, we certainly are not, with one or two aspects of
:09:20. > :09:24.it, but it is a good move by the government to recognise that these
:09:25. > :09:29.laws need to change. In the current scenario with the taxes like they
:09:30. > :09:37.are, is it really possible to be a low-fare airline? I think the
:09:38. > :09:41.misconception is that you can't be profitable in this market. You can.
:09:42. > :09:48.Just look at the amount of people who want to travel. We are working
:09:49. > :09:54.on razor thin margins which means your business has to be run on such
:09:55. > :10:00.a gradient, and be very cost conscious. It means you can't invest
:10:01. > :10:05.is broadly in the business that you would like to. More of this
:10:06. > :10:09.interview with the AirAsia India CEO is on BBC World News at these
:10:10. > :10:18.times. And here's a quick look at the markets. More red arrows on the
:10:19. > :10:24.regional boards with more losses. A selloff in technology stocks in the
:10:25. > :10:31.US leaves Japan, Hong Kong and Australia all in the loss column.
:10:32. > :10:32.That is all for now, thank