:00:00. > :00:09.manslaughter but we had of murder. More from me later but first, he is
:00:10. > :00:19.Asia Business Report -- but cleared of murder. Apple's charm offensive
:00:20. > :00:24.in China. Why did boss Tim Cook drop in for a visit and what is at stake
:00:25. > :00:29.for the tech giant? And what drives people to put their money where
:00:30. > :00:41.their heart is? We look at an alternative investment currently
:00:42. > :00:46.outpacing the market. Good morning, Asia, hello, world, glad you can
:00:47. > :00:51.join us for this edition of Asia Business Report. We start with Apple
:00:52. > :00:59.and Tim Cook, the CEO, has been in Beijing, meeting the head of the
:01:00. > :01:05.largest taxi hailing at. Here he is taking a car to visit an Apple
:01:06. > :01:12.Store, just days after the technology that he $1 billion in the
:01:13. > :01:17.company -- app. Apple has faced a raft of problems in recent weeks in
:01:18. > :01:22.mainland China with sales plummeting 26% during the first three months of
:01:23. > :01:27.2016, making it one of its worst quarters ever in the mainland. The
:01:28. > :01:34.firm also lost a legal battle over its iPhone trademark. While in
:01:35. > :01:40.April, regulators shut down the iTunes movie services. Earlier I
:01:41. > :01:45.spoke with Duncan Clark from BDA and asked for his take on Apple's latest
:01:46. > :01:50.move in China. It is an expensive taxi ride that he took, but by
:01:51. > :01:56.investing in the next generation of apps coming to the fore in China, he
:01:57. > :02:01.is taking a gamble, but betting on a new business model of the emerging
:02:02. > :02:05.elite. They have had a great time in China, selling devices and content
:02:06. > :02:09.through their stores, but they are under pressure. So, backing winners
:02:10. > :02:16.in the next round of evolution is what they will try now. Trying to
:02:17. > :02:24.diversify. What are the acquisitions will he be doing in China after this
:02:25. > :02:32.taxi app? There are other app developments. And of course, DD is
:02:33. > :02:36.backed by Alibaba, so it is a good place to start. He is tipping off
:02:37. > :02:40.his hat to Chinese developers. It is recognition that and other Silicon
:02:41. > :02:44.Valley is rising in the east, in China, and Apple have to play a new
:02:45. > :02:48.game. Some investors are worried and yet we've seen more coming in
:02:49. > :02:52.aggressively saying they still believe in the company. It is
:02:53. > :02:57.developing a second act in China. ITunes movies have been blocked in
:02:58. > :03:04.China. He will meet with government officials. Will he be able to get
:03:05. > :03:07.back these apps in China? It will be difficult. Chinese content
:03:08. > :03:09.restrictions are getting ever more strict even though the market is
:03:10. > :03:15.getting ever more lucrative and attractive. Backing local
:03:16. > :03:18.players... If you think back to when Yahoo may be billion-dollar
:03:19. > :03:23.investment in Alibaba in 2005. It paid off big time. Apple will have
:03:24. > :03:28.to take bold measures to sustain its position. Staying with Apple and the
:03:29. > :03:35.billionaire investor Warren Buffett has bought a $1 billion stake in the
:03:36. > :03:40.company. He has traditionally shied away from technology companies and
:03:41. > :03:45.is more widely known for buying what he calls value stocks. The purchase
:03:46. > :03:50.is seen by many as a significant one for Apple. The tech company's shares
:03:51. > :03:54.losing some 30% over the last year but they jumped overnight by almost
:03:55. > :04:01.4%. And weeks after loading his stake in Apple, Karl I can has
:04:02. > :04:07.picked up shares in AIG. The activist investor has raised his
:04:08. > :04:13.stake in the insurance giant, 5.2%, now owning 44.4 million shares. The
:04:14. > :04:18.latest move places him in a stronger position to pressure the insurer to
:04:19. > :04:22.split into three independent companies. AIG chief Peter Hancock
:04:23. > :04:28.rebuffed the idea, which was initially suggested in October last
:04:29. > :04:32.year. US energy giant Chevron plans to lay off 800 staff this year from
:04:33. > :04:39.its operations in Thailand to combat the fall in global oil prices. Well,
:04:40. > :04:44.the move is expected to lead to half $1 billion in cost savings. The cuts
:04:45. > :04:50.will take effect this August. The American firm has over 2000
:04:51. > :04:54.employees in Thailand, in around 1700 contractors -- and. Earlier
:04:55. > :04:59.this year they laid off 100 staff members from offices in the
:05:00. > :05:03.south-east of Asia. Hong Kong is preparing for the arrival of the
:05:04. > :05:09.third most powerful person in China and the visit is a most high-profile
:05:10. > :05:15.visit from Beijing in four years. He will meet with business leaders and
:05:16. > :05:19.attend a summit on China's so-called belt and road initiative which is a
:05:20. > :05:25.major economic priority in Beijing and earlier I spoke with our
:05:26. > :05:36.correspondent for a preview. There is a lot of expectation around what
:05:37. > :05:41.he might say at about the Hong Kong - Shenzen trading link. There is
:05:42. > :05:45.already a Hong Kong- Shanghai Link, offering access to stocks in China.
:05:46. > :05:55.There it is that there will be announcement of the Hong Kong dash
:05:56. > :05:59.Shenzen trading link, accessing stocks in Shenzen. These Hong
:06:00. > :06:04.Kong-Shanghai Link boosted the stock market in the territory last year --
:06:05. > :06:08.Hong Kong - Shenzen. What about this. And road initiative? How are
:06:09. > :06:13.we going to explain how the territory will play a major part in
:06:14. > :06:17.this plan? There are a lot of questions on how Hong Kong fits into
:06:18. > :06:22.this, and obviously the most obvious answer is as a financial centre, as
:06:23. > :06:25.you talked about, the sort of gateway to China, that's what Hong
:06:26. > :06:31.Kong has been seen as for the last few years. It's not without its
:06:32. > :06:37.risks. Of course, at the same time, when Hong Kong was benefiting from
:06:38. > :06:41.the uptake in stock in China it also suffered when the Chinese stock
:06:42. > :06:45.market crashed and there was a corresponding downturn in Hong
:06:46. > :06:48.Kong's fortunes as well. We've also seen the two economies closely
:06:49. > :06:53.linked to one another as China slows down. We are seeing the impact of
:06:54. > :06:58.that in terms of GDP in Hong Kong, retail sales as well have been
:06:59. > :07:02.affected as a result of the slowing consumption coming out of China, but
:07:03. > :07:05.with regards to the one belt-1 road, people are taught about corporate
:07:06. > :07:11.governance, where people can stand up and say, look, we have been the
:07:12. > :07:16.hallmark, the characteristics of doing business, it is about
:07:17. > :07:19.corporate governance, and activists are calling for this to be a major
:07:20. > :07:21.theme at the conference but it is feared that it won't be because of
:07:22. > :07:30.political sensitivities surrounding there. Our correspondent on that
:07:31. > :07:34.visit to Hong Kong and the one belt and road initiative. Classic cars
:07:35. > :07:39.were the best performing collectable investments in 2015, easily raising
:07:40. > :07:44.past art, wine, diamonds and other big-ticket assets. According to one
:07:45. > :07:50.report, the value of classic cars rose 70% last year. Is this activity
:07:51. > :08:03.limited to only the very rich? Our correspondent met with an investor
:08:04. > :08:07.to find out. Hello, my name is Alt Ashi and I am passionate about cars.
:08:08. > :08:13.I am going to show you my collection. This 1929 Rolls-Royce,
:08:14. > :08:20.once owned by a maharajah, to another owned by John Lenin, Al
:08:21. > :08:25.Dashi is so India's cars he has built a showroom on his property in
:08:26. > :08:30.Malaysia. What an amazing collection of cars. You are obviously very
:08:31. > :08:33.passionate about them. When did you decide you were going to go from
:08:34. > :08:38.someone who was interested in cars to be coming a serious collector of
:08:39. > :08:44.cars? At the age of 30 I had around eight cars and from there on I
:08:45. > :08:48.started collecting the real cars and variable winds and now I have ended
:08:49. > :08:52.up with around 24. I will take you for a ride on this one. This is a
:08:53. > :09:01.very special car. It was registered on the day I was born. It is as old
:09:02. > :09:04.as you. Exactly. How do you decide you will buy something? Do you
:09:05. > :09:12.assess the value of the car before buying it? I look at the cars that
:09:13. > :09:15.have investment retention and I buy the cars that are collectors and
:09:16. > :09:21.what people around the world appreciate keeping. But most of the
:09:22. > :09:26.time it is just the shape of it and the beauty of the car that it's me
:09:27. > :09:29.going. If you are thinking of investing in one of these classic
:09:30. > :09:35.cars, take part in the fact that over a 10-year period you can make
:09:36. > :09:39.nearly twice as much on cars like these than over collectables like
:09:40. > :09:45.art or wine. But as with any investment you got to be careful.
:09:46. > :09:49.Before you walk into the showroom, do your homework. Find out about
:09:50. > :09:55.specific cars, the chassis number and the history of the car. In fact,
:09:56. > :09:59.if you can speak to previous owners, CED has participated in events.
:10:00. > :10:05.Whatever you do, don't buy a car off a win -- CE of it has participated
:10:06. > :10:09.in events. Fine tuning one of these cars has to be factored in. The cost
:10:10. > :10:14.of repairs can quickly run into thousands of dollars, but that is
:10:15. > :10:18.not bringing Al Dashi's interest in cars to Esk reaching halt, he, like
:10:19. > :10:22.other vintage car collectors, seem content to burn through a lot of
:10:23. > :10:29.cash to fuel their passions even if it doesn't always drive up returns
:10:30. > :10:31.-- see if you. Beautiful cars. Thank you so much for your time. Goodbye
:10:32. > :10:47.for now. You're watching BBC News. The
:10:48. > :10:50.headlines: One quarter of a million people have attended a victory
:10:51. > :10:52.parade for England's