:00:00. > :00:16.Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:17. > :00:22.An invitation to connect, but will it pay off? Microsoft will buy
:00:23. > :00:37.LinkedIn in its largest ever purchase. And, we find out why East
:00:38. > :00:40.Timor's beautiful beaches are empty. Good morning, glad you could join us
:00:41. > :00:45.for this edition of Asia Business Report. We start off with technology
:00:46. > :00:53.giant Microsoft, who have announced they will be buying LinkedIn for a
:00:54. > :00:59.whopping 26.2 billion US dollars, in its biggest ever acquisition. They
:01:00. > :01:04.hope to tap into the social network base of 442 million users. But
:01:05. > :01:08.Microsoft have a mixed record when it comes to buying other companies,
:01:09. > :01:17.so will this one pay off? Earlier I spoke with Jake Saunders from a
:01:18. > :01:22.market intelligence research specialist. I think they spent about
:01:23. > :01:27.8 billion for Skype, and how has that fared? What I thought about it
:01:28. > :01:32.I think it makes a lot of sense. The Microsoft window from two years ago
:01:33. > :01:35.has transformed. They still have Windows, and yes they do software,
:01:36. > :01:45.but they are really talking about productivity. Every morning I turn
:01:46. > :01:54.on my computer and use Outlook, but in terms of LinkedIn, it is about
:01:55. > :01:58.doing research as an analyst. When they purchased Nokia in 2013, that
:01:59. > :02:05.was a bust. Could this be another unsuccessful deal? I think if you
:02:06. > :02:08.break it down, let's look at what LinkedIn is. There are salespeople
:02:09. > :02:13.within an organisation who are willing to pay about $100 per month
:02:14. > :02:16.in terms of access to some of the services from LinkedIn. You can't
:02:17. > :02:21.call up companies any more, you try to go through a switchboard and they
:02:22. > :02:24.don't have switchboard. You need to go through LinkedIn. The other side
:02:25. > :02:29.as relationships. Safer example you go to a meeting and find out there
:02:30. > :02:36.is someone from a college, that is a kind of connection they are trying
:02:37. > :02:42.to work out. It is about trying to make connections, Microsoft are
:02:43. > :02:45.doing something similar, and if you dig into LinkedIn they have a number
:02:46. > :02:50.of other assets. They have an online educational platform, you can learn
:02:51. > :02:58.anything about advanced Excel skills, down to things like
:02:59. > :03:07.photography. What could be the risks going forward? Do you think they
:03:08. > :03:11.paid too much? It is a lot of money, they need to make sure they get
:03:12. > :03:15.their hands off. They have stressed they will keep LinkedIn as a
:03:16. > :03:18.separate unit, they will have their own branding and it will be kept
:03:19. > :03:25.separate. I think if they do that there is a good chance. The thing is
:03:26. > :03:30.to evolve, maybe by next year we could see something that could
:03:31. > :03:33.replace professional networking. Yes, they run on a Java programme,
:03:34. > :03:40.but this is about connections of people. When it comes to connection
:03:41. > :03:50.of executives, LinkedIn is the first go to Forum. It might have been the
:03:51. > :03:58.biggest share sale, but plans for an additional public offering for this
:03:59. > :04:04.Korean firm has been cancelled. It would have raised billions of
:04:05. > :04:12.dollars, and there was a raid by prosecutors last week on the group.
:04:13. > :04:18.Earlier I spoke to an expert. They have collected a wide ranging amount
:04:19. > :04:26.of evidence from the offices, and they will be drilling down to
:04:27. > :04:32.examine it carefully. As I said, I don't expect it to involve the hotel
:04:33. > :04:43.business, or for that matter to any great extent the current chairman.
:04:44. > :04:48.Instead, it will probably involve people in the duty-free business of
:04:49. > :04:59.the group, and perhaps those who are in charge of the construction of the
:05:00. > :05:03.new headquarters tower. The IPO has been stood down for now, and you
:05:04. > :05:06.still believe it will materialise, but don't you think that investor
:05:07. > :05:13.excitement will wane as a result of this investigation? That is
:05:14. > :05:17.certainly entirely possible, but on the other hand we seem to be in a
:05:18. > :05:33.hesitant moment in the markets right now. A couple of months might result
:05:34. > :05:39.in a benefit to the company. East Timor is one of the most resource
:05:40. > :05:46.dependent economies, but it is trying to diversify. But very few
:05:47. > :05:55.visitors travel to the country, a beaches are empty. On the island of
:05:56. > :06:01.Arturo, a few hours' boat ride from the capital of Dili, the scenery is
:06:02. > :06:04.superb. The water is crystal clear and you can have the beach to
:06:05. > :06:09.yourself, although the local ecotourism resort wouldn't mind
:06:10. > :06:16.larger crowds or a few more creature comforts. We have 88 people on
:06:17. > :06:21.staff, so we need more money to pay for them. Sometimes in January and
:06:22. > :06:27.February we are empty. We don't have water, we only have 12 hours of
:06:28. > :06:30.electricity, and sometimes only six hours. Sometimes none for months.
:06:31. > :06:35.Many businesses worry that the trickle of visitors is just too
:06:36. > :06:41.slow. Some of the tourists like the quiet. It is such a remote country
:06:42. > :06:46.it has such an interesting history, and it is still developing. We
:06:47. > :06:52.wanted to go to a more remote country, with natural beauty,
:06:53. > :07:00.because in Bali it is all around tourists. The government does not
:07:01. > :07:04.want to turn East Timor into the next Bali, and even if it wanted to
:07:05. > :07:08.the infrastructure is not therefore that industrial scale tourism.
:07:09. > :07:12.Instead it is thinking smaller and looking at niche options. The
:07:13. > :07:15.government thinks visitors might be interested in the quarter century
:07:16. > :07:24.long struggle for independence against Indonesia. The hideouts of
:07:25. > :07:31.the fighters are places that are not yet explored. The focus now is to
:07:32. > :07:39.create the necessary environment for this kind of tourism. If Timor's
:07:40. > :07:48.history is rich, then it's tourism might be golden. This is the annual
:07:49. > :07:53.caravan festival, recent research shows that 69% of arrivals hope to
:07:54. > :08:01.take in a little history or culture like this, but only 11% actually do.
:08:02. > :08:06.You can look at that as a problem or as an opportunity, that people
:08:07. > :08:12.actually want to learn about the history of Timor lest, they just
:08:13. > :08:16.have to be good at presenting that. At the moment there are only 58,000
:08:17. > :08:26.arrivals in Timor each year. The country is hoping its tourism sector
:08:27. > :08:30.will become something to celebrate. It ranks among the oldest hotel
:08:31. > :08:33.brands in the world and its Hong Kong establishment has been featured
:08:34. > :08:39.in a James Bond film. We are talking about the peninsular Hotel group.
:08:40. > :08:50.They have projects under way in London, Istanbul and Yangon. Today,
:08:51. > :08:55.they are reopening in Beijing. Being in Beijing with a very good property
:08:56. > :09:02.is very important to us. We have been involved with the palace hotel
:09:03. > :09:07.in Beijing since 1989. This is a very well-known hotel in China, very
:09:08. > :09:13.strong with a long reputation. Now, it is the peninsular Beijing, and we
:09:14. > :09:17.felt we should make investment for the longer term future, and given
:09:18. > :09:22.the importance of the paging market. It is a lot of money to invest it in
:09:23. > :09:30.the context of the importance of the Beijing market we think that is
:09:31. > :09:33.justified. You have been a long time hotelier, what changes have you seen
:09:34. > :09:39.in the past ten years in terms of dealing with luxury guests? I think
:09:40. > :09:43.the thing to say is that there is a much broader population of luxury
:09:44. > :09:47.guest around the world. Nowadays you have them coming from many different
:09:48. > :09:53.markets, obviously many more guests from mainland China, luxury guests
:09:54. > :09:59.from the Middle East, and from the former Eastern Europe. We are now
:10:00. > :10:03.serving a much more diversify at portfolio of customers, but guests
:10:04. > :10:10.have also become much more discerning. Let's have a quick look
:10:11. > :10:13.at the markets, Asian stocks are retreating once again in early trade
:10:14. > :10:27.after US equities fell for a third day overnight. Concerns about the UK
:10:28. > :10:29.remaining in the EU have effect of these. Have a great Tuesday,
:10:30. > :10:41.goodbye.