18/04/2017 Asia Business Report

Now on BBC News, all the latest business news with Rico Hizon live

from Singapore. World Business Report.

From Korea to Japan, security and trade are high on the agenda as US

Vice President Mike Pence head to Tokyo. And we find out what sort of

food the movers and shakers of Asia it for breakfast. -- eat. Good

morning, Asia. Hello, world. It's a Tuesday. Welcome to another edition

of Asia Business Report. I'm your host, Rico Hizon. Thank you for

joining us. Fresh tensions between the US and North Korea, the US Vice

President Mike Pence has warned Pyongyang that President Trump's

result should not retested. North Korea remains defiant, telling the

BBC they will continue. Not only security is at the top of the agenda

when Mike Pence arrives in Japan today. The US will also want to talk

trade, especially with agriculture and auto remaining key sticking

points. Be Vice President will certainly bring up the fact that the

United States would like to negotiate a bilateral agreement. --

the. It will be their job to negotiate that agreement and get

down to the specific points. It was very clear throughout the TPP

negotiations what the most important issues us. I think that the United

States, and frankly Japan and the Shinzo Abe administration, feel it

needs to be addressed, to modernise and restructure the Japanese

economy. The Donald Trump administration has repeatedly

accused Japan of having nontariff barriers in the auto market with

high import tariffs. It is frankly not want to get too concerned with

one days. With China on a run rate of 25- 27 million units, the United

States on a run rate to purchase hopefully 20 million cars, Japan is

probably less than 5 million units. It is not a really important car

market these days. I think agriculture is a very important

market. The Japanese have truly superior agricultural production

capabilities. And they need to extend those and start selling their

agricultural products, in particular to their local member China, and

free up the agricultural space. I think that will be a major focus of

the talks. In Tokyo. United airlines has

released their earnings. The Chief Executive is taking nothing for

granted. He has once again apologise for the scandal over the forceful

removal of a passenger from a flight last week. And these pictures of the

doctor being dragged off and overbooked flights sparked a public

relations disaster for the airline. But there are believes there will be

no long-term impact on the bottom line. -- beliefs. This is a huge

airline with a market cap of over 22 billion. Last night we saw shares

cross over 2.5%, almost over 70 US dollars. It shows the financial

state of affairs in United Airlines is still healthy. They will suffer

greatly as far as the brand and reputation is concerned. That is

damaged. But market conditions will remain healthy, I think. No

reputational damage, or if not, very minimal, to United Airlines. But

what about for the Asian travel and using United Airlines as a gateway

to North America? We have a lot of legacy carriers. Singapore Airlines,

Cathay Pacific, China airlines in the Middle East. They have a lot of

airline options. They can fly next year on Singapore Airlines direct to

the US. They can use Emirates, Qatar through Dubai and Doha. Otherwise

they can use European carriers which are less abrasive, shall we say,

than the North American airline. That being the case, they still have

a lot of influence globally. Among the four of them, American, Delta,

Continental, United, they control a lot of the marketplace. There will

be relevance for Those. A public relations headache

for the owner of Snapchat. They have seen sharers fall. They have faced

criticism for comments made by the Chief Executive allegedly about not

prioritise and growth in India and Spain because they were poor

countries. The company is on track to close at its lowest level in a

month, just weeks after the $4.4 billion sale, the hottest listing of

a tech company in three years. Netflix reported better than

expected quarterly numbers, but the on line video streaming giant has

signed up fewer descriptions than it forecast, which could impact future

earnings. -- subscriptions. Subscriptions. Growth in both the

home market in the US and internationally has slowed down. Our

technology correspondent says it is down to competition from rival

streaming services. Many people suspected Netflix in the US and its

subscribers would plateau. They posted very strong subscriber growth

last on. That did not happen this quarter. That was concerning. They

wanted over 5 million new ones worldwide. They just came under

that. The company is not worried because one of the reasons they feel

that is the case is because they pushed back of their major series,

House of Cards, which is very popular. They deleted to later in

the also another another programme over Halloween. -- delayed it. They

say don't worry too much that these numbers are down because they will

make up later in the year those numbers. Although they missed

targets, some of that came from overseas. When I travel around Asia

I see Netflix on public billboards and major publications. How

important is Asia to Netflix? Asia is seen as a massive growth area for

the company. They are spending $1 billion worldwide on marketing. A

lot of that is going into Asia. One of the biggest challenges they have

in the region is some of the original content that has been so

successful in Western markets like the US and Europe, it does not trans

late as well the again. -- translate. They are also having to

make content specifically for that part of the world. Expect them to

spend a lot of money in that region. Eventually it will repay them. But

it will take some time to pick if they can crack at it will fix that

subscription problem we are worried about. -- it. A parcel of land was

bought in Mumbai and was developed into a satellite city and business

up, a first for India at the time. Today, they are managing a group of

companies. The family trust runs schools and hospitals across the

city. They are one of India's India's WACA one this is a new

series, Busy Breakfast. We caught up or a bite to

I give a lot of emphasis to Breakfast. I spend some time on it.

The major thing is also the fact I don't get much time to really have

lunch. It is quite a busy day. What I read it in now? It is interesting.

This is my Sunday special. -- what are we eating now? It is a mix of

dahl and roti. It is different but traditional. How important is

breakfast? I am a workaholic by nature. I spend 20% of my daily time

on nonbusiness activities. When people say I need to go to the golf

course to get a peace of mind, for me it is different. A to work on

college and school hospital issues. -- I need to. That is my balance.

Other people look at it as work. For me it is pleasure. So, Good eaters

eat last. They think about the employees and the company. What is

your philosophy? The philosophy of my company is very clear. A

stakeholder has to be a beneficiary. It is not only about employees, it

is about your investors, those who occupy your buildings. Of course you

look at the bottomline. But you have to bring satisfaction to all of the

stakeholders. A power breakfast with one of India's richest men. Men.

The markets in Asia. A weaker yen. A strong dollar is a good thing

according to the Secretary of State. Thank you for joining me. I am Rico

Hizon. A member of North Korea's government

told the