:00:00. > :00:16.Now on BBC News, all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:17. > :00:23.The parent company of Google sees its quarterly profits slump after a
:00:24. > :00:35.massive fine from the European Commission. A start-up CEO, one man
:00:36. > :00:38.cashing in on the transfer business. Hello. Welcome to Asia Business
:00:39. > :00:50.Report. I'm Sharanjit Leyl. It's a Tuesday. Alphabet has scored D for
:00:51. > :00:55.disappointing on its report card, falling 3% in late trading after
:00:56. > :01:00.quarter earnings missed market expectations. It makes most of its
:01:01. > :01:06.money from Google. Profits slumped by 28% after it was fined a record
:01:07. > :01:10.$2.7 billion by European regulators in June for alleged anti-trust
:01:11. > :01:18.behaviour. Google denies the charges. Alphabet also has bets in
:01:19. > :01:22.other sectors like biotech, autonomous vehicles, and their
:01:23. > :01:27.mysterious Moonshot project. Spending fell sharply in the
:01:28. > :01:33.quarter. I spoke to someone who said the news is not as bad as some are
:01:34. > :01:37.making it out to be. It is not as disappointing as the markets have
:01:38. > :01:41.reacted. Look at Alphabet. Most of their money comes from advertising.
:01:42. > :01:49.36 billion is coming from advertising. Alphabet has been able
:01:50. > :01:55.to capitalise on video ads. You see many more of them coming in. Another
:01:56. > :02:04.thing that is big for cost is traffic is increasing. That
:02:05. > :02:09.acquisition has increased from 3.9 billion to 5.2 billion over this
:02:10. > :02:14.quarter. We saw that shares were down in after-hours trade. That is
:02:15. > :02:22.despite having risen 26% this year. How has the $2.7 billion fine by the
:02:23. > :02:27.European Commission impacted it? They have made their own provisions
:02:28. > :02:34.for it to contradict that and will make an appeal against it. Beyond
:02:35. > :02:38.the monastery amount, it is a big one, what is a bigger implications
:02:39. > :02:49.for that is the impact for other regions. -- monetary. The EU has to
:02:50. > :02:55.be able to convince people it was cannibalising other areas. The other
:02:56. > :02:59.regions will take it and there will be litigation from other regions,
:03:00. > :03:03.including APEC, which can have wider implications for Google. We know
:03:04. > :03:10.that Alphabet is the second most valuable US company behind Apple. Of
:03:11. > :03:15.course, Google makes most of its profit, yet it has stiff competition
:03:16. > :03:20.with Facebook when it comes to advertising revenue. Who will win
:03:21. > :03:28.the contest? Google has a better advantage. Facebook has a bigger
:03:29. > :03:34.base, but Google, in terms of overall platforms, it is stable.
:03:35. > :03:45.Facebook, look at the strategy for Google and Facebook. Facebook has a
:03:46. > :03:49.mobile strategy. Facebook wins in a few regions. But Google has a
:03:50. > :03:56.traditional base and a lot more happening in advertising, at least
:03:57. > :04:02.for now. Staying with US earnings, toymaker Hasbro has reported a 30%
:04:03. > :04:14.bump in profits due to strong sales of Transformers action figures and
:04:15. > :04:18.Monopoly games. However, its revenue miss the market expectations because
:04:19. > :04:24.of weak sales in the UK and Brazil. Rio Tinto is being investigated for
:04:25. > :04:29.possible corruption by the UK's Serious Fraud Office. They say the
:04:30. > :04:34.probe is related to business dealings in Guinea in Africa. Rio
:04:35. > :04:38.Tinto says it will fully co-operate with the investigation. This comes
:04:39. > :04:46.several months after Australian authorities looked at patents with
:04:47. > :04:51.the 20 billion iron ore project in Guinea. Samsung is known for making
:04:52. > :04:57.smartphones and appliances, but they are now investing in
:04:58. > :05:04.pharmaceuticals. Samsung and Merck have just launched a generic version
:05:05. > :05:08.of the Johnson Johnson arthritis drug which is going to be 75%
:05:09. > :05:13.cheaper. The government in the Philippines has issued a deficit of
:05:14. > :05:18.$3 billion for the first half of the year, exceeding its own target by
:05:19. > :05:21.around 7%. The Southeast Asian country is one of the
:05:22. > :05:27.fastest-growing economies in the region. But is there spending a
:05:28. > :05:33.cause for alarm? I talked to ANZ Research. It has overshot its
:05:34. > :05:40.monthly target. What is more important is January- June and its
:05:41. > :05:44.deficit is only 32% of the annual target for the deficit. If you are
:05:45. > :05:48.thinking about what would be the outlook for the next half of the
:05:49. > :05:57.year, there is still a lot of room to spend. Room to stand. Rodrigo
:05:58. > :06:00.Duterte has signalled plans to have spending move to $34 billion to
:06:01. > :06:05.usher in what he calls a golden age of infrastructure. How might this
:06:06. > :06:10.help the economy of the country? Think about it. Infrastructure
:06:11. > :06:13.spending in the Philippines is relatively quite low in comparison
:06:14. > :06:19.to the rest of the region. Right now, the infrastructure by the plan
:06:20. > :06:24.is only 5% of GDP. His medium-term target is to raise that to 7% of
:06:25. > :06:31.GDP. If you compare that to the rest of the region, averaging around 20%,
:06:32. > :06:36.that is still very low. However, infrastructure has always been the
:06:37. > :06:42.problem, and it is actually growth positive. In a speech yesterday he
:06:43. > :06:48.said he wants all mineral resources extracted from the Philippines to be
:06:49. > :06:53.more ethical and responsible. What does that mean? Well, there has been
:06:54. > :06:57.a lot of destruction and it has also negatively affected the local
:06:58. > :07:03.communities. What he effectively said was that he would raise taxes
:07:04. > :07:07.in the mining sector is there are no sustainable practices. Very quickly,
:07:08. > :07:11.we know the Philippines is one of the fastest-growing in terms of GDP
:07:12. > :07:17.in this region, second to China. Were wristed heading? We are
:07:18. > :07:25.expecting 6.5% growth in 2017, followed by 2.5% in 2018. It is one
:07:26. > :07:28.of those good performers. The next decade could bring major changes to
:07:29. > :07:34.the International Monetary Fund, including moving its headquarters
:07:35. > :07:37.from Washington, DC to Beijing. The managing director, Christine
:07:38. > :07:44.Lagarde, said the move is a possibility because the IMF wants to
:07:45. > :07:48.increase representation of emerging markets that become more influential
:07:49. > :07:55.and get larger. It has been based in the US since it was established in
:07:56. > :08:00.1945. Being the first employee at Skype can be an oppressive thing to
:08:01. > :08:08.have on a regimen. He has since gone on to become an adviser to the Prime
:08:09. > :08:13.Minister of Estonia. He has also build up Transfer, an on line
:08:14. > :08:21.remittance service which has built up more than $1.5 billion. What led
:08:22. > :08:25.him to his latest venture? It was during Skype that I realised how
:08:26. > :08:31.banks are undeserving and overcharging customers for many
:08:32. > :08:35.services, including transferring. I realised it was a problem that
:08:36. > :08:38.needed to be fixed and I found a better way of doing it. I realised
:08:39. > :08:43.hundreds of millions of people around the world would benefit. Big
:08:44. > :08:52.established names in this business include western union and Moneygram.
:08:53. > :08:57.How do you compete? We are based on doing something great for customers.
:08:58. > :09:02.It is the reason people use it, because we are fast, low cost, and
:09:03. > :09:07.we are very easy to use on your mobile. Looking at these parameters,
:09:08. > :09:12.it is fast and superior to any of those other businesses. The thing is
:09:13. > :09:16.that global remittances seem to be on the decline. For the past two
:09:17. > :09:20.years globally, with the exception of the Philippines, we have seen the
:09:21. > :09:26.amount being transferred on the decline. The remittance market is
:09:27. > :09:30.classically seen as money going from first world to developing world. We
:09:31. > :09:34.look at the market as slightly bigger, going from first world to
:09:35. > :09:38.first world. Singapore to Australia, Australia to the US, the US to
:09:39. > :09:44.Germany. And we look at small businesses. If we combine these
:09:45. > :09:49.three markets, we are looking at a market of between 5-10 trillion
:09:50. > :09:55.dollars a year, significantly big enough for any company to build a
:09:56. > :09:58.business. And before we go, do you remember trying to draw shapes and
:09:59. > :10:03.pictures on Microsoft Paint? It looks like we may have to read a
:10:04. > :10:12.fond goodbye to the programme launched first in 1985. -- bid it.
:10:13. > :10:16.Microsoft say it is no longer in active development and will be
:10:17. > :10:22.phased out. The markets have opened. The Nikkei and the All Ords Index
:10:23. > :10:28.are flat at the moment. A breather in the Japanese yen, giving a lift
:10:29. > :10:32.to export stocks in Tokyo. And that is it for this edition of Asia
:10:33. > :10:33.Business Report. I am Sharanjit Leyl in Singapore. Thank