01/02/2018 Asia Business Report

refurbishment of the historic

building takes place.

Now on BBC News all the latest

business news live from Singapore.

Now on BBC News, all the latest

business news live from Singapore.

Facebook beats earnings estimates

but investors steer clear of the

like button over concerns about

changes ahead. And India's Budget

goes before Parliament. We find out

how it might affect the country's

economy. Good morning, Asia. Hello,

world. It is Thursday. Glad you

could join us. I am Rico Hizon. We

kickoff the programme with Facebook

and its latest earnings numbers

which beat expectations. Advertising

revenue up 47% compared to the last

quarter of 2016. 4.3 billion US

dollars profitability. Not all good

news. The stock slumped after Mark

Zuckerberg warned engagement could

take a hit as Facebook evolves and

users were spending 50 million fewer

hours per day on the social media

service. Why is Facebook changing?

With the changes in the Facebook

algorithm, they are looking at

meaningful social interactions. They

are looking at friend to friend

engagement, less brand engagement.

Looking for comments as well. The

longer the comment, the higher the

likelihood that post will go to the

top of the newsfeed.

This is surely

impacts advertising growth?

A court

of the world's population is on it.

They can increase the costs.

Are you

also reducing your time spent on

Facebook?

Not quite. I use Facebook

a lot not just the friends but the

publishing information is what my

newsfeed looks like in a few months,

we will see.

Do you like the

overhaul?

I think they had to? The

type of interactions and engagements

they were receiving went to the type

that Mark Zuckerberg feels is

important to society.

What do you

make of this latest move, try to

suppress the news a little bit more?

Will China reconsider Facebook going

forward as they make these changes?

That is a good question. We might

see Facebook in China soon. Maybe

they are looking to appease the

Chinese government. But that don't

what Chinese citizens to see it.

That will be interesting to watch.

What other changes will Facebook be

making going forward?

In order to

appease the Chinese. The Chinese

government only want citizens to see

content they want them to see. We

will see a high usage of Instagram

in certain markets which will be

interesting.

How important is

Instagram to Facebook?

We see higher

reach on Instagram. More advertisers

are seeing Instagram as a platform

to communicate.

Charles Tidswell.

India's Finance Minister is due to

present the annual Budget to

Parliament in a few hours. Will the

government stay on course for a

deficit or throw caution to the wind

with spending priorities? The Prime

Minister will be looking to attract

rural voters and small visitors

ahead of the next general election.

Joining us outside Parliament is the

BBC's Davina Gupta. What are some of

the features of this Budget?

It is a

chilly morning here. The Finance

Minister will be presenting the

ruling party's Budget in just a few

hours. It comes with the backdrop of

agricultural distress, unemployment

stress expectations of social scheme

announcements to help entrepreneurs

as well is setting aside a fund for

that and not only this, the first

Budget after uniform taxation policy

was rolled out across the country,

with some teething problems. There

are expectations businesses could

get a boost and there could be some

news for the middle-class as well.

As you pointed out, there are

election considerations around the

corner so that could be some tax

relief.

This Budget is key for the

government to obtain its growth

target of seven or 7.5%.

Absolutely,

and it comes with concerns as well.

A survey released ahead of the

Budget, there was supposed to be

6.75% growth and there are concerns

over high could oil prices, growing

protectionism which could hurt

exports and that will be factored

in.

All eyes on the fine details of

this India Budget. A key so much the

joining us, Devina Gupta. Theresa

May is in the middle of her China

visit and she is travelling with

representatives of British

businesses trade between the two

countries tops $80 billion. British

exports to China jumped 25% in the

last year. Chinese businesses have

been investing more in the UK.

Earlier I asked how much bargaining

power Theresa May has.

Her position

is very weak, her personal position

is weak in her own party and the

UK's position is weak. China

realises there is an imbalance in

terms of the negotiating position of

the two countries.

If you are saying

that the Prime Minister has a week

bargaining position, why is she in

China in the first place?

Maybe it

is too hot to be in London because

of politics. Donald Trump, Justin

Trudeau and others were there, you

don't want to be conspicuous by your

absence. You need to participate.

Maybe it will help some of these

businesses get a deal in China on

the micro level. But it is hard to

see what the big picture benefits

are. They need to exit before they

conceal any trade deals.

She claims

that she is in China. Intensifying

this so-called golden era of

relations.

What era is that? It

seems to be a fantasy. China's point

of view, disappointing the great

Chinese foreign policy initiative of

building infrastructure across Asia

and South Asia as well, she is not

backing that. They are also going to

be viewing it quite negatively.

Japan's Fuji film is taking over

Xerox in a $6.1 billion deal. Xerox

has been struggling for eight say

--8 years with falling sales as

offers go paperless. Joining us now

is Leisha Santorelli.

They expect

cost savings of nearly $2 billion.

This came around because of a joint

venture called Fuji Xerox but

Fujifilm has announced they will be

restructuring and laying off 10,000

workers, 20% of the workforce. Let's

talk about the joint-venture. In

Asia, Xerox is owned by Fujifilm.

This joint-venture makes about $10

billion in annual sales. Investors

in America, most notably with --

most notably this man. As advised to

be terminated altogether. Analysts

are questioning the deal. Xerox is

to be a very iconic name in the

business world. Times have changed.

The invention of email as well as

portable printers have dealt it a

hard bloke. This is a trend we are

seeing globally. People are

questioning the merits of this

merger.

I still need my papers,

don't phase out the photocopiers.

Thank you so much for the update.

Leisha Santorelli. The Asian stock

markets are all in positive

territory. Wall Street stocks

finished modestly higher. Offbeat

economic -- up peak -- upbeat

economic data was offset by concerns

about US monetary policy. Have a

great