Apple acquires 3D chip developer PrimeSense
Apple has bought Israel-based PrimeSense, a developer of chips that enable three-dimensional machine vision, the companies said on Monday. An Apple spokesman confirmed the purchase but declined to say how much it spent. Israeli media said it was about $350 million. ?Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,? an Apple spokesman said in an e-mail. A spokeswoman for PrimeSense said: ?We can confirm the deal with Apple. Further than that, we cannot comment at this stage.? It was the second acquisition of an Israeli company by Apple in less than two years. Apple bought flash storage chip maker Anobit in January 2012.
WTO talks fail to agree on text of global trade deal
Marathon talks on the World Trade Organization?s first-ever worldwide trade reform in Geneva failed early on Monday to agree on a text to put to ministers who meet in Bali next month. The fate of the agreement to streamline customs procedures and speed up global trade could now hang on whether the ministers can overcome remaining differences when they gather early next month at the WTO?s biennial conference in Bali. The International Chamber of Commerce says the deal would add $960 billion to the world economy and create 21 million jobs, 18 million of them in developing countries. It would also revive confidence in the WTO as a forum for trade negotiations.
Chrysler IPO could raise $1.5 bn-$2 bn, says WSJ
Chrysler Group expects to set a price range for its initial public offering as early as this week to raise $1.5 billion to $2 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The US automaker expects to complete the offering in the first half of December in an effort to beat the IPO market slowdown around the holidays, the Journal said. Reuters reported last week that Chrysler had added four banks to help underwrite the IPO and that the automaker was looking to launch the deal as soon as early December. Chrysler, which is majority owned by Italian automaker Fiat, filed paperwork to go public in late September after Fiat was unable to reach a buyout deal with Chrysler?s second-largest shareholder, a retiree healthcare trust affiliated with the United Auto Workers union.
Robbie Williams tops British album chart
British singer Robbie Williams grabbed the top spot in the UK album charts on Sunday with his new release Swings Both Ways, the Official Charts Company said, saying he had made music history by doing so. The release was the UK?s 1,000th number one album, it said, saying Williams, who has sold 55 million albums globally, was now tied with Elvis Presley as the male solo artist with the most official number one UK albums ? 11. Eminem hung on to second place in the album chart with The Marshall Mathers LP 2, holding off a new entry from 19-year-old singer/songwriter Jake Bugg whose new album Shangri La entered at number three.
Bank of Japan?s Kuroda says easy policy to stay
Bank of Japan governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Monday stressed the bank?s resolve to maintain its ultra-loose monetary policy and expand stimulus further if risks to the economy threaten its 2% price target. Kuroda, however, shrugged off negative interest rates as a realistic option for central banks even as they become increasingly reliant on unconventional steps to stimulate their economies, pointing out that the implications for an economy remained unclear. ?Negative short-term interest rates could be possible and (may have been) experimented with in some countries in the past. But that?s only to some extent and for quite a short time,? he said.