Moody’s CreditView provides global and regional insights on what trends and risks will shape the year ahead. To help you start the new year well-informed, Moody’s has compiled a selection of key forward-looking cross-sector research.
Highlights include:
Global credit conditions – tightening global liquidity, elevated trade tensions
Emerging markets – stable outlook amid higher rates and political tensions
Global sovereigns – stable outlook balances growth against rising economic uncertainty
Moody’s Corporation, often referred to as Moody’s, is an American business and financial services company. It is the holding company for Moody’s Investors Service (MIS), an American credit rating agency, and Moody’s Analytics (MA), an American provider of financial analysis software and services.
According to wikipedia.org, Moody’s was founded by John Moody in 1909 to produce manuals of statistics related to stocks and bonds and bond ratings. Moody’s was acquired by Dun & Bradstreet in 1962. In 2000, Dun & Bradstreet spun off Moody’s Corporation as a separate company that was listed on the NYSE under MCO. In 2007, Moody’s Corporation was split into two operating divisions, Moody’s Investors Service, the rating agency, and Moody’s Analytics, with all of its other products.
Residents in Mekong Delta provinces in southern Vietnam once again went through an agonizing journey back to Ho Chi Minh City as many routes were seriously overloaded and congested on Sunday, the last day of the Lunar New Year festival.
Public workers in Vietnam were given days off from February 2 to 10 to celebrate the Southeast Asian country’s biggest holiday and were scheduled to resume their work on Monday.
The post-Tet rush was no less appalling for the Mekong Delta residents, who previously also had to go through heavy traffic jams to return to their hometowns from Ho Chi Minh City to be with their families during the long break.
With the nine days of celebration ending on Sunday, it was time they embarked on another tough journey back to the southern metropolis for work.
The Mekong Delta consists of Can Tho City and 12 provinces.
While some decided to come back to the metropolis early in order to avoid traffic jams, the majority still waited until the last festive day to start the journey, and thus were inevitably caught in excruciating congestion en route to Ho Chi Minh City.
According to the observation of Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reporters, gridlock occurred at such hotspots as Rach Mieu Bridge, which connects Ben Tre and Tien Giang Provinces, Dong Tam and Luong Phu Intersections in Tien Giang, and N2 Road in Long An Province.
Commuters, however, considered these locations the “easier parts” of their journeys, as the most severe bottleneck was at My Thuan, a 1.53-kilometer bridge linking Tien Giang and Vinh Long Provinces.
To make matters worse, a 29-seater passenger bus broke down in the middle of the bridge at around 9:30 am on Sunday, resulting in further congestion that lingered well into the afternoon.
Countless vehicles heading to the bridge were unable to move, forming a snarl-up that stretched as much as 40 kilometers. Other alternative routes were also jammed.
“It was horrific. It took me three hours just to travel from Can Tho to the end of My Thuan Bridge, while it normally takes more than an hour,” Nguyen Van Nam, a commuter, complained.
My Thuan Bridge was filled with vehicles as of 6:00 pm. Photo: Chi Quoc / Tuoi Tre
Dang Ngoc Chau, another resident, said he and his family members started leaving Ca Mau Province at 3:30 am.
After six hours, the family only reached Vinh Long Province, about 180 kilometers from Ca Mau, Chau continued, adding that it usually takes four hours to cover the distance.
According to Senior Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Dung, deputy chief of traffic police in Vinh Long, congestion in the province was slightly alleviated as of 5:00 pm on Sunday, as vehicles started to be able to move at a slow pace.
Traffic police units exerted their best efforts to ease the situation but it did not appear to be effective.
As of 9:00 pm the same day, a large number of commuters could still be spotted along the Mekong Delta – Ho Chi Minh City route.
Many motorcyclists decided to take a break at cafés and diners along the roads, while some even considered spending the night at local hotels.
With Valentine’s Day upon us, today may be the day that you find a future Mr. or Mrs. to boost your career.
According to a study published by researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, people with supportive spouses are “more likely to give themselves the chance to succeed.”
After studying 163 married couples, psychologists found that subjects with supportive spouses were more likely to take on potentially rewarding challenges. Those who accepted challenges experienced more personal growth, happiness and psychological well-being just a few months later.
“We found support for the idea that the choices people make at these specific decision points, such as pursuing a work opportunity…matter a lot for their long-term well-being,” Brooke Feeney, lead author of the study and professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University’s Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences , says in a statement.
Many successful people have discussed the importance of having their spouse by their side throughout their career trajectory. Former president Barack Obama attributes his political success to his wife.
“Obviously I couldn’t have done anything that I’ve done without Michelle,” Obama tells Oprah Winfrey in 2011. “You were asking earlier what keeps me sane, what keeps me balanced, what allows me to deal with the pressure. It is this young lady right here… Not only has she been a great first lady, she is just my rock. I count on her in so many ways every single day.”
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted the vital role his wife Priscilla Chan plays in his life in a 2017 Harvard commencement speech. The tech guru says Chan inspired him to volunteer his time and take on social work.
“Priscilla’s the most important person in my life so you can say, it’s the most important thing I built in my time here,” he says in the speech.
Of course, it’s not just women supporting their husbands. In a 2013 interview with Winfrey, Beyoncé says that her husband, rapper and mogul Jay-Z, is extremely supportive and helps her “on so many levels.”
“I would not be the woman I am if I did not go home to that man,” says the Grammy winning artist. “It just gives me such a foundation.”
According to the study, there are three key steps one can take to push their spouse to embrace new work opportunities: Express enthusiasm about an opportunity, reassure your partner and discuss the benefits of taking on a new role or challenge.
“Significant others can help you thrive through embracing life opportunities,” explains Feeney. “Or they can hinder your ability to thrive by making it less likely that you’ll pursue opportunities for growth.”
The real estate market remains strong in 2019 since the economy continues to grow robustly and there is a lot of investment flowing into infrastructure, thus attracting both domestic and foreign investors.
According to real estate and investment management services firm Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL), in 2019 the mid-priced and affordable segment will dominate the market.
In HCM City, the supply of finished apartments in all segments has reached 160,000 units, corresponding to a rate of 17 apartments/1,000 people.
“If this rate is high, we should invest in high-end apartments, but if this is low, we should focus on the mass housing market; this is the segment with real demand for apartments,” Stephen Wyatt, general director of JLL Viet Nam, said.
At the same time flexible workspaces are becoming more and more popular around the country, largely due to the limited supply of traditional office space in sought-after locations.
The market is still in its infancy though the first serviced office, Regus, has been operating since 1999.
Flexible space is often considered the answer to small companies and start-ups’ needs rather than traditional offices because of reduced costs due to sharing space and facilities.
With the strong growth in e-commerce, JLL predicted technology companies would continue to hunt for ideal office buildings and quickly become the main tenant category, providing an opportunity for investors who can build offices in time to keep up with demand.
For technology companies, their office location must be able to attract talent and have convenient transportation with live-work-play facilities integrated into the surrounding environment.
“The logistics industry will grow along with e-commerce,” Wyatt pointed out.
In Viet Nam, online shopping activities are increasing in step with the rapid growth of smartphones and 4G networks.
There is thus increasing pressure on logistics systems, supply chains, distribution and retail channels, and factories and warehouses.
Compared to other countries in its neighbourhood, Viet Nam’s logistics market is still in its infancy.
The final trend, a “hotel” lifestyle, is expected to be popular with millennials, or people born between 1980 and 2000.
People of this generation are unlikely to stay with their parents and prefer to have their own space.
Hanoi and Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) remained among the global Top 10 most dynamic growing cities in JLL’s Short-Term City Momentum Index (CMI) 2019, which tracks socio-economic and commercial real estate growth in 131 cities over a three-year period.
Hanoi was ranked third while HCM City was ranked eighth, making Vietnam the strongest performer with two cities ranking the highest in ASEAN, said JLL.
In its report, JLL said that the two cities in Vietnam performed very well for socio-economic momentum, with fast-growing populations and economies.
“HCM City is generally viewed as the more business-friendly destination attracting more overseas investment along with a higher corporate presence, whereas Hanoi has lagged commercially but is a city that is swiftly evolving.”
On the real estate front, Vietnam has “a small real estate investment market struggling with issues such as low transparency and a limited volume of investment grade stock,” JLL added.
However, steps are being taken to improve transparency, such as enhanced access to the land registry, better valuation practices and increasing application of green building certification system, it said.
Two other ASEAN countries also made the top 20 list in JLL’s index. The Philippines was represented by Manila in 12th place and Thailand by Bangkok in 18th place.
According to JLL, the City Momentum Index looks at 20 indicators including recent percentage changes in city GDP, population, air passengers and corporate headquarters presence; projected percentage changes in GDP, population and retail sales; and recent levels of and changes in foreign direct investment, as a proportion of a city’s economy.
Other were recent and projected percentage changes in office net absorption, office rents, retail rents and hotel rooms; international retailer presence; and recent changes in direct commercial real estate investment volumes and real estate transparency.
Poised to become a developed nation by 2020, Vietnam is an open economy with trading flow of US$340 billion. The country’s foreign direct investment (FDI) sector accounts for approximately 22 per cent of its economy. PwC highlights five emerging sectors in the country with the greatest potential for growth and investment.
1. Business process outsourcing (BPO)
Information and communications technology (ICT) is a booming sector in Vietnam. In 2016, its revenue was estimated at US$59.9 billion. Within the ICT sector, business process outsourcing (BPO) is an industry that is poised for growth due to the country’s growing pool of skilled talent.
Tips on getting started
Set up, partner or acquire
Take advantage of government incentives available. For example, a preferential 10 per cent corporate income tax rate for 15 years is available for new investment projects which regularly employ more than 1,000 employees, and perform certain IT activities (including service of BPO). Partnering or acquiring local operations hungry for growth is another possibility.
Extend business services to support manufacturing activities
Vietnam is an emerging regional manufacturing hub and is ranked second in Asean in the sector, notably electronics. Major electronic groups the likes of Samsung, Intel, Panasonic and Microsoft are located there – an opportunity for companies in Vietnam to raise the value of their manufacturing operations to support services such as IT, logistics and e-commerce.
Potential hubs for BPO
Da Nang, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are ideal locations for BPO operations. All three cities also offer special high-tech parks: Cau Giay Concentrated IT Park (Hanoi), Quang Trung Software City (Ho Chi Minh City) and Da Nang Hi-Tech Park (Da Nang). These parks house technology infrastructure (e.g. fibre optic internet), human resource training centres and many software and IT firms.
2. Solar and wind energy
Vietnam’s major sources of electricity generation are coal, hydropower and gas turbines. But there are issues in sustaining these sources, and the government plans to nearly triple renewable energy’s share of total electricity production by 2030. The country has favourable geography and climate to harness solar and wind energy.
67 per cent of land suitable (220,000 sq km) for solar photovoltaic system
Several coastal and mountainous regions for wind turbines
2,000 to 2,500 hours of sunshine annually – one of the highest in the world
5.5ms to 7.3ms average wind speed per year, suitable for modern wind turbines
Tips on getting started: Choose an appropriate investment method
Foreign investors may choose to either set up a 100 per cent foreign-invested company, enter into a joint venture, or a public private partnership in the form of build-operate-transfer projects (BOT). While BOT is most common in this sector, renewable energies may require a different approach due to the highly technical capabilities needed. Partnering with local players is an effective way for foreign companies to penetrate this industry by offering technology, expertise and capital.
Location
Vietnam’s southern region is suitable for solar projects due to its higher solar irradiation levels and relatively flat terrain. The coastal areas in the south central region and the mountainous regions of central Vietnam see higher average wind speeds – a more feasible option for wind projects.
3. Luxury hotels
Vietnam’s tourism revenue reached US$9.3 billion in 2016 and is forecast to double by 2027. Within tourism, the upscale and luxury hotel industry – those rated four stars and above – are relatively untapped and have the greatest potential for investment.
Tips on getting started: Joint ventures and partnerships
The high-end hotel market is mainly dominated by international brands, such as InterContinental Group and AccorHotels. Joint ventures with local developers are the typical mode of entry for foreign investors. Under such agreements, the local firms employ an international operator (e.g. Hilton Group) to manage their assets and land banks.
Tourist hotspots
Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are the main hotel markets as they see the highest number of tourist arrivals. There is plenty of capacity for more – both cities have lower numbers of new hotel rooms compared to neighbouring Bali, Jakarta and Manila despite seeing comparable tourist arrival numbers last year.
4. Modern agribusiness and food
Although Vietnam’s stature as a global agricultural exporter has increased, the quality of the sector’s growth in terms of productivity and value add overall remains low. Agriculture accounts for 20 per cent of exports – a large agriculture base with modernisation potential.
Tips on getting started:
Bridge the gaps
The current gaps in Vietnam’s agribusiness industry – low yield, labour intensiveness and reliance on relatively inefficient, traditional techniques represent opportunities for companies to capture the market by introducing inputs or processes that can facilitate efficient agriculture.
Forge partnerships
Partnering with local companies is another way to make headway into the market by bringing expertise and new technology to the table.
Introduce higher value added products into the market
There are opportunities in the sector for the production and distribution of premium agriculture and food products. Japanese company Kushima AoiFarm has begun production of Japanese sweet potatoes in Vietnam. With the aid of production technology from Japan, the first-year output is projected to be 1,250 tons.
5. Retail banking
Vietnam’s banking and financial services sector is relatively undeveloped but boasts potential. Within this sector, there is room for growth in retail banking, in particular payment cards and wealth management services. With a mobile penetration rate of 49 per cent in 2016, the country has a good base to make the transition to a cashless society.
Tips on getting started:Invest in domestic retail banks
The government is increasing the limits of foreign ownership in Vietnamese banks. Additionally, consumer finance also provides good opportunities, having been the fastest growing sector over the last few years.
Supply and develop IT systems to support e-payments and digital banking
Banks will need to invest more in their IT systems to support the growth of e-payment as their IT infrastructures are not expanding as fast as the e-payment market.
Invest in FinTech
Foreign investors have been investing in Vietnam’s FinTech companies as they are positioned to capitalise on digital payment growth. In 2016, the sector raised a total of US$129 million, accounting for 63 per cent of all start-up deals in the country.
Formula 1 chief Chase Carey says its involvement with the new Vietnam Grand Prix is no different to how it deals with other races but does point to key benefits the sport can gain from being part of the project “from day one”.
Last November, F1 announced a new Vietnam Grand Prix would join the race calendar in 2020, marking Liberty Media’s first new race since taking control of the sport two years ago.
Hanoi is set to host a city street race, marking the sport’s first-ever event in the country, with F1 taking direct contribution into the formulation of the project ahead of its April 2020 debut.
Last month promoters from 16 current races sent a joint message through the Formula 1 Promoters Association to Liberty Media to raise concerns about the sport and the direction it was heading.
F1’s chief executive Carey has played down those concerns and wants F1 to give every race equal treatment.
“We are working with all of them so I don’t think we’d end up saying we are dealing with that [Vietnam] any differently to how we’re dealing with other races,” Carey said in a Sky Sports interview. “We have to take ownership of all 21 races we have.
“Certainly being involved with Vietnam from day one enabled us to engage in a way that we hadn’t had the opportunity [before], on laying out the track and creating the race and event. It is a city race so that always has more dynamics, in terms of what a track is going to look like.
“When you have a track that’s already built a fair amount of the race is pre-determined. When you are putting it in a city you are creating a lot of it from scratch and from what exists.
“It did enable us to be more deeply involved in creating a race that we think will be a great race for fans in a place that will be a great experience for fans, the spectacle beyond the race, in a place that we think will capture their imagination. I don’t think it’s a completely different animal.”
Carey also revealed it is F1’s ultimate plan to have the same level of involvement with every Grand Prix promoter, including making sweeping changes, in order to improve the show element of the sport.
“Our goal is to work with every race that we have to make sure that whether it’s the race itself or the experience around the race, or the engagement with our partner, maximises the opportunity,” he said.
“Realistically, we’re working with all the races we have to make sure the races are everything they can be. Every time somebody says this track isn’t great for passing, my reaction is that we ought to make it good for passing. And if there’s an issue we ought to try and fix it.”
It’ll come with an updated version of Samsung’s new “One UI” interface over Android.
It’ll be surprising if the Galaxy S10 doesn’t come with the latest version of Android, Android 9.0 Pie. Bloomberg’s report, as well as Evan Blass’ claims, suggest that it will come with the latest version of Android.
Samsung’s phones usually sport a tweaked version of Android, with a slightly modified interface. That interface used to be called “TouchWiz,” but it has been called “Experience” for the past few years. Most recently, Samsung unveiled its new “One UI” interface that should feature in the Galaxy S10, considering Samsung will roll it out to the current Galaxy S9 and Note 9 lineup. Blass suggested the Galaxy S10 will roll out with the One UI.
Samsung’s upcoming One UI is designed to make one-handed use easier on the company’s larger phones, like the Galaxy Note series. It’ll also come with a Night Mode that turns the overall theme of the Android operating system and One UI to black, which should make it more comfortable to use in the dark.
Check out the latest leaks and rumors about the Galaxy S10:
There will be four models of the Galaxy S10, including the Galaxy S10 “E,” regular Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10 Plus, and a Galaxy S10 “X”
Samsung is supposedly planning to offer four variants of the Galaxy S10:
The Galaxy S10 “E” is said to be the less expensive model of the Galaxy S10 lineup, much like the iPhone XR is the less expensive version of the iPhone XS.
The Galaxy S10 will be the standard model.
The Galaxy S10 Plus will be similar to the standard Galaxy S10, but with a larger display, a few extra features, and potentially more spec options.
The Galaxy S10 “X” is apparently an ultra-high performance, everything-and-the-kitchen-sink type of phone that will have various extra features over the standard and “E” models.
Design
The Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10 Plus, supposedly.
Galaxy S10 E: Thicker bezels than the rest of the lineup, much like the iPhone XR and its thicker bezels compared to the iPhone XS lineup. Several color options might be available, one of which appears to be a yellow option, as per the latest rumor.
Galaxy S10, S10 Plus, and S10 X: Bezels will be thinner than any previous Galaxy S device. Will be available in a pearly white or black.
Display
Galaxy S10 E: A 5.8-inch display that’s potentially flat with Samsung’s Infinity O punch-hole for the camera.
Galaxy S10: A 6.1-inch display with curved edges and Samsung’s Infinity O punch-hole.
Galaxy S10 Plus: A 6.4-inch display with curved edges and Samsung’s Infinity O dual punch-hole.
Galaxy S10 X: A 6.7-inch display with curved edges and with Samsung’s Infinity O dual punch-hole.
Cameras
Galaxy S10 E: A dual-lens system, with one likely for regular photos, and the other for zoomed shots. Single selfie camera.
Galaxy S10: A triple-lens system, with one likely for regular photos, the other for zoomed shots, and another for ultra-wide angle shots. Single selfie camera.
Galaxy S10 Plus: A triple-lens system, with one likely for regular photos, the other for zoomed shots, and another for ultra-wide angle shots. Dual-lens selfie camera, with one for normal selfies and the other for ultra-wide angle selfies.
Galaxy S10 X: A four-lens camera system, with one likely for regular photos, the other for zoomed shots, and another for ultra-wide-angle shots. (It’s unclear what the fourth lens could be used for. It’s pure speculation, but the fourth lens could be purely complimentary for portrait mode enhancements.) Dual-lens selfie camera, with one for normal selfies and the other for ultra-wide angle selfies.
Performance specs
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 from current-generation premium Android smartphones.
All Galaxy S10 variants are said and expected to come with the latest chip from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 855.
Galaxy S10 E: 128 GB of storage, 6 GB of RAM
Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus: 128 GB storage, 6 GB RAM and 512 GB storage, 8 GB RAM options.
Galaxy S10 X: 1 TB (1,000 GB) storage, 10 GB or 12 GB RAM. Potentially available on S10 Plus, too.
WiFi 6
Galaxy S10 dummies that are accurate enough for YouTuber MKBHD.
If the latest batch of rumors are to be believed, Samsung’s Galaxy S10 smartphone will come with “WiFi 6” support.
WiFi 6 will offer some general upgrades over the current AC WiFi standard. You can check out all the benefits of WiFi 6 here.
5G, the next generation after LTE
Only the Galaxy S10 X is said to come with 5G so far.
5G is a new wireless standard that promises extremely fast data speeds and potentially less congestion than today’s 4G LTE standard. That means 5G data speeds could still be fast even during times of peak data traffic.
So far, however, 5G availability is extremely limited and hasn’t been fully deployed by most carriers. If a 5G model is released, it’ll only fulfill its potential in a few cities where 5G is starting to roll out.
In-display fingerprint sensors
From the leaks and rumors, it appears as though all the Galaxy S10 variants will be getting in-display fingerprint sensors. There’s no sign of traditional physical fingerprint sensors on either the front or backs of Galaxy S10 devices, based on supposed photo leaks.
It’s said that Samsung’s in-display fingerprint sensor uses ultrasonic technology rather than the optical technology that the OnePlus 6T uses. Apparently, ultrasonic fingerprint sensors offer better reliability and accuracy.
3D facial recognition similar to Face ID on recent iPhones
Apple’s iPhone X devices use its special “True Depth” camera system to scan a user’s face and securely log them in.
A face scanner for unlocking the phone will be included in the Galaxy S10, potentially creating an opportunity for augmented-reality stickers, The Investor reported, citing Samsung’s partnership with Mantis Vision, a company that develops 3D-sensing camera technology.
Previous Galaxy S phones have featured iris and facial recognition technology, but they’re not as accurate or fast as Apple’s Face ID system. A better facial-recognition system on the Galaxy S10 would be a welcome upgrade.
Headphone jack?
This rumor flips and flops. Some say the Galaxy S10 won’t come with a headphone jack, others say it will. The latest rumor is suggesting that Samsung will keep the headphone jack.
A faster charging brick than most other smartphones
Most high-end Android devices come with fast charging bricks, and they mostly perform the same way across the board. For Android devices, fast charging has become the norm.
However, Samsung may be giving the Galaxy S10 a new fast charging brick that could charge the phone even faster. At least, that’s what a tweet from gadgets leaker @IceUniverse suggests — supposedly, Samsung’s standard 15W charging brick will “become history.” We’ll assume that the 15W charging brick will make way for a charging brick with even higher capacity, rather than going backwards to slower chargers.
Faster charging is certainly a worthwhile feature. Currently, the OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition uses a 30W charging brick, which charges the phone at an incredibly quick rate. Other phones that charge at regular fast charging speeds seem slow after using the OnePlus 6T McLaren Edition, and the extra time it takes to charge other phones is surprisingly noticeable.
It could even charge other devices wireless, just like Huawei’s latest smartphone
This is the Pixel 3 XL being wirelessly charged by the Huawei Mate 20 Pro underneath.
Samsung’s Galaxy S10 smartphones could have reverse wireless charging, according to XDA-Developers, citing an FCC filing of upcoming Samsung devices. On the Huawei Mate 20 Pro, reverse wireless charging lets you place another smartphone or device with wireless charging support to its back to charge wirelessly.
Reverse wireless charging on the Huawei Mate 20 Pro is pretty slow, but it’s said to be faster on the Galaxy S10.
It’ll come with an updated version of Samsung’s new “One UI” interface over Android.
It’ll be surprising if the Galaxy S10 doesn’t come with the latest version of Android, Android 9.0 Pie. Bloomberg’s report, as well as Evan Blass’ claims, suggest that it will come with the latest version of Android.
Samsung’s phones usually sport a tweaked version of Android, with a slightly modified interface. That interface used to be called “TouchWiz,” but it has been called “Experience” for the past few years. Most recently, Samsung unveiled its new “One UI” interface that should feature in the Galaxy S10, considering Samsung will roll it out to the current Galaxy S9 and Note 9 lineup. Blass suggested the Galaxy S10 will roll out with the One UI.
Samsung’s upcoming One UI is designed to make one-handed use easier on the company’s larger phones, like the Galaxy Note series. It’ll also come with a Night Mode that turns the overall theme of the Android operating system and One UI to black, which should make it more comfortable to use in the dark.
Pricing
The current pricing rumors come from Gizmodo UK priced in GPB, which we’ve translated into potential USD pricing:
Galaxy S10 E:£669/$850
Galaxy S10:£799/$1,000
Galaxy S10 Plus:£899/$1,200
Galaxy S10 X: Unknow, but likely to be pretty high!
First it was a heart-wrenching tweet that he and his wife were getting a divorce after 25 years. Then a tabloid revealed that he’d been having an affair, releasing texts and photos of him and his mistress.
As if either of those weren’t distracting enough, now Jeff Bezos — the world’s richest man and CEO of Amazon — is accusing The National Enquirer in a blog post of trying to blackmail him by threatening to release more intimate photos of him unless he calls off an investigation into how that information was obtained in the first place.
But despite the all-consuming personal drama, analysts and experts don’t expect it to make much difference to Amazon itself, the company Bezos has steered from an online bookstore two decades ago to a worldwide juggernaut.
Amazon officially set foot in Vietnam market (VN), opening up great business opportunities for Vietnamese businesses to sell around the world.
On January 14, 2019, the Trade Promotion Department (Ministry of Industry and Trade) signed a cooperation agreement with Amazon Global Selling. Director of the Trade Promotion Department, Mr. Vu Ba Phu said that the two sides agreed to coordinate the implementation of the main contents such as supporting Vietnamese enterprises; which prioritizes small and medium enterprises, access to the world market with Amazon.com; brand development of Vietnamese businesses and goods in the e-commerce environment of Amazon.com; training program for Vietnamese small and medium enterprises on e-commerce to promote trade, export goods and learn global sales skills on Amazon.com.
Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, estimates the impact on the company to be “0.000 percent.”
“I’m certain investors won’t care,” he said.
Others point out that Bezos has been able to balance his responsibilities at the helm of the world’s largest online retailer while also juggling his other pursuits: running a space exploration company and owning the Washington Post, one of the nation’s most influential newspapers.
“He’s extraordinarily driven,” says Chris McCabe, who used to work at Amazon and now runs ecommerceChris, a consultancy for Amazon sellers. “He knows how to delegate.”
Amazon has a steady line of longtime executives who are running each of its businesses, likely keeping investors calm.
Jeffrey Wilke, oversees the retail business, and Andrew Jassy runs the company’s fast-growing cloud computing business Amazon Web Services. Both of them have been at the company since the 1990s. And unlike other CEOs, Bezos doesn’t speak at conference calls with analysts and investors after the company releases its financial reports, leaving that to Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky, who has been at the company since 2002.
Still, that hasn’t stopped the Enquirer from casting doubts over whether Bezos can effectively oversee his company.
“All of these (text) messages raise serious questions about Bezos’ judgment as the CEO of the most valuable company in the world,” the tabloid said in a Jan. 24 article.
Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. declined to comment on Bezos. The company’s stock did not take a big hit, slipping 1.6 percent at Friday’s close.
Meanwhile, the Enquirer’s publisher, American Media Inc., is disputing Bezos’ claims that it used extortion and blackmail in reporting its story, saying that it “acted lawfully.”
In his blog post Thursday, Bezos defended his ability to lead Amazon: “I founded Amazon in my garage 24 years ago, and drove all the packages to the post office myself. Today, Amazon employs more than 600,000 people, just finished its most profitable year ever, even while investing heavily in new initiatives, and it’s usually somewhere between the #1 and #5 most valuable company in the world. I will let those results speak for themselves.”
He also said he wants to focus on work, noting that the person he hired to handle the investigation into how his texts were leaked to the Enquirer will also be tasked with “protecting” his time.
“I have other things I prefer to work on,” Bezos wrote.
Bezos’ indiscretions are seen more as a personal matter rather than one to do with the company, unlike Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk, for example, whose behavior has caused the electric automaker’s stock to rise and fall. Musk was recently stripped of his chairman title and forced to pay a $20 million penalty to the Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly duping investors with tweets about a plan to take the company private.
“This is very much a matter of Jeff Bezos,” says Neil Saunders, the managing director at GlobalData Retail, of Bezos’ affair. “It’s not really anything to do with running with the company.”
David Larcker, a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, says it’s up to shareholders and the board of directors to decide just how engaged a CEO is in their work, and whether they should go. Bezos is both chairman of the board and the largest shareholder, owning a 16 percent stake in the company.
Amazon’s shoppers, meanwhile, are not likely to take notice.
“I think as long as people can get their Nespresso pods within 48 hours, they don’t care,” says Scott Galloway, a marketing professor at NYU Stern School of Business.
Vietnam will continue to hasten efforts to improve the business climate in terms of quality to create favourable conditions for the private sector to play its role as a driver in promoting rapid and sustainable economic growth.
According to a report on Vietnam News, the country has targeted to have one million firms by next year, of which, there would be a lot of large private corporations who were arising strongly in both domestic and international markets in key sectors like manufacturing, aviation, finance and banking, agriculture and telecommunications.
According to Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics’ Nguyen Xuan Thang, the private sector is still facing difficulties in accessing resources, market opportunities and advanced technologies.
Vietjet president and CEO Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao said at the Vietnam Economic Forum 2019 that Vietnam in recent years had sent a strong message about building a constructive government with open mechanisms for the private sector.
However, Thao said it was necessary to speed up the privatisation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and the restructuring of the banking sector to minimise the negative impacts on macro-finance and growth prospects.
Thao also urged the government to develop mechanisms and policies to exploit resources of the private sector for infrastructure development and enable them to grasp opportunities from Industry 4.0 to enhance productivity.
The private sector should be encouraged to participate in what they could do well, Thao said, stressing that private firms expected to have a fair playground with other economic sectors.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said in a dialogue at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the private economic sector was an important driver for growth in Vietnam amid an anticipated slow-down of the global economy.
Phuc added that attracting foreign direct investment together with enhancing linkage with the domestic sector also played a significant role in promoting economic development.
According to World Bank Vietnam Country Director Ousmane Dione, Vietnam faces a significant opportunity in upgrading its domestic value contribution to capture the benefits of FDI inflows and global value chains.
This requires enhancing links with the domestic economy, he stressed.
Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Vu Dai Thang said the goal of having one million firms by next year was within reach, given the efforts of improving the business climate.
The Ministry of Planning and Investment recently made public a draft law to amend the Law on Investment and the Law on Enterprise, which aimed to create favourable conditions for the businesses and private sector to develop.
Vietnam set goal of increasing the contribution of the private sector to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) to 50 per cent by next year, 55 per cent by 2025 and 60-65 per cent by 2030.
Every year, the private sector generated 1.2 million jobs and contributed 43 per cent to GDP.
When the US. President Donal Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meet in Vietnam on Feb. 27-28 for a second round of nuclear talks, the world spotlight will shine on a country that has come a long way from the Vietnam War.
The communist-led Southeast Asian nation is now a booming economy and increasingly assertive regional diplomatic player. It is also one of the few nations to enjoy friendly relations with both Washington and Pyongyang. The Latimes.com reports.
The first round of talks, held last June in Singapore, produced vague promises by North Korea to dismantle its nuclear arsenal — but no concrete steps to achieve that. Now Trump is trying to demonstrate that his outreach to the young dictator isn’t just a diplomatic show.
Experts said that made the selection of Vietnam both practical and symbolic. Here are a few reasons why:
1. Location, location
The host city hasn’t yet been disclosed, but one option is Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, which lies 1,700 miles from Pyongyang, North Korea. That’s closer than Chicago is to Los Angeles, and it means an even shorter flight for Kim than the one he took to Singapore.
Unlike his late father, Kim Jong Il, who was afraid of flying and used an armored train on his rare foreign trips, the young North Korean leader appears comfortable in the air.
Some experts have doubts about the safety and reliability of the aging Soviet-made planes that make up his reclusive nation’s passenger fleet. Rather than risk an embarrassing midair malfunction, Kim flew to Singapore aboard an Air China jet loaned by Beijing.
The flight from North Korea to Vietnam would cross only friendly Chinese airspace, making Kim feel even safer. On the ground, the North Korean leader would step into the tight-if-not-quite-suffocating embrace of another one-party state.
Vietnamese authorities exercise significant control over dissent, public demonstrations and the media. A recent anti-corruption crackdown ensnared high-level officials in the Communist Party and at state-owned companies, but drew comparisons to a Chinese-style political purge.
Another possible venue is the coastal city of Da Nang, which has hosted major summits and where warships could be positioned to offer added security, experts said.
The Vietnamese public is broadly enthusiastic about playing host to Trump and Kim, and no one expects any protests or other disturbances to mar the summit.
“In terms of security, in terms of friendliness, it’s excellent,” said Vu Minh Khuong, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore. “Kim Jong Un for sure will be excited about that.”
The U.S. and Vietnam share a bloody history, but the relationship has moved far beyond the 20-year war that ended in 1975 and claimed the lives of 58,000 U.S. soldiers and an estimated 3 million Vietnamese troops and civilians.
Since President Clinton normalized relations with Vietnam in 1995, the countries have developed close economic and military ties, centered in part on shared concerns over China’s trade practices and its advances in the South China Sea.
Bilateral trade jumped from $451 million in 1995 to nearly $52 billion in 2016. The Pentagon conducts an annual high-level dialogue with Vietnamese counterparts, and last year Vietnam participated for the first time in the U.S.-led “Rim of the Pacific,” the world’s largest international maritime exercise.
President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are due to meet again in Vietnam on Feb. 27-28 to continue talks on denuclearizing the Korean peninsula. (Associated Press, Korean Summit Press Pool)
Ties between Vietnam and North Korea go back further. The countries established diplomatic relations in 1950, and eight years later Kim Il Sung, North Korea’s founder and Kim Jong Un’s grandfather, visited Hanoi.
In December, Vietnam held a grand celebration commemorating the 60-year anniversary of the visit, including a banquet attended by a North Korean delegation led by Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho.
Kim Jong Un exchanged New Year’s cards with the Vietnamese president, according to North Korean state media.
“There are not many other places that North Korea trusts and the U.S. also trusts,” said Joshua Kurlantzick, a senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations.
4. A source of economic inspiration
A decade after the “American War” ended, as the Vietnam War is known there, the Southeast Asian nation was internationally isolated and starving, a Stalinist experiment in collectivization having left farmers starving and store shelves barren.
In 1986, Hanoi’s leadership began the Doi Moi program of liberalization that reopened the country to the world and produced one of the most stunning economic turnarounds in recent times.
Vietnam’s economy is expanding by 6% to 7% a year, with bustling small businesses, thriving manufacturing zones and a glittering skyline in Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon.
The country’s communist leaders have embraced the summit as a chance to advertise itself on the world stage.
“Vietnam is keen to sell its story worldwide to promote its image, and also to improve the international legitimacy of the ruling Communist Party,” said Le Hong Hiep, an expert on Vietnam at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.
The U.S. hasn’t exactly been subtle about the lessons it sees for Kim, who has talked of developing his country’s centralized economy. Last year, Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo used a speech to business leaders in Hanoi to address Kim directly, saying: “This miracle can be yours.”
State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said Vietnam shows “the possibilities for peace and prosperity,” and that the Trump administration is hoping Kim will see it as a model of the kind of growth that can come with more economic flexibility, if not necessarily more political freedom.
5. A model for reshaping U.S. ties
From bitter enemies to trusted partners, the trajectory of the U.S.-Vietnam relationship could excite a young North Korean leader who is said to be enamored of Western culture (particularly NBA basketball).
The rapprochement with Vietnam began slowly, with bilateral efforts to account for prisoners of war. It has expanded to cooperation in repatriating the remains of U.S. service members and cleaning up remnants of Agent Orange, the toxic defoliant sprayed by U.S. warplanes over large swaths of northern Vietnam during the war.
Cultural ties have also grown rapidly. Vietnam is one of the largest sources of foreign students to the United States, sending more than 20,000 annually.
Palladino said Vietnam had become a “close friend and partner” of the United States and shows “the possibilities for peace and prosperity.”
Khuong, the professor, is a former North Vietnamese soldier who was trained “to fight Americans to the death.” In 1993, he earned a Fulbright scholarship to Harvard.
“You can see the paradigm shift in the minds of the Vietnamese leadership in a short time, and that is very helpful for Kim,” he said. “Before, no one hated the U.S. like Vietnam. We totally changed our thinking.”
Times staff writers Victoria Kim in Seoul and Tracy Wilkinson in Washington contributed to this report.
Most us spend more than seven hours a day staring at digital screens. But screens are changing our bodies and possibly our brains.
This screen time often leads to blurred vision, eye strain, and long-term vision problems like nearsightedness.
Screens emit blue light, which disrupts our circadian rhythms at night when we’re trying to fall asleep.
A new and ongoing study supported by the NIH found that some pre-teens who clocked over seven hours a day on screens had differences in parts of their brains compared to kids who spent less time on screens.
According to a report on Business Insider, most of us stare at screens all day, but this comes with consequences. Screens are changing our bodies and possibly even our brains.
It’s 11:00 pm. You should be asleep. But you’re watching a video on your phone. Tomorrow, you’ll wake up and go to work, where you’ll stare at your computer for 8 hours. When you get home, you’ll watch a movie on TV. And if you’re anything like the average adult, you spend more than 7 hours a day staring at digital screens.
So, what’s all this screen time actually doing to your body and brain? Humans didn’t evolve to stare at bright screens all day. And our eyes are suffering the consequences. An estimated 58% of people who work on computers experience what’s called Computer Vision Syndrome.
It’s a series of symptoms that include:
eyestrain
blurred vision
headaches
and neck and back pain
And long-term, this amount of screen time could be damaging our vision permanently. Since 1971, cases of nearsightedness in the US have nearly doubled, which some scientists partly link to increased screen time. And in Asia today, nearly 90 percent of teens and adults are nearsighted. But it’s not just the brightness of our screens that affects us.
It’s also the color. Screens emit a mix of red, green, and blue light – similar colors in sunlight. And over millennia, it was blue wavelengths in sunlight that helped us keep our circadian rhythms in sync with our environment. But since our circadian rhythms are more sensitive to blue light than any others,
A problem occurs when we use our screens at night. Typically, when the sun sets, we produce the hormone melatonin. This hormone regulates our circadian rhythms, helping us feel tired and fall asleep. But many studies have found that blue light from screens can disrupt this process.
For example, in one small study, participants who spent 4 hours reading e-books before bed for 5 nights produced 55% less melatonin than participants who read print books.
What’s more, the e-book readers reported that they:
Were more alert before bed
Took longer to fall asleep and reach a restorative REM state
And were more tired the next morning
But perhaps the most concerning changes we’re starting to see from all this screen time is in kids’ brains. An ongoing study supported by the NIH has found that some pre-teens who clocked over 7 hours a day on screens had differences in a part of their brains called the cortex. That’s the region responsible for processing information from our five senses.
Usually, our cortex gets thinner as we mature. But these kids had thinner cortices earlier than other kids who spent less time on screens. Scientists aren’t sure what this could mean for how the kids learn and behave later in life. But the same data also showed that kids who spent more than 2 hours a day on screens scored lower on thinking and language skill tests.
To be clear, the NIH data can’t confirm if more time spent staring at screens causes these effects. But they’ll have a better idea of any links as they continue to follow and study these kids over the next decade. It’s no doubt that screens have changed the way we communicate. But only time will tell what other changes are on the horizon for humankind.
The Vietnam goalkeeper has completed a switch from Hai Phong FC and will wear the No.1 jersey for the upcoming season.
The 25-year-old Dang starred for Vietnam at the recent Asian Cup where the Golden Dragons made it to the quarter-finals. He was also part of the team that won the AFF Suzuki Cup last year. bangkokpost.com reports.
“I am very happy to have signed for Muang Thong United. They are one of the top teams in Thailand and have been very successful and played in many Asian club tournaments,” said the Vietnamese-Russian Dang.
“I believe that this is an important step for me as a football player and also it is a chance to improve my skills.
“I would like to be a part of a team that wins titles and I am looking forward to having a great success with the team,” he added.
Dang became the Kirins’ fifth new signing in the close season after Mario Gjurovski, Aung Thu, Supanan Burirat and Oh Ban-Suk.
Muang Thong coach Phairoj Bovornwattanadilok said Dang’s signing could be the answer to the club’s goalkeeping problems.
“It is good to have Dang Van Lam as our goalkeeper. Although Kamphol [Pathom-attakul] is a great shot-stopper, he is quite small for a goalkeeper,” said Phairoj. “Dang will improve our defence.”
Muang Thong will face Cambodian All Stars in Phnom Penh tomorrow as part of the club’s Asean Tour 2019.
The new Thai League 1 season will begin on Feb 22. The number of clubs in the top flight has been to reduced to 15 starting this year.
Vietnam cracks open new oil field in South China Sea with Russia. Project looks to bring Hanoi $1bn in revenue by 2032
Vietsovpetro, controlled by state-owned PetroVietnam Exploration Production and its Russian counterpart, is working at an oil field 160 km off the southern coast of Vietnam. The site is near Vietnam’s largest oil field, Bach Ho, also operated by Vietsovpetro. But the field is outside the so-called “Nine-Dash Line,” an area of the South China Sea where China presses its territorial claim. Nikkei reports.
Daily yields are expected to top 230 barrels.
Vietsovpetro owns a 55% stake in the field, along with PVEP at 30% and Vietnamese real estate enterprise Bitexco Group at 15%. This field represents Vietnam’s first new site in several years, according to local media, as local oil development stalled.
Output at Bach Ho began in 1986, making Vietnam one of Asia’s leading oil producers. But the country’s output has continued to fall after peaking in 2004, as production at Bach Ho decreases. As a result, Vietnam is thought to have become a net importer of oil around 2010.
Hanoi plans to explore for more oil within the country’s exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea. But China has asserted its jurisdiction over many areas in the region, which has caused several projects to be halted.
Heavy reliance on FDI (foreign direct investment) and high national debts are the two biggest concerns for Vietnam’s economy, experts say.
Truong Dinh Tuyen, former Minister of Trade, said at a recent workshop on the economic prospects in 2019 that Vietnam’s economy has had high GDP growth rate of nearly 7 percent in recent years, but it has relied heavily on FDI.
The foreign-invested sector makes up 25 percent of GDP, with 75 percent of export value coming from FIEs (foreign invested enterprises). Meanwhile, FDI brings low value as FIEs mostly do outsourcing of Vietnam products.
Le Xuan Nghia, a member of the National Monetary Policy Council, said that no considerable progress had been made in the processing & manufacturing industry over the last 20 years.
“There has been no authentic product of the manufacturing industry over the last 20 years, except VinFast cars,” he said.
Regarding the labor structure and the added value per laborer, only 5.5 million out of 20 million workers are in industrial production.
Meanwhile, Luu Bich Ho, former head of the Institute for Development Strategies, warned about public debts, including debts incurred by enterprises and people, amounting to 235 percent of GDP.
“How should we proceed with such big debts? How will we cope with the influences from the trade war?” he said. “I am afraid that the national economy will face big challenges from 2020. If we cannot reshuffle the finance & banking sector and state owned enterprises, a 7 percent GDP growth rate will be out of reach”.
What about 2019?
According to Vu Dinh Anh, a respected economist, the most important factor for 2019 is that the government has prioritized macroeconomic stability and the business environment, rather than aiming for the highest possible economic growth rate.
In the years to come, if the government is consistent in the policy, the GDP growth rates would be relatively high, around 7 percent. The growth rates would be below 8-9 percent as seen in previous years, but the cost for growth would be minimal.
Do Thien Anh Tuan from Fulbright University Vietnam said the three driving forces for Vietnam’s economic development in the time to come will be improvement in investment capital, productivity, and the investment & business environment.
Meanwhile, Nghia noted that Vietnam’s economy is approaching service sector development rather than industrialization, as initially oriented. He said this was positive, as Vietnam has two important advantages – agriculture and tourism.
