☕️ The 'SOP' of giving ang pow

1. MARKET SUMMARY

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

USD1,200 fine — the penalty imposed by Dream Sports, a Mumbai-based tech company that runs fantasy sports platform Dream11, on staff who contact their colleagues who are on vacation. This has two objectives: ensuring its employees have an uninterrupted break and, most importantly, helping the business know if they depend on anyone. The company is a unicorn, last valued at USD8 bil in late 2021.

The National Anti-Drug Agency (NADA) recorded a treatment success rate of 70%, with the remaining 30% of addicts experiencing a relapse. A total of 17,151 individuals underwent NADA’s rehabilitation programme between Jan to Nov 2022 with 12,212 making a full recovery based on the cure, care, and recovery index set by the agency. NADA’s achievement is commendable as the international benchmark is between 35-50% for such programmes.

How much does it cost to paint a plane? Between USD175,000-200,000. Plane painting ain’t a small business - the global commercial aviation aircraft paint market was estimated at nearly USD18.5 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow to a $65 billion market by 2027.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Sabah cabinet reshuffle after the failed coupSabah Chief Minister (CM) Hajiji Noor has booted out his deputy, Sabah BN chief Bung Mokhtar, after a failed coup by the latter and replaced another BN member, Shahelmey Yahya, as Deputy CM III and will also take over Bung’s Work Ministry portfolio. Hajiji has also dropped another two BN members and added another three new cabinet members — two from PH and one from BN. Deputy CM I Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, said that PM Anwar is happy with the new line-up when he called last night, although Anwar had earlier proposed to Hajiji to form a unity government. 

This whole Sabah political coup can get a bit confusing — Malaysiakini made a Q&A breakdown to explain the situation for a better understanding. 

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi claims ‘St Regis Move’ to topple him, reveals 10 UMNO MPs who backed Muhyiddin as PMA source shared that Zahid Hamidi revealed during a closed-door presidential briefing at the UMNO general assembly that there was an attempt to remove him as BN chairperson during the height of the nation’s political stalemate after GE15. Dubbed “St Regis Move”, this occurred on Nov 23 as the main agenda was to secure the support of BN MPs to back Muhyiddin to be the PM. Zahid Hamidi also revealed the names of the 10 MPs who signed statutory declarations (SDs) backing Muhyididn for the PM post, though the source declined to reveal the identities of these 10 MPs.

RCI to be set up to probe Tommy Thomas’ book Minister in the PM’s Department (Law & Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman said the cabinet has agreed to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to probe former Attorney-General Tommy Thomas’ memoir ‘My Story: Justice in the Wilderness’. Previously, a special task force was set up in Dec 2020 during Ismail Sabri’s administration to investigate this matter and make recommendations on reforms and for Thomas to be probed for sedition and breaking government secrecy laws. Azalina said the RCI’s scope would not be limited to the task force’s recommendations.

Read: What is a Royal Commission Inquiry? 

Michelle Yeoh - Malaysia’s first-ever Golden Globe award winnerThe 60-year-old actress took home the award for Best Actress In A Musical or Comedy Motion Picture for her performance in the critically acclaimed film Everything Everywhere All At Once (trailer here), beating out other nominees, including Lesley Manville, Anya Taylor-Joy, Emma Thompson and Margot Robbie. She jokingly told the awards show’s producers to “shut up” after trying to cut her acceptance speech short (watch below). Her co-star Ke Huy Quan won the Best Supporting Actor award. Just a month ago, Yeoh was named TIME magazine’s 2022 Icon of The Year. Next up — will she win an Oscars on 12 Mar 2023? 

Read:

• List of key Golden Globe winners

• What is the difference between the Golden Globes and Oscars? 

Ang pow etiquette and best practicesEven handing out ang pow has its own ‘SOP’, according to a fengshui master. The red packets should be given unsealed to signify continuous flow of prosperity and good fortune. As compared to ang pow given during weddings or ‘pak kam’ (direct translation means white gold, given during a funeral), these ang pows have to be sealed as it is hoped the recipient would not have to receive it again. Another good practice — use bank notes that feature even numbers as it is deemed to be more auspicious. Macam-macam.

Money talk: 

1. Inari Amerton Bhd saw its stock fall by as much as 8.9%, wiping out few hundred million in market cap, following news that Apple is considering to drop Broadcom Inc’s chips from its devices with its own in-house design by 2025. Kenanga Research sees no impact on Inari from this change as Broadcom, a client of Inari, also supplies other components to Apple, such as radio frequency chips, which is Inari’s primary exposure to Broadcom. Inari’s market cap at closing stood at RM9.85 bil. 

2. CAB Cakaran Corporation Bhd, an integrated poultry farming producer, is planning to re-enter (ceased activities during the pandemic) the Indonesian market through a JV with the republic’s biggest conglomerate, Salim Group. It intends to invest USD50-80 mil (RM218.6 - 349.8 mil) over the next five years. Salim Group is also the second-largest shareholder in CAB Cakaran, with a 15.19% stake. The company’s market cap stands at RM344 mil.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

New SGX rule requires disclosure of salaries, payouts of directors and CEOsAmong several new listing rules by the Singapore Exchange is one that now requires listed companies to declare the exact amount and breakdown of salaries and other payments made to directors and CEOs. The rule will take effect for annual reports prepared for the financial years ending on or after December 31, 2024. Another addition to the listing regulations and Code of Corporate Governance is that the tenure of independent directors serving on the boards of listed companies will be capped at nine years to encourage renewing boards with new talents and skill sets.

Reduced consumer spending leads to slowed app economyAnalytics firm data.ai, in its annual “State of Mobile” report, revealed consumer spending on mobile apps dropped by 2% in 2022, reaching USD167 billion compared to 2021’s USD170 billion. However, app downloads grew 11% from the previous year to 255 billion, while users spent 4.1 trillion hours on Android apps alone, growing 9%. This marks the first slowdown in the app economy and reveals the impact of macroeconomic factors.

Uniqlo parent orders up to 40% wage hike in wakeup call to the Japanese economyThe move by the clothing brand’s parent, Fast Retailing, marks the first time in at least 20 years that the company will revise wages across the entire group. The wage hike is intended to make the company more globally competitive while addressing an “urgent need” to raise its pay in Japan, where wages had remained low compared to overseas operations. Uniqlo has over 3,500 outlets worldwide. Japan’s economy, the world’s third-largest, has been faced with a poor state of pay for decades, with the average annual pay in Japan coming up to about USD39,711, well below the OECD average of USD51,607, having barely changed since the early 1990s.

Culling begins among Goldman staffGoldman Sachs will be performing a sweeping cost-cutting drive that will see its global workforce of 49,100 trimmed by about 3,000, with most of the bank’s major divisions to be hit. The division expected to be hit the hardest is its beleaguered investment banking arm. The culling will be followed by a spending review, including corporate travel and expenses, as the bank faces a slowdown following the slump in global markets due to the war in Ukraine.

New chief execs for Dior, LV, in leadership shakeupFrench luxury brands group LVMH announced a leadership shuffle, with Delphine Arnault, daughter of LVMH boss Bernard Arnault, named CEO of Christian Dior Couture. She succeeds Pietro Beccari, who will replace Michael Burke as head of Louis Vuitton. Burke, who led Louis Vuitton for 10 years, will move to a position alongside Bernard Arnault. Bernard Arnault recently overtook Elon Musk to become the world’s richest person. LVMH is Europe’s most valuable company with a market cap of EUR364 bil (USD384 bil).

Greek trial of 24 migrant rescuers beginsA group of 24 volunteers are facing trial on the Greek island of Lesbos over four years after they were arrested for carrying out migrant rescue missions off Greece. They were initially detained in 2018 on suspicion of human trafficking, but the charges against the group now include espionage, illegal access to state communications, money laundering, and assisting criminal activity. A European Parliament report denounced their case as Europe’s “largest case of criminalisation of solidarity”.

The story of one of those on trial, Sarah Mardini, is now told on Netflix by a film titled “The Swimmers” (trailer here).

Shorts

• Microsoft ends Windows 7 security updates, three years after it halted mainstream support for the operating system. Some market share data shows as high as one in 10 computers may still be running the decades-old OS.

• Andrew Tate lost bid to end Romanian detention after he was detained alongside his brother Tristan in the country as part of an investigation into allegations of human trafficking and rape, which they deny.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 👁👁

1. Great spirit — Malaysian fans cheered Thai players despite losing to Thailand in the semi-finals of the AFF Mitsubishi Cup.

2. A YouTuber made a timelapse video of his travel from the US to Japan on a cargo ship. Quite a scene to see snow in the middle of the ocean. Fancy such a journey? There are specialized travel agencies that can arrange trips aboard cargo ships