China International Council for the Promotion of Multinational Corporations (CICPMC) released Top 10Multinational Corporations’ News Eventsin 2011. CICPMC selected out Top 10 news events from about hundred ofimportant multinational corporations’ news events in 2011. The choice standards are that the multinational corporations news events have had internationally influential, socially known, industrially representative, and important to Chinese enterprises, on the 2011 Fortune Global 500.
Content
1. Berkshire Hathaway Brings $1.5 Billion Bond Deal
2. Japanese Enterprises Affected by the Earthquakes
3. An Oil Spill in Penglai 19-3 Field
4. News Corporation Scandal
5. Moody's Cuts B of A, Wells Fargo and Citibank Ratings
6. Apple’s Steve Jobs
7. IBM Passes Microsoft in Stock Market Value
8. Nokia Loses Smartphone Market Share
9. Top Chinese Companies in Fortune Global 500
10. Google to Buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 Billion
The details are as follows:
1. Berkshire Hathaway Brings $1.5 Billion Bond Deal
January 3, 2011, Warren Buffett's investment holding company, Berkshire Hathaway Finance Corp., was the first investment-grade corporate issuer out of the gate in 2011, selling $1.5 billion of senior unsecured notes Monday.
The offering, guaranteed by Berkshire Hathaway Finance's parent, Berkshire Hathaway Inc., included $750 million of fixed-rate 10-year bonds, $375 million of fixed-rate three-year debt, and $375 million of three-year floating-rate notes.
BerkshireHathawayis ranked 19thon the 2011 Fortune Global 500.
2. Japanese Enterprises Affected by the Earthquakes
It is in sectors such as carmaking, and the manufacture of construction equipment and electronics that the repercussions of the earthquake disaster have been most marked. Even for many factories not directly affected, production has been disrupted by electricity shortages, transport disruptions and the breakdown of Japanese supply chains for domestic assembly operations. Several car makers including Toyota Motor Corp.,Honda Motor Co. and NissanMotor Co. shut down production and don’t plan to restart until the coming week (Toyota, Honda and Nissan are ranked 8th, 45th and 48th on the 2011 Fortune Global 500, respectively). But while damage reported at many major auto-company factories was minimal, it was worse for some suppliers. Transportation networks needed to move parts and vehicles also took a hit from which recovery may be difficult.
The consumer electronics makers, Hitachi, Panasonic, SONY and Toshiba were closing the factory (Hitachi, Panasonic, SONY and Toshiba are ranked 40th, 50th, 73rd and 89th on the 2011 Fortune Global 500, respectively); the digital camera makers Nikon and Canon(Canon is ranked 204th on the 2011 Fortune Global 500) were facing difficulties getting a stable power supply, raw materials and workers.
Following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, the Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (is ranked 118th on the 2011 Fortune Global 500) power plant at Fukushima Daiichi was the site of a continuing nuclear disaster, one of the world’s most serious.
3. An Oil Spill in Penglai 19-3 Field
An Oil Spill in Penglai 19-3 Field, which is jointly developed by ConocoPhillips China Inc. and CNOOC Ltd. China’s State Oceanic Administration (SOA) reported a joint investigation team looking into an oil spill in Penglai 19-3 field concluded that ConocoPhillips China Inc. violated its overall development plan during production and used defective procedures and management in the Bohai Bay field. ConocoPhillips“didn’t adopt the necessary measures after the spill, all of which caused a larger oil spill because of its negligence.” Some 6,200 sq km was subjected to marine pollution and environmental damage. More than 7,000 tons of oil had spilled into Bohai Bay.
ConocoPhillips is an international, integrated energy company, is ranked twelfth on the 2011 Fortune Global 500.
4. News Corporation Scandal
The News Corporationscandal developed in mid-2011 out of a series of investigations following up the News of the World royal phone hacking scandal. Where initially the scandal appeared contained to a single journalist at News Corporation subsidiary News of the World, investigations eventually revealed a much wider pattern of wrongdoing. This led to the closure of the News of the World on 10 July 2011. However, investigations continued into what the company and individuals at the company knew of the phone hacking and when, as well as into other issues, including questions around police bribery.
News Corporationis ranked 284th on the 2011 Fortune Global 500.
5. Moody's Cuts B of A, Wells Fargo and Citibank Ratings
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) and Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) had long-term credit ratings downgraded by Moody’s Investors Service, which said U.S. support has become less likely if lenders get into financial trouble. Citigroup Inc. (C)’s short-term rating also was cut to Prime 2 from Prime 1 by Moody’s, there is an increased possibility that the government might allow a large financial institution to fail, and taking the view that contagion could be limited.
Bank of America, the biggest U.S. lender by assets, had its ratings cut two levels to Baa1 from A2 for long-term senior debt, and to Prime-2 from Prime-1 for short-term debt. Wells Fargo’s senior debt was downgraded one level. The outlook remains negative on the senior long-term ratings.
Bank of America, Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup are ranked21st, 63rd and 39thon the 2011 Fortune Global 500, respectively.
6. Apple’s Steve Jobs
Steven P. Jobs, the visionary co-founder of Apple who helped usher in the era of personal computers and then led a cultural transformation in the way music, movies and mobile communications were experienced in the digital age, died on October 5, 2011. He oversaw the development of the iMac, iTunes, iPod, iPhone, and iPad and the company's Apple Retail Stores.
Jobs was widely described as a visionary, pioneer and genius, perhaps one of the foremost—in the field of business, innovation, and product design, and a man who had profoundly changed the face of the modern world, revolutionized at least six different industries, and who was an exemplar for all chief executives.
Apple is ranked 111 on the 2011 Fortune Global 500.
7. IBM Passes Microsoft in Stock Market Value
May 23, 2011, IBM surpassed Microsoft in market capitalization - the total equity value of a company, as calculated by multiplying the price of an individual stock by the number of shares outstanding — for the first time in about15 years. This puts IBM and MSFT at No.2 and No.3, respectively, behind Apple, the market cap of which is a whopping one-and-a-half times either of the two. Over the last two years, IBM's shares have risen 60%, while Microsoft's have gained just 20%. The five-year trend makes Microsoft look even worse: IBM is up 110% over the period, while Microsoft is essentially flat.
The real driver of IBM’s revenue growth was its systems business -- mostly hardware sales -- which were up 18%. Tight cost control kept margins across all of its businesses high.
IBM is ranked 52nd on the 2011 Fortune Global 500.
8. Nokia Loses Smartphone Market Share
Nokia is racing to meet its year-end target of shipping its first phone based on Microsoft Corp's Windows Phone software. At the same time, he needs to halt the decline in market as models based on Google Inc's Android software have fallen below 100 Euros ($144) and started cutting into Nokia's lower-end feature-phone sales. Nokia’s falling profitability stems mainly from its failure to produce devices that can compete with Apple’s iPhone and smartphones using Google’s Android operating system.
Mr Elop, Nokia’s chief executive, tried to reassure investors by signalling that a strategy presentation, will have considered radical options to improve the company’s position in the smartphone market. “Nokia faces some significant challenges in our competitiveness and our execution, In short, the industry changed, and now it’s time for Nokia to change faster.” he said.
Nokia is ranked 52nd on the 2011 Fortune Global 500.
9. Top Chinese Companies in Fortune Global 500
This year of 2011, China has 61 companies listed among the Fortune Global 500, and in the 2011 list, an additional fifteen enterprises from the Chinese mainland, if adding Taiwan enterprises, making the total number of Chinese enterprises listed 69, surpassing Japan's 60, second only to the 133 of the US.
The new fifteen enterprises and ranks on the 2011 Fortune Global 500 are: Shougang Group 326; China Post Group 343; China Ocean Shipping 399; China Electronics 408; China Railway Materials Commercial 430; China National Aviation Fuel Group 431; Sinomach 435; Henan Coal & Chemical 446; Lenovo Group 450; Jizhong Energy Group 458; China Shipbuilding Industry 463; China Pacific Insurance Group 467; ChemChina 475; Zhejiang Materials Industry Group 484; China National Building Materials Group 485.
10. Google to Buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 Billion
August 15, 2011, in a bid to strengthen its mobile business, Google announced that it would acquire Motorola Mobility Holdings, the cell-phone business that was split from Motorola, for $40 a share in cash, or $12.5 billion. The offer - by far Google’s largest ever for an acquisition. Motorola manufactures phones that run on Google’s Android software. Android has become an increasingly important platform for Google, as global smart-phone adoption accelerates. The platform, launched in 2007, is now used in more than 150 million devices, with 39 manufacturers. The acquisition would turn Google, which makes the Android mobile operating system, into a full-fledged cell-phone manufacturer, in direct competition with Apple.
Google and Motorola are ranked 325th and 427th on the 2011 Fortune Global 500, respectively.