Budget 2018-19

  The work is a non-fungible token (NFT) – a new type of virtual asset that has its ownership status and authenticity verified by blockchain LONDON (Reuters) – What do you do with a $69 million artwork that doesn’t physically exist? That’s the question faced by the Singapore-based investor calling himself Metakovan, who made headlines last month when he bought the digital artwork “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” by the American artist Beeple at Christie’s. The work is a non-fungible token (NFT) – a new type of virtual asset that has its ownership status and authenticity verified by blockchain. NFTs have exploded in popularity in 2021, with prices skyrocketing. Metakovan, real name Vignesh Sundaresan, plans to put the artwork on display in four virtual world environments. He is working with architects to design gallery complexes that the public can enter via web browsers or virtual reality technology. But art is just one part of a new economy of blockchain-based virtual worlds where...

  Overall, it will cut 8,500 positions, or 24% of its normal headcount, but that includes 2,600 roles currently unfilled due to cost reduction initiatives SYDNEY (Reuters) – Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd said on Wednesday it would slash 5,900 jobs and end its regional Cathay Dragon brand, joining peers in cutting costs as it grapples with a plunge in demand due to the coronavirus pandemic. The airline would also seek changes in conditions in its contracts with cabin crew and pilots as part of a restructuring that would cost HK$2.2 billion ($283.9 million), it told the stock exchange. Overall, it will cut 8,500 positions, or 24% of its normal headcount, but that includes 2,600 roles currently unfilled due to cost reduction initiatives, Cathay said. “The global pandemic continues to have a devastating impact on aviation and the hard truth is we must fundamentally restructure the group to survive,” Cathay Chief Executive Augustus Tang said in a statement. Cathay shares jumped...

  The management change at Virgin, to be effective soon after its sale to Bain Capital is completed next month, will set the stage for a battle with unions SYDNEY (Reuters) – Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd CEO Paul Scurrah will be replaced within weeks by Jayne Hrdlicka, the former head of Qantas’ budget offshoot Jetstar, as new owner Bain looks to draw in more travellers with a “hybrid” strategy. The management change at Virgin, to be effective soon after its sale to Bain Capital is completed next month, will set the stage for a battle with unions, who support Scurrah’s vision for the full-service carrier and are concerned it will be taken downmarket under the U.S. private equity group’s ownership. Scurrah had clashed with Bain over wanting to maintain a more premium offering than desired by the U.S. firm, two people with knowledge of the matter said on condition of anonymity. Administrator Vaughan Strawbridge of Deloitte said he had reaffirmed with Bain that Australia’s No.2 airli...

  Investment between the US and China tumbled to a nine-year low in the first half of 2020, hit by bilateral tensions that could see more Chinese companies come under pressure to divest US operations HONG KONG (Reuters) – Investment between the United States and China tumbled to a nine-year low in the first half of 2020, hit by bilateral tensions that could see more Chinese companies come under pressure to divest U.S. operations, a research report said. Investment, both direct investment by companies and venture capital flows, between the two countries fell 16.2% to $10.9 billion in January-June from the same period a year earlier – also hurt by the  coronavirus pandemic , according to figures from consultancy Rhodium Group and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, an NGO. That’s a far cry from half-yearly totals of nearly $40 billion seen in 2016 and 2017. Flows are unlikely to recover this year, regardless of the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, the repor...