"HNA Group Co rose from provincial obscurity to becoming perhaps China's most acquisitive global company * * * An annual report released in late April [see quotation 3 for description of the report] revealed that HNA spent more on interest than any nonfinancial company in Asia last year, a $5 billion bill that represented a more than 50 percent increase from the year before. A sprawling conglomerate with roots in a middling regional airline that was founded on China's sleepy, tropical Hainan Island, HNA carried a total of $94 billion in debt at the end of 2017, a hangover from a dizzying global acquisition spree
"says Ja Ian Chong, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore[:] 'The thing about China, and Chinese firms like HNA, is that no one is entirely sure what will come next.' The woes began last summer, when Chinese regulators asked banks to disclose exposures to HNA and four other highly acquisitive companies including Anbang Insurance Group Co., which has since been seized by the government. The requests to lenders signaled decreasing tolerance in Beijing for unfettered dealmaking. Some state-owned Chinese banks stopped extending loans to HNA,
"Although HNA isn't publicly traded, the annual report it just released contains selective financial information that reveals how overstretched the banks’ pullback has left the company. Overall debt rose 21 percent in 2017, according to the report * * * Nonetheless, HNA * * * isn't at risk of immediate catastrophe. At the start of 2018, according to people familiar with the matter, it told creditors it would sell about $16 billion in assets in the first half to lighten its balance sheet. Happily for the banks that financed its rise, HNA is already nearing that goal, thanks largely to the Hilton sale.
"What sets HNA apart from the countless companies that have overextended themselves is its opaque ownership structure. Officially HNA is controlled by its employees and a pair of charities named for Cihang, a mythical Chinese deity—one based in China and the other in New York.
Note:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: After a global acquisition binge, the Chinese conglomerate found that its earnings didn't cover its hefty debt payment.
(b) Print and online version are the same.
(c) About the last quotation. The two charities are
(i) Hainan Province Cihang Charity Foundation 海南省慈航公益基金会 and
(ii) Hainan Cihang Charity Foundation, Inc (based in New York City).
Note:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: Xiaomi, China's onetime smartphone king, is betting on India and super-profitable apps
(b) Print and online version are the same -- except that print carries a graphic (whose heading is "Xiaomi's India Edge") that does not show up online. One can view the graphic by searching images.google.com with any sentence of the text.
(3) Janet Lorin, Beating Goliath.
My comment:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: A small college's endowment manager outdoes Harvard with a simple weapon: Index funds
(b)
(i) excerpt in the text margin: Carthage's 10-year average annual return through June 30, 2017 6.2%
(ii) Carthage College https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carthage_College
(founded in 1837 by Lutherans; presently based in Kenosha [near Illinois border], Wisconsin)
The college moved many times since its founding, once in Carthage, Illinois (on the eastern bank of Mississippi River; Mormon founder Joseph Smith murdered here in 1844) where it picked up its current name.
(c) There is no need to read the rest.
(4) Natasha Doff with Anna Andrianova, Russians Day Trade to Get by.
("Whether they are day trading, driving Ubers, mining Bitcoin, or seeking stardom on YouTube, [Russians] are working second jobs. As the country limps out of the longest recession of Vladimir Putin's 18-year rule, almost 4 out of every 10 families can barely afford food and clothing, according to a survey conducted by the Higher School of Economics, one of Russia's top univesities")
My comment:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: Almost 4 in 10 households struggle to afford food and clothing
(b) The verb in the title is "day trade," which is also a noun -- back-formation from day trader.
(c) There is no need to read the rest. 作者: choi 时间: 5-11-2018 12:28 本帖最后由 choi 于 5-11-2018 12:31 编辑
(5) The following are two of three feature stories in this issue, which means that they are rather long. In both, print and online version are the same.
(i) For the first, read only the beginning about a Taiwanese-American woman named Cristina Chen-Oster who is suing Goldman Sachs (likely for discrimination based on sex (gender). She did not report a sexual harassment, which has a statute of limitation of 180 days, in a civil action under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
(ii) As for the second, had OU Jianxin 欧建新, a research engineer that ZTE let go, last December jumped off the headquarters he had worked (and died), known what would happen to ZTE * * *