Business in 60 Seconds TRT World

Turkey arrests dozens in Thodex crypto exchange fraud probe
Turkish authorities are seeking a so-called 'red notice' from Interpol that would help them track down and arrest the founder of one of the country's biggest cryptocurrency exchanges, Thodex. Faruk Fatih Ozer, who's said to have fled to Albania, abruptly stopped payments to its 390-thousand active users. Turkish police have detained 62 people in eight cities including Istanbul, where Thodex is based, while 16 others remain at large.

UK retail sales jump in March before lockdown easing
UK retail sales jumped more than expected in March - the last month before coronavirus restrictions were eased. The volume of overall sales rose by 5-point-4 percent last month, thanks to purchases at clothing and gardening stores. Sales were also 1-point-6 percent higher than in February last year, before the pandemic struck.

Panasonic to buy US software firm Blue Yonder for $7.1B
Panasonic has agreed to buy US supply-chain software company, Blue Yonder, for 7-point-1 billion dollars. The deal marks the Japanese electronics giant's largest acquisition in a decade, as it looks to tap growing demand for artificial intelligence technologies. Last year, Panasonic bought a 20-percent stake in the company for 800-million dollars

Turkey opens probe into cryptocurrency platform Thodex
Turkish prosecutors have launched an investigation into Turkish cryptocurrency exchange platform, Thodex. That's after the exchange abruptly shut down while holding at least 2-billion dollars, leaving thousands of users unable to access their digital assets. A preliminary assessment by police suggests Thodex's founder Faruk Fatih Ozer had flown out of the country on Tuesday.

US weekly jobless claims fall to lowest level of COVID-19
US jobless claims fell more than expected last week as economic activity rebounded following the further easing of the coronavirus restrictions. Another 576-thousand people filed for unemployment benefits, down from 769-tthousand in the week prior. Claims are now at the lowest level since mid-March last year, when the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Credit Suisse reports $275M Q1 loss after Archegos scandal
Credit Suisse swung to a loss in the first quarter as it reels from back-to-back crises involving Archegos Capital and Greensill Capital. Net loss at the Swiss lender came in at 275-million dollars, driven by a 4-point-7 billion dollar loss linked to the collapse of Archegos. The bank says it'll raise nearly 2-billion dollars in capital to rebuild its balance sheet

UAE becomes second biggest buyer of US Treasury securities
The United Arab Emirates surpassed China to become the second-biggest buyer of US Treasury securities in February after the UK. The oil-rich Gulf nation has added nearly 17-billion dollars' worth of US debt since January, raising its holdings to 50-point-6 billion dollars. The monthly haul was the biggest ever for the UAE.

Australia scraps Victoria's Belt and Road deals with China
Australia has scrapped agreements that the state of Victoria struck with China to co-operate on Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative. Foreign Minister Marise Payne says the deals agreed in 2018 and 2019 were inconsistent with Australia's foreign policy. Two other agreements between Victoria and the governments of Iran and Syria have also been cancelled.

UK sues video app TikTok over use of children's data
TikTok is being sued for several billion dollars for violating UK and EU data protection laws. The suit filed in London accuses the popular video app and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, of illegally collecting the personal information of millions of children in the UK and Europe. TikTok says the claims are meritless and that it would defend itself in court.

UK's unemployment rate falls unexpectedly to 4.9%
The UK's unemployment rate fell unexpectedly in the three months through February, despite the country being in a tight lockdown. The jobless rate averaged 4-point-9 percent, edging down from 5-percent in the prior quarter. The Office for National Statistics linked the fall to a large number of people leaving the jobs market altogether.

Johnson & Johnson reports 7% rise in Q1 net profit to $6.2B
Johnson and Johnson has reported a 7-percent rise in first-quarter net profit to 6-point-2 billion dollars, beating analysts' expectations. The US drugmaker has also said its COVID-19 vaccine - that's on hold in the US - generated 100-million dollars in revenues. Last week, US regulators halted the use of the injection following severe blood clots in seven vaccinated women.

Gojek, PT Tokopedia reportedly finalise $18B merger
Indonesia's two most valuable start-ups - transport and delivery provider, Gojek, and e-commerce firm, Tokopedia - are reportedly finalising an 18-billion dollar merger. According to Bloomberg, Gojek's shareholders will hold 58-percent of the combined company, while the rest will be controlled by Tokopedia investors. Gojek's co-CEO, Andre Soelistyo, will head the new entity called 'GoTo'.

Consumers stockpile $5.4T of savings since pandemic began
Moody's has found that up to 5-point-4 trillion dollars has been stockpiled by consumers worldwide since the coronavirus pandemic began. That's as household incomes receive support from unprecedented government stimulus schemes designed to counter the economic downturn. The ratings agency expects a strong rebound in spending as more businesses reopen.

GameStop chief executive George Sherman to step down
US video-game retailer, GameStop, says its chief executive George Sherman will step down before the end of July. Sherman's departure will give incoming chair Ryan Cohen more control as he leads the company's transformation into an e-commerce business. Shares in GameStop jumped as much as 10-percent after the announcement.

Shares in Trip.com rise 4.5% on Hong Kong debut
Online travel agency, Trip-dot-com, has made a strong debut in Hong Kong, with shares rising more than 4-percent. The company had sold its shares at 34-point-5 dollars a piece to raise 1-point-1 billion dollars. The secondary listing is part of a wave of Wall Street- listed Chinese firms seeking a foothold in the Asian financial hub, as they face the risk of being delisted in the US.

Singapore's Grab to go public in $40B SPAC deal
Southeast Asia's ride-hailing giant Grab has agreed to go public in the US through a merger with special purpose acquisition company, Altimeter Growth. The largest ever SPAC merger will value Singapore- based Grab at nearly 40-billion dollars. The deal underscores the frenzy on Wall Street involving so-called blank cheque companies that have raised around 99-billion dollars in the US so far this year.

Ant Group to restructure as financial holding company
The Alibaba- affiliated fintech giant, Ant Group, will transform itself into a financial holding company under a government- ordered overhaul. It comes after Alibaba was hit with a 2-point-75 billion dollar fine, as a result of an anti-monopoly investigation. In November, Chinese regulators suspended Ant Group's 37-billion dollar initial public offering

Turkey's retail sales, industrial production up in February
Turkey's retail sales for February climbed at the fastest pace in five months. Sales by volume jumped 4-point-6 percent from a year ago, helped by demand for computers, books, and telecoms equipment. Meanwhile, industrial production rose an annualised 8-point-8 percent in February, the ninth straight month of gains.