Business

Liberal Billionaire Thanathorn Sets Out to Revamp Thai Politics

BANGKOK – Nestled in a quiet suburb of Bangkok is an elegant, modern house of Thailand’s political rising star, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit.

It is a house fit for a billionaire, with a lush green manicured lawn, small fountain and luxurious, high-ceilinged rooms with shiny marble floor. At the far end lies a corner full of his children’s toys. Next to it is a well-stocked library, where wooden bookshelves rise from the ground to the first storey, facing two precious-looking chandeliers, polished leather armchairs, a fireplace and a long wooden table stretching across a beautiful carpet.

Everything speaks of elegance, wealth and a beautiful family. Still, it is not enough to content the billionaire.

“I live a happy life. I have a big, successful business. I have a very beautiful family. But I’m not happy,” said 39-year-old Thanathorn, who, before joining politics in March, served as a vice executive chairman of his family business – a multi-billion-dollar auto parts manufacturer Thai Summit Group.

I see deep polarization that cuts the people of this country in half and I want to be part of the solution.

Thanathorn is from the top one per cent of Thailand’s 66-million population that owns most of the country’s wealth. So it came as a surprise when he decided to join Thai politics – an infamous cut-throat arena notorious for corruption, abuse of power and unscrupulous affairs.

Even his own mother disagreed. She asked him to choose between the family business and his country.

“I replied ‘Thailand’,” he wrote on his Facebook account on March 11 after launching the Future Forward Party with new-generation scholars, activists and entrepreneurs. “She looked disappointed.”

Away from his family home, the public reactions to his political venture are far from disappointing, at least for Thanathorn. Many people see him as a saviour who could rescue a nation torn by political ideologies.

His party – known for its young members and progressive ideas – has received support for its ambition to build what it terms “a new kind of politics” in Thailand, where full transparency is guaranteed at every single governmental level to prevent corruption and people’s supremacy truly reigns.

Its to-do list is a long and ambitious one. If the party wins the majority of seats, its members plan to cut the military’s power to prevent future coups. They also intend to abolish the current army-drafted constitution, which tightens the military’s grip on power while limiting elected politicians’ influence in parliament. The list also includes power decentralization, educational reform and getting rid of economic sector monopolies.

“We want to change the relationship between the people and the state,” Thanathorn said.

This country needs a change, a radical one.

THANATHORN: THE NEXT THAKSIN?

Since the launch of the Future Forward Party, Thanathorn has been flooded with love and hate. At the centre of the criticisms is his connection with Suriya Juangroongruangkit, his uncle and a senior member of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s Thai Rak Thai Party.

Thaksin – who is also a billionaire businessman – is largely seen as the cause of Thailand’s political rift that has long polarised its society into two groups.

The first – the Red Shirts – supports him and his sister former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Both of them faced accusations of corruption and abuse of power and saw their elected governments removed from power in two military coups. They now live in self-imposed exile abroad to avoid jail sentence for corruption.
Red Shirts

The other group – known broadly as the Yellow Shirts – is made up of people who dislike the Shinawatra family. Many of them are middle-class conservatives who usually ally themselves with the Democrats, a rival party of Thaksin’s defunct Thai Rak Thai and its incarnation Pheu Thai.

Since 2006, the social divide has caused waves of violence. Mass street protests by both camps spiralled into deadly confrontations and resulted in heavy casualties and injuries of innocent civilians. In 2014, tensions paved the way for a bloodless coup led by the then army chief and current prime minister, Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha.

Thanathorn’s political venture is thus viewed by the anti-Thaksin camp as a sign of the exiled fugitive flexing his influence in the political arena as he targets non-Red-or-Yellow voters in the next election. Their assumption partially stems from certain events in the past, when Thanathorn was involved with the pro-Thaksin group.

Besides his family tie to Suriya, the auto tycoon also joined the Red Shirts’ protest against the Democrat Party-led administration in 2010. One year later, he voted for Yingluck’s Pheu Thai Party. Today, he said, everything he has done was to protect democracy and, unlike before, the Pheu Thai Party no longer represents his values.
Red shirt

“I voted for Pheu Thai to express my disappointment with the military intervention,” he told Channel NewsAsia.

“Once upon a time, Pheu Thai was a symbol of hope for me. We believed that Pheu Thai would be more democratic, listen to its members and be a force that can really change this country. After five years of supporting them, it’s enough. This party can’t change. So I have to fight for what I believe myself. If nobody can represent my values, I have to represent them in parliament myself.”

In fact, Thanathorn claimed he did not support Thaksin’s government as many people believe and even joined the Yellow Shirts’ protest against the former prime minister. However, he stopped going to the rally after its leaders demanded an unelected prime minister to replace Thaksin.

“It was not democratic,” he said.

DEMOCRACY, PEACE AND CHAOS

Unlike other politicians, Thanathorn has zero political record. For him, his lack of experience in parliament is an asset rather than a liability.

“People are expecting new faces, new forces and new ideas. And that’s what we want to contribute to Thai politics,” he said.

Thailand has been ruled by a military government for four years. Millions of people’s voting rights are frozen indefinitely. The promised general election has been repeatedly postponed despite the junta’s roadmap for a return of democracy. Freedom of expression is also suppressed and several activists are in jail or have been forced into exile.

Many Thais are fed up with politics, particularly the younger ones.

“Politics has become a fixed image that everybody is pretty much fed up with,” said 33-year-old Bangkok-based theatre artist Sasapin Siriwanij.

Nobody wants to take a step to do anything about it. It’s so much mess just to think about it.

Sasapin cannot remember when she voted last or tell when she will be allowed to cast her ballot again. Her work – physical theatre performances, which mainly surrounds political and social issues – is sometimes monitored and recorded by military officers due to fear of possible public disorder.

“I’m not sure if the word hopeless is right but it’s more like you come to a dead end every time you want to run somewhere,” the artist said. “I wouldn’t say I’m completely hopeless but you get discouraged very very often. That’s kind of the general idea I have about politics.”

Future Forward

Like many members of the new generation, Sasapin was thrilled to know what the Future Forward Party has in store for Thailand. It has given her hope and revived her dream of a different future. For the likes of her – Thais who are not part of the Yellow-Red conflict – the newcomer is almost like a dream come true.

“This is like somebody opening the surface and we could swim up for some air. In the end there is something that looks really promising,” she said.

I’m like ‘wow this is courage’ and I want to support this courage.

But not everyone agrees with her.

The military government has support. In fact the return of peace and order in Thai society is largely attributed to its intervention four years ago. Some Thais regard its presence as the only force that could stop Thaksin from rising to power again and, therefore, prevent confrontation between the two rival camps.

While it is too early to speculate about the long-term impact of the Future Forward Party, what is clear now is that in just two months since its launch, it has made headlines both in the country and abroad. It has spiced up an old, tired political landscape and set social media alive with political discussion. Big old parties have introduced new younger faces. Thanathorn’s Facebook lives are widely viewed and shared.

Many people have started to dream of a different future, where a good democratically elected government is not an impossible dream.

“Truly, it’s a challenge but it has to start with us. It has to start with our party. It has to start with me, an unemployed with a big dream,” Thanathorn said. “And I love a challenge.”

By Pichayada Promchertchoo
Channel News Asia

Business

PepsiCo Reduces Revenue Projections As North American Snacks And Key International Markets Underperform.

(VOR News) – In the third quarter of this year, Pepsi’s net income was $2.93 billion, which is equivalent to $2.13 per share. This was attributed to the company.

This is in stark contrast to net income of $3.09 billion, which is equivalent to $2.24 per share, during the same period in the previous year. The company’s earnings per share were $2.31 when expenses were excluded.

Net sales decreased by 0.6%, totaling $23.32 billion. Organic sales increased by 1.3% during the quarter when the effects of acquisitions, divestitures, and currency changes are excluded.

Pepsi’s beverage sales fell this quarter.

The most recent report indicates that the beverage and food sectors of the organization experienced a 2% decline in volume. Consumers of all income levels are demonstrating a change in their purchasing habits, as indicated by CEOs’ statements from the previous quarter.

Pepsi’s entire volume was adversely affected by the lackluster demand they encountered in North America. An increasing number of Americans are becoming more frugal, reducing the number of snacks they ingest, and reducing the number of times they purchase at convenience stores.

Furthermore, Laguarta observed that the increase in sales was partially attributed to the election that occurred in Mexico during the month of June.

The most significant decrease in volume was experienced by Quaker Foods North America, which was 13%. In December, the company announced its initial recall in response to a potential salmonella infection.

Due to the probability of an illness, the recall was extended in January. Pepsi officially closed a plant that was implicated in the recalls in June, despite the fact that manufacturing had already been halted.

Jamie Caulfield, the Chief Financial Officer of Pepsi and Laguarta, has indicated that the recalls are beginning to have a lessening effect.

Frito-Lay experienced a 1.5% decline in volume in North America. The company has been striving to improve the value it offers to consumers and the accessibility of its snack line, which includes SunChips, Cheetos, and Stacy’s pita chips, in the retail establishments where it is sold.

Despite the fact that the category as a whole has slowed down in comparison to the results of previous years, the level of activity within the division is progressively increasing.

Pepsi executives issued a statement in which they stated that “Salty and savory snacks have underperformed year-to-date after outperforming packaged food categories in previous years.”

Pepsi will spend more on Doritos and Tostitos in the fall and winter before football season.

The company is currently promoting incentive packets for Tostitos and Ruffles, which contain twenty percent more chips than the standard package.

Pepsi is expanding its product line in order to more effectively target individuals who are health-conscious. The business announced its intention to acquire Siete Foods for a total of $1.2 billion approximately one week ago. The restaurant serves Mexican-American cuisine, which is typically modified to meet the dietary needs of a diverse clientele.

The beverage segment of Pepsi in North America experienced a three percent decrease in volume. Despite the fact that the demand for energy drinks, such as Pepsi’s Rockstar, has decreased as a result of consumers visiting convenience stores, the sales of well-known brands such as Gatorade and Pepsi have seen an increase throughout the quarter.

Laguarta expressed his opinion to the analysts during the company’s conference call, asserting, “I am of the opinion that it is a component of the economic cycle that we are currently experiencing, and that it will reverse itself in the future, once consumers feel better.”

Additionally, it has been noted that the food and beverage markets of South Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa have experienced a decline in sales volume. The company cut its forecast for organic revenue for the entire year on Tuesday due to the business’s second consecutive quarter of lower-than-anticipated sales.

The company’s performance during the quarter was adversely affected by the Quaker Foods North America recalls, the decrease in demand in the United States, and the interruptions that occurred in specific international markets, as per the statements made by Chief Executive Officer Ramon Laguarta.

Pepsi has revised its forecast for organic sales in 2024, shifting from a 4% growth rate to a low single-digit growth rate. The company reiterated its expectation that the core constant currency profitability per share will increase by a minimum of 8% in comparison to the previous year.

The company’s shares declined by less than one percent during premarket trading. The following discrepancies between the company’s report and the projections of Wall Street were identified by LSEG in a survey of analysts:

SOURCE: CNBC

Business

Old National Bank And Infosys Broaden Their Strategic Partnership.

(VOR News) – Old National Bank, a commercial bank with its headquarters in the Midwest, and Infosys, a firm that specializes in information technology, have recently entered into a strategic expansion of their link, which has been in place for the past four years.

This expansion is more likely to take place sooner rather than later, with the likelihood being higher.

For the purpose of making it possible for Old National Bank to make use of the services, solutions, and platforms that are offered by Infosys, the objective of this expansion is to make it possible for the bank to transform its operations and processes through the application of automation and GenAI, as well as to change significant business areas.

This lets the bank leverage Infosys’ services, solutions, and platforms.

Old National Bank Chairman and CEO Jim Ryan said, “At Old National, we are committed to creating exceptional experiences for both our customers and our fellow employees.”

This statement is applicable to Old National Bank. Infosys is carefully managing the business process innovations that it is putting us through, putting a strong emphasis on efficiency and value growth throughout the process to ensure that it is carried out efficiently.

This is a routine occurrence throughout the entire operation. Because of Infosys’ dedication to our development and success, we are incredibly appreciative of the assistance they have provided.

Old National has been receiving assistance from Infosys in the process of updating its digital environment since the year 2020, according to the aforementioned company.

Ever since that time, the company has been providing assistance. The provision of this assistance has been accomplished through the utilization of a model that is not only powerful but also capable of functioning on its own power.

Infosys currently ranks Old National thirty-first out of the top thirty US banks.

This ranking is based on the fact that Old National is the nation’s largest banking corporation.

It is estimated that the total value of the company’s assets is approximately fifty-three billion dollars, while the assets that are currently being managed by the organization are valued at thirty billion dollars.

Dennis Gada, the Executive Vice President and Global Head of Banking and Financial Services, stated that “Old National Bank and Infosys possess a robust cultural and strategic alignment in the development, management, and enhancement of enterprise-scale solutions to transform the bank’s operations and facilitate growth.”

This remark referenced the exceptional cultural and strategic synergy between the two organizations. Dennis Gada is the one who asserted this claim. This was articulated explicitly concerning the exceptional cultural congruence and strategy alignment of the two organizations.

We are pleased to announce that the implementation of Infosys Topaz will substantially expedite the transformation of Old National Bank’s business processes and customer service protocols. We are exceedingly enthusiastic about this matter. We are quite thrilled about this specific component of the scenario.

Medium-sized banks operating regionally will continue to benefit from our substantial expertise in the sector, technology, and operations. This specific market segment of Infosys will persist in benefiting from our extensive experience. This phenomenon will enable this market sector to sustain substantial growth and efficiency benefits.

SOURCE: THBL

Business

American Water, The Largest Water Utility In US, Is Targeted By A Cyberattack

The largest regulated water and wastewater utility company in the United States stated Monday that it had been the target of a cyberattack, forcing the company to halt invoicing to consumers.

American Water, The Largest Water Utility In US, Is Targeted By A Cyberattack

American Water, based in New Jersey and serving over 14 million people in 14 states and 18 military facilities, said it learned of the unauthorized activity on Thursday and quickly took precautions, including shutting down certain systems. The business does not believe the attack had an impact on its facilities or operations and said employees were working “around the clock” to determine the origin and scale of the attack.

water

The corporation stated that it has alerted legal enforcement and is cooperating with them. It also stated that consumers will not be charged late fees while its systems are unavailable.

According to their website, American Water operates over 500 water and wastewater systems in around 1,700 communities across California, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia.

SOURCE | AP