>> panasonic stock jumped the most in 40 years. its earnings beat estimates. is its turnaround taking off? man on how he makes his fortune and how he plans to make smirnoff for the number one spot. and london braces for strike action on its subway system. we will be live at one of the city's the gas station. -- biggest stations. welcome to "countdown." i am anna edwards.

6:00 in london this wednesday morning. standing byters are and ready to deliver stories that will drive. i -- bloomberg reporters are standing by and ready to deliver stories that will drive your day. and talks to sell its japanese pc business. and facebook footing pressure on rival, twitter. at the had has a look commercial future. stay with bloomberg. from an auto expo, ralf speth. he is expected to make an announcement that will impact the markets. that will happen later on during "countdown." they also got the chance to sit

down with philip green, the majority owner of the arcadia group. he has nine retailers, including top shop. interview onhat "the pulse" later on. eye oneeping an operating profits coming in at 2.3 one billion francs. this is swatch, the watchmaker based in switzerland. sales have been very. they expect a healthy growth in 2014. they say they are in an excellent decision for long-term growth. let's get a look at the markets. management are advising clients not to panic. that is after equity suffered their worst start to the year. ofe is the global head equities, gary evans.

thank you for joining us for this half-hour. asias are a bit calmer in and on the u.s. equity markets in the last 24 hours. >> i think this is an overdue correction. we haven't had that since last june. it is the longest we have gone without one. things are looking a bit bleak at the end of last year. the retail investment in the u.s. -- it was a natural whole that that lasted a bit longer. some point, you get another good entry market. those factors still present in developing markets? >> in the last two or three years, the market has been dread with the fed pumping the crudity into the market. it is no longer enough. fromlly, the pe has gone

10.5 times to 14. it cannot go for the than that. watch. the key thing to how have earnings been living up to your expectations? it increased at its fastest pace in two years. for a range of factors. -- a range of factors. >> i think the signs are that they will. the fourth quarter the u.s. has been strong. year atooking this about 10% earnings growth in the u.s. and about 14% growth per year. marketves you a decent here it will not be as good as it has been in the last two years. this is because over the past performance has been and it has not been in europe. >> european growth earnings will

be higher. the u.s. part looks part expensive. i think europe is probably the most interesting place globally. >> thank you. let's move on. india is asia's at third-largest auto market. it is shrinking. small cars account for the bulk of sales in india. we have the details. delhi thisoff in week. we had to talk about the reality . in india, we see growth slowing. we talk about oil pricing looking quite stable. at the government can subsidize those rising costs as much as -- you havebc, they got a shocking car market.

,ut most of the market shift there's a massive potential for the car market in india. you're looking at car ownership over around 800 cars for every 1000 people in india. that is most recent data. we are nowhere near developed status. you can see the potential for growth, but it is not easy. saturationa classic in paris and. when you look at automakers, in china, it has been very much about luxury or the midmarket luxury. the indian story seems to be shaping up around the small car market. is that still the future? >> some of them are hatchback. tatau look at the likes of motor, the nana was meant to be -- it is not doing that well. the car that promised so much,

but they will lunch national launch another hatchback. we are looking for a car called out.olt to come whether that can change things around remains to be seen. >> we may see another tech to you on the next few days. this time it is from japan. sonyminent news story on you are bringing in. >> good morning. yes, absolutely. a big story. according to someone in the know, sony is said to be close to an agreement. they will sell their pc business. that memorandum of understanding may be released as early as thursday.

a price tag given by the nikkei newspaper is just under $400 million. they were considering various measures for the pc business. -- ites just egypt tense makes strategic sense to some people. we all know that pc shipments are shrinking. the question is the price. how much can sony get for this? that includes the brand of laptops. >> another japanese stock that is moving and making headlines -- stunning headlines, in fact is panasonic. since we have been keeping records, goes all the way back to 1974 if i'm not mistaken. 90s -- 90% gain, surging out of the gates.

this shift in strategy away from unprofitable assesses has taken shape. 20% popping income. it is a pivot toward making cars and homes. half of the revenue comes from these businesses. and before, he had mitsubishi and deutsche bank to outperform and buy. we see what happens tomorrow. back to you. >> david, thank you. named its new ceo and is inviting bill gates back to campus. its firstll announce quarterly earnings later on today. hans nichols joins us now from berlin with more.

will nadella make? the first question is easy to answer. it is $18 million in total compensation for the first year that is quite a bit of a boost when you compare it to steve balmer. here is what we know about mr. gates. he is going to be coming back to be -- founder and technology advisor here at he will be spending a third of his time on campus. before, they said he spent about 1/5 of his time at microsoft. what ishis role of microsoft's future? what is the news coming forward? adella has hinted he will focus. that could mean cloud computing and may be their search

division, being. a lot of challenges there. he will have oversight. he will have some of that knows his way around the tech story with bill gates on campus. you isher tech focus for that numbers that are due out from twitter. many people are comparing them with facebook and try to do some analysis. i wonder how long it will take to release these earnings over twitter in a limited number of characters? you need revenue and a percent of the mobile ad. you could probably do it in two tweets. you are clever. you're good at abbreviating. you could probably do it in one. forth.re models going we do not have that much information about twitter. looking at the earning since they've gone public, you look at the comparison with facebook and the number of users, it 232

million versus 1.2 billion, ipo 26 compared to 38. one of the challenges with bracing -- pricing twitter is that the stock has been all over the place. it dropped down a little bit in part because people were concerned about its ability to go forward. some things that people will be looking at when they report later after the close is you will look at the number of users and the percent of advertising for mobile and how they are monetizing, how much do they get per ad and per tweet? those numbers have been pretty low in the past. their goal on the challenge is to bring those up and eventually when they stop comparing it with facebook, but for now, he like facebook's little brother. in terms of their model going

forward having real income, that is the bar that has been set. thank you. knows if twitter is in the same game? let's move on. .nderground worker strike caroline hyde is at a station to see how this will impact. what is it like? jampacked withe people wanting to get onto the bus. it is transport chaos. they are trying to avoid the london underground. there is the opportunity to embrace business. is luringfor london in some of the biggest u.k. retailers.

they want to bolster its balance sheets. what other international cities they can look to for inspiration. >> fascinating stuff. it is a little bit early. thank you. we would here for more later. find out what he thinks the decision could cause a suing in the microsoft share price. we will get richard's advice. ♪

>> time for today's company news. the shares of panasonic sword in trading, the most since 1974. this after they posted profits that was higher than analyst estimates. two brokerages raised their ratings for the stock. when company expects healthy growth in 2014 after posting that 2013 profits that beat analyst estimates. they had an auspicious start to 2014 and proposed a dividend

increase of 11%. talksny is said to be in to sell its japanese pc business with the japan industrial partners. an announcement might be made as early as tomorrow along with quarter results. welcome back to "countdown." i am anna edwards. let's start with a belated top ache. -- was that with a related topic. we are joined with richard windsor. thank you for coming to talk with us. thatdo you think background tells us about the future of microsoft? many are concluding this means the future will be about the cloud. >> yes. not just the cloud, but the enterprise. if you look at what the market

wants from microsoft, the is aed basically is it microsoft focused just on that emphasize -- enterprise, and thereby trying to increase the pe of the company. to implementking that strategy. that could cause a significant rally in the share price. however, if you look at the commentary that microsoft put out there with very carefully crafted to basically give him space to decide which way to jump, they did not say they were eating out a consumer, they mention mobile first. that is why the share price has not moved appeared the market is sort of non-plus. nonpluss. that does any bill gates is

stepping away from the business. how significant will that be to you? >> i think it is quite significant for a couple of reasons. the focus has been very much on the cloud where is the microsoft has spread much wider than the cloud. ringing the old dates closer to him to help in some areas where he is not such an expert, but also i think there could be something going on here which is if satya decides to massively restructure microsoft and turned it into a proper ecosystem company, he will need bill gates on his side in order to convince the troops this is a right way to go and this is the biggest issue that microsoft could face. >> you do not think they will be selling any consumer assets? you think the innovation is coming from the consumer side, the social media side of things?

my hope, if you look at the , the opportunity for microsoft is to become the third ecosystem. they have got the assets. they are miles ahead of the competition. they have got to break down the company and reshape it in that image. that is a long and hard road. i think the market would be disappointed if that is the road that satya takes. as an investor, that is the right road the company needs to take. the integration of nokia, how significant will that be? questionthat is a good . if they decide to go down the , i think at the moment if you look at the overall size of microsoft and the news that generated at the

moment, able not be a big impact on the overall microsoft numbers . at the end of the day, it will be a big issue. you.chard windsor, thank he was joining us in dubai. we will be back after a short break. ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." i am anna edwards.

vans.e back with garry e the emerging on markets theme. that has been a big thing since the start of this year here bill gross saying that china is the mystery link in emerging markets. not really sure what is going on there. seem a lack of visibility for you? >> when you look at the pmi's, they have come down. gdp growth.e they do more disgusting us to get. the other thing about china is that last year, there was one group that did very well. that was private sector companies. >> and the chinese government is trying to make that bigger part of the economy. >> indeed.

the state owned companies would probably suffer shared the profits will suffer. that is a problem. >> where do you invest? are you selective in investing in some of the private ones? >> if you do buy the avid sector businesses, the countries that have a good current account position in which you have got a great story, mexico is the one that stands out to me. .he euro was to popular it was very expensive. it is looking more reasonable. >> you see it as a geographical story? a structural story? are they doing the structural reform that people have been wanting? >> they are. they are also benefiting from the chinese slowdown. the wages are too high for it to be achieved manufacturing sector.

you're seeing a lot of foreign investment going to mexico. now.ut it in mexico >> are there other emerging market currencies that you think are taking the tough decisions and -- indonesia.focus on , has done a lot of things. the currency holdup quite well this year. it is a country in which with an election coming up in july, that could see a re-rating again. investors do not like that. >> too fragile. >> it does have a deficit. the central bank has been raising rates. there are risk. the long-term story is a good

one. we think they're taking some of the right steps. in terms of the overall emerging markets, some overall markets, when do you start to look again at the emerging markets as a whole and say there might be some fragility there? >> i think that you still have to be quite cautious. be selective with one or two countries that we like. there is a temptation. some markets look cheap. china is another example. if you look at the private sector, it is about 25 times. it is the banks that are cheap. i would be a bit cautious. as an asset class, there are still consequences of the current issues we saw last year that still have to emerge.

it does not like the crisis and 97 or 98. >> let's see how smart you have been around the japan story. there were losing value. we have got underway on japan. how long have you had that? a lot of people have said there have been changes the government has been bringing about. too cautious early last year. it seemed to me that everyone was overweight on japan. everyone likes something. the risk is only on the downside. the third aero structure reform was not happening. i think one of the things that was makeed is that it clear that the bank of china is

not going to do any more liquidity injection measures for the time being. he is happy with the way inflection is picking up. i think the market had expectations. stocks,echnology twitter and facebook, microsoft -- a lot of moving parts in technology. i know that this is a sector you like. why do you like it? >> i think partly because of that. what is says to me is management in tech, particularly the older tech companies, are getting smarter. they're not just going money at businesses. issue we being consumer? should we be in pcs? changing.at is it is still relatively cheap. important distinction. thank you.,

these are the bloomberg top headlines. investors and your have had their worst start to the year in a decade. stock offerings fell 22% last month. thanks faced a massive sale for the emerging market. a two day strike by the london underground employees. it is grating travel chaos. the union called a strike to against the closing of johnson ticket offices. and parts of the united states could see more trouble delays as the second big snowstorm hits the big east. new york and boston face as much as 10 inches of snow and ice. forecasts call for below normal temperatures for much of the country. on one of those

top headlines. the london underground workers are striking in protests over changes that will see the loss of many jobs. caroline hyde is live at a station for us. how much will this affect commuters? it is costing the commuters time. it is tough to get on the buses. that one queue is working before 7 a.m. it is a 48 hour strike. everyone is trying to avoid underground. it did -- it could cost the london underground money every day. the reason is all about modernization. they have got plans to shut down ticket offices in more than 200 stations. that would mean the loss of 750 jobs. that is about 13% of their workforce. as part of the modernization,

the london underground is also raising business. what are we expecting? >> this is where the modernization could see a growth in business. we could see them embracing business. in cabal this ticket offices being closed, more than 200. already, they have been trying to collect service. that has gone successfully. they are expanding that. in the biggest grocer wants on the game as well. they want to get in with transport for london and gold that click and collect service at the underground station. even.s parcel and post the retell potential is quite

extraordinary -- retail potential is quite extraordinary. there's a potential for retail. one of the lot the groups, conservative groups said is far more potential. we have got the bike service in london. the got barclays bikes. the sponsorship is there already. could that be expanded? that havetions parents or other avenue shops -- good we have stations that have harrods or other avenue shops? somef this is to generate 3.5 alien pounds over the coming years.

that is a commercial -- 3.5 bi llion pounds over the coming years. that is the commercial strategy. vodafone would provide wh ifi. kia.he south koreans have a story couldiled take pictures of virtual products. for thehave barcodes products going forward. the opportunity is phenomenal. >> fascinating opportunity. thank you. let's move on. a billionaire is often referred to as russia's vodka king. his next goal is global domination and deep droning the

maker of smirnoff vodka -- de- throning the maker of smirnoff vodka. >> he is interesting. he is sort of the self embodiment of the self-made man. he imported chocolate and martini. some money.up he said russia should have its own premium vodka. it didn't. when i caught up with him, he had started miss russia competition and started a bank. he was busy taking his vodka global. a polish vodka producer. >> how many cases will you make this year?

your sales have grown tenfold. >> exactly. >> they make just over 30 billion. they are the world's largest about the producer. you're planning to overtake him one? >> 2-3 years from now. >> is that realistic? >> i hope so. we need to be optimistic. strategy? change in >> to compete. you need to compete in every segment of the market. >> you have moved into -- luxury.um, so premium, i would like to be dominant in every segment of the market. >> and your territory is what? >> i would like to do dominate the market. we're talkback eastern europe. -- we are talking about eastern

europe. >> your focus was on growing outside of that territory, namely in the u.s. >> we look at all of the territory. one is expansion of the growth. we are in about 85 countries. we are also talking about our and expanding up from russia to eastern europe. in hisything he had vodka empire is that he had built it with his own hands. the selling point was that people one of the authenticity to have vodka and that it should be russian. now he wants to make drinks for everyone. vodka that everyone wants to drink.

was talking about the economy segment. a lot of challenging task going forward. many of the buttons look russian, but they are not all. >> yeah. yes to establish the case that this is the then take russian vodka. there are many that pretend to be russian, but they aren't. then you have got -- justin bieber has got a vodka. premium products. where this his products it? >> he's got products that go the whole realm -- the whole gamut. while you have this justin bieber and the 100 cases a year, if you want real skill globally, that is a different story. eo thatpanies like diag is a large drinks producer. they're about five of them at

that size. they throw huge money behind the distribution. it is difficult to go from a small player into an extraordinarily large player. lot ofe got to use a money and marketing to accomplish that. >> the bear market has been disrupted by some craft beer. -- it is interesting to see that happening. >> and they give very creative. he has brought practice, they'll come to moscow muel. he was telling me that baucus should be drank pure. i do not know if they still do. now it is ginger beer and

vodka. in the states, it is all the rage. you get in a copper mug. people are actually stealing the copper mugs. it is a different kind of thing. he wants to have rituals associated with drinking and whether it makes sense for each country just without the theft. >> just about the theft. 6:41 a.m. and talking about vodka. ♪

>> time for today's company news. two companies will seek investment ratings after the split. sfr chief executive officer porter's they're not looking for a not learned of merger deal. an insurance hired a chief executive to lead that u.k. ensure. he will be paid an annual salary of nine hundred 50,000 pounds according to a company statement. $950,000 pounds according to

a company statement. a unit was initially on the table with animal health as part of a possible trade. novartis sells the vaccine unit separately. it is evaluated at $1 billion. welcome back to "countdown." i am anna edwards. the time in london is 6:45 a.m. the call for an eco-attractive car is no longer just for the tesla. scoop.ller has the ♪ sexy,n you think about eco-friendly transportation, you probably think of the tesla. why wouldn't you? it is a gorgeous car, but cost about 100 thousand dollars.

we have new alternatives that are for about half that price. i'm sitting in the fiat 500 e. all electric vehicle that literally cost a third of the price of the tesla. it comes with a gorgeous driver. bmw model is 95% recyclable. this is the technology that toyota is betting will not tesla's electric cars out of the water. that is because water is all this thing produces. it is a hydrogen fueled cell vehicle. isonly mission is burning water. this car is expected to come in at about $50,000. that is the amount of money that tesla spent on its battery pack along. di plug-in hybrid only

takes to have hours to charge. -- two and a half hours to charge. option.another about $36,000 more. it has a turbo charge gas engine. gallon bingo 0-60 in 4.5 seconds. it is more aggressive than tesla. look at these doors. miller having a back to the future moment. let's take a quick break. we will continue talking about the car industry and a little bit about luxury as well. ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." i am anna edwards. joining me. >> i'm not a host. i'm a guest. >> he won't be doing any reading. >> ryan chilcote is here as well.

ryan, we will start with you. i might regret that decision. >> i have a story of how women's weekly's advice to keep their husbands happy to talk less and make your own clothes and learn to hack well for holidays -- that was the advice. out with theng vintage addition and packaging up the best advice. suggesting that still applies, are they? >> there are some that still applies. they said do not fight while someone is on the telephone. there's a lot of talk of weight and how to manage it. there's something called bingo wings and how to reduce it. it is the upper arm flab. they were called salt sellers.

>> i'm learning a lot, ryan. >> anyway, that is my contribution. >> imagine having a telephone conversation. austeritya time of back then. there's a lot of how to take your leftovers and make it into meals. i like all of those rules. >> i'm worried. >> i'm very victorian. what it follow from only be described as disasters. this is a cricket season between england and australia. for those who have been asleep kevine last four months, axed.sen has been he basically is england's top run score.

ones regarded as possibly of the greatest in a generation. in many common he is disruptive and devices in the dressing room. there is this question that is often posed in sport of whether special players like him should be treated if really? what do you think? the fine special? -- define special? >> should he be treated differently? >> divisive in the locker room? >> allegedly has a big ego. again. you'll never play >> david joins us from hong kong. morning. update of the case of

two brothers. they were accused of blackmailing the group transformers when they were here. at the time, some of the shop owners were offering a little bit of compensation. it turns out that this particular shop with the two brothers amended 13,000 u.s. dollars which was obviously threatened toey disrupt them by making noise and all that sort of things. is noise being made and things being thrown around. they end up with the air conditioner being thrown at the director. anyway, the latest is that they .leaded not guilty to blackmail we will see what happens. >> i do not know how many crimes

have been allegedly given given that. thank you for that update. i have got one more. a fishing journey -- sorry, fishing trip. and it up taking a longer trip to the marshall islands in the pacific ocean. ary interesting story here at lot of people said it could not be true. >> that is what he told his wife? >> and next game -- a mexican rescue worker -- there must be more dread it than when he was given credit for. missing.id go it was reported it would not be unusual for boats to go fishing and the description of the two men missing from mexico and all of that was backed up by the

mexican worker. it seems that he did spend months, more than a year at sea and -- on a diet of fish and turtle blood and water. at least there was no tiger in his boat. >> and he shaved his beard. i have got to see a picture of that. >> do you believe it or not? >> i do not think it matters. it is a lovely story. he has clearly been at sea for a long time. >> it should be turned into a book. >> it will feature a tiger. >> i have not been one for growing facial hair. >> the second hour of "countdown" continues after a

short break. we go inside the numbers from swatch. they're reporting numbers better than forecast. ♪ . .

>> panasonic surges, shares gaining the most in almost four decades after earnings beat estimates. is the turnaround taking off? >> meet russia's vodka king, how the billionaire behind russian standard hopes to challenge smirnov for the number one spot. >> designer michael coors has now become a part of this exclusive club. find out how he made his fortune. >> swatch says it has had an auspicious start to 2014. it expects healthy growth across all sectors.