October 7, 2020 Biz in 60

Billionaires' wealth at record high of $10.2T Billionaires are richer than ever before despite the COVID-19 pandemic. A report by UBS and PwC found the fortunes of the world's wealthiest rose by more than a quarter to 10-point-2 trillion dollars. They've been boosted by a rally in stock prices and gains in technology and healthcare. The number of billionaires has also hit a new high of nearly 2-thousand-200. Tesco increases dividend as first-half profit surges Tesco has increased its shareholder payout by a fifth after reporting a 29-percent rise in first-half profit to 710-million- dollars. Earnings at the British supermarket giant were boosted by a surge in online sales as people stayed at home during the pandemic. But Tesco says coronavirus-related costs hit 715-million- dollars in the first half, driven by mounting losses at Tesco Bank. ABS-CBN shares jump after returning to free-to-air TV Shares in ABS-CBN jumped 50-percent after the Philippine media giant announced the return of some programming on free-to-air television. The group says it will begin airing entertainment shows and movies from the 10th of October on the newly rebranded channel, A-2-Z. ABS-CBN, which had aired critical views of President Rodrigo Duterte, was forced off the air in May.