BRIEFINGS

Goldcorp hiring in Vancouver

Goldcorp Inc., the world’s largest gold producer by market value, is hiring workers for its corporate headquarters even after its biggest rivals fi red staff as the metal slipped into a bear market. Now is a good time to be recruiting, chief executive offi cer Chuck Jeannes said. Goldcorp requires extra head count at its Vancouver base because it’s building three mines, he said. Goldcorp’s largest rivals, Barrick Gold Corp. and Newmont Mining Corp., each fi red about 30 per cent of their corporate offi ce staff in the second quarter amid industry- wide eff orts to become more effi cient and improve profi tability. Gold has dropped 20 per cent this year and producers have announced at least $ 26 billion of writedowns since July. Goldcorp, which operates mines in North and South America, wrote down the value of its assets by $ 1.96 billion in July and is slowing some project spending.

Twitter chief may join elite class

Twitter Inc. co- founder Evan Williams is the company’s biggest shareholder with about 15 per cent, said people familiar with the matter, leaving him in a position to become a billionaire after the initial share sale. Williams owns a bigger stake than co- founder Jack Dorsey, said the people, who asked not to be identifi ed because ownership stakes haven’t been disclosed. Should Twitter achieve a market capitalization above its $ 10.5- billion private- market valuation, Williams’s stake would top $ 1.5 billion. A higher listing price or an openingday pop could put the serial entrepreneur in an elite class of technology multibillionaires that includes Microsoft Corp.’ s Bill Gates and Facebook Inc.’ s Mark Zuckerberg .

Asia adds 300,000 millionaires

Some 300,000 people joined Asia’s millionaire ranks last year, according to a world wealth report released Wednesday, which also found that the region slipped behind North America. The report by CapGemini and Royal Bank of Canada found that the number of Asian millionaires grew 9.4 per cent in 2012 to 3.68 million , up from 3.37 million the year before, and their combined wealth rose 12.2 per cent to $ 12 trillion. Asia was surpassed only by North America, where the millionaire population grew 11.5 per cent to 3.73 million with combined wealth rising 9.8 per cent to $ 12.7 trillion.