Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2019-11-18)

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BloombergBusinessweek November18, 2019

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S

 IN BRIEF

By Benedikt Kammel

○ Bolivian President Evo

Morales, who

quit on Nov. 10

after election

irregularities triggered

weeks of violence, was

granted political asylum by

Mexico. An icon of the Left

throughout Latin America,

Morales first came to power

in 2006. Jeanine Áñez, the

second vice president of

the Senate, declared herself

interim president on Nov. 12.

○ The chances that U.K.

Prime Minister Boris

Johnson’s Conservatives

will emerge victorious

in the general elections

next month have

improved: Brexit Party

leader Nigel Farage said

he won’t contest seats

the Tories won in 2017,

leaving Johnson free to

concentrate on winning

districts held by Labour.

○ Boeing said U.S. aviation

regulators are likely to

sign off on the redesigned

in-flight software for its

grounded 737 Max model by

mid-December. The stock

jumped as investors saw

renewed hope the company

can emerge from the crisis

early next year.

○ Zimbabwe

plans to relocate

as many as 600

elephants and

other animals

from its drought-

stricken south.

○ U.S. milk processor

Dean Foods filed for

Chapter 11 reorganization on

Nov. 12. The company has

suffered from intensifying

competition in the

conventional milk business

andtighter supplies, which

ave increased costs and

roded its gross margin.

○ A Patek Philippe with

two dials and 20 functions

became the most expensive

watch ever, selling for

$31m

at a Geneva charity auction.

The one-off model’s buyer

remained anonymous.

○ Travis Kalanick sold

20.3 million shares of Uber

Technologies worth about

$547m

after a 180-day lockup

period ended. Ousted as

CEO in 2017, Kalanick still

owns 78 million shares in

the ride-hailing company,

whose value has tumbled

40% since its May 10 IPO.

○ Alibaba logged

more than

268 billion yuan

($38.3 billion) of

purchases on

Singles’ Day.

○ Severe wildfires continue to burn across New South Wales. The two-year

Australian drought has increased the risk of blazes in the state even before the

start of summer, with isolated fires reaching Sydney, the country’s biggest city.

It’s one of the biggest such rescue

operations ever undertaken by wildlife

authorities. The country, which has an

estimated 80,000 elephants, has lost

105 of them in this year’s drought.

The proceeds of the 24-hour buying

marathon, the world’s largest shopping

event, exceeded last year’s record

haul. An estimated half-billion people

from China to Argentina swarmed the

e-commerce giant’s sites on Nov. 11.

○ “The violence has

far exceeded thecallfor

democracy, andthe

demonstrators ar

now the people’s

enemy.”

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam deplored the increasing

violent protests shaking the city. Police continue to

fire tear gas to disperse protesters; they’ve responded

by setting cars on fire and dropping heavy objects

from bridges.

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○ Israel assassinated a senior commander of the Islamic Jihad group in Gaza, shattering a truce that had held for months.

○ The U.S. Supreme Court refused to block a lawsuit against Remington by families of the Sandy Hook massacre victims.

○ KKR has formally approached drugstore giant Walgreens Boots Alliance about a deal to take the company private.

○ Maya Rockeymoore, widow of Maryland Representative Elijah Cummings, who died last month, will run for his seat.