2019-11-11_Bloomberg_Businessweek

BloombergBusinessweek November11, 2019

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 IN BRIEF

By Benedikt Kammel

○ McDonald’s

fired CEO Steve

Easterbrook

for having a

relationship with

an employee.

○ De Beers lowered prices for

diamonds for the first time in years in

reaction to an oversupply of polished

gems. Still, don’t get your hopes up

for a holiday-season bargain—the

price cut isn’t likely to trickle down to

consumers anytime soon.

○ Japanese billionaire

investor Masayoshi

Son suffered the

first major loss at

his SoftBank Group in more

than a decade, reporting a

$6.5 billion quarterly loss

because of investments in

startups like WeWork and

Uber. Still, Son said, “There

is no change in our journey,

no change in our vision.”

○ The U.K. imposed a

ban on new permits for

fracking wells because of

earthquake concerns. In

the U.S., widespread use of

fracking has contributed to

low fuel prices; Chesapeake

Energy, an early champion

of the extraction method,

said on Nov. 5 that it might

not survive the slump.

○ UnderArmourshares

plungedasmuchas

17%

onNov.4 afterthesports

brandlowereditsrevenue

forecastfortheyearand

revealedthatfederal

officialshavebeenprobing

itsaccountingpracticesfor

morethantwoyears.

○ Uberpledged

toturna profit

by2021.

○ Saudi Arabia

is pushing

ahead with the

planned initial

public offering of

Aramco.

○ China and the U.S. are

scrambling to complete a

limited trade deal this month

that Washington calls the

first phase of a broader

agreement. Beijing insists

the limited pact must

include the removal of

existing American tariffs on

$360b

in Chinese imports and

the threat of any more in

the future.

○ The U.S. House Intelligence Committee, chaired by Representative Adam Schiff,

will begin public hearings in the impeachment inquiry on Nov. 13. William Taylor,

the current top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, is slated to be the first to testify.

Easterbrook modernized the fast-food

chain and revamped the menu with

offerings such as all-day breakfast. He

will get to keep stock awards worth

more than $37 million.

The stock will likely be listed on the

Riyadh stock exchange. The move

comes despite analyst estimates that

the oil company probably isn’t worth

the $2 trillion valuation advocated by

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

○ After off-year elections, Democrats took full control of Virginia’s state government for the first time since 1993.

○ The U.S. formally initiated its withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, one of Trump’s signature campaign pledges.

○ Airbnb will ban so-called party houses to prevent unauthorized gatherings following a deadly shooting in California.

○ Cyprus will revoke citizenship of 26 people who got Cypriot nationality via its investment-for-passport program.

○ “I should

be in this

debate.

If they’re

refusing

to debate

me it look

like they

sexist,

or they’re

scared,

or possi

both.”

Jo Swinson, leader of theU.K.Liberal

Democrats, blasted a decision by

broadcaster ITV to leave her out of

a planned election debate between

Prime Minister Boris Johnson

and his main rival, Labour Leader

Jeremy Corbyn.

The company said tighter cost

controls will help it reach that goal

as it tries to evolve from a ride-

hailing service to a global all-in-one

transportation platform. Smaller

rival Lyft has also promised to

become profitable by the fourth

quarter of 2021.

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