The Wall Street Journal - 08.11.2019

B2| Friday, November 8, 2019 **** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

INDEX TO BUSINESSES

These indexes cite notable references to most parent companies and businesspeople
in today’s edition. Articles on regional page inserts aren’t cited in these indexes.

A
Apple....................B1,B
AT&T.....................B4,B
B
Baidu.........................B
Beijing Byte Dance
Telecommunications
...................................B
Blue Star Strategies..A
BMW...........................A
Boeing.........................B
BP................................A
Burberry Group...........B
Burisma Holdings.......A
BYD............................B
C
Capital One..........B4,B
CloudKitchens.............B
Coca-Cola...............B3,B
Comcast...............B4,B
Contemporary Amperex
Technology..............B
D
Denso........................B
Depository Trust &
Clearing...................B
Discovery.....................B
Dish Network..............B
E-F
Expedia Group...B11,B
Exxon Mobil................A
Ford Motor..................A

G-H

Gap..............................B

General Motors...........B

Hermes International.B

Honda Motor...............A

J-K

Juul Labs.....................B

Kering..........................B

L

Lordstown Motors......B

LVMH Moët Hennessy

Louis Vuitton............B

M

Match Group.............B

Mazda Motor..............B

Mediobanca...............B

Mitsubishi Motors......B

M.L. Strategies...........A

N

Netflix.......................B

News Corp...................B

Nissan Motor..............B

P-Q

Panasonic..................B

Party City Holdco.....B

Paxos.........................B

Peet's Coffee............B

Peloton Interactive.....A

PG&E......................A3,B

PNC Bank..................B

Prada...........................B

Qualcomm.................B

R

Ralph Lauren.......B6,B

Roku...................B11,B

Royal Dutch Shell.A9,B

S

SeaWorld

Entertainment..........B

Siemens.......................B

Société Générale.......B

Sprint..........................B

Starbucks....................A

Subaru.......................B

Suzuki Motor............B

T

TD Bank.....................B

Tesla.....................A3,B

Teva Pharmaceutical B

Tiffany.........................B

T-Mobile US................B

Tower Research Capital

...................................B

Toyota Motor.......B3,B

Transformco................B

TripAdvisor........B11,B

U

Uber Technologies......B

UniCredit............B10,B

V-W

Virgin Hyperloop One.A

Volkswagen.................A

Walt Disney.........A1,B

INDEX TO PEOPLE

BUSINESS & FINANCE

PG&E struggles to ensure the

safety of its electric system

during wildfire season. In re-

cent weeks, the company has

pre-emptively shut off power to

millions of Californians for days

at a time in an effort to prevent

its equipment from sparking

more destructive wildfires.

The shut-offs created havoc

and angered customers, busi-

nesses and state officials. The

company anticipates $90 mil-

lion in pretax costs to provide

a one-time bill credit to cus-

tomers affected by its first

sweeping shut-off last month.

PG&E recently disclosed

that one of its transmission

lines may have sparked the

Kincade Fire in Sonoma

County, despite having turned

off a large section of the

power grid there, as well as a

series of smaller fires in the

Bay Area.

The company said Thursday

that it is “reasonably possible”

that it will incur a loss related

to the Kincade Fire, which de-

stroyed 374 structures, includ-

ing 174 homes, but noted that

the investigation is preliminary.

News that PG&E equipment

may be linked to some of last

month’s fires sunk the com-

pany’s stock and bond prices,

and threatened to stall negotia-

tions among investors in bank-

ruptcy court. The company’s

shareholders and bondholders

have proposed competing plans

to restructure the utility, pay

creditors and exit bankruptcy.

Gov. Gavin Newsom last

week threatened a state take-

over of the company if its in-

vestors can’t quickly agree on

a restructuring plan. He met

with company executives and

other stakeholders this week in

an effort to speed the process.

PG&E hasn’t provided earn-

ings guidance for the remain-

der of 2019, citing uncertainty

related to the bankruptcy case

and other matters.

Shares in the company
closed down 13% on Thursday.
PG&E sought chapter 11
bankruptcy protection in Jan-
uary, citing more than $30 bil-
lion in potential liability costs.
Its equipment was determined
to have sparked 19 wildfires in
2017 and 2018 that collectively
killed more than 100 people.
“We continue to make prog-
ress in our efforts to move ex-
peditiously through the chap-
ter 11 process, and remain
focused on a fair and prompt
resolution of wildfire victims’
claims,” said Chief Executive
Bill Johnson.
PG&E said it expects to incur
as much as $6.3 billion in after-
tax costs related to wildfires,
the bankruptcy proceeding and
a massive effort to shore up the
safety of its electric grid, which
serves 16 million people in Cen-
tral and Northern California.
The company has this year
spent hundreds of millions of
dollars on legal services, as
well as a monthslong blitz to
trim trees and accelerate
equipment inspections.
It posted a third-quarter
loss of $1.6 billion, or $3.06 a
share, compared with earnings
of $564 million, or $1.09 a
share, a year earlier.
The disclosures come as

Continued from page B

The results come as the company struggles to ensure the safety of its electric system.

RICH PEDRONCELLI/ASSOCIATED PRESS

sales over that period barely

budged.

Net income totaled $1 billion

for the year that ended in Feb-

ruary, down from $1.26 billion

in 2015. Sales over that period

Mr. Peck was chief since 2015.

DAVID PAUL MORRIS/BLOOMBERG NEWS

The owner of the Sears

and Kmart chains said Thurs-

day it will shut 96 more

Sears or Kmart locations by

February, as the country’s

once-dominant department-

store chain disappears from

most American malls.

Following the closures,

there will be just 182 Sears or

Kmart stores in operation,

down from 425 as of Febru-

ary. Just five years ago, the

company still had nearly

2,000 locations.

Both Sears and Kmart have

been gutted by falling sales

as people shop online or at

rivals like Walmart Inc.

Last year, the parent of the

Sears and Kmart chains filed

for bankruptcy protection.

The stores, however, have

continued to struggle with

many of the same problems

that plagued them for years.

Many stores are in disre-

pair, and the shelves are bare

of crucial products.

The latest closures are in

addition to roughly 100

stores that The Wall Street

Journal reported last month

were in the process of closing

by year-end and are on top of

26 stores that closed this fall.

The continued shrinking of

Sears and Kmart is the latest

setback for financier Edward

Lampert, who had controlled

the retailers for more than a

decade and steered them into

bankruptcy protection in Oc-

tober 2018.

Sears Holdings Corp.

posted seven straight years

of losses and closed hundreds

of stores under Mr. Lampert’s

leadership. Yet, it was still

one of the biggest retailers to

file for chapter 11, with more

than $7 billion in assets.

The billionaire-turned-CEO

purchased the strongest

Sears and Kmart locations in

a bankruptcy auction in Feb-

ruary, offering $5.3 billion to

defeat a bid by creditors to

liquidate the unprofitable

company and close all its re-

maining stores. The deal

saved about 400 stores and

as many as 50,000 jobs.

Mr. Lampert, who was

Sears Holdings’s largest cred-

itor and shareholder, formed

a new entity calledTrans-

formco. His plan was to open

smaller Sears stores that sold

mainly hard goods such as

tools and appliances. He has

long argued that as retailing

moves online, chains need

fewer big-box stores.

An affiliate of Transformco

recently bought roughly 400

Sears Hometown stores,

which sell appliances, tools,

sporting goods and garden

equipment. Transformco also

owns the Kenmore and Die-

Hard brands as well as other

assets. The Journal reported

last month that Transformco

was considering selling the

DieHard brand after being

approached by potential buy-

ers.

Transformco said Thurs-

day it had secured about

$250 million in new financing

from an unnamed investor as

well as Mr. Lampert.

The company said it would

continue to evaluate its retail

footprint, suggesting that ad-

ditional closures are possible.

The latest closings include

28 stores in California, from

Los Angeles to San Jose, and

eight stores in Puerto Rico.

Going-out-of-business sales

are expected to begin Dec. 2.

BYSUZANNEKAPNER

Sears Owner to Close 96 Stores

Following the shutdowns, there will be just 182 Sears or Kmart stores in operation, down from 425 as of February.

JOHN ROARK/THE POST-REGISTER/ASSOCIATED PRESS

increased less than 1% to

$16.58 billion.

Mr. Fisher’s parents, Doris

and Don Fisher, opened the

first Gap store in 1969, selling

denim and other casual

clothes.

The chain went on to open

hundreds of stores and dressed

a generation in its brightly col-

ored T-shirts and khaki pants.

It acquired Banana Republic,

which sold clothes more suit-

able for the office, in 1983, and

launched the lower-priced Old

Navy chain just over a decade

later.

Retail veteran Mickey Drex-

ler powered Gap’s rise in the

1990s but was forced out of the

company in 2002 after a sales

slump and a clash with the

Fisher family.

—Theo Francis

contributed to this article.

PG&E

Earnings

Take Hit

A-B

Anderson, Hannah......B
Arnault, Bernard.........B
Brown, Tom...............B
Burns, Steve...............B

D

Dean, Lia...................B
Demchak, Bill............B
E

Eason, Mike................B

F
Fisher, Robert.............B
Fowler, Gerry............B

G-H

Grandet, Laurent........B
Hale, Duncan...............A

I

Iger, Robert.................A

J

Johnson, Bill...............B

Johnson, Michael........B

K

Kalanick, Travis.....B1,B

Kaufer, Stephen........B

Keating, Con...............A

Knaap, Thijs................A

L-M

Legere, John................B

Li, Celina.....................B

List-Stoll, Teri.............B

Louvet, Patrice............B

Ludwig, Helmuth........B

Maxfield, Zach..........B

McClain, Michael......B

Miller, Dan................B

Morris, Linda.............B

N-O

Newsom, Gavin...........B

Okerstorm, Mark......B

O'Neill, Stephen.........A

P-R

Peck, Art.....................B

Rosen, Jeffrey...........B

S

Sandhu, Paul.............B

Sievert, Mike..............B

Solca, Luca..................B

T

Toyoda, Akio.............B

ranked No. 2 among the most

commonly reported type of e-

cigarette flavor for both mid-

dle- and high-school students

who had vaped in the past 30

days, according to 2019 data

from the National Youth To-

bacco Survey published Tues-

day in the Journal of the

American Medical Association.

Fruity flavors were the most

popular among both groups.

More than half of those stu-

dents said Juul was their usual

brand. The survey included

roughly 19,000 students.

A separate report published

in JAMA showed that among

10th-graders and 12th-graders

who had used Juul products in

the past 30 days, mint was the

most popular flavor, followed

by mango.

“These results are unac-

ceptable,” and Juul will work

with regulators to combat un-

derage use, Chief Executive

K.C. Crosthwaite said in a

news release on Thursday.

Juul LabsInc. said it was
voluntarily stopping the sale
of mint-flavored e-cigarette
refill pods, citing data on the
flavor’s popularity among
teens.
Mint is the company’s most
popular flavor in the U.S., rep-
resenting about 70% of its
sales. Juul, which dominates
the U.S. e-cigarette market,
will continue to sell menthol-
and tobacco-flavored refill
pods.
Juul’s move comes as the
Food and Drug Administration
is preparing to release details
of a plan to remove most e-
cigarette flavors from the
market, including mint. Sev-
eral major retailers, including
Walmart Inc. and Walgreens,
have already said they will
discontinue all e-cigarette
sales.
Mint or menthol flavors

BYJENNIFERMALONEY
ANDBRIANNAABBOTT

Juul to Stop Its Sales

Of Mint E-Cigarettes

noting the Gap’s brands face

product and operating chal-

lenges. “There is more work to

do,” she said in a news release.

“We know these brands are ca-

pable of delivering.”

Mr. Peck, a former consul-

tant, prized data over design

as Gap CEO.

He eliminated the chief cre-

ative positions at the com-

pany’s brands and put opera-

tional executives in charge. He

closed hundreds of stores and

Continued from page B

shortened production lead

times to better match supply

with demand.

Nevertheless, profit is down

more than 20% since Mr. Peck

was named CEO in 2015, while

Retailer’s

CEO to

Step Down

GapsharesThursday

Source: FactSet

Note:Asof5:30p.m.

$

15

16

17

18

10 a.m. noon 4 p.m.

AFTER HOURS

The latest closings

include 28 stores in

California, from Los

Angeles to San Jose.

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