The Economist USA - 26.10.2019

The EconomistOctober 26th 2019 7
The world this week Business

Mark Zuckerberg was grilled in

Congress about Libra, a global

digital currency thatFacebook

hopes to launch next year but

which faces mounting regu-

latory hurdles, causing some of

its biggest backers to walk

away. Mr Zuckerberg argued

that Libra will advance

financial innovation, and

extend America’s “democratic

values”. But with Democrats

calling for the break up of big

tech companies, Facebook has

spent the most of any firm this

year on lobbying Capitol Hill,

just ahead of Amazon.

Declining property values

SoftBankproposed a rescue

deal for WeWork, an office-

rental startup that delayed its

ipoamid investor concerns

about its true worth. The offer

from the Japanese tech con-

glomerate increases its stake

and values WeWork at around

$8bn, a long way from an esti-

mate of $47bn earlier this year.

Adam Neumann, WeWork’s

boss, who has been blamed for

the firm’s spectacular reversal

of fortunes, could gain up to

$1.7bn from the deal, including

a $185m “consulting fee”. That

will rankle staff who are left

holding cut-rate share options.

Four American state attorneys-

general outlined a $48bn pro-

posal to settle thousands of

claims against five companies

involved in the opioidcrisis

and urged their fellow litigants

to accept the deal. As part of the

agreement two drugmakers

and three drug distributors

would pay out $22bn in cash

and $26bn in kind for treating

opioid addiction over the next

decade. Separately, drug com-

panies reached a settlement

worth $260m to avoid what

would have been the first

opioid trial in a federal court.

Biogen’s share price soared by

25% when it reversed course

and said it would now seek

regulatory approval for a new

treatment for Alzheimer’s

diseasethat it had stopped

testing. The biotech company

said the results from a wider

analysis of tests showed that

patients “experienced signif-

icant benefits on measures of

cognition and function”.

China’s economyexpanded by

6% in the third quarter com-

pared with the same three

months in 2018, the slowest

rate of growth in 30 years.

A lawsuit brought by New York

state’s attorney-general claim-

ing that ExxonMobilengaged

in dodgy climate-change

accounting opened in court.

The suit accuses the oil

company of defrauding

investors by disclosing a public

proxy cost for carbon

emissions to account for the

possibility of climate

regulations, while using a

separate, lower estimate for

carbon costs in its internal

planning. The attorney-general

maintains this meant

investors could not properly

account for the risk posed by

climate regulations. The

company denies wrongdoing.

Saudi Aramcowas said to have

delayed the launch of its long-

awaited ipobecause of unfa-

vourable market conditions

and lower expectations among

investors of its stockmarket

value. Its third-quarter earn-

ings may shed more light.

An annual survey of global

wealthfrom Credit Suisse

found that the bottom half of

adults account for less than 1%

of total wealth, while the top

1% own 45%. However, that

figure has dipped a bit from

2000. The report suggests that
      global wealth inequality may
      have peaked in 2016.

Just Eat, a British food-deliv-

ery company, rejected a $6.3bn

takeover bid from Naspers, a

South African tech conglomer-

ate. Just Eat is sticking to its

merger with Takeaway.com,

which operates mostly in

Germany and eastern Europe.

Tesladelighted investors with

a positive quarterly earnings

report. It is on track to launch

its Model Y sport-utility vehi-

cle next year, it has tested

production at its new factory in

Shanghai, and it actually

turned a net profit, of $143m.

The electric-car maker racked

up $1.1bn in losses in the first

six months of the year.

Boeing’sprofits tumbled in the

third quarter, and revenues

were down by a fifth, as it

continued to grapple with the

worldwide grounding of its 737

maxjetliner following two

crashes. It did not book any

further accounting charges

because of the grounding, and

said it would continue making

the plane, though slower pro-

duction cost it almost another

$1bn. Boeing also appointed a

new head of its commercial

aviation business.

A very-long haul

Climate-change activists want

people to fly less, but the New

York-to-Sydney routethat had

its maiden voyage this week

would keep travellers in the

skies for longer. The Qantas

direct flight, the world’s lon-

gest at 16,200km (10,100 miles),

took 20 hours and carried

volunteers who were tested for

endurance. The key, apparent-

ly, was to limit alcohol intake

and eat the breakfast of avoca-

do purée, halloumi cheese and

herb salad. If enough pas-

sengers can stomach that,

Qantas hopes to start flying the

route commercially in 2022.

Topspenders on lobbying

United States, Jan 1st-Sep 30th 2019, $m

Source: CQ Roll Call

0 604020

Facebook

American Hospital

Association

American Medical

Association

PhRMA

Open Society

Policy Centre

National Association

of Realtors

US Chamber of

Commerce