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tors and industry analysts

about whether Nucor should

delay some of the expansions

until market conditions and

steel prices improve.

Most of the company’s ex-

pansions and new facilities are

scheduled to begin operating

in 2021 and 2022.

Nucor’s shares fell 0.56% to

$50.07 on Friday. The stock is

down nearly 21% over the past

year.

Mr. Topalian joined Nucor

23 years ago and was pro-

moted to executive vice presi-

dent two years ago. He will

serve as president and chief

operating officer until moving

into the CEO job Jan. 1. Mr.

Ferriola, 67, is also chairman

of the board. A Nucor spokes-

woman said a decision about

that post hasn’t been made.

A mechanic for American
Airlines Group Inc. is accused
of trying to sabotage a plane
just before it was scheduled to
carry 150 passengers from Mi-
ami to the Bahamas in July.
The mechanic, Abdul-Ma-
jeed Marouf Ahmed Alani, told
federal investigators that he
superglued a piece of foam to
block a module that reports
speed, pitch and other critical
flight data, according to an af-
fidavit filed in U.S. District
Court in Miami on Thursday.
American and its mechanics
are in the middle of conten-
tious contract negotiations.
The dispute has escalated,
with American suing the
unions that represent its me-
chanics and accusing them of
causing an operational crisis
by slowing down repairs and
refusing overtime. American
says the slowdown has caused
more than 1,200 delays and
cancellations.
Mr. Alani told investigators
that he was upset over the
contract negotiations—which
have dragged on since 2015—
and that the stalemate had af-
fected him financially, accord-
ing to the affidavit. The
company has said a new con-
tract would include wage in-
creases.
Mr. Alani claimed his goal
wasn’t to harm passengers but
rather to prompt a delay or
canceled flight in hopes that
he would receive overtime

work.
American Airlines Flight
2834 never took off. Pilots re-
ceived an error message when
they increased power to the
engines and then sent the
plane for an inspection, where
another mechanic discovered
the obstruction in the plane’s
air data module system. Amer-
ican put passengers on an-
other aircraft and notified fed-
eral law-enforcement officials,
a spokesman for the airline
said.
David Seymour, American’s
senior vice president of inte-
grated operations, described
the incident as “extremely se-
rious” in a message to employ-
ees.
“Fortunately, with appropri-
ate safety protocols and pro-
cesses, this individual’s ac-
tions were discovered and
mitigated before our aircraft
flew,” he wrote.
Investigators homed in on
Mr. Alani after reviewing
video footage of someone pull-
ing up next to the plane in a
white pickup truck and access-
ing a compartment under the
cockpit. Three other mechan-
ics helped identify him.
Mr. Alani has worked for
American since 1988, the car-
rier said, adding that he has
been suspended.
Mr. Alani was arrested
Thursday and is being charged
by the U.S. Attorney’s Office
for the Southern District of
Florida with “willfully damag-
ing, destroying, or disabling
an aircraft,” according to court
documents. He appeared be-
fore a magistrate judge Friday,
but no plea was entered. His
next scheduled appearance on
the government’s request for
pretrial detention is set for
Wednesday. An attorney for
Mr. Alani didn’t respond to re-
quests to comment.
Last month a federal judge
agreed with American that the
workers were deliberately
slowing down work and or-
dered them to stop. The car-
rier, which is based in Fort
Worth, Texas, has asked the
judge to sanction the unions.
The unions have denied the al-
legations and appealed the
ruling.
John Samuelsen, president
of the Transport Workers
Union, one of the bodies rep-
resenting American’s mechan-
ics, condemned the alleged
tampering.
“The Transport Workers
Union is shocked by the re-
ported allegations of airplane
sabotage by an employee,” Mr.
Samuelsen said.

BYALISONSIDER

Mechanic

Accused of

Sabotaging

Jetliner

Suspect told

investigators he was

upset over contract

negotiations.

BUSINESS & FINANCE NEWS

of its enterprise business to

Broadcom Inc. Such a struc-

ture could reduce the tax bill

for its shareholders, the peo-

ple said.

It couldn’t be learned how

exactly this deal would work

and it is far from guaranteed

it will happen. If it does, it

could involve the firms buying

Symantec and proceeding with

the sale to Broadcom or wait-

ing for the enterprise deal to

close and then acquiring the

consumer unit, which includes

Norton antivirus and LifeLock

identity-theft-protection prod-

ucts.

Selling a company when a

major transaction like the

Broadcom deal is about to

close would be complicated

and unusual.

Symantec last month said it

would sell its enterprise-secu-

rity business to Broadcom, a

major chip and software pro-

ducer, for $10.7 billion. Syman-

tec plans to distribute pro-

ceeds in a special dividend of

$12 a share after the deal

closes, expected by the end of

the year.

It also said it would boost a

stock-repurchase program.

The stock had risen roughly

16% to $23.70 since The Wall

Street Journal reported on the

deal with Broadcom, giving

Symantec a market value of

roughly $14.5 billion.Symantec

shares rose about 4.5% on Fri-

day.

A deal at $26 or $27 a

share would value Symantec at

about $16.4 billion.

The private-equity firms

believe the extra premium is

justified by what they see as

the tax inefficiency of the deal

with Broadcom, which is ex-

pected to trigger steep divi-

dend-tax payments for share-

holders related to the special

payout, the people familiar

with the matter said.

Broadcom had earlier this

year considered a deal for all

of Symantec and was close to

reaching one before the talks

fell apart. Permira and Advent

also previously considered

such a deal.

The enterprise unit serves

businesses and has helped

make Symantec the world’s

largest seller of security soft-

ware for corporate networks,

though the consumer opera-

tion is more profitable.

Last week, Symantec said

interim Chief Executive Rich-

ard Hill would resign following

the sale to Broadcom and initi-

ated a search for his successor.

Symantec a year ago drew the

attention of activist investor

Starboard Value LP, which

struck a settlement for board

seats.

Symantec Corp. received

interest from a pair of private-

equity suitors seeking to buy

the cybersecurity firm for

more than $16 billion after it

agreed to a sale of a big chunk

of its business, according to

people familiar with the mat-

ter.

Permira and Advent Inter-

national Corp. recently ap-

proached Symantec proposing

a takeover deal valuing Sy-

mantec at $26 to $27 a share

that would hand them the

company’s consumer opera-

tion while preserving the sale

BYCARALOMBARDO

ANDDANACIMILLUCA

Buyout Firms Size Up Symantec

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—

PG&E Corp.’s last-minute push

for legislation to help it pay

off billions of dollars in wild-

fire claims fell apart Friday as

the California lawmaker who

authored the measure said he

would shelve the proposal for

the year.

The bill, by Republican As-

semblyman Chad Mayes,

would have given the bankrupt

utility giant access to as much

as $20 billion in tax-exempt

state bonds backed by share-

holder profits. Mr. Mayes said

in an interview Friday that he

expects to make the proposal a

“two year bill,” meaning it

wouldn’t go up for a vote be-

fore California’s legislative

session ends next week. In-

stead, it could be considered

again in 2020.

Mr. Mayes said the proposal

needs more debate and more

time for discussion.

“It’s really important for us

to get this right. This is a ma-

jor piece of policy, it needs full

sunlight, it needs full trans-

parency, and it takes time to

do this,” Mr. Mayes said.

“Could it be done? It could,

but we are running out of

time.”

PG&E for weeks had been

lobbying lawmakers to pass

the legislation, arguing that

quick access to the bond

money is critical to its effort

to settle wildfire claims and

emerge from bankruptcy court

by next summer. PG&E sought

chapter 11 bankruptcy protec-

tion in January, citing more

than $30 billion in potential li-

ability costs tied to its role in

starting a series of wildfires in

2017 and 2018.

In a statement, PG&E said:

“We firmly believe that Wild-

fire Victim Recovery Bonds are

a critical element to the state’s

path forward when it comes to

addressing wildfire risk. We’re

pleased to see policy makers

acknowledge the merits of this

proposal and look forward to

lawmakers considering it in

January as a balanced ap-

proach that prioritizes and

protects both wildfire victims

and customers.”

California lawmakers in

July passed legislation creat-

ing a fund to help the state’s

largest utilities handle wildfire

liability costs going forward.

PG&E is required to exit bank-

ruptcy by June 30, 2020, to

participate in it.

The separate bond measure,

however, failed to gain trac-

tion, with few legislators in

California’s large Democratic

caucus eager to support a bill

that could be viewed as a bail-

out of the unpopular company.

PG&E said it would repay the

bonds with future profits, not

rate increases, but the legisla-

tion still triggered backlash

from consumer advocates and

a group of bondholders with

other plans. Some particularly

objected to the attempt to

rush the bill through in the

last few weeks of the legisla-

tive session.

The measure’s failure com-

plicates PG&E’s push to devise

a restructuring plan, which it

intends to submit to the court

by Monday. The judge oversee-

ing the bankruptcy case last

month affirmed the company’s

exclusive right to craft that

framework as bondholders and

insurers pushed to file their

own plans.

PG&E’s largest shareholders

last month proposed raising as

much as $15 billion in equity

and $5 billion in debt to sup-

port the plan, according to

regulatory filings. Without the

state bonds, the company will

likely have to seek additional

capital.

The company’s total liabil-

ity burden remains in flux

amid new questions about

whether it could be held re-

sponsible for the 2017 Tubbs

Fire in Northern California’s

wine country, the second-

worst wildfire in state history.

California fire investigators

earlier this year said PG&E’s

equipment didn’t cause that

fire, but attorneys represent-

ing fire victims strongly dis-

pute that finding and per-

suaded the bankruptcy judge

to permit a state civil trial on

the issue, a case that could

add billions of dollars to its

total obligations.

BYALEJANDROLAZO

ANDKATHERINEBLUNT

PG&E Suffers Setback on Help for Wildfire Claims

Nucor Corp. said Chief Ex-

ecutive John Ferriola will re-

tire at the end of the year and

be succeeded by veteran exec-

utive Leon Topalian, as the

largest U.S. steelmaker navi-

gates weakening demand from

a decelerating industrial sec-

tor.

Mr. Ferriola, chief executive

of the Charlotte, N.C., com-

pany since 2013, has been a

staunch advocate of tariffs on

imported steel that the Trump

administration implemented

last year.

The 25% duty imposed on

most imported steel in March

2018 drove up steel prices and

swelled Nucor’s profit in the

months that followed.

But steel prices have fallen

in the past year as manufac-

turing activity has slowed and

customers work through their

inventories rather than buy

more steel.

The benchmark price of

hot-rolled sheet is down more

than 35% to $575 a ton from a

peak last July.

Falling prices contributed

to a 43% decline in Nucor’s

second-quarter profit. The

company in July reported steel

shipments during the quarter

slipped 7% from last year.

Nucor has pressed ahead

with an aggressive build-out

of its steelmaking capacity.

The company earlier this

year said it would spend $2.

billion to expand and upgrade

mills including a new plant in

Kentucky. The company also is

expanding in Mexico under a

joint venture with a Japanese

steelmaker.

Mr. Topalian, 51 years old,

will face questions from inves-

BYBOBTITA

Nucor CEO Will Retire

Steel prices have fallen in the past year as manufacturing slowed.

TIMOTHY D. EASLEY/ASSOCIATED PRESS

A California lawmaker said more discussion is needed on his bill to give the utility access to up to $20 billion in tax-exempt state bonds.

JUSTIN SULLIVAN/GETTY IMAGES

Coats warned that the nation’s

electric grid and gas pipelines

are in the crosshairs of foreign

adversaries.

“China has the ability to

launch cyberattacks that cause

localized, temporary disruptive

effects on critical infrastruc-

ture,” he said at the time, and

Russia “is now staging cyberat-

tack assets to allow it to dis-

rupt or damage U.S. civilian

and military infrastructure dur-

ing a crisis.”

Michael Mabee, a New

Hampshire security blogger,

said that “getting the names of

the violators is a huge victory,”

but he wants to know the iden-

tities of past violators too, and

doesn’t think that information

should be withheld because

vulnerabilities are required to

be fixed, when discovered.

Mr. Mabee previously filed

Freedom of Information Act re-

quests for the release of unre-

dacted penalty case documents,

believing that public attention

will make utilities focus harder

on security.

A U.S. Army veteran, Mr.

Mabee said he was sensitized

to the importance of a secure

electric grid after seeing what

happens when a society suffers

protracted blackouts and wor-

ries that U.S. utilities are lax

about protecting their assets

against attack. He said that

lengthy blackouts tear at social

structures, and said he wit-

nessed the effects in two tours

of duty in Iraq, in providing hu-

manitarian assistance to Guate-

mala after a hurricane and af-

ter being in Manhattan during

the terrorist attacks of 2001

and in the Northeast after a

major blackout in 2003.

Regulators are weighing

whether to disclose the identi-

ties of electric utilities that vio-

late rules designed to protect

the nation’s grid against cyber

and physical attacks.

The Federal Energy Regula-

tory Commission’s current

practice is to provide the public

general information about fed-

eral rule violations and penal-

ties levied—but not to name

the companies that broke the

rules.

The commission said late

last month it has received an

unprecedented number of re-

quests for nonpublic identifying

information, and it is seeking

public comment until Sept. 26

on a proposal to release viola-

tors’ names in the future.

FERC said its current prac-

tice “may not be achieving an

appropriate balance of security

and transparency.”

The commission said if it

releases identities, it might

hold back more of the details of

cases, so that adversaries won’t

get information they could use

to target companies’ prior ar-

eas of weakness. Organizations

that represent utilities likely

will oppose moves to expose

the identity of companies that

have security lapses.

Since 2008, when the first

set of Critical Infrastructure

Protection rules took effect,

there have been about 250 pen-

alty federal cases brought

against electric utilities. But it

is impossible for the public to

tell which companies have the

best and worst records.

Earlier this year, then-Na-

tional Intelligence Director Dan

BYREBECCASMITH

Agency Weighs Outing

Utilities Over Lapses