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AUTOS

VW unveils

an electric car

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for the massesB

MARKETS

Industrial stocks,

already weakened,

take new hit from

economic dataB

0 25 50

75 $

Thisperson

inTakoma

Park,Md.,paid

$25.

Thispersonin

NewYorkpaid

$104.

Medianofoursample

$64.

Medianfee

COMCAST 57 43 $

Xfinity

ALTICE Sharewithafee:95% Without:5 $

Optimum

VERIZON 50 50 $

Fios

CHARTER 45 55 $

Spectrum

AT&T 21 79 $    



U-Verse

COX 12 88 $

Contour

*Providers with 12 or more bills in our sample

Source: WSJ analysis of 187 bills from 2019 provided by customers and BillFixers

TheWallStreetJournalreviewedinternet-service

customers'billsandfoundpricesvarieddramaticallyacross

theU.S.andeveninthesameneighborhood.B

To tell us about your bill, email [email protected]

ECONOMY

<55 Mbps^2674

BASIC

55-99 Mbps

54 46

STANDARD

100-249 Mbps

51 49

Note: Includes internet cost, internet fees and applies discounts. Excludes bundle bills

where internet cost was not specified. When a bundle bill had a discount for an unspecified

service, the discount amount was divided evenly among the services in the bundle.

...andtop-tierusersareoftenluredinbytemporarydiscounts.

Discount frequency, by internet tier

...tacked-onfeesareprevalent...

Internet fees, by provider*

Pricesvarydrastically...

Among those in our sample with 100 Mbps,

here’s how much they paid

PREMIUM

≥250 Mbps

Sharewithadiscount:65% Without:

1

2 3

Same Broadband Speed, a Variety of Prices

flights. No ticketed passengers

will be on board.

Global airlines are seizing

on the opportunity to provide

ultralong flights made possible

by new fuel-efficient aircraft.

What isn’t clear is how long

people will be willing to sit in

a plane and what airlines can

do to improve the passenger

experience. They also must en-

sure that long-haul pilots and

crew stay alert.

The Qantas test flights on

new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners

will carry 40 people, including

crew, with luggage and cater-

ing kept to a minimum to ex-

tend the aircraft’s range. The

airline will fly the planes from

Boeing Co.’s factory in Seattle

to New York to embark on the

test flights. A third nonstop

test flight, from London to

MGM Resorts Interna-

tionalacquired a 50% stake in

the lodging company that op-

erates the boutique NoMad ho-

tels and five other brands, as

it seeks to diversify and at-

tract a younger crowd.

A spokesman for the Las

Vegas-based company said the

acquisition of the Sydell Group

“is part of the next evolution

of our growth opportunities.”

MGM declined to disclose

the price or other terms of the

deal. But people familiar with

the matter said it was buying

half the equity in the New

York-based hotel operating

company, which has 16 hotels

open or under construction in

New York, Los Angeles, Lon-

don and other cities.

Private-equity investor Ron

Burkle sold a 50% stake in the

company to MGM, these peo-

ple said, though the head of

YucaipaCos. will remain con-

nected to Sydell through his

ownership stakes in several of

their hotel properties. Sydell

Chief Executive Andrew

Zobler, real-estate investment

firmSquare Mile Capitaland

other partners own the rest of

the hotel company.

The Sydell stake marks the

first time MGM has taken a

position in a U.S. hotel opera-

tor that isn’t connected to

gambling, the company said.

The upscale NoMad has been

the flagship brand and fea-

tures a popular cocktail lounge

at its Manhattan property,

where suites in August booked

on the hotel’s website can go

for more than $800 a night.

Sydell also operates the

LINE, Saguaro and Ned brands.

It is selling Freehand, a youth

hostel brand it launched with

a Miami Beach property in

2012.

In 2018, Sydell teamed with

MGM to open a 293-room No-

Mad Hotel on the top four

Please turn to page B

BYCRAIGKARMIN

MGM

Buys Half

Of NoMad

Hotelier

their money.

Europe’s largest economy

raised €824 million ($914 mil-

lion) by selling bonds that will

be valued at €795 million at

maturity in 2050.

In the U.S., yields aren’t

negative. But 30-year govern-

ment bond yields this month

fell below 2% for the first

time, prompting the Treasury

Department to express inter-

est in selling debt with 50-

and 100-year maturities.

Yields for 30-year government

bonds have fallen below zero

in the Netherlands, Denmark

and Switzerland, and below 1%

in the U.K., Portugal and

Spain.

Just a handful of govern-

ments have taken advantage of

the opportunity to sell ultral-

ong bonds, those maturing in

at least 50 years, at such low

rates. Ireland and Belgium

sold 100-year bonds in 2016,

and Austria and Argentina fol-

lowed the year after. Switzer-

land, Japan and Sweden have

sold bonds maturing in 10

years or more at negative

yields.

That has led many investors

and analysts to ask why more

governments aren’t taking ac-

tion. Many proponents of

large-scale bond issuance at

ultralow rates say policy mak-

ers are missing an easy oppor-

tunity to raise funds that

could help generate jobs and

income by, for instance, fi-

nancing the rebuilding of

crumbling roads and bridges,

for starters.

“There’s free money on the

Please turn to page B

Bond yields in many coun-

tries world-wide have fallen to

records this summer. Yet few

governments have responded

as many bankers and investors

say they should, by locking in

ultralow rates for decades.

Germany on Wednesday

sold 30-year government

bonds at a negative interest

rate for the first time, mean-

ing investors are effectively

paying the government to hold

BYDANIELKRUGER

ANDANNAISAAC

Ultralong Bonds Find Few Issuers

INSIDE

Sydney, is also planned.

On long-haul flights, cabin

lights are typically dimmed

about two hours after takeoff

and turned back up about two

hours before landing, said

Sveta Postnova, a senior lec-

turer in neurophysics and

brain dynamics at the Univer-

sity of Sydney. Depending on

the destination, that practice

Please turn to page B

SYDNEY—In a test of air-

line-passenger endurance,

Qantas AirwaysLtd. plans to

send wired-up employees on a

19-hour trip to see whether

humans can keep up with tech-

nological advances that have

carriers vying to create ultra-

long flights.

Pilots on two nonstop trips

from New York to Sydney this

year will wear a device to

track brain-wave patterns and

alertness, data that could help

shape the future of air travel.

Researchers from Melbourne-

based Monash University will

work with crew members to

record their levels of melato-

nin—a hormone associated

with sleep—before, during and

after the flights.

Cabin passengers—mostly

Qantas employees—also will

don wearable devices. Scien-

tists and medical experts from

the University of Sydney will

monitor sleep patterns, food

and beverage consumption,

lighting and human movement

in the cabin during the test

BYMIKECHERNEY

The 19-Hour Flight Readies for Takeoff

Qantas Airways plans to use two nonstop trips from New York to Sydney to test passenger endurance.

BRENDON THORNE/BLOOMBERG NEWS

WASHINGTON—Large tele-
communications companies
and attorneys general from ev-
ery state unveiled a new pact
for combating robocalls, the
latest step toward cutting off
such calls before they reach a
consumer’s phone.
Under the agreement, the
companies are promising to
work to prevent illegal robo-
calls on their networks and to
work with state law enforce-
ment investigating the calls’
origins.
Among the companies’
promises: to provide custom-
ers with free call-blocking
technology, investigate and
trace illegal calls and confirm
the identity of their commer-
cial customers as part of coop-
eration with law enforcement.
“Some of these carriers are
doing some of these things.
We need all carriers to do all
of these things,” said North
Carolina Attorney General
Josh Stein.
He said he hopes the indus-
try cooperation will help
“shine a light on activity oc-
curring in the dark.”
The participating compa-
nies includeAT&TInc.,Veri-
zon CommunicationsInc.,T-
Mobile USInc.,SprintCorp.,
CenturyLinkInc. and seven
other large carriers.
The agreement is voluntary
and doesn’t include a deadline.
It isn’t yet being signed by
smaller companies—which are
said to be significant conduits
for illegal calls—although the
larger companies are promis-
ing that when they enter into
contracts with other voice-call
carriers, they will seek to
make sure the contract re-
quires cooperation with call-
tracing efforts.
The action won’t stop ille-
gal calls directly, but is instead
designed to bolster efforts to
track illegal robocalls by iden-
tifying both the callers and
any intermediary companies
that facilitate the calls.
New Hampshire Attorney
General Gordon MacDonald
said that with more coopera-
tion from industry in tracing
calls, prosecutors will have
better tools to bring cases
against bad actors.
“The great challenge with
robocalls is the trace-back
challenge,” he said, referring
to the difficulty of following a
call to its origin through the
telephone network.
Mr. Stein said states could
use the new information to
prosecute not only scammers
but also telecom carriers that
accommodate them, using
laws barring unfair and decep-
tive business practices.
Robocalls aren’t always ille-
gal, but many of them do vio-
late laws against fraud or con-
sumer harassment.
Officials in government and
industry believe preventing il-
legal calls from getting onto
telephone networks in the first
place will be more effective in
the long run than simply pros-
ecuting robocallers individu-
ally in a yearslong game of
whack-a-mole.
The agreement’s effective-
ness could be limited by the
fact that it doesn’t yet include
internet-based telecom carri-
Please turn to page B

BYRYANTRACY

Carriers,

States Join

Fo rc es o n

Robocalls

S&P2922.95g0.05% S&PFINÀ0.62% S&PITg0.26% DJ TRANSg0.34% WSJ$IDXg0.02% LIBOR3M 2.132 NIKKEI (Midday)20675.93À0.23% See more at WSJ.com/Markets

Mr. Weisler, who took over

as HP’s CEO in 2015, will be

succeeded by Enrique Lores,

the head of the company’s im-

aging, printing and solutions

business, HP said Thursday.

Mr. Lores, a Spaniard who

joined the company as an in-

tern 30 years ago, will assume

the top job on Nov. 1 and

work with Mr. Weisler

through January 2020 to aid

the transition, the company

said.

“We need to continue to ex-

pand into some of our growth

opportunities,” Mr. Lores told

analysts on an earnings con-

ference call. The incoming

CEO said HP would work on

reducing its cost structure and

simplifying operations. He

promised more details would

come at an investor meeting

in October.

Shares of HP fell 6.4% after

hours.

Mr. Weisler has led HP,

which sells computers and

printers, since Hewlett-Pack-

ard Co. in 2015 split the com-

pany that Bill Hewlett and

Dave Packard started in their

Palo Alto, Calif., garage in

1939. The other business,
      Hewlett Packard Enterprise
      Co., focuses on selling com-
      puter servers, data-storage
      gear and other services for
      corporate-technology depart-
      ments. Mr. Weisler said he
      would eventually leave Silicon
      Valley to be with his family in
      Australia.
      When HP split, Mr. Weisler

took over what was seen as a

legacy business lacking the

growth potential of the Enter-

prise arm, which was catering

to the booming corporate-

technology-services sector. De-

spite a decline in industrywide

PC sales since 2015, HP has in-

creased its market share, even

as its total shipments also de-

clined, according to Gartner

Inc.

In its latest quarter, HP re-

ported flat revenue after sell-

ing more desktop computers,

but gains were offset by

weaker performance in its

printing business. HP was the

world’s No. 2 personal-com-

puter maker by shipments in

the second quarter, according

to Gartner.

Revenue from HP’s per-

sonal-systems unit, which in-

cludes its PC business and

sales of tablets, systems for

Please turn to page B

HP Inc. Chief Executive
Dion Weisler is stepping down
as the leader of one of the
world’s largest personal-com-
puter makers later this year
for family health reasons.

BYPATRICKTHOMAS

HP CEO Quits, Citing Family Health Issue

Imaging chief Lores to

succeed Weisler, as

shares of PC maker

fall 6.4% after hours

 Heard on the Street: HP’s

printer jam worsens..............B