WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2019 The Boston Globe Business B
TALKING POINTS
LEGAL Agenda
BAYER SAYS
ROUNDUP LAWSUITS
NOW TOTAL 18,
Germany’s Bayer says the number of plaintiffs who have
filed lawsuits against subsidiary Monsanto over its Round-
up weed killer in the United States swelled by 5,000 in the
second quarter to about 18,400. Bayer, which detailed the
total number of plaintiffs as of July 11 in its quarterly re-
port released Tuesday, said that ‘‘we continue to believe
that we have meritorious defenses’’ and will ‘‘defend our-
selves vigorously.’’ The company said that it also faces five
Canadian lawsuits seeking class-action certification. Plain-
tiffs claim that Roundup caused cancer and rulings in
three cases in the United States have gone against Monsan-
to. Bayer argues that studies have established that glyphosate, Roundup’s active ingredient,
is safe. Bayer acquired Monsanto for $63 billion last year. — ASSOCIATED PRESSINSURANCE
GEICO TO TRACK
DRIVERS VIA
PHONE APP
Warren Buffett’s Geico now wants to track drivers, just like some of its biggest competitors
do. Geico has launched a telematics offering, called DriveEasy, in certain states, Credit
Suisse Group analyst Mike Zaremski said in a research note Tuesday. A phone app tracks
driving habits and gives individuals a score and tips, according to Geico’s website. While
Geico has historically offered discounts to drivers for staying accident-free for five years, the
app would be more interactive, using the phone to track trips. Rivals including Progressive
Corp., which Buffett has called “well-run,” and Allstate Corp. have long used programs to
track drivers and encourage better behavior. — BLOOMBERG NEWSPHARMACEUTICALS
MERCK’S PROFIT
SOARS ON SALES
OF KEYTRUDA
AND JANUVIA
Soaring sales of its cancer blockbuster and vaccines helped drive Merck’s second-quarter
profit up a whopping 54 percent, blowing past Wall Street expectations. The maker of the
cancer immunotherapy drug Keytruda and diabetes pill Januvia also benefited from
slightly reduced spending on research and restructuring, even as it becomes a bigger player
in advanced cancer medicines. The Kenilworth, N.J., company raised its revenue forecast
for the year by more than $1 billion. — ASSOCIATED PRESSHOSPITALITY
OWNER OF HOLIDAY
INN AND
INTERCONTINENTAL
HOTELS TO ELIMINATE
MINI TOILETRIES
The fight to save the seas from plastic waste may mean the end for mini bottles of shampoo
and other toiletries that hotel guests love to stuff into their luggage. The owner of Holiday
Inn and InterContinental Hotels said Tuesday that its nearly 843,000 guest rooms are
switching to bulk-size bathroom
amenities as part of an effort to cut
waste. The transition is due to be
completed in 2021. IHG, which uses
an average of 200 million bathroom
miniatures every year, said custom-
ers expect them to act responsibly.
And there is little doubt that public
awareness of the problem of plastic waste has been swelling amid alarming forecasts that
there could be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050. — ASSOCIATED PRESSRETAIL
SEARS RETIREES
WHO LOST
INSURANCE PLAN
TO GET ABOUT
$135 EACH
Workers who retired after years of folding shirts and selling refrigerators for Sears Holdings
Corp. banded together earlier this year to complain when the retailer’s bankrupt shell
terminated their life insurance plan. Those benefits were potentially worth thousands of
dollars to heirs of the former employees. Now the Sears estate has responded with a
proposal that would pay them about $135 each. The retiree plan provided policies to about
29,000 former workers with death benefits between $5,000 and $14,500, according to a
new court filing that lays out the estate’s proposal. A smaller group of a dozen retired senior
executives had policies with death benefits between about $356,000 and $2.7 million.
— BLOOMBERG NEWSREAL ESTATE
HOME PRICES
SLOW IN MAY
US home prices rose at a slower pace in May, a sign that many would-be buyers are finding
properties unaffordable. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller 20-city home price index in-
creased 2.4 percent in May from a year earlier, according to a Tuesday report. Price growth
decelerated slightly from the 2.5 percent year-over-year gain in April. The sluggish price
growth stems largely from the most expensive markets, where years of price growth have
undermined affordability. Home prices rose less than 2 percent in Los Angeles, New York,
San Diego, and San Francisco. Prices in the typically hot market of Seattle fell 1.2 percent
from a year ago, a sharp reversal from an annualized gain of 13.6 percent in May 2018. The
strongest price gains were in Las Vegas at 6.4 percent, Phoenix at 5.7 percent, and Tampa at
5.1 percent. — ASSOCIATED PRESSGEMSTONES
DIAMOND INDUSTRY
CONTINUES
TO STRUGGLE
The crisis squeezing the diamond industry is gaining momentum. De Beers reported
another sharp drop in its latest sales to the lowest since 2015, after the world’s biggest
producer allowed its struggling customers to defer more purchases to later this year. The
mostly family-run businesses that cut, polish, and trade the world’s diamonds are battling
to make a profit as demand slumps because of a surplus of polished stones and as demand
for high-end jewelry stagnates. It has also become harder for these companies to access
financing. — BLOOMBERG NEWSELECTRONICS
NINTENDO PROFIT
DROPS DESPITE
HIGHER SALES
Nintendo Co.’s fiscal first quarter profit dipped to about
half of what it was a year earlier despite improved sales as
an unfavorable exchange rate eroded earnings, the Japa-
nese video game maker said Tuesday. Nintendo’s April-
June quarter profit totaled 16.6 billion yen ($153 million),
down from 30.6 billion yen the year before. Quarterly sales
rose 2 percent to 172 billion yen ($1.6 billion). Kyoto-based
Nintendo sold 2.13 million Nintendo Switch machines for
the period, up from 1.88 million in the same period of the previous year. The Switch is a hy-
brid game machine that works both as a console and a tablet. More than 36.87 million con-
soles have been sold since sales began about two years ago. — ASSOCIATED PRESSINTERNATIONAL
FOUNDER OF INDIA’S
LARGEST COFFEE
CHAIN DISAPPEARS
The founder of India’s biggest coffee chain has gone missing after allegedly signing a letter
that apologizes for his failures and accuses tax officers of harassment. V.G. Siddhartha,
chairman and managing director of Coffee Day Enterprises, has not been reachable since
Monday evening, the company said in a news release. The Bengaluru-based business is the
parent company of Café Coffee Day chain. — WASHINGTON POSTCONSUMERS
SPENDING UP
0.3 PERCENT IN JUNE
Consumer spending rose a healthy 0.3 percent in June, slightly below the strong gains of
the past three months, while incomes turned ina solid 0.4 percent gain for the fourth
straight month. The Commerce Department said Tuesday that the spending increase fol-
lowed strong gains of 1 percent in March, 0.6 percent in April and 0.5 percent in May as the
consumer rebounded following a lackluster start to the year. An inflation gauge favored by
the Federal Reserve showed prices rising 1.4 percent over the past year, well below the Fed’s
2 percent inflation target. Fed officials are widely expected to reduce their benchmark inter-
est rate for the first time in a decade at this week’s meeting, in part because of the contin-
ued short-fall in inflation despite strong economic growth. — ASSOCIATED PRESSFESTIVAL
Party with startups
Celebrate Boston’s startup scene with
food trucks and live music at this
gathering hosted by BostInno. Winners of
the “2019 Coolest Companies” will be
crowned. Thursday, The Lawn On D, 420
D St., Boston. $20 to $170. Register
online or go to the agenda at
bostonglobe.com.FUNDING OPPORTUNITY
Windup and pitch
Take a shot at securing millions in funding
for your enterprise at this event from
Startupalooza. Contestants will pitch to a
panel of judges representing venture
capital firms. All business ideas are
welcome. Thursday, 6 to 9 p.m., 182
Memorial Drive, building 4, room 4-270,
Cambridge. $20 to $45. Register online
or go to the agenda at bostonglobe.com.PANEL
Look to the future
Consider impending difficulties for
workers in Boston at this discussion from
Untapped Potential Boston. Topics will
include the rising cost of living in Boston,
automation, and the gig economy.
Thursday, 6 to 7:30 p.m., Venture Cafe
Cambridge, CIC Building, 1 Broadway,
fifth floor, Havana Conference Room,
Cambridge. Free. Register online or go to
the agenda at bostonglobe.com.TRAINING
Analyze this
Learn how to use the right analytics to
grow your business at this class from
General Assembly. Discover how to use
data to understand your business and
how to present data coherently to
investors, team members, and customers.
Thursday, 6:30 to 8:30, 125 Summer St.,
13th floor, Boston. $40. Register online
or go to the agenda at bostonglobe.com.Eventsofnote?E-mailusat
[email protected]