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Bloomberg Businessweek August 5, 2019
JOHNSON: BRENDON THORNE/BLOOMBERG. RECORD: COURTESY COLUMBIA RECORDS. RED SEA: AQABA SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONE/XINHUA/REDUX
IN BRIEF
By Benedikt Kammel
○ Boris Johnson stood
firm on his promise to pull
off Brexit by the end of
October. The new prime
minister says he will follow
through, even if it means
the U.K. crashes out of the
EU with no deal. Brussels
signaled that the current
accord is the final
one. The pou
plummeted
against the
U.S. dollar.
○ Citigroup is preparing to
cut hundreds of jobs in its
fixed-income and stock-
trading operations, including
at least 100 positions at its
equities unit, in response to
a persistent trading slump
across the industry.
○ IHG, which operates
the Holiday Inn and
InterContinental chains,
is switching to bulk-size
shampoos and shower gels
worldwide to cut plastic
waste. The change will allow
the company to avoid using
200m
miniature bottles each year
to restock its 5,600 rooms.
○ Bayer revealed
more trouble
with its Roundup
weedkiller.
○ V.G. Siddhartha, who
founded India’s Café
Coffee Day chain, was
found dead in an apparent
suicide, after leaving a note
decrying pressure from
lenders and tax officials.
Shares of the company
dropped 20% on July 30.
○ On July 29, Lil Nas X’s Old Town Road
marked its 17th straight week atop the
Billboard Hot 100 chart. That beats
the previous record of 16 weeks, first
achieved by Mariah Carey and Boyz II
Men’s One Sweet Day more than two
decades ago.
○ Pfizer announced plans to
combine its business selling
older blockbuster drugs
such as Lipitor and Viagra
with generic drugmaker
Mylan. The publicly traded
company will have annual
revenue approaching
$20b
○ Donald Trump
ramped up his
rhetoric against
China, accusing
it of continuing to
“rip off the USA.”
○ Jordan has sunk a collection of military vehicles, including old tanks and other
disused army equipment, to create an underwater military museum in the Red Sea.
The number of U.S. lawsuits claiming
the product caused cancer rose in the
most recent quarter by about 5,000, to
18,400. The company has denied a link
between the substance and cancer.
Specifically, the president says, China
honoring a pledge to buy U.S.
ultural products. His tirade came
e eve of fresh trade negotiations in
ghai. Those talks ended abruptly
no sign of progress toward ending
ispute between the world’s largest
omies.
○ Under Armour said 2019 sales in North America will fall, depressing a stock that’s already lost half its value this year.
○ University of Guam researchers said a third of the island’s coral reefs have died because of rising ocean temperatures.
○ Harold Prince, who directed The Phantom of the Opera, Broadway’s longest-running show, and won 21 Tonys, died at 91.
○ Colombia’s Egan Bernal was the youngest cyclist in 110 years—and the first Latin American—to win the Tour de France.
○ “It’s not the beginning
of a long series of
rate cuts. I didn’t say
it’s just one.”
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on July 31 after the Fed cut its target
lending rate a quarter percentage point. Stocks fell as investors dialed back hopes
for easier monetary policy.
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