B2| Tuesday, April 7, 2020 **** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

INDEX TO BUSINESSES

These indexes cite notable references to most parent companies and businesspeople
in today’s edition. Articles on regional page inserts aren’t cited in these indexes.

A
Airbnb..........................B2
Airbus..........................B3
Allstate................B1,B10
American Airlines.....B11
American Family Mutual
Insurance..................B1
Apple......................B1,B3
B
Bank of Jinzhou........B10
Baoshang Bank.........B10
BASF............................B4
Berkshire Hathaway.B12
BMW...........................B4
C
CanSino Biologics.....A12
Carnival..........A1,B1,B10
Chevron.....................B12
CureVac.....................A12
CVS Health.................A1
D
Deutsche Lufthansa...B4
Dollar General.............A8
E
Empire Kosher Poultry
.....................................B2
F
Factual.........................B4
Fiat Chrysler
Automobiles.............B3
Foursquare Labs.........B4
G
General Electric..........A4
General Mills..............A8
General Motors...........A4

Gilead Sciences.........A12

Goldman Sachs GroupB3

H

Hengfeng Bank.........B10

Hexcel..........................B2

Honda Motor...............B3

Honeywell International

.....................................A4

Hy-Vee.........................B2

I

Informa Pharma

Intelligence...............A1

Inovio Pharmaceuticals

...................................A12

J-K

JBS USA Holdings......B2

JPMorgan Chase.......B10

Kohl's.....................A1,B1

L

Lucid Motors.............B10

Luckin Coffee..............B3

M

Marriott InternationalB1

Microsoft.....................B1

Moderna....................A12

Mugler.........................B4

N

No Borders................B11

Nordstrom.............A1,B1

O-P

Occidental Petroleum

...................................B12

Oracle..........................A1

Penske Media...........B10

PG&E...........................B1

R

Ravn Air......................B3

Reckitt Benckiser Group

.....................................B6

Regeneron

Phaarmaceuticals...A12

Robert Bosch..............B4

S

Samsung Electronics..B4

Sanderson Farms........B2

Sandy Steele Unlimited

...................................B11

SeaWorld

Entertainment..........B3

Shake Shack...............A7

Starbucks....................B3

T

Tesla..........................B10

3M...............................A4

Tyson Foods................B2

U

Uber Technologies....B10

United Airlines..........B11

V

Visa..............................B1

Volkswagen.................B4

W

Walmart......................B4

Woodward...................B2

Y

Yum Brands................A8

Z

Zoom Video

Communications.....B12

INDEX TO PEOPLE

BUSINESS & FINANCE

Stores.

To keep eggs in stock, the

chain bought surplus inventory

from food-service distributor

Sysco Corp., which increasingly

is selling food to supermarkets

as restaurants close.

Margarita Higgs, a 26-year-

old stay-at-home mother, said

she worries about the potential

price increase because her

family goes through three to

four dozen eggs every week.

“It’s something that’s hard

to replace in your diet,” said

Ms. Higgs, who lives in Hous-

ton with her twins, parents and

brother. “We’ve been eating a

lot of eggs.”

The surge follows a tough

period for U.S. egg producers,

who on average lost 2.7 cents

per dozen eggs produced last

year, according to the Iowa-

based Egg Industry Center, an

industry-funded research group

at Iowa State University. Cal-

Maine Foods Inc., the biggest

U.S. egg supplier, on March 30

reported a 10% decline in sales

for the quarter ended Feb. 29,

because of sinking egg prices

and high supplies, with profits

dropping by about two-thirds

from the year earlier, to $13.7

million.

Coronavirus-driven demand

could bring a windfall for Cal-

Maine and other big egg sup-

pliers. Chief Executive Dolph

Baker said that in recent weeks

some egg prices have jumped

to record levels, and the Mis-

sissippi-based company has so

far avoided supply or transport

disruptions.

Feed and fuel—two of the

biggest costs in producing

eggs—are getting cheaper.

Corn and soybean futures

prices in March fell 7.5% and

0.8%, respectively. Gasoline

prices in some parts of the

country have dipped below $1 a

gallon.

The coronavirus has driven

up prices faster than the 2015

avian influenza outbreak,

which led to the death of about

10% of domestic egg-laying

hens. In mid-2015, wholesale

egg prices climbed by about

126% over a period of four

months after the first U.S. egg

farm case was confirmed, ac-

cording to USDA data.

day it suspended operations at

its Columbus Junction, Iowa,

pork plant after more than two

dozen cases of Covid-19 were

reported among employees

there.

The Arkansas-based com-

pany, the largest U.S. meat sup-

plier by sales, is diverting hog

deliveries from that plant to

other nearby facilities, and em-

ployees are being paid during

the anticipated one-week clo-

sure. Tyson is performing extra

cleaning that has required

some other plants to close for a

day.

The slowdowns come as the

$213 billion U.S. meat industry

tries to adjust to the coronavi-

rus-forced changes to American

eating habits, reorienting the

flow of ground beef, chicken

breasts and sausage toward su-

permarkets and away from res-

taurants.

Meat supplies were high

heading into the coronavirus

pandemic. Total frozen

chicken in U.S. cold-storage fa-

cilities on Feb. 29 stood at 925

million pounds, a record for

the month, according to U.S.

Agriculture Department data.

Supplies of frozen pork,

beef and other red meat

climbed 5% compared with

February 2019, and were up

3% from this past January’s

level. In 2019, the industry

produced a record 105 billion

The coronavirus pandemic is

hitting U.S. meat operations,

slowing and temporarily halt-

ing production at some plants

as sickness and fear keep work-

ers home.

Meat plant employees,

working by the hundreds in

plants, with many standing

side by side on processing

lines, play a critical role in re-

plenishing supermarkets. But

workers’ concerns that they

could contract the coronavirus

have prompted walkouts and

complaints, while a growing

number of positive cases

prompts some meat companies

to scale back operations.

JBS USA HoldingsInc. has

closed a beef-processing plant

in Souderton, Pa., for two

weeks, a spokesman said over

the weekend. The plant, which

produces ground beef and

other products and employs

more than 1,000 people, gradu-

ally reduced operations last

week after several managers

were sent home with flulike

symptoms.

Wendell Young, president of

United Food and Commercial

Workers Local 1776, which rep-

resents workers at the plant,

said rising numbers of process-

ing workers have fallen ill, and

others were afraid to go to

work. “It accelerated rapidly in

the previous week, and it cre-

ated some production chal-

lenges,” Mr. Young said.

JBS altered schedules and

seating to create more distance

between workers, but the na-

ture of meatpacking work com-

plicated those efforts, Mr.

Young said.

The JBS spokesman said the

temporary closure is meant to

ensure the plant has sufficient

management in place for its ex-

pected April 16 reopening. But

for that issue, he said, the plant

could operate safely.

Tyson FoodsInc. said Mon-

BYJACOBBUNGE

serve across America is our pri-

mary focus,” said Jeff Brown,

Empire’s chief executive.

The various plant closures

aren’t expected to signifi-

cantly affect the overall avail-

ability of meat, at least in the

short term, since meat pro-

duction generally has been

high and restaurant closures

mean fewer burgers and

chicken consumed in food-ser-

vice settings, according to Len

Steiner, head of food-industry

consulting firm Steiner Con-

sulting Group.

Some meat industry and la-

bor officials said they expect

other slowdowns and further

interruptions as worker ab-

sences rise.

Sanderson FarmsInc., an-

other major chicken company,

on April 2 said its Moultrie,

Ga., poultry plant will tempo-

rarily reduce production by

nearly one-fourth after it asked

415 of the plant’s roughly 1,500

workers to stay home. CEO Joe

Sanderson called it a precau-

tionary move as coronavirus

cases jumped in the area.

The company plans to hire

around 200 additional employ-

ees there, and is paying the

current employees that are

staying home.

Illness, fears over contracting

the virus and the need to care

for out-of-school children led

around 800 to 900 employees of

a JBS beef plant in Greeley,

Colo., to stay home from work

each day last week, according to

Kim Cordova, president of the

local UFCW union. The union,

which represents JBS employees

at the plant, didn’t coordinate

the move, she said.

The JBS spokesman put the

number at less than that by

about a third and said atten-

dance is improving; he said the

Colorado plant, which employs

more than 3,000 people, contin-

ued to meet demand.

Concern over the virus, and

worries that close-quarters

work in meat-cutting lines and

plant locker rooms could help

spread it, have led more plant

employees to walk off process-

ing lines and call for compa-

nies to take further steps to

protect workers.

Meat Plants Slow Production

As Employees Fear for Safety

Some sites close, keep

workers farther apart

to halt virus’s spread;

food supply still ample

TheU.S.meatindustryhasbeenproducingrecordlevelsof

poultryandredmeatleadinguptothecoronaviruspandemic,

whichisnowdisruptingsomeplantoperations.

AnnualU.S.commercialmeatproduction

Source: USDA

60

20

30

40

50

billion pounds

1990 ’95 2000 ’05 ’10 ’15

Redmeat

Poultry*

*Includes federally inspected, certified, chilled & frozen poultry

pounds of red meat and poul-

try.

JBS has called the Souderton

plant the largest beef facility

east of Chicago, and in 2009 es-

timated its processing capacity

at 1,900 cattle a day, about one-

third the size of JBS’s largest

Plains states beef plants. Em-

ployees in Souderton are being

paid for a 32-hour workweek

there, a spokesman said, and

supermarkets are being sup-

plied from other JBS plants.

In central Pennsylvania,Em-

pire Kosher PoultryInc. last

week temporarily closed after

some employees at the 550-

person plant contracted

Covid-19, a spokesman said.

The company is the largest U.S.

kosher chicken supplier and

typically closes for the Pass-

over holiday, but it shut down

early as a precautionary step

and plans to reopen the week

of April 13.

“The health and safety of

our employees, their families

and those communities we

Up to 900 workers

at a Colorado beef

plant stayed home

each day last week.

both companies.

Neither party will be re-

quired to pay the other a ter-

mination fee as a result of the

decision.

The combined company,

which would have been known

as Woodward Hexcel, would

have ranked among the aero-

space industry’s largest sup-

pliers, with combined sales of

$5.3 billion last year and

16,000 staff.

Colorado-based Woodward

makes cockpit systems and ac-

tuators—the motors that con-

trol wing flaps and other

flight-critical functions—for

commercial and military air-

craft. Connecticut-based Hex-

cel is a specialist in composite

materials such as carbon fiber,

which are increasingly used in

aircraft and their engines sys-

tems because they are lighter

than metal and alloys.

B

Brown, Jeff.................B2

C

Cannon, Fred...............B1
Cecchini, Peter............B1
Chesky, Brian..............B2
Cook, Tim....................B3
Cordova, Kim...............B2
Curtis, Harry.............B10

D

Dimon, James....B10,B11

E

Evans, Dwyfor...........B11

F

Farley, Robin.............B10

G

Graham-Taylor, Lyn..B11

Griffin, Mark...............B2

K

Krause, Daniel............A7

L

Lu, Charles Zhengyao.B3

N-P

Narasimhan, Laxman..B6

Perdikis, Alex............B12

Q

Qian, Jenny Zhiya.......B3

R

Rivera, Sergio.............B3

S

Sanderson, Joe...........B2

Shim, David.................B4

Snyder, Joseph..........B11

Steiner, Len.................B2

Y

Yergin, Daniel...........B11

Young, Wendell...........B2

Yuan, Eric..................B12

weeks ended March 22, sales of
fresh eggs at U.S. retail stores
were about 30% higher than
the prior month, according to
market research firm IRI. Re-
tail prices declined about 5%.
Randy Edeker, president of
Midwest grocery chainHy-Vee
Inc., said it is hard to ask con-
sumers to pay more for eggs
and other protein as the pan-
demic drives people to stock
up. Eggs have long been a
cheap source of protein for
low-income families, food-in-
dustry officials said.
“Costs are going up right
now,” Mr. Edeker said. “We’re
just going to have to lose
money on eggs.”
Lincoln, Neb.-based B&R
Stores Inc. is selling a dozen
eggs for $2.48, though the
chain is paying $2.93, up from
98 cents two weeks prior.
Some products are also in-
creasing in price, but not as
much as eggs. B&R’s wholesale
price of ground beef increased
by 25%, or $1 higher per
pound, and chicken and pork
prices went up by roughly 15%.
“We’re all selling eggs below
market price. On a staple item
like eggs, there are times when
you make money and times
when you lose money,” said
Mark Griffin, president of B&R

Continued from page B1

The rise in cost comes as many producers had shrunk flocks after losing money in 2019.

JOHN RUCOSKY/THE TRIBUNE-DEMOCRAT/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Egg Prices

Pressure

Grocers

AirbnbInc. said Monday it
is raising $1 billion in funding
from private-equity firms Sil-
ver Lake and Sixth Street
Partners as the company reels
from a global hit to its busi-
ness caused by the coronavi-
rus pandemic.
The San Francisco-based
startup said the funding will
be a combination of debt and
equity and is meant to sup-
port Airbnb’s long-term work,
including its network of hosts
and stakeholders.
The home-sharing company
said about $5 million of the
investment will go toward a
Superhost relief fund. That
money will be used to provide
grants worth a combined total
of around $15 million to hosts
who rent out their own home
and need help paying their
rent or mortgage, as well as

long-tenured hosts who offer

classes and tours through its

Experiences business who may

need help.

Airbnb’s stated plans to go

public this year have been a

subject of scrutiny and uncer-

tainty as the pandemic devas-

tated global travel.

Terms of the private-equity

investment weren’t disclosed.

In 2017, the last time Airbnb

raised money, it was valued at

$31 billion.

Airbnb had planned to go

public this year through a di-

rect listing, which wouldn’t in-

volve raising additional

money, but as revenue evapo-

rates the company also has

been considering raising cash

through an initial public offer-

ing, people familiar with the

situation have said.

Chief Executive Brian

Chesky is under pressure from

employees to go public.

BYKIMBERLYCHIN

Airbnb Raises Funds

As Home-Sharing

Business Stumbles

Aerospace suppliersWood-

wardInc. andHexcelCorp.

agreed to terminate

their merger agreement amid

the Covid-19 pandemic.

The companies make parts

for Airbus SE and Boeing Co.

jets, including the grounded

737 MAX. When Woodward

and Hexcel announced their

merger in January, they said

the deal would allow them to

expand spending on research

and development of more effi-

cient engines and lightweight

aircraft parts.

The companies said the

pandemic has resulted in a

need for each company to fo-

cus on its respective busi-

nesses and has affected their

ability to realize the benefits

of the merger. The termination

was approved by the boards of

BYMICHAELDABAIE

Aerospace Suppliers Call Off Merger

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