2020-03-30_Bloomberg_Businessweek

ByBenediktKammel

○ The 2020

Tokyo

Olympics will

be delayed by

one year.

5

○ NeimanMarcusis

consideringfilingfor

bankruptcy,accordingto

peoplewithknowledge

ofthematter.Theluxury

retailerhasstruggledwith

a crushingdebtloadas

consumerscontinueto

shifttoonlinepurchases.

Neimanmanages

43 namesakestores

acrosstheU.S.,aswellas

twoBergdorfGoodman

storesin Manhattan.

○ FrenchcartoonistAlbertUderzo

diedofa heartattackin Parisatthe

ageof92.HispopularAsterixcomic

books,abouttheadventuresofa

Frenchvillagedefyingoccupation

bytheRomans,becamea globalhit,

sellingmillionsofcopiesin morethan

100 languagesandspawningmovies

anda themepark.

○ ThePurchasingManagersIndexfortheeurozone
droppedtoitslowestlevelsincethemeasurefor
manufacturingandserviceswasinauguratedin 1998.

Thisis a difficultmoment.Maybe

youknowsomeonewithCovid-

orotherswhohavestruggledtoget

tested.If you’rehealthy,I hopeyou’re

sociallydistancingtohelpflatten

thecurve.¶ Meanwhile,we’veall

watchedthemarketstank,businesses

cometoa screechinghalt,ourdaily

routinesgetupended.Workingfrom

homealwayssoundedgreat,until

it becamethenewnormal.Just

monthsago,anhistoricyetunloved

bullmarketlulledusintothinkingthat

stocksonlywentup.Howdistantand

quaintthattimealreadyseems.For

somany,thefuturelooksfarfrom

certain—direeven,especiallyforsmall

businesses.¶ HereatBloomberg

Businessweek, notevenourprescient

coverageofthecoronavirus(“Weare

sonotreadyforthis,”wewroteon

ourFeb. 10 cover)couldprepareus

forthespeedwithwhichtheglobal

economywouldsuccumbtothe

pandemic.Themagazine’sstaffand

ourcolleaguesatBloombergNews

arerisingtomeetthemoment,and

we’llcontinuetocoverthefalloutof

irusfromeveryangle.(We’llkeep

ngyoua fewnonvirusstories,

f youhaven’talready,download

loombergappformoreinsightful

rtingandforaccesstothe

azineonmobile.¶ Fromallofus,

setakecareofyourselfandyour

d ones.Bybringingoutthebest in

oneanother,we’llbuilda betterworld.

 EDITOR’S LETTER

○ Occidental Petroleum

named former CEO

Stephen Chazen as

chairman. People

familiar with the

matter say the company is

nearing a truce with activist

investor Carl Icahn that will

see three new directors

appointedtoitsboard.

Joel Weber

Editor, Bloomberg Businessweek

Since their inception in 1896, the

modern games have never been

postponed, though they were

canceled during both world wars.

It’s the biggest disruption of a public

event since the coronavirus pandemic

began. Japan has spent more than

$26 billion to prepare for the games,

according to some estimates.

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