6 The EconomistAugust 8th 2020
The world this week Business
Inanextraordinaryturnof
events,DonaldTrumpsaidhe
wouldnowgivehisblessingto
Microsoft’srecentproposalto
acquiretheAmericanoper-
ationsofTikTok, afterthe
softwaregiantsaidit had
addressedthepresident’s
concerns.MrTrumphad
threatenedtoshutdownthe
videoappintheUnitedStates
becauseofworriesthatits
Chineseownermightcollect
userdatafortheChinese
government.Warningthathe
mightintervenefurther,Mr
Trumpsuggestedthattheus
Treasuryshouldgeta cutfrom
anydeal.Environmental crusader
bpsaid it aimed to reduce
production in oil and gas by
40% before 2030 and hugely
increase investment in renew-
able energy as part of its project
to achieve net zero carbon-
dioxide emissions by 2050. It is
the most ambitious plan put
forward by an oil company yet
in the switch to green energy.
bpreported a headline loss of
$6.7bn for the second quarter,
mostly because it wrote down
assets in light of lower oil
prices. It also reduced the size
of its shareholder dividend for
the first time in a decade.bpwas not alone among the oil
giants in revealing a painful
quarter. Chevronreported a
loss of $8.3bn and ExxonMobil
$1.1bn. Shellrecently wrote
down its assets by $16.8bn.Bolstering its balance-sheet,
Marathon Petroleum, an oil-
refining company, agreed to
sell its Speedway petrol
stations to Seven & i Holdings,
the Japanese owner of 7-Eleven
convenience stores, for $21bn.Anthony Levandowski, who
helped found Google’s driver-
less-car project, was sentenced
to 18 months in prison for
stealing the company’s tech-
nology before going to work on
a rival scheme for Uber. Mr
Levandowski, once one of
Silicon Valley’s brightest stars,
will not go to jail yet because of
covid-19. He was also ordered
to pay $756,000 in restitution.Elizabeth Warren, an American
senator, wrote to the Securities
and Exchange Commission
asking it to investigate “poten-
tial incidents of insider trad-
ing” before the announcement
that Kodakwas to receive a
government loan to make
generic drugs. Kodak’s share
price soared by over 2,000%
following the announcement,
but has fallen by more than
half since then.A raftofdataforthesecond
quarter revealed the extent of
the damage that the pandemic
is doing to economies. The
euro zone’seconomy was
12.1% smaller than in the previ-
ous three months. Spain’s gdp
contracted by 18.5%, France’s
by 13.8% and Italy’s by 12.4%.
Earlier figures showed
America’seconomy shrinking
by 9.5% in the quarter.
Sweden, which controversially
avoided a lockdown to keep itseconomy running, saw gdp
shrink by 8.6%.Two big takeovers involving
health-tech companieswere
announced. Siemens Healthi-
neers, a group listed separately
to Siemens, its parent com-
pany, said it would buy Varian
Medical Systems, best known
for its use of artificial intelli-
gence and machine learning in
cancer treatments, for $16.4bn.
And Teladoc Health, which
operates a telemedicine plat-
form, struck a deal to acquire
Livongo, a rival, for $18.5bn.Fordannounced that Jim
Hackett is to step down as chief
executive. Jim Farley, the chief
operating officer, will take over
in October. Mr Hackett has held
the position for three years, a
time of lacklustre profits that
drove many investors to de-
spair. Ford did report a second-
quarter net profit of $1.1bn, but
that was mostly down to gains
from an investment; without
the gains it slipped to a loss.
General Motors and Fiat Chrys-
ler reported losses, but they
were smaller than expected.EasyJetoperated just 709
flights for the three months
ending June, in contrast with
165,656 in the same quarter last
year. However, the European
airline says demand is now“healthy” and it has increased
its planned passenger capacity
this quarter to 40%. Faced with
a cash crunch, iag, the owner
of British Airways, said it
would issue new shares to raise
up to €2.75bn ($3.3bn).James Murdochresigned from
the board of News Corporation,
because of “certain editorial
content”. He is Rupert Mur-
doch’s youngest son and was
once seen as an heir to his
father’s media empire, but he
has drifted away from the
business to take up liberal
causes. That empire is much
smaller now anyway, after the
sale of film and television
assets to Disney in 2019.Live from your living room
With cinemas under restric-
tions on social distancing and
facing the prospect of more
lockdowns, Disneydecided to
release “Mulan”, the live ver-
sion of its animated hit, on
Disney+ in September. Its
streaming service has attracted
over 60m subscribers since
launching late last year,
though it has yet to cover its
costs. Overall, Disney reported
a net loss of $4.7bn from April
to June, its first since 2001,
mostly because it had to close
its theme parks at the start of
the pandemic.GDP
Q2 2020, % decrease on previous quarterSources: Eurostat; national statisticsLithuaniaSwedenUnited StatesGermanyEuro zoneBelgiumPortugal0-3-6-9-12-