6 The EconomistAugust 29th 2020
The world this week Business
AntGroupfiledpapersfor
whatcouldbethebiggest-ever
ipo, raisingupto$30bn.Also
knownasAlipay,thegroupis
affiliatedwithAlibaba,China’s
biggestonlineretailer,andits
founder,JackMa.Muchof
China’sonlinepaymentsare
madeonitsplatform.It isthe
world’smostvaluablefintech
enterprise.Ant’sdualstock-
marketflotation,inHongKong
andonShanghai’sstar
exchange,couldseeit valuedat
upwardsof$200bn.TheTaiwanesegovernment
saidthatTaobaoTaiwan,an
e-commerceplatformwhichis
operatedbya British-regis-
teredfirm,butinwhichAli-
babaholdsa substantialstake,
poseda securityriskbecause
customers’detailscouldbe
heldonAlibaba’sserversin
China.Thegovernmentgave
theBritishfirmsixmonthsto
eitherre-registerasa Chinese
companyor“withdraw”its
investment.Kevin Mayer is to step down as
TikTok’schief executive, after
just three months in the job.
The video-sharing app is the
latest Chinese-owned firm to
stir up national-security con-
cerns in America. It has filed a
lawsuit against Donald
Trump’s order that bans it
unless it sells its American
operations to an American
company. TikTok said it had
“taken extraordinary measures
to protect the privacy” of data.A group of WeChatusers also
sued the administration over a
similar order from Mr Trump.
The group argues that a ban on
the Chinese-owned messaging
app curtails their right to free
speech and forms part of the
president’s “racial animus”
against Chinese people.TherecentdecisionbyAppleto
splititsstockprompteda
reconfigurationoftheDow
JonesIndustrialAverage, an
indexof 30 Americancompa-
niesweightedbyshareprice.
OutgoExxonMobil,Raytheon
andPfizer,tobereplacedby
Amgen,HoneywellandSales-
force.Exxontracesitsrootsin
theindexto1928;it wasthen
knownasStandardOilofNew
Jersey.ItsremovalleavesChev-
ronastheonlyoilcompanyin
theDow.Thechangesoffsetthe
reductioninApple’sweightin
theindex,butalso“better
reflecttheAmericanecon-
omy”,accordingtoDowJones.Stillontheroad.Fornow
A courtinCaliforniagranted
LyftandUberanemergency
stayagainstaninjunctionthat
wouldhaveforcedthemto
reclassifytheirdriversas
employeesinthestate,wreck-
ingtheirbusinessmodel.The
ride-hailingcompanies’appeal
willbeheardonOctober13th.Germany’sstatisticsoffice
nowthinksthe economy
shrankby9.7%inthesecond
quartercomparedwiththe
first,a bitbetterthananinitial
estimateof-10.1%.Public-sectornetdebtinBrit-
ainroseabove£2trn($2.6trn)forthefirsttime.Thegovern-
ment’sdebtattheendofJuly
wasroughlyequaltogdp.AmericanAirlinesconfirmed
thatit wouldslash19,000jobs
inOctober,whentherequire-
menttoretainstaffendsunder
theconditionsofthefederal
bail-outoftheaviationin-
dustry.Thegovernmentwas
saidtobeconsideringa new
rescuepackageforAmerica’s
biggestairlines.VirginAtlanticreacheda vital
agreementwithcreditorsthat
willallowa £1.2bn($1.6bn)
private-refinancingplanto
proceed.Thecash-strapped
airlinewasunabletosecurea
rescuedealearlierintheyear
fromtheBritishgovernment.Rolls-Roycereporteda £5.4bn
($6.8bn)pre-taxlossforthe
firstsixmonthsoftheyear.The
engineeringcompanyhasbeen
hurtbythegroundingofflights
duringthepandemic;airlines
payit basedonhowmany
hourstheyuseitsengines.Incontrasttotheaviation
industry’swoes,theboomin
homeshoppinghasledTesco,
Britain’sbiggestsupermarket
chain,tocreate16,000extra
permanentjobsinitsonline
business,mostlywarehouse
pickersanddrivers.Purveyorsofelectronicgoods
havealsodonewellaspeople
spendmoretimeathome.Best
Buyreporteda 242%increase
fromonlinerevenueinits
mostrecentquarter.Tradehas
beensobriskthattheAmeri-
canretailercouldrunoutof
somegoods,suchasgame
consoles.ThecostofbuildingCrossrail,
whichwilllinkwestandeast
LondonbytrainandisEurope’s
biggestinfrastructureproject,
roseagain,to£18.7bn($25bn).
Theopeningdatewasagain
pushedback,tomid-2022.It
wassupposedtoopenin2018.Oncea scourgeofthemusic
industrybecauseofitspio-
neeringplatformthatallowed
peopletosharetunes,illegally,
overtheinternet,Napsterwas
soldfor$70mbyRealNet-
works,itscurrentowner,to
Melodyvr, a startupbasedin
London.Napsterwasforcedto
closein2001 butthename
livedonandit reinventeditself
asa music-streamingservice.Don’t touch your face!
Kentucky Fried Chicken’s
latest ad campaign dropped the
“finger lickin’ good” slogan it
has used for 64 years, because
it doesn’t “quite fit” with
clinical advice on covid-19.