2019-10-14 Bloomberg Businessweek-Europe Edition

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BloombergBusinessweek October14, 2019

GRAHAM:

AARON

P.BERNSTEIN/BLOOMBERG. MOREY: AARON M. SPRECHER/AP PHOTO. LONDON: NIKLAS HALLE’N/AFP/GETTY IMAGES. BEER: MARIUS

GRAF/ALAMY

 IN BRIEF

ByBenedikt Kammel

○ The U.S. blacklisted

eight Chinese technology

giants, including two video

surveillance companies and

the world’s most valuable

artificial intelligence startup.

For the first time in the

trade war with China, the

administration cited human-

rights abuse as its rationale

behind an order.  35

○ General Electric said it

will freeze pension benefits

for more than 20,

employees to trim the

shortfall in its retirement

plan by as much as

$8 billion. GE’s underfunded

pension liabilities reached

$22.4b

at the end of last year—

the largest such deficit

among U.S. companies.

○ Bang & Olufsen has

hired Kristian Tear as CEO.

The unprofitable Danish

maker of luxury audio

systems hopes the former

BlackBerry chief operating

officer can orchestrate

a turnaround following

several profit warnings and

the stock’s collapse.

○ PG&Ecut

power to about

600,

customers.

○ The NBA came under

fire from China, one of

its biggest markets, after

Houston Rockets general

manager Daryl

Morey tweeted an

image of a slogan

supporting Hong Kong’s

protest movement. CCTV,

the state broadcaster,

said it will stop airing NBA

games.  12

○ The 6.3 million visitors to

this year’s Oktoberfest in

Munich, a sprawling festival

featuring hearty food,

fairground attractions, and

beer, washed down

7.3m

one-liter steins of suds,

organizers said.

○ This year’s Nobel Prize for

chemistry went to a trio of

scientists for work on the

lithium-ion battery, the

energy-storage packs that

have revolutionized life on

the go, from mobile phones

to cars to recording devices.

Each researcher will receive

9 million Swedish kronor

($904,000).

○ Donald Trump

lost a bid to avoid

scrutiny of his tax

returns.

○ Activists from Extinction Rebellion blocked streets and bridges in central

London on Oct. 7, part of an international protest against what they criticize as

slow government action to halt climate change.

A federal court in New York dismissed

his suit to block prosecutors from

getting the documents for their

investigation into whether the Trump

Organization falsified records related

to hush payments. While it considers

his appeal, the Second Circuit in

Manhattan will not enforce the ruling.

With hot, windy conditions

heightening the risk of wildfires,

the utility interrupted service in

almost 30 counties in Northern

and Central California to prevent

equipment from sparking blazes.

PG&E already faces an estimated

$30 billion in wildfire liabilities.

○ To attract young buyers, Japanese cosmetics giant Shiseido will pay $845 million for skin-care company Drunk Elephant.

○ Hong Kong’s stock exchange gave up its hostile £29.6 billion ($36.4 billion) pursuit of its London rival.

○ North Korea left nuclear discussions with the U.S. in Stockholm, saying the U.S. had arrived to the talks empty-handed.

○ An oil spill of mysterious origin has contaminated more than 100 beaches in nine northeastern states in Brazil.

○ “ISIS is not defeated,

my friend. The biggest

lie being told by the

administration is that

ISIS is defeated.”

Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, normally a close

Republican ally of the U.S. president, lambasted Trump’s

decision to shift troops out of the path of a threatened Turkish

military incursion in Syria.  39