The Wall Street Journal - 20.09.2019

*** FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2019 ~ VOL. CCLXXIV NO. 69 WSJ.com HHHH $4.**

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Israeli

Leader’s

Opponent

Declares

Victory

Gantz says he won’t

govern with Netanyahu

but will seek to form a

unity government

(D)63.6% (R)36.

Share of real GDP of congressional districts in 2018

64.3% 35.

Share of jobs in finance and insurance, by each party’s districts

Share of jobs in agriculture and mining, by each party’s districts

39.5% 60.

Source: Brookings analysis of Emsi data and IPUMS-USA 1-year ACS microdata

Lindsay Huth/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Japanese, Among Earth’s Most

Sleep-Deprived, Shun Nap Rooms

iii

Companies create spaces to snooze, but

workers say using them smacks of sloth

TOKYO—Mitsubishi Estate

Co. Chief Executive Junichi

Yoshida has heard his com-

pany’s new nap rooms are sup-

posed to help employees feel re-

charged. Not that

he would know.

“I’ve seen the

nap rooms but

never used them,”

he says. When he

needs a rest, he

does it in the tra-

ditional fashion—

nodding off in his

chair.

Companies in

Japan, the devel-

oped world’s most sleep-de-

prived nation by one measure,

are beginning to set aside

spaces designated for employ-

ees to sleep on the job.

Japanese workers, with eyes

wide open, are refusing to take

the down-filled bait.

The culture of sleeping has

subtleties the office designers

didn’t dream of. Japanese

would rather snooze at their

desks, on park benches, in cof-

fee shops—any

place other than

the official loca-

tions set aside for

the purpose.

Mitsubishi Es-

tate owns some of

Tokyo’s priciest of-

fice space and

wants to promote

its properties as

hubs for innova-

tion. At headquar-

ters, human-resources manager

Go Negami spearheaded the in-

stallation of six rooms featuring

recliners, mood lights and pam-

Please turn to page A

BYSURYATAPABHATTACHARYA

ANDRIVERDAVIS

Desk-napping pillow

GM Strike Pits Combatants

With Something to Prove

An auto maker with memories of bankruptcy, a union facing scandal

Israel’s former military

chief Benny Gantz declared

victory Thursday in Israel’s

election and rebuffed Prime

Minister Benjamin Netan-

yahu’s calls for power sharing,

as the country braced for

weeks of political uncertainty

and geopolitical tensions rise

in the Middle East.

Mr. Gantz vowed to lead a

broad coalition from across Is-

rael’s political spectrum,

known as a unity government,

ending several years of right-

wing and religious majorities

led by Mr. Netanyahu. The

prime minister conceded

Thursday that he would be un-

able to form the government

he campaigned for, but in-

sisted he would lead a unity

government with Mr. Gantz’s

Blue and White party.

Mr. Gantz hasn’t received

the go-ahead to form a govern-

ment from Israel’s president

but appeared to have a slight

edge in unofficial results with

98% of the vote counted in Is-

rael’s second election this year.

Mr. Netanyahu’s failure to

gain a majority on his terms

marks a humbling blow for a

towering figure in Israeli poli-

tics who is now facing the

possible end of his political

career and a fight to avoid go-

Please turn to page A

BYFELICIASCHWARTZ

ANDDOVLIEBER

Contin—that were purchased

by U.S. pharmacies from 2006

to 2012, according to a Wall

Street Journal analysis of opi-

oid sales data maintained by

the U.S. Drug Enforcement Ad-

ministration. But when taking

into account the dosage

strength of each pill, OxyCon-

tin represented a market-lead-

ing 27% of total oxycodone sold

during the seven-year period

reviewed by the Journal.

High-dose pills are more

prone to abuse, according to

physicians and public-health

and law-enforcement officials.

The sales data were obtained

by plaintiffs’ attorneys repre-

senting municipalities in cases

against Purdue and other phar-

maceutical-supply-chain play-

ers for their alleged roles in

the opioid crisis, and made

public as the result of a lawsuit

brought by the Washington

Post and HD Media. The Jour-

nal obtained the data from the

plaintiffs’ attorneys. Sales data

for other years haven’t been

made public.

In a statement, Purdue said

hydrocodone, another prescrip-

tion opioid, should have been

included in the Journal’s analy-

sis because it is widely pre-

scribed and has been linked to

abuse. Purdue didn’t make any

hydrocodone-based products

during the period reviewed by

the Journal. The company also

said that OxyContin is de-

signed to last longer than

other products, which is why

the pills tend to have a higher

dosage strength, and that the

drug’s share of total prescrip-

Please turn to page A

Purdue Pharma LP’s bank-

ruptcy filing this week punctu-

ates a fall from its perch as one

of the pharmaceutical indus-

try’s most recognizable mar-

keters of opioid pain pills. At

its height, Purdue’s signature

OxyContin product notched bil-

lions of dollars in annual sales,

fueled in part by booming de-

mand for high-dose pills.

Purdue made about 10% of

pills containing oxycodone—

the active ingredient in Oxy-

BYJOSEPHWALKER

ANDJAREDS.HOPKINS

Purdue Led Its Opioid Rivals

In Pills More Prone to Abuse

Two Parties, Two Economies

Democrats and Republicans aren’t just divided, they live in

different worlds that barely overlap. A look at political

polarization by location, education level and job type. A4.

 Gantz offers same policy,

softer tone................................ A

 Election shows Arab voters’

new clout................................... A

 Insys wins court approval for

sale of opioid............................. B

ing key production and pro-

cessing facilities, knocked out

5.7 million barrels a day of

Saudi crude oil production ca-

pacity—about half the coun-

try’s output and nearly 6% of

global supplies. The U.S. and

Saudi Arabia blamed the at-

tack on Iran, which has said it

wasn’t responsible.

After the attack, Aramco

said that it would meet its ob-

ligations to supply customers

while it repairs damages. The

pledge echoed a longstanding

Saudi promise—through wars,

price spikes and economic cri-

ses—to keep the world sup-

plied with ample oil at a fair

price. That commitment has

essentially sealed Saudi Ara-

bia’s role as the world’s cen-

tral banker of oil.

Please turn to page A

 Iran warns of war if U.S. or

Saudis strike.............................. A

 U.S. weighs boosting

defenses for Middle East... A

come up with $6 billion in cuts—in six weeks.

From these embattled corners negotiations

began in Detroit this summer, and broke down

on Sunday, when the UAW called its first na-

tionwide strike at GM in more than a decade.

The action sent tens of thousands of factory

workers to the picket lines and halted produc-

tion at more than 30 U.S. plants.

The work stoppage is among America’s larg-

est private-sector walkouts in years. Analysts

estimate it is costing GM $50 million to $

million a day in lost profits. GM’s competi-

Please turn to page A

For months, leaders of both the United Auto

Workers and General Motors Co. were desper-

ate for a win.

The UAW, weakened by decades of dwin-

dling membership, was fighting a federal cor-

ruption investigation into its leadership, with

agents executing search warrants. Members

grumbled they weren’t getting a share of com-

pany profits and wanted union leaders to prove

their worth.

GM executives were wary of a market down-

turn and wanted to spend billions on new tech-

nologies. They determined they needed to

BYMIKECOLIAS ANDNORANAUGHTON

Saudis Import Crude

To Satisfy Customers

Less than a week after a

withering attack on the heart

of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry,

the country is pulling out all

the stops to do what it has

promised it always would: give

customers every drop of oil

they’ve ordered.

Aramco, its state-owned oil

giant, is reaching out to for-

eign producers for crude to

send to its domestic refineries,

so it can divert its own oil to

foreign buyers, according to

oil traders. It has also been

buying other petroleum prod-

ucts, like refined fuels, from

neighbors, reversing the re-

gion’s usual trade flows in

which Saudi Arabia has long

been the supplier of last resort

in times of crisis.

The weekend attack, target-

By Sarah McFarlane

and Benoit Faucon

in London and

Summer Said in Dubai

INSIDE

 Strike ripples into the auto supply chain......... B

MANSION

Santa Fe becomes a

draw for skiers,

boosting the local

luxury market M

JASON GAY

A common-sense way

to let college athletes

profit from their

names and images A

ZUMA PRESS

CONTENTS

Banking & Finance.B

Business News B3,5-

Crossword.............. A

Heard on Street. B

Life & Arts...... A12-

Mansion............. M1-

Markets..................... B

Opinion.............. A15-

Sports....................... A

Technology............... B

U.S. News............. A2-

Weather................... A

World News..... A8-

s2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

All Rights Reserved

>

What’s

News

 Gantz declared victory

in Israel’s election and re-

buffed Netanyahu’s calls for

power sharing, as the coun-

try braced for weeks of po-

litical uncertainty amid rising

tensions in the Mideast. A

 Iran’s top diplomat said

that a military strike by

the U.S. or Saudi Arabia

against his country would

result in “an all-out war.” A

 The Pentagon is consid-

ering sending additional

assets to the Mideast. A

 A whistleblower com-

plaint that prompted a

standoff between the U.S.

intelligence community and

Democrats in Congress in-

volves Trump’s communica-

tions with a foreign leader. A

 Canada’s Trudeau tried to

contain a growing firestorm

after a series of images

emerged of him wearing

blackface and brownface. A

 The number of cases of

vaping-associated illness con-

tinues to rise, and a federal

official disclosed that a crimi-

nal probe is under way. A

 Zuckerberg met with

Trump during a Washington

visit in which the Facebook

chief received a chilly re-

ception from lawmakers. A

 North America’s overall

bird population has dropped

by about 3 billion, or 29%,

since 1970, a study says. A

 The House passed a short-

term spending bill, taking

the first step toward avoiding

a government shutdown at

the end of the month. A

 Died: Zine El Abidine

Ben Ali , 83, ruled Tunisia

for over two decades. A

P

urdue Pharma’s sig-

nature OxyContin

product notched billions

of dollars in annual sales

at its height, fueled in

part by booming demand

for high-dose pills. A

 Saudi Arabia is pulling

out all the stops to give cus-

tomers every drop of oil

they’ve ordered, less than

a week after the attack on

its petroleum industry. A

 Stripe climbed closer to

the top ranks of the highest-

priced U.S. startups after a

fundraising round valued the

fintech firm at $35 billion. B

 Colt said it would stop

producing semiautomatic

rifles for civilians, citing a

glut in the market. B

 A sudden spike in over-

night lending rates is forcing

the Fed to consider increas-

ing its Treasury holdings for

the first time in five years. B

 GM’s parts suppliers are

being forced to idle plants

and lay off workers as a

result of the UAW’s strike

against the car maker. B

 August was the strongest

month for sales of previously

owned homes in the U.S. in

nearly a year and a half. A

 Amazon plans to buy

100,000 electric delivery

trucks as the e-commerce

giant seeks to reduce its

carbon emissions. B

 The Dow ended Thursday’s

session down 0.2%, while

the S&P 500 and Nasdaq

were essentially flat. B

 Airbnb said it expects to

go public next year, the latest

multibillion-dollar startup

seeking to tap new capital. B

Business&Finance

World-Wide

Canada’s Trudeau Under Fire as Blackface Image in Video Emerges

REGRETS: Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized again on Thursday for a series of images of him in brownface and

blackface makeup, including a video from the early 1990s. The images come as Mr. Trudeau faces a tough election campaign. A

SEAN KILPATRICK/THE CANADIAN PRESS/ASSOCIATED PRESS