The Wall Street Journal - 13.09.2019

B2| Friday, September 13, 2019 ** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

INDEX TO BUSINESSES

These indexes cite notable references to most parent companies and businesspeople
in today’s edition. Articles on regional page inserts aren’t cited in these indexes.

A
Ally Financial..............B1
Alphabet...........A4,B1,B4
Amazon.com..........B3,B5
American Airlines.....B12
American Express.......B1
AB InBev...................B12
Apple..............A4,B4,B12
Aramco......................B10
Asahi Group..............B12
B
Bank of America.......B10
Beyond Investing......B12
British American
Tobacco.....................B2
Broadcom....................B4
C
Canadian National
Railway...................B11
Capital One Financial.B1
Cenovus Energy........B11
China Resources Beer
(Holdings)...............B12
Citigroup..............B1,B10
Condé Nast.................A4
Continental Casualty..A9
Credit Suisse Group.B10
D
Delta Air Lines.........B12
Dick's Sporting GoodsA4
Discover Financial
Services.....................B1
E
Equifax........................B1
Experian......................B1
F
Facebook............B10,B12
Fair Isaac.....................B1

Ford Motor..................B3 Fox...............................B6 G Gap.........................A4,B3 General Motors...........B3 Goldman Sachs Group ........................A9,B1,B10 Grocery Outlet............B3 Groupon.......................A2 H Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing...................B10 HSBC Holdings....B6,B10 Huawei...................A2,B4 I IFS Securities.............A9 International Business Machines.................B12 J-K JPMorgan Chase..B1,B10 KNN Public Finance....A9 Kroger..........................B3 L Levi Strauss................A4 London Stock Exchange Group.......................B10 Lyft..............................B1 M Marsh & McLennan....A2 Meritize Financial.......B1 Mesa Airlines............B12 Microsoft...................B12 Morgan Stanley........B10 N-O Netflix.........................B5 News Corp...................B6 Nissan Motor..............B6

Old Navy......................B3 Oppenheimer..............A9 Oracle........................B12 P Piper Jaffray...............A1 Principal Global Investors...................A6 Purdue Pharma...........B1 R Refinitiv Holdings.....B10 Royal Caribbean Cruises .....................................A4 S Skywest.....................B12 SoftBank Group..........B5 Spring Bank................B6 Sprouts Farmers Market .....................................B3 Square.........................B6 Symantec....................B4 T Target..........................B3 TransUnion..................B1 Twitter........................A4 U Uber................A4,B1,B11 United Airlines..........B12 V Valero Energy...........B11 W-X Walmart.................A4,B3 XTR..............................B5 Y-Z Yahoo Japan................B5 ZestFinance.................B6 ZOZO...........................B5

INDEX TO PEOPLE

to fund the foundation.
An independent expert
panel would approve grant re-
quests from governments,
wrote Mortimer D.A. Sackler,
whose father, Dr. Mortimer
Sackler, was a co-founder of
Purdue, in a September 2018
email when he still served on
the board.
Purdue’s board of directors
approved the project in early
2019, but the company shelved
it by March.
Purdue said in a statement
that its negotiations with
Oklahoma, which was prepar-
ing for a trial against the com-
pany, “caused us to rethink
our approach.”
In March, Purdue struck a
$270 million deal to settle
claims brought by the state,
which included $102.5 million
toward funding a national ad-
diction center at Oklahoma
State University.
The Sacklers pledged $75
million toward the center. Sci-
entific data and research that
Purdue said in August was
transferred to OSU would likely
have been contributed to the
foundation, according to a per-
son familiar with the matter.
Purdue also had legal con-
cerns over how a new founda-
tion and a potential bank-
ruptcy filing might impact
each other, according to peo-
ple familiar with the matter.
The company had begun

preparing for a bankruptcy fil-
ing in early March, and such a
move is now expected after
Purdue reached a partial deal
Wednesday with attorneys
representing thousands of mu-
nicipalities and 23 states and
several U.S. territories, the
Journal reported.
Mr. Sackler later withdrew
his backing for the founda-
tion—in part because the funds
wouldn’t count toward a set-
tlement with states and munic-
ipalities suing—while other
family members supported the
project, according to a person
familiar with the matter.
The sprawling Sackler fam-
ily has long been fractious. No
Sackler family members still
serve on Purdue’s board.
In its statement, Purdue

Continued from page B1

A

Armstrong, Tim..........B5
Arquette, David..........B5
B
Benioff, Marc..............B6
Bhagat, Sandip.........B11
C-D
Cleland, Scott.............B4
Dickson, Tyler...........B10
Dorsey, Jack................B6
E
Ellison, Larry.............B12
F
Flint, John.................B10

G Gimber, Hugh............B11 Gnodde, Richard........B10 Gorman, James.........B10 H-J Hurd, Mark................B12 Jones, Brian................B6 K-L Keaveney, Chris..........B1 Li, Charles.................B10 Lorizio, Michael........B11 M McLarty, Franklin........B5 Mondelli, Mike............B1 Mooser, Bryn...............B5

P Pearson, Vance...........B3 Petterson, Lauren.......B6 Pourbaix, Alex...........B11 S Simmons, Gary.........B11 Syngal, Sonia..............B3 T Tan, Hock....................B4 Thiam, Tidjane..........B10 Tran, Michael............B11 W Walker, Kent...............B1 Wilson, Neil................B2

said the plans had the “full support and backing” of the Sacklers and that the company long considered creating a foundation to address the opioid crisis and share scientific information gleaned from the company over the years. Purdue has worked for several years with other organizations to address the opioid crisis, including funding distribution of opioid overdose antidote naloxone. A spokesperson for the fam- ilies of Mortimer and Raymond Sackler, the physician brothers who helped start Purdue, said, “Rather than continuing to ex- plore a foundation with limited reach, we are focused on pro- viding far more substantial resources to the patients, fami- lies and communities across the country who are suffering and need assistance.” Mr. Sackler wrote his Sep- tember 2018 email to other Sacklers, Purdue executives and board members to suggest the content of a potential statement from the family about the opioid crisis. The statement should con- vey their view that “getting the money out into the local communities hardest hit by this crisis as well as driving the research needed to better understand the underlying causes are both worthy goals,” he wrote. In his email, which ran more than 900 words, Mr. Sackler also singled out the plaintiffs’ attorneys who represent the thousands of cities and counties suing Purdue and other companies. He said the family “could no longer stay quiet due to the massive amount of misinfor- mation and fake news that has been pushed out by the trial lawyers.” The email isn’t public but was viewed by the Journal. A portion of it is referenced in a state complaint against Purdue and the Sacklers by the Colo- rado Attorney General’s Office. How much the Sacklers are willing to contribute to Pur- due’s settlement has been a point of contention in negotiations with states and local governments, the Journal has reported. The company values the current deal at $10 billion to $12 billion, though much of that relies on future sales of OxyContin and drugs in de- velopment for treatment. Some states want the family to guarantee more than the $3 billion that the deal speci- fies they pay. Purdue and other companies have denied the allega- tions raised in the lawsuits. Purdue is also in discussions with the U.S. Justice De- partment to resolve criminal and civil probes related to OxyContin, the Journal reported last week.

Purdue

Scrapped

Nonprofit

Purdue and the

Sacklers were each to

give $50 million to

fund the project.

merous professions, including physicians, attorneys, archi- tects, insurance salespeople, accountants and real-estate agents, among others. But in fields that rely heavily on independent contractors, such as language interpretation, many questions remain. Karim Bayumi, a 40-year-old who drives for Uber and Lyft around Los Angeles, called the passage of the legislation excit- ing. “We have been misclassi- fied for a long time,” he said. “We are being treated as employees but not getting the benefits or protections that come with it.” Mr. Bayumi, who is on the organizing committee for Ride- share Drivers United, a group trying to unionize Lyft and Uber drivers, said he recently suffered a hernia and will need surgery, preventing him from driving. As an employee, he would be entitled to benefits such as workers’ compensation and other protections that he says would give him peace of mind. “I don’t have high hopes of these companies doing the

Continued from page B1

BUSINESS & FINANCE

“We haven’t identified an agent or agents that cause these illnesses,” said Jonathan Mei- man, chief medical officer at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. “The other side is just being able to clearly describe what’s going on from a medical perspective. A lot of that work still needs to be done.” There are 380 confirmed or probable cases of vaping-related pulmonary illnesses, according to the most recent numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This week, the CDC shifted from reporting all potential cases under investigation to reporting just the confirmed and probable cases, creating a drop in the total number from the over 450 possible cases under investigation. The new number includes both the now-confirmed cases in the previous group and the newly reported

confirmed cases from the past week. Six people have died. The Food and Drug Adminis- tration has received more than 120 product samples linked to vaping illness for analysis. Many of the samples tested so far have contained tetrahydro- cannabinol, or THC, a chemical in marijuana known for its psy- choactive effects, rather than nicotine. Most samples with THC also contained added vita- min E acetate, an oil some- times found in dietary supple- ments and skin products, the agency said. But no one product or de- vice has been associated with all of the cases, according to the CDC and the FDA. The FDA has warned con- sumers to avoid THC-contain- ing vaping products. The CDC, as well as other health officials, providers and organizations, have cautioned people to steer

clear of vaping altogether. “We’re seeing what we be- lieve to be a newly occurring pulmonary illness associated with e-cigarette products,” said Jennifer Layden, chief medical officer at the Illinois Depart- ment of Public Health. Many researchers and health-care providers have long had concerns about the health risks of e-cigarettes and vaping, particularly as young adults and teenagers increas- ingly took to the products. Us- ers vape a range of substances from nicotine-laced liquids that can come in fruity flavors to marijuana-based products. The patients are often young and relatively healthy. On Wednesday, the Trump administration said it plans to ban all nontobacco-flavored vaping products from the market, as health officials continue to investigate the illnesses.

Hundreds of vapers are getting sick and six have died, but doctors are struggling to iso- late the nature of the mysteri- ous lung ailments. People in 36 states and one U.S. territory have suffered from respiratory symptoms like chest pain, shortness of breath and coughing after vaping, with some also experiencing gastrointestinal issues, fatigue, fever and weight loss. CT scans showed hazy abnormalities in their lungs, and many patients seemed to suffer from acute respiratory distress syndrome, a condition in which fluid fills the tiny air sacs in the lungs and makes it difficult to get ox- ygen into a person’s blood. The illnesses are thought to be some sort of inflammation or injury in the lungs due to chemical exposure.

BYBRIANNAABBOTT

Vaping Illnesses Puzzle Doctors

right thing, but when the law is forcing them to, then they would have to comply,” he says. Many of the roughly 70,000 owner-operators of big trucks in the state could be negatively affected, according to the Cali- fornia Trucking Association, which sought unsuccessfully to carve out exemptions in the bill. Although many U.S. trucking firms hire their own company drivers, most also rely heavily on independent truck- ers who own or lease their equipment to supplement their operations. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has said he would sign the bill, which would go into effect Jan. 1. Uber has said it won’t need to reclas- sify its workers and vowed to keep fighting. Lyft issued a memo to employees saying some changes might be coming. California-based interpreters and translators do their jobs in hospitals, courtrooms, technol- ogy companies and beyond, often working as contractors for multiple language agencies, said Barry Slaughter Olsen, an interpreter who works in Eng- lish, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian. Mr. Olsen, who is also a pro- fessor at the Middlebury Insti- tute of International Studies, said interpreters determine their own hours, pick their own jobs, set their rates and appre- ciate the flexibility of freelanc- ing for multiple clients and

companies. He said many translation agencies wouldn’t be able to hire the contractors as employees, even on a part- time basis. “We are freelancers by choice,” Mr. Olsen said. “I can- not see how being a part-time employee of six or seven differ- ent agencies or entities is fea- sible.” Lorena Ortiz Schneider, who has worked as a Spanish-language interpreter and transla- tor for the past 27 years, agreed. She owns a small translation company near Santa Barbara that works with about 25 contract workers. Her firm might not be able to hire all those people as employees, she said. Among her peers, Ms. Schneider said there is uncer- tainty and confusion about exactly how the law might play out. “People are freaked out. People don’t know where to turn, where to get answers,” Ms. Schneider said. “There’s a lot of distress.” While it isn’t clear exactly how many gig workers are in California, government data re- leased last year show contract work nationally is relatively small. The fraction of workers employed as independent con- tractorswas6.9%inMay2017, down from 7.4% in February 2005, according to U.S. Labor Department figures. The data overall showed more than 90% of U.S. workers held

traditional jobs, meaning workers were on the payroll of the company for which they performed work. That was little changed from 2005. Still, the California bill is considered a threat to gig workers at companies such as Uber and Lyft. “The gig econ- omy is set up for extreme flexibility for employees and em- ployers,” said David Shulman, senior economist at UCLA An- derson Forecast. “This is going to create a great deal of fric- tion in that system.” Winemakers are also ques- tioning how the law will affect them. Growers in California work with contractors and outside firms to transport their grapes or to help them study and develop vineyards, analyz- ing soil conditions, studying weather patterns and predict- ing in-demand varietals of grapes, said Michael Miiller, di- rector of government relations at the California Association of Winegrape Growers, an industry group. Many growers worry whether they will need to em- ploy such people as contractors, Mr. Miiller said. “They’re concerned, and they’re con- fused. They want to comply with the law in every way, but they’re not quite sure how this works,” he said. —Sarah Chaney, Jennifer Smith and Alejandro Lazo contributed to this article.

LONDON—British American Tobacco PLC plans to cut thousands of jobs in a restructuring aimed at boosting the growth of new products as traditional cigarette volumes de- cline. The maker of the Kent, Dun- hill and Lucky Strike brands, like much of the industry, is pushing further into vapor, oral and tobacco-heating products, which are tempting away smokers. BAT already sells Vuse e-cigarettes and the Glo heated-tobacco product. But these new categories re- quire investment and quicker decision-making to respond to fast-changing consumer tastes, growing competition and emerging regulation. BAT on Thursday said re- ducing management layers and moving to fewer, larger business units would make it more agile, eliminate duplication and generate cost savings that could be reinvested in new products. In total, it said 2,300 roles would be cut, affecting more than 20% of the senior posi- tions at the company. BAT has more than 55,000 employees.

New Chief Executive Jack Bowles, who took the helm five months ago, said the stream- lining was necessary to boost growth in new products and simplify the company’s operations. As a result, Mr. Bowles said the company would be in a better position to achieve its goal of generating £5 billion ($6.16 billion) of revenue from new categories by the financial year ending in 2024. Last year, adjusted revenue

from vapor and heated-tobacco products rose 95% to £901 million. The company, the No. 2 U.S. cigarette maker behind Al- tria Group Inc., declined to dis- close how much it would save from the restructuring. It said the process would be substan- tially complete by January 2020. A BAT spokeswoman said the move was unrelated to coming regulation of vaping products in the U.S.

President Trump said Wednesday the U.S. plans to pull most vaping products from the market, citing growing concerns about health hazards and increasing use by teenagers. The Food and Drug Admin- istration intends to ban popular fruity flavors, as well as menthol and mint e-cigarettes from stores and online sellers. BAT has said it doesn’t sell flavors that mimic children’s food or appeal to youth.

BYPETERSTIFF

BAT Plans to Cut Jobs in Revamp Effort

British American Tobacco is pushing further into vapor, oral and tobacco-heating products.

LUKE MACGREGOR/BLOOMBERG NEWS

ery vaping product off the market, except for those for- mulated to taste like tobacco. Juul’s tobacco-flavored pods represent less than 20% of the company’s U.S. sales, according to people familiar with the matter. The brand’s most popular flavors are mint and mango. Some Juul users could switch to a tobacco flavor if no other were available. But some

Continued from page B1

vapers could go back to smok- ing traditional cigarettes, ana- lysts say. Blamed for the rise in teen vaping in the U.S. and under investigation by the FDA, Fed- eral Trade Commission, con- gressional committees and several state attorneys general, Juul has been pushing to expand overseas. The startup recently issued $785 million in convertible debt, in part to fund that expansion. It launched this week in China. In the first half of 2019, Juul had $1.27 billion in global revenue, including more than $100 million outside the U.S., according to people familiar with the matter. Juul last year stopped selling its sweet and fruity flavors

in bricks-and-mortar stores, but continued selling flavors like mango and cucumber on its website, which has age con- trols. Since then, it has called on regulators to take action against Juul knockoffs and other competitors who have crowded the market with fruity-flavored products that health officials say are appeal- ing to young people. Several Juul investors said this week they welcomed tighter over- sight of the industry because it could clear out counterfeit, kid-friendly and potentially hazardous products. The landscape will change in May 2020, when e-cigarette manufacturers must apply for an FDA review of any vaping product they want to sell be-

yond that point. They can also apply to bring flavored products back on the market. Juul is preparing application materials for four flavors—mint, menthol, mango and Virginia tobacco—in two nicotine strengths, 5% and 3%, according to some of the people familiar with the matter. Juul also has had internal discussions on renaming its popular mint-flavored pods to a menthol variant as part of that application, the people said. A Juul spokesman said Thursday that the company would make its submissions to the agency by May but hasn’t made a final decision on which products to submit. —Juliet Chung contributed to this article.

Juul Weighs

Response

To Ban

Bill Ripples

Beyond

Tech Sector

The Wall Street Journal - 13.09.2019

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