New York Post, Tuesday, August 13, 2019nypost.com25Federal Reserve officials are
weighing whether to use a tool
that could reduce the risk of a
credit crunch in a downturn.
The countercyclical capital
buffer allows the Fed to require
banks to hold more loss-ab-
sorbing capital should the
economy start to overheat or
to keep less during bad eco-
nomic times. Dow Jones
Yum Brands on Monday
named company veteran
David Gibbs as its chief ex-
ecutive officer, succeeding
Greg Creed, who will be re-
tiring at the end of the year.
Gibbs, 55, has been with
the company since 1989,
holding several senior roles
including chief financial of-
ficer for three years before
taking charge as chief oper-
ating officer earlier this year.
Creed, who has been with
Yum for 25 years, will re-
main as CEO through the
end of 2019. He will serve as
a part-time adviser next
year and also remain on the
company’s board.
The 62-year-old has held
the CEO role since 2015 and
executed the 2016 spinoff of
Yum China. The company’s
stock has more than dou-
bled since Creed took the
helm.
Yum, which has over
48,000 Pizza Hut, Taco Bell
and KFC restaurants across
the globe, is among several
chains facing a tough and
competitive market.
Kentucky-based Yum
bought a stake in food-or-
dering company GrubHub
early last year to improve
its delivery services, a pri-
ority for today’s customers.
Reuters
New big
cheese
for Yum
It’s tool time
for the Fed
DIFFERENT ‘TOPPING’
Pizza Hut’s parent taps vet.
Dow
falls
-1.5%
By CARLETON ENGLISHWall Street’s summertime
slump continued as dramatic
protests in Hong Kong dimmed
hopes that the US will come to a
trading truce with China.
The Dow Jones industrial av-
erage fell 391.00 points — or 1.5
percent — Monday, with losses
accelerating late in the session,
to close at 25,896.44.
Monday’s Dow dip followed
news that Hong Kong’s airport was
shut down after pro-democracy
protesters flooded the main termi-
nal. Adding to investors’ jitters,
mainland China officials likened
the protests to “terrorism,” and riot
police fired tear gas into a subway
station in a violent crackdown.
“Putting the hammer down on
Hong Kong would belie the im-
age Beijing is portraying in the
trade talks,” explained Jack Ab-
lin, chief investment officer at
Cresset Capital Management.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq
were both off 1.2 percent.
Further dashing hopes that a
trade deal will be reached any-
time soon, Goldman Sachs ana-
lysts predicted that a deal “will
not be reached” before the presi-
dential election next year.
In April, the market assumed
an 80 percent chance of a tradeagreement, according to the in-
vestment bank. That figure now
stands at 13 percent.
Trade-sensitive stocks such as
Caterpillar and Boeing closed
down 2.2 percent and 1.4 per-
cent, respectively, in Monday’s
session. But it’s not just trade
woes that have investors on
edge, said Peter Cardillo, chief
market economist at Spartan
Capital Securities.
“Mainland China is beginning
to become more vocal, which is
sending fears that it could dis-
rupt global business,” Cardillo
told The Post.
Investors on Monday contin-
ued plowing into so-called safe-
haven assets such as gold and
government bonds. The flight-
to-safety sent the yield on the 10-
year Treasury note lower, inten-
sifying fears that a slowdown is
coming. Bond yields move in the
opposite direction to price.
“We’re probably heading for
yield levels last seen during the
financial crisis,” Cardillo said.
Financial stocks were hit by
the drop in bond yields on fears
of falling profits.
Goldman Sachs’ shares fell 2.9
percent, while Bank of America
and JPMorgan Chase were
down 2.5 percent and 2 percent,
[email protected]By ALEXANDRA STEIGRADCBS and Viacom are inching closer
to a deal to reunite Sumner Red-
stone’s media empire, sources tell
The Post.
The two companies, which are both
majority owned by Redstone’s Na-
tional Amusements Inc. holding com-
pany, agreed on a range for combining
their stock after resubmitting propos-
als for the contested stock exchange
ratio last week.
The agreed-upon range — of 0.59 to
0.60 of each CBS share for each Via-
com class B share — values Viacom at
slightly below its $12 billion market
value from Friday. It represents asmall premium for CBS shareholders.
Viacom’s class B shares fell 4.9 per-
cent Monday, to $28.53. CBS shares
fell 1.8 percent, to $48.03.
The exchange rate could still
change, but both companies are ex-
pected to settle on a ratio that “starts
with 0.5,” one source close to the deal
told The Post.
The exchange ratio currently favors
CBS thanks in part to its strong per-
formance of late, including greater-
than-expected subscriber numbers
for its direct-to-consumer service
CBS All Access and for Showtime,
which it owns.
CBS also continues to expand its re-
transmission revenue, and recentlyre-upped its carriage agreement with
AT&T’s DirecTV.
CBS, with a market valuation of
$18.5 billion, is the larger of the two
companies, but the combined firm is
expected to be named Viacom, ac-
cording to reports.
Reuters said the name is a nod to
the legacy of Redstone, 96, who ac-
quired Viacom in 1987. Redstone’s
daughter, Shari, who holds the role of
vice chair of both companies, is ex-
pected to become the merged com-
pany’s chair, sources said.
This is the third attempt by CBS to
bring the two companies together
since 2016. The plan is to create a me-
dia conglomerate that can competewith the likes of Netflix and Amazon.
CBS, which produces “The Big Bang
Theory,” owns Showtime and Simon
& Schuster publishing company. Via-
com owns Nickelodeon and MTV.
After CBS and Viacom merge, Shari
Redstone could continue to buy up
media companies, analysts have said.
Potential acquisition targets could
include movie studio Lionsgate, its
premium cable channel Starz, Sony
Pictures, MGM or Discovery Com-
munications. And as The Post re-
cently reported, there has also been
chatter over the potential acquisition
of Take-Two, the gaming company
run by CBS interim chairman Strauss
Zelnick. [email protected]CBS, Viacom nearly ready to get a room
BIG SIT-IN: Protesters
crowded into the main term-
inal of the Hong Kong airport
as tensions rose — in concert
with investors’ concerns. AP