Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill
Gates is stepping down from the
company’s board of directors, mark-
ing the biggest boardroom departure
in the tech industry since the death
of longtime rival and Apple Inc. co-
founder Steve Jobs.
Mr. Gates, who also is vacating
his board seat atBerkshire Hatha-
wayInc., intends to focus more on
his philanthropic efforts. He will
continue to serve as a technical ad-
viser to Microsoft Chief Executive
Satya Nadella, the software company
said late Friday.
Mr. Gates, 64 years old, founded
Microsoft in 1975 with childhood
friend Paul Allen. He built up the
company into one of the most pow-
erful forces in the burgeoning indus-
try of personal computing. In 2000,
he handed the role of CEO to long-push indexes to their best single-day
gains since 2008. The Dow rose 1,
points, or 9.4%, to 23185.62. The S&P
500 jumped 230.38 points, or 9.3%, to
2711.02. The Nasdaq Composite added
673.07 points, or 9.3%, to 7874.88.
Big swings in the final minutes of
trading have become a staple of the
market tumult. Despite Friday’s surge,
all three major indexes finished the
week with losses of at least 8%. The
S&P and Nasdaq remain 20% below
their record highs set last month; the
Dow is down 22% from its peak.
In a sign of the topsy-turvy week,
the S&P moved up or down by at least
4% for five consecutive sessions, the
longest such streak since 1929, ac-cording to Dow Jones Market Data.
Fears about how far and wide the
global pandemic would spread have
triggered a rush out of riskier assets
like stocks and commodities, despite
action from the Federal Reserve and
attempts by lawmakers and the White
House to reassure investors and the
public. President Trump declared a
national emergency over the pan-
demic Friday, opening access to $
billion in financial assistance for
states, localities and territories.
People’s trips for work and leisure
have been canceled, organizers nixed
conferences and major sports leagues
put operations on hold. Many people
Please turn to page BStock Market Climbs by 9%
To Finish a Topsy-Turvy Week
Investors braved wild swings in shares that saw surges and plunges that
hadn’t been seen in decades as the coronavirus pandemic roiled markets
time colleague Steve Ballmer, but he
remained active at the Redmond,
Wash.-based company as its chair-
man.
Mr. Gates and Mr. Jobs, who died
in 2011, became the faces most
closely associated with the rise of
personal computers.
“Microsoft will always be an im-
portant part of my life’s work and I
will continue to be engaged with Sa-
tya and the technical leadership to
help shape the vision and achieve
the company’s ambitious goals,” Mr.
Gates wrote in a LinkedIn post an-
nouncing his departure.
Microsoft dominated computing
in the 1990s with its Windows oper-
ating system and Office productivity
applications. Its position attracted
regulatory scrutiny, leading the U.S.
Justice Department to sue the com-
pany in 1997 for illegally bundling its
Please turn to page BBYAARONTILLEYBill Gates Is Relinquishing
Seat on Microsoft’s Board
The rapidly spreading coronavi-
rus has reached every corner of the
U.S. economy, upending the jobs of
Seattle taxi drivers, Texas oil work-
ers and Wall Street traders—and
nearly everyone in between.
The virulent invader, which
swept through Asia and Europe, is
leading many U.S. businesses to
hoard cash, pare spending and re-
think how they operate without
knowing how long the troubles
will last. Some that lost business
may never get that revenue back.
Thinner profit margins and a focus
on cost cutting mean some firms
may lose key workers, vendors and
the ability to invest for the future.The pain is acute at companies
with high levels of debt or that were
struggling before the outbreak. Al-
ready, shale oil drillerOccidental
PetroleumCorp., laden with debt
from its $38 billion purchase last
year of a rival, has slashed its divi-
dend and spending plans.Boeing
Co., wounded by the grounding of
its 737 MAX jet, has frozen its hiring
and maxed out its credit lines.
“If this lasts a few months, we
will start seeing retail casualties
pile up,” said Jerry Storch, the for-
mer chief executive of Toys “R” Us
Inc. and Hudson’s Bay Co.
The illness has now frozen busi-
Please turn to page BCANCELLATION CALCULATION
SXSW canceled
$355.9 MILLION
Unrealized economic
impact in AustinNBA season suspended
$972 MILLION
TV ad revenue from last year’s
NBA playoffs. This year’s
may not happen.U.S. bans travel from most
of Europe for 30 days
2 MILLION
Airline seats affected
Broadway shows go dark
$100 MILLION
Estimated lost ticket revenue if
theaters are
closed four weeksFINDING
A WAY
FORWARD
Wall Street reports have a ten-
dency toward the melodramatic,
but this week the emotional lan-
guage was justified: markets really
did crash. Stocks had two of their
biggest one-day falls in history,
and a four-day loss that ranks as
the third-biggest since 1964, be-
hind only 1987 and the 2008 fail-
ure of Lehman. Deep concern
about the coronavirus turned into
sheer terror in a way that few
watching will quickly forget.These are the moments smart
investors are supposed to pre-
pare for, to be ready to snap up
bargains from others desperate
to flee the market at any price.
Investors with the strength of
will to ignore the volatility need
only find assets where they are
confident that there is little risk
of permanent loss to make
money in the long run.
Assessing that risk of perma-
Please turn to page BBYJAMESMACKINTOSHHow to Decide if
Now It’s Time to Buy
MEETING
DEMAND
A race to make more
hand sanitizerBGOLD OR
MUNI BONDS?
A sector-by-sector
investing guideBINVEST WITH
NO REGRETS
How to predict your
own behaviorBCEOS WHO
STEP UP
Crisis management
in the C suiteBON TARGET FOR
RETIREMENT
Target-date funds are
INSIDE working—so farBTHE VIRUS
THAT UPENDED
THE BUSINESS
WORLD
The Dow Jones Industrial Average
staged its biggest surge in more than
a decade one day after registering its
biggest selloff since 1987, capping a
whiplash week for the stock market
that landed major indexes in a bear
market for the first time in 11 years asfears about the coronavirus’s effect on
people and business swelled.
For the week, the index finished
10% lower. Stocks swung on Friday
before making a stunning rally in the
last minutes of the trading session toByGunjan Banerji,
Anna Hirtenstein
andJoanne ChiuOn some glorious
day in the future,
when the Covid-
pandemic has been
controlled and con-
tained, it will be time
to hand out trophies.
The recipients may include
scores of medical professionals,business executives, school admin-
istrators, shopkeepers and yoga in-
structors all over the world who
acted decisively to prevent the vi-
rus from spreading; often at con-
siderable personal cost and well
before the people they protected
thought it was necessary.
Please turn to page BThe Secrets of Leaders
Who Act Before a Crisis
THE CAPTAIN CLASS|SAM WALKER
EXCHANGE
BUSINESS|FINANCE|TECHNOLOGY|MANAGEMENTDJIA23185.62À1985.00 9.4% NASDAQ7874.88À9.3% STOXX 600299.16À1.4% 10-YR. TREAS.g1 1/32 , yield 0.946% OIL$31.73À$0.23 GOLD$1,515.70g$73.60 EURO$1.1104 YEN107.BYTHOMASGRYTA ANDJENNIFERMALONEYA Contagion Rages
From Coast to Coast
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. **** Saturday/Sunday, March 14 - 15, 2020 |B
REMOTE
CONTROL
Masters of working
from homeBASSESSING
THE RISK
S&P500lossfrompeakSource: Refinitiv0%1970 ’80 ’90 2000 ’10 ’RECESSIONSICON: ISTOCK