The Wall.St Journal 21Feb2020

** FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2020 ~ VOL. CCLXXV NO. 42 WSJ.com HHHH$4.

DJIA29219.98g128.05 0.4% NASDAQ9750.96g0.7% STOXX 600430.19g0.9% 10-YR. TREAS.À13/32, yield 1.524% OIL$53.78À$0.49 GOLD$1,616.60À$9.10 EURO$1.0785 YEN112.

Amro Akoush and his family fled

their home in northwest Syria with no

time to pack a bag and no ride to es-

cape the machine-gun fire and falling

bombs. Mr. Akoush carried only a son

and daughter, one in each arm.

The family walked along darkened

streets to the outskirts of Atarib and

hid in an olive grove, waiting for a

friend to ferry them away from the bar-

rage. “It took about 40 minutes,” Mr.

Akoush said of their escape on foot,

“but it felt like a year.”

BYRAJAABDULRAHIM

Source: FactSet

Apple

BerkshireHathaway

S&P

Share-priceandindexperformance,pastyear

100

• 
  

0

25

50

75

%

March June Sept. Jan.

2019 ’

Inside the U.S. Quarantine:

A Hankering for Home Comforts

iii

As worry recedes among evacuees,

boredom sets in; hot sauce, slippers

David Huang couldn’t be

more grateful to be back in the

United States, after landing a

seat on an evacuation flight out

of Wuhan, China, during the

coronavirus lockdown.

But the 30-year-old postal

worker from Seattle wasn’t ex-

pecting the two-week quaran-

tine that followed to be an al-

cohol-free zone. “I have to

drink red wine every day, at

least one glass a day,” he said.

Red wine was one item U.S.

government officials hadn’t

stocked up on for Mr. Huang’s

federally mandated sojourn at

Travis Air Force Base, about 50

miles northeast of San Fran-

cisco. He befriended a worker

at the site, who slipped him

four miniature bottles of vodka

hidden in latex gloves. He sa-

vored it over four nights.

The U.S. has quarantined

hundreds of Americans return-

PleaseturntopageA

ByStephanie Yangin

San Diego andShan Li

in Fairfield, Calif.

The Akoush family and nearly a mil-

lion others have been on the run, trying

to escape Syria’s monthslong military as-

sault on the country’s last rebel strong-

hold. The offensive aims to defeat the

remnants of armed opposition to the re-

gime of President Bashar al-Assad. So

far, it has yielded the largest displace-

ment of people in Syria’s 9-year civil war.

Families in northwestern Syria are

trapped between the advancing Syrian

military—backed by Russian airstrikes

and pro-Iranian militias—and Turkey.

The border is closed to refugees, se-

cured by walls, trenches and guards

who have shot people trying to cross

without permission.

The military advance, which has

forced the flight of some 900,000 peo-

ple, is shaping up to be “the biggest hu-

manitarian horror story of the 21st cen-

tury,” said Mark Lowcock, the United

Nations emergency relief coordinator.

Mr. Assad’s vow to retake every inch

of Syria is now focused on Idlib, a

province the size of Delaware, and sur-

rounding rebel-held areas—a stretch of

northwest Syria where the remaining

opposition forces are concentrated.

PleaseturntopageA

Buffett Bets Big on Apple

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has amassed a $78.5 billion stake

in Apple Inc., but the Omaha, Neb., conglomerate’s stock has

still been outperformed by the S&P 500. B

Iran Faces

Blacklisting

In New Hit

To Economy

Retail Icon

Casts Off

Victoria’s

Secret

For more than five decades,

Les Wexner brought fashion to

the masses through mall

stores across America, but the

82-year-old billionaire’s deci-

sion to part ways with Victo-

ria’s Secret is an admission

that he couldn’t revive the

troubled lingerie brand he had

built on shopping centers and

sex appeal.

L Brands Inc., Mr. Wexner’s

company, agreed on Thursday

to sell a controlling stake in

the apparel chain to private-eq-

uity firm Sycamore Partners

for $525 million, and he agreed

to step down as chairman and

chief executive. The Wall Street

Journal had first reported on

the moves.

The deal leaves the shrink-

ing Victoria’s Secret business

as a separate private company

with a $1.1 billion valuation.

That is a fraction of the $

billion value investors give Lu-

lulemon Athletica Inc., a fast-

growing apparel brand with

half the annual sales.

In an internal memo to L

Brands staff, Mr. Wexner

shared news of the deal and his

departure. “I think about the

endless possibilities ahead for

this company. And I’ve thought

about where I fit in the pic-

ture,” he wrote in the email. “I

have decided that now is the

PleaseturntopageA

BYKHADEEJASAFDAR

Morgan Stanley is buying

E*Trade Financial Corp. in a

$13 billion deal that will re-

shape the storied investment

bank and firmly stake its fu-

ture on managing money for

regular people.

The all-stock takeover, an-

nounced Thursday, will com-

bine a Wall Street firm in the

late innings of a decadelong

turnaround with a discount

BYLIZHOFFMAN

Stone Gets More Than Three Years

WASHINGTON—President

Trump’s longtime confidant

Roger Stone was sentenced to

three years and four months

in prison on Thursday for ly-

ing to Congress and witness

tampering, after a tumultuous

two weeks in which Mr. Trump

denounced the handling of the

case and the government trial

lawyers withdrew.

At a 2½-hour hearing in a

filled-to-capacity courtroom,

U.S. District Judge Amy Ber-

man Jackson repeatedly criti-

cized Mr. Stone, saying that he

had shown “flagrant disre-

spect” for Congress and the

court, and dismissed claims

that he was being prosecuted

for his politics.

“The problem is that noth-

ing about this case was a joke.

It wasn’t funny. It wasn’t a

stunt and it wasn’t a prank,”

Judge Jackson said.

Hours after the sentencing,

Mr. Trump criticized Mr.

Stone’s conviction as unfair

and repeated his call for the

exoneration of his former po-

litical adviser, who has asked

for a new trial based on the al-

leged bias of a juror in his

case. “I want the process to

play out,” Mr. Trump said in

comments in Las Vegas.

While Mr. Trump suggested

he wouldn’t immediately inter-

vene in Mr. Stone’s case, he

left the door open to exercising

his presidential power to par-

don or commute Mr. Stone’s

PleaseturntopageA

BYARUNAVISWANATHA

ANDBYRONTAU

4.6% on Thursday. Critics

question the strategy behind

buying a brokerage where cus-

tomers aren’t willing to pay

commissions on trades.

E*Trade shares closed up al-

most 22%.

E*Trade’s future has been

uncertain since November,

when its two main competi-

tors, Charles Schwab Corp.

and TD Ameritrade Holding

Corp., announced their own

merger. Weeks earlier, Schwab

had cut the trading fees it

charges customers to zero.

The move sent E*Trade shares

PleaseturntopageA

broker built on the backs of

dot-com day traders.

It is the biggest takeover by

a giant U.S. bank since the

2008 crisis.

E*Trade brings five million

retail customers, $360 billion

in assets and an online bank

with cheap deposits that Mor-

gan Stanley can funnel into

loans. Its CEO, Michael Pizzi,

is coming along to run the e-

brokerage business, which will

keep its brand, its handful of

retail storefronts and its buzzy

and well-funded ad campaigns,

Morgan Stanley Chief Execu-

tive James Gorman said.

The deal will dilute Morgan

Stanley’s existing sharehold-

ers, who sent the shares down

Morgan Stanley to Buy E*Trade

Bank pays $13 billion

for the e-broker,

doubling down on

wealth management

Sources: Morgan Stanley (revenue); FactSet (performance)

ShareofMorganStanley

revenues,bybusiness

50%

Share-priceperformance,

pastyear

MorganStanley

E*Trade

Trading

Investmentbanking

Wealthandasset

management

2005 ’10 ’15 ’

40

• 
  


• 
  

0

20

%

2019 ’ 20

A Million Syrians Flee Assad’s March

Desperate throngs are trapped between the military’s advance and Turkey’s walled-off border

Roger Stone leaves after his sentencing hearing at the Federal District Court in Washington.

ERIK S. LESSER/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK

 Heard on the Street: Deal

doesn’t carry a discount... B

 Connections drive Trump’s

clemency moves....................... A

A global terror-finance

watchdog agency is set to

blacklist Iran, broadening a U.S.

effort to isolate Tehran finan-

cially and potentially straining

the already sanctions-battered

Iranian economy.

Iran’s blacklisting by the

Paris-based Financial Action

Task Force is expected to take

place Friday and comes after

European governments decided

to join the U.S., according to

American and allied officials.

The task force’s decision will

place financial transactions

with Iran under additional

scrutiny and escalate the pres-

sure on the dwindling number

of banks and businesses still

dealing with the Islamic Re-

public to cut their ties.

The blacklisting marks a

step forward in the U.S. cam-

paign to use sanctions to com-

pel the Iranian government to

end its support for terrorist

groups and eliminate its nu-

clear weapons program. Most

Western banks have already

severed links with Tehran in re-

sponse to the U.S. sanctions,

PleaseturntopageA

ByBenoit Fauconin

London andIan Talley

in Washington

 Iran to hold parliamentary

elections amid tensions....... A

CONTENTS

Banking & Finance B

Business News.. B3,

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

Heard on Street. B

Life & Arts....... A10-

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

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

Opinion.............. A13-

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

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

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

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

World News....... A6-

s2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

All Rights Reserved

>

What’s

News

Roger Stone wassen-

tenced to three years and

four months in prison, af-

ter a tumultuous two weeks

in which Trump denounced

the handling of the case

and the government trial

lawyers withdrew.A

The presidentlashed

out at the acting director of

national intelligence earlier

this month after learning

that an official had briefed a

House panel about Russia’s

apparent preference for

Trump in the 2020 election.A

A global terror-finance

watchdog agency is set to

blacklist Iran, broadening

an effort by the U.S. to iso-

late Tehran financially.A

Iran’s leadership is

pushing for a high turnout in

parliamentary elections.A

The killingof nine people

by a gunman in Germany

added fuel to a tense debate

over the rise of far-right ex-

tremism in that country.A

Japanese officialsde-

fended their handling of

cruise-ship virus victims af-

ter the first two passenger

deaths were reported.A

The U.S. and Britain

joined Georgia in blaming

Russia for a large-scale cy-

berattack on the Caucasus

country in October.A

The Trumpadministra-

tion plans to allow 45,

additional seasonal guest

workers to return to the

U.S. this summer.A

The IHS saysit can’t dis-

close a report that identifies

officials responsible for mis-

handling a doctor who abused

Native American boys.A

M

organ Stanley isbuying

discount broker E*Trade

in a $13 billion deal that will

reshape the investment bank

and tie its future to managing

money for regular people.A

Wexner’s decisionto

part ways with Victoria’s

Secret is anadmission that

the L Brands chief couldn’t

revive the lingerie brand.A

Sprint and T-Mobilehave

agreed on new terms for their

merger, as the firms race to

close the deal after over-

coming a court challenge.B

Ultimate Softwareand

Kronos are merging in a

deal that will create a big

new player in workplace-

software products.B

Apple now accountsfor

about 14% of the market cap-

italization of Buffett’s Berk-

shire, more than any other

single stock in its portfolio.B

ByteDance is lookingto

capitalize on the success of its

TikTok video app by launch-

ing new apps and expanding

into other businesses.B

New Mexico suedGoogle,

alleging that the search giant

knowingly spies on students

and their families through its

Google Education platform.B

U.S. stocks declined,

with the Dow and S&P 500

both losing 0.4% and the

Nasdaq retreating 0.7%.B

The foundersof hedge-

fund firm Senator Invest-

ment Group are splitting up

after 12 years together.B

Goldman and JPMorgan

agreed to back a new low-

cost stock exchange that

aims to challenge the

NYSE and Nasdaq.B

Business&Finance

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