Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-06-29)

COBAIN:

FRANK

MICELOTTA/GETTY

IMAGES.

STONE:

MANUEL

BALCE

CENETA/AP

IMAGES.

MERAPI:

SIAMET

RIYADI/AP

IMAGES.

GNC:

COURTESY

GNC

4

 IN BRIEF

○ GNC filed for bankruptcy

protection. The health

company will close stores

and is looking for a buyer,

with an initial bidding price

of $760 million, subject to

court approval.

○ Coronavirus infections in

Florida rose to another high,

and Texas Governor Greg

Abbott said contagion was

accelerating at “an

unacceptable rate,” though

he doesn’t want to reimpose

an economic lockdown.

Globally, cases have passed

9m

anddeathshavetopped

478,000.

○ TheUNsaid

almost 260 million

childrenworldwide

wereexcluded

fromeducation

in 2018.

○ MountMerapi,Indonesia’smost

activevolcano,eruptedtwiceon

June21,spewinganashplumehigh

intothesky.Merapi’slasteruption,in

2019,killedmorethan 300 people.

○ Bayeragreedtopay

asmuchas

$10.9b

tosettlelawsuits

allegingthatitsRoundup

weedkillercausedcancer.

TheGermanchemicals

companyinheritedthe

litigationaspartofits

takeoverofseedsgiant

Monsantoin 2018.Bayer

hasmaintainedthat

Roundupis safeif it’s

usedproperly.

○Wirecard

is imploding

afterrevealing

that€1.9billion

($2.1billion)has

gonemissing.

○ SoftBanksolda stake

in wirelesscarrier

T-MobileUSvaluedat

$21b

TheJapaneseinvestment

giantis raisingfundsafter

sufferingrecordlossesfrom

wrong-waybetsonWeWork

andotherstartups.

○ UBSpredicted

thatuptoa third

ofitsemployees

mightnowwork

remotelyona

permanentbasis.

○“What

I heard—

repeatedly—

wasthat

RogerStone

was

being

treated

differently

fromanyother

defendant

because of his

relationship to

the president.”

Former federal prosecutor Aaron

Zelinsky, testifying before Congress

that political pressure was behind

the Justice Department’s decision to

reduce its sentence recommendation

in the Stone case.

Bloomberg Businessweek By Benedikt Kammel

○ TheguitarKurtCobainplayedatNirvana’shistoricMTVUnpluggedconcert

in 1993soldfora record$6millionatanauctionin BeverlyHills.Thebuyerof

the 1959 MartinD-18Eacoustic-electricguitarwasPeterFreedman,founderof

RodeMicrophones.

Girls, the disabled, immigrants, and

ethnic minorities were particularly

vulnerable, the report by the Unesco

education body found.

Markus Braun, who built the fintech

company over almost two decades as

CEO, resigned and was later detained

by prosecutors, who accuse him of

inflating the balance sheet. Braun says

Wirecard, long a star performer on

Germany’s stock market, was the victim

of possible fraud.  12

The Swiss banking giant, which

employs almost 70,000, had 80%

of its worldwide staff at home at the

height of the pandemic.