Business

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK—Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. is in discussions to buy a majority stake in U.S. shared office space provider WeWork Cos, a source said, potentially doubling down on one of its biggest bets on a loss-making startup. A deal would signal a shift for SoftBank, which runs the world’s biggest private equity fund and […]

Delta Air Lines Inc. said on Oct. 11 it sees a return to margin growth next year as it posted an estimate-beating rise in quarterly profit on strong demand and tight cost controls, sending shares higher. With oil prices hovering near four-year highs, Delta and peers such as American Airlines Group Inc. and Southwest Airlines […]

SAN FRANCISCO/FRANKFURT—Apple Inc. is taking control over the power-management technology at the heart of its iPhones in a $600 million deal with Dialog Semiconductor that also secures the German-listed company’s role as a supplier to the U.S. tech giant. The agreement to license technology and take on people from the Anglo-German chip designer is not […]

NEW YORK—For stock investors, the recent spike in bond yields may be prompting some uncomfortable deja vu. Back in late January and early February, there was a 10 percent correction in the S&P 500, with stock investors spooked as Treasury yield increases intensified with a monthly payrolls report showing the biggest wage gains for workers […]

SAN FRANCISCO/BOSTON—Elon Musk replied with a Tweet saying: “This is incorrect” after the Financial Times reported that outgoing Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. Chief Executive James Murdoch was the lead candidate to replace him as Tesla Inc. chairman. Tesla has until Nov. 13 to appoint an independent chairman of the board, part of settlements reached last […]

NEW YORK — In 2017 recycling facilities across the United States received some unwelcome news: China, the world’s largest importer of scrap material, will stop accepting their waste. GDB International, a New Jersey-based recycling company, was among numerous operators faced with the problem of deciding what to do with piles, and piles of plastic that […]

This is the fourth article in a five-part series on the “Special Operations Forces Truths.” The SOF Truths are five rules that are utilized as a guide for Special Operations units for strategic planning and vision. However, successful Special Operations soldiers also leverage these rules at an individual level in their own day-to-day activities. Now, as more highly […]

WASHINGTON—U.S. producer prices increased 0.2 percent in September, in line with expectations, while a revision to wholesale inventory estimates for August showed the biggest jump in nearly five years, beating forecasts. A rise in services prices offset a slight drop in prices for goods, including a 3.5 percent drop in gasoline prices. Final demand prices […]

CVS Health Corp. and Aetna Inc. received conditional approval to proceed with their proposed $68 billion merger, one of the largest in a series of recent deals that stand to transform the U.S. health-care business. The combination would create a giant with a hand in insurance, prescription-drug benefits, and drugstores across the U.S. By bringing […]

TORONTO—An Ontario business magnate is suing his daughter, two grandchildren, and others for allegedly mismanaging the family’s assets and trust funds. Frank Stronach, the man who started the autoparts business Magna International, and his wife, Elfriede, have launched the lawsuit in the Ontario Superior Court and said they have done so as a last resort. Stronach said in a […]

The intellectual property (IP) provisions in the new United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) push Canada to adopt stronger standards for protection.

SYDNEY—Asian share markets sank in a sea of red on Oct. 11 after Wall Street suffered its worst drubbing in eight months. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 2.7 percent to its lowest in 18 months. Japan’s Nikkei fell 3.4 percent, the steepest daily drop since March, while the broader TOPIX lost […]

NUSA DUA, Indonesia—The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its global economic growth forecasts for 2018 and 2019 on Oct. 9, saying that the U.S.–China trade war was taking a toll and emerging markets were struggling with tighter liquidity and capital outflows. The new forecasts show that a burst of strong growth, fueled partly by U.S. […]

NEW YORK—U.S. stocks plunged Wednesday as investors, fearful that rising interest rates and trade tensions could hurt company profits, ramped up their selling of high-flying technology and internet stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 831 points, its worst loss in eight months. The losses were widespread, and stocks that have been the biggest winners […]

At least two U.S. states and two European Union member states are investigating a breach at Google that may have exposed private profile data of at least 500,000 users to hundreds of external developers. The investigations follow Google’s announcement on Oct. 8 that it would shut down the consumer version of its social network Google+ […]

WASHINGTON—Tesla Inc claimed its Model 3 electric car has the lowest risk of occupant injury of any vehicle in U.S. government tests, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the claim goes beyond the scope of its analysis on Oct. 9. The auto safety’s agency’s 5-Star Safety Ratings Program uses three crash tests and […]

Sears Holdings is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as early as Oct. 12, sources said on Oct. 10, casting doubt over the future of what was once the world’s largest retailer and sending its shares to a record low. Negotiations between Sears Chief Executive Officer Eddie Lampert and the company’s special board committee are […]

LONDON—For Italy’s sovereign debt the timing could hardly be worse: A budget standoff with Brussels is driving the country’s bond yields to new peaks, just as two credit agencies are weighing whether to cut their ratings to within one notch of “junk.” But as markets move to price in chances of the eurozone’s biggest sovereign […]

BERLIN—German exports unexpectedly fell in August, data showed on Oct. 9, in a fresh sign that manufacturers in Europe’s largest economy shifted into a lower gear over the summer months. The Federal Statistics Office said seasonally adjusted exports edged down by 0.1 percent on the month, missing a Reuters forecast of a 0.3 percent rise. […]

BRUSSELS—Regulators are set to exercise their new powers by handing out fines and even temporary bans on companies that breach a new EU privacy law, with the first round of sanctions expected by the end of the year, the bloc’s privacy chief said. The European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), heralded as the biggest […]