International News

  Bloomberg Six months ago, Lyft Inc. made a big push into corporate travel, building a team of several dozen employees to pitch banks, consulting firms and other companies on its ride-hailing services. This month, more than a dozen of those employees were dismissed or reassigned, part of a change in direction for the company’s nascent sales efforts. David Baga, …

  Bloomberg A closely-watched survey of business confidence in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, dropped in January as managers worried about the uncertainty associated with the advent of Donald Trump’s presidency. The Ifo index released on Wednesday fell to 109.8 points in January from 111 points in December, as companies’ greater satisfaction with their current situation was offset by a drop …

  Bloomberg Intel Corp, the biggest maker of semiconductors, predicted first-quarter sales that will meet analysts’ estimates on improvements in the personal computer market and continued growth in orders from data center owners. Revenue will be $14.8 billion, plus or minus $500 million, the Santa Clara, California-based company said Thursday in a statement. Analysts had projected $14.5 billion, the average …

  Bloomberg Johnson & Johnson made its biggest deal ever in a bold bet that it can get more growth out of medicines for a rare type of high blood pressure. The $30 billion purchase of Swiss drugmaker Actelion Ltd., which J&J is funding with cash it holds outside the US, will fulfill its goal of gaining a new drug …

  Bloomberg President Donald Trump’s pledge to ease environmental regulations hands automakers a second chance to amend the US vehicle efficiency standards that the Obama administration sought to finalize in its final days. In a White House meeting, with the chief executives of General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, Trump called environmental regulations “out of …

  Bloomberg Unilever shares fell after saying it will get off to a slow start in 2017, casting gloom over the European consumer-staples industry as the sector’s earnings season kicks off. Fourth-quarter underlying sales rose 2.2 percent, the maker of Dove soap said in a statement, the worst result in two years and below the 2.6 percent gain seen by …

  Bloomberg Spanish unemployment fell to a seven-year low in the fourth quarter in a boost for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who has made job creation the centerpiece of his administration. The jobless rate dropped to 18.6 percent in the three months through December, the National Statistics Office said in Madrid on Thursday. That’s down from 18.9 percent in the …

  Bloomberg The UK economy is maintaining its stellar performance since the Brexit vote, but the reasons may be cause for concern. Growth beat expectations again in the fourth quarter, coming in at 0.6 percent, but the make-up of the performance hints at ongoing weak links. The expansion is still being almost entirely driven by services and consumer spending, continuing …

  Bloomberg Johnson & Johnson agreed to buy Actelion Ltd. for $30 billion and spin off the Swiss drugmaker’s research and development operations, clinching its largest deal ever to become a leader in medicines for a rare type of high blood pressure. J&J, already the world’s biggest maker of health-care products, is fulfilling its goal of gaining a new drug …

  Bloomberg To convince investors to finance a pan-European war against Uber Technologies Inc., a French ride-hailing app 50 times smaller has a one-word pitch: profit. Chauffeur-Prive is near closing a 50-million-euro ($53 million) fundraising round to expand out of Paris into the rest of Europe, with the promise it can extend a five-year streak of growth while turning a …