International News

Bloomberg Jeff Bezos is the richest person in modern history. The Amazon.com Inc. founder’s net worth cracked $150 billion in New York, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That’s about $55 billion more than Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates, the world’s second-richest person. Bezos, 54, also has topped Gates in inflation-adjusted terms. The $100 billion mark that Gates hit briefly ...

Bloomberg Donald Trump’s economic policies have been a wash of sorts for US business investment. Ten percent of respondents surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics said they have accelerated spending as a result of the 2017 tax cuts. Meanwhile, 10 percent said they have delayed investment because of new tariffs and other trade policies, NABE’s survey of 98 ...

Bloomberg UK employment rose to a record high in the three months through May after the economy created jobs at a stronger-than-expected pace. The number of people in work rose by 137,000, taking the employment rate to 75.7 percent, the highest since records began in 1971, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday. Unemployment held at a 43-year low ...

Bloomberg For the first time, Walt Disney Co. spelled out for investors that 21st Century Fox Inc. may choose not to increase its takeover offer for British broadcaster Sky Plc. The revelation boosted speculation that Disney and Comcast Corp. may carve up Rupert Murdoch’s media empire rather than fighting to the end for the whole lot. Sky, the UK pay-TV ...

Bloomberg Looking out over his parched fields south of Berlin, dairy and grains farmer Thomas Gaebert is wishing for rains to save his crops after relentless hot weather. He is one of many farmers battling for survival after a heatwave and drought swept across northern parts of the continent, damaging crops from wheat to barley. Many German growers could go ...

Bloomberg Central Group, one of Thailand’s biggest conglomerates, is studying options including a potential initial public offering of retail assets, people with knowledge of the matter said. The group is working on a restructuring of its retail operations ahead of a possible IPO as soon as next year, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is ...

Bloomberg Ele.me, the food delivery platform acquired by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., is on the hunt for $2 billion of new financing to help in its fight against Meituan Dianping, people familiar with the matter said. The Chinese company is seeking funds from potential investors such as venture capital firms to expand a business that’s burning enormous amounts of cash, ...

Bloomberg ZTE Corp. climbed as much as 15 percent after the US formally lifted a ban on its American technology purchases, allowing the Chinese telecoms gear-maker to resume business. The company’s shares marked a month’s high in Hong Kong and rose by their 10 percent daily limit in Shenzhen. Washington’s decision resolves a months-long moratorium that thrust ZTE into the ...

Bloomberg The ink had barely dried on the first joint statement between China and the European Union in three years before the complaints began. Following a rare decision to allow reporters inside a session with business leaders in Beijing on Monday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang heard unfiltered comments from senior EU officials about the everyday reality for Europeans of conducting ...

Bloomberg How far has Subaru come during its 60 years of selling cars? Roughly seven feet. That’s the difference lengthwise between its first vehicle, the diminutive “360” later dubbed “the ladybug,” and a pumped up new SUV called the Ascent. Make no mistake. The Ascent is a Texas-sized rig, thoroughly incongruous with its creator’s climate conscious, blue-state reputation. It’s a ...