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Bloomberg Tesco Plc agreed to sell its Asian businesses to Thai billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont for more than $10 billion, clinching a record deal in Thailand even as the coronavirus outbreak damps enthusiasm for mergers and acquisitions worldwide. Britain’s largest supermarket chain said it plans a 5 billion-pound ($6.6 billion) special dividend after the sale of the assets to Chearavanont’s Charoen ...

Bloomberg Grab Holdings Inc closed offices in Singapore and Thailand for five days of cleaning after a Singapore-based employee, who previously visited the Bangkok office, tested positive for the coronavirus. “One employee who is based in our corporate office at Marina One West Tower in Singapore has come down with Covid-19,” Grab said on Monday in an emailed statement. “The ...

Bloomberg Japanese merchants said they’re facing the toughest economic environment since the global financial crisis as the country braces for the full impact of the spreading coronavirus. Store managers, barbers, taxi drivers and others who deal directly with Japanese consumers haven’t been this pessimistic about their prospects since 2009, according to a Cabinet Office survey on Monday. An index measuring ...

Bloomberg Apple Inc’s iPhone shipments plunged more than 60% last month, according to official Chinese data, as the coronavirus forced the US technology giant to close stores in the world’s largest smartphone market. Shipments dropped to about 494,600 units from year-earlier levels, according to Bloomberg calculations based on monthly data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a ...

Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government will invest an additional 12.4 billion euros ($14.1 billion) between 2021 and 2024 and take its first steps to help companies and workers affected by the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. After more than seven hours of talks, Merkel’s coalition loosened rules for short-term work compensation. The changes will make it easier for companies ...

Bloomberg Boris Johnson will announce a 5 billion pound ($6.5 billion) investment in the UK’s next generation broadband internet services as he seeks to ensure that remote parts of the country can benefit. The British leader has made it his mission to “level up” regions that have been “left behind” economically, with investment in key infrastructure. On Wednesday, Finance Minister ...

Bloomberg Facebook Inc. is being sued in Australia by the nation’s privacy regulator, which claims the social media giant exposed the personal data of more than 300,000 users to the risk of being used for political profiling. In proceedings lodged in the Federal Court, the Australian Information Commissioner alleges Facebook repeatedly breached privacy laws by disclosing user information to the ...

Bloomberg Denmark needs to adopt a number of emergency measures, including higher carbon taxes, if it’s to reach a goal of drastically cutting emissions by 2030, a government-appointed climate council said in a new report. The country needs the additional steps to achieve target of reducing emissions by 70% compared with the level 40 years earlier, the council said on ...

Bloomberg Many Lyft Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. drivers have seen a bump in business from the spreading coronavirus, but they’re also weighing the risks of staying safe versus continuing to earn a paycheck. A study shows that more than half of ride-hailing drivers said they were now “very concerned” about reduced earnings as a result of the virus and ...

Bloomberg US employment surged last month with the biggest gain since May 2018, indicating the labour market was on especially solid footing before the spread of the coronavirus intensified. Payrolls rose 273,000 after the prior month was revised up to also reflect a 273,000 gain, according to Labour Department data that beat all forecasts in Bloomberg’s survey calling for 175,000. ...