Bloomberg Germany has pledged 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) to help its beleaguered startups, but the policy has stalled after the country’s governmental departments failed to agree on who has to pay. More than two weeks after the aid plan has been announced, Germany’s finance and economy ministries are yet to find common ground over who is responsible for paying ...

Bloomberg The biggest US companies will slash their cash spending this year amid the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. “We forecast S&P 500 cash spending will decline by an annual record 33% during 2020 as firms prioritize liquidity in a worsening economic environment,” strategists led by David Kostin wrote in a ...

Bloomberg A top Wuhan laboratory official has denied any role in spreading the new coronavirus, in the most high profile response from a facility at the center of months of speculation about how the previously unknown animal disease made the leap to humans. Yuan Zhiming, director of the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, hit back at those promoting theories that the ...

Bloomberg Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that public debate about easing restrictions to contain the coronavirus risked sparking a new wave of infections even as Germany took its first tentative steps towards normalcy. In a closed-door meeting of her Christian Democratic party on Monday in Berlin, she said “discussion orgies” about loosening lockdowns threatened to destroy the progress in fighting the ...

Bloomberg Ghana became the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to ease movement restrictions after a 21-day lockdown of its biggest cities bought the government enough time to improve its preparedness for the coronavirus pandemic, said President Nana Akufo-Addo. Residents of the capital, Accra, and major centres are allowed to return to work from Monday even though other restrictions such as ...

Bloomberg Former billionaire Vijay Mallya lost a bid at a London appeal court to block his extradition to India, putting the fallen tycoon one step closer to facing fraud and money-laundering charges in his home country. A London appeal court upheld a 2018 ruling to send him back to India over allegations that Mallya made a number of misrepresentations leading ...

Bloomberg Boris Johnson is resisting pressure to ease the UK’s coronavirus lockdown too soon, fearing a second wave of the pandemic could hit the country, a person familiar with the matter said. The prime minister, who is yet to return to work after being struck by the virus himself, spoke with colleagues including his deputy, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, to ...

Where is the demand to come from? That is the crucial economic question these days. If we can’t answer it (and for now, we can’t), then the outlook is bleak. It implies a weak recovery or — worse — a Depression-like stagnation with massive joblessness. Economists project the recovery to begin sometime in the summer. But who will do the ...

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is doubling down on its cloud strategy with a $28 billion increase in spending over the next three years. Ignore for a moment that huge number, and turn instead to what this says about the e-commerce company’s priorities. China’s largest technology company is essentially admitting that the consumer story may have run its course, and the ...

The coronavirus may have upended life as we know it, but one thing hasn’t changed: Companies looking to flout good governance practices will find a way. Now they have the perfect cover — and once again, China is leading the way. While online investor meetings are becoming standard, HNA Group Co took the practice to the extreme last week. Last ...