Perhaps the biggest reason Europe hasn’t produced digital economy giants like Google, Amazon, Facebook or Netflix is that there’s no such thing as “Europe.” Starting out in Sweden, France or Germany, a company is not European — it’s Swedish, French or German. Tax regulations, postal tariffs, financial systems, copyright, labeling and data protection rules — nothing is harmonized. Failing to …

  London / Bloomberg British Airways is evaluating its routes to Nigeria, adding to aviation-industry pressure on the government as sister carrier Iberia and US competitor United Airlines halt flights to the oil-based market as traffic stutters and currency controls delay access to revenue. The UK carrier is struggling to repatriate its share of the $575 million that Nigeria currently …

  New York / Bloomberg PVH Corp., the maker of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger apparel, jumped as much as 7.6 percent after raising its full-year profit forecast and reporting first-quarter earnings that beat analysts’ estimates. Adjusted earnings will probably be $6.45 to $6.55 a share during the 2016 fiscal year, the New York-based company said in a statement. That’s …

  The Hague / AFP Dutch electronics giant Philips set a price of 20 euros per share, a day ahead of a highly anticipated IPO of its lighting arm, and said it was expecting to raise 750 million euros. “The total number of offered shares is 37.5 million, representing 25 percent of the shares,” the Amsterdam-based Philips said in a statement. …

  Sydney / Bloomberg Air New Zealand Ltd.’s stake in Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd. has attracted several potential buyers and talks are under way about a possible deal, said Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of Virgin Group Ltd. It’s not yet clear whether Virgin Group itself, which owns about 10 percent of Virgin Australia, will increase its stake in Australia’s …

  Bloomberg Singapore’s property market may be closer to a bottom than Hong Kong, according to LaSalle Investment Management, which oversees more than $58bn in real estate funds. Governments in Asia’s two most expensive residential markets have imposed curbs in recent years to tame prices and improve affordability. As demand has dropped amid a slowdown in the region’s economies, home …

  Bloomberg Blackstone Group LP, the world’s biggest private-equity property investor, plans to sell hotel buildings in London, Dublin and Amsterdam for about 980 million euros ($1.1 billion), according to people with knowledge of the matter. The hotels are all operated under Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.’s DoubleTree brand, said the people, who asked not to be named because the information …

  Bloomberg New York real estate developer Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. offered to buy a controlling stake in Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd., a unit of distressed IDB Development Ltd., according to two people familiar with the matter. IDBD said it received a non-binding offer that values the insurer at $743 million, without identifying the bidder. Michael Alpert, the president of …

  Washington / AP Long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose this week but remained at low levels that could entice purchasers amid the current home buying season. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said that the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased to 3.64 percent from 3.58 percent last week. It’s far below its level a year ago of 3.87%. The average rate on 15-year …

  Bloomberg Donald Trump criticized the wind-power industry this week for killing birds. A far bigger threat is real estate developers and their tall buildings. About 599 million birds are killed annually in the U.S. when they fly into windows, trailing only loss of habitat and cats as the top causes of bird deaths, according to the National Audubon Society. …