March, 2020

• 21 March

  Hotelier grandson of Asia’s sugar king turns venture capitalist

  

  Bloomberg As a 17-year-old trainee bellboy, Kuok Meng Xiong spent a summer opening doors at his family’s Island Shangri-La hotel in Hong Kong. It was here, sweating through back rooms and service corridors, that he started to learn the hard truths of running a business. Now, after more than 20 years and a career spent helping run the family’s operations ...

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• 21 March

  Biggest utility bankruptcy in US history is nearing an end

  

  Bloomberg The biggest utility bankruptcy in US history appears to be drawing to a close after PG&E Corp reached a deal with California Governor Gavin Newsom over the company’s restructuring plan. The agreement calls for PG&E to put itself up for sale if the bankruptcy court doesn’t approve its plan by June 30 or if the company fails to emerge ...

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• 21 March

  Pennsylvania coal mines must shut down: Governor

  

  Bloomberg Coal miners including Consol Energy Inc and Contura Energy Inc must shutter their operations in Pennsylvania after the governor ordered “non-life-sustaining” businesses to close. The order took effect from March 19, according to a statement from Gov. Tom Wolf. Pennsylvania is the latest state to order commercial activities to shut down as governments move to slow the spread of ...

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• 21 March

  Eskom talks to get coal for Kusile plant drag on

  

  Bloomberg South Africa’s state-owned utility has yet to agree a supply contract for the bulk of coal needed for its newest power station, more than a decade after approving a plan to negotiate with Anglo American Plc. In 2007, an Eskom Holding SOC Ltd committee signed off on the start of talks with Anglo for as much as 17 million ...

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• 21 March

  Mexico cuts crude selling prices deepening crisis

  Bloomberg Mexico slashed the price for its flagship Maya crude, the latest producer to discount its cargoes as the coronavirus pandemic destroys fuel demand and Saudi Arabia floods the world with crude. Petroleos Mexicanos’s trading arm PMI lowered its Maya crude differential into US Gulf Coast by $2 to minus $10.05 a barrel for April, PMI said. The so-called K ...

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• 21 March

  Microsoft Teams new features may prove helpful for workers at home

  

  Bloomberg Microsoft Corp. unveiled new features for its Teams corporate-chat software, timed to the product’s third anniversary and arriving amid a surge of interest in digital workplace communications tools spurred by the Covid-19 outbreak. Several of the tools may be especially useful for employees in the new world of work from home. Real-time noise suppression should block out the sounds ...

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• 21 March

  Biggest factory closing since World War II hits US, Europe

  

  Bloomberg The economic impact of the growing coronavirus outbreak is shifting from service-driven industries like hotels and restaurants to the manufacturing sector on both sides of the Atlantic, leading to a synchronized shutdown of heavy industry that historians and industry experts say is unlike any seen since the 1940s. Automakers in the US and Europe are idling plants in response ...

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• 21 March

  Tesla to hand out face masks, take workers’ temperatures

  

  Bloomberg Tesla Inc. will hand out masks and take workers’ temperatures before they enter the carmaker’s California factory, according to an internal email laying out measures being taken while production keeps going. The company also is adding more hygiene stations and rearranging parts of the plant to promote social distancing, Valerie Workman, the carmaker’s head of human resources for North ...

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• 21 March

  Germany needs $162bn stimulus, Merkel ally says

  

  Bloomberg German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government should finance a stimulus plan worth as much as 150 billion euros ($162 billion) to help offset the economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis, Bavarian state leader Markus Soeder said. Measures taken by Merkel administration, including an existing $610 billion liquidity program for companies, are insufficient, Soeder said. His comments come as the government ...

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• 21 March

  Rolex shuts all plants amid Covid-19 woes

  Bloomberg The Swiss watch industry has survived lickings before, but Rolex, Omega and Cartier now face a combination of economic punches putting them back on their heels. The industry was adapting to downturn from political protests in its largest market, Hong Kong, when coronavirus outbreak hit. Meanwhile, Swiss franc, surging gold prices, and store closures are set to saddle firms ...

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