February, 2020

• 8 February

  Modi’s ‘thalinomics’ is a recipe for a bad economy

  

  Indian food, when done right, comes in a thali — a metal plate with half a dozen or more little bowls of vegetables, pickles, and so on. The word of the week in India is “thalinomics”: The government’s official survey of the Indian economy, published a few days ago, introduced the word to talk about how food was getting cheaper ...

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• 8 February

  Oil giant BP can afford to be radical on climate change

  

  Bob Dudley leaves BP Plc having almost settled the financial costs of the Deepwater Horizon tragedy in 2010 and overseen a necessary overhaul of safety, and more generally culture, in response to the disaster. Successor Bernard Looney inherits a financially strong company. That only increases the incoming CEO’s responsibility to upgrade BP’s strategy to meet the climate crisis. BP and ...

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• 8 February

  Why Google might prefer dropping a $22bn business

  

  For Google, a partial voluntary breakup of its advertising business might be preferable to whatever regulators come up with on their own. Whenever people rattle off big tech deals whose regulatory approval was, in hindsight, a mistake, they tend to include the Alphabet Inc. unit’s $3.2 billion acquisition of DoubleClick in 2008. I’ve done it three times in the past ...

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• 8 February

  GM to recoup Cadillac’s lost mojo with Escalade

  

  Even in its worst days, Cadillac could count on its big, swanky Escalade to deliver profits. It still does, but with Ford Motor Co’s Lincoln Navigator and a handful of European competitors taking a bite out of the large luxury SUV market, General Motors (GM) Co is making a push to turn the fifth-generation Escalade into a high-tech showcase. When ...

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• 8 February

  Ericsson pulls out of biggest mobile event as virus spreads

  

  Bloomberg Ericsson AB withdrew from the telecommunications industry’s biggest annual event to protect its staff and visitors from the coronavirus outbreak. The Swedish maker of mobile networks said it had pulled out of MWC Barcelona, due to be held on February 24 to February 27. As one of the largest exhibitors, with thousands of visitors in its hall each day, ...

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• 8 February

  Virus pushes robots to frontlines of hospitals in China

  

  Bloomberg The deadly coronavirus outbreak, which has pushed the Chinese medical community into overdrive, has also prompted the country’s hospitals to more quickly adopt robots as medical assistants. Telepresence bots that allow remote video communication, patient health monitoring and safe delivery of medical goods are growing in number on hospital floors in urban China. They’re now acting as a safe ...

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• 8 February

  New ‘Breeze Air’ on track to fly this year, says Neeleman

  

  Bloomberg Breeze Airways, the latest offspring of serial airline entrepreneur David Neeleman, will start flying later this year with a fleet that will put his low-cost plans to the test. The new airline is standing by its early pledge to fly where it won’t face competitors and operate on days and times of highest demand, Neeleman said in an interview. ...

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• 8 February

  Jet Airways faces fresh warning signs as liquidation threat looms

  

  Bloomberg Bankrupt carrier Jet Airways India Ltd, once the nation’s biggest by market value, faces fresh warning signs as a deadline to avoid liquidation looms. Creditors will likely be forced into extending a February 17 deadline for the sale of the airline as the shortlisted bidders have yet to form bidding groups, according to people familiar with the matter. Time ...

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• 8 February

  Cathay Dragon’s staff urge halting mainland flights amid outbreak

  

  Bloomberg Employees of Hong Kong carrier Cathay Dragon have urged the company to suspend mainland China flights and are considering strikes or protests to press their demands. Staff of the Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd unit gathered on Saturday for an extraordinary general meeting where about 89% out of 467 votes supported “industrial action,” said Kim Lam, a representative of the ...

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• 8 February

  Virus scare empties malls on world’s priciest retail strip

  

  Bloomberg In an almost deserted mall, the few shoppers hurry past wearing face masks. In the luxury stores, sales assistants, also in masks, outnumber customers — if they have any at all. To pass the time, staff chat with each other or play with their phones. This isn’t a scene from some dystopian movie. Instead, in Hong Kong’s usually bustling ...

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