本周要闻
Business
商业
America’s Justice Department announced a broad antitrust review of the market power of online platforms in search, social media and retailing. That increases the pressure on Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google to improve their behaviour as the calls from some Democrats to break up those companies grow louder during the election season.
美国司法部宣布对搜索、社交媒体和零售业在线平台的市场力量进行全面的反垄断审查。这加大了亚马逊、苹果、脸书和谷歌改善自身行为的压力,因为在选举季节,一些民主党人要求分拆这些公司的呼声越来越高。
Meanwhile, the Federal Trade Commission confirmed that it is slapping Facebook with a $5bn fine for violating privacy. It ordered Facebook to change its attitude to privacy “from the corporate board-level down”, and introduce mechanisms that make its executives accountable for decisions on privacy. The firm disclosed that the FTC has launched a separate antitrust investigation into its practices.
与此同时,美国联邦贸易委员会(FTC)证实,将以侵犯隐私为由对脸书处以50亿美元罚款。该委员会命令脸书“从公司董事会开始”改变其对隐私的态度,并引入让其高管对隐私决策负责的机制。该公司透露,联邦贸易委员会已经对其行为展开了单独的反垄断调查。
Boeing’s quarterly net loss of $2.9bn was its biggest ever. The aerospace company recently disclosed an after-tax charge of $4.9bn in connection with the worldwide grounding of its 737 max airliner following two fatal crashes.
波音公司季度净亏损29亿美元,为有史以来最大的亏损。这家航空公司最近披露了一项49亿美元的税后费用,涉及其737 max客机在两起致命坠机事故后在全球停飞。
Carl Icahn, an activist investor, stepped up his attack on Occidental’s offer to take over a rival oil company, Anadarko, calling it a “travesty”. Mr Icahn holds a 4.4% stake in Occidental and has nominated a slate of directors to sit on the company’s board. He has been highly critical of Warren Buffett’s backing of Occidental’s bid, which includes putting $10bn towards its financing.
激进投资者卡尔·伊坎(Carl Icahn)加大了对西方石油公司(Occidental)收购其竞争对手阿纳达科石油公司(Anadarko)的攻击力度,称这是“歪曲事实”。伊坎持有西方石油公司4.4%的股份,并任命了一批董事会成员。他对沃伦·巴菲特支持西方石油(Occidental)的收购一直持高度批评态度,包括为其融资投入100亿美元。
Soon after ditching an IPO of its Asian business, which would have been the world’s most valuable stockmarket flotation this year, Anheuser-Busch InBev agreed to sell its Australian brewing division to Asahi, a Japanese beermaker, for $11.3bn. The world’s biggest brewer still intends eventually to list its Asian assets. It needs the money to pay down the huge debt pile it amassed during a takeover binge.
安海斯-布希英博(Anheuser-Busch InBev)放弃了其亚洲业务的首次公开募股,其原本有望成为今年全球市值最高的股票发行。不久后,该公司同意以113亿美元的价格将其澳大利亚子公司出售给日本啤酒制造商朝日啤酒(Asahi)。这家全球最大的啤酒制造商仍有打算让其亚洲业务上市。该公司需要资金偿还在收购狂潮中积累的巨额债务。
The IMF lowered its forecast of global growth this year, to 3.2%, which would be the weakest in a decade. In its latest outlook the fund described the world economy as “subdued”; it is specifically concerned about trade and technology tensions between America and China and the prospect of Britain leaving the EU without a deal. Still, the IMF expects British GDP to grow by 1.3% this year, slightly above its previous projection in April. It sharply downgraded its growth forecasts for many emerging economies, notably Brazil, Mexico and South Africa.
国际货币基金组织(IMF)将今年的全球经济增长预期下调至3.2%,这将是十年来的最低水平。在其最新的展望中,国际货币基金组织称世界经济“疲软”;该组织尤其关注中美两国的贸易和技术紧张关系,以及英国无协议脱欧的前景。尽管如此,国际货币基金组织预计英国今年的国内生产总值将增长1.3%,略高于4月份的预期。国际货币基金组织大幅下调了对许多新兴经济体的增长预测,尤其是巴西、墨西哥和南非。