Penguin Random house CEO steps down
Markus Dohle stepped down from his role as CEO of Penguin Random House, the publisher’s parent company, Bertelsmann, announced Friday, just weeks after an enormously expensive acquisition deal fell apart. As the head of the largest publisher in the country, Dohle oversaw the attempted purchase of Simon & Schuster for $2.175 billion, a deal that the Justice Department sued to stop on antitrust grounds. The government won the case at the end of October, a ruling that cost Penguin Random House and Bertelsmann more than $200 million. Bertelsmann, a German media conglomerate, said Dohle was stepping down “at his own request and on the best of mutual terms.”
Oil prices drop, despite heightened sanctions on Russian crude
For months, oil traders have worried a European Union embargo and a price cap on Russian oil, two measures that took effect Monday, would lead to a price spike and shortages of crude. By Friday, instead of the feared oil shock spikes, prices slid. They are now as low as they’ve been all year, since before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Not everything has gone smoothly. Turkey has blocked tankers — most of them carrying oil for companies operating in Kazakhstan, such as the joint venture of Chevron and Exxon Mobil — from transiting the narrow Bosporus. Turkish officials are seeking insurance documentation. But traders have largely shrugged off that news.
Markets fluctuate at the end of a shaky week
Stock prices wobbled Friday after persistent pullbacks over the week reflected how investors have grown increasingly nervous that stubbornly high inflation could push the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates high for a long time, raising the risk of a severe economic downturn. The S&P 500 fluctuated between gains and losses Friday, before ending the day 0.7% lower. The drop took the index to a 3.4% fall for the week after declines Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, which makes it the largest one week fall since mid-September. The index has fallen on eight of the past 10 full trading days. A gauge of wholesale prices rose more than expected Friday.
FTX founder agrees to testify before House committee
The answer as to whether embattled FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried will appear before two congressional committees next week is being played out on Twitter. In a post on Twitter on Friday, Bankman-Fried said he would appear Tuesday before the House Committee on Financial Services after days of being evasive on the matter. The hearing will focus on the sudden collapse last month of FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange, amid allegations of the misappropriation of billions in customer money. Bankman-Fried, 30, said in a post on Twitter that “there is a limit to what I will be able to say, and I won’t be as helpful as I’d like.”
Twitter relaunching subscriber service after debacle
Twitter is once again attempting to launch its premium service a month after a previous attempt failed. The social media company said it would let users buy subscriptions to Twitter Blue to get a blue checkmark and access special features starting Monday. The blue checkmark was originally given to companies, celebrities, government entities and journalists verified by the platform. After Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion in October he launched a service granting blue checks to anyone willing to pay $8 a month. But it was inundated by imposter accounts, so Twitter suspended the service.
Helping Ukraine is ‘self-preservation,’ finance chief says
Ukraine’s finance minister says crucial Western financial aid is “not charity” but “self-preservation” as donor countries share the price of turning back Russian aggression. Serhiy Marchenko told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that his country is protecting freedom and democracy far beyond its borders. He said he believes EU officials will resolve their dispute with Hungary that is holding up 18 billion euros in loans and would cover a large part of Ukraine’s looming budget gap. That outside financing is needed to avoid printing money at the central bank to cover basic needs like pensions, a practice that risks fueling already painful inflation.
Wholesale inflation in US further slowed in November to 7.4%
Wholesale prices in the United States rose 7.4% in November from a year earlier, a fifth straight slowdown and a hopeful sign that inflation pressures across the economy are continuing to cool. The latest year-over-year figure was down from 8% in October and from a recent peak of 11.7% in March. On a monthly basis, the U.S. producer price index, which measures costs before they reach consumers, rose 0.3% from October to November for the third straight month. Rising prices are still straining Americans’ finances. Yet several emerging trends have combined to slow inflation from the four-decade peak it reached during the summer.
US reports another Takata air bag death, bringing toll to 33
U.S. safety regulators and Honda Motor Co. are urging drivers once again to make sure their vehicles haven’t been recalled after another person was killed by an exploding Takata air bag. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the person was killed in a crash involving a 2002 Honda Accord when the driver’s air bag inflator ruptured and hurled shrapnel. No location or date of the crash were given. The death brings the number of people killed by the air bags to 33 worldwide and up to 24 in the U.S. The death was confirmed recently and announced on Friday.
American, JetBlue expand deal that US is trying to kill
American Airlines and JetBlue are expanding their partnership in the Northeast even while the government tries to kill the airlines’ agreement. American and JetBlue said Friday they plan to add some new routes in New York and Boston next spring. And they will trade places on New York-to-Atlanta flights, with American dropping that route after JetBlue picks it up. The move comes while a federal judge is deciding the government’s lawsuit to block an American-JetBlue partnership in New York and Boston. The government says the deal reduces competition and will lead to higher fares. The airlines say it will let them improve service in the Northeast. The judge is expected to rule early next year.
By wire sources
