Reuters Business News

The corporate response to a wave of protests over the treatment of African Americans has included pledges to increase diversity, donations to civil rights groups and, in some cases, changes in policies or practices long sought by critics. Here is a sampling:

Unilever proposed on Thursday to ditch its dual Anglo-Dutch legal structure and create a single company in Britain to give it more flexibility for mergers and acquisitions as the coronavirus pandemic overwhelms businesses worldwide.

Delta Air Lines Inc is launching next week a program to test employees for active COVID-19 and antibodies under a partnership with the Mayo Clinic and Quest Diagnostics Inc, Chief Executive Ed Bastian said in an employee memo on Thursday.

Oil prices slumped on Thursday, dragged down by another record build-up in U.S. crude inventories and the U.S. Federal Reserve's projections that the world's biggest economy would shrink 6.5% this year.

U.S. stocks opened sharply lower on Thursday with the Nasdaq falling after a four-day rally on fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections and a grim economic forecast from the Federal Reserve.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd has agreed to sell a portfolio of over-the-counter and prescription drugs marketed in the Asia Pacific region to South Korea's Celltrion Inc for $278 million, it said on Thursday

PayPal Holdings Inc said on Thursday it was pledging $530 million to support black and minority-owned businesses in the United States and foster diversity, amid worldwide protests over racial injustice.

Billionaire investor William Ackman's hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management has filed confidentially with U.S. regulators for an initial public offering (IPO) of a blank-check investment vehicle that could raise more than $1 billion and be the biggest of its kind, according to people familiar with the matter.

Moderna Inc on Thursday confirmed it plans to start a trial of 30,000 volunteers of its much-anticipated coronavirus vaccine in July as the company enters the final stage of testing.

Layoffs in the United States are abating, but millions who lost their jobs because of COVID-19 continue to draw unemployment benefits, suggesting the labor market could take years to heal from the pandemic even as businesses resume hiring workers.

Unilever proposed collapsing its Anglo-Dutch legal structure into a single holding company based in Britain on Thursday, nearly two years after shareholders sank an earlier plan to move its headquarters to the Netherlands.

Anglo-Dutch Unilever plans to become a single holding company based in Britain, unwinding a dual-headed structure which has been in place for 90 years.

Planemaker Bombardier Inc is to cut up to 600 jobs in its Northern Ireland operations, it said on Thursday, as part of plans announced last week to cut 2,500 jobs or about 11% of the workforce in its global aviation unit.

World shares took their biggest tumble in five weeks on Thursday as a sobering economic outlook from the U.S. Federal Reserve challenged market expectations, while bonds rallied on bets yet more stimulus would be needed to ensure recovery.

JPMorgan has promoted Jonas Wikmark as co-head of Nordics banking to drive growth in one of its major European markets, according to a memo seen by Reuters.

China and the United States should resume timely communication on trade and other issues, an adviser to the Chinese cabinet said on Thursday, stressing that the world's two biggest economies are too intertwined to be decoupled.

Volkswagen's management board on Thursday apologised for the company's publication on its Instagram page of a racist advert and said the clip was published because of a lack of cultural sensitivity rather than because of racist intentions.

Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot maker PSA face a lengthy EU antitrust investigation after declining to offer concessions to allay EU antitrust concerns about their planned $50 billion merger, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The European Union is planning on filing formal antitrust charges against Amazon.com Inc over its treatment of third-party sellers, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

China's auto sales in May rose 14.5% from the same month a year earlier, industry data showed on Thursday, the second consecutive month of increase as the world's biggest vehicle market recovers from lows hit during coronavirus lockdowns.