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A wanted notice was delivered to Lebanese authorities on Thursday by Interpol for Carlos Ghosn, three days after the former head of Nissan jumped bail in Japan and surreptitiously fled to Beirut via Turkey. In addition, seven people suspected of being accomplices in Ghosn’s escape to Lebanon have been detained in Turkey. Lebanese Justice Minister Albert Serhan says Ghosn may be called in for questioning.
Disgraced businessman Carlos Ghosn said Tuesday he had escaped Japan and arrived in Lebanon, raising questions about how he fled months before trial. Ghosn had been under “strict surveillance” by authorities in Japan and had surrendered his passports while on bail. “I have not fled justice, I have escaped injustice and political persecution,” the former Nissan chief said in a statement.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Peugeot maker PSA have reached a binding agreement over their roughly $50 billion merger that will reshape the global car industry. France’s PSA and Italian-American Fiat Chrysler (FCA), which are yet to decide on a name for their new company, will now start work on delivering their pledge to cut costs by 3.7 billion euros ($4.1 billion) a year without closing factories.
The co-founders of Google are stepping down as executives of its parent company, Alphabet, ending a remarkable two decades during which Larry Page and Sergey Brin shaped a startup born in a Silicon Valley garage into one of the largest, most powerful companies in the world. Sundar Pichai, who has been leading Google as CEO for more than four years, will take on additional duties as Alphabet’s CEO, the position held by Page.
Shares in Alibaba jumped more than 6 percent in their Hong Kong trading debut, after the technology group raised more than $11bn against a backdrop of simmering anti-government unrest in the Asian financial hub. Five years ago Alibaba raised $25bn in New York in what was the world’s biggest initial public offering. The secondary listing will make it easier for investors in China and elsewhere in Asia to trade the shares.
McDonald’s announced the ouster of CEO Steve Easterbook Sunday over an inappropriate relationship with an employee. The company’s board determined that Easterbrook “violated company policy and demonstrated poor judgment involving a recent consensual relationship with an employee,” it announced. The CEO switchup came less than two weeks after McDonald’s reported its first quarterly profit miss in two years, with a 4 percent drop compared to a year earlier.
GlaxoSmithKline is recalling the popular heartburn medicine Zantac in all markets, days after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found “unacceptable” levels of probable cancer-causing impurity in the drug. Zantac, also sold generically as ranitidine, is the latest drug in which cancer-causing impurities have been found. Regulators have been recalling some blood pressure and heart failure medicines since last year.
VW has rejected a judge’s plea to settle a mass lawsuit in Germany over the diesel emissions scandal. A lawsuit involving about 450,000 owners of diesel Volkswagen cars began on Monday. While the company settled in the US, where emissions rules are stricter, it is resisting settling with its domestic customers. The scandal has already cost VW €30bn (£26.6bn) worldwide.
Forever 21, the fast fashion clothing chain anchoring shopping malls across the United States, filed for bankruptcy protection on Sunday, reporting more than $1 billion in liabilities. The New York Times reported that the company would end its operations in 40 countries, including Canada and Japan, and could close as many as 350 of its more than 800 stores worldwide.
Shares of Peloton Interactive Inc, the fitness startup known for on-demand workout programs on its exercise bikes, slid as much as 7% in their market debut on Thursday, indicating that investors are becoming increasingly skeptical of money-losing startups. The New York-based company’s shares opened at $27.00, down from its initial public offering price of $29.00 that raised about $1.16 billion at a valuation of $8.1 billion.