World Street | Boeing in deep blue, Trump avoids trouble, a lease of life for WeWork, and more

World Street offers a sneak peek into the world of business and economy.

As Boeing flies into a rough patch, the impending exit of the chief executive later this year is going to deepen the crisis at the aircraft manufacturer. On another front, Adam Neumann has renewed his love for WeWork and is making attempts to regain the reins. Elon Musk's X fails to blame the watchdog for slump in advertising revenue. All these and more on the March 26 edition of World Street.

Dave Calhoun, CEO of troubled aircraft maker Boeing, will leave his position at the end of the year. As the safety crises at Boeing deepen, Boeing said the head of its commercial airlines division will retire immediately, while its chairman will not stand for re-election. Faced with increased scrutiny and mounting pressure, Boeing responded to the incident in January in which a panel blew off a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane midair on an Alaska Airlines flight.

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s X that was lodged against the non-profit Center for Countering Digital Hate. The judge ruled that the case was lodged to “punish” the non-profit. Since Musk’s takeover of the social media platform, the non-profit noted that the hate speech on the website skyrocketed. X blamed the CCDH for driving away advertisers by raising concerns about brand safety.

Adam Neumann submitted an unsolicited bid, crossing $500 million, to reacquire the bankrupt-WeWork. Flow, Neumann’s new property endeavour, has a coalition of half a dozen financing partners — whose identities are known to WeWork and its advisers - willing to fund his re-entry into the co-working firm. Neumann earlier resigned as CEO of WeWork in 2019.

Former US president Donald Trump has been held liable in a $454-million civil fraud judgement. If Trump could successfully put up $175 million in 10 days, the state of New York will not be able to seize the presidential nominee’s assets. The civil fraud case found that Trump lied about his wealth for years, and the penalty would wipe away his ‘billionaire’ status.

Apple, Alphabet and Meta will face heightened scrutiny from the European Union with its new laws in place. The Digital Markets Act ensures that tech firms are not allowed to block other businesses that tell their users about cheaper options or subscriptions that are available outside the realm of an App Store. “The Commission has opened non-compliance investigations under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) into Alphabet’s rules on steering in Google Play and self-preferencing on Google Search, Apple’s rules on steering in the App Store and the choice screen for Safari and Meta’s ‘pay or consent model,’” the EU said.