Business

By Chavi Mehta and Tiyashi Datta

(Reuters) -Adobe Inc will buy startup Figma for about $20 billion in its biggest deal, the Photoshop maker said on Thursday, bulking up on applications that support online collaboration amid a global shift to hybrid working.

The cash-and-stock deal will give Adobe ownership of a company whose online collaborative platform for designs and brainstorming is used by firms ranging from Zoom Video Communications to AirBnB and Coinbase.

“The combination of Adobe and Figma is transformational and will accelerate our vision for collaborative creativity,” Adobe Chief Executive Shantanu Narayen said in a statement.

Adobe has sharpened its focus on the collaboration tools space in recent years through acquisitions. It acquired work management platform Workfront in 2020 and cloud-based video collaboration platform Frame.io last year.

Still, shares fell 13% in early trading. Some analysts pointed to the size of the deal that could require Adobe to raise debt. The company had cash and cash equivalents of $3.87 billion as of Sept. 2.

“We’re disappointed for the price paid for the company (Figma),” said David Wagner, portfolio manager and equity analyst at Aptus Capital Advisors that owns a 1.5% stake in Adobe.

“It tends to not be a great sign when a company has to acquire to defend share. It’s not a sustainable solution.”

A CNBC report last month said thousands of Microsoft employees were utilizing Figma, putting pressure on the close relationship shared by the software giant with Adobe. Distribution across machines running on Windows helped Adobe gain ubiquity and the companies also sync their products across platforms.

The deal is expected to close in 2023 and San Francisco-based Figma will continue to be led by co-founder and Chief Executive Dylan Field. Either company will have to pay a termination fee of $1 billion if they scrap the deal.

Meanwhile, Adobe’s fourth-quarter revenue forecast of $4.52 billion came in below the $4.58 billion estimated by analysts, according to Refinitiv data.

Third-quarter profit also fell nearly 6%, reflecting the hit from a stronger dollar and higher costs.

(Reporting by Chavi Mehta and Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Sriraj Kalluvila)

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By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Central bankers must be persistent in fighting broad-based inflation, International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva said on Wednesday, conceding that many economists were wrong when they predicted last year that inflation would ease.

“Inflation is stubborn, it is more broad-based than we thought it would be,” she said. “And what it means is … we need central bankers to be as stubborn in fighting it as inflation has demonstrably been.”

If fiscal policy and monetary policy worked well, next year might prove less painful, she said at an event with French European Central Bank policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau. But if fiscal policy was not targeted sufficiently, it could become the “enemy of monetary policy, fueling inflation,” she said.

Georgieva’s comments came a day after the U.S. reported an unexpected rise in August consumer prices, with rent and food costs continuing to climb.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, in an interview with CBS News, said she believed inflation “will come down over time” due to the actions of the Federal Reserve. Yellen said the Biden administration is trying to complement the Fed’s moves.

Georgieva said the surprising rise in inflation was “just one snippet of the uncertainty and difficulties” the global economy faced. Both the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine contributed to surging prices and a cost-of-living crisis.

In a blog, the IMF warned that higher oil prices were driving up all consumer prices, which could result in a wage-price spiral if these second-order effects were sustained. Central bankers should respond “firmly,” it said.

When overall inflation is already high, as it is now, wages tend to increase by more in response to an oil-price shock, the IMF said, citing a study of 39 European countries. That showed people were more likely to react to price increases when high inflation was visibly eroding living standards, it said, noting that the larger the second-round effects, the greater the risk of a sustained wage-price spiral.

“If large and sustained, oil price shocks could fuel persistent rises in inflation and inflation expectations, which should be countered by a monetary policy response,” the IMF said, noting that people tended to seek higher compensation for oil price rises.

However, even in a high-inflation environment, wages stabilized after a year rather than continuing to rise at a steady clip, it said.

“To the extent that central banks remain adequately vigilant, current high inflation could still cause higher compensation for the cost of living than usual but need not morph into a sustained increase in inflation,” the IMF said.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Mark Porter, Jonathan Oatis and Leslie Adler)

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By Kylie Madry

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican airline Aeromexico expects flight restrictions out of the capital’s main airport to drag out longer than planned due to repairs, the carrier’s chief executive told press on Wednesday.

In August, Mexican authorities said they had come to an agreement with airlines to cut flights out of the Benito Juarez International Airport by 15% during peak hours for the winter season.

“It looks pretty unlikely that the (repairs) will be done in six months,” said CEO Andres Conesa following a panel at a business conference. “It’s a huge project, from Terminal 2 to the taxiways,” he said.

The cuts at Mexico City’s hub come as Mexican airlines feel the pressure to open or expand flights from the six-month-old Felipe Angeles International Airport on the outskirts of town, one of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s flagship projects.

Mexico City has long struggled with oversaturation at the existing hub, and Felipe Angeles and the forgotten Toluca Airport to the west of town have been touted by Lopez Obrador and officials as solutions.

“These repairs are important, because investments into the airport’s upkeep were lacking for a long time,” said Conesa. “If (the restrictions) have to be extended another season, we’ll do it.”

In the meantime, Aeromexico will focus on flights out of other large Mexican cities such as Guadalajara and Monterrey, the executive said.

Aeromexico’s expansion plans also depend on the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s Category 2 rating for Mexico, Conesa said, a downgrade made more than a year ago which currently prohibits Mexican airlines from opening new routes to the United States. “The damage done by that is significant.”

(Reporting by Kylie Madry; Editing by Josie Kao)

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By Tetsushi Kajimoto

TOKYO (Reuters) – The vast majority of Japanese companies expect the yen to firm against the dollar by year-end, a Reuters monthly poll showed on Thursday, suggesting further weakness in the local currency could catch businesses off guard.

The yen’s downturn this year, which accelerated in recent weeks, has burdened households with higher costs of everything from food to fuel. The rapid declines have also raised alarm among big companies and policymakers, making it difficult for companies to plan for the future.

The currency has lost about 20% versus the dollar since the start of this year, hitting a fresh 24-year low of just shy of 145 yen last week. The yen has been hammered against the dollar due to the growing gap between U.S. and Japanese interest rates.

“The yen has weakened so rapidly that it has meant a big impact on business management,” wrote a manager at one manufacturer in the automotive industry, responding on the condition of anonymity.

During the Aug. 31 – Sept. 9 survey period, the yen was trading in a range of 138-145 to the dollar.

The survey was conducted before Japanese authorities this week gave strong indications that they were uncomfortable with the currency’s sharp declines and appeared to be preparing to intervene to prop it up. On Wednesday, the yen was at 143.62 to the dollar.

“From the standpoint of sustaining economic growth and coping with the procurement costs of raw materials, moderate rises in the yen are desirable,” wrote a manager at a maker of industrial ceramics used in chips.

Asked how they expected the yen to move against the dollar by year-end, 45% of firms – the biggest chunk – pegged it at 136-140, followed by 28% at 131-135, the survey showed.

Some 11% put it at 126-130, while 3% set it at 120-125. Only 13% saw it weakening further from 141, meaning many firms could be put on the back foot if the currency were to weaken again.

Separately, a slim majority of respondents want the yen to rise moderately while 28% want it to fall modestly.

INBOUND TOURISM

So far, Japan has not been able to capitalise on one big potential benefit from the weak yen: inbound tourism. Thanks to strict border controls the world’s third-largest economy is still only seeing a trickle of foreign tourists.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida this month raised the daily cap for entrants into Japan to 50,000 and the government is now considering scrapping the cap altogether by October, the Nikkei business daily reported on Sunday.

The government is also considering removing a requirement that only visitors on package tours are allowed in, the newspaper said.

Still, the survey showed corporate Japan – which has broadly lobbied to ease restrictions on tourism – believes a recovery will be slow in coming.

A slim majority said they don’t expect the government’s easing of border controls to help inbound tourism recover.

Some 28% think inbound demand will return to pre-pandemic levels by end-2023 while 18% expect it to return to those levels in 2024 or later. A full 20% see it never returning to those levels.

One-third said they were unaffected by inbound tourism.

The Reuters Corporate Survey, conducted for Reuters by Nikkei Research, canvassed around 500 big non-financial Japanese firms on condition of anonymity, allowing them to speak more freely.

Separately, the survey also found that three quarters of firms are concerned about the possibility of an incident in Taiwan, given the political sensitivies around the island claimed by China.

(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by David Dolan and Sam Holmes)

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By Tetsushi Kajimoto

TOKYO (Reuters) – The vast majority of Japanese companies expect the yen to firm against the dollar by year-end, a Reuters monthly poll showed on Thursday, suggesting further weakness in the local currency could catch businesses off guard.

The yen’s downturn this year, which accelerated in recent weeks, has burdened households with higher costs of everything from food to fuel. The rapid declines have also raised alarm among big companies and policymakers, making it difficult for companies to plan for the future.

The currency has lost about 20% versus the dollar since the start of this year, hitting a fresh 24-year low of just shy of 145 yen last week. The yen has been hammered against the dollar due to the growing gap between U.S. and Japanese interest rates.

“The yen has weakened so rapidly that it has meant a big impact on business management,” wrote a manager at one manufacturer in the automotive industry, responding on the condition of anonymity.

During the Aug. 31 – Sept. 9 survey period, the yen was trading in a range of 138-145 to the dollar.

The survey was conducted before Japanese authorities this week gave strong indications that they were uncomfortable with the currency’s sharp declines and appeared to be preparing to intervene to prop it up. On Wednesday, the yen was at 143.62 to the dollar.

“From the standpoint of sustaining economic growth and coping with the procurement costs of raw materials, moderate rises in the yen are desirable,” wrote a manager at a maker of industrial ceramics used in chips.

Asked how they expected the yen to move against the dollar by year-end, 45% of firms – the biggest chunk – pegged it at 136-140, followed by 28% at 131-135, the survey showed.

Some 11% put it at 126-130, while 3% set it at 120-125. Only 13% saw it weakening further from 141, meaning many firms could be put on the back foot if the currency were to weaken again.

Separately, a slim majority of respondents want the yen to rise moderately while 28% want it to fall modestly.

INBOUND TOURISM

So far, Japan has not been able to capitalise on one big potential benefit from the weak yen: inbound tourism. Thanks to strict border controls the world’s third-largest economy is still only seeing a trickle of foreign tourists.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida this month raised the daily cap for entrants into Japan to 50,000 and the government is now considering scrapping the cap altogether by October, the Nikkei business daily reported on Sunday.

The government is also considering removing a requirement that only visitors on package tours are allowed in, the newspaper said.

Still, the survey showed corporate Japan – which has broadly lobbied to ease restrictions on tourism – believes a recovery will be slow in coming.

A slim majority said they don’t expect the government’s easing of border controls to help inbound tourism recover.

Some 28% think inbound demand will return to pre-pandemic levels by end-2023 while 18% expect it to return to those levels in 2024 or later. A full 20% see it never returning to those levels.

One-third said they were unaffected by inbound tourism.

The Reuters Corporate Survey, conducted for Reuters by Nikkei Research, canvassed around 500 big non-financial Japanese firms on condition of anonymity, allowing them to speak more freely.

Separately, the survey also found that three quarters of firms are concerned about the possibility of an incident in Taiwan, given the political sensitivies around the island claimed by China.

(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by David Dolan and Sam Holmes)

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By Dan Fastenberg

(Reuters) – The sporty all-electric car from the Netherlands resembles a BMW coupe, but is unique: It captures more carbon than it emits.

“Our end goal is to create a more sustainable future,” said Jens Lahaije, finance manager for TU/ecomotive, the Eindhoven University of Technology student team that created the car.

Called ZEM, for zero emission mobility, the two-seater houses a Cleantron lithium-ion battery pack, and most of its parts are 3D-printed from recycled plastics, Lahaije said.

The target is to minimize carbon dioxide emitted during the car’s full lifespan, from manufacturing to recycling, he added.

Battery electric vehicles emit virtually no CO2 during operation compared with combustion-engine vehicles, but battery cell production can create so much pollution that it can take EVs tens of thousands of miles to achieve “carbon parity” with comparable fossil-fueled models.

ZEM uses two filters that can capture up to 2 kilograms (4.41 lb) of CO2 over 20,000 miles of driving, the Eindhoven team estimated. They imagine a future when filters can be emptied at charging stations.

The students are showing their vehicle on a U.S. promotional tour to universities and companies from the East Coast to Silicon Valley.

(Reporting by Dan Fastenberg and Hussein al Waaile in New York; Writing by Paul Lienert in Detroit; Editing by Richard Chang)

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(Reuters) – Uniper said it was looking at alternatives with the German government for bailing out the utility, including a possible a straight stake increase, sending its shares more than 16% lower on Wednesday.

The stock fell about 7% earlier in the day after Bloomberg citing sources familiar with the matter reported that the government could take a stake of more than 50%.

In July, Berlin said it would take a 30% stake as part of a rescue deal for Germany’s largest importer of Russian gas as rising power prices burn up the company’s cash reserves.

But Uniper requested more financial help from the German government in August, raising the bill for its bailout to 19 billion euros ($19.04 billion).

On Wednesday, Uniper, whose shares were down were down 7.8% at 0952 GMT, said no decisions have been made beyond what was agreed in July.

“The parties are looking into alternative solutions, inter alia a straight equity increase that would result in a significant majority participation by the German Government,” it said in a statement.

Finland’s Fortum, Uniper’s largest stakeholder, also said talks with the German government continued.

The economy ministry declined to comment on the talks.

Uniper CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach had in July flagged the possibility that the German government could end up holding more than 50% of the company.

“Nationalisation is the only solution left, Uniper’s capital resources are totally under water. Mathematically speaking, there is nothing else that could be done,” a source close to the matter told Reuters. The state will take more than a 50% stake, and is likely to take over full ownership, the source said, adding there were few other alternatives left.

($1 = 0.9979 euros)

(Reporting by Baranjot Kaur in Bengaluru, Riham Alkousaa and Tom Kaeckenhoff in Berlin, Emma-Victoria Farr, Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt and Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen; editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Jason Neely)

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(Reuters) – Pandemic-related disruption to global supply chains and the knock-on effects of Russia’s war in Ukraine have combined to drive up prices of energy, commodities and basic necessities.

Below is a list of some of the actions taken by governments aimed at offering relief to hard-hit consumers and companies:

AMERICAS:

* Canada announced C$4.5 billion ($3.4 billion) in measures including a tax credit for families of low and modest incomes, and a one-time top-up to a benefit that helps low earners pay rent.

* The United States will help millions of indebted former students by cancelling $10,000 of their outstanding student loans, while the $430 billion “Inflation Reduction Act” unveiled in August aims to cut prescription drug prices and introduce tax credits to encourage energy efficiency.

* Brazil’s oil giant Petrobras will cut prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by 4.73% for distributors. Earlier this month it slashed refinery gate gasoline prices by 7% adding to multiple cuts seen this year. In July, the government cut fuel taxes and raised social welfare payments.

* In August, Mexican officials said inflation-combatting subsidies have already cost some 575 billion pesos ($28.76 billion) this year.

* Chile in July announced a $1.2 billion aid plan including labour subsidies and one-time payments for those most affected.

EUROPE:

* The European Union plans to raise more than 140 billion euros ($140 billion) by skimming off revenues from low-cost electricity generators and making fossil fuel firms share windfall profits.

* Germany may nationalize struggling gas importer Uniper, Bloomberg reported. Berlin in July agreed a 15-billion-euro bailout of the company. The government this month also announced a 65-billion-euro package containing a windfall tax, benefit hikes and public transport subsidies.

* Poland will raise its minimum wage twice next year and plans to freeze electricity prices for households consuming less energy. In August, it approved subsidies for heating plants and cash for municipalities, while in July it introduced a relief scheme for holders of local currency mortgages.

* The Czech Republic will cap electricity and gas prices next year.

* Britain will cap consumer energy bills for two years and prop up power companies. The package is likely to cost over 100 billion pounds ($116 billion).

* Portugal reduced VAT on electricity and provided one-off payments for workers, families, and pensioners.

* Spain will slash VAT on gas to 5% from 21%, after already cutting VAT on electricity twice over the past year.

* Croatia will cap electricity prices from Oct. 1 until March.

* Finland and Sweden will offer billions of dollars in liquidity guarantees to power companies.

* Italy plans to spend at least an additional 6.2 billion euros on relief.

* Denmark in August capped annual rent increases at 4% for the next two years. In June it put forward a 3.1 billion Danish crown ($417 million) package.

* France on Aug. 3 adopted a 20-billion-euro bill lifting pensions and some welfare payments.

ASIA:

* Thailand extended a diesel tax cut and energy subsidies and raised the minimum wage.

* Japan will present another economic package in October, adding to previous measures including a record minimum wage hike. A $103 billion relief bill was also passed in April.

* Indonesia’s government ordered regional heads to keep food inflation below 5%. In August, the government decided to reallocate 24.17 trillion rupiah ($1.62 billion) from fuel subsidies to welfare spending.

* At least 10 Indian states have announced a total of more than 1 trillion rupees ($12.6 billion) of support, mainly in cash transfers and electricity subsidies, officials said. The government has also set up a panel to review the pricing formula of locally produced gas. In May it restricted some food exports and cut taxes on imports of edible oil.

* Malaysia expects to spend a record 77.3 billion ringgit ($17.08 billion) in subsidies and cash aid this year.

AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST:

* South Africa in late July announced a cut in the pump prices of fuels.

* Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in early July raised their social welfare spending. The UAE doubled financial support to low-income Emirati families, while Saudi Arabia allocated 20 billion riyals ($5.32 billion).

* Turkey in early July increased its minimum wage by about 30%, adding to the 50% rise seen at the end of last year.

($1 = 1.3168 Canadian dollars)

($1 = 19.9921 Mexican pesos)

($1 = 0.9995 euros)

($1 = 0.8650 pounds)

($1 = 7.4268 Danish crowns)

($1 = 14,905.0000 rupiah)

($1 = 79.4150 Indian rupees)

($1 = 4.5250 ringgit)

($1 = 3.7585 riyals)

(Compiled by Olivier Sorgho, Leika Kihara, Manoj Kumar, Ina Kreutz and Agnieszka Gosciak; Editing by and Tomasz Janowski and Mark Potter)

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DETROIT (Reuters) – President Joe Biden on Wednesday will announce the approval of the first $900 million in U.S. funding to build EV charging stations in 35 states as part of a $1 trillion infrastructure law approved in November.

Congress approved nearly $5 billion over five years to give grants to states to build thousands of electric vehicle charging stations. At an appearance at the Detroit auto show, Biden will also announce that U.S. government purchases of EVs have risen dramatically.

(Reporting by David Shepardson, editing by Louise Heavens)

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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — With the departure of the head of the Tropicana, none of Atlantic City’s nine casinos is now led by a woman or a Black person — a rapid change from the diverse leadership of the city’s casinos just two years ago.

Jacqueline Grace left her job as senior vice president and general manager of the Tropicana in late July after nearly two years in the top role there. She is now CEO of Beam Living, a New York property management company.

Grace was the last of a group of four women, two of them Black, who ran Atlantic City casinos just two years ago.

In a Facebook post on Monday, Grace said she is “blessed beyond measure to continue doing what I love: serving an amazing team of humans, serving our residents, and serving the community.”

Caesars Entertainment, which owns the Tropicana, announced on Tuesday that Joe Giunta, a veteran executive who has been with the company for 20 years, will succeed Grace as head of the Tropicana. He was most recently vice president of operations for Harrah’s casino, which is also owned by Caesars Entertainment.

As recently as September 2020, four of Atlantic City’s nine casinos were run by women: Grace at the Tropicana; Melonie Johnson, a Black woman who ran the Borgata; Terry Glebocki, who ran the Ocean Casino Resort, and Karie Hall, who ran Bally’s.

Each has since left those positions, which have been filled by white men.

Johnson returned to the Washington, D.C. casino she ran before coming to Atlantic City.

Glebocki resigned from Ocean in Oct. 2021. No reason was publicly announced for her departure, which happened days before half the casino was sold to the Ilitch family of Detroit, and the casino declined comment when asked.

Hall was replaced when new ownership took over Bally’s in November 2020.

The American Gaming Association, the national trade group for the casino industry, does not keep statistics on the number of U.S. casinos run by women, but numerous casino executives and analysts said at the time they were hard-pressed to think of another market with a higher percentage of female-led casinos.

All agreed it was far less than the number of men who hold those jobs, with several placing it at about 10%.

Grace had more than 20 years’ experience in the casino industry when she took the Tropicana job, previously having served as vice president and assistant general manager at Caesars Entertainment’s Horseshoe Baltimore property.

In that role, she helped oversee several expansion projects including the launch of multiple celebrity chef outlets, an extensive renovation of The Marketplace casual dining area, and the opening of The Terrace, a $15 million outdoor gambling and entertainment venue.

Before joining the gambling industry, she spent nine years on Wall Street and held management roles in both technology and diversity and inclusion.

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Follow Wayne Parry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC

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