Business Watch -- WSJ
July 06 2016 - 3:03AM
Dow Jones News
TWITTER
Ex-Facebook Tech Chief Goes to Board
Twitter Inc. has named former Facebook Inc. technology chief
Bret Taylor to its board, adding a director with social-media
experience.
Mr. Taylor is the latest in a series of new appointments joining
the social media company's board as it struggles to reignite growth
under co-founder and Chief Executive Jack Dorsey.
Mr. Taylor brings with him a unique skill set yet to be found on
Twitter's board: experience at another social media company. The
35-year-old co-founded FriendFeed, which was sold to Facebook in
2009.
After leaving Facebook, Mr. Taylor co-founded Quip Inc., the
collaborative productivity software company where he is now
CEO.
Together, his experience in social technologies could help
Twitter tackle big projects such as its effort to draw more value
from the 500 million people who visit but don't log into Twitter.
About 310 million users log into Twitter at least once a month
compared with the 1.6 billion who do so on Facebook.
--Yoree Koh
BRISTOL-MYERS
Drugmaker Buys Swedish Company
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. said Tuesday that it had acquired
Sweden-based Cormorant Pharmaceuticals for up to $520 million, the
drugmaker's latest deal involving products that harness the immune
system to attack cancerous tumors.
Under the deal, Bristol-Myers will pay $95 million in upfront
and near-term payments to the closely held company, plus as much as
$425 million in possible additional milestone payments.
Cormorant develops therapies for cancer and rare diseases. With
the acquisition, Bristol-Myers said it would gain the rights to
Cormorant's immunotherapy treatment, HuMax-IL8.
The treatment targets a protein in many solid tumors that
suppresses the immune system and helps tumors grow. Cormorant
acquired the rights to HuMax-IL8 from Genmab A/S in 2012 under an
exclusive license deal.
--Brittney Laryea
ASIANA
Second Low-Cost Airline Set for Launch
South Korea's Asiana Airlines Inc. obtained government approval
to launch its second low-cost airline.
The company, which owns a 46% stake in low-cost carrier Air
Busan, received approval to launch Air Seoul from the Ministry of
Land, Infrastructure, and Transportation, the ministry said
Tuesday.
The new airline will be based at Incheon International Airport,
near the capital, Seoul. A spokeswoman for Air Seoul said it would
first operate on domestic routes, beginning Monday, and will branch
out to international routes in October, serving China, Japan and
Malaysia.
Asiana is the latest major carrier to set up a low-cost
subsidiary to better compete against an influx of budget airlines
in international markets. Low-cost travel accounts for more than a
quarter of the region's traffic., and Asiana Chief Executive Kim
Soo-cheon has said that "a growing challenge from low-cost carriers
is a stark reality facing almost all full-service airlines around
the world."
--In-Soo Nam
MCDONALD'S
Chain Wins EU 'Mac' Trademark Case
McDonald's Corp. won a legal case in the European Union's second
highest court, allowing the U.S. fast-food chain to prevent the
registration of trademarks for food and beverages with the prefix
"Mac" or "Mc."
McDonald's had won a case in 2013 the European Union
Intellectual Property Office challenging Singapore-based company
Future Enterprises' registry of the name MACCOFFEE for its food and
beverage products. The EU's General Court on Tuesday upheld that
ruling for similar reasons the Intellectual Property Office had
given.
The General Court said the trademark MACCOFEE and McDonald's are
phonetically similar and that the combination of "mac" with the
name of a drink can lead the public to link that trademark to
McDonald's.
--Laurence Norman
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 06, 2016 02:48 ET (06:48 GMT)
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