Of the total investment, as much as $150 million will support the development and commercialization of obecabtagene autoleucel, a cell therapy that targets a condition called acute lymphoblastic leukemia. London-based Autolus will receive $50 million of that upfront, with the rest to be paid as the company achieves certain milestones. In return, Blackstone's life-sciences unit will receive a portion of the therapy's royalties.
Berkshire Hathaway's Net Earnings Fall 66% on Lower Investment Gains
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said net earnings fell after paper gains from the conglomerate's vast portfolio of stock investments declined from a year earlier.
Berkshire's third-quarter net earnings fell 66% to $10.34 billion, or $6,882 per Class A share equivalent, from $30.14 billion, or $18,994 a share, in the same period a year earlier. Investment gains totaled $3.88 billion in the most-recent period; a year ago, Berkshire reported gains of $24.77 billion.
Amazon's Cloud's New Boss Is Girding to Defend Turf in the Field Company Pioneered
Adam Selipsky has taken over at Amazon.com Inc.'s cloud-computing unit this year as it faces the biggest challenge ever to its dominance in the industry. To stay on top, he is taking a page from the playbook of his fast-growing rivals.
Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google have come on strong in recent years by offering customers not just the cloud infrastructure that Amazon Web Services pioneered, but also sophisticated and popular end-user software programs, such as those that help turn companies' pools of data into charts or tools for employee collaboration.
Biden Gets $1 Trillion Down Payment on Domestic Agenda; Obstacles Loom for Spending Bill
WASHINGTON-President Biden notched a big win with the House passage of the $1 trillion public-works bill late Friday, but political obstacles loom ahead for the White House as attention shifts to an even bigger spending bill and next year's midterm elections.
Congress is set to take a weeklong recess and return on Nov. 15 with a litany of items to complete in short order to avert a government shutdown and move forward on the roughly $2 trillion education, healthcare and climate package that has proven difficult to negotiate with the party's slim majority in Congress.
Derby's Take: A Hawkish Case for Fed Action on Inflation Emerges
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's clear guidance that the U.S. central bank doesn't need to raise short-term interest rates soon is facing a nascent challenge by one of the institution's most reliable hawks.
On Friday, Kansas City Fed leader Esther George warned that an outlook for inflation laid out by Mr. Powell on Wednesday may not accurately describe the inflation environment, with potential implications for monetary policy.
Saudi Aramco Hikes Official Selling Prices Amid Tightness
Saudi Arabian Oil Co. said it will raise the prices global consumers must pay for its oil products in December, sending a signal that it expects tightness in the market to keep prices supported.
The state-run company, known as Saudi Aramco, late Friday more than doubled the premium that Asian consumers must pay next month for its flagship Arab Light crude to $2.70 a barrel more than the average of Platts Dubai and DME Oman prices.
Economy Week Ahead: Inflation, Employment, GDP
Inflation data from the U.S. and China highlight this week's slate of economic news.
Government-Bond Swings Burn Wall Street Investors
A rapid U-turn in government-bond markets has sparked deep losses for some of Wall Street's biggest investors, a stark demonstration of how even small shifts in expectations for economic growth and central-bank policy can upend the most carefully laid bets.
Behind the losses are recent abrupt moves in government-bond prices. With central banks signaling plans to end their extraordinary stimulus measures, short-term bonds have tumbled in price, sending yields-which rise when prices fall-to touch their highest levels since March 2020.
Electric-Vehicle Charging Stations Win Jolt of Energy in Congress
The roughly $1 trillion infrastructure package passed by Congress on Friday provides a spark to efforts to build a national network of electric-vehicle charging stations.
The bipartisan measure touches on nearly every aspect of the electric-vehicle industry and eclipses previous efforts in the U.S. It also includes funding to help transform the nation's aging electric grid by upgrading high-voltage transmission lines and other infrastructure set to become even more crucial as the country electrifies more of its transportation system.
Auto-Sector Cybersecurity Group Expands to Europe Amid Rising Threats, New Regulation
Car makers and parts suppliers seeing a rise in hacking threats and new cybersecurity laws are collaborating to share intelligence to better protect their operations.
China Trade Surplus Hits Record High in October
BEIJING -- China's exports rose at a faster pace than expected in October, with the nation's monthly trade surplus hitting a record high, official data showed.
China's exports rose 27.1% from a year earlier in October, down from September's 28.1% growth, the General Administration of Customs said Sunday.
Natural-Gas Exports Lift Prices for U.S. Utilities Ahead of Winter
American utilities are facing the highest natural-gas prices in years as they build stockpiles for winter. The reason: Exporters are sending more gas than ever to countries starved for the fuel.
Pipelines to Mexico and Canada and tankers traveling to Europe and Asia have moved record amounts of U.S. gas out of the country this year as parts of the world fall short of supplies. American frackers, meanwhile, are holding the line on new drilling as investors pressure them to maintain capital discipline and return money to shareholders.
Federal Appeals Court Temporarily Blocks Biden Administration Vaccine Rules for Private Employers
A federal appeals court on Saturday temporarily blocked the Biden administration's new rules that require many employers to ensure that their workers are vaccinated or tested weekly for Covid-19.
A three-judge panel on the New Orleans-based Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted an emergency stay prohibiting enforcement of the rules for now, saying they raise "grave statutory and constitutional issues."
Pelosi Wins Infrastructure Bet, but Rest of Biden Agenda Still in Play
WASHINGTON-For Democrats, it's roughly $1 trillion down, about $2 trillion to go.
Even as Speaker Nancy Pelosi celebrated the House's approval of a generational infusion of funding for roads, bridges, broadband and water systems on Friday, delicate negotiations were taking place within her caucus over the separate social-spending and climate bill she had wanted to pass the same day.
Vaccine-Mandate Debate Makes It to Top Federal Research Agency
The debate over vaccine mandates is surfacing in an unlikely venue: The National Institutes of Health.
The sprawling federal research agency has led government efforts studying and battling Covid-19, including funding the development and testing of vaccines. Anthony Fauci, a top NIH scientist, has been a public face of the Biden administration's case for wider vaccine mandates, including a federal one affecting the NIH's own staff.
Write to sarka.halas@wsj.com
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Business Is the Game-Changer at COP26 in Glasgow
The 2015 Paris climate conference mostly involved governments pushing businesses to cut emissions. In Glasgow, businesses are the ones pushing governments to act.
From a low base, expectations for the COP26 summit that kicked off this week have been boosted by a flurry of promises. While skeptics grumbled that some were recycled commitments, by Friday the International Energy Agency said that, if delivered, the updated pledges would likely limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius-the first time it has fallen below that benchmark. New national commitments from China and India were central to the new IEA analysis, even if they disappointed some.
Government negotiations continue, yet the real game-changer has arguably been corporate muscle. "The story of this COP is that the private sector has stepped up," said Carol Browner, a lawyer at Covington and former director of the White House office of energy and climate change policy for former President Barack Obama. She stressed the role of the financial sector in particular.
Brazilian Farmers Who Protect the Amazon Rainforest Would Like to Be Paid
SINOP, Brazil-Invaldo Weis acknowledges he is the kind of farmer some environmentalists love to hate: In the 1970s, he carved out an 11,700-acre soy-and-cattle farm by clearing trees in the Amazon jungle.
But the 65-year-old Brazilian and thousands of farmers like him could also be crucial allies for environmentalists in stopping further destruction of the world's biggest tropical forest and help slow rising global temperatures.
Governments, corporations and business executives are calling for a world-wide market to trade carbon credits so Brazilian farmers like Mr. Weis can be paid to help protect forests on their lands rather than cut them down to make way for more crops and cattle.
COP26 Negotiators Turn to Plan B as Climate Pledges Fall Short
GLASGOW-After a week of climate talks here at the COP26 summit, negotiators are grappling with a fundamental math problem: The commitments governments have collectively made to slash greenhouse gas emissions don't add up to what scientists think is needed to avoid the most destructive effects of global warming.
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11-08-21 0611ET
