Aircraft manufacturer Boeing (BA) is currently trending as it pleads guilty to criminal fraud stemming from two fatal plane crashes that killed 346 passengers. Two of Boeing’s 737 MAX jetliners crashed in 2018, one over Indonesia and the second, six months later, outside of Addis Ababa.
Boeing, Paramount and Ocado trend at market open
Boeing faces a £190.1m fine and has been ordered to invest a minimum of £355m across the next three years to improve its compliance and safety programmes. These terms were not the only choice on offer for the company. Federal prosecutors offered Boeing a guilty plea or a trial on the felony criminal charge of conspiracy to defraud the US.
Hollywood giant Paramount has officially announced its merger with Skydance Media, an independent film studio. The deal will provide an additional $1.5bn for Paramount’s balance sheet alongside $4.5bn in cash or stock to shareholders.
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The merger appears to counteract the current age of streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+. The deal brings an end to an eight-month process, during which time Shari Redstone, the chair of Paramount, rejected certain deals and terms with the independent studio.
Shares of Ocado, the FTSE-listed group, have soared this morning after the food supplier announced plans to build a third robotic warehouse, located in Japan. Tim Steiner, chief executive of Ocado Group, hailed the plans as a way to deepen the group’s robust relationship with Japanese retailer AEON.
