COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

ExxonMobil targets 'net zero' emissions

ExxonMobil pledged Tuesday to reach "net zero" greenhouse gas emissions in its operations by 2050, but stopped short of extending the promise to products it sells throughout the global economy.

The petroleum giant's promise covers "Scope 1" and "Scope 2" emissions, which account for carbon emissions from ExxonMobil operations, as well as emissions associated with the purchase of heating or cooling at its facilities, according to a company press release.

But the US oil giant, which has long been criticized by environmentalists over its climate record, avoided targets on "Scope 3" emissions, which are those from products sold, such as the gasoline consumers buy.

Some European companies such as Total have pledged to cut those emissions as well.

Environmental activists have argued that oil needs to be phased out if the world is to avoid catastrophic climate change, and immediate plans are necessary to reduce "Scope 3" emissions.

The move comes on the heels of ExxonMobil's earlier announcements that boost spending on lower-emissions technologies, including through major carbon capture and storage projects. -AFP

Tesla’s Musk to repay US$13 bln

Tesla Inc shareholders urged a judge on Tuesday to find Elon Musk coerced the company's board into a 2016 deal for SolarCity and asked that the chief executive be ordered to pay the electric vehicle company one of the largest judgments ever of US$13 billion.

"This case has always been about whether the acquisition of SolarCity was a rescue from financial distress, a bailout, orchestrated by Elon Musk," Randy Baron, an attorney for shareholders, told the Zoom hearing.

The closing arguments recounted key findings from a 10-day trial in July when Musk spent two days on the stand defending the deal.

The lawsuit by union pension funds and asset managers alleges that Musk strong-armed the Tesla board into approving the deal for the cash-strapped SolarCity, in which Musk was the top shareholder.

Musk has countered that the deal was part of a decade-old master plan to create a vertically integrated company that would transform energy generation and consumption with SolarCity's roof panels and Tesla's cars and batteries. -Reuters

Ford records US$8.2 bln Q4 gain

Ford Motor Co said on Tuesday its fourth-quarter results would include an US$8.2 billion gain on its investment in Rivian Automotive Inc, following the electric-vehicle maker's blockbuster market debut in November.

Rivian had soared as much as 53% to cross US$100 billion in the biggest initial public offering of 2021, but the company's shares have dropped over 27% since then.

The stock closed 8.5% lower on Tuesday after hitting its weakest since the IPO amid a broader tech selloff on Wall Street.

Ford, an early investor in Rivian, currently owns about 12% of the California-based company and has itself been racing toward electrification in a shift away from traditional gasoline-powered cars as demand for green transport surges. It has pledged to invest more than US$30 billion on EVs by 2030.

In 2019, the 118-year-old Detroit automaker invested US$500 million in Rivian, with plans to use the EV maker's platform to build a new Ford-branded electric vehicle, but the companies dropped those plans in 2021.-Reuters

AT&T, Verizon pause 5G rollout

AT&T and Verizon Communications on Tuesday agreed to temporarily defer turning on some wireless towers near key airports to avert a significant disruption to US flights as they roll out 5G service that will bring faster wireless service to tens of millions of people.

President Joe Biden hailed the agreement, saying it "will avoid potentially devastating disruptions to passenger travel, cargo operations, and our economic recovery, while allowing more than 90% of wireless tower deployment to occur as scheduled."

Late Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration updated its list of airports that planes with approved radio altimeter equipment could use to include major airports like New York's JFK and LaGuardia, Los Angeles, Chicago's O'Hare and Midway, San Francisco and Seattle.

The FAA was also expected to update its list of Airbus and Boeing planes with the approved equipment in the coming hours.

The updates should dramatically lessen the impact of the nearly 1 500 notices of 5G restrictions that the FAA had issued. -Reuters

Goldman profit hit by weaker trading

Shares in Goldman Sachs Group fell as much as 8% Tuesday after Wall Street's premier investment bank missed quarterly profit expectations, hampered by weaker trading revenues and rising expenses.

The share decline put Goldman on course for its worst single-day showing since June 2020, shedding about US$10 billion off its market valuation since Friday's close, although it recovered to trade down 6.5% towards the close.

Bank earnings in the fourth quarter have taken a hit from lower trading volumes as the Federal Reserve slowed the pace of its asset purchases after 18 months of pumping liquidity into capital markets to ease the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Fed's intervention had fuelled trading activity as clients bought and sold more stocks and bonds, repositioning their portfolios to match the changing economic environment.

But fourth-quarter earnings from large US banks have showed the market backdrop returning to more normal levels. -Reuters