SPORTS BETTING
DraftKings to open office in Las Vegas
DraftKings unveiled plans on Monday for a new 90,000 square foot office in Las Vegas, where the Boston company hopes to eventually employ more than 1,000 people. DraftKings intends to occupy nearly an entire building early next year at a mixed-used community known as UnCommons under construction in Southwest Las Vegas. DraftKings employs about 400 people in Las Vegas today. It will be the second-largest office for DraftKings, after the Boston headquarters. The sports entertainment and gambling company’s Las Vegas presence has grown dramatically since its first office in that city opened in January 2020. — JON CHESTO
PHARMACEUTICALS
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Supreme Court refuses to reopen Biogen case against Merck
The Supreme Court declined to consider a bid by Biogen to revive a case in which it was seeking billions of dollars in royalties from the sale of Merck’s Rebif multiple sclerosis drug. Biogen said it invented a way to genetically engineer and administer a protein known as beta-interferon, which slows the physical deterioration caused by multiple sclerosis. The company, which makes the MS drug Avonex, claimed it lost billions of dollars when Merck’s EMD Serono Inc. and then-partner Pfizer entered the market with their competing medication Rebif. A jury in New Jersey invalidated Biogen’s patent, but a judge overturned that verdict and granted a new trial. The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the nation’s top patent court, ordered the original verdict reinstated, saying the patent wasn’t a new idea. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
AUTOMOTIVE
Volvo to sell shares to fund electric vehicle conversion
Swedish automaker Volvo said Monday it plans to raise at least 25 billion kroner ($2.9 billion) by selling shares to fund its electric vehicle transformation strategy. Volvo Cars and its parent company, Chinese carmaker Geely, have applied to hold an initial public offering on the Nasdaq Stockholm, with shares expected to start trading before the end of the year. The money raised from the IPO will help fund Volvo’s lofty ambitions. The company aims to nearly double sales by 2025 to 1.2 million vehicles, half of which will be battery electric cars, and wants its entire lineup to be all electric by 2030. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
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ENTERTAINMENT
Hollywood production workers authorize a strike
Hollywood production workers pushing for better pay and better working conditions voted nearly unanimously to authorize a strike, a scenario that could hobble the entertainment industry as companies race to keep up with a surge in on-demand films and TV shows. The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees said Monday that its members voted 98 percent to 2 percent to allow union president Matthew D. Loeb to call for a work stoppage, though the group will attempt to return to the bargaining table before actually striking. The union represents more than 60,000 set builders, costume designers, video engineers, and other behind-the-scenes workers. — WASHINGTON POST
INTERNATIONAL
WTO says global trade rebounding better than originally projected
The World Trade Organization raised its projection for global trade growth in 2021 and 2022 to 10.8 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively, citing the resurgence of economic activity in the first half of the year. This year’s increase in merchandise trade would mark the biggest year-over-year jump since 2010. In March, the WTO projected that trade would increase by 8 percent in 2021 and 4 percent in 2022. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
E-COMMERCE
Amazon competitor to get as much as $2b from investors
Amazon’s Middle Eastern rival Noon.com is set to draw as much as $2 billion in financing from investors including Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund over three to four years as it seeks to capture a larger slice of the Gulf e-commerce market. The investments from the Public Investment Fund and others will be used to upgrade infrastructure and help speed up deliveries, Noon founder Mohamed Alabbar said late on Sunday. Noon operates in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt and is looking to expand in other nations across the Middle East. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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MEDIA
CEO of Ozy Media says it’s not shutting down
Hours after Carlos Watson, the CEO of Ozy Media, appeared on morning news programs to say he would revive his company, which announced Friday that it had shut down, a prominent early investor in Ozy demanded that he spend its remaining cash to pay its employees. Watson embarked on a media tour Monday, sitting for interviews on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” and NBC’s “Today” show. “We’re going to open for business, so we’re making news today,” Watson told “Today” co-anchor Craig Melvin. Ron Conway, the founder of SV Angel, a Silicon Valley investment firm, and one of Ozy’s original financial backers, said Monday he was troubled to hear Watson say he had been in touch with advertisers and investors — but not Ozy employees. “I want to publicly ask Carlos to take care of his team members,” Conway said. “Take every ounce of cash and you distribute it to those deserving team members who deserve to be respected at this time.” Conway said that the roughly 75 former Ozy employees should be given at least two weeks’ severance, and that he was upset to have read that Watson told employees of the shutdown Friday in a brief Zoom call. — NEW YORK TIMES
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MARIJUANA
Justin Bieber enters pot market with pre-rolled joints
Justin Bieber is entering the marijuana market with pre-rolled joints that’s he calling “Peaches,” the name of a song from his most recent album. The Canadian singer is working with a Los Angeles-based company, Palms, on the products. Palms specializes in pre-rolled cannabis products, with its 7-joint packs selling for $32 at locations in Nevada and California, according to its website. Bieber, 27, has been open about how the pressures of child stardom and drug use contributed to his own mental health challenges. In a YouTube documentary series last year, he said he tried marijuana when he was 12 or 13 and eventually grew to feel dependent on it, though he said not everyone has the same experience. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
ALTERNATIVE FUELS
Germany unveils first plant to make synthetic kerosene
German officials on Monday unveiled what they said is the world’s first commercial plant for making synthetic kerosene, touted as a climate-friendly fuel of the future. Aviation currently accounts for about 2.5 percent of worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. While other forms of transportation are increasingly being electrified, the challenge to making large, battery-powered planes is formidable. Experts say e-fuels can help solve the problem by replacing fossil fuels without major technical modifications to the aircraft. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
TECHNOLOGY
New Apple watch to be released on Friday
Apple set a release date of Oct. 15 for its latest smartwatch, a sign that it’s coping with production challenges that had dogged the new device. The company plans to begin taking orders for the product, the Apple Watch Series 7, at 8 a.m. Friday. It will then hit stores a week later, Apple said in a statement on its website. The device has a bigger display, marking the first time the company has enlarged the watch’s screen since the Series 4 three years ago. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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