BIOTECH
Tango, Gilead bolster joint effort on cancer therapies
Tango Therapeutics of Cambridge has expanded its collaboration with the big California drug maker Gilead Sciences and will receive $125 million up front plus a $20 million equity investment as they work together to develop a new generation of targeted cancer therapies. The two companies cut a $50 million deal in 2018 for Gilead to acquire options to worldwide rights for treatments on up to five cancer drug targets identified by Tango. The new deal expands the number of targets to 15. Gilead will have rights for programs directed at those targets over the next seven years. In a related matter, Tango announced Monday that it had raised $50 million in equity financing in an effort led by Casdin Capital. — JONATHAN SALTZMAN
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MORTGAGES
Delinquency rate on FHA mortgages highest in 40 years
Federal Housing Administration mortgages — the affordable path to homeownership for many first-time buyers, minorities, and low-income Americans — now have the highest delinquency rate in at least four decades. The share of late FHA loans rose to almost 16 percent in the second quarter, up from about 9.7 percent in the previous three months and the highest level in records dating back to 1979, the Mortgage Bankers Association said Monday. The delinquency rate for conventional loans, by comparison, was 6.7 percent. For now, most of them are protected from foreclosure by the federal forbearance program, in which borrowers with pandemic-related hardships can delay payments for as much as a year without penalty. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
AVIATION
Airbus taps former GE executive as European sales chief
Airbus is set to name a former General Electric Co. executive as the planemaker’s sales chief in Europe, according to people familiar with the matter. Wouter Van Wersch, who until last month was president and chief executive officer for Asia-Pacific at GE, will take up the role from Sept. 1, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the move isn’t yet public. He will report to commercial head Christian Scherer, they said. Van Wersch will be tasked with navigating Airbus through the pandemic with some of its biggest customers, while seeking to minimize the jolt to aircraft sales and production. He’ll also be responsible for managing relationships with Air France-KLM, EasyJet, and Lufthansa, among others. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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FAST FOOD
Pizza Hut to close as many as 300 restaurants
Up to 300 Pizza Hut restaurants will be closed, most of them dine-in locations not well suited for carryout and delivery at a time when millions of people are sheltering and eating at home. Franchisee NPC International said Monday in documents filed in bankruptcy court that it had come to an agreement with Pizza Hut to close hundreds of locations. The Leawood, Kansas, company filed for bankruptcy protection last month. NPC owns 1,225 Pizza Huts and 385 Wendy’s restaurants in 27 states. There are 6,700 Pizza Hut restaurants in the United States. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
AVIATION
Ryanair to cut flights in the fall as European virus cases surge
Ryanair, Europe’s biggest discount carrier, slashed capacity for September and October after demand weakened, and other carriers are weighing similar cuts following a European surge in new virus cases. The Irish discount carrier will reduce the number of flights by 20 percent in the next two months due to uncertainty among travelers driven by a rise in COVID-19 cases in some European Union countries, Ryanair said in a statement on Monday. EasyJet is among airlines considering similar moves, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named as the discussions are preliminary. France and the Netherlands were added to Britain’s quarantine list last week, and carriers are concerned that restrictions will be reimposed on Greece and Turkey amid rising case counts in those countries, said the people. Ireland has similar measures in place, and Ryanair appealed to the government to loosen requirements for countries with a similar or lower rate of COVID-19 infections to itself. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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TECHNOLOGY
Apple extends sign-up period for AppleCare+
Apple on Monday told retail and customer-support employees that the company is expanding the time period when customers can subscribe to its AppleCare+ service. Consumers currently have a chance to sign up to the warranty-and-support program within 60 days of buying an Apple product. This subscription window is increasing to up to a year now in the United States and Canada. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
RIDE HAILING
Uber joins Lyft in seeking court reprieve on driver ruling
Uber joined Lyft in asking an appeals court for an extended reprieve on converting California drivers to employees after both companies warned that a rapid overhaul of their business models may force them to suspend operations in their home state. The ride-hailing firms are trying to buy time after a San Francisco judge issued an Aug. 10 order that upends their business model and may require them to provide hundreds of thousands of drivers with benefits including health insurance and overtime that could cost billions of dollars. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
WIRELESS
Verizon to offer Hulu and ESPN+ for free to certain new subscribers
Wireless carriers used to compete by cutting prices. Now the battle to win new customers is being fought over who’s giving away the best streaming service. Verizon is adding Walt Disney Co.’s Hulu and ESPN+ to its free Disney+ offer, starting Thursday. The package, known as the Disney+ Bundle, is free for new customers who sign on for certain unlimited plans. The bundle Verizon is giving away normally costs $13 a month. T-Mobile offers $13 Netflix Inc. service to its customers free. And AT&T Inc. is including free HBO Max streaming service, ordinarily $15 a month, in its Elite unlimited service plans. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
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LIQUOR
Diago to buy company partly owned by Ryan Reynolds
Diageo has agreed to acquire Aviation American Gin and other liquors sold by Davos Brands, which is co-owned by “Deadpool” actor Ryan Reynolds. The deal, for a total consideration of $610 million, is Diageo’s second acquisition in recent years of a Hollywood-backed spirit. In 2017, the maker of Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky acquired the fast-growing tequila brand Casamigos, which had been co-founded four years earlier by George Clooney, for as much as $1 billion. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
FINANCE
Maine’s community banks did better job with PPP than big national banks
Maine’s community banks are getting credit for swiftly funneling aid to businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program. While national banks prioritized large businesses, Maine banks helped small businesses stabilize businesses and the economy with hundreds of millions of dollars of forgivable loans, the Portland Press Herald reported. More than 46 percent of Paycheck Protection Program loans over $150,000 were made by just six locally owned banks, according to data from the US Small Business Administration. National banks were far less active in PPP lending in Maine. The top 10 national PPP lenders, including TD Bank, KeyBank, Bank of America, and Chase Bank, provided just 13 percent of loans under $150,000, and about 17 percent of larger loans in the state. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
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CONSTRUCTION
Home builders most optimistic since late 1990s
US homebuilders are riding a wave of optimism as record-low mortgage rates drive demand for new homes. A gauge of builder sentiment jumped to 78, a six-point gain from July that pushed it to the highest level since 1998, according to the National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Market Index. The August number was better than the median analyst estimate of 74 and matched a record in 35 years of the survey. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
Another driller files for bankruptcy
Chaparral Energy Inc. has filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time in four years, paving the way for bondholders to take control of the Oklahoma driller in the aftermath of sluggish oil prices. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a surge in energy industry bankruptcies, as lockdowns strangle demand and prompt lenders to cut credit lines. So far in 2020, the tally has included California Resources Corp., the state’s largest crude producer, and shale gas driller Chesapeake Energy Corp. — BLOOMBERG NEWS