FCC chief backs SpaceX broadband plan
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai on Wednesday called on the agency to approve an application by Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, to provide broadband Internet via satellite.
"To bridge America's digital divide, we'll have to use innovative technologies," Pai said in an emailed statement. "Satellite technology can help reach Americans who live in rural or hard-to-serve places where fiber optic cables and cell towers do not reach."
Pai said he'd asked his four fellow commissioners to support closely held SpaceX's application, which he expects to help "unleash the power of satellite constellations to provide high-speed Internet to rural Americans."
The approval would be the first given to an American-based company to provide broadband services using a new generation of low-Earth orbit satellite technologies, Pai said.
Over the past year, the FCC has approved requests by OneWeb, Space Norway AS, and Telesat Canada to access the U.S. market, the FCC said in a news release.
-- Bloomberg News
Phillips 66 to repurchase $3.3B in stock
OMAHA, Neb. -- Warren Buffett's company is selling 35 million shares of its Phillips 66 stock back to the oil refiner for $3.3 billion.
Berkshire Hathaway and Phillips 66 said this repurchase will let Buffett's company reduce its investment below the 10 percent level that triggers additional regulations.
Buffett said Berkshire plans to continue holding Phillips 66 stock long-term. After the sale, Berkshire will hold 45.7 million shares, or about 9.8 percent of the Houston-based refiner.
Berkshire began building its Phillips 66 investment in 2012. Berkshire traded about $1.4 billion of its Phillips 66 stock for an additive business in 2013. Berkshire resumed buying shares later.
Besides investments, Berkshire owns more than 90 subsidiaries in a variety of industries, including insurance, utilities, railroads and manufacturing.
-- The Associated Press
L.L. Bean warranty change draws suit
L.L. Bean Inc. is facing a breach of warranty lawsuit after changing its decades-old lifetime warranty, in what may be the first of many claims over the now-dead policy.
The complaint, filed this week in Chicago federal court, seeks class-action status. The plaintiff, Victor Bondi, is described in the filing as "a loyal customer" of L.L. Bean, having purchased the iconic Bean Boots, among other products.
"The warranty, promising that there are 'no conditions' and there is 'no end date' has been a core component of L.L. Bean's marketing and has been emblazoned prominently on many L.L. Bean catalog covers," the complaint stated. "The warranty was a basis of the bargain with the sale of L.L. Bean products. Because of L.L. Bean's unilateral refusal to honor its warranty, plaintiff and the other class members were harmed, and have been deprived of the benefit of the bargain."
Bondi's frustration isn't unique. The bootmaker's announcement drew mixed reactions from customers, who either blamed those who abused the policy for ruining it for everyone or blamed the company for reneging on its promises.
The Freeport, Maine-based company said its lifetime returns policy was never meant to be an infinite replenishment method.
-- Bloomberg News
Shell adds to renewable-energy plan
Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the Anglo-Dutch oil and natural gas producer, is expanding its investment in renewable energy.
Shell's North American unit agreed to provide a credit line for trading and a revolving credit facility to Inspire Energy Holdings LLC, according to a statement Wednesday. The Santa Monica, Calif.-based clean-power, smart-home and energy-management company will use the funds to expand its reach. Terms weren't disclosed.
With oil demand sluggish at best, Shell is taking steps to diversify beyond its core fossil fuel operations. The company agreed in January to buy a 44 percent stake in Nashville-based Silicon Ranch Corp., which owns and operates about 100 U.S. solar plants. A month earlier, Shell agreed to buy First Utility Ltd., the U.K.'s seventh-largest power provider. And that followed deals last year for electric-car charging networks.
The Inspire deal is "further confirmation that it is taking the risks to long-term oil demand seriously amid accelerating electrification of the transport industry and emerging policy pressures to de-carbonize global energy," Will Hares, a London-based analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, said in an interview.
Shell has announced plans to spend as much as $2 billion a year for what it calls "new energies." BP Plc has allocated about $500 million a year.
-- Bloomberg News
OPEC, Russia to discuss oil inventories
OPEC will soon discuss with Russia a new way to measure oil inventories as producers meet to review their supply-cuts agreement that expires at the end of 2018.
Oil producers involved in the supply reductions, which have helped lift crude prices to three-year highs, will discuss which inventory levels to consider when they meet in April, Saudi Arabia Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih told reporters in Riyadh on Wednesday. More coordination is needed to assess inventories, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said at the same meeting.
Russia, OPEC and their allies first committed to output cuts in November 2016 to reduce global inventories to their five-year average. They extended the limits last November, and crude stockpiles in industrialized nations have shrunk to the lowest since 2014. The inventories were about 52 million barrels above the five-year average in December, a drop of 80 percent from a year earlier, according to the International Energy Agency.
One possible new measurement would be to assess how long existing inventories would meet demand, or forward-day cover, Al-Falih said. Finding reliable data for inventories remains a challenge, he said.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 02/15/2018