Boeing is updating anti-stall software implicated in the crashes. The aircraft maker hopes to conduct a test flight in the coming weeks to demonstrate the changes for the Federal Aviation Administration.
American is canceling about 115 flights a day because of the grounding of its Max jets.
Southwest and United have dropped Max jets from their schedules into early August.
— Associated Press
AUTO SAFETY
Audi recalls all-electric E-Tron SUVs
Volkswagen luxury brand Audi is recalling its first all-electric vehicle because of the risk of a battery fire.
The company issued a voluntary recall of approximately 540 E-Tron SUV models sold in the United States because of a risk that moisture can seep into the battery cell through a wiring harness glitch, spokesman Mark Dahncke said. The company isn’t aware of any fires or injuries because of the flaw, which affects a total of 1,644 models, he said.
The E-Tron, which went on sale in the United States in April, is Audi’s first fully electric car. Audi said there have been five instances globally in which a battery fault light turned on because of the moisture issue. It began contacting E-Tron owners in the United States last week, before a warning from federal safety regulators, and said it should have a repair available by August.
— Bloomberg News
Internet
Infowars settles in Pepe the Frog lawsuit
Conspiracy-promoting website Infowars will pay $15,000 to resolve a copyright infringement lawsuit over its sales of a poster featuring Pepe the Frog, a cartoon character that has been hijacked by far-right extremists and racist Internet trolls.
Infowars host Alex Jones on Monday signed his companies’ settlement agreement with Pepe’s creator, California-based artist Matt Furie.
An article posted on Infowars’ website calls the settlement a “strategic victory” for Jones.
One of Furie’s attorneys said the settlement amount is more than the $14,000 that Infowars made from poster sales.
Furie says he didn’t authorize Infowars to sell a “MAGA” poster depicting Pepe alongside images of Jones, President Trump, far-right agitator Milo Yiannopoulos and others.
A jury trial for Furie’s lawsuit was scheduled to begin July 16 in Los Angeles.
— Associated Press
Also in Business
Salesforce is buying Tableau Software in an all-stock deal valued at $15.7 billion. Tableau uses self-service analytics to help people at any skill level work with data. Among the companies that use Tableau's services are Charles Schwab, Verizon and Netflix. Once the transaction closes, Tableau will operate independently from Salesforce, the customer-management software developer, and stay headquartered in Seattle.
Gambling regulators in New York have voted to allow sports betting at four Upstate casinos. The state’s Gaming Commission approved regulations Monday that will permit wagers at Resorts World Catskills in Monticello, Rivers Casino and Resort in Schenectady, Tioga Downs in the Southern Tier, and Del Lago Resort and Casino in the Finger Lakes. Bets won’t start until the facilities receive their wagering licenses, which is likely to be later this summer. The state’s tribal casinos also plan to allow wagers.
Apollo Global Management, a private-equity firm, is buying online photo publishing company Shutterfly for $51 per share. Apollo will pay $1.74 billion for the 20-year-old company, which sells products such as photo prints, holiday cards and photobooks. Demand for that type of service has declined as people opt to share photos online through social networks. Redwood City, Calif.-based Shutterfly’s stock closed at $48.95 per share Friday and was trading as high as $94.28 per share a year ago. Ryan O’Hara, former CEO of real estate company Move Inc., will become Shutterfly’s new chief executive.
Wallstreet.cn, a popular financial news app in China, said Monday that it had been suspended by regulators. The company took its app and website offline to make changes to comply with laws and regulations, according to a statement on its Weibo account, which has almost 3 million followers. It will strengthen self-inspection, improve management and try to bring the app back online as soon as possible, it said. The app and website became inaccessible earlier Monday without an official explanation, causing confusion among users.
— From news reports
Coming today
8:30 a.m.: Labor Department releases the Producer Price Index for May.