
Thyssenkrupp Plans to End Conglomerate Era in Bid for Turnaround
Thyssenkrupp AG plans to transform itself into a holding company with majority stakes in standalone business units, marking the end of its era as a fully integrated industrial conglomerate.
The German engineering group will spin off its materials services trading arm and its automotive-technology division, building on previously announced plans to sell or partially sell its steelmaking and naval shipbuilding operations, the company said Monday. The shift caps a drawn-out breakup of a company that traces its roots to Germany's Krupp steel and armaments empire.
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New York Times
18 minutes ago
- New York Times
Trump Administration Live Updates: President and Musk Spar Over Policy Bill as Their Relationship Frays
As Germany's chancellor, Friedrich Merz, sat beside him watching in silence, President Trump compared Russia and Ukraine to two fighting children who needed to work out their differences for a while before anyone could intervene. 'Sometimes you see two young children fighting like crazy,' Mr. Trump said on Thursday in an Oval Office news conference. 'They hate each other, and they're fighting in a park, and you try and pull them apart. They don't want to be pulled. Sometimes you're better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart.' 'And I gave that analogy to Putin yesterday,' Mr. Trump added. 'I said, 'President, maybe you have to keep fighting and suffering a lot, because both sides are suffering, before you pull them apart, before they're able to be pulled apart.'' Mr. Merz, who became Germany's chancellor last month, had come to Washington hoping to persuade Mr. Trump to play a more active role in defending Ukraine by bringing unrivaled U.S. power to the task of forcing Russia to end its invasion of its smaller neighbor. But he got a very different response. Mr. Trump essentially threw up his hands, saying that there was nothing the United States could do right now to bring the Russia-Ukraine war to an end. Mr. Trump repeatedly promised during the presidential campaign that he could make peace between the warring nations within 24 hours, but he now says he was being sarcastic. Four months into his second term, Mr. Trump is talking about the war as if he is a bystander. When a reporter asked him at Thursday's news conference whether he was going to put more sanctions on Russia, as he had previously threatened, Mr. Trump equivocated. He suggested he would know when the moment had arrived to pile on more pressure, but that it hadn't yet. He also suggested that Ukraine might come in for punishment. 'We'll be very, very, very tough, and it could be on both countries to be honest,' Mr. Trump said. 'You know, it takes two to tango.' The exchange was notable because Mr. Trump has said very little about the Russia-Ukraine war in recent weeks and almost nothing about Ukraine's stunning drone attack over the weekend against nuclear-capable bombers inside Russia. After calling Mr. Putin 'absolutely crazy' last month, Mr. Trump shifted his tone and said he wanted to give the Russian leader 'two weeks' to show signs of progress. He then dropped the timeline altogether in his statement on social media on Wednesday, instead simply relaying Mr. Putin's intent to retaliate against Ukraine as if he was a commentator without a stake in the outcome. Mr. Trump continued in that vein on Thursday, despite a plea from Mr. Merz to use American power to force Russia's retreat. Mr. Merz reminded the president that the anniversary of the D-Day operation was Friday, June 6, 'when the Americans once ended a war in Europe.' 'And I think this is in your hand, in specific, in ours,' Mr. Merz added. Mr. Trump interjected with a joke about the Nazis. 'That was not a pleasant day for you,' he said, referring to America's defeat of Adolf Hitler. Mr. Merz countered that, 'in the long run, Mr. President, this was the liberation of my country from Nazi dictatorship.' 'We know what we owe you,' he added, 'but this is the reason why I'm saying that America is, again, in a very strong position to do something on this war and ending this war.' Mr. Trump made no commitments. Instead, he boasted about the U.S. economy and military recruitment numbers under his leadership. And then he compared the war to children fighting, or a hockey game. 'They fight, fight, fight,' he said. 'Sometimes you let them fight for a little while. You see it in hockey. You see it in sports. The referees let them go for a couple of seconds. Let them go for a little while before you pull them apart.' Mr. Trump said he told Mr. Putin: 'Don't do it. You shouldn't do it. You should stop it.' But he did not seem confident that his words had any effect. In the president's telling, Mr. Putin replied that he had no choice but to attack based on Ukraine's strikes over the weekend, and, Mr. Trump added, 'it's probably not going to be pretty.' Zolan Kanno-Youngs contributed reporting.


New York Times
19 minutes ago
- New York Times
Live Update: Trump and Musk Attack Each Other in Remarkable Break
Pinned Elon Musk and President Trump openly feuded over the Republican domestic policy bill on Thursday, with Mr. Trump criticizing Mr. Musk during an Oval Office meeting with the chancellor of Germany, and Mr. Musk replying in kind on his X, the social media platform he owns. President Trump and Elon Musk's alliance dissolved into open acrimony on Thursday, as the two men hurled personal attacks at each other after the billionaire had unleashed broadsides against the president's signature domestic policy bill. While meeting with Friedrich Merz, Germany's new chancellor, in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump broke days of uncharacteristic silence and unloaded on Mr. Musk, who until last week was a top presidential adviser. 'I'm very disappointed in Elon,' Mr. Trump said. 'I've helped Elon a lot.' As the president criticized Mr. Musk, the billionaire responded in real time on X, the social media platform he owns. 'Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate,' Mr. Musk wrote. 'Such ingratitude,' he added. Mr. Musk had been careful in recent days to train his ire on Republicans in Congress, not Mr. Trump himself. But he discarded with that caution on Thursday, ridiculing the president in a pattern familiar to the many previous Trump advisers who have fallen by the wayside. What started as simply a fight over the domestic policy bill sharply escalated in just a few hours. Within minutes of one another, Mr. Trump was making fun of Mr. Musk's unwillingness to wear makeup to cover a recent black eye, and Mr. Musk was raising questions about Mr. Trump's competency as president. The public break comes after a remarkable partnership between the two men. Mr. Musk deployed hundreds of millions of dollars to support Mr. Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, and after Mr. Trump won, he gave Mr. Musk free rein to slash the federal work force. And just last week, Mr. Trump gave Mr. Musk a personal send-off in the Oval Office. The president praised Mr. Musk as 'one of the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever produced' and gave him a golden key emblazoned with the White House insignia. Mr. Musk promised to remain a 'friend and adviser to the president.' But now Mr. Musk, who has left his temporary role, has turned into the most prominent critic of a top presidential priority. Mr. Musk has lashed out against the far-reaching policy bill in numerous posts on X. He has called it a 'disgusting abomination,' argued that the bill would undo all the work he did to cut government spending and hinted that he would target Republican members of Congress who backed the legislation in next year's midterm elections. Mr. Trump on Thursday said Mr. Musk's criticism of the bill was entirely self-interested, saying he only opposed the legislation after Republicans took out the electric vehicle mandate, which would benefit Tesla, Mr. Musk's electric vehicle company. (Mr. Musk has previously called for an end to those subsidies.) The president also downplayed Mr. Musk's financial support for him during the campaign, arguing he would have won Pennsylvania without Mr. Musk, who poured much of his money and time into the critical battleground state. Mr. Musk also on Thursday rebutted Mr. Trump's statement that Mr. Musk 'knew the inner workings of the bill better than anybody sitting here.' 'False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was passed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!' Mr. Musk wrote, sharing a video of Mr. Trump saying he was disappointed in Mr. Musk.


Bloomberg
23 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Germany's N26 Weighs New Funding Round That Allows Partial Exit
German digital bank N26 is considering a new funding round at a reduced valuation that could allow some of its existing investors including Coatue Management, Third Point and Dragoneer Investment to recoup part of their investment, people familiar with the matter said. The Series F funding round being contemplated by N26 would let the existing investors sell part of their stakes, according to the people. N26 has been discussing a structure that would allow them to roll over some of their holdings into the new round at a lower valuation, meaning they wouldn't get the 25% guaranteed return promised at their initial investment, the people said.