MBK Seeks Buyer for Struggling Korean Supermarket Chain Homeplus
South Korea's troubled retail chain Homeplus Co. opened itself up to a takeover as its private equity owners seek to avoid the firm's liquidation.
MBK Partners is seeking to find a buyer for Homeplus after a recent review showed the company's liquidation value exceeds its going-concern value, according to an MBK Partners statement Friday. If a 'pre-approval M&A' plan succeeds and an owner is found before finalizing Homeplus's rehabilitation plan announced in March, MBK Partners will cancel 2.5 trillion won ($1.8 billion) worth of Homeplus common shares it holds without compensation, the statement said.
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Skift
34 minutes ago
- Skift
Air India Outlines Compensation, Relief Efforts After AI171 Crash
Air India's response following the AI171 crash has been swift and measured as it tries to counter misinformation. Air India Liveblog Ongoing coverage of the crash of Air India flight 171 from Skift's editorial team in India, Europe, and the United States. Ongoing coverage of the crash of Air India flight 171 from Skift's editorial team in India, Europe, and the United States. Get the Latest Updates Skift's coverage of the Air India crash is offered free to all readers. After Air India Flight AI171 crashed minutes after takeoff in Ahmedabad on Thursday, the airline confirmed the tragedy on X about 50 minutes later. Since then, it has posted two video messages from CEO Campbell Wilson, set up help centers and helplines, and provided regular updates as the situation unfolds. The airline's communication on X has been important in countering any misinformation. In the early hours of Friday, Air India confirmed that the total number of passenger and crew fatalities in the crash was 241 out of 242 onboard, with the sole survivor undergoing treatment. Here's what Air India has done so far: Messages From Campbell Wilson, Air India's Optics Since the crash, Air India shared two video messages by CEO Campbell Wilson. In the first video message, posted about six hours after the crash, Wilson confirmed the accident and talked about the status of efforts from Air India. The message came at a time when media channels in India were speculating about the number of casualties in the crash, even as rescue operations were underway. The video message, shot against a grey backdrop with Wilson dressed in a somber black suit, helped the airline set the tone. Air India also changed the colors of its website to black and white. Wilson shared his second video message late Friday evening from Ahmedabad to give more updates on the situation and reiterate the airline's support in the investigations. Wilson's video statement released Thursday shortly after the crash had striking similarities to the response from American Airlines CEO Robert Isom after the January crash of American Flight 5342 near Washington, D.C. Air India did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the similarities. However, during tragic incidents like the Air India crash, airline CEOs tend to follow a similar format in their statements. Airlines also pre-plan emergency responses to a range of scenarios. The International Air Transport Association recommends that airline crisis communications include templates for initial statements for an accident. IATA also recommends that the CEO serve as the primary spokesperson when responding to an incident. 'In principle, the CEO should be the primary spokesperson after an accident if there is loss of life or serious injuries,' IATA's best practices for the aviation industry guidebook reads. 'Their involvement demonstrates that he/she has taken personal responsibility for overseeing the response and understands the impact on those affected.'
Gizmodo
an hour ago
- Gizmodo
The Plane That Crashed Yesterday Was the Same One a Dead Boeing Whistleblower Warned About
Critics of Boeing have long expressed criticisms of the 787 Dreamliner and the company's standards. Last year, a former quality manager at Boeing warned that the factory that made the 787 Dreamliner—one of the company's newer models of airplane—was plagued by shoddy work practices and poor oversight. John Barnett, who had worked for the airplane manufacturer for many years before becoming one of its most outspoken critics, said that Boeing was building the planes with 'sub-standard' parts and that its mandate of speed and efficiency was endangering lives. Barnett, who refused to fly on the Dreamliner, was also involved in a legal dispute with the company at the time that he died of an apparent suicide. Yesterday, the plane that Barnett had warned regulators about crashed in Ahmedabad, India, killing all but one of the passengers. The worst aviation disaster in recent memory, the crash has spurred fresh scrutiny of its controversy-plagued manufacturer. While it will take months to understand what actually caused the crash, if the source of the disaster ends up being a vulnerability in the plane's technical design, it won't be particularly surprising. Barnett, whose death sparked conspiracy theories due to his involvement in the legal case against his former employer, was one of a long list of critics who have long expressed concern about the company's manufacturing practices. The 787 was launched in 2011, with one of the advertised benefits being that Boeing could manufacture the aircraft more cheaply than its previous models. However, from the get-go, the plane was ridiculed for having an overly complicated assembly process. One critic, writing in 2013, noted that the plane was put together through a convoluted network of contractors, some of whom offered limited transparency. Another aviation commentator said that it was as if Boeing had said 'F*ck it. Let's throw out everything we've ever known or used in airplane production and use this new, unproven method.' Critics noted that the company had outsourced too many parts to too many different contractors and that there was a risk that all of those components might not properly fit together when the craft was finally assembled. Upon launch, the plane was almost immediately plagued by technical problems. In 2013, a series of battery-related fires in aircraft cabins caused the FAA to ground all of the 787s in the U.S. until the safety issues could be resolved. In 2015, the U.S. air safety authority discovered a software bug in the plane's generator-control units that could hypothetically lead to a 'loss of control' by the plane's pilots. The plane also suffered from fuel leaks and other issues. In 2019, the New York Times reported for the first time on the South Carolina plant where the Dreamliner was manufactured, noting that it was alleged to be 'plagued by shoddy production and weak oversight that have threatened to compromise safety.' Barnett—who, by that time, had already left the company—was quoted heavily in the article, saying that he hadn't 'seen a plane [come] out of Charleston yet that I'd put my name on saying it's safe and airworthy.' After Barnett's death, another whistleblower who had formerly served as an engineer at Boeing, Sam Salehpour, claimed that deficiencies in the way the 787 was assembled could cause the aircraft to 'break apart' in midair. Salehpour went on to testify about the issues in front of Congress, accusing his former company of being involved in a 'criminal cover-up.' He also implied something could 'happen' to him as a result of his outspoken criticism. Around the same time, other Boeing whistleblowers emerged from the woodwork to offer similar critiques of the airplane manufacturer, another of whom died. That spring, Boeing also admitted to falsifying documents about the 787, communicating to the FAA that it 'may not have completed required inspections to confirm adequate bonding and grounding where the wings join the fuselage' and that other misconduct may have occurred at the company. Boeing did not return a request for comment.
Skift
an hour ago
- Skift
India Orders Boeing 787 Safety Checks After Air India Crash
The deadly crash of Air India's 787 has heightened scrutiny of Indian aviation, though regulators have stopped short of grounding the fleet. Air India Liveblog Ongoing coverage of the crash of Air India flight 171 from Skift's editorial team in India, Europe, and the United States. Ongoing coverage of the crash of Air India flight 171 from Skift's editorial team in India, Europe, and the United States. Get the Latest Updates India's aviation regulator has ordered special safety checks on Air India's Boeing 787 fleet following the deadly crash of one of its aircraft on Thursday. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has directed Air India to conduct preventive safety inspections on all of its Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 aircraft equipped with GE Aerospace GenX engines. Air India currently operates 26 Boeing 787-8s (after losing one in Thursday's crash) and 7 Boeing 787-9s, the latter added through its merger with Vistara. All of these aircraft use the GE GenX engine, one of two options for the 787, alongside the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000. The mandated checks are two-fold. Starting June 15, 2025, Air India must conduct a one-time inspection before any departure from India, focusing primarily on the aircraft's engines. The reviews also include: Inspection of Fuel Parameter Monitoring and associated system checks. Inspection of Cabin air compressor and associated systems. Electronic Engine Control-System Test. Engine Fuel Driven Actuator-Operational Test and oil system check. Serviceability check of Hydraulic system. Review of Take-off parameters. Air India has also been asked to conduct power assurance checks within two weeks of the order and to close maintenance-action based upon the review of repetitive snags during the past fortnight on the 787 fleet at the earliest. The DGCA has asked to be informed of the result of the checks it has ordered once they are done. The 787 is an important part of the Air India fleet, used by the airline for many of its long-haul flights, including to Melbourne, Tokyo, Nairobi, Washington, D.C., and most of Europe. More Oversight, But Not a Full Grounding This additional oversight is much less severe than a full grounding, which Indian news channel NDTV Profit reported was under consideration. Such a move would cause a significant disruption to Air India's international services and a financial hit. Air India was finally going to go forward with the nose-to-tail upgrade of its Boeing 787-8 fleet. The first aircraft was scheduled to depart to Victorville in the U.S. for an upgrade in July 2025. It is unclear how the new safety checks affect the retrofit efforts. Air India declined to comment. Air India has long been the sole operator of the 787 aircraft in India, having absorbed Vistara in November 2024. IndiGo, India's largest airline, recently inducted one Boeing 787-9 from Norse Atlantic Airways on a wet lease and is using it to operate flights between Delhi and Bangkok. The airline has another 5 787-9 aircraft scheduled to arrive by January 2026. IndiGo recently announced that it would launch flights between Mumbai and Manchester, and Mumbai and Amsterdam using the 787-9 aircraft. It also intends to use them for flights to Copenhagen and London. Japan, which is a major contributor to the value chain of the 787 Dreamliner aircraft, and also a major operator of the aircraft, has also called for an inspection of their engines and airframes, as per FlightGlobal. Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA), which was the launch customer of the 787, and Japan Airlines, have between them over 130 operational 787 aircraft.
