Business briefing: Delta pays $1.9 billion for 20% of Latam Airlines Group

Delta Air Lines is paying $1.9 billion for 20% of Chile's Latam Airlines Group as part of a broader deal that will expand the U.S. carrier's reach in South America. Delta is swooping in after rival American Airlines ran into opposition from Chile's Supreme Court to its planned joint venture with Latam. American said Thursday it understood Latam's decision to partner with another U.S. airline. American said it is getting less than $20 million a year from its current alliance with Latam. Delta said it will pay $16 a share, funded with new debt and cash. Delta also is investing $350 million to kick-start the partnership. It will get four Airbus A350 jets from Latam and take over its commitment to buy 10 more through 2025. The deal needs regulatory approval.

Stocks ended modestly lower and bond prices rose on Wall Street Thursday as investors turned cautious, shifting money into lower-risk holdings. The selling, which lost some of its momentum toward the end of the day, came as traders weighed the implications of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump and new government data showing slower U.S. economic growth. The S&P 500 index fell 7.25 points, or 0.2%, to 2,977.62. The Dow Jones industrial average slid 79.59 points, or 0.3%, to 26,891.12. The Nasdaq dropped 46.72 points, or 0.6%, to 8,030.66. Smaller-company stocks bore the brunt of the selling, sending the Russell 2000 down 17.33 points, or 1.1%, to 1,533.33. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are each on track for their second straight weekly loss as volatile trading brought on by anxiety over trade issues takes its toll. The late September slide has been cutting into quarterly gains for the S&P 500 and all but erased the Nasdaq's third-quarter gain. Benchmark crude oil fell 8 cents to settle at $56.41 a barrel. Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 35 cents to close at $62.74 a barrel.

GateHouse and Gannett said their newspaper deal has cleared U.S. antitrust review. It still needs approval from European regulators and stockholders of both companies. The two said they expect the deal to close this year. USA Today owner Gannett and GateHouse argue that combining will help them accelerate the path to digital for their newspapers even as they pay down debt from the deal. The combination would create the largest U.S. newspaper company in a contracting industry, with more than 260 daily papers in the U.S. and more than 300 weeklies. Getting bigger would allow the combined company to trim costs by centralizing operations, but also by cutting newsroom jobs. Community members complain that will affect local coverage. GateHouse has continued to lay off journalists since announcing the takeover.

Dunkin' failed to notify almost 20,000 customers across the U.S. about cyberattacks on their accounts in 2015 and inadequately warned more than 300,000 customers about another hacking attack in 2018, New York's attorney general said in a lawsuit announced Thursday. According to the lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, the company knew in 2015 that a series of attacks had been made on customers' online accounts, with attackers able to steal money customers had stored for use at Dunkin' stores. But it said the company didn't inform the customers or fully investigate. The suit also accuses Dunkin' of keeping customers in the dark about the full extent of 2018 cyberattacks, by only intimating attempts had been made to access accounts but not that accounts had been breached. Dunkin' Brands Inc. strongly pushed back against James' contentions.

Volkswagen has hired an executive who once ran Cadillac and Infiniti to help oversee its North American operations. The German carmaker said Thursday that Johan de Nysschen will become chief operating officer of Volkswagen's North American region. Scott Keogh, CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, said de Nysschen will help speed up the company's day-to-day decisionmaking "so we can continue to make this brand matter again." Volkswagen is working to regain consumer trust after its 2015 diesel emissions scandal. U.S. authorities caught the company using software to rig emissions tests. The 59-year-old de Nysschen said he is looking forward to rejoining the company where he spent 20 years earlier in his career before leading Nissan's Infiniti luxury brand and General Motors' Cadillac.