Business Briefs – June 20, 2017

Hong Kong’s Mini Apartments Boom as Property Prices Soar

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s property developers are scaling down, way down, for younger, middle-class buyers, offering micro-sized upscale apartments with stratospheric price tags. The apartments, dubbed “mosquito-size units” or “gnat flats” in Chinese are drawing online ridicule and underscore worries over the Asian financial hub’s overheated real estate market and widening inequality.

Experts: Takata Bankruptcy Means Air Bag Victims Get Less

DETROIT (AP) — Legal experts say an expected bankruptcy filing by Japanese air bag maker Takata will leave little money for dozens of people who sued the company over deaths and injuries caused by exploding air bag inflators. So far the faulty inflators have killed 11 people in the U.S. and 16 worldwide. Over 180 people have been injured. The problem touched off the biggest recall in U.S. automotive history.

Ford to Move Focus Production To China, Sees No U.S. Job Loss

DETROIT (AP) — Ford will move production of its Ford Focus small car to China and ship them to the U.S. starting in 2019. Wary of the response from President Donald Trump, who has criticized Ford for making vehicles outside the U.S., Ford said the move won’t cost U.S. jobs. The suburban Detroit plant that currently makes the Focus will be converted late next year to produce other vehicles.

Ex-Chicago Politician, Labor Unions Bid For Sun-Times

CHICAGO (AP) — An investor group headed by former Chicago city councilman Alderman Edwin Eisendrath and a group of labor unions has submitted a bid to buy the Chicago Sun-Times. The move could prevent the owners of the paper’s rival, Chicago Tribune, from buying the Sun-Times.