A11
B USINESS
THE BULLETIN • THURSDAY, JULY 29, 2021
q
DOW
34,930.93 -127.59
BRIEFING
Facebook profits
top $10 billion
Facebook reported
Wednesday that its sec-
ond-quarter profits dou-
bled thanks to a massive
increase in advertising
revenue.
But the company said it
doesn’t expect revenue to
continue to grow at such a
breakneck pace in the sec-
ond half of the year.
The Menlo Park, Cal-
ifornia-based company
earned $10.39 billion, or
$3.61 per share, in the
April-June period. That’s
up from $5.18 billion, or
$1.80 per share, a year
earlier. Revenue jumped
56% to $28.58 billion from
$18.32 billion.
Advertising revenue
growth was driven by a
47% year-over-year in-
crease in the average price
per ad and a 6% increase
in the number of ads
shown to people. Face-
book said it expects ad
prices, not the amount of
ads it delivers, to continue
to drive growth.
Facebook had 2.9 bil-
lion monthly users as of
June, up 7% from a year
earlier. In 2019, it em-
ployed 350 people in Cen-
tral Oregon, according to
Economic Development
for Central Oregon.
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Pandemic economy
Powell sees few problems from delta variant
BY RACHEL SIEGEL
The Washington Post
Federal Reserve Chair Je-
rome Powell on Wednesday
said that the delta variant of the
coronavirus could have fewer
implications for the economy,
if it follows the pattern of past
waves of COVID surges.
“With delta, we’re just going
to have to watch,” Powell said
at a news conference Wednes-
day. “With a reasonably high
percentage of the country vac-
cinated, and the vaccine appar-
ently being effective — we’re
not experts on this but — it
seems like a good, going-in es-
timate would be that the effects
will probably be less. There
probably won’t be significant
lockdowns.”
Powell said it was “plausible”
that the delta variant, which is
rapidly spreading among un-
vaccinated people, could dis-
courage people from dining
out or traveling, or delay school
reopenings. But Powell said
that vaccinations, and soci-
ety’s ability to adjust to life in a
pandemic, may offer a cushion
from harsh economic strain.
Powell said that the surge in
COVID-19 cases in the win-
ter did have major effects on
the labor market, especially in
industries that depend on per-
son-to-person contact.
But he added that businesses
and consumers have found
ways to continue on, saying
“we’ve kind of learned to live
with it.” He gave the example of
businesses that can sell houses
virtually, or restaurants that can
fill no-contact takeout orders.
Powell’s comments come at
a highly uncertain time for the
economy. Public health offi-
cials, economic policymakers
and others are grappling with
the rapidly-spreading delta
variant and the need to get
more people vaccinated.
On Tuesday, the Centers for
Disease Control and Preven-
tion walked back recent rec-
ommendations for vaccinated
Americans, saying they should
wear masks indoors if they
live in COVID hot spots, or if
they live with anyone immu-
nocompromised, or with chil-
dren who are not old enough
for the vaccines. President Joe
Biden announced Thursday
that all federal employees will
be required to be vaccinated
against the coronavirus or face
repeated testing mandates.
Many parts of the economy
appear to be headed in the right
direction, and it is not yet clear
if this recent wave of cases will
thwart broader expectations
for growth in 2021. Economists
and policymakers hoped that
more widespread vaccinations
would help consumers unleash
their pent-up savings, step back
into their old routines and, in
turn, bring back jobs in hard-
hit industries.
See Fed / A12
BIKE SALES
DEMAND
STILL HIGH
But manufacturers cannot keep up
FDA allows swap
for generic insulin
U.S. regulators took
action Wednesday that
will make it easier to get
a cheaper, near-copy of a
brand-name insulin at the
drugstore.
Doctors now have
to specifically prescribe
what’s called a biosimilar
or OK substituting it for
a more expensive brand-
name insulin.
Wednesday’s move
by the Food and Drug
Administration will al-
low pharmacists to auto-
matically substitute the
cheaper version, just as
they do with generic pills
for other kinds of drugs.
It’s the FDA’s first
approval of an “inter-
changeable” biosimilar, a
near-copy of an injected
biologic medicine that’s
manufactured inside liv-
ing cells. It could save di-
abetics and health plans
millions of dollars annu-
ally and encourage other
drugmakers to create
more biosimilar medi-
cines. Health data firm
IQVIA projects U.S. sav-
ings from increasing use
of biosimilars from 2020
through 2024 will top
$100 billion.
Boeing rebounds,
reports profit
Boeing reported its first
quarterly profit since 2019
and its revenue topped
expectations as the giant
aircraft maker tries to dig
out from the most difficult
stretch in its history.
Boeing earned $567
million in the second
quarter, compared with a
$2.4 billion loss a year ago.
The return of the trou-
bled 737 Max jet after
two deadly crashes is key
to Boeing’s rebound. The
company delivered 79
commercial planes in the
quarter — including 47
Maxes — compared with
20 a year earlier.
Still, Boeing’s core com-
mercial-planes business
lost money. That was off-
set, however, by profits in
its defense and space unit
and its services division.
Boeing cut thousands
of jobs as it dealt with the
grounding of its 737 Max
airliner and the pandemic,
which cut airlines’ demand
for new planes. CEO David
Calhoun said in a memo
to employees Wednesday
that the company plans
to keep jobs at the current
level of about 140,000.
—Bulletin wire reports
BY ARDESHIR TABRIZIAN
The Oregonian
A
fter a yearlong, pandem-
ic-induced surge in bicycle
sales nationwide, some Port-
land bike stores are seeing
sales taper off — but not because of
falling interest.
Instead, demand remains high
enough that overwhelmed retailers are
struggling meet it. Deliveries from bike
manufacturers have been slow, and the
manufacturers in turn can’t get parts
from their own suppliers.
Consumers as a result are waiting
months to find the bikes that suit their
interests. Otherwise, they’re left to
settle for the short supply available or
dust off old bikes to take in for repairs.
The bicycle industry was one of few
that largely thrived after COVID-19
forced businesses to close or rework
their operations last spring. Sales
spiked in April 2020 and kept climbing
as consumers were drawn to outdoor
activities and exercise that allowed for
social distancing.
Nationally, bicycle sales from May
2020 to April 2021 grew 57%, accord-
ing to an analysis by Dirk Sorenson,
of the The NPD Group, a market re-
search firm. And national bike sales in
March 2021 were the highest NPD has
ever recorded.
But April sales appeared to mark
the beginning of a decline anticipated
by many retailers, Sorenson said. Sales
fell 22% compared to the same month
in 2020, though they were still up 5%
from April 2019.
Demand for bikes has stayed strong.
Sale-to-stock ratios — a marker for
how quickly average inventory is sold
and restocked — are not improving.
“That would indicate that consum-
ers are buying what they can find,” he
said.
But Portland bike shop owners say
they’re having trouble getting bicycles
in stock to sell.
Schuyler
Harrison, owner
of Joe Bike, at
the southeast
Portland bike
shop on Saturday.
Dave Killen/
The Oregonian
See Bikes / A12
Simple step to thwart phone Some state employees
hackers: Turn it off, then on to get COVID hazard pay
BY ALAN SUDERMAN
Associated Press
BY HILLARY BORRUD
The Oregonian
RICHMOND, Va. — As a
member of the secretive Sen-
ate Intelligence Committee,
Sen. Angus King has reason
to worry about hackers. At a
briefing by security staff this
year, he said he got some ad-
vice on how to help keep his
cellphone secure.
Step One: Turn off phone.
Step Two: Turn it back on.
That’s it. At a time of wide-
spread digital insecurity it
turns out that the oldest and
simplest computer fix there
is — turning a device off then
back on again — can thwart
hackers from stealing informa-
tion from smartphones.
Regularly rebooting phones
won’t stop the army of cy-
bercriminals or spy-for-hire
firms that have sowed chaos
Gov. Kate Brown has
agreed to award state workers
who were required to report
to work in person during the
pandemic one-time “COVID
hazard payments” of up to
$1,550 under new tentative
labor agreements.
All state employees who
had to work in-person for
at least 480 hours between
March 8, 2020, and June 30,
2021, will be eligible, accord-
ing to a summary of the ten-
tative deal the state reached
with SEIU 503. A member
of AFSCME Council 75’s
bargaining team on Tues-
day confirmed that union
reached the same deal.
To be eligible for the top
amount, employees must
have worked at least 1,040
Carolyn Kaster/AP file
At a time of widespread digital insecurity, it turns out that the oldest and
simplest computer fix there is — turning a device off then back on again
— can thwart hackers from stealing information from smartphones.
and doubt about the ability
to keep any information safe
and private in our digital lives.
But it can make even the most
sophisticated hackers work
harder to maintain access and
steal data from a phone.
“This is all about imposing
cost on these malicious actors,”
said Neal Ziring, technical di-
rector of the National Security
Agency’s cybersecurity direc-
torate.
See Hackers / A12
mandatory in-person hours,
the equivalent of 26 40-
hour weeks. Employees who
worked fewer mandatory
in-person hours but met the
480-hour minimum will re-
ceive $1,050, according to
SEIU 503’s online announce-
ment of its tentative labor
agreement with the state.
A state spokesperson clar-
ified Wednesday that all state
employees who meet those
thresholds will be eligible for
the payments, regardless of
whether they are represented
by a union.
During the five-month leg-
islative session that ended in
June, unions pushed hard for
lawmakers to approve “es-
sential worker” stimulus pay-
ments and some lawmakers
supported the idea.
See Hazard pay / A12