REAL ESTATE
Massport head development officer retiring
The Massachusetts Port Authority’s chief development officer, James Doolin, is retiring after more than 20 years with the agency. Massport is one of Boston’s most powerful landlords, with some of the priciest real estate on the South Boston Waterfront under its control. It was Doolin’s job for the past five years to manage the agency’s real estate empire. The announcement of his retirement came one day after Massport celebrated a groundbreaking of a 1,055-room hotel in the Seaport, on a two-acre Massport-owned site. Doolin, 64, was a key player in that project, and many others in the neighborhood. Andrew Hargens, Massport’s deputy director for development, will serve as acting chief development officer after Doolin steps down in mid-June. — JON CHESTO
INDUSTRY
GE stock plunges as CEO warns that challenges will linger
General Electric Co.’s long-suffering investors are losing what little patience they had left. The shares plunged the most since 2009 as chief executive John Flannery’s high-profile appeal to Wall Street indicated there is no “quick fix’’ to the problems bedeviling the company, from weak cash flow to slow demand for gas turbines. Worse still, he offered scant reassurance for shareholders worried about another dividend cut. The latest stock swoon piled pressure on Flannery as he attempts to chart a path out of one of the deepest slumps in GE’s 126-year history. The Boston-based company has languished at the bottom of the Dow Jones Industrial Average since he took the job last year. The shares fell 7.3 percent to $14.18 at the close in New York, the biggest drop since 2009, exceeding even the November slump when GE cut its dividend. Wednesday’s decline wiped out most of the gain from a modest rally this month. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
INDUSTRY
United Technologies to hire 35,000 people over the next five years
United Technologies plans to hire 35,000 people and invest more than $15 billion in the United States over the next five years. The company said Wednesday that the investment will go toward research and development and capital expenditures. United Technologies Corp. has more than 200,000 employees in over 75 countries. It currently has 67,000 workers in the United States. The 35,000 positions will mostly be from retirements and normal turnover, the company said, but it anticipates several thousand will be new jobs. While jobs are anticipated in all states, the greatest hiring needs are in Connecticut, Florida, and Georgia. Half of the jobs are expected to be in production and maintenance, with the rest being professional and managerial positions. United Technologies makes Otis elevators, Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines, and other products. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
TECHNOLOGY
Uber closes self-driving operation in Arizona after fatal crash
Uber said Wednesday that it is shutting down its self-driving vehicle operations in Arizona and laying off nearly 300 employees there. The move comes two months after one of its cars hit and killed a pedestrian, and nearly a year and half after Governor Doug Ducey taunted officials in California for putting ‘‘the brakes on innovation and change with more bureaucracy and more regulation.’’ Most of those being laid off are safety drivers, among them Rafaela Vasquez, who was behind the wheel in March when the autonomous 2017 Volvo struck Elaine Herzberg, 49, as she pushed a bicycle across a Tempe thoroughfare. — WASHINGTON POST
ENTERTAINMENT
Comcast may make an offer for Twenty-First Century Fox, competing with Disney
Comcast may make an offer for Twenty-First Century Fox, potentially putting it in a head-to-head bidding war with Disney. Comcast Corp. on Wednesday did not provide specific details on a bid, other than to say that it would be all cash and at a premium to the value of Disney’s current all-stock offer. The Wall Street Journal and others reported earlier this month that Comcast had $60 billion to challenge Disney. Disney’s $52.4 billion bid would go a long way in allowing it to better compete with technology companies in the entertainment business. Any tie-up would put in its stable more Marvel superheros, as well as the studios that produced the Avatar movies, ‘‘The Simpsons’’ and ‘‘Modern Family.’’ Disney would control Fox’s cable and international TV businesses as well. A potential transaction with either Disney or Comcast would not include the Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, Fox Broadcasting Company, and certain other assets. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
ENTERTAINMENT
Weinstein under federal criminal investigation in N.Y., lawyer says
Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer said in a court filing that federal prosecutors in New York have launched a criminal investigation into the film producer, in addition to a previously disclosed probe by the Manhattan district attorney. Attorney Benjamin Brafman said in a declaration filed on May 3 in the Weinstein Co.’s bankruptcy proceedings that he had been advised that Weinstein was a ‘‘principal target’’ of an investigation being conducted by the US attorney’s office in Manhattan. Scores of women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct ranging from inappropriate comments to rape. Weinstein is under criminal investigation in Manhattan, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, and London. He has not been charged with any crimes, though police in New York have said publicly that they believe there is enough evidence to make an arrest. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
TRAVEL
More than 246 million people to fly this summer
Planes will be packed as Americans head out on summer vacations this year. Airlines for America, a trade group that represents most major US carriers, forecast Wednesday that 246.1 million passengers — about 2.7 million a day — will fly on a US airline between June 1 and Aug. 31. That would be a 3.7 percent increase from last year’s record. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter to add special labels to tweets of some political candidates
Twitter says it’s adding special labels to tweets from some US political candidates ahead of this year’s midterm elections. Twitter says the move is to provide users with ‘‘authentic information’’ and prevent spoofed and fake accounts from fooling users. The labels will include what office a person is running for and where. Both the candidate’s account and the tweets from it will get labels. The labels will appear on retweets as well as tweets off of Twitter, such as when they are embedded in a news story. Twitter, along with Facebook and other social media companies, has been under heavy scrutiny for allowing their platforms to be misused by malicious actors trying to influence elections around the world. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
LEGAL
Jury awards $1 billion in apartment rape
A Georgia jury has awarded an eye-popping $1 billion verdict against a security company after an apartment complex guard was convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl. Hope Cheston was outside by some picnic tables with her boyfriend during a party in October 2012 when an armed security guard approached, attorney L. Chris Stewart said Wednesday. The guard told the boyfriend not to move and raped Cheston, Stewart said. The guard, identified in the lawsuit as Brandon Lamar Zachary, was convicted of statutory rape and is serving a 20-year prison sentence, according to online prison records. Renatta Cheston-Thornton filed a lawsuit in March 2015 on behalf of her daughter, who was still a minor at the time. The jury on Tuesday handed down the verdict against Crime Prevention Agency, the security company that employed Zachary. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
