WSJ What’s News - Regulators Scale Back Obstacles for Boeing

Episode Date: September 26, 2025

P.M. Edition for Sept. 26. Six years after two deadly crashes of its 737 MAX jets, Boeing has regained authority from the Federal Aviation Administration to do some of its own safety checks. We hear from WSJ reporter Andrew Tangel about what this means for the company. Plus, banks are racing to respond to regulators’ broad requests for information on whether they closed customer accounts on political or religious grounds. WSJ banking reporter Gina Heeb discusses what regulators are asking for, and why now. And, as videogame maker Electronic Arts nears a roughly $50 billion deal to go private, Journal reporter Miriam Gottfried says it’s not necessarily a sign that leveraged buyouts are back in vogue. Alex Ossola hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Viking, committed to exploring the world in comfort. Journey through the heart of Europe on an elegant Viking longship with thoughtful service, cultural enrichment, and all-inclusive fares. Discover more at viking.com. Electronic Arts is close to a deal to go private in what might be a record-breaking leverage buyout. Plus, why regulators are requesting information from banks going back years in an effort to find cases of debanking. This is an issue for the president that is very near and dear to him. He has alleged that the largest banks have debanked him and his family. And after years of crises, Boeing has just

cleared a key hurdle towards its recovery. It's Friday, September 26th. I'm Alex Oslo for the Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. We're exclusively reporting that video game maker Electronic Arts is nearing a deal to go private in what would likely be the largest leveraged buyout of all time. That's according to people familiar with the matter. The people said that a group of investors, including private equity firm Silver Lake and Saudi Arabia's public investment fund, could unveil a deal for the company as soon as next week. Discussions on price are still underway, but two of the people said that EA could be valued at as much as $50 billion. Massive leverage buyouts like this one have been rare in recent years.

Miriam Gottfried, who covers private equity for WSJ, says this is not necessarily a sign that deals like these are becoming more common now. I think dealmakers would really like for it to be the watershed moment that causes deals to come rushing back. But I wouldn't say that we can speak so soon. There are tons and tons of companies inside of private equity funds that firms would love to see. sell right now. But the market has not been right for them to get out of these deals because they bought them when interest rates were very low. One thing that you'll note about these deals that are happening now is that a sovereign wealth fund is involved. And people think it's preferable to have a sovereign wealth fund instead of too many private equity firms in the

mix. And a lot of deals got derailed because there were too many cooks in the kitchen. TV broadcaster Sinclair said today it will end its preemption of Jimmy Kimmel Live and air the late night show again beginning tonight. ABC suspended the show earlier this month after remarks Kimmel made about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. ABC brought back the show on Tuesday, but Sinclair said it still wouldn't carry it at that time. The company said today that its decision was, quote, independent of any government interaction or influence. Meanwhile, President Trump said today that he expects more people whom he views as enemies to face criminal indictments. It's his first comment since the Justice Department indicted former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey yesterday, charging him with making false statements and obstruction.

Trump had demanded Comey's prosecution and asked the U.S. attorney who determined that there was insufficient evidence to bring the case. Speaking on the South Lawn of the White House, Trump said more indictments were coming for, quote, corrupt radical left Democrats and cast yesterday's indictment against Comey as justice, not revenge. The president's critics called his action an inflection point in the politicization of the Justice Department, with the president directing whom it should prosecute. We're exclusively reporting that banks are racing to respond to regulators' broad requests for information on whether they closed customer accounts or denied people's service on political or religious grounds. The sweeping demands are part of President Trump's crackdown on alleged

discrimination by banks. People familiar with the matter say that regulators are working with the Justice Department, which is looking for any violations of civil rights laws, including the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. According to a person familiar with the matter, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp is expected to send out letters to large banks as soon as this week. Gina Heab covers banking for the journal. Gina, what is the kind of information that these regulators are asking for? Regulators are asking for a sweeping amount of information. In some cases, banks are being asked to send along internal policies that could amount to what the administration calls debanking, as well as complaints from their databases. Regulators are also reviewing their own databases for patterns that could indicate that certain customers have been unfairly cut off from access to accounts or reject. from accounts altogether. And in some cases, they're asking for entire lists of customers

whose accounts were closed, not at their own request. The time span is really striking. Some of these requests are going back a number of years. Why are they asking for this? What indication is there that this is a problem? This is an issue for the president that is very near and dear to him. He has alleged that the largest banks have debanked him and his family. He has said that they have unfairly caught off access to conservatives, and there have been just broad accusations that banks have kept a distance from certain industries such as cryptocurrency and cannabis, although these industries were ones that regulators were not very comfortable with banks working with a couple years ago. What have banks said about this? So banks say that they only close accounts because of credit risks, because of legal risks, and to weed out money laundering and terrorist financing.

They say they're not looking at political parties, ideological views, religion, the things that the administration is alleging. So these banks will have to respond to these letters, presumably. What happens after that? regulators are working with the Justice Department. Whether that leads to actual probes, formal charges, remains to be seen. But we do know that DOJ is looking for violations of civil rights laws. And some of these regulators have explicitly said that there could be fines down the road. That was WSJ reporter, Gina Heap. Thanks, Gina. Thanks for having me. The University of Michigan's monthly consumer survey found that views on the economy dropped in September, as worries about high prices and the labor market weighed on household sentiment. Investors, however, were optimistic today as a rally helped U.S. stocks break their three-day losing streak. The S&P and Dow both advanced about 0.6%, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ added 0.4%.

For the week, all three indexes closed in the red. Coming up, federal regulators are giving some authority. back to Boeing, six years after tightening their oversight. That's after the break. Protecting your nest egg, no matter what the market does, most people call that the smart money. At American National Insurance Company, we call it a multi-year guarantee annuity. Fund your annuity online at annuities.americanational.com.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu struck a defiant tone speaking at the United Nations today. Speaking to an almost empty room, he lashed out at countries that recognized a Palestinian state this week amid a crescendo of international criticism over Israel's conduct in the war in the Gaza Strip. In his speech, Netanyahu accused his critics of turning against Israel under pressure from their domestic populations, rising anti-Semitism, and a biased media. Giving the Palestinians a state one mile from Jerusalem after October 7th is like giving al-Qaeda a state one mile from New York City after September 11th. This is sheer madness. It's insane. And we won't do it. In an unusual move, the Israeli leader said he ordered that trucks with loudspeakers be deployed to Gaza so that hostages could hear him as he called for them to be freed.

He's scheduled to meet with President Trump on Monday. Boeing has secured sizable aircraft orders from Turkish Airlines and Norwegian Air Shuttle, the company is announced today, a boost for the jetmaker as it seeks to revamp its business. The companies didn't disclose financial terms, but buyers typically receive steep discounts for big aircraft orders. Another promising sign for Boeing? The company is regaining authority from the Federal Aviation Administration to perform final safety checks on its 737 max jets starting next week. For more, I'm joined now by Andrew Tangle, who covers aviation safety for the Wall Street Journal. Andrew, why did the FAA revoke this authority in the first place?

It was 2019, and two 737 maxes had just crashed, in large part because of a flawed flight control system with a faulty design, not a factory problem. But at the same time, factory problems emerged. The FAA was concerned about the company's pressure on employees to produce aircraft and deliver aircraft. And while the plane was grounded in 2019, the FAA took this authority back and said, we are going to make sure all of the regulatory requirements are adhered to before we sign off on Boeing's ability to hand these planes over to airlines to fly passengers. Is it typical for plane manufacturers to have this sign-off authority that Boeing had lost? Yes. These inspections and sign-offs are pretty routine. Aerospace manufacturers, they have a subset of employees who act on behalf of the regulator.

The inspection has been compared to a final walkthrough before you buy a house. It's not a very intrusive inspection, but this created a choke point for Boeing. FAA inspectors were finding problems with the aircraft. So now that Boeing does have this authority back, what does this mean for the company? It's a sign that they're regaining trust from the regulator. It's a significant early milestone for Boeing's overall recovery and its attempts to turn the corner from these two crashes, but also a long string of quality issues. That was WSJ reporter, Andrew Tangle.

Thanks, Andrew. Thanks for having me. And that's what's news for this week. Tomorrow, you can look out for our weekly markets wrap-up, What's News and Markets. Then on Sunday, we're taking a look at the Trump administration's use of military force on boats in international waters to combat drug smuggling. That's in What's News Sunday.

And we'll be back with our regular show on Monday morning. Today's show is produced by Pierre Pianneme and Rodney Davis with supervising producer Jana Heron. Michael Laval wrote our theme music. Aisha L. Muslim is our development producer. Chris Sinsley is our deputy. editor, and Falana Patterson is the Wall Street Journal's head of news audio. I'm Alex Oscella. Thanks for listening.

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