Benzinga Before The Bell: Elon Musk's Kids, Apple's Potential Security Measure, Covid-19 Vaccine Wastage And Other Top Financial Stories Thursday, July 7

CNBC American Airlines Compensates Pilots Three Times For Trips Cancelled Due To Technical Glitch American Airlines Group Inc’s (NASDAQ: AAL ) pilots and its pilots’ union has agreed to triple pay for aviators who were able to drop thousands of July flights because of a scheduling program glitch over the July fourth weekend, reported CNBC. Pilots will also be getting double pay for peak holiday periods. According to the Allied Pilots Association, the scheduling platform glitch prompted pilots to drop 12,000 flights from their schedules.   Reuters SAS Airline Cancels Flight On Pilot Shortage, Though Passenger Volume Jumped Several SAS AB (OTC: SASDF ) flights were canceled as around 1,000 pilots walked out at its main SAS Scandinavia arm, overshadowing a traffic surge during June. Reuters reported that collapsed talks between the airline and pilots over a new collective bargaining agreement prompted a strike. During June, more than 1.9 million passengers traveled with SAS, an increase of approximately 220% compared to the same month last year. Disney Continues To Consolidate Its International Division - Read How Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS ) picked Kristen Finney to lead content curation for its international division, pushing to make more regional content for streaming. As EVP, Finney will work on building a team to track and evaluate “content needs and appropriateness for Disney+ and Star/Star+.” Finney will oversee content strategy in the regions for Disney+ and adult-skewing vertical Star, along with linear channels, acting as a centralized hub for international content acquisition information, cross-regional licensing opportunities, content slates, and pipelines, US Commits $969M Towards Airport Infrastructure Turnaround U.S. Transportation Department granted $968.6 million to 85 airport projects to fire up the country’s aging aviation infrastructure. Some projects will fund new terminals, boost gate capacity, add air traffic control towers, jet bridges, new bathrooms, baggage claim belts, and reconfigure security checkpoints. Congress approved the five-year $5 billion airport terminal grant program in November as part of the $1 trillion infrastructure law.   Wall Street Journal Merck’s Potential Buyout Of Seagen Expected Within Next Few Weeks Merck & Co Inc (NYSE: MRK ) is in advanced talks to acquire Seagen Inc (NASDAQ: SGEN ), and an agreement on a purchase is expected in the next few weeks, Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter. The potential deal could be worth roughly $40 billion or more. The report added that the companies are discussing a price for Seagen above $200 a share. Drugmakers, Health Authorities Discarding Several Million COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Wall Street Journal reported that governments, drugmakers, and vaccination sites are discarding several unused COVID-19 vaccine doses amid declining demand. Packaging in multiuse vials containing from five to 20 doses has also been partly responsible for the wastage. The vials generally must be used within about 12 hours of ... Full story available on Benzinga.com