Leadership

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced a 108 trillion yen ($989 billion) stimulus package, Japan’s largest ever, to rescue the coronavirus-hit economy with Tokyo and six other economic hubs set to be put in a state of emergency.

The package, equivalent to about 20% of the nation’s economic output, will include cash handouts worth 6 trillion yen for households and small businesses hit by the virus and offers businesses deferrals on tax and social service costs worth 26 trillion yen, Abe said Monday.

The premier said he plans to officially declare as soon as Tuesday a state of emergency for Tokyo, its three neighboring prefectures, Osaka, Hyogo and Fukuoka prefectures. He said details of the stimulus package and an extra budget to finance it would be announced Tuesday.

The first phase of the package aims to stop job losses and bankruptcies, while a second round of aid, after the virus is contained, will try to support a V-shaped economic recovery, according to a government document obtained by Bloomberg.

“The details of the measures and the numbers involved are being debated until the last minute,” ruling party policy chief Fumio Kishida said earlier Monday before Abe spoke.

Economists see a deep …

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Last year, when Gallup pollsters asked Americans what industry they liked least, the pharmaceutical industry took top prize. The reason wasn’t hard to fathom. Persistent publicity over pricing scandals— Martin Shkreli and Valeant took top honors there—as well as the pill-pushing behind the opioid scandal, had poisoned the industry in the public mind.

The coronavirus pandemic now gives that industry a chance to redeem itself. There are fervent efforts underway at virtually every pharma company to address two key issues that will determine the course of the disease. The first is the need for drugs or therapies to help those being killed at an alarming rate. For all the focus on ventilators, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo revealed this week that they only prevent death for 20% of the people using them. We need better treatments in the field soon. The second is the race to develop a vaccine, which ultimately will be necessary to allow society to return to some sense of normalcy.

I’ve written in this space about the impressive work going on at Johnson & Johnson and Regeneron. (You can find podcast interviews with leaders of both, here.) My colleague Susie Gharib also recently …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the coronavirus as the greatest challenge facing her country since the end of World War II. Germany’s parliament took that message to heart as part of a package to fight the virus, extending powers to suspend patent rights, a tool last used in the country in 1949.

Governments around the world are reviving rarely used legislation or pledging new measures to ensure that they have the drugs they need to battle the pandemic. Israel last month invoked an emergency patent-suspension clause in its 1967 code for the first time, allowing it to import a generic version of AbbVie Inc.’s Kaletra, which has shown signs of combating coronavirus.

In the U.K., so-called Crown Use rules allow the government to suspend protections it would normally grant a patent holder. Those have been used just a handful of times since 1945, but that could change.

“If there is a drug supply shortage, governments aren’t going to be squeamish about ordering companies to do what they think is necessary,” said James Tumbridge, a lawyer with Venner Shipley in London. In wartime Britain, companies were provided a measure of fair compensation for their rights.

“I can see there being …

Good morning.

This is Katherine, filling in for Alan from London.

Yesterday, my colleague Emma Hinchliffe wrote about CEOs slashing their pay—usually to zero—in the midst of the coronavirus crisis.

The CEOs that have gone first, she points out, are ones that lead companies that have taken a direct, and early, economic hit—businesses, like tourism and hospitality, that have had to lay off or furlough hundreds of thousands of employees. Marriott, for example, and Hyatt. (If you missed CEO Mark Hoplamazian speaking to Fortune‘s Susie Gharib about this earlier this week, that interview is here.)

But companies that rely on staff or contractors putting themselves at particular risk—Lyft, for example—or those that work in media and entertainment—like Disney—have also been early movers, as have those that may seek government help.

The question of whether it makes a difference is a thornier one. Most executive pay comes in the form of stock options, so dropping a base salary may not require an executive to take a lasting financial hit. And in most large companies, even the CEO’s salary won’t make much difference in plugging the gap caused by the fall-out from coronavirus.

But sometimes optics aren’t just, well, optics. …

Boeing Co. is expected to announce voluntary buyouts in a message to its 161,000 employees on Thursday, according to a person familiar with the plans.

No details were available for the size of the workforce reductions or areas in the company where they might occur, said the person, who asked not to be identified as the matter is confidential.

Boeing and Airbus SE face a sharp contraction in demand as airlines around the world pare schedules and park planes as the coronavirus pandemic curbs travel. About 44% of the global aircraft fleet is in storage, according to an estimate by Cirium.

Chicago-based Boeing, already reeling from a prolonged grounding of its 737 Max, faces a falloff in demand for twin-aisle aircraft like its 787 Dreamliner and 777X. Wide-body jetliner production could tumble by 60% over the next three years, Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu predicted in a March 31 report.

The Wall Street Journal first reported the voluntary buyouts at Boeing. A Boeing representative in Asia couldn’t immediately comment.

More must-read stories from Fortune:

—Everything you need to know about the coronavirus stimulus checks
—How small-business owners and the self-employed can take advantage of the coronavirus stimulus package
—USPS …

Good morning.

About 40 chief executives who are members of Fortune’s CEO Initiative gathered virtually yesterday for a discussion of how to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. The meeting was under the Chatham House Rule, so I can’t quote particular participants. But the big takeaway for me was the degree to which this crisis is provoking business innovation. The general sense of the group was not just that we won’t return to normal soon, but that we won’t return to the old normal ever. Some general takeaways:

—Companies that previously had been slow to adopt to digital transformation now find themselves on a “burning platform.”

—The need for community is more important than ever, but the crisis is inspiring new digital methods for nurturing community that won’t go away.

—Responding to a crisis is “not about perfection,” which permits more innovation.

—“Work from home” rules have given everyone a better sense of the challenges working mothers face, and will spark progress in addressing those challenges in the future.

Two bits of wisdom for navigating the path ahead: Every organization should think about “what do we want to be when we come out?” And the emergence from crisis shouldn’t be thought …