[naviga:h3]Ford full-year profit plunges on slower sales, pension costs[/naviga:h3]

DETROIT — Ford Motor Co.’s profit last year plunged by more than $3.6 billion, weighed down by slowing U.S. sales, the cost of a botched SUV launch and some big pension expenses.

The Dearborn, Mich., automaker said Tuesday it made $47 million in 2019, down from a $3.68 billion profit a year earlier. For the fourth quarter the company lost $1.7 billion, or 42 cents per share, hit by $2.2 billion in one-time pension costs.

Excluding one-time items, Ford made 12 cents per share for the quarter, falling short of Wall Street’s expectations. Analysts polled by FactSet predicted 17 cents per share.

Quarterly revenue fell 5 percent to $39.7 billion, about even with Wall Street estimates.

Shares of Ford, which released results after the markets closed Tuesday, tumbled 9 percent to $8.35 in extended trading.

Ford had said earlier that it expected to deliver better results in 2019 than in 2018.

CEO Jim Hackett said on a conference call with analysts that the company fell short of expectations for the year, and he blamed the drop primarily on the flubbed launch of the new Ford Explorer SUV at its factory in Chicago.

New Explorers came off the assembly line with multiple problems and had to be shipped to a Detroit-area factory for repairs, delaying deliveries to customers.

[naviga:h3]United Airlines buys flight academy for source of pilots[/naviga:h3]

United Airlines said Wednesday it is buying a flight academy to help produce a new supply of trained pilots, an unusual approach to deal with the wave of retirements now hitting the airline industry.

United will take over the Westwind School of Aeronautics in Phoenix. The airline said it expects the academy to produce about 300 graduates in its first year, who would then build experience at smaller operators before flying for United.

The academy’s graduates could help United’s need for future pilots. The airline forecasts that it will need to hire more than 10,000 pilots by 2029, as thousands of its baby-boom pilots hit the mandatory retirement age of 65.

United and rivals including Delta and American have enough pilots for now because they recruit from smaller, regional carriers where pay is far lower.

However, several regional airlines have suffered shortages — bad enough for some to reduce flying. They have had to boost wages and signing bonuses. Regional carriers operate smaller planes under banners including United Express, Delta Connection and American Eagle.

[naviga:h3]Disney Plus almost at 29M subscribers in less than 3 months[/naviga:h3]

NEW YORK — Disney said its Disney Plus streaming service reached nearly 29 million paid subscribers in less than three months, an impressive start for what the company has positioned as its future as more people drop cable subscriptions.

But the Walt Disney Co. said profit fell 23% in its latest quarter to $2.13 billion as it absorbed expenses from starting up the new service.

Disney Plus launched in November to compete with online video services like Netflix. Disney had 26.5 million Disney Plus subscribers as of Dec. 28, the end of its fiscal first quarter. That grew to 28.6 million as of Monday.

Original series on Disney Plus include the “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian.” One of the hit characters from the show is one resembling a baby version of Yoda. Disney CEO Bob Iger told analysts that “Baby Yoda” consumer products will go on sale in the coming months. He said the “sensational response” to the character said a lot about Disney Plus.

Disney also has 30.4 million Hulu customers and 6.6 million ESPN Plus subscribers as of Dec. 28; it notched big gains for those from a year ago. Disney offers a bundle of the three streaming services.

On a per-share basis, profit came to $1.17 per share. Adjusted for one-time items, earnings came to $1.53 per share. Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of $1.46.