BIOTECHNOLOGY

Biogen Chief Executive Christopher Viehbacher is promoting the Cambridge-based biotech’s chief accounting officer, Robin Kramer, to the role of next CFO, now that the current one has announced plans to retire in February. Biogen announced Monday that Michael McDonnell, executive vice president and chief financial officer, will retire on February 28 after more than four years in the role; Kramer will then take over as CFO. Viehbacher said Kramer’s “understanding of our business, coupled with the breadth of her leadership knowledge and experience,” gives her confidence that she will do an excellent job in the CFO role. Before joining Biogen in 2018, Kramer held financial leadership roles at Hertz Global Holdings, Fisher Scientific (now part of Thermo Fisher Scientific), and Gillette Co. (now part of Procter & Gamble). -JON CHESTO

Fast food

McDonald’s says Quarter Pounders will return to menus at all restaurants this week after ruling out beef patties as the source of an E. coli in several states that sickened dozens of people and left one dead. The fast food chain said it combined its supply chain tracing data with information from government agencies, including a Colorado Department of Agriculture analysis that found no E. coli in dozens of samples from several batches of the restaurant’s fresh and frozen beef patties. E. coli infections have been linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders and appear to come from the sliced ​​onions served on the sandwich. The company stopped selling these burgers in about 20 percent of its more than 13,000 restaurants in the United States, and announced Sunday that they would return without onions. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

AUTOMOTIVE

Volkswagen plans to close at least three factories in Germany as Europe’s largest automaker tries to cut costs to become more competitive. Proposals to turn around the ailing namesake VW brand include a 10 percent wage cut and a reduction in all remaining sites in Germany, said Daniela Cavallo, chairwoman of the works council and member of the supervisory board. The plans underscore the scale of the crisis at Volkswagen, which has failed in its transition to electric vehicles and lost relevance in China, where the group is losing market share to local automakers. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

DEI

After a backlash from conservative activists against DEI programs, a majority of executives surveyed in a new survey said their companies had changed how initiatives were described with less emphasis on racial diversity. Among more than 60 executives, just over 50 percent said their company had changed terminology, and 20 percent were considering similar changes, according to a Conference Board survey. In many cases, companies remove the term “equities” from descriptions because it’s considered the most controversial term, said Andrew Jones, a senior fellow at the Conference Board’s ESG Center and co-author of the study. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

Philips shares fell the most in 26 years after the medical technology company cut its annual sales growth forecast due to tepid demand in China. Philips expects its comparable sales to increase by up to 1.5% in 2024, compared to a previous forecast of up to 5%. Order intake fell by 2% in the third quarter due to the Chinese crisis, he announced on Monday. The manufacturer is trying to regain the trust of its shareholders and consumers after paying less than expected to settle U.S. claims related to faulty sleep apnea devices. The recall cost Philips about $5 billion, according to Bloomberg calculations. The company is still under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice over the matter and has not yet made any financial arrangements regarding the matter. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

INTERNATIONAL

Voters in Liechtenstein have voted to withdraw public funding from the small country’s public radio, a decision that leaves the station’s future in doubt. In a referendum held on Sunday, 55.4 percent of participants voted to repeal the law granting state funding to Radio Liechtenstein at the end of 2025, according to official results. The measure was initiated by a small opposition party, Demokraten pro Liechtenstein. He argued that Radio Liechtenstein absorbed more than 70 percent of public media funding, giving it an unfair advantage over private media, and that it should be privatized. The government argued before the vote that it was doubtful whether the privatization of Radio Liechtenstein could be successful, “because it is hardly possible for a private radio station in Liechtenstein to generate sufficient advertising revenue.” Radio Liechtenstein averaged 11,400 daily listeners in the country in 2021, the latest year for which figures are available. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

ENTERTAINMENT

California aims to more than double annual tax credits for film and television production in the state to about $750 million, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Sunday at a media event in Los Angeles . “We needed to make a statement and do something that made sense,” Newsom, a Democrat, said at Raleigh Studios in Los Angeles, describing the recent decline in content production in California as a crisis. Michael Hackman, whose Hackman Capital Partners owns the Raleigh location and 600 other stages around the world, said the increased discounts were “a good start.” The roughly $330 million increase is subject to state approval of California’s proposed 2025-2026 budget and would be the first major overhaul of the incentive program since 2014. It follows contacts with local lawmakers and industrial unions, many of whose members have been out of work in recent months. Last year’s two actors’ and writers’ strikes, as well as a decline in content spending as entertainment giants such as Walt Disney Co. and Paramount Global seek to improve the profitability of their streaming services, have accelerated the decline of film and television production in California. — BLOOMBERG NEWS