Farley will succeed Hackett as head of Ford in October

Ford Chief Operating Officer Jim Farley will lead the storied automaker into the future starting Oct. 1 when current CEO Jim Hackett retires.

The company has struggled in recent years and is in the midst of an $11 billion restructuring plan designed to make it leaner and crank out new vehicles to replace what was an aging model lineup.

As COO, the 58-year-old Farley led the company’s global markets and product development. He was in charge as Ford rolled out a revamped F-150 pickup, the new Bronco off-road SUV brand and the electric Mustang Mach-e SUV.

Farley was hired away from Toyota by then-ceo Alan Mulally in November of 2007 to run Ford’s marketing operations.

EU taking closer look at Google’s planned buy of Fitbit

European Union regulators say they’re opening an in-depth investigation into U.S. tech giant Google’s plan to buy fitness tracking device maker Fitbit.

The EU’S executive commission said Tuesday it’s concerned the deal would entrench Google’s position in the online ad market by “increasing the already vast amount of data” that the company could use to personalize ads.

EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the “investigation aims to ensure that control by Google over data collected through wearable devices as a result of the transaction does not distort competition.”

Google agreed to buy Fitbit in November for $2.1 billion. Privacy and consumer groups have called on authorities to block the deal, citing privacy and antitrust concerns.

SEC investigates Kodak’s announcement of loan

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the circumstances around Kodak ’s announcement of a $765 million government loan to make drugs at its U.S. factories, according to people familiar with the matter.

News of the loan last week caused Kodak’s shares to rise as high as $60 before falling to about $15 on Monday due to a dilution in the shares. Amid the heightened volatility, trading volume has surged. The price spike briefly produced a potential windfall for company executives who owned stock-option grants, some of which were granted on July 27, the day before the loan became public.

The SEC’S investigation is at an early stage and might not produce allegations of wrongdoing by the company or any individuals, people familiar with the matter said. Among the areas being probed by regulators: how Kodak controlled disclosure of the loan, which began to emerge on July 27, one day before the official announcement, causing Kodak’s stock price to rise 25% that day.

FAA outlines design changes for Boeing 737 Max

The Federal Aviation Administration on Monday published its final list of required design changes to the Boeing 737 Max, as well as changes to operation and maintenance procedures and to proposed pilot training, that must be completed for the jet to return to passenger service.

The design changes include new software to limit the flight-control system that caused two Max crashes that killed 346 people, a new cockpit alert to tell pilots if a sensor that initiated those crashes is faulty, as well as the rerouting of some wiring on the planes to forestall a potential similar failure being triggered by an electrical short.

The FAA said it completed all approvals associated with the design changes itself, delegating none of the oversight work to Boeing.

The FAA documents will be published in the Federal Register in the coming days, which will start the clock on a 45-day period for public comment.

From staff and wire reports