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Chinese billionaire Jia Yueting, the founder of an electric-vehicle startup and an internet streaming service, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S., seeking protection from banks and other creditors that are owed as much as $3.6 billion, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. A major investor in car maker Faraday & Future Inc., Jia filed for bankruptcy yesterday with a plan to set up a creditor trust and relinquish his equity in Faraday owner Smart King Ltd. to help repay his debts. In 2017, Faraday had to give up a $335 million incentive package it was on track to receive from Nevada to build a $1 billion factory in North Las Vegas. The plan fell apart after Chinese courts froze the assets of Jia, also the founder of Chinese technology business LeEco Holdings. Most of his debts currently stem from his personal guarantees or money he borrowed personally on behalf of companies that he founded or led. He has about $1 billion in assets, according to a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Jia will no longer hold his equity interest in Smart King, under a proposed chapter 11 restructuring plan, but he said he plans to continue to work with the company. Under certain conditions, he also may get representation on the creditor trust committee, according to a nonbinding creditor trust term sheet filed with the court. The plan also includes a management incentive equity plan for Smart King under which he may participate.

Forever 21 Canada is set to begin its liquidation sale today, shortly after the fast fashion retailer filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada and the U.S.  A sale order outlining the terms of the liquidation – which is expected to begin today — was approved by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice yesterday. According to court documents, the sale will wrap up by Nov. 30, but it could be extended or terminated early, if required. Forever 21 announced last week that it will shutter all 44 of its Canadian stores, the vast majority of which are unprofitable. Approximately 2,000 people work at Forever 21 stores located in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia.

International airline bankruptcies have increased this year at the fastest ever rate, led by the collapse of India’s Jet Airways, British travel group Thomas Cook and Avianca of Brazil, according to industry data published on Friday, Reuters reported. “2019 has seen the fastest growth in airline failure in history,” said airline consulting firm IBA, which has tracked plane fleets returned to lessors or administrators by 17 carriers that have gone bust so far this year. More may follow as weaker players are squeezed by low-cost competition and higher fuel costs exacerbated by a strong dollar — which hurts those selling tickets in euros or pounds and buying kerosene and planes in the U.S. currency. The run of bankruptcies has also created opportunities for stronger carriers to pick up planes, traffic and airport slots abandoned by collapsed rivals. Other airlines that have folded in 2019 include France’s Aigle Azur and XL Airways, Germania, Flybmi and Adria of Slovenia, which filed for bankruptcy this week.

Harland and Wolff, the Northern Ireland shipyard that built the Titanic, has been rescued from bankruptcy, CNN.com. A UK energy company, InfraStrata, said yesterday that it had agreed to buy the 158-year old Belfast shipyard and its assets for £6 million ($7.3 million). All 79 employees who had not opted to voluntarily leave their jobs would be retained, InfraStrata said in a statement, adding that it planned to create "several hundred" new jobs over the next five years. The announcement marks a dramatic turnaround in the fortunes of Harland and Wolff, which was placed into administration by the UK government in August after failure to secure a bridge loan pushed the company to the brink of bankruptcy.

The European Union antitrust regulator said yesterday that it was in close contact with the German authorities regarding a proposed loan to German airline Condor, Reuters reported. “The Commission is in close and constructive contacts with the German authorities regarding the proposed loan to Condor,” a spokeswoman for the EU executive commission said. The German government said on Tuesday it would guarantee a 380 million euro ($418 million) bridging loan for Condor to keep it flying. Condor and Thomas Cook GmbH, the second-biggest tour operator in Germany after TUI, are both independent units of insolvent British parent company Thomas Cook.

The collapse of travel group Thomas Cook and a trio of subsidiary airlines, leaving 600,000 vacationers stranded, is unlikely to be the last failure among Europe’s struggling second-tier carriers, Reuters reported. As Britain was activating plans for its biggest peacetime repatriation, two smaller operators, Aigle Azur and XL Airways, were before the French bankruptcy courts on Monday. Shares in larger airlines rose on expectations that Thomas Cook’s demise would bring them more passengers, higher fares and new airport slots. But many are wrestling with similar problems. The list of sector bankruptcies is growing: Monarch, Air Berlin and Alitalia failed in 2017, followed by Primera and Cobalt last year and Germania, Flybmi and Iceland’s WOW so far in 2019. Regional operator Flybe’s sale to a Virgin Atlantic-led consortium has narrowly averted its collapse. Larger European carriers are not immune from the threat. Third-ranked low-cost operator Norwegian Air, which has bled cash while making inroads in the transatlantic market, won a reprieve from creditors last week, postponing repayment on $380 million in debt for up to two years.

About 50,000 tourists are stranded in Greece and mainly on island resorts after British travel firm Thomas Cook collapsed, the tourism minister said today as extra flights were booked to ease their return home, Reuters reported. Officials said the tourists, mostly British, were on the islands of Zakynthos, Kos, Corfu, Skiathos and Crete, hitting an industry accounting for about a quarter of Greek economic output. Thomas Cook, one of Britain’s oldest companies, ran hotels, resorts and airlines for 19 million people a year in 16 countries. It entered liquidation on Monday, stranding half a million holidaymakers around the world. “We have about 50,000 people in Greece and there has been a rescue plan, a plan of repatriation currently underway,” Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis told Reuters.