John Riccardo, who changed the course of Chrysler Corp. in the late 1970s by hiring Lee Iacocca to succeed him and requesting the government loan guarantees that helped save the automaker, has died. He was 91.

He died Saturday after attending a University of Michigan basketball game in Ann Arbor, Mich., the Detroit Free Press reported. The Automotive News, which first reported the death, said John Riccardo Jr. eulogized his father Sunday during Mass at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Plymouth, Mich., where he is pastor.

Riccardo rose through Chrysler’s ranks as a protege of Lynn Townsend, whom he succeeded as chairman and chief executive officer in 1975.

Crisis defined his tenure, which coincided with an economic recession and the U.S. car industry’s worst slump since World War II. In 1974, with new-car sales plummeting, Chrysler cut prices and closed most plants for a month. In 1975 Chrysler canceled its dividend for the first time since 1938. When Riccardo retired in 1979, the Detroit-based company was on the brink of bankruptcy.

In the intervening years Riccardo pursued two paths that would define Chrysler for decades.

First, he lured Iacocca to Chrysler in October 1978, following Iacocca’s ouster as president of Ford Motor Co. Iacocca became Chrysler’s president with the understanding that Riccardo would step down as chairman and CEO and turn over those titles to him at the end of 1979.

Second, Riccardo shuttled back and forth to Washington to press Chrysler’s request for federal government assistance, which he said was essential for the company’s survival. When he became convinced that Congress would be more receptive to a new-look Chrysler, he stepped down as chairman and CEO three months earlier than planned.

SoftBank plans stock buyback of $4.4B

HONG KONG >> The multinational media and telecommunications conglomerate SoftBank said Monday that it would buy back shares worth 500 billion yen, the biggest share repurchase it has ever made.

Stock in the group, which owns the U.S. telecom business Sprint, has slipped about 38 percent over the past year, and the company already had announced a share buyback worth about $1 billion in August. Matthew Nicholson, a spokesman for SoftBank, said that with the stock price at its current level, “as a shareholder return, we judge that now is an optimal time” for the new buyback, worth about $4.4 billion.

Fishmeal shortages spark consolidation

A fifth year of fishmeal shortages is leading to a rush of mergers and acquisitions as companies including Cargill Inc. seek to meet demand for seafood that’s growing faster than for beef, poultry or pork.

Cargill, the biggest grain trader, will keep expanding in aquaculture as world demand for food protein is seen growing 70 percent by 2050, said Neil Wendover, a global marketing director at its animal nutrition unit.

World output of fishmeal, usually made from anchovies, fell short of consumption in nine of the past 10 seasons, and a fifth straight annual shortage is expected in this marketing year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says. Seafood sales will rise 5 percent this year, the biggest gain since at least 2011, data from Euromonitor International showed.

Americans sending less lobster to Canada

SACO, Maine >> America’s lobster industry is sending less of its catch to Canada as processing grows in New England, and the growth could have widespread ramifications for consumers who are demanding more lobster products every year.

U.S. lobstermen, clustered in the coastal New England states, have long sent a large amount of their catch to Canada’s Maritime Provinces, where some two dozen companies process millions of pounds of lobster meat every year into everything from vacuum-sealed lobster meat packages to lobster pate.

But the dynamics of the processing industry are slowly changing. America exported about 69 million pounds of lobster to Canada in 2014, and the 2015 figure was less than 67 million, federal data show.

The trend comes as the lobster catch is booming, enabling the growth in processed lobster products. American fishermen set a record for lobster catch in 2012 and nearly topped it the following two years.

On the Move

Hoike Services has named Pamela L. Watanabe president. She joined the firm in 2002 as vice president of software development and has more than 35 years of information systems and software development experience, including as systems and programming supervisor for Island Insurance and computer programmer and analyst for Integrated Combat Systems Test Facility in California.

Humana has promoted Emily Coriale to vice president for senior products in California and the Pacific Region. She was previously a Pacific Region director and will continue overseeing Humana’s Medicare HMO and PPO health plans, prescription drug plan and Medicare supplement plans that are offered to Medicare patients in the Pacific Region. Coriale has more than 10 years’ experience in the health care industry, including leadership and managed care experience with Medicare, Medicaid and dual-eligible populations.