#2businessdayleadtime

[bigyack-com]

Sackler Family Members Fight Removal of Name at Tufts, Calling It a ‘Breach’

There were three Sackler brothers, all of whom made gifts to Tufts, and different branches of the family have responded differently to Tufts’ decision.A third brother, Arthur, is widely credited with shaping modern medical advertising, but he died before OxyContin was introduced and his brothers purchased his stake in the company. His widow, Jillian Sackler, released a statement emphasizing that her husband had no involvement with OxyContin and saying, “It deeply saddens me to witness Arthur being blamed for actions taken by his brothers and other OxySacklers.”Michael Ward Stout, a lawyer who has worked with museums, said that an institution’s right to withdraw from a naming agreement depended on the terms of the contract. He said that when Lincoln Center in New York wanted to change the name of Avery Fisher Hall, the home of the New York Philharmonic, in order to attract a major gift for its renovation, officials paid the Fisher family $15 million for permission to drop the name. (Mr. Fisher’s original gift to support the hall, in 1973, had been $10 million.)In some cases, like that one, “You can buy yourself out of it,” he said.In 2018, the Massachusetts attorney general filed a civil complaint against eight members of the Sackler family, along with Purdue and numerous Purdue executives and directors, saying that the company had misled doctors and patients about the risks of OxyContin. In a court filing this past January, the attorney general asserted that the Sacklers and Purdue had used their relationship with Tufts to promote use of OxyContin by gaining access to local doctors and trying to influence research about pain treatment. In response to the filing, Tufts commissioned Donald K. Stern, a former United States attorney, to undertake an independent review of the university’s relationship to the Sacklers and Purdue. The review, which was released on the same day that Tufts said it would jettison the Sackler name, found that in most cases money from the Sacklers and Purdue went to programs unrelated to pain treatment and opioids; in other cases, it said, there was no evidence the donations materially skewed academic programs. Read the full article

[bigyack-com]

House Impeachment Vote Is Unlikely to Sway Markets

Breaking: IAC and the online dating company Match Group have agreed to separate in a tax-free transaction. (Want this by email? Sign up here.)

Investors shrug off Trump impeachment

Voting nearly along party lines, the House approved two articles of impeachment against President Trump, making him the third president in history to face removal by the Senate. But the stock market has been largely unfazed by the news of impeachment proceedings, and that is unlikely to change, reports MarketWatch. Investors are shrugging at the news because they don’t expect the Republican-controlled Senate to remove the president from office. Market participants have grown more comfortable with the expectation that Mr. Trump would be impeached but not convicted, according to an investor survey conducted by RBC Capital Markets.

Obamacare insurance mandate is struck down

A federal appeals court yesterday struck down the provision of the Affordable Care Act that requires Americans to have health insurance, saying it was unconstitutional, but the future of the decade-old health care law is still in limbo, writes the NYT’s Abby Goodnough. The decision did not invalidate the rest of the law, and the panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans sent the case back to a federal district judge in Texas to see which parts of the law could survive without the mandate. If the law were thrown out, insurers would no longer have to cover people up to age 26 on their parents’ plans, and could refuse coverage for more than 50 million people with pre-existing conditions. About 17 million Americans bought coverage through the A.C.A. The case could go before the Supreme Court. The California attorney general, Xavier Becerra, said he planned to petition the court to hear the case. He led 21 states that intervened to try to preserve the law. President Trump, who campaigned on repealing the law, tried to appeal to both opponents of the law and people concerned about losing their health insurance. He called the ruling “a big win for all Americans,” and said it would not alter the health care system. Mr. Trump also said he wanted to protect people with pre-existing conditions. The case is unlikely to be resolved before next year’s presidential election.

Leaked Bank of England feed gave investors an edge

The Bank of England said today that an audio feed from its news conferences had been leaked to some investors before it was made public. The early access to policymakers’ remarks gave those investors a leg up on the rest of the market, reports the NYT’s Amie Tsang. The central bank is investigating the source of the leak, an unidentified third-party supplier that has provided sound from news conferences ahead of their video feed since earlier this year. Investors closely monitor the news conferences to gain insight. “In the world of high-speed trading, just a few seconds’ lead time can offer some investors a trading advantage,” Ms. Tsang reports. The bank said it had disabled the supplier’s access. “The bank operates the highest standards of information security around the release of the market-sensitive decisions of its policy committees,” it said.

Uber reaches a settlement on sexual harassment

Uber has a resolution on one investigation into its workplace culture: Yesterday, the ride-hailing company agreed to create a $4.4 million fund to compensate employees who had been sexually harassed at work, the NYT’s Kate Conger writes. The company “permitted a culture of sexual harassment and retaliation,” the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found. It has been examining workplace issues there since 2017. Besides creating the fund, the company agreed to three years of monitoring by a former agency commissioner to ensure that it changes its practices. “This agreement will hopefully empower women in technology to speak up against sexism in the workplace knowing that their voices can yield meaningful change,” a lawyer for the Commission said. The prevalence of sexual harassment at Uber came to light when a former engineer, Susan Fowler, published an essay describing how the company had allowed inappropriate behavior to fester. The company has “worked hard to ensure that all employees can thrive at Uber by putting fairness and accountability at the heart of who we are and what we do,” said Tony West, the company’s chief legal officer.

A big threat to job growth: demographics

The U.S. job market continues to exceed expectations, but it is on a collision course with a dimming demographic outlook, writes Greg Ip in the WSJ. Job numbers are growing faster than expected: The current economic expansion has lasted a record 10-plus years. But the U.S. population is smaller than the Census Bureau had predicted. “The U.S. has had two longstanding demographic advantages over other countries: higher fertility and immigration,” Mr. Ip writes. “Both are eroding.” • The country’s fertility rate dropped to its lowest on record in 2018. • And the foreign-born population in the U.S. had a historically low expansion rate last year. “Job creation is constrained by the number of people of working age,” Mr. Ip writes. And until the trends are reversed, “the U.S. cannot assume it is immune to the demographic downdraft holding back Germany and Japan.”

Boeing suppliers wait for the other shoe to drop

Boeing buys parts from 600 suppliers around the world to build its 737 Max planes. Those suppliers are now waiting to see how the company’s temporary halt in production will affect their businesses, writes the NYT’s David Yaffe-Bellany. “We are in a crisis mode,” Philippe, the C.E.O. of Safran, a French company that makes engines for the Max in partnership with General Electric, told L’usine nouvelle, a French newspaper. “Any day we do nothing now costs us money.” The grounding of the Max has reduced G.E.’s cash flow by $400 million per quarter, company officials said in August. And Spirit AeroSystems, a Kansas company that manufactures the plane’s fuselage, relies on Boeing for 80 percent of its revenue. Yet “the full reach of Boeing’s production process extends beyond those direct suppliers,” Mr. Yaffe-Bellany writes. Major suppliers that also manufacture materials for other companies may be equipped to weather the suspension, while smaller operations will struggle. Yet a halt to production that lasts longer than a month could put even those larger companies in peril. More: President Trump reportedly called Boeing’s C.E.O. on Sunday to discuss the company’s plans to halt production of the 737 Max.

Revolving door

Louis Dreyfus named Patrick Treuer, a former Credit Suisse investment banker, its new finance chief. Peter Zaffino, the executive overseeing a turnaround effort of A.I.G.’s general insurance unit, was named as the company’s president. Pearson’s chief executive, John Fallon, will step down next year. Blythe Masters, the former JPMorgan executive and C.E.O. of the blockchain start-up Digital Asset Holdings, has joined the investment firm Motive Partners.

The speed read

Deals • Several suitors have reportedly expressed interest in acquiring the Spanish-language broadcaster Univision. (WSJ) • Now that PSA and Fiat Chrysler are combining, Carlos Tavares has a hefty to-do list. (Bloomberg) • Broadcom is looking to sell one of its wireless-chip units, a move that would accelerate the company’s shift away from its roots as a semiconductor maker. (WSJ) • Valence Media, the parent of Billboard magazine, is acquiring Nielsen Music, a transaction that comes as data takes on an increasingly outsize role in the music industry. (WSJ) • Adyen has sealed a deal to process McDonald’s mobile app payments, expanding the Dutch company’s portfolio of clients in a growing sector. (Bloomberg) • Short-sellers are betting against companies that they believe are unduly inflated by environmental, social and governance promises. (Reuters) • Direct lenders, including hedge funds and buyout firms, are preparing to dish out billions at a time to lure borrowers away from the $1.2 trillion leveraged loan market. (Bloomberg) • The year the markets stopped believing in unicorns. (FT) Politics and policy • President Trump has asked advisers for a plan to help ease student loan debt for Americans, according to senior administration officials. (WSJ) • Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a presidential candidate, cemented his place in the top tier of the Democratic primary after becoming more aggressive. (NYT) • As his coal mining company was going bankrupt, Robert E. Murray paid himself $14 million, gave his successor a $4 million bonus and earmarked nearly $1 million for casting doubt on human-made climate change. (NYT) • The special inspector general with the Troubled Asset Relief Program is calling for the U.S. to establish a national financial fraud registry. (WaPo) Brexit • After Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s election victory, activists who wanted Britain to stay in the E.U. have thrown in the towel. (WSJ) • Amazon is reportedly scouting sites in Ireland for a warehouse to fulfill orders currently shipped from Britain, as the Brexit deadline looms. (Bloomberg) Tech • Many people don’t hesitate to spend $600 on a cellphone. Here’s another device that money could be spent on: a toaster oven. (NYT) • Tesla shares hit an all-time high. (CNBC) • Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany played down any public threats from China if her government were to bar Huawei from the country’s 5G network. (Bloomberg) • The Texas authorities say Google is trying to hamstring an antitrust investigation of the company brought by 51 attorneys general. (WaPo) Best of the rest • Wall Street analysts are unconvinced that Beyond Meat, the maker of “plant-based meat,” can repeat its stock performance from 2019. (Bloomberg) • If Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain decides to reshape the BBC, he has five ways to pursue it. (FT) • Edward Snowden is not allowed to profit from his memoir because he didn’t get publication clearance from the C.I.A. and the N.S.A., a judge ruled. (Bloomberg) • Inflation in Britain remained at a three-year low in November, comfortably below the Bank of England’s 2 percent target before its next interest rate announcement, which is expected today. (Reuters) • Coca-Cola documents show that the company’s public-relations goals included targeting teenagers, even as childhood obesity rates were rising. (WaPo) • Renaissance Technologies, which has produced the greatest investment returns of any hedge fund, may be facing a clawback over a tax maneuver. (WSJ) • Bernie Ebbers, the WorldCom C.E.O. imprisoned in one of the biggest frauds of the 20th century, will soon be free after serving just over half of a 25-year sentence. (NYT) Thanks for reading! We’ll see you tomorrow. We’d love your feedback. Please email thoughts and suggestions to business@nytimes.com. Read the full article

[bigyack-com]

How TV Covered the Moment of Impeachment

The impeachment debate on the floor of the House of Representatives might have been historically significant, but it took longer than expected, which meant it got in the way of two network shows that had been promoted heavily in recent weeks.At 8 p.m. on Wednesday, CBS cut away from the proceedings for the season finale of the long-running reality competition show “Survivor.” At the same time, ABC dropped its Washington feed to start airing back-to-back live recreations of the 1970s-vintage Norman Lear sitcoms “Good Times” and “All in the Family.”NBC stuck with the news, rather than its scheduled programming, which was a rerun of “Ellen’s Greatest Night of Giveaways,” starring Ellen DeGeneres. As the anchor Lester Holt led political analysts and correspondents through a discussion, House members were seen milling about in the background. With the tally inching toward the key number, which the network put at 214, NBC included occasional cutaways, with no audio at first, to President Trump speaking at a rally in Battle Creek, Mich.As the vote went through on the first article of impeachment, ABC broke into “Good Times” with a special report led by the anchor George Stephanopoulos. A banner at the top of the screen declared, “President Trump Impeached.”When the moment approached on Fox News, Tucker Carlson, almost midway through hosting his 8 p.m. program, said the president had devoted 45 seconds of his rally speech to the topic of the day. The show then cut to a clip from Battle Creek, with the president saying, “It doesn’t really feel like we’re being impeached,” to cheers.When it was all but official, Mr. Carlson’s reaction was muted. “They have the votes,” he said. “There it is, there it is, right there.”His guests included Jenna Ellis, a lawyer who called the impeachment “fully unconstitutional,” and Representative Devin Nunes of California, who compared it to “a coup attempt.”On MSNBC at the close of the vote on the second article, the anchor Brian Williams discussed with Claire McCaskill, the former Democratic senator of Missouri, the dim likelihood that the Senate would follow the House with a conviction. As the yeas mounted, Mr. Williams said: “This moment, make no mistake, is historic. We’ve crossed the threshold, making for two articles of impeachment.”On CNN, Rick Santorum, a former senator and onetime Republican presidential candidate who is a regular commentator on the channel, was talking about former President Bill Clinton, saying that the House Republicans of 1998 had been “pretty woke” to impeach him, when considering his actions in light of the #MeToo movement.The CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell interrupted “Survivor” with a special report, noting that not one Republican had voted in favor of impeachment and citing the lack of across-the-aisle agreement as evidence of the “split screen” state of America.Mr. Carlson, on Fox News, looked grim toward the end of his hour as a guest, Tom Fitton, the head of the conservative activist group Judicial Watch, was saying, “The president has been terribly abused.”At 9 p.m., CBS returned to “Survivor.” On ABC, the actor Woody Harrelson, with an accent that sounded as if it had originated a thousand miles from Queens, N.Y., was playing Archie Bunker in the “All in the Family” reboot. And on Fox News, Sean Hannity kicked off his highly rated show by calling the impeachment a “repulsive, dangerous political stunt” and a “revolting charade.” Read the full article

[bigyack-com]

Former top BOJ economist warns about Japan’s recession - business news

Japan’s economy may already be in mild recession and will rebound only modestly next year, forcing the central bank to maintain its huge stimulus despite the rising costs, former Bank of Japan executive Hideo Hayakawa said on Wednesday.Given its dwindling ammunition, the BOJ is likely to hold off on expanding stimulus unless an external or market shock deals a more severe blow to the economy, said Hayakawa, who retains close contact with incumbent central bank policymakers.Prolonged economic stagnation, however, will also prevent the central bank from normalising crisis-mode policies any time soon, he said.“With inflation very distant from the BOJ’s 2% target, the BOJ won’t be able to dial back stimulus any time soon,” Hayakawa said.“The best it can probably do is to ‘stealth’ normalise,” or to continue quietly tapering asset purchases, he told Reuters.The BOJ is set to keep policy steady on Thursday, as signs of progress in U.S.-China trade talks take some pressure off the central bank to tap its depleted policy tool-kit.Japan’s economy grew by an annualised 1.8% in the third quarter, marking the fourth straight quarter of expansion, gross domestic product (GDP) data showed.But the strong GDP figure contradicts other data painting a weaker picture of the economy, such as slumping exports and output blamed on slow global demand, said Hayakawa, now a senior economist at private think tank Fujitsu Research Institute.While Japan’s economy is expected to rebound next year, any pick-up will be modest as lingering overseas uncertainties and slow wage growth weigh on exports and consumption, he said.Capital expenditure is also unlikely to strengthen much as many firms already spent years ramping up spending, he added.“It’s quite clear Japan is already in mild recession,” said Hayakawa, a former top BOJ economist. “The economy will rebound sometime in the first half of next year, but in such a small way that very few in the public would feel it.”While the United States and China move toward de-escalating their bitter trade war, slumping global manufacturing activity has already taken a toll on Japan’s export-reliant economy, the world’s third largest.Factory output posted its largest fall in two years in October and big manufacturers’ business sentiment sank to a near seven-year low in the fourth quarter. Exports also slipped for a 12th straight month in November.Many analysts expect the economy to contract in the current quarter as a sales tax hike in October cools consumption. Read the full article