(Reuters) – McDonald’s Corp has been sued by 52 Black former franchise owners who accused the fast-food giant of racial discrimination by steering them to depressed, crime-ridden neighborhoods and setting them up for failure. In a complaint seeking up to $1 bi... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean prosecutors indicted Samsung Group’s Jay Y. Lee on Tuesday on suspicion of accounting fraud and stock price manipulation in connection with a 2015 merger, dealing a new blow to the head of one of Asia’s most valuable companies. L... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s top government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, moved a step closer to becoming the next premier after the ruling party decided on Tuesday on a slimmed-down leadership vote that favours the long-time lieutenant of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.... More »
(Reuters) – McDonald’s Corp (MCD.N) has been sued by 52 Black former franchise owners who accuse the fast-food giant of racial discrimination by steering them to depressed, crime-ridden neighborhoods and setting them up for failure. In a complaint seeking up t... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean prosecutors indicted Samsung Group leader Jay Y. Lee on charges of manipulating stock prices and breach of trust in order to cement control of the group, a prosecution official said on Tuesday. Considering the gravity of manipula... More »
(Reuters) – Evidence used by the United States to justify the extradition of Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou is “unreliable and defective” and should not be considered by a Canadian court, Meng’s lawyers argued in documents released to... More »
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The chairman of El Al Israel Airlines (ELAL.TA), Eli Defes, is stepping down immediately because of an undisclosed medical condition, he said on Sunday. Defes joined El Al’s board in 2015 and became chairman in 2017. It was not immediatel... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Equinor (EQNR.OL) on Monday announced the appointment of Anders Opedal as chief executive effective from Nov. 2 as the Norwegian oil and gas group looks to speed up a move into renewable energy. The new CEO, who had been executive vice preside... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian court on Monday fined Google 1.5 million roubles ($20,350) after finding it guilty of failing to block content banned in Russia, the Interfax news agency reported. Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-alphabet-lawsuit/... More »
PARIS (Reuters) – Healthcare company Sanofi Aventis France said it had been placed under formal investigation on charges of manslaughter over Depakine, which is an epilepsy drug that caused birth malfunctions and slow neurological development when taken during... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Returning to the office will bring new challenges for banks and brokerages seeking to enforce good conduct by staff, after the bulk of their employees worked from home during the coronavirus pandemic, a financial markets industry body said o... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Global wealth managers are examining whether their clients in Hong Kong have ties to the city’s pro-democracy movement, in an attempt to avoid getting caught in the crosshairs of China’s new national security law, according to six people ... More »
MUMBAI/BENGALURU (Reuters) – India’s Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) said on Monday it expected to resolve about 57% of its near trillion rupee ($13.35 billion) debt pile even as the pandemic delayed the resolution process in some of the gr... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – The German parliament’s financial committee will hold an extraordinary meeting on the Wirecard (WDIG.DE) scandal on Wednesday next week and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is expected to be there, a Social Democrat (SPD) lawamker said on Monday... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Proxy advisers Institutional Shareholder Services Inc (ISS) and Glass, Lewis & Co on Thursday recommended that Toshiba Corp shareholders elect all company directors, dealing a blow to two activist investors pushing to add five newcomers. ISS... More »
ROME (Reuters) – The Italian government approved a package of measures on Tuesday aimed at cutting the complicated red tape that has long been blamed for crimping growth in the euro zone’s third-largest economy. The “simplification decree,” approved after week... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and EY should ring fence auditing in Britain as a separate business by June 2024, their regulator said on Monday in one of the most sweeping changes to the sector globally to improve audit quality. Corporate failures at b... More »
TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada’s biggest lenders confirmed on Friday they had joined a widespread boycott of Facebook Inc (FB.O) begun by U.S. civil rights groups seeking to pressure the world’s largest social media platform to take concrete steps to block hate sp... More »
VIENNA (Reuters) – An Austrian lawyer has filed a criminal complaint against Wirecard’s (WDIG.DE) former Chief Executive Markus Braun and Chief Operating Officer Jan Marsalek at a court in Vienna, accusing them of market manipulation and serious fraud. The Vie... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German regulators twice looked into tightening the supervision of collapsed payments firm Wirecard and discussed it with the German and European central banks but no action was taken, a person with direct knowledge of the talks told Reute... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Changes to the composition of Germany’s top court are likely to make it less confrontational towards the European Central Bank following a ruling about bond purchases that sent shockwaves around Europe, according to two sources close to the ... More »
MANILA (Reuters) – Bank of the Philippine Islands Chief Executive Cezar Consing said it was clear that a certificate purporting to be for a Wirecard deposit was “spurious” and reiterated that no cash from the German payments firm had entered the bank. Wirecard... More »
(Reuters) – White House adviser Kevin Hassett will leave the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump this summer, Axios reported on Monday, citing two officials. Hassett had returned as an adviser earlier this year to help the Trump administration tackle... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Regulators worked hard and did their job in the case of payments firm Wirecard, which on Monday said that 1.9 billion euros ($2.13 billion) missing from its accounts was likely never there, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on Monday. “I thi... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) Chief Executive Jeff Bezos is willing to testify to a congressional panel investigating potential violations of U.S. antitrust law by big technology companies, according to a letter from an attorney representing A... More »
(Reuters) – General Electric Co (GE.N) on Monday tapped the planemaking head of Brazil’s Embraer (EMBR3.SA) to run its key aircraft engines division on Monday, as the global aviation industry grapples with disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Irishman J... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – A South Korean court on Tuesday denied an arrest warrant request for Samsung Group heir Jay Y. Lee after prosecutors accused him of accounting fraud and stock manipulation. The ruling provided temporary relief for the vice chairman of Samsung... More »
YUYAO, China/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – In the eastern Chinese city of Yuyao, a group of five face-masked workers at a Geely auto plant, stood almost shoulder to shoulder behind an SUV as they conducted paint and other quality checks. That scene would not have been ... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Sandwich maker Potbelly Corp on Monday promised to reimburse activist shareholders’ expenses with stock not cash, creating a situation that lawyers call an outlier for now but which they said could find traction in tough economic times. The ... More »
(Reuters) – A special committee of WeWork board members filed a motion in Delaware on Monday to prevent it from being disbanded, as it pursues legal action against majority owner SoftBank Group Corp (9984.T) over an abandoned $3 billion tender offer for the of... More »
(Reuters) – Insurers are normally great with numbers. But the coronavirus pandemic has them struggling to estimate how many billions of dollars in losses they face, and what the fallout will be for their massive investment portfolios. Executives, lawyers and a... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Like the myriad approaches governments are taking to tackle the coronavirus crisis, the way the world’s top banks are calculating their potential losses also differs widely, with puzzling outcomes for investors. These discrepancies are roote... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German drugs and pesticides company Bayer said the economic downturn has prompted it to take a tougher stance in talks to settle claims its glyphosate-based weedkillers cause cancer, even as its earnings rose. The pandemic has significant... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – As Germany rolls out a 750 billion-euro economic stimulus package, officials and experts are discussing whether German lenders, including Deutsche Bank AG and Commerzbank AG, will be able to weather the economic fallout of coronavirus wit... More »
(Reuters) – Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of easyJet Plc (EZJ.L), has warned that he will not inject any fresh equity into the airline until it terminates a contract with Airbus SE (AIR.PA) for 4.5 billion pounds ($5.50 billion), according to a letter here... More »
(Reuters) – Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) is cutting contractors from its U.S. car and battery plants, CNBC reported on Friday, citing workers and a contract staffing agency. The electric carmaker is axing contractors at both its vehicle assembly plant in Fremont, Califo... More »
(Reuters) – Ford Motor Co (F.N) said on Friday Chief Executive Officer Jim Hackett’s total compensation fell to $17.4 million in 2019 from $17.8 million in 2018. The ratio of Hackett’s annual compensation to the median of the annual compensation of all employe... More »
OAKLAND, California (Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google has published charts showing how the coronavirus has brought hard-hit Italy to a standstill, led to runs on grocery stores around the world and prompted a stark drop in going-out between Mardi Gra... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The financial industry wants the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to hold off on parts of a new rule requiring brokers to disclose potential conflicts of interest, citing disruptions caused by the coronavirus, four people with kno... More »
(Reuters) – Troubled fashion retailer Ted Baker (TED.L) on Monday named Chief Financial Officer Rachel Osborne to the permanent role of chief executive officer, replacing Lindsay Page who stepped down last year. The British company said the search for a chairm... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump, who excoriated General Motors Co on Friday and invoked emergency powers to compel the production of badly needed ventilators to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, has abruptly shifted gears to praise the automaker. ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Major U.S. airlines asked the U.S. Treasury to move quickly to release up to $58 billion in government grants and loans and recommended a formula to divide up the money. In a letter dated Saturday and seen by Reuters, carriers wrote that... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Thousands of London’s underwriters took their stamps and fountain pens home last week, which they use to sign insurance contracts, but they won’t need them. Working at home due to the coronavirus lockdown, they have abandoned the normal tool... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Talks between First United Corp and Driver Management to settle a fight for board seats at the bank holding company broke down when the activist investor rejected the offer, two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday. “Your ‘best ... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Lindblad Expeditions on Thursday said it named two independent directors backed by activist investment firm ValueAct Capital, which owns a nearly 10% stake in the adventure cruise company, to its board. New York-based Lindblad appointed Thom... More »
BOSTON/LONDON (Reuters) – The havoc wrought by the coronavirus crisis could give investors leverage to put new limits on CEO pay packages and link them more closely to a range of social and environmental issues at companies’ annual meetings this spring. Execut... More »
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – AirAsia Group Bhd (AIRA.KL) said on Friday an independent probe into corruption allegations from Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has found the Malaysian airline’s procurement process with European planemaker Airbus SE (AIR.PA) rob... More »
(Reuters) – Twitter Inc said on Thursday it is banning posts that “dehumanize” people because they have a disease or disability or because of their age, a step that happens to correspond to an explosion of tweets about the spreading coronavirus. The company to... More »
HELSINKI (Reuters) – Nokia Chief Executive Rajeev Suri will step down in September and be replaced by Pekka Lundmark, who used to work for the Finnish company and is the current CEO of energy group Fortum, Nokia said on Monday. Suri has been in the role for si... More »
(Reuters) – Hedge fund Elliott Management Corp has amassed a stake in Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) and is pushing for changes, including removal of the social media company’s chief executive, Jack Dorsey, two people familiar with the matter said on Friday. Twitter is ... More »
MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s biggest bank UniCredit (CRDI.MI) said on Monday Chief Executive Jean Pierre Mustier had confirmed he would remain in his role, following media reports that he was being considered for the top job at rival HSBC (HSBA.L). UniCredit rece... More »
(Reuters) – Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) on Saturday posted a 23% decrease in quarterly operating profit, while soaring prices in stock holdings such as Apple Inc (AAPL.O) enabled the conglomerate to smash its old record for full-year earni... More »
(Reuters) – Warren Buffett on Saturday called on corporate America to make their boards of directors more accountable to shareholders and less beholden to chief executive officers, perhaps by reducing their pay and requiring that they buy more stock. In his an... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Hedge fund Senator Investment Group told clients on Thursday that its founding partners are splitting up, ending one of the industry’s more profitable and durable professional marriages. Alexander Klabin will be leaving the $6.9 billion Sena... More »
(Reuters) – NMC Health (NMC.L) said on Monday its founder BR Shetty had resigned as the Emirati healthcare group’s joint non-executive chairman, leaving UK businessman H.J. Mark Tompkins as sole chairman. NMC, the United Arab Emirates’ largest private healthca... More »
(Reuters) – NMC Health (NMC.L) said on Monday its founder BR Shetty had resigned as joint non-executive chairman, months after the UAE healthcare group was thrown into turmoil by doubts over its finances. NMC is the largest private healthcare company in the Un... More »
(Reuters) – Australia’s Boral Ltd (BLD.AX) said on Monday delays to building projects due to bushfires will likely cause a plunge in its second-half results, while revealing an investigation had found inflated earnings at its North American window-making busin... More »
(Reuters) – Cigarette maker Imperial Brands Plc (IMB.L) on Monday appointed Stefan Bomhard as its chief executive officer, replacing Alison Cooper, as the industry faces a regulatory backlash against e-cigarettes and declining tobacco sales. Bomhard will join ... More »
(Reuters) – Softbank (9984.T)-backed office sharing firm WeWork named real estate industry veteran Sandeep Mathrani as its new chief executive on Saturday. Mathrani will join the company as the CEO from Feb. 18, 2020 and will report to Marcelo Claure, who will... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – New York state’s top pension fund official said it was reviewing whether to divest from 27 coal companies and could make decisions on $98 million in holdings within two months. The reviews by the third-largest U.S. state pension system, with... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Oil drilling firm Valaris PLC reached a settlement with Luminus Management and said on Monday that it has appointed one of the hedge fund’s partners to its board. Luminus’ Adam Weitzman, an expert in offshore oil drilling who has experience ... More »
FRANKFURT/ZURICH (Reuters) – The Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) spying debacle risks tipping the bank into a crisis that could engulf its top executives. Switzerland’s market supervisor is scrutinizing Credit Suisse’s oversight of chief executive Tidjane Thiam and his... More »
MUNICH (Reuters) – European regulators have imposed 114 million euros ($126 million) in fines for data breaches since tougher privacy rules came into force in mid-2018, with approaches varying widely from country to country. A report by law firm DLA Piper said... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – If you have gone to Goldman Sachs Group Inc’s (GS.N) internet home page since mid-December, it would be reasonable to wonder if you had stumbled into some kind of parallel universe. Visitors are met with a background of lush greenery, alon... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – The board member overseeing an outside audit of Wirecard has been elected as chairman of the German payments company as it battles allegations of fraud and false accounting that have hit its share price. Thomas Eichelmann, a former chief fin... More »
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – ABN Amro (ABNd.AS) said on Thursday that Robert Swaak, a former chairman of accounting firm PwC in the Netherlands, is to succeed Kees van Dijkhuizen as the Dutch bank’s chief executive. Swaak will take over from Van Dijkhuizen at the com... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) and law firm Homburger will continue their investigation into employee observation at the bank, a spokesman said, after the bank on Monday confirmed a second former executive was tailed. [nL8N28X0TX] “We are looking in... More »
ZURICH (Reuters) – Credit Suisse (CSGN.S) on Monday cleared CEO Tidjane Thiam and other top executives from knowledge of a second spying incident, saying former Chief Operating Officer Pierre-Olivier Bouee had the Swiss bank’s then-head of human resources foll... More »
SEOUL (Reuters) – A South Korean heiress known for delaying a Korean Air Lines flight in 2014 because she was angry at the way she was served nuts has accused her younger brother of disobeying their late father’s will to manage the airline’s parent company tog... More »
TOKYO (Reuters) – Toshiba Corp said on Monday it would extend the period of its tender offer for chip equipment unit NuFlare Technology Inc until Jan. 16. The extension of the offer, from the originally set Dec. 25, was requested by NuFlare to give its shareho... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear President Donald Trump’s appeals in three separate cases to prevent his financial records, including tax returns, being handed over to Democratic-led House of Representatives committees and... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Swedish mobile telecoms company Ericsson (ERICb.ST) has agreed to pay over $1 billion to resolve probes into corruption, including the bribing of government officials, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Friday. The bribery took place... More »
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian delivery app Loggi must formalize work relationships with its motorbike drivers and pay charities 30 million reais as a fine for not previously contracting the workers, according to a Sao Paolo court ruling released on Friday. A... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – As U.S. corporate jet use approaches pre-financial crisis levels and chief executives take an increasing number of personal trips on the company tab, many investors are being kept in the dark about the true cost of the perk. For the S&P 500 ... More »
(Reuters) – Private equity firm Silver Lake on Monday named company veterans Egon Durban and Greg Mondre to the newly formed roles of co-chief executive officers. The firm, which manages over $43 billion in combined assets, said Durban and Mondre, who were man... More »
(Reuters) – Billionaire investor Warren Buffett was thwarted in trying to spend some of the $128.2 billion of cash at his Berkshire Hathaway Inc, after a private equity firm outbid him to buy technology equipment distributor Tech Data Corp for $5.14 billion, C... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper fired the Navy’s top civilian on Sunday over his handling of the case of a Navy SEAL who was convicted of battlefield misconduct in Iraq and later won the support of President Donald Trump. Esper also de... More »
(Reuters) – A court ruling expected on Monday could give cover to former national security advisor John Bolton and other administration officials to cooperate in the impeachment inquiry against U.S. President Donald Trump, legal experts said. U.S. District Jud... More »
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Reuters) – Specialized fund managers who pioneered green investing for decades are missing out on some of the spoils as the sector goes mainstream and large firms move in. So-called sustainable funds, which pick stocks based on environ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration is set to issue a 90-day extension of a license on Monday allowing U.S. companies to continue doing business with China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL], two sources familiar with the deliberations said. Reu... More »
THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Gambia has filed a case at the United Nations’ top court accusing Myanmar of committing genocide against its Rohingya Muslim minority, Gambian Justice Minister Abubacarr Tambadou said on Monday. The International Court of Justice (ICJ), a... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Siemens (SIEGn.DE) Chief Executive Joe Kaeser on Friday lamented Germans who fail to recognize true visionaries and instead admire pot smokers who talk about space travel, only days after his deputy praised Tesla CEO Elon Musk. “Amusing o... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – It’s nice work if you can get it. The average annual compensation for non-executive directors at S&P 500 companies rose 2 percent to $304,856 last year, topping $300,000 for the first time and 43 percent higher than it was 10 years ago, acco... More »
JAKARTA (Reuters) – A former chief executive of Indonesian state electricity utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) [PLNEG.UL] has been cleared in a graft case related to a power plant project, a judge at the country’s corruption court said on Monday. Prosecu... More »
(Reuters) – McDonald’s Corp dismissed Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook over a recent consensual relationship with an employee, which the board determined violated company policy, the fast-food giant said on Sunday. The board found that Easterbrook, 52, who ha... More »
(Reuters) – Under Armour Inc (UAA.N) is under investigation by U.S. federal law enforcement officials over whether the sportswear maker shifted sales from quarter to quarter to appear financially healthier, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. The Balti... More »
HOUSTON (Reuters) – Former U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Saturday that Republicans and Democrats need to work together for the good of the United States, while avoiding a direct reference to the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry of President D... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A Manhattan judge has dismissed Uber Technologies Inc’s lawsuit challenging a New York City law limiting the number of licenses for ride-hailing services, the first such cap by a major American city. In a decision made public on Friday, Ne... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Fisher Investments founder Ken Fisher said there will be no lay-offs at his Washington state investment firm despite some $3 billion in withdrawals by pension funds and others over allegedly sexist remarks he made at an investor conference. ... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AX) staff inappropriately gave personal financial advice when marketing pension funds, an Australian court said, overturning an earlier ruling in a rare win for regulators under pressure to crack down on misconduct ... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The head of a U.S. Senate panel reviewing two catastrophic Boeing 737 MAX crashes told Reuters ahead of hearings this week that the plane would not return to U.S. skies until “99.9% of the American public” and policymakers are convinced ... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – A Texas retirement system and Goldman Sachs Group Inc pulled a combined $584 million from Fisher Investments on Friday, after allegations that firm founder Ken Fisher made sexist comments at a conference. The withdrawals come despite an apol... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – The Los Angeles fire and police pension system voted to terminate Fisher Investments on Thursday over allegedly sexist comments made by founder Ken Fisher earlier this month. Five of the system’s nine commissioners voted during a webcast mee... More »
JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Monday he wanted “innovative” ministers in his cabinet for a second term, as the co-founder of tech startup Gojek said he would join and a former chairman of Inter Milan soccer club was tipped for a ... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – German payments company Wirecard (WDIG.DE) has hired KPMG to conduct an independent audit to address allegations by the Financial Times that its finance team had sought to inflate reported sales and profits, it said on Monday. The company, p... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Thomson Reuters Corp (TRI.TO) is engaged in succession planning for Chief Executive Jim Smith as “a matter of good governance,” the business information company said on Sunday. The company statement BX.N) consortium last year. Earlier this... More »
BOSTON (Reuters) – Fallout from Kenneth Fisher’s alleged insensitive remarks about women escalated on Friday when a large Iowa pension plan cut ties with the money manager, whose firm has lost more than $1 billion in assets under management in the last week. T... More »
(Reuters) – A $34 billion Iowa pension plan on Friday said it will terminate an investment contract with Kenneth Fisher, whose alleged insensitive remarks about women has cost his firm more than $1 billion in assets under management. The Iowa Public Employees’... More »
MUMBAI (Reuters) – Indian tax officials are pushing back against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new faceless tax assessment program, complaining about a lack of consultation and inadequate resources to implement the changes, a letter reviewed by Reuters shows.... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s banking regulator on Tuesday said it plans to ask lenders to meet higher capital levels domestically to offset their exposure to large overseas units – a move that comes in response to plans by New Zealand to hike capital ratios ... More »
