New York Federal Judge Colleen McMahon has “overturned the confirmation of Purdue Pharma’s Chapter 11 plan,” after determining that the bankruptcy court “did not have the legal right to release claims against the company’s owners in the Sackler family.” That personal liability shield had drawn the ire of many observers, who feared that the family who made and kept literal billions during the opioid crisis would escape legal action through nonconsensual third-party release of nondebtor entities – Law360 and NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
Fifteen weeks on, the parties in the criminal fraud case of Theranos founder and former CEO Elizabeth Holmes laid out their closing arguments to a jury of 8 men and 4 women. The prosecution’s difficult job: convincing jurors that the months of testimony they head proved that Holmes “intended to deceive Theranos’ investors, doctors and patients” - NYTimes and WSJ and Law360
A Thursday-announced settlement between former McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook and the Golden Arches will see Easterbrook—fired in 2019 “for having an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate”—return “$105 million in cash and stock to the company in one of the largest clawbacks in the history of corporate America” - NYTimes and WSJ
The ECB followed the Fed and BOE’s lead yesterday and announced steps intended to address inflation concerns across the continent. Unlike in the UK, ECB President Christine Lagarde left interest rates untouched. But the Bank will end “its pandemic-era bond-buying program in March” – NYTimes and WSJ
Meanwhile, markets’ enthusiasm for the Powell Pivot was short-lived, with all three indices falling a day after the Fed announcement. The tech-heavy Nasdaq bore the brunt of the pain, diving 2.5% on Thursday - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
Oracle is in advanced discussions to buy Cerner Corp, an electronic-medical-records company, in a deal “that could be worth around $30 billion and push the enterprise-software giant further into healthcare.” If finalized, the acquisition would be Oracle’s biggest ever - WSJ
E-truck maker, nascent Tesla rival, and recent IPO winner Rivian announced plans to build a $5 billion factory in Georgia, its second production facility. The news came the same day the company revealed a $1.2 billion loss for Q3 - NYTimes and WSJ
Kellogg’s and its striking workers’ union have reached a new tentative agreement after workers rejected the last one several weeks ago. Workers will vote on the new proposal starting tomorrow and could return to work as early as December 27 if the deal is ratified - Bloomberg and HuffPost and NYTimes
The Boss will have some extra cash to kick around for the holidays, having sold his recorded music and songwriting catalog to Sony Music Group for a staggering half billion dollars—“more than 30 times the annual royalties” on the songs - WSJ
TikTok is reportedly adjusting its famous algorithm to diversify content, an effort to “avoid pushing too much content from a certain topic, such as extreme dieting, sadness or breakups, to individual users to protect their mental well-being” - WSJ
As has become tradition here, we’ll head into our holiday break with the incomparable Darlene Love, seen here over the years just killing it on Dave - Letterman
We hope your holidays are safe and full of family, friends, and fun. Stay healthy, get boosted, and we’ll see you back here in ’22.
MDR
