Downsizing At Twitter After Musk Takeover, Big Pharma Chains To Pay $14B In Opioid Claims, Tesla Shutters 1st Showroom In China: Top Stories Wednesday, Nov. 02

Reuters

Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk took over Twitter Inc TWTR under a $44 billion deal which followed the firing of CEO Parag Agrawal, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal, and legal affairs and policy chief Vijaya Gadde.
Sarah Personette, Twitter's chief customer officer and ad boss, tweeted about her resignation last week.
Chief marketing officer Leslie Berland, Twitter's head of product Jay Sullivan, and its vice president of global sales, Jean-Philippe Maheu, have also left.

CVS Health Corp CVS, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc WBA, and Walmart Inc WMT have reportedly agreed to pay about $13.8 billion to resolve several lawsuits accusing the companies of the opioid epidemic in the U.S.
The proposed settlement calls for CVS to pay $5 billion over ten years, Walgreens to pay $5.7 billion over 15 years, and Walmart to pay $3.1 billion, mostly upfront.

Elon Musk-led Tesla Inc has reportedly shut down its first showroom in China as the electric vehicle maker looks to adjust its sales and service strategy in its second-largest market.
Tesla, late last week, closed its flagship showroom in an upscale downtown shopping center, Parkview Green, in Beijing.

Wall Street Journal

Twitter Inc TWTR terminated the ability of subscribers of its paid Twitter Blue product to access ad-free articles from publishers.
Twitter's new owner, Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk, made sweeping changes from high-profile firings to product updates since closing the $44 billion deal.
Users wishing to remain verified by Twitter via a blue check on their account must subscribe to the upgraded program within 90 days.
Twitter looks to launch the changes by November 7.

Bloomberg

Amazon.com Inc AMZN froze staffing levels in its profitable advertising business, reflecting its more drastic measures to align expenses with slowing sales.
Amazon disclosed the headcount freeze internally on November 1.
Amazon will continue filling vacancies in its advertising business without creating new positions.

Financial Times

The Qatar Investment Authority may increase its stake in Credit Suisse Group Inc CS by investing in a share sale alongside Saudi National Bank.
Saudi National Bank will be joined by two other investors in the share placement, including QIA, which already owns 5% of Credit Suisse stock.

Benzinga

DuPont De Nemours, Inc DD terminated the previously announced agreement to acquire the outstanding shares of Rogers Corp ROG after failing to obtain timely clearance from all the required regulators.
DuPont paid Rogers a termination fee of $162.5 million under the agreement.
Last November, DuPont agreed to acquire engineering materials technology company Rogers at $5.2 billion.

Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL YouTube launched an online marketplace for streaming services with more than 30 offerings.
Primetime Channels will allow viewers in the U.S. to subscribe to individual streaming services, including Showtime, Paramount+, and Starz, directly through YouTube.
The National Basketball Association has also agreed to add its NBA League Pass package of games to the platform at a later date.

The FDA classified the recall of Teleflex Inc's TFX Iso-Gard filter S as the most serious.
Iso-Gard Filter S filters are breathing circuit bacterial filters connected to respiratory equipment or breathing systems in intensive care units and operating rooms.
The company recalled some models of the filter after receiving reports of it splitting and getting detached from patients' respiratory devices during use, which may lead to an insufficient air supply for the patient and potential cross-contamination.

Volkswagen AG VWAGY reported the sale of its car-sharing service, WeShare, to Berlin-based car-sharing company MILES Mobility. Both parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price.
MILES Mobility has acquired UMI Urban Mobility International GmbH from Volkswagen Passenger Cars and, with it, the WeShare car-sharing business and will integrate it into its existing portfolio.

Albertsons Companies Inc ACI had a lawsuit filed against it by Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson to stop the grocery chain from paying shareholder dividends.
Albertsons had sought to pay its shareholders $4 billion in dividends before closing its proposed merger with supermarket operator Kroger Co KR.
Ferguson argued that the special dividend payment risked severely undercutting the grocery giant's ability to compete during the lengthy period.

CVS Health Corp's (NYSE: CVS) Q3 sales increased 10% Y/Y to $81.2 billion, beating the consensus of $76.75 billion.
Adjusted EPS was $2.09, beating the consensus of $1.99.
CVS Health raised the adjusted EPS outlook to $8.55-$8.65, up from the previous guidance of $8.40 - $8.60, compared to the consensus of $8.55.

GSK Plc's GSK Q3 turnover reached £7.83 billion, up 18% Y/Y on the actual exchange rate (AER) and 9% on a constant exchange rate (CER) basis.
Vaccines sales reached £2.48 billion, excluding pandemic adjuvant sales, and grew 19% at AER and 9% at CER in the third quarter.
GSK raised FY22 sales growth to 8%-10% CER, compared to the previous guidance of 6%-8%.

LL Flooring Holdings Inc LL reported a third-quarter FY22 sales decline of 4.8% year-on-year to $268.82 million, missing the consensus of $282.20 million.
Comparable store sales decreased 7.3% versus last year. The company attributed the sales decline to continued lower consumer spending, which more than offset just under double-digit growth in sales to Pro customers.
Adjusted EPS loss of $(0.14) missed the consensus of $0.16.

Photo by hakan german from Pixabay

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