Tesla's Huge Recall In China, Twitter's New CEO, Amazon Space Satellites Expected To Launch This Summer: Today's Top Stories

Benzinga

Linda Yaccarino, 'Velvet Hammer' Resigns NBCU Role Amid Rumors She'll Be The New Twitter CEO

• Following Elon Musk's Thursday announcement about his planned departure from the CEO role at Twitter, the buzz centered on Linda Yaccarino, who resigned from her role as Comcast Corporation's CMCSA NBCUniversal global advertising chief, feeding the rumor mill.
• Yaccarino's speculated appointment has raised concerns among Twitter users, particularly due to her executive chair position at the World Economic Forum, an event often criticized for its exclusivity and elitism.
• If appointed as Twitter's CEO, Yaccarino is set to inherit a role fraught with complex challenges. Musk's acquisition of the platform last year triggered a significant exodus of advertisers, unnerved by the uncertainty that shrouded Twitter's future course and possible shifts in moderation policies.

Jeff Bezos, ULA Eye Launching Amazon Space Satellites This Summer

• United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Rocket — expected to launch Amazon's first two satellites to space — is awaiting its full launch day rehearsal on Friday.
• The inaugural rocket left the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) on Thursday and is in position atop Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, ULA said on Twitter. ULA CEO Tory Bruno also shared a time-lapse video of the rocket leaving the facility
• "I feel that you guys deserve a short time-lapse of Vulcan Rocket leaving the VIF this morning. Now hard down on the pad for tomorrow's tanking tests. Enjoy," Bruno wrote.

GSK Trims Stake On Consumer Business Spun Off, Raises £804M

• GSK Plc GSK sold 240 million shares of its spun-out consumer healthcare group Haleon Plc HLN in a move that has raised £804 million for the firm.
• The offloaded shares are equivalent to up to 2.5% of Haleon's issued share capital.
• The offer price of 335 pence per share represents a 2.3% discount to Haleon's closing price of 342.85 on Thursday.

Philips To Pay $62M As Settlement In Regarding Corruption Charges In China

• Dutch medical device maker Koninklijke Philips N.V. PHG will pay $62 million to resolve charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) concerning conduct related to its sales of medical diagnostic equipment in China.
• The Securities and Exchange Commission said Philips had agreed to settle its claims without admitting to or denying the findings from its investigation.
• The SEC said Philips had engaged in several strategies in China between 2014 and 2019 that violated the FCPA.

Southwest Pilots Vote To Authorize Strike

• Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) announces that Southwest Airlines Company LUV pilots have voted to authorize a strike.
• The strike authorization vote has closed with 98% participation, and 99% of pilots voted to authorize.
• In response, Southwest noted the vote result has no impact on its scheduled operations, as it is staffed and prepared to welcome travelers for their summer travel plans.

Activist Investor Elliott Bats For Board Changes In Goodyear Tire & Rubber

• Activist investor Elliott Investment Management L.P. has written a letter to Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co GT Board of Directors highlighting steps for value creation in the company.
• Elliott has an approximately 10% economic interest in the company.
• Despite Goodyear's strong brand, leading market share, and favorable industry tailwinds, Goodyear's stock has meaningfully and consistently underperformed, Elliott noted.

Walgreens Sells Some AmerisourceBergen Shares For $694M

• Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc WBA sold shares in AmerisourceBergen Corporation ABC for $694 million in initial proceeds.
• In a concurrent share repurchase transaction, AmerisourceBergen will repurchase about $50 million of its common stock from Walgreens.
• Walgreens will use the proceeds raised from the transaction for debt paydown and general corporate purposes.

Meta Ups AI Game With Back-To-Back Moves, Extends AI Competences For Ads

• Meta Platforms, Inc's META AI Sandbox is testing generative AI capabilities for advertisers to improve the performance of ads for businesses.
• The AI Sandbox will be its testing playground for early versions of new tools and features, including generative AI-powered ad tools. 
• Meta also launched new Meta Advantage features helping advertisers leverage AI quicker, giving them more flexibility in the creative they use and helping them measure what's working.
• The Mark Zuckerberg-led company is building tools like text variation, background generation, and image outcropping to make an ad's text more engaging or improve parts of its creativity.

Why ARS Pharmaceuticals Stock Is Soaring Today

• The FDA's Pulmonary-Allergy Drug Advisory Committee voted 16-6 in favor of ARS Pharmaceuticals Inc's (NASDAQ; SPRY) neffy in treating severe allergic reactions for adults (and 16-5 for children who weigh over 30kg).
• Before the Adcomm meeting, the FDA reviewers raised some concerns regarding Neffy, an intranasal epinephrine product.
• The company said that with neffy, blood pressure and heart rate are comparable to EpiPen with a single dose – and with a second dose of neffy, increases in systolic blood pressure were statistically higher, even better than revealed in the available data from EpiPen.

 

Bloomberg

Tesla's Huge Recall: Musk Led EV Company Recalls Over 1M Cars In Key Market China

• A braking and acceleration defect prompted Tesla, Inc TSLA to recall nearly every car it sold in China to prevent crashes and safety risks.
• The EV maker proposes to deploy an over-the-air software fix to more than 1.1 million vehicles produced in Shanghai from January 2019 to April 2023, plus some models imported into China.
• Tesla sold around 1.13 million cars in China from 2014 through March 2023.

Softbank Goes Cautious On Arm's US IPO, Eyes $10B Fund Raise

• Softbank Group Corp SFTBF SFTBY is weighing investor appetite for an initial public offering of British chip designer Arm Ltd, which could raise $10 billion.
• Softbank may launch the share sale in New York by September.
• In April, Arm confidentially filed for a U.S. listing.

 

Reuters

About 2M Toyota Customers Face Risk Of Vehicle Data Leak In Japan

• Toyota Motor Corp TM said vehicle data of about 2.15 million users in Japan were publicly exposed between November 2013 and mid-April 2023.
• The leak was linked to an error in the cloud ecosystem that led to the system being set to 'public' instead of 'private,
• The details exposed include vehicle locations and identification numbers of vehicle devices.
• The automaker said though there was a leak, there were no reports of malicious use.

Record Order On The Way - Turkish Airlines Eyes Massive 600 Aircraft Order

• Turk Hava Yollari (Turkish Airlines) TKHVY reportedly plans to order 600 new aircraft in June.
• The airline expects the new aircraft to be delivered within ten years.
• The order would consist of 400 narrow-body aircraft and 200 wide-bodies, adding the fleet would increase to 810 aircraft by 2033, said Bolat.
• According to the report, Bolat mentioned that THY was close to a deal with Boeing Co BA for part of the order.

Apple Quest For Growth From Emerging Markets: To Mark Its Online Store Debut In Vietnam

• Apple Inc AAPL prepares to mark its online store debut in Vietnam next week as it aggressively chases growth in emerging markets.
• Vietnam's online store launch on May 18 comes just weeks after the iPhone maker introduced its first Apple stores in India - Mumbai and Delhi.
• Apple first launched an online store in India in 2020.

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