Top Five Corporate Scandals of 2018: Episode I-CBS and Les Moonves
In late 2016, MTV began developing “MTV Floribama Shore,” part of the “Shore” franchise that began with “Jersey Shore” in 2009. MTV planned to broadcast the premiere in November 2017. ...more
New jobless claims fell dramatically in new figures released on Thursday, as “the improving public health situation and the easing of pandemic-related restrictions allowed the labor market to continue its gradual return to...more
More good economic news in the U.S. this week, with first-time jobless claims falling to 613k, a decrease of more than 150,000 from a week earlier and the lowest level of the pandemic. ...more
Big bank earnings season kicked off this week, and impressive Q1 results from JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo has Wall Street feeling especially bullish. This, despite “sobering signs,” including climbing infections...more
The Nasdaq has set Coinbase’s reference price at $250/share ahead of today’s first day of trading for the crypto exchange that’s making its public debut via direct listing ...more
In the wake of McKinsey’s $600 million settlement with states over sales advice it had given drugmakers on opioids, partners at the consulting powerhouse have voted out the firm’s top executive, Kevin Sneader. ...more
Business interruption insurance claims keep coming, cutting across a broad array of industries. The entertainment and media sectors are certainly not immune from pandemic-related losses. Last month, ViacomCBS became the...more
Delaware Court of Chancery Allows Stockholder Litigation to Proceed Against Viacom-CBS Over $30B Merger; Ninth Circuit Affirms Dismissal with Prejudice of Securities Class Action Against Tesla; Second Circuit Affirms...more
As the COVID-19 pandemic forced widespread postponement and cancellation of film and TV production in 2020, it brought a corresponding explosion of insurance claims by producers. This led inevitably to coverage disputes as...more
Ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft are warning that California’s new moves forcing them to classify their drivers as employees could force them both to shutter their operations altogether in that state (at least while they...more
Anticipated House passage later today of the $2 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill helped swing markets back to a bull run (though let’s keep that bubbly corked, shall we?). The news was enough for Wall Street to shrug off a...more
HP has officially rejected Xerox’s enhanced takeover bid, again calling the offer “too low” and decrying its “disproportionate[] benefit” for Xerox shareholders....more
Last June, we wrote a Legal Update on Recent Developments in Securities Litigation: The "Event Driven" #MeToo Lawsuit. Event driven securities litigation is where negative events, instead of financial misstatements or...more
In a precedential decision last week, the Federal Circuit held that CBS will not have to pay a $1.3 million infringement award because a podcasting patent was invalidated in an inter partes review (IPR) at the Patent Trial...more
Fiat Chrysler and rival Peugeot have agreed to binding merger terms that, if approved by US and European regulators, would create a “$50 billion auto giant that would rank among the world’s largest car companies by sales”....more
CBS and Viacom are back together again. The deal to reunite the former partners, which closed late yesterday, was pushed by National Amusements’ chief Shari Redstone since 2016 and hasted along recently by the precipitous...more
Yesterday, the FCC released a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture against CBS for false EAS alerting, which is FCC-speak for “CBS, tell us why we shouldn’t fine you $272,000 for airing a fake EAS alert tone.”...more
In the internal battle between keeping China off balance and keeping Wall Street happy, the White House has decided once again to focus on the latter, walking back the latest tariff escalation by postponing promised...more
A volatile August on Wall Street has insiders asking whether we should be taking our cues from 1998 or 2007. With that in mind, our financial term of the week is “countercyclical capital buffer,” a wonkish special for you...more
Saudi Aramco’s mega IPO plans are back on, and while valuation and other stumbling blocks remain, the kingdom is hoping to raise billions via the public offering as early as next year....more
HSBC chief John Flint is out just 18 months after he assumed the role as head of the London-based bank, likely due to clashes with Board Chair Mark Tucker and the lender’s focus on expanding in China. HSBC also announced it...more
The #MeToo movement has had an enormous impact on corporate America. Workplace harassment and sexual misconduct are not new concepts and have been the focus of litigation for many years. However, the power of the #MeToo has...more
Since the start of 2018, state and, to a lesser extent, federal courts around the country, as well as state legislatures and Congress, have issued decisions or considered legislation having a substantial impact on corporate...more
Tuesday was yet another banner day on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closing at new highs. Most market watchers think we have the Fed’s recent pivot on interest rates to thank for the continuing bull market...more
CBS isn’t the only large company with insider trading worries. In complaints made public yesterday, the SEC has accused Gene Levoff, Apple’s former senior director of corporate law and corporate secretary, of “repeatedly”...more