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☆ Twitter's former top execs, fired by Elon Musk on his first day in charge, are suing the company for $1 million in unpaid bills
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Twitter's former CEO, CFO, and chief legal officer are suing Twitter for over $1 million. They claim they had agreements with the company that it would reimburse any legal fees they incurred. The company took two months to acknowledge their demands and still won't pay, the suit alleges. The suit claims the two ex-execs racked up legal fees to deal with these cases and comply with various demands. The trio's action against Twitter follows several others alleging that the company has failed to pay bills since Musk took over the company last October.

Dallas-based NGP is working with investment banks to sell the oil producers, Tap Rock Resources and Hibernia Resources, in auction processes that are expected to kick off in the coming weeks, the sources said. Efforts to cash out on the assets come as higher energy prices boost valuations of oil producers. The oil firm could fetch NGP around $5 billion, according to the sources. Hibernia, which operates in the Midland part of the Permian basin in Texas, could be worth upwards of $2 billion, the sources added. The buyout firm, which has deployed more than $20 billion in energy investments, began raising its NGP Natural Resources XIII fund late in 2022.

REUTERS/Andrew KellyApril 3 (Reuters) - A Delaware judge on Monday dismissed Merck & Co's (MRK.N) lawsuit seeking to hold Bayer AG (BAYGn.DE) responsible for more talc-related liabilities stemming from its $14.2 billion purchase of Merck's consumer care business in 2014. Bayer welcomed the decision, saying that it expected Merck to "take full responsibility for the product claims". "Bayer will continue to defend itself against any further efforts by Merck to avoid or improperly transfer its liabilities to Bayer," the company said in a statement. The $14.2 billion purchase also included Merck's Claritin allergy medicine and Coppertone sunscreen lines. The case is Merck & Co v. Bayer AG, Delaware Chancery Court, No.

☆ Tesla has only installed 3,000 Solar Roof systems in the U.S., far below forecast, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Lora Kolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Tesla vehicles parked outside a home with a Tesla Solar Roof on Weems Street in Boca Chica Village, Texas, U.S., on Monday, June 21, 2021. Tesla has only installed 3,000 of its Solar Roof systems in the U.S. since touting the technology seven years ago, according to new research from Wood Mackenzie. That installation rate falls well shy of Tesla's guidance and ambitions for what it previously called its "solar glass" roof tiles. Average weekly Tesla Solar Roof installations reached just 21 in 2022, Wood Mackenzie said. A group of Tesla shareholders eventually sued Tesla and Musk over the deal.

NEW YORK, March 27 (Reuters) - A newly fired Fox News producer is seeking to recant testimony she said network lawyers coerced her into providing as Fox defends against Dominion Voting Systems' $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit. Grossberg said Fox fired her on Friday, four days after she originally sued and was put on administrative leave. Fox, part of Rupert Murdoch's Fox Corp (FOXA.O), said Grossberg "ignored" its warning that she might lose her job if she revealed privileged communications with lawyers. The cases are Grossberg v Fox Corp et al, Delaware Superior Court, No. N23C-03-180; and Grossberg v Fox Corp et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No.

☆ Philadelphia rescinds bottled-water alert after chemical spill in the Delaware River
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Julianne Mcshane | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A stop sign in the Delaware River at Penn Treaty Park in Philadelphia, Pa., on March 26, 2023. Water in Philadelphia has been deemed unsafe to drink following a chemical spill in the Delaware River, leading to water bottles being sold out across the city. (Photo by Thomas Hengge/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)Philadelphia officials Sunday afternoon rescinded their recommendation that residents use bottled drinking water after a toxic spill in the Delaware River. The spill from a chemical plant upstream Friday night in Bucks County had prompted precautionary bottled-water alerts Sunday morning and afternoon, city officials said. In a notice Sunday night, the Philadelphia Water Department said tap water would be safe to drink through at least the end of the day Monday.

☆ A top-performing fund manager shares her strategy for finding undervalued stocks hiding in plain sight — and details her 7 best investments to make right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( James Faris | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A top-performing mid-cap fund manager shared the strategy that's brought her sustained success. For over 22 years, Kimberly Scott has run the Delaware Ivy Mid Cap Growth Fund (WMGAX). Scott's mid-cap fund, which now has $5.6 billion in assets, has topped 92% of its peers over the past 15 years and ranks in the top 12% of its category so far this year, according to Morningstar. In response, the veteran fund manager is keeping up with what's going on in the economy but is mostly focused on sticking to her tried-and-true strategy for picking mid-caps. 7 top stocks to buyAfter explaining her investing method, Scott made the case for seven of the top stocks in her mid-cap mutual fund.

☆ Fox bosses ‘shut down’ fact checking with 2020 conspiracies, Dominion lawyer says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Marshall Cohen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Dominion is suing Fox News over the right-wing channel’s airing of false claims of election fraud around the 2020 presidential election. Fox News argued that Dominion should instead rely on the “lengthy depositions” that these witnesses already gave. It claims Dominion hasn’t shown anything strong enough to overcome the high bar that the First Amendment provides, protecting good-faith journalists from speech-chilling defamation lawsuits. Dominion lawyer Rodney Smolla said its high-stakes defamation case against Fox News will protect the public discourse and hold accountable people who deliberately lied about the 2020 election. “They endorsed,” Murdoch said, referring to Fox hosts Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Maria Bartiromo, and former host Lou Dobbs.

☆ Fox News producer files explosive lawsuits against the network, alleging she was coerced into providing misleading Dominion testimony
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

New York CNN —A Fox News producer on Monday filed a pair of explosive lawsuits against the right-wing talk channel, alleging that the network’s lawyers coerced her into providing misleading testimony in Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation case against the company. The lawsuits from Grossberg, who has since been placed on administrative leave by Fox, were filed in Delaware Superior Court and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. “It’s another example of Fox News not only shying away from the truth, but attempting to bury the truth,” Filippatos told CNN. Grossberg named Carlson and members of his staff in the lawsuit filed in New York. “I’ve covered many stories while I have been there,” Grossberg told CNN.

☆ As John Fetterman heals, his Senate staff soldiers on with the help of veteran lawmakers and crisis bonding: 'We all have each other's back'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Sen. John Fetterman has been hospitalized for clinical depression since February 15. Casey is coordinating with Fetterman staff on constituent services issues and legislative priorities, according to recent reports, but doesn't call Fetterman directly so as not to disturb his ongoing recovery. Some of the others working hard to meet that internal standard include legislative assistant Madeleine Marr, a former aide to Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire. Conservative commentator Stephen L. Miller has been more blunt, accusing Fetterman's staff of unduly wielding power in his absence. "John Fetterman's chief of staff is not an elected senator," Miller wrote in an op-ed run by the Delaware Valley Journal.

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried's companies racked up a $400,000 DoorDash bill, documents show, after reportedly giving staff $200 a day to spend on food deliveries
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Court documents filed Wednesday show Sam Bankman-Fried's companies spent over $400,000 with DoorDash. FTX US gave employees $200 of DoorDash food credit every day, the FT previously reported. The documents filed in the Delaware bankruptcy court on Wednesday show bills of a combined $403,765 from the food delivery firm to FTX entities. The food delivery company is still owed $46,239 by Alameda, the documents show. Former employees previously told the Financial Times that FTX US gave employees $200 of DoorDash food credits a day.

☆ McDonald’s Directors Beat Sexual Misconduct Oversight Lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Richard Vanderford | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +5 min

The decision throws out shareholders’ claims against nine individuals who sat on McDonald’s board during a period in which sexual misconduct claims at the company drew widespread public scrutiny. After his termination, Mr. Easterbrook was accused of having undisclosed sexual relationships with other employees. McDonald’s ultimately settled a lawsuit against Mr. Easterbrook, clawing back some of his compensation. The shareholders alleged in their lawsuit that Mr. Fairhurst failed to appropriately respond to systemic issues of sexual misconduct at the company, a problem in which he was implicated. But Vice Chancellor Laster said McDonald’s directors “engaged with the problem” and can’t be held liable.

☆ Michael Klausner, the SPAC boom's chief naysayer, is trying to prevent another frenzy for good
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Stanford Law professor Michael Klausner is suing a SPAC sponsor, claiming it misled investors. Michael Klausner, the Stanford Law professor who has become the chief critic of the SPAC boom, remembers the exact moment he realized SPACs were broken. It was 2017 – way before the investment vehicles took off in 2020 – and he was teaching a class on business transactions at Stanford Law School. In addition to getting all their money back with interest, they also get 20% of the final public company. Klausner was thrust into the role of being the SPAC boom's resident Cassandra, warning of calamity but never taken seriously.

☆ Lawyer dubs Elon Musk a 'part-time CEO' distracted by Twitter and SpaceX in Tesla shareholder lawsuit over $56 billion pay package, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The final comments in a lawsuit over Elon Musk's $56 billion Tesla pay package were made Tuesday. On Tuesday, the Delaware court heard the final comments in a lawsuit over Musk's Tesla compensation package, currently valued at $56 billion. The package, plus rising Tesla stock, catapulted him to becoming the world's richest person three years later. Several Tesla shareholders have openly criticized Musk since he took over, echoing the accusation that he's not spending enough time at the electric-vehicle company. The third-largest individual investor, KoGuan Leo, said: "Elon abandoned Tesla and Tesla has no working CEO."

[1/2] People pose with syringe with needle in front of displayed Moderna logo in this illustration taken, December 11, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/IllustrationFeb 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. government should face a patent lawsuit over COVID-19 vaccines, not vaccine maker Moderna Inc (MRNA.O), the Department of Justice told a Delaware federal court on Tuesday. Moderna made the same argument last year in an unsuccessful bid to win an early dismissal of the lawsuit. Both Moderna and Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) have been the target of multiple patent lawsuits over their COVID vaccines, including a lawsuit brought by Moderna against Pfizer in August. The case is Arbutus Biopharma Corp v. Moderna Inc, U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, No.

☆ Devon Energy's plunge after management fails to reassure investors makes us question our stake
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Zev Fima | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Shares of Club holding Devon Energy (DVN) fell sharply Wednesday, one day after delivering disappointing fourth quarter results , reducing its fixed-plus-variable dividend and barely buying back any stock. DVN 1Y mountain Devon Energy (DVN) 1-year performance Devon management on Wednseday did reassure investors of its commitment to financial discipline and shareholder returns. Production guidance On Devon's earnings call Wednesday morning, management said that the first quarter is expected to be the lowest production quarter of fiscal 2023. The facility is expected to be back up and running by mid-March, with no impact to second quarter production expected. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

☆ Hunter Biden warns Steve Bannon, Rudy Giuliani, Roger Stone, and 11 others to preserve records for potential litigation following laptop scandal
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( Taiyler Simone Mitchell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Hunter Biden's attorney sent notices to 14 people at the center of the laptop scandal. Rudy Giuliani's attorney told Insider that Biden's counsel is "acting out of desperation." The personal life and business dealings of Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden's middle child, have been the center of Republican criticism. Twenty days before the 2020 election, the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop became a controversial and confusing political scandal, New York Magazine reported. Rocca, Lowell, Wengui's attorneys, and an attorney for Stone, Bruce S. Rogow, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

☆ 2 firms helping with FTX's bankruptcy are seeking $13 million of payment for under 3 weeks of work, including nearly $20,000 for food
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Two of those deal with less than three weeks of work, and seek a total of $13 million. Law firm Sullivan & Cromwell charges $2,165 an hour for the time of its partners, who did 2,267 hours of work. Partners did a total of 2,267 hours work on the case in the 19 days between November 12 and 30. Alvarez and Marshal, a management consulting firm, is also charging for its first 20 days of work, seeking $5.2 million for a total of 7,925 hours work. Landis Rath & Cobb and AlixPartners are both asking for over $900,000, and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan is seeking $1.2 million.

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☆ Dominion Voting attorney calls out Fox for missing evidence in defamation lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

While this issue was already raised in July and January, the Dominion attorney said Wednesday they are still missing documents. We pointed out categories of missing documents for both Fox News and Fox Corp that are still missing. Fox attorney Dan Webb, a veteran trial attorney added to Fox's roster last year, said he disagreed with much of what Nelson said during the hearing Wednesday. Dominion brought the defamation lawsuit against Fox and its right-wing cable news networks, Fox News and Fox Business, seeking $1.6 billion in damages. "We are put in this impossible situation of preparing for trial where there are missing documents," Nelson said.

☆ FTX's new boss says security was so weak that founders could 'download half a billion dollars' of crypto without detection, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

John J. Ray III, the current FTX CEO, berated the crypto exchange's security. He told a Monday court hearing that an exec could download $500m of crypto and walk away unchecked. FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11, weeks after its then-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried insulted rival crypto CEO Changpeng Zhao. Hours after the exchange filed for bankruptcy, more than $370 million of crypto disappeared from FTX. Ray also described a "massive scramble for information" as liquidators looked to secure customers' passwords and crypto wallets.

SummarySummary CompaniesCompanies Law firms Getty said Stability scraped millions of images without a licenseNew complaint adds to actions against Stability over images used in AI training(Reuters) - Stock photo provider Getty Images has sued artificial intelligence company Stability AI Inc, accusing it in a lawsuit made public on Monday of misusing more than 12 million Getty photos to train its Stable Diffusion AI image-generation system. Getty declined to comment on the Delaware lawsuit. London-based Stability AI released Stable Diffusion, an AI-based system for generating images from text inputs, and image generator DreamStudio last August. The lawsuit also accuses Stability of infringing Getty's trademarks, citing images generated by its AI system with Getty's watermark that Getty says could cause consumer confusion. The case is Getty Images (US) Inc v. Stability AI Inc, U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, No.

☆ McDonald’s Ruling Shifts Oversight Liability Focus to Corporate Officers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Dylan Tokar | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +9 min

Photo: McDonald’sThe ruling by Vice Chancellor Laster focuses on the claims against Mr. Fairhurst specifically. At the time of his termination, Mr. Fairhurst had been the subject of multiple reports of sexual harassment during his tenure, according to the Delaware ruling. Emerging oversight liabilityThe legal doctrine driving the McDonald’s shareholder lawsuit extends back to a 1996 Delaware Court of Chancery decision. The ultimate impact of Judge Laster’s ruling vis-à-vis McDonald’s shareholders is as of yet unclear. If the judge approves the McDonald’s directors’ motion to dismiss, the claims against Mr. Fairhurst would be moot.

☆ Hunter Biden demands criminal probe into Trump allies with access to his laptop and retractions from Fox News: reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Hunter Biden's lawyers sent letters singling out Trump allies and Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Among the recipients are the Justice Department and Deleware attorney general, WaPo reported. "This marks a new approach by Hunter Biden and his team," a person familiar with Biden's strategy told The Post. Also targeted by Biden's lawyers is Fox News and its host Tucker Carlson. The Justice Department and Delaware attorney general's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

☆ FTX was under surveillance by Australian regulators over 6 months before its collapse, documents reportedly show
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

FTX was surveilled by Australian financial regulators as early as March 2022, per the Guardian. FTX Australia obtained a regulatory license after acquiring a company that already had one. That article reported that the crypto exchange would lend customers as much as 20 times their investment to buy crypto assets. Almost 30,000 investors in Australia lost money to the crypto exchange, the Australian Financial Review previously reported. The regulator confirmed to the Guardian that it had made inquiries with FTX Australia since March 2022, and investigations were ongoing.

☆ Biden makes surprise video appearance on 'SNL,' joining host Aubrey Plaza
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during the National Association of Counties Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 15, 2022. President Joe Biden made a surprise video appearance on "Saturday Night Live" during first-time host Aubrey Plaza's monologue. The "White Lotus" star, who, like Biden, is from Delaware, joked that she was voted the most famous person from the state, beating out the president. Biden then appeared via video and said, "Aubrey, you're the most famous person out of Delaware and there's no question about that. Many viewers took to Twitter to question whether the president's appearance was real, or if the video was generated by AI, but Biden shared the clip on his Twitter account Sunday afternoon.

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