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CNH Industrial workers on strike since May approve new deal
More than 1,000 CNH Industrial workers who have been on strike since last May approved a new contract Saturday with the maker of tractors, bulldozers, backhoes and other heavy equipment.
© Provided by The Associated Press
United Auto Workers President Ray Curry is interviewed, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
The United Auto Workers said union members in Racine, Wisconsin, and Burlington, Iowa, approved the deal two weeks after they rejected an earlier agreement.
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The union didn’t didn’t disclose any details of what is included in the contract.
A spokeswoman for CNH Industrial didn’t immediately respond Sunday to questions about the new agreement. Previously, the company said the last offer that workers rejected included raises of 28% to 38% over four years.
“This agreement reflects the effort of a determined bargaining team and members being on an almost nine-month strike,” UAW President Ray Curry said in a statement.
Throughout the strike, workers fought for raises that would help cover soaring inflation and wouldn’t be consumed by increases in health insurance costs. Before the walkout started last May 2, workers rejected a deal with 18.5% raises because of those concerns.
“Our negotiators tenaciously bargained to the very end, even fighting for contract improvements in the face of threats from CNHI to hire permanent strike replacements,” UAW Vice President Chuck Browning said. “Combined with the incredible support from our members, it’s remarkable what had to be endured to achieve this contract.”
With more than 37,000 employees worldwide, CNH Industrial has continued to produce construction and agricultural equipment throughout the strike and worked to keep its Wisconsin and Iowa plants running. The company, which is based in the United Kingdom, said its third-quarter profits jumped 22% to $559 million. It is set to release its next earnings report in early February.
The CNH strike was one of the longest ones in the recent spate of strikes since the pandemic. Workers at a variety of companies have been demanding and getting significant raises and better benefits amid widespread worker shortages. New unions have been established at Starbucks stores and Amazon warehouses, although some locations have rejected unions.
More than 10,000 Deere & Co. workers secured 10% raises and improved benefits after their monthlong strike in 2021 at another agricultural equipment maker.
In one of the highest-profile labor disputes of the past year, more than 100,000 railroad workers received 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses in a five-year deal after Congress stepped in and blocked a potential strike because of fears about the economic consequences. Even with the big raises, many rail workers remain frustrated with the deal that was imposed on them because it didn’t resolve their quality-of-life concerns about demanding schedules and the lack of paid sick time.
© Provided by The Associated Press
FILE – In this photo made on March 28, 2014, earth moving and construction equipment by New Holland, a CNH Industrial brand, is stored on a lot at the Highway Equipment Company in Zelienople, Pa. More than 1,000 CNH Industrial workers who have been on strike since last May have approved a new contract with the maker of tractors, bulldozers, backhoes and other heavy equipment. The United Auto Workers union said workers in Racine, Wisconsin, and Burlington, Iowa, approved the deal Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023 — two weeks after they rejected an earlier agreement. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)
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Biden Administration to Ask Congress to Approve F-16 Sale to Turkey
The Biden administration is preparing to seek congressional approval for a $20 billion sale of new F-16 jet fighters to Turkey along with a separate sale of next-generation F-35 warplanes to Greece, in what would be among the largest foreign weapons sales in recent years, according to U.S. officials.
Administration officials intend the prospect of the sale to prod Turkey to sign off on Finland and Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which Ankara has blocked over objections to their ties to Kurdish separatist groups. Congress’s approval of the sale is contingent on Turkey’s acquiescence, administration officials said. The two countries ended decades of neutrality when they decided to join NATO last year in reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The sale to Turkey, which the administration has been considering for more than a year, is larger than expected. It includes 40 new aircraft and kits to overhaul 79 of Turkey’s existing F-16 fleet, according to officials familiar with the proposals.
Congressional notification of the deal will roughly coincide with a visit to Washington next week by Turkey’s Foreign Minister
Mevlut Cavusoglu.
The sale to Turkey also includes more than 900 air-to-air missiles and 800 bombs, one of the officials said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has faced U.S. pressure to approve NATO expansion.
Photo:
adem altan/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
The separate sale to Greece, which was requested by the Greek government in June 2022, includes at least 30 new F-35s. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is the U.S.’s most advanced jet fighter. While officials described the timing of the notifications for both Turkey and Greece as coincidental, it could quell protests from Athens over the F-16 sale if its request is also granted. Greece and Turkey are historic regional rivals and a sale to Turkey alone would likely draw swift condemnation from Athens.
The potential sale of the aircraft could have far-reaching implications for Washington’s efforts to shore up ties with a pair of NATO allies amid the Western response to Russia’s assault on Ukraine.
A State Department spokesman declined to comment on potential arms transfers as a matter of policy until and unless they are formally notified to Congress. Congress has never successfully blocked a foreign arms sale requested by the White House.
The proposed deal with Turkey comes at a moment of tension in U.S.-Turkish relations, with Washington also attempting to convince President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan
to do more to enforce sanctions on Russia and to approve the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO.
The proposal also sets up a possible showdown with some congressional leaders who have vowed to oppose weapons sales to Turkey. Sen.
Bob Menendez,
a Democrat from New Jersey who is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has said he wouldn’t approve any F-16 sale to Turkey, citing human-rights concerns.
In recent months, Mr. Erdogan has also threatened to launch a new military incursion against Kurdish militants in Syria. Last month a Turkish court also convicted the mayor of Istanbul, a popular opponent of Mr. Erdogan, of insulting public officials in what human rights groups said was part of a crackdown on the Turkish opposition. The Turkish government says its courts are independent.
Under U.S. arms-export laws, Congress will have 30 days to review the deal. If Congress wants to block the deal it must pass a joint resolution of disapproval. Congress can also pass legislation to block or modify a sale at any time until the delivery.
The Biden administration is looking to sell at least 30 new F-35 jet fighters to Greece.
Photo:
robert atanasovski/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
U.S. officials say they are encouraging Mr. Erdogan to drop his opposition to Finland and Sweden joining NATO. One official characterized the F-16s as the “carrot on a stick” to get Turkey to agree.
This, officials said, could ease opposition to the sale among some members of Congress. Officials within the State Department have argued for months that the expansion was imperative to NATO’s collective security. However, officials expect that while the Greece package could sail through Congress, the F-16s may be delayed over some members’ reluctance to embolden Ankara with the additional firepower.
Mr. Erdogan first threatened to veto the two countries’ entrance over their ties to Kurdish militant groups in Iraq and Syria. Turkey has fought a slow-burning war with Kurdish armed groups for decades in a conflict that has left tens of thousands dead.
NATO leaders say that Finland and Sweden have addressed Turkey’s concerns, upholding an agreement signed last year that called for both countries to evaluate Turkish extradition requests and drop restrictions on arms sales to Ankara.
Turkish officials say that Sweden hasn’t done enough to uphold its obligations to Turkey, citing what they say is continuing activity by the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Sweden. The Turkish government this week summoned Sweden’s ambassador over a demonstration in Stockholm in which protesters hung a puppet of Mr. Erdogan by its feet. The Turkish president’s hard line against Sweden has broad support within Turkey, including among opposition parties, who have long opposed what they see as a permissive approach to Kurdish militant groups in Europe.
The timing of a vote on NATO expansion in the Turkish parliament will also depend on Turkey’s national election this year, in which Mr. Erdogan faces a close race amid public discontent over the country’s struggling economy.
The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The Biden administration remains cautiously optimistic that Turkey will eventually come around on Finland and Sweden. U.S. officials said last year that there would be no quid pro quo for Turkey’s approval of the NATO expansion, and said that the timing of the F-16 sale was dependent on the administration’s own internal process to complete the deal.
The proposed sales also come amid heightened tensions between Turkey and Greece, two longtime adversaries who have traded threats over the past year in the eastern Mediterranean.
Turkey was originally a participant in the U.S.’s cutting-edge F-35 program but was expelled after Mr. Erdogan approved the purchase of Russia’s S-400 air defense system. The U.S. government said the Russian weapons system could potentially hack the F-35.
Biden administration officials have argued that selling F-16s to Turkey could help restore ties with the country, which maintains the second-largest army in NATO.
Under Mr. Erdogan, Turkey has played an important role in the Ukraine crisis, facilitating negotiations over prisoner exchanges and helping to broker an agreement that allowed Ukraine to resume its exports of grain through Black Sea ports. Mr. Erdogan’s close relationship with Russia’s President
Vladimir Putin
has also raised concerns in Washington, with scrutiny of inflows of Russian money to Turkey, including oligarch assets.
—William Mauldin contributed to this article.
Write to Jared Malsin at jared.malsin@wsj.com and Vivian Salama at vivian.salama@wsj.com
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Justin Bieber Claims He Didn’t Approve New H&M Merchandise
Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Today in random celebrity feuds, it’s Justin Bieber versus H&M. Well, maybe calling it a “feud” is a bit much, but whatever is happening between the singer and the clothing brand, it’s definitely not friendly. On Monday, Bieber called out H&M on his Instagram, accusing the brand of selling unapproved merchandise using his likeness and lyrics to his song, “Ghost.” 24 hours later, H&M announced that it had removed the merch from its website and stores.
“I didn’t approve any of the merch collection that they put up at H&M,” Bieber wrote on his Instagram Stories after the collection launched online. “All without my permission and approval,” he added. “SMH I wouldn’t buy it if I were you.” In a follow-up post, he called the line “trash” and encouraged his fans to save their money, saying, “I didn’t approve it, don’t buy it.” It’s unclear if Bieber’s approval was actually required to sell the merch. H&M initially responded with a statement obtained by the Cut, saying, “As with all other licensed products and partnerships, H&M followed proper approval procedures.” The brand later told BuzzFeed, “Out of respect for the collaboration and Justin Bieber, we have removed the garments from our stores and online.”
According to @jbiebertraacker’s post on Instagram, the merch included a white sweatshirt featuring a collage of Bieber photos, a matching tote bag (the only item that appears to be available for purchase on the U.S. H&M website), and “World Tour” merch. (Bieber was forced to cancel his Justice World Tour earlier this year for health reasons.) It also apparently included a cell-phone case and a sweatshirt with the “Ghost” lyric “I miss you more than life.” Prior to posting on his stories, Bieber commented on @jbiebertraacker’s photo, writing, “When everyone finds out I didn’t approve any of this merch smh.”
Bieber does not appear to have filed any legal action against the retailer, per “Page Six.”
This post has been updated.
EU Likely to Approve G-7 Cap on Russian Oil Price in Two Steps
BERLIN—The European Union has advanced work on a price cap for Russian oil under an approach that keeps the U.S.-led effort on track but holds off on final approval.
EU member states have agreed on a two-stage approach to the international price cap on Russian oil, which is being developed within the Group of Seven industrial economies. Member states signed off on the legislation needed to implement the measures on Wednesday morning but will hold off approving it until the rest of the G-7 is ready, diplomats and officials said.
The price-cap decision is part of an eighth package of sanctions against Russia over the invasion of Ukraine. The measures will come into effect Thursday morning.
The EU approach reflects concern among some member states about the proposal, which would place a maximum price on what can be paid for Russian seaborne oil. Hesitation is greatest in EU members with large shipping sectors, including Greece, Cyprus and Malta.
The emerging EU approach means the price-cap proposal remains on track to enter into force, but raises fresh questions about how quickly it can be implemented.
Washington has pushed the international oil-price cap as a way of minimizing the Kremlin’s revenue from foreign oil sales without inflating oil prices by preventing oil sales to Asia and Africa. The idea is to set a maximum price at which shippers from G-7 countries may legally transport Russian oil to countries in Asia and Africa. The plan would also permit those companies to buy insurance for Russian oil cargoes, a critical aspect of the shipping industry. The G-7 hopes other countries will join the system.
The G-7 still must agree on the details of the price cap, including the price at which to set the cap, its precise implementation methods and how many other countries they need to join the G-7 in launching the cap. U.S. lawmakers are advocating increasing penalties for foreign buyers who don’t abide by the price cap.
U.S. officials have been flexible about how the other G-7 countries decide to implement the cap.
The EU formally backed the measure at the G-7, but European officials have repeatedly raised concerns about how the mechanism would function and its effectiveness in crimping Russia’s oil revenues.
Greece, Malta and Cyprus have raised concerns that banning EU companies from carrying Russian oil that is sold at rates above the price cap could hurt their economies. They fear losing business to countries that stay outside the mechanism, and they have also raised concerns that some G-7 countries may not enforce the price cap as rigorously as the EU, diplomats said.
At a meeting Tuesday evening, EU ambassadors agreed on a proposal under which they could agree on the legislation, but only formally approve the mechanism at a later date if the other G-7 countries have cleared the way to implement the cap system.
That means the 27 EU member states will need to revisit the three central elements of the price cap proposal. First they would need to sign off an exemption into the June sanctions package that banned EU companies from providing insurance on Russian oil transport after Dec. 5. They would also need to implement a ban on EU shippers transporting Russian oil priced above the cap, and then they would need to sign off on the G-7’s price cap.
To assuage the concerns of Malta, the ambassadors agreed Tuesday to carry out an impact assessment of the oil price cap mechanism when it enters into force. That will take into account the price cap’s “expected results, international adherence to and informal alignment with the price cap scheme” of non-G-7 countries, according to diplomats. It would also assess its potential impact on the EU.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, last week proposed to lay the legal basis for the price cap mechanism as part of a new package of sanctions it was placing on Russia in response to the Kremlin’s claim that it was annexing four regions of Ukraine.
Those sanctions would place an import ban on €7 billion, equivalent to about $7 billion, of Russian sales to the EU and would ban the export to Russia of a number of goods that can be used by its military in the war in Ukraine.
It will also target around three dozen people and companies involved in the latest annexations by Russia of Ukrainian regions.
The EU’s backing for the price cap is critical because the bloc plays a critical role in both the shipping industry and in shipping insurance sector. Sanctions must be approved by all 27 member states.
Under a sanctions package passed in June, the EU agreed to place an oil embargo on Russian seaborne oil by Dec. 5 and, on the same date, ban the provision of services, including shipping insurance, for Russian oil sold outside the bloc. The insurance measure could have choked off oil supplies to Asia and Africa, pushing oil prices higher.
EU diplomats have said that if the G-7 price cap is fully ready and detailed well in advance of Dec. 5, then they can come back and sign off the measures. If the G-7 mechanism is only finalized a few days before the December deadline—or isn’t in place until after it—some member states may demand a transition period to fully implement the measure.
Only Australia has pledged to join the G-7 system. European and U.S. officials say it is unlikely that India, China and some other top buyers of Russian oil will formally participate. Still, U.S. officials hope that by agreeing the price cap, they will at least drive down the price that other countries are willing to pay for Russian oil.
—Andrew Duehren contributed to this article.
Write to Laurence Norman at laurence.norman@wsj.com
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EU countries approve energy windfall levies, turn to gas price cap
BRUSSELS, Sept 30 (Reuters) – European Union countries agreed on Friday to impose emergency levies on energy firms’ windfall profits, and began talks on their next move to tackle Europe’s energy crunch – possibly a bloc-wide gas price cap.
Ministers from the 27 EU member countries met in Brussels on Friday, where they approved measures proposed earlier this month to contain an energy price surge that is stoking record-high inflation and threatening a recession.
The package includes a levy on fossil fuel companies’ surplus profits made this year or next, another levy on excess revenues low-cost power producers make from soaring electricity costs, and a mandatory 5% cut in electricity use during peak price periods.
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With the deal done, countries began talks on Friday morning on the EU’s next move to contain the price crunch, which many countries want to be a broad gas price cap, though others – most notably Germany – remain opposed.
“All these temporary measures are very well, but in order to find the solution to help our citizens in this energy crisis, we need to cap the gas price,” Croatian economy minister Davor Filipovic said on his arrival at Friday’s meeting.
Fifteen countries, including France, Italy and Poland, this week asked Brussels to propose a price cap on all wholesale gas transactions to contain inflation.
The cap should be set at a level that is “high and flexible enough to allow Europe to attract the required resources”, Belgium, Greece, Poland and Italy said in a note explaining their proposal seen by Reuters on Thursday.
The countries disputed the Commission’s claim that a broad gas price cap would require “significant financial resources” to finance emergency gas purchases should market prices break the EU’s cap.
Belgian energy minister Tinne Van der Straeten said only 2 billion euros ($1.96 billion) would be required, as most European imports fall under long-term contracts or arrive by pipeline with no easy alternative buyers.
That would be a fraction of the 140 billion euros the EU expects its windfall profit levies on energy firms to raise.
Czech Republic’s Deputy Prime Minister Jozef Sikela and European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson hold a news conference after a European Union Energy Ministers meeting on high energy prices, in Brussels, Belgium September 30, 2022. REUTERS/Yves Herman
But Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and others warn broad gas price caps could leave countries struggling to buy gas if they cannot compete with buyers in price-competitive global markets.
A diplomat from one EU country said the idea posed “risks to security of supply” as Europe heads into a winter with tight energy supplies after Russia slashed gas flows to Europe in retaliation for Western sanctions against Moscow for invading Ukraine.
The European Commission has also raised doubts and suggested the EU instead move ahead with narrower price caps, targeting Russian gas alone, or specifically gas used for power generation.
“We have to offer a price cap for all Russian gas,” EU energy policy chief Kadri Simson said.
Brussels suggested that idea earlier this month, but it hit resistance from central and eastern European countries worried Moscow would retaliate by cutting off the remaining gas it still sends to them.
By introducing EU-wide measures Brussels hopes to overlay governments’ uneven national approaches to the energy crunch, which have seen richer EU countries far outspend poorer ones in handing out cash to ailing companies and consumers struggling with bills.
Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, set out a 200 billion euro package on Thursday to tackle soaring energy costs, including a gas price brake.
Luxembourg energy minister Claude Turmes urged Brussels to change EU state aid rules to stop the “insane” spending race between countries.
“That’s the next frontier, to get more solidarity and to stop this infighting,” Turmes said.
($1 = 1.0182 euros)
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Reporting by Kate Abnett and Gabriela Baczynska; Additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop, Bart Meijer and John Chalmers; Editing by Jan Harvey
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Cubans approve gay marriage by large margin in referendum
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HAVANA, Sept 26 (Reuters) – Cubans approved gay marriage and adoption overwhelmingly in a Sunday referendum backed by the government that also boosted rights for women, the national election commission said on Monday.
More than 3.9 million voters voted to ratify the code (66.9%), while 1.95 million opposed ratification (33%), Alina Balseiro Gutierrez, president of the commission, said on state-run television on Monday.
“Justice has been done,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel wrote in a tweet.
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“It is paying off a debt with several generations of Cuban men and women, whose family projects have been waiting for this law for years,” he said.
The 100-page “family code” legalizes same-sex marriage and civil unions, allows same-sex couples to adopt children, and promotes equal sharing of domestic rights and responsibilities between men and women.
Preliminary results from the electoral commission showed 74% of 8.4 million Cubans eligible to vote participated in the Sunday referendum.
A voter casts his vote at a polling station during the new Family Code referendum in Havana, Cuba, September 25, 2022. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini
There are no independent observers of Cuban elections, although citizens may observe the count at their precincts. Scattered local reports of district counts on social media appeared to tally with the official results.
The announcement of the results came as Diaz-Canel presided over an emergency meeting as the Caribbean island prepared for Hurricane Ian to pass over its western tip early on Tuesday.
Official Twitter accounts showed the room erupting in applause and the president leaning back and smiling at the news. The Cuban president led the campaign for the adoption of the code.
By Cuban standards Sunday’s turnout was relatively modest, and a 33% ‘no’ vote relatively large in the communist-run country, where previous referendums have seen the government position receiving near unanimous approval.
The dissent is an indication of both how Cuba is changing and the current dire economic circumstances, which have seen long power outages and lines for food, medicine and fuel.
Sunday’s vote was also the first of its kind since most residents have had access to the internet, which has let dissenting views spread more widely.
(Story corrects reference to the referendum being the first since mobile internet was legalized in final paragraph)
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Reporting by Marc Frank, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien
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Ernst & Young Leaders Expected to Approve Plan to Split Accounting Company
Ernst & Young’s leaders are expected this week to give the green light to splitting its auditing and consulting businesses, paving the way for the biggest shake-up in the accounting profession in more than 20 years, according to people familiar with the matter.
The accounting giant’s global executive committee, which oversees the firm’s 312,000-person worldwide network, met on Labor Day to put the finishing touches to the plan for a worldwide breakup, the people familiar with the matter said. The committee is expected to approve the plan later this week, which will trigger votes on the deal by EY’s roughly 13,000 partners, who stand to make windfalls averaging more than a million dollars each.
The split, penciled in for late next year, would separate EY’s accountants who check the books of companies such as
Amazon Inc.
from its faster-growing consulting business of advising on technology, deals and other issues.
EY’s move could radically reshape the accounting landscape if it goes to plan, industry watchers said.
An EY spokeswoman said that discussions were continuing and that “at this time, no decision has been made on moving to the next phase.”
EY is one of the Big Four firms that dominate auditing in major financial markets and whose multibillion-dollar consulting arms compete with the likes of Accenture PLC and International Business Machines Corp.
“There’s a good chance it will cause other big firms to follow suit,” said Martin White, a senior analyst at Source Global Research, a consulting-industry research company. “Who doesn’t want a massive payday if you think it’s there and it’s not going to cause [your business] longer-term harm?”
EY’s rivals say they intend to keep auditing and consulting under one roof. Deloitte held exploratory talks with bankers after news of the EY plan emerged, The Wall Street Journal previously reported, but says it isn’t planning a split. A spokesman said Deloitte “will not separate and split our businesses and we will not monetize our collective life’s work.” KPMG said in a statement that its current model brings a “range of benefits,” and PricewaterhouseCoopers said it is “fully committed” to its multidisciplinary strategy.
EY’s planned split would divide its $45 billion-revenue global network roughly 60:40 between the consulting business and the audit-focused partnership, which would retain the EY brand, according to a May version of the proposal reviewed by the Journal. The new consulting company was forecast to raise some $10 billion by selling a 15% stake to the public at the time of the split, in addition to borrowing $17 billion to help fund partner payouts.
EY’s partners have a strong financial inducement to back the deal. The audit partners are in line for cash payouts, which were in June expected to average two to four times annual compensation. Those multiples may have declined as markets have fallen in recent weeks. Still, the windfalls are expected to be worth well over a million dollars for the typical U.S. and U.K. partners, who earn on average $850,000 to $900,000 a year, according to people familiar with the matter.
On the consulting side, partners are promised shares in the new company, which were in June expected to be worth typically seven to nine times their annual compensation, paid out over five years.
Carmine Di Sibio,
EY’s global chairman and chief executive who has spearheaded the proposed split, is in line for a windfall of tens of millions of dollars, the people familiar with the matter said.
EY’s leaders are expected to say the split will be good for the firm’s finances, as well as their own, according to the people familiar with the matter. They hope the breakup will free the consultants to win billions of dollars of new business, unfettered by independence rules that restrict the work accounting firms can do for audit clients, the people said.
Carmine Di Sibio, EY’s global chairman and chief executive, has spearheaded the proposed split.
Photo:
Hollie Adams/Bloomberg News
EY checks the books of a raft of Silicon Valley giants, including Amazon,
Salesforce Inc.,
Workday Inc.
and Google parent
Alphabet Inc.
That limits its ability to compete in the fast-growing area of consultants teaming up with tech giants to sell outsourced services to companies.
Once the carefully choreographed “go” decision has been announced this week, the firms that make up EY’s roughly 140-country global network are expected to vote on the plans this fall and early next year, according to the people familiar with the matter. The decision, originally scheduled for June, was delayed to make sure the leaders of the U.S. and other big member firms were happy with the proposal, the people familiar with the matter said. The sticking points included the treatment of around $10 billion of promised payments to retired partners, the Journal previously reported.
The decision is also expected to signal the start of negotiations with the Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators worldwide who will need to sign off on the deal.
The watchdogs are expected to be pleased by the reduction of potential conflicts of interest, a longstanding problem in the industry. They will want to be assured that EY’s audit-focused firm will be sufficiently resilient to withstand potential blockbuster litigation damages, despite its sharply reduced size.
EY is facing multibillion-dollar legal claims in Germany and the U.K. over its allegedly failed audits of two corporate blowups, fintech company
Wirecard AG
and hospital operator NMC Health PLC. EY has said it stands by its audit work.
Another issue that needs clearance by the regulators is branding. Paul Munter, the SEC’s acting chief accountant, said last month that after an accounting firm sells off part of its business, the new entity shouldn’t profit from the accounting firm’s name or logo. The two businesses can’t share any marketing or advertising, he added.
The new EY consulting company will have to spend heavily to build up its new brand, according to Tom Rodenhauser, managing director at Kennedy Research Reports, which analyzes the consulting industry.
Andersen Consulting,
the consulting arm of the former Big Five firm, spent “millions and millions and millions of dollars” on its successful rebranding as Accenture, Mr. Rodenhauser said. “EY consulting will have to make that same kind of investment.”
Write to Jean Eaglesham at Jean.Eaglesham@wsj.com
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Omicron booster: UK becomes first nation to approve vaccine that targets two Covid-19 variants
“An updated version of the COVID-19 vaccine made by Moderna that targets two coronavirus variants (known as a “bivalent” vaccine) has today been approved for adult booster doses by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) after it was found to meet the UK regulator’s standards of safety, quality and effectiveness,” read an official government release Monday.
Half of the booster, called “Spikevax bivalent Original/Omicron,” targets the original coronavirus strain while the other half targets Omicron, it said.
The UK government said that the decision to grant approval for the shot was endorsed by the MHRA, the government’s independent expert scientific advisory body, after carefully reviewing the evidence.
It was approved following the results of a clinical trial, where Moderna reported that its booster targeting Omicron showed a stronger immune response against the variant. The company said its updated booster also showed a “potent” response against the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.
The side effects were described by the MHRA as being the same as for the original Moderna booster dose and found to be “typically mild and self-resolving.”
“No serious safety concerns were identified,” the UK government release said.
As Covid-19 continues to mutate, MHRA Chief Executive Dr. June Raine said that the new Moderna booster will help keep communities protected.
“The first generation of COVID-19 vaccines being used in the UK continue to provide important protection against the disease and save lives. What this bivalent vaccine gives us is a sharpened tool in our armoury to help protect us against this disease as the virus continues to evolve.”
It is not yet clear who will be offered the booster or when. The UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) will advise on the vaccine’s rollout.
Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna, said on Twitter he was “delighted” the vaccine had been approved.
“This represents the first authorization of an Omicron-containing bivalent vaccine, this bivalent vaccine has an important role to play in protecting people in the UK from Covid-19 as we enter the winter months,” he said.
Moderna is not the only vaccine maker updating its Covid-19 vaccines.
In June, Pfizer and BioNTech tested two Covid-19 vaccine boosters to target the Omicron variant. The companies said that preliminary results show a substantially higher immune response than the current Covid-19 shots.