Briefcase
CVS to buy Signify Health in deal looking past retail
CVS Health reached a deal to buy home-health and technology services provider Signify Health for about $8 billion, as the drugstore chain continues to expand beyond its retail origins.
CVS is acquiring Signify for $30.50 a share in an all-cash deal, according to a statement Monday. The company emerged as the winning bidder over potential suitors that, Bloomberg News previously reported, had included UnitedHealth, Amazon.com and Option Care Health.
Through its software and services, Signify aims to help clients – payers like health plans, government programs and employers – shift to value-based payment plans. It’s backed by New Mountain Capital, which formed the company in 2017, according to the private equity firm’s website.
Signify’s network has more than 10,000 clinicians in all 50 states in the U.S.
Juul OKs $439M settlement over marketing to teens
E-cigarette company Juul has agreed to pay more than $438.5 million in a settlement with 34 states and territories over marketing its product to teens.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, a Democrat who led the effort of multiple states and territories, said in a statement that the settlement will send millions of dollars toward nationwide programs aimed at reducing tobacco use.
The settlement requires Juul to refrain from marketing to youths in a number of ways, including advertising in public transit or on billboards, paying influencers or depicting anyone under 35 in advertisements.
Juul said in a statement that the settlement is part of its commitment to resolve its issues from the past.
Instagram fined $403M for handling of teens’ data
Ireland has fined Instagram a record $403 million for alleged mishandling of teens’ data.
“We adopted our final decision last Friday and it does contain a fine of 405 million (euros),” Graham Doyle, deputy commissioner with the Irish Data Protection Commission, told The Post, adding that full details will be announced next week.
The decision by Ireland’s data privacy watchdog came after a two-year investigation into Instagram’s “business accounts,” which give users more advanced metrics for tracking views and likes but before 2019 were prone to publishing users’ phone numbers and email addresses under default settings.
Instagram’s minimum age for users is 13.
A 2019 study by data analyst David Stier found that more than 60 million Instagram users under the age of 18 were given the chance to change their personal accounts into business accounts.
Bed Bath & Beyond names interim finance chief
Bed Bath & Beyond, the beleaguered retailer, named Laura Crossen as interim chief financial officer Tuesday, four days after the death of its former finance chief, Gustavo Arnal.
Arnal, 52, died Friday after a fall from a skyscraper that the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office ruled a suicide. He was found near his residence and “appeared to suffer from injuries indicative from a fall from an elevated position,” the New York Police Department said in a statement.
Arnal, who had been the company’s chief financial officer since May 2020, was hired as part of an executive shake-up led by the CEO at the time, Mark Tritton, who left in June. Arnal was previously chief financial officer at Avon and held senior positions at Walgreens Boots Alliance and at Procter & Gamble, where he spent more than 20 years.
Crossen, the retailer’s chief accounting officer, has worked at Bed Bath & Beyond for more than 20 years and will also retain her current title. She most recently reported to Arnal.
From wire reports