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UnitedHealth Group chief executive Stephen Hemsley has quietly made tens of millions of dollars in private investments in healthcare startups through his investment firm, Cloverfields Capital, including companies that do business with - or compete against - UnitedHealth, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation. The investments, some dating back at least seven years, were not publicly disclosed by UnitedHealth or the startups involved. Ethics experts say the arrangements create potential conflicts of interest, given UnitedHealth’s vast footprint across insurance, healthcare services and technology. Hemsley, who returned as CEO in May 2025 after previously serving as chief executive and chairman, founded Cloverfields in 2019. While the firm publicly reports investments in listed companies, it has also taken stakes in private healthcare ventures, including digital health providers and firms connected to UnitedHealth’s business ecosystem. In some cases, internal documents suggest efforts were made to keep Hemsley’s involvement out of written communications. UnitedHealth said Hemsley complies with all conflict-of-interest and disclosure policies. After resuming the CEO role, he transferred his healthcare-related investments into an independently managed trust and recused himself from related corporate decisions. However, the company has not publicly detailed the trust or the investments.

 

Wall Street Journal

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Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley spoke with senior Trump administration officials last month about a potential framework in which Chinese automakers could build cars in America while offering some protection for domestic companies, according to people familiar with the discussions. The automaker's talks generally about China with the administration have consistently emphasized “the need to protect our home market from a flood of subsidized vehicles built in China,” Mark Truby, Ford's chief communications officer, said in a statement. “We have also been clear about the privacy and national security issues associated with Chinese vehicles in the US and we will continue to reiterate this in our discussions with policymakers,” Truby said.

 

Detroit Local News

Detroit Free Press

Italy’s Beretta, the world’s oldest firearms maker, has built a near 10% stake in U.S. gun manufacturer Sturm, Ruger & Co. as part of a strategy to deepen its presence in the world’s largest firearms market. Led by 15th-generation family chief executive Pietro Gussalli Beretta, the company is seeking growth in the U.S. civilian and sporting market while benefiting from rising European defense spending. Although Beretta has no immediate plans for a takeover, it is exploring potential industrial collaboration with Ruger, including shared sales or production capabilities. Beretta Holding, which owns more than 20 global brands, reported nearly $2bn in revenue in 2024, almost double its 2021 figure. About one-third of sales come from defense and law enforcement, with the remainder from civilian and sporting firearms, underscoring the company’s strategy of balancing military and commercial markets. 

 

Wall Street Journal

Warner Bros. Discovery has reopened takeover discussions with Paramount after the latter sweetened its hostile all-cash bid, raising the prospect of a bidding war with Netflix. Paramount’s revised offer values Warner at $77.9bn and includes a potential increase to at least $31 per share, up from $30, if Warner agrees to formal negotiations. Warner has granted Paramount a seven-day window to submit a “best and final” binding proposal, with talks set to conclude by Feb. 23. Netflix, which already has a signed $72bn agreement to acquire Warner’s studios and HBO Max, has allowed the temporary waiver but maintains its offer is superior. Netflix also retains the right to match any competing bid. Paramount has offered to cover Warner’s $2.8bn breakup fee owed to Netflix and add a quarterly “ticking fee” if its deal is delayed. However, Warner’s board continues to favor the Netflix transaction, citing regulatory clarity and stronger deal protections, while expressing concerns about Paramount’s debt load and deal conditions.

 

Bloomberg

Reuters

Wall Street Journal

Activist investor Starboard Value is seeking a major shake-up of Tripadvisor’s board, preparing to nominate a majority slate of directors to the company’s eight-person board. Starboard, which now holds more than a 9% stake in the travel-site operator, plans to formally notify the board of its intentions. The move follows a steep decline in Tripadvisor’s share price, which has fallen nearly 46% over the past year and dropped further after recent quarterly earnings missed expectations. The activist firm has previously urged Tripadvisor to explore selling assets such as restaurant-booking platform TheFork and potentially the entire company, while also pushing for improved profitability at its Viator tours business and core review platform. Seeking a majority of board seats is relatively uncommon for activist investors, but Starboard has taken similar action in the past, notably leading a successful board overhaul at Darden Restaurants.

 

Reuters

Wall Street Journal

SpaceX is considering a dual-class share structure in its planned IPO this year, according to people familiar with the matter. The space firm is planning a public offering this year that could value it at over $1.5tn. Companies with dual-class structures have two or more types of shares with different voting rights: typically one with greater voting rights for founders or early investors and another for other shareholders with less voting power.

 

Bloomberg

Apple has announced a product launch event on March 4th, where it is expected to unveil several new devices, including updated MacBook Pro models. The company has invited media to in-person events in New York, Shanghai and London, suggesting a smaller-scale showcase rather than a traditional keynote at its California headquarters. Apple is preparing a range of new releases for the first half of 2026, including refreshed MacBook Air models, a lower-cost MacBook, new iPads and an updated mid-tier iPhone 17e.

 

Bloomberg

Forbes

The Federal Reserve is preparing to loosen capital requirements for U.S. banks in an effort to encourage greater participation in mortgage lending, according to Fed vice-chair for supervision Michelle Bowman. The proposed changes aim to reverse the long-term shift of mortgage origination and servicing from banks to non-bank lenders, whose market share has grown significantly since 2008. Bowman said current capital rules overstate the risks of mortgage activities, making them too costly for banks. Planned reforms include removing the requirement for banks to deduct mortgage servicing rights from regulatory capital and reconsidering their high risk weighting. The Fed may also allow banks to adjust capital levels based on loan-to-value ratios rather than applying a uniform standard. Officials argue the changes would strengthen bank involvement in home lending without undermining financial stability.  

 

Bloomberg

Financial Times

Mustafa Suleyman, Microsoft's AI chief, predicts that most white-collar jobs could be fully automated within 12 to 18 months. He said that AI is nearing "human-level performance" in tasks including law, accounting, and project management. Suleyman noted that AI-assisted coding is already common in software engineering. The potential job losses could be severe, with estimates suggesting up to 80% of entry-level positions might be at risk.

 

Fortune

Financial Times

Goldman Sachs plans to eliminate race, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other diversity-related factors from the criteria its board uses to assess prospective candidates. The bank's decision follows a request that it removes the DEI criteria from the conservative activist nonprofit National Legal and Policy Center, a small shareholder in the lender. The Wall Street Journal notes that the DEI climate has changed radically for companies in recent years. A turning point was President Trump’s executive order last year directing federal departments and agencies to launch civil investigations into corporate DEI programs.

 

Wall Street Journal

The Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement, a group of five national tax authorities including the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation unit, along with the U.K., Canada, Australia and the Netherlands, has issued advisories on the risks posed by over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency trading desks and payment processors. The group says these platforms facilitate illicit activities, allowing users to bypass anti-money laundering controls. Daily trading on OTC desks has reached $1.44bn, significantly overshadowing crypto exchanges. The advisories highlight that nearly $236bn in suspicious activity has been reported to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. The J5 recommends using specific keyword searches to identify money laundering patterns.

 

Accounting Today

Sanofi is to expand its global capability centre (GCC) in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, and increase its workforce there to more than 4,500 employees from over 2,600 people currently. The French drugmaker said that the expansion would be supported by a "multi-hundred-million" investment, but it did not specify a timeframe. India hosts more than 1,700 GCCs, employing over 1.9 million professionals, according to real estate consultancy Anarock.

 

Reuters