Business briefs - Associated Press - June 28, 2024

Jury orders NFL to pay nearly $4.8 billion in 'Sunday Ticket' case for violating antitrust laws

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A jury in U.S. District Court ordered the NFL to pay nearly $4.8 billion in damages Thursday after ruling that the league violated antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on a premium subscription service. The jury awarded $4.7 billion in damages to the residential class and $96 million in damages to the commercial class. The lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses who paid for the package of out-of-market games from the 2011 through 2022 seasons on DirecTV.

Prospect of low-priced Chinese EVs reaching US from Mexico poses threat to automakers

WASHINGTON (AP) — America's auto industry has grown concerned that Chinese carmakers may be preparing to set up shop in Mexico to exploit North American trade rules. The Chinese could then send ultra-low-priced electric vehicles streaming into the United States, devastating the U.S. auto industry, which envisions American EVs as the core of their business in the coming decades. To defuse the threat, the U.S. does have a range of options that it might be forced to deploy. Whatever steps the U.S. government might take, though, would likely face legal challenges from companies that want to import the Chinese EVs.

US sanctions Boeing for sharing information about 737 Max 9 investigation

Boeing is being sanctioned by U.S. investigators for sharing information about the 737 Max 9 door plug investigation. The National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday that Boeing "blatantly violated" the agency's investigative regulations as well as a signed agreement by providing non-public investigative information to the media and speculating about possible causes of the Jan. 5 door plug blowout on a Boeing passenger jet in Portland, Oregon. During the incident, a panel that plugged a space left for an extra emergency door blew off an Alaska Airlines Max 9. Pilots were able to land safely, and there were no injuries.

US economic growth for last quarter is revised up slightly to a 1.4% annual rate

WASHINGTON (AP) — The American economy expanded at a 1.4% annual pace from January through March, the slowest quarterly growth since spring 2022, the government said in a slight upgrade from its previous estimate. Consumer spending grew at just a 1.5% rate, down from an initial estimate of 2%, in a sign that high interest rates may be taking a toll on the economy. The first quarter's GDP growth marked a sharp pullback from a strong 3.4% pace during the final three months of 2023. Still, the report showed that the January-March slowdown was caused mainly by two factors — a surge in imports and a drop in business inventories — that don't necessarily reflect the underlying health of the economy.

Walgreens to take a hard look at underperforming stores, could shutter hundreds more

Walgreens is finalizing a plan to fix its business that could result in the closure of hundreds of additional stores in the next three years. CEO Tim Wentworth told analysts Thursday morning that "changes are imminent" for about 25% of the company's stores, which he said were underperforming. The drugstore chain currently runs more than 8,600 in the United States. Wentworth said the company's plan could include the closing of a "significant portion" of those 2,100 stores. Company shares tumbled as quarterly results missed expectations and the retailer trimmed its annual profit forecast.

Supreme Court halts enforcement of the EPA's plan to limit downwind pollution from power plants

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is putting the Environmental Protection Agency's air pollution-fighting "good neighbor" plan on hold while legal challenges continue. It's the conservative-led high court's latest blow to federal regulations. The justices Thursday rejected arguments by the Biden administration and Democratic-controlled states the plan was cutting air pollution and saving lives in 11 states. The regulation will remain on hold while the federal appeals court in Washington considers a challenge to the plan from industry and Republican-led states. The rule is intended to restrict smokestack emissions from power plants and other industrial sources that burden downwind areas with smog-causing pollution. Energy-producing states Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia challenged it.

News nonprofit sues ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Microsoft for 'exploitative' copyright infringement

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Another news organization is suing ChatGPT maker OpenAI and its business partner Microsoft for alleged copyright infringement. The Center for Investigative Reporting, which produces Mother Jones and Reveal, said it filed a lawsuit Thursday in a New York federal court where it joins copyright infringement cases brought by The New York Times, Chicago Tribune and bestselling authors such as John Grisham and Jodi Picoult. The suit from the San Francisco-based investigative news nonprofit focuses on how AI-generated summaries of news articles threaten publishers. It comes as other news outlets, most recently Time, are choosing to collaborate with OpenAI instead.