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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has received the green light to continue its antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, following a ruling by Judge John H. Chun. The FTC and the attorneys general of 18 states, and also Puerto Rico, have alleged in court that the e-commerce firm is abusing its position in the marketplace to inflate prices on and off its platform, overcharge sellers and stifle competition. “We are pleased with the court's decision and look forward to moving this case forward,” said FTC spokesperson Doug Farrar. While the FTC's federal claims will proceed, some state claims from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and Maryland were dismissed. Amazon's Tim Doyle expressed confidence in the company's defense, arguing that the FTC's claims are unfounded and would complicate shopping for consumers. The trial is set for October 2026, marking one of the most significant legal challenges in Amazon's history.

 

The Columbian

Fast Company

A federal judicial panel has ordered that approximately 80 data breach lawsuits against cloud storage firm Snowflake be consolidated in the District of Montana. The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation cited Snowflake's headquarters in Bozeman, Montana, and the district's capacity to handle the cases. Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Morris will preside over the multidistrict litigation, which stems from data breaches between April and June 2023 that compromised the personal information of over 100 million individuals. The panel rejected alternative proposals to separate cases by the individual Snowflake client sued, stating that Snowflake's shared responsibility cybersecurity model and practices would be central to all cases. Companies affected by the breach include AT&T, Ticketmaster, Live Nation, Advance Auto Parts, Cricket Wireless, and Neiman Marcus.

 

Law

American Water Works, the largest provider of drinking water and wastewater services in the U.S., has reported a cybersecurity breach affecting its computer networks. The company, which serves over 14m people across 14 states and 18 military installations, took immediate protective measures, including shutting down certain systems. While the company believes its operations were not impacted, it cannot predict the full extent of the breach. Law enforcement has been notified, and the company is cooperating with authorities. This incident highlights the growing threat to water services, as noted by EPA Administrator Michael Regan and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who warned that these systems are attractive targets for cyberattacks due to their limited cybersecurity resources.

 

Fast Company

Two Democratic lawmakers have written to some of the country’s biggest food and beverage companies arguing they are “profiteering” through “shrinkflation,” the practice of reducing product size while keeping prices the same or increasing them. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA)'s letters to Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and General Mills ask the first two to provide the average annual price per ounce of their soda products from 2018 to 2024, and for the latter to disclose the annual price per ounce of cereal products for the same timeframe. They also note the companies' efforts to lobby the government for lower corporate taxes. “People have noticed that their box of Cheerios and bag of Doritos are smaller, but prices are higher — and at the same time these giant corporations are paying lower tax rates than the average American", Warren said. “We can’t let them get away with this price gouging and tax dodging. It’s just plain wrong, and we’re fighting back”.

 

The Hill

Bloomberg

CNBC

The Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge by Uber and Lyft to lawsuits by the state of California on behalf of drivers who signed agreements to keep legal disputes with the ride-hailing companies out of court in a dispute over their status as contractors. The justices turned down appeals by the two companies of a state appeals court's ruling that let the attorney general and labor commissioner pursue claims that Uber and Lyft owe money to drivers who were misclassified as independent contractors rather than employees. The companies have argued that federal law prevents states from suing on behalf of anyone who signed agreements to bring legal disputes in private arbitration rather than court. That includes more than 60 million U.S. workers and virtually any consumer who joins a subscription service, accepts a company's terms of service or registers a product. Uber lawyer Theane Evangelis said that the California court's ruling was incorrect, and the Supreme Court could decide the issue in a future case.

 

Los Angeles Times

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled that, while serving as Starbucks' interim chief executive in 2022, Howard Schultz broke federal labor law by telling a barista in a discussion about unionization that “if you’re not happy at Starbucks, you can go work for another company." The NLRB ordered Starbucks to post a notice of employee rights, including to organize, at its stores in Long Beach, where Schulz made the comments. The order also mandated Starbucks to cease and desist with threats to fire employees who unionize. A spokesperson for Starbucks said the company disagrees with the decision, but added: “Our focus continues to be on training and supporting our managers to ensure respect of our partners’ rights to organize and on progressing negotiations towards ratified store contracts this year."

 

Los Angeles Times

Doug Pitassi, the President/CEO of Pacific Office Automation (POA), has taken an indefinite leave of absence following allegations by five ex-employees of abuse or wrongdoing amid a company culture of high-pressure sales and hard partying. In an email to the company's 1,400 staff, executives wrote: “With the best interests of POA at heart, Doug has decided to step away from his duties.” Pitassi was a longtime executive at POA, which is one of Oregon's largest privately held companies. 

 

OregonLive.com

Creditors of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX will receive up to $16.5bn under a bankruptcy plan approved in the US. The deal reached with the bankruptcy court allows FTX to repay customers ahead of the unsecured creditors. FTX says the deal will allow former customers to recover around 119% of what they had in their accounts when the firm went bankrupt in November 2022.  

 

BBC News

CryptoGlobe

London headquartered digital bank Revolut has slammed Meta's recent anti-fraud initiatives, labelling them as inadequate. Woody Malouf, Revolut's head of financial crime, said that Meta's plans are “baby steps, when what the industry really needs is giant leaps forward.” Revolut criticised Meta for not committing to reimburse scam victims, despite profiting from fraudulent advertisements. Revolut's latest financial crime report revealed that 62% of scams reported to the bank in the first half of 2024 originated from Meta platforms, a figure consistent with the previous year. The comments follow news that Meta will work with more banks to remove scam accounts and were made as new rules from the U.K.'s Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) come into effect, requiring banks to reimburse victims of authorized push payment fraud up to a limit of £85,000 per claim. Banks have now also been given the power to pause payments for up to four days to give them more time to investigate fraud.

 

City AM

The Guardian

Boeing and The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the planemaker's largest union, said they would continue contract negotiations today, as they pursue a deal to end a strike by around 33,000 U.S. West Coast factory workers. The company and the union, whose members have been on strike for 25 days, had resumed contract talks on Monday in the presence of federal mediators. "Although we met with Boeing and federal mediators all day, there was no meaningful movement to report. We will be back at it tomorrow," the union said late on Monday.

 

Reuters

Consumer credit rose $8.9bn in August, after surging a revised $26.6bn in July, the Federal Reserve said Monday, restrained by the largest drop in credit-card balances since March 2021. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for an increase of $12bn. Revolving debt outstanding, which includes credit cards, decreased nearly $1.4bn. Non-revolving credit, such as loans for vehicle purchases and school tuition, increased $10.3bn.

 

Bloomberg

Market Watch

Podcasts have increasing appeal for executives seeking to reach specialist audiences who may not previously have engaged with their companies. They are seen as less confrontational than traditional media interviews.

 

Financial Times