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McKinsey & Co has agreed to pay $230 million in its latest settlement to resolve lawsuits alleging it fueled a US opioid epidemic through its role advising drug manufacturers, according to court documents filed Tuesday. Thousands of lawsuits, brought by US local governments, schools, Native American communities, and parents on behalf of children born with withdrawal symptoms, accused McKinsey of strategizing with drug manufacturers to aggressively market prescription opioids «to maximize opioid revenues», the filings showed. McKinsey will pay $207 million to resolve claims by counties and municipalities, and $23 million to resolve claims by public school districts. Opioids are the main cause of drug overdose deaths in the United States, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with more than 75 percent of all drug overdose deaths in 2021 linked to them. McKinsey had already paid more than $640 million in 2021 to resolve lawsuits raised by 50 state attorneys-general over its work for bankrupt OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and others. Tuesday's court filing said McKinsey had created and implemented marketing strategies for Purdue «before and after» the manufacturer's first guilty plea in 2007 relating to misbranding of OxyContin. The settlement still requires a judge's approval. McKinsey has consistently maintained its past work was lawful, but firm has said it ceased to advise clients on opioid-related business in 2019. «We did not adequately acknowledge the epidemic unfolding in our communities or the terrible impact of opioid misuse and addiction on millions of families across the country,» it said in a statement released in in 2020. «That is why last year (2019) we stopped doing any work

₹58,245 per 10 grams around 10:45 am. (Exciting news! Mint is now on WhatsApp Channels. Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest financial insights! Click here!) Experts expect gold prices to remain weak and see some volatility today due to rising dollar, and bond yields amid the prospects of interest rates going further higher.

To thrive in this environment and optimize our investment processes, there's a compelling need for cutting-edge tools and technology. Enter algorithmic trading – a game-changer for investors and traders seeking to augment their innate abilities. Algo trading has emerged as a triumphant alternative to traditional trading methods in India.

By Rae Wee

This is part of a series of interviews with the winners of The Economic Times Startup Awards 2023. Petcare brand Heads Up for Tails (HUFT) is looking to chart newer domains of growth and plans to take its private-label portfolio across nutrition, grooming and lifestyle products to the global market in 2024, its founder Rashi Narang told ET. The company, which started in 2008 and is backed by the likes of Peak XV Partners and Verlinvest, is also looking to double down on its offline presence and launch new stores in tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

payment company Worldline, which works with banks to deploy Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminals at merchant outlets for card payments, is undertaking a major shift in its business strategy in India. The company is acquiring its own merchants as part of a broader strategy to compete with homegrown fintech startups such as Paytm, Pine Labs, Innoviti Payments, Mswipe and Razorpay-backed Ezetap. Worldline has deployed 500,000 payment terminals so far across India on behalf of banks.

The head of global fund giant Ares Management’s Australasian unit says he expects direct lending to local companies to double over the next three years as more buy-out funds turn to asset managers for financing.

By David Shepardson

China poses a conundrum for asset managers because while it is cheap and growing, there are risks when it comes to rule of law and transparency, said Evan Siddall, chief executive of the Alberta Investment Management Corp. (AIMCo).

Target said it's closing nine stores in four states, including one in East Harlem, New York and three in San Francisco, saying that theft and organized retail crime have threatened the safety of its workers and customers

Elke Pascoe, founder and chief executive of infant formula group LittleOak Company, says it’s crucial that budding entrepreneurs let criticism bounce off them, and have the ability to “fiercely protect your dream”.

Placing and detonating explosives at the face of an underground mine has always been a dangerous environment for mine workers.

Lithium Power International, the locally listed South American explorer, has called in a defence advisor as the Chilean government’s mining group circles.

The head of SBS corporate strategy has laid out an ambitious vision to be able to deliver bespoke content in the language of any user’s choice, enmeshing the specialist broadcaster in the daily media diet of foreign-language speaking Australians.

European infrastructure investor DIF Capital Partners is gearing up to sell its entire Australian portfolio, Street Talk can reveal.

NEW DELHI : While the Indian film industry is showing signs of recovery, high ticket prices in multiplexes, particularly for big-budget releases such as Jawan, are a point of concern given the possible impact on the movies’ earnings, especially in small towns of north India. Unlike south India, where ticket prices are capped, no such restriction exists in the Hindi-speaking belt.

NEW DELHI : Maruti Suzuki India Ltd has surged ahead in the rapidly expanding SUV (sport utility vehicle) segment, marking a turnaround after several quarters of market share loss due to declining small car sales and lack of new SUV launches, following its exit from the diesel-engine market in 2020. Maruti has made significant progress in realizing its 2023-24 target of 25% share in India’s SUV market, consistently increasing its share for three straight months, spanning July through September. In July and August, the company’s SUV market share exceeded 24.5%, and it expects a similar performance in September.

Mumbai: Sometime in 2008, a team from financier Bajaj Finserv was at a consumer durables store when a family of four walked in. They wanted to buy a 32-inch television on loan but were told it would take at least three days. The Bajaj team wondered why the loan could not be processed the same day so that the family could take the TV home by evening.

In the fast-evolving world of finance, few names stand as tall as Warren Buffett, the esteemed investor and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. As he celebrated his 93rd birthday on August 30, the crypto market continued to make waves, drawing comparisons to Buffett's traditional value investing strategy with its own unique traits.

Delhi: The government on Tuesday set rabi foodgrains production target at 161.2 million tonnes (mt). The national target for total food grains production for the 2023-24 (July-June) crop year is 332 mt. As per the government’s third crop estimate, India’s foodgrain production in 2022-23 is pegged at 330.5 mt.

Indo-Pacific region has emerged as a focal point. Indian Army Chief General Manoj Pande, addressing the Indo-Pacific Army Chiefs’ Conference (IPACC), reaffirmed India’s dedication to upholding peace and stability in this vital area.