Business news in brief
By The Associated Press
FTC blocks Tempur Sealy’s purchase of Mattress Firm
NEW YORK | The Federal Trade Commission has unanimously voted to bring a lawsuit against mattress maker Tempur Sealy to block its $4 billion acquisition of Mattress Firm, saying the deal would allow the world’s largest mattress supplier to suppress competition that would result in higher prices for shoppers.
The deal was announced in May 2023. At the time, analysts had praised the acquisition and said it would allow Tempur Sealy to expand its distribution and reach more consumers at a crucial time for increasing sales. Acquiring Mattress Firm would also help Tempur Sealy buck the current slowdown in sales, caused by the cost-of-living crisis and many households having upgraded their mattresses during the pandemic, analysts said.
Brazil data regulator bans Meta from mining data to train AI models
RIO DE JANEIRO | Brazil’s national data protection authority determined on Tuesday that Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, cannot use data originating in the country to train its artificial intelligence.
Meta’s updated privacy policy enables the company to feed people’s public posts into its AI systems. That practice will not be permitted in Brazil, however.
The decision stems from “the imminent risk of serious and irreparable or difficult-to-repair damage to the fundamental rights of the affected data subjects,” the agency said in the nation’s official gazette.
U.S. will pay Moderna to develop mRNA pandemic flu vaccine
The U.S. government will pay the vaccine maker Moderna $176 million to accelerate development of a pandemic influenza vaccine. The vaccine could be used to treat bird flu in people as cases in dairy cows continue to mount across the country.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Tuesday it is funding the development of a vaccine based on the same mRNA technology that allowed the rapid development and rollout of vaccines to protect against COVID-19.
The H5N1 bird flu virus was detected earlier this year in dairy cows and has spread to more than 135 herds in 12 states and infected three people. Federal officials say the risk to the public remains low.
—From AP reports
