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| Brian Thompson |
How would you handle the PR crisis triggered by the murder of a top corporate executive in broad daylight on the streets of midtown Manhattan?
That’s the challenge for UnitedHealth Group following the murder of 50-year-old Brian Thompson, head of its health insurance unit.
As the nation’s No. 1 health insurer, United Healthcare enjoys high brand name recognition.
Thompson’s wife told NBC News that he received complaints about lack of coverage and threats from some people.
The New York Police Department called the 6:45 shooting a “premeditated, pre-planned targeted attack.”
Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the gunman fired seven rounds at Thompson, who was on his way to UHG’s annual investor conference.
She said the shooter was “lying in wait for several minutes” and ignored other passers-by before firing several rounds into Thompson’s back.
The assassin fled the scene of the crime outside the Hilton Hotel on an electric bike.
What was UHG’s immediate response to the tragedy?
After the conference kicked off at 8 a.m., CEO Andrew Witt took the stage at 9 am conference to say the company was “dealing with a very serious medical situation with one of our team members and as a result I’m afraid we’re going to have to bring to a close the event today.” Why did the session even begin?
Later in the morning, UHG posted a “statement on today’s events” on its website. “We are deeply saddened and shocked at the passing of our dear friend and colleague Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare,” it reads.
The company "is working closely with the NYPD and asks for your patience and understanding during this difficult time. Our hearts go out to Brian’s family and all who were close to him.”
The New York Times reported that UnitedHealthcare and its parent company have “been rattled by federal investigations.”
It has been accused of “systematically denying authorization for healthcare procedures and treatments.”
UHG also was hit by a cyberattack that compromised the private information of more than 100M people.
Its statement about experiencing a “difficult time” rings very true.
Following the murder of one of its top executives, a bright light will be focused on UHG’s business practices.
Its PR team has its work cut out.
Three cheers for the democracy-loving South Koreans. Let’s hear it for the Koreans who took to the streets of Seoul after the country’s madcap right-wing president declared martial law, which put the country’s media under control of the military.
After hours of turmoil, South Korea president Yoon Suk Yeol ordered the troops back to their barracks, and lifted martial law.
Mini-Trump Yoon is known for labeling political opponents “anti-state forces” and “fake news,” according to The Guardian. He also has launched lawsuits against the press, apparently for “their very unfair coverage.”
The Korean outpouring in support of democracy in the wake of the coup attempt is heartening.
Would Americans take to the streets in protest if our Mango Mussolini attempts to stage his own coup?
Busan Bust… Saudi Arabia and Russia are credited with torpedoing the United Nations’ attempt to negotiate a treaty to curb plastic production.
This month’s UN conference in Busan, South Korea, failed to produce a treaty and was extended to an undecided future date. How about sometime in 2050?
Delegates from more than 100 countries supported a treaty to impose limits on plastics products, but were thwarted by energy-producing nations.
A joint statement from the oil producers basically kicked the can down the road, calling for “further time and discussions”
The Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty, which includes Walmart, Unilever, Kraft-Heinz, Danone and other multinationals, blasted the inability to work out a treaty due a “very unprogressive minority.” The Coalition said: “There’s no time to waste: we cannot afford this process sliding into unending negotiations.”
Plastics not only pollute the land and sea but their production contributes to global warming. But Trump’s return to power dooms the prospect for a deal to reduce the manufacturing of plastics.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gets it wrong... New York governor Kathy Hochul’s decision to take a one-year pause in permitting data centers is a winning issue for her... JD Vance fails to bail out Trump from the mess that he created.
JPMorganChase chief Jamie Dimon warns of lurking risks that could upend Wall Street's gravy train... Iran foreign minister praises Trump's looney "guardian of the Strait" idea... State Dept. scolds NYC's international affairs unit for overplaying its hand... Historian Timothy Snyder graciously puts his '"Hitler and Stalin" lecture series online to alert people that "it" could happen here.
New York mayor Zohran Mamdani, an outspoken critic of Israel, is more popular among American Jews than prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu... Donald Trump is the first leader since Benito Mussolini in 1934 to intervene publicly in his national team’s favor... It's surprising that JD Vance hardly uses the word "Catholic" in his memoir about his conversion to Catholicism.
President Trump killed much of the positive PR that the US has enjoyed as one of the co-hosts of the World Cup... Pride in the US sinks to 25-year low, Gallup finds... White House trashes Smithsonian's US History Museum as the MAGA version of un-American.
Donald Trump claims we are all profiting from Wall Street's rising prices, but the billion-dollar president sure did a lot better than the rest of us... Venezuela hopes the $300M in US reconstructiion aid will follow the same growth trajectory as the White House's East Wing ballroom project.
