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Virginia AG sues Zillow, Redfin over $100M agreement not to compete

SUMMARY:

    • Virginia and other states sued and over an “unlawful” agreement not to compete
    • Suit claims Zillow paid Redfin $100 million to exit the multifamily rental advertising market
    • The seeks to declare the agreements illegal and restore competition

and attorneys general from Arizona, Connecticut, New York and Washington filed an lawsuit Wednesday against tech companies Zillow and Redfin, arguing that the two companies entered into an unlawful $100 million agreement not to compete with one another.

According to the lawsuit, Zillow entered into an agreement in February to pay Redfin $100 million to stop competing for online multifamily housing listings, terminate its existing multifamily advertising contracts and transition its customers to Zillow. The suit alleges this “unlawful payment” violates federal antitrust , harming renters seeking to find available units and companies seeking to advertise their properties.

Furthermore, in a separate deal, Zillow agreed to make a minimum $75 million payment in the first year for Redfin to exclusively carry Zillow’s multifamily listings on its rental search websites, according to the lawsuit.

“This agreement between Zillow and Redfin not to compete is illegal,” Miyares said in a statement. “Zillow paying Redfin to exit the market harms renters and property owners by taking away free market incentives to provide high-quality services that businesses and consumers rely on. My office is suing to protect Virginians from this anticompetitive conduct.”

The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, asks the court to declare the agreements illegal and restore market competition. The plaintiffs want the court to award injunctive relief, including divestiture or restructuring of the businesses.

Miyares said his office worked closely with the Federal Trade Commission in investigating the matter.

Zillow and Redfin did not immediately return requests for comment. Both companies are headquartered in Seattle.

Wednesday’s suit marks the latest in a string of lawsuits Zillow has faced this year. In June, real estate brokerage company Compass sued Zillow in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, challenging Zillow over its policy of excluding many private home listings. According to the Associated Press, Compass claims Zillow “has sought to rely on anticompetitive tactics to protect its monopoly and revenues in violation of the antitrust laws.”

And in July, Arlington County-based and one of its subsidiaries sued Zillow, alleging Zillow was using nearly 47,000 CoStar-copyrighted images illegally on its listings sites.

Wall Street yawns at DC’s looming shutdown as US stocks head toward another winning month

Summary

  • S&P 500 up 0.1%, set for fifth straight monthly gain
  • Dow and little changed ahead of shutdown deadline
  • shares sank 5.4% after Daniel Ek stepped down
  • CoreWeave jumped 11.8% on $14.2B cloud deal

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are coasting toward the finish of Wall Street’s latest winning month on Tuesday, as financial markets give a collective yawn for the potential shutdown of the U.S. federal government that’s looming.

The S&P 500 edged up by 0.1% and is on track for a fifth straight winning month after setting a record last week. The Industrial Average was down 18 points, or less than 0.1%, with an hour remaining in trading, and the Nasdaq composite was virtually unchanged.

The quiet trading came as a midnight deadline approached, when the U.S. government looks likely to shut down because of Washington’s latest political impasse. That’s because history has shown that past shutdowns have had limited impact on the economy and stock market, and many economists and professional investors expect something similar this time around.

The S&P 500 has climbed an average of 4.4% during past shutdowns and is positive over the last five, according to Monica Guerra, head of U.S. policy at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.

The broad stock market has been on a nearly relentless run since hitting a low in April on expectations that President Donald Trump’s won’t derail global trade and that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates several times to boost the slowing .

Treasury yields wavered in the bond market but ultimately held relatively steady following a couple mixed reports on the . One said consumers are feeling less confident than economists expected, with many respondents in the Conference Board’s survey pointing to the job market and to  that has remained higher than anyone would like.

A second report suggested the job market may be remaining in its “low-hire, low-fire” state. U.S. employers were advertising roughly the same number of job openings at the end of August as the month before. The hope on Wall Street had been for a number that’s neither too high nor too low, one balanced enough to keep the Fed on track to continue cutting interest rates.

The Fed just delivered its first cut of the year, and officials have penciled in more through the end of next year to give the job market a boost. Too-strong data on jobs could make the Fed less willing to cut rates, which would back up criticism that the U.S. stock market has become too expensive after prices ran so high. Too-weak numbers, meanwhile, could signal a coming recession, which would also hurt stock prices.

When Wall Street will get upcoming data reports on the job market and inflation is uncertain, though. A shutdown of the federal government would cause delays for several important reports, including Friday’s on how many jobs U.S. employers created and destroyed in September.

That could make Wall Street more twitchy when investors are already nervous about the state of the economy and what that means for the potential for cuts to rates. The Department of Labor has already said that the Bureau of Labor Statistics will completely cease operations if there’s a lapse.

On Wall Street, Spotify Technology sank 5.4% after the Stockholm-based streaming giant said its founder, Daniel Ek, is stepping down as CEO to become the executive chairman. Two of his lieutenants will replace him as co-CEOs: Chief Product and Technology Officer and Chief Business Officer Alex Norström.

Oil-related companies weighed on the market after the price of crude fell again as traders see too much oil washing around the world. Schlumberger fell 2.7%, and Halliburton dropped 2%.

On the winning side of Wall Street was CoreWeave, which jumped 11.8%. It said Meta Platforms will pay up to $14.2 billion for a new order for cloud computing power made under its existing service agreement, with the potential for more.

Lamb Weston climbed 4% after the supplier of frozen French fries and other potato products reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

In stock markets abroad, indexes ticked higher in Europe following a mixed finish in Asia.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury held steady at 4.15%, where it was late Monday.

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek steps down, Co-CEOs named

Summary

LONDON (AP) — Spotify said Tuesday that founder Daniel Ek is stepping down as CEO to become the executive chairman, in an announcement that sent its shares sliding in Tuesday trading.

The Stockholm-based streaming giant said Ek will be replaced by two lieutenants who will become co-CEOs: Chief Product and Technology Officer Gustav Söderström and Chief Business Officer Alex Norström. The pair, who are also currently copresidents, will transition into their new jobs on Jan. 1 and will report to Ek.

Spotify said in a press release that the move “formalizes” how Spotify has been operating since 2023, with Söderström and Norström largely leading strategic development and operational execution.

Ek said that he had already “turned over a large part of the day-to-day management and strategic direction” to the pair.

“This change simply matches titles to how we already operate,” he said. As executive chairman, Ek said he will focus on Spotify’s “long arc.”

In an online question and answer session following the announcement, Ek said his new role would not be a ceremonial one that investors with a “U.S. perspective” might expect.

In Europe, an executive chairman is typically “quite active in the business,” and acts as a representative to “certain stakeholders” such as governments, he said.

Ek said he still sees growth opportunities, including a “huge part of the world that’s really not accustomed to streaming” stretching from Asia to Africa, as well as new technology including artificial intelligence.

“I’m gonna keep pushing for us to look around the corner, stay focused on the long term,” he said.

Since Ek founded Spotify about two decades ago, the platform’s rise has helped transformed the music business and paved the way for modern streaming. Spotify now has more than 700 million subscribers and a library of more than 100 million songs, 7 million podcast titles and 350,000 audiobooks.

Spotify shares, which have doubled in the past year, fell more than 5% in afternoon trading after the announcement.

Richmond-area car wash chain promotes CEO, other execs

Richmond-area chain Flagstop Car Wash has promoted three executives, including its new , it announced Tuesday.

-based Flagstop promoted Spencer Rakes from chief operating officer to CEO. Rakes joined Flagstop in April 2024, previously holding leadership roles with fuel supplier and travel center chain Pilot, Dollar General, Sears Holdings and Kmart. He oversaw Flagstop’s mobile app rollout and improved operating efficiency.

“I am honored to step into this role and to build on the significant momentum our business has achieved, marked by our extraordinary team and the success of our customer-first business model,” Rakes said in a statement.

The company also promoted Craig Marable from vice president of operations to chief site operations officer and Derek Haynes from vice president of maintenance and facilities to chief facilities and infrastructure officer.

Marable joined the company more than 25 years ago. He will oversee site safety, efficiency and team leadership to support sustainable growth and the chain’s guest experience. Haynes joined Flagstop in 2007.

Rakes succeeds Jamie Nester, who transitioned to the chief growth and development officer role. Nester joined the company in 1994.

“I look forward to continuing to scale the company into more communities across Central Virginia and beyond, while preserving the culture and quality service that has been key to our success over the past 44 years,” Nester said in a statement.

Founded in Chester in 1981, Flagstop has 24 locations in the market and expects to have about 30 sites by the end of the year. New York investment firm Garnett Station Partners announced an undisclosed investment in Flagstop in 2023.

Pfizer agrees to lower drug costs, $70B US investment

Summary

WASHINGTON (AP) — Drugmaker Pfizer has agreed to lower drug costs and invest $70 billion in U.S. manufacturing under a deal struck with the , President Donald Trump said Tuesday.

The announcement, which Trump made with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla at the White House, came as the Republican president has for months sought to lower drug costs. It also came as Washington was facing a federal  at midnight amid a standoff between Democrats and Republicans over health care and its costs.

Under the agreement, New York-based Pfizer will charge most-favored-nation pricing to Medicaid and guarantee that pricing on newly launched drugs, Trump said. That involves matching the lowest price offered in other developed nations.

“I can’t tell you how big this is,” the president said.

“I think today we are turning the tide and we are reversing an unfair situation,” Bourla said.

The president has been talking for months about the need to lower drug prices. In May, he issued an executive order that gave drugmakers 30 days to electively lower prices or face new limits on what the government will pay.

To persuade them to strike deals, Trump said he threatened to impose  — a favorite tool of his to use as leverage across all areas of government — but that move could raise drug prices.

It’s unclear how the new policy will affect Medicaid patients who often pay a nominal co-payment of a few dollars to fill their prescriptions, but lower prices could help state budgets that fund the programs. Medicaid is the state and federally funded program for with low incomes.

“This is something that most people said was not doable,” Trump said Tuesday.

One thing that is not doable, however, was Trump’s repeated claims that it would cut drug prices by more than 100%, “14, 15, 1600% reductions in some cases,” he said.

A 100% reduction would make the drugs free. Cuts greater than that would essentially mean people are paid to take the drugs.

Trump said he’s making deals with other drugmakers, and “they’re all coming in over the next week.”

Besides committing to lowering costs, Trump said, Pfizer agreed to spend $70 billion in domestic manufacturing facilities, becoming the latest in a string of major drugmakers to announce plans to build production in the United States.

The White House did not immediately release details about the investment, but Trump for months has spoken of a need to boost U.S. drug manufacturing.

Pfizer Inc. is one of the largest U.S. drugmakers. It produces the COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty and the treatment Paxlovid. Its products also include several cancer drugs, the blood thinner Eliquis and the pneumonia vaccine Prevnar.

Trump sent letters in late July to executives at 17 pharmaceutical companies about changes he would like to see. Copies of the letters posted on social media note that U.S. prices for brand-name drugs can be up to three times higher than averages elsewhere.

The letters called for drugmakers to commit by Monday to offering what Pfizer agreed to: most-favored-nation pricing to Medicaid and new medications.

Trump also asked drugmakers to offer the lower pricing levels for drugs sold directly to consumers and businesses.

Trump has claimed that the U.S., with its higher drug prices, subsidizes care in other countries.

Drug prices for patients in the U.S. can depend on a number of factors, including the competition a treatment faces and insurance coverage. Most people have coverage through work, the individual insurance market or government programs like Medicaid and Medicare that shields them from much of the cost.

Drugmakers in the past couple of years have started launching websites to connect customers directly with some products like Lilly’s obesity treatment Zepbound or the blood thinner Eliquis from Pfizer and Bristol-Myers Squibb. That comes as patients have grown more comfortable with receiving care virtually after the practice exploded in popularity during the coronavirus pandemic.

Dover Food Retail to add 300 jobs in Chesterfield

Dover Food Retail will soon invest over $20 million to expand its Virginia operations, adding 300 jobs in .

announced Monday that the Georgia manufacturer is relocating of its Anthony brand of commercial refrigerator and freezer glass doors and frames from Los Angeles to the company’s Chesterfield campus.

“‘s move from California to Virginia is an incredible endorsement of the commonwealth as a hub for advanced manufacturing,” Youngkin said in a statement. “The cases produced in this facility will soon be used at some of the largest food and beverage retailers nationwide.”

Headquartered in Conyers, Georgia, Dover Food Retail is a manufacturer of commercial and industrial refrigeration systems, refrigerated display cases, specialty products, glass and freezer doors and lighting. It operates through its core brands, Anthony and Hillphoenix, and has more than 3,000 employees. Its customers include supermarkets, convenience stores and other food service and food processing businesses.

“This latest round of investments will add all-new, state-of-the-art equipment to our factories, expand our research and development laboratories, create a Dover Food Retail parts hub and establish our new distribution center of excellence,” said Dover Food Retail President Paul Sindoni in a statement.

The Dover Food Retail group of companies are subsidiaries of Illinois-based conglomerate Dover, which reported $7.75 billion in 2024 revenue and has about 24,000 employees.

The Virginia Partnership worked with Chesterfield to secure the project for Virginia, and Youngkin approved a $900,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist the county with the project.

Dover did not immediately return requests for additional information about the project.

Timmons Group appoints chief marketing officer

Richmond-based and design firm announced Monday that it has appointed former marketing manager Tim Asimos as , a newly created executive role.

In the role, Asimos will have oversight of the firm’s brand and lead the firm’s communications, business development and pursuits teams.

“Tim brings a proven record of leadership and innovation to our industry,” said Timmons President and Brian Bortell in a statement. “We’re thrilled to welcome him back, and we’re confident his vision and experience will not only help shape the firm’s future and advance our growth but also strengthen our culture and deepen our impact in the communities and markets we serve.”

Asimos has more than 20 years of experience in architecture, engineering and construction. He was most recently head of growth at Client Savvy, where he led sales, marketing, and communications. Before that, he was a partner at circle S studio. He previously worked for Timmons, serving in a marketing management role from 2006 to 2012.

Asimos is a certified professional services marketer, frequent speaker at conferences nationwide and a regular contributor to industry podcasts, publications and webinars. He is past president of the American Marketing Association’s chapter. He received his bachelor’s degree and MBA in communications from Liberty University.

Established in 1953, Timmons offers full-service engineering, design and technology services. It has 21 offices throughout the mid-Atlantic, Southeast and West South Central regions.

CoreWeave signs $14 billion AI infrastructure deal with Meta

Summary

  • Pfizer to cut prices on several U.S. medications
  • Company launching TrumpRx direct-to-consumer site
  • $70B investment in R&D and U.S.
  • Trump pressed drugmakers to match overseas prices

(Reuters) – said it has signed a $14 billion agreement with to supply computing power, the latest multi-billion-dollar deal as businesses ramp up infrastructure to meet the demand for artificial intelligence applications.

Shares of CoreWeave surged 15% following the news on Tuesday.

Under the agreement, Meta has committed to pay around $14.2 billion through December 14, 2031, with the option to expand through 2032 for additional capacity, CoreWeave said in a filing.

developers are rushing to sign multi-billion-dollar deals to lock in infrastructure quickly, boosting valuations of backend service providers such as CoreWeave, which was valued at $60 billion as of last close.

The boom has also raised questions about “circular” financing, as many AI tech firms invest in and sign supply deals with each other. This has also sparked worries about whether the surge in valuation is a bubble.

“‘s chips are in CoreWeave’s , which will then be used by companies like Meta. These kinds of deals spark bubble concerns because of how insular the industry appears, and the massive dollar amounts involved,” Emarketer analyst Jacob Bourne said.

At the same time, the AI market is expanding beyond the Magnificent Seven, which reduces the risk of a sudden bubble burst, he added.

The deal with Meta would also allow CoreWeave to fill data center capacity beyond its largest customer, Microsoft. Last week, the server provider signed a third multi-billion dollar cloud deal with .

As a part of the agreement, CoreWeave will provide the Facebook-parent access to Nvidia’s latest GB300 systems, according to a Bloomberg News report, citing an interview with the data center operator’s Michael Intrator.

For Meta, the deal underscores its ambition to improve the technology that powers its consumer products such as the recently launched smart glasses with Ray Ban.

The social media firm has invested tens of billions into data centers across the U.S. and is paying athlete-level salaries to hire top AI software engineers. The social media firm did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)

US consumer confidence falls on inflation, weak jobs

Summary

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. consumer confidence declined again in September as Americans’ pessimism over inflation and the weakening  continued to grow.

The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index fell by 3.6 points to 94.2 in September, down from August’s 97.8. That’s a bigger drop than analysts were expecting and the lowest reading since April, when President Donald Trump rolled out his sweeping tariff policy.

A measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for their income, business conditions and the job market fell to 73.4, remaining well below 80, the marker that can signal a recession ahead. Consumers’ assessments of their current economic situation dipped by 7 points to 125.4.

Write-in responses to the survey showed that references to prices and inflation rose this month, regaining its top position as consumers’ main concern about the economy. Mentions of declined this month but remain elevated, the Conference Board said.

Government data released earlier this month showed that inflation rose in August as the price of gas, groceries and airfares jumped.

Consumer prices increased 2.9% last month from a year earlier, the Labor Department said, up from 2.7% the previous month and the biggest jump since January. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 3.1%, the same as in July.

While unemployment and layoffs remain historically low, there has been noticeable deterioration in the labor market this year and mounting evidence that are having difficulty finding jobs.

Earlier this month, the government reported that U.S. nonfarm employers added a paltry 22,000 jobs in August, following July’s disappointing 79,000 job gains. Worse, revisions to the May and June figures shaved 258,000 jobs off previous estimates. The unemployment rate stands at 4.3%, the highest since October 2021.

Also Tuesday, the Labor Department reported that U.S. in August remained at 7.2 million, about the same as the previous month.

In addition to the lingering effects of 11 interest rate hikes by the ‘s inflation fighters in 2022 and 2023, economists say the recent hiring slump may also be a result of Trump’s policies, including his sweeping and ever-changing tariffs on imports, a crackdown on illegal immigration and purges of the federal workforce.

Many companies are locked in a “no hire, no fire” position, fearful of expanding payrolls until the effects of Trump’s tariffs are more clear.

More jobs data comes Friday when the government releases its September labor market data, with analysts forecasting 50,000 job gains.

The share of consumers expecting a recession over the next year rose modestly in September to the highest level since May.

Survey respondents who said they intended to buy a new or used car in the near future fell, while the share of those saying they planned to purchase a home rose to a four-month high.

Those saying they planned to buy big-ticket items like appliances were little changed from August with big variations across categories.

US job openings barely budged in August at 7.2 million

Summary

  • rose slightly to 7.23M in August
  • Hiring hit weakest pace since June 2024
  • Quits declined, signaling weaker worker confidence
  • Fed cut rates as trade tensions and shutdown loom

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. jobs openings were essentially unchanged million last month amid economic uncertainty arising from President Donald Trump’s trade policies and an impending .

The Labor Department reported Tuesday that job openings blipped up to 7.23 million from 7.21 million in July. Economists had forecast a drop to 7.1 million.

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) showed that layoffs fell month. But so did the number of quitting their jobs — which is a sign of confidence in their prospects of finding a better job. The report’s measure of hiring last month was the weakest since June 2024.

Job openings remain at healthy levels but have fallen steadily since peaking at a record 12.1 million in March 2022 as the roared back from COVID-19 lockdowns.

The has lost momentum this year, partly because of the lingering effects of 11 interest rate hikes by the fighters at the in 2022 and 2023 and partly because Trump’s trade wars have created uncertainty that is paralyzing managers trying to make hiring decisions.

Altogether, Tuesday’s JOLTS numbers suggest that the remains in an awkward place: Americans who have jobs are mostly safe from layoffs. remains low at 4.3%. But jobseekers are struggling to find work.

“Companies are clearly hoarding workers with the economy still at full employment,” Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, wrote in a commentary. “It will take a bigger blow than what we have seen so far to convince companies that it is safe and prudent — and necessary — to lay off workers.”

Labor Department revisions earlier this month showed that the economy created 911,000 fewer jobs than originally reported in the year that ended in March. That meant that employers added an average of fewer than 71,000 new jobs a month over that period, not the 147,000 first reported. Since March, job creation has slowed even more — to an average 53,000 a month.

On Friday, the Labor Department is expected release numbers on September hiring and unemployment — though the report could be postponed if a budget impasse in Congress leads to a government shutdown Wednesday.

If the report comes out, it is expected to show that employers added 50,000 jobs in September, unimpressive but up from a meager 22,000 in August, according to a survey of economists by the data firm FactSet.

At their last meeting two weeks ago, Fed policymakers cut their benchmark interest rates for the first time this year to support the sputtering job market. They also signaled that expect two more rate cuts this year.