UnitedHealth Group appoints new CEO and suspends annual forecast
UnitedHealth Group announced a new chief executive officer on Tuesday, after a tumultuous year that saw the CEO of its UnitedHealthcare subsidiary fatally shot in Manhattan.
The company has been the source of criticism over problems in the insurance industry and has seen its stock value plummet in the past year.
Stephen J. Hemsley was appointed as the new CEO effective immediately after Andrew Witty decided to step down as CEO for unspecified "personal reasons."
Hemsley served as the company CEO from 2006 to 2017, and will remain chairman of the company's Board of Directors. Meanwhile, Witty will serve as a senior adviser to Hemsley, the company said in a news release.
The company said in a statement that it has suspended its annual outlook for 2025, as "the medical costs of many Medicare Advantage beneficiaries new to UnitedHealthcare remained higher than expected."
"The company expects to return to growth in 2026," the statement added.
In December 2024, the CEO of United Healthcare, Brian Thompson, was fatally shot in what police described as a 'premeditated, preplanned targeted attack' in midtown Manhattan as he was walking to an investors' conference.
Luigi Mangione, now 27, was arrested after a five-day manhunt and hit with federal and state charges in New York and Pennsylvania in connection with the shooting. He has pleaded not guilty to the murder and terrorism charges in New York, and not guilty to federal stalking and murder charges.
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Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Daily Mail
Luigi Mangione pens astonishing letter of gratitude listing all the things he's thankful for after his birthday
Luigi Mangione penned a heartfelt letter to his family and fans as he shared a list of 'things I'm grateful for' on his 27th birthday. The accused assassin of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson celebrated his birthday behind bars on May 6, with a letter he sent to mark the occasion emerging on social media this week. Mangione wrote that the number one thing he was grateful for is 'my friends, for being there when I needed it most.' '(Number two), my family, for [REDACTED - my personal life is none of your business!]' the heir to a property fortune continued. Mangione sent the letter from the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, where he is locked up alongside Sean 'Diddy' Combs as the disgraced rap mogul is in the middle of his federal trial. He paid tribute to the guards and mail staff at the federal correctional facility in the letter, thanking the mail room workers for having 'photocopied and processed thousands of letters sent to me from over 40 countries - your efforts are appreciated by so many.' 'The MDC staff and CO's, who are nothing like what 'The Shawshank Redemption' and 'The Stanford Prison Experiment' had me believe,' he added at number 10. The 27-year-old went on to thank an array of people in his letter, from those who donated over a million dollars to his legal defense, to his 'Latinas for Mangione' fan club. Mangione sent the letter from the MDC Brooklyn jail, listing a wide variety of things he is thankful for from the 'Latinas for Mangione' fan club to his legal team and people who have donated over a million dollars to his legal fund Mangione said one of the things he has been most grateful for since his arrest in December 2024 is social media memes, saying a correspondent told him, 'Laughter is louder than logic and makes a lot more sense.' That suggests Mangione is being shown photocopied versions of the visual jokes. It's unclear if he also has some limited internet access which may allow him to browse the web. The alleged killer, who is next in court on June 26 but is not expected to stand trial for Thompson's murder until 2026, described his life in jail as a 'predicament' that has pros and cons. While saying he lives a 'Groundhog Day' lifestyle of monotony in the MDC Brooklyn walls, Mangione said this has also brought him close to 'many talented and generous individuals.' He thanked fans for sending him books, and surprised some observers with his 'favorites' so far: Ayn Rand's dystopian classic 'Anthem'; podcaster Patrick Bet David's self-help book 'Your Next Five Moves'; and Ray Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451.' Mangione said he has been sent so many books he can't read them all, but has been able to hand them out to people like his cellmate 'J.' 'Despite spending half of every day inside a shared birdcage and being sentenced to a decade away from his six kids who he loves - (he) tolerates the clutter of all my papers, shares his unique wisdom, and doesn't hesitate to humble me when I need it,' he said of his cellmate. 'He reads more books than I do, and appreciates all the Calvin and Hobbes,' Mangione added. He mysteriously referenced his 'lucky long sleeve' and said he was thankful for 'hearts', without explaining what exactly he was referring to. As he faces the death penalty, Mangione added that he is thankful for 'the trials that I've endured, which have - I hope - prepared me for anything that might lie ahead.' Mangione said he was thankful to both conservatives and liberals - the former for 'conserving the aspects of society that make us great' and the latter for helping ditch 'outdated' ideas that hold the United States back. He concluded that he is grateful to have been born in America, because even though 'she is haunted by her past... despite her flaws, her frame is robust and her potential unmatched.' Mangione said his final thing he is grateful for is 'light.' Several sign-offs have emerged on social media, with one Luigi wrote in pen to a fan saying: 'Thanks for the birthday message. 'Never lose the plot. Luigi.' Multiple versions of the same letter with slightly different sign-offs have been shared online. That suggests Mangione is sending them out to anyone who wishes him a happy birthday. Mangione faces both state and federal charges over Thompson's killing. US Attorney General Pam Bondi has said she'll seek to have Mangione executed if he's found guilty of a federal count of using a firearm to commit murder.
Fashion United
4 days ago
- Fashion United
Inditex reports stagnant growth in Q1 2025 sales and profits
Madrid – On Wednesday, June 11, the Spanish fashion multinational Inditex Group released its consolidated financial results for the first quarter of its 2025 fiscal year (February 1 to April 30). The company experienced a notable slowdown, with both sales and profits showing minimal growth compared to the same period in 2024. According to figures submitted to the Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), the owner of Zara reported total sales of 8.27 billion euros for the first quarter. This represents a modest 1.52 percent increase from the 8.15 billion euros recorded last year. This growth is significantly lower than the 7 percent sales increase seen in Q1 2024 and the 7.46 percent growth for the full 2024 fiscal year. Profitability also showed a tight margin, with Inditex closing the first quarter with a net profit of 1.31 billion euros, a marginal increase of 0.46 percent from the 1.30 billion euros reported in Q1 2024. In contrast, Q1 2024 saw an 11.21 percent profit increase, contributing to an 8.93 percent net profit rise for the entire 2024 fiscal year. Outlook for 2025 and Beyond Despite the current slowdown, Inditex management maintains an optimistic outlook for the remainder of 2025 and beyond, citing "strong growth opportunities." They argue that the company's business model, active in 214 markets, still has a "low share in each of them." To unlock this potential, Inditex plans "ordinary" investments of 1.80 billion euros for 2025, as previously announced at the close of the 2024 fiscal year. As an updated sales indicator, Inditex noted that sales (both in-store and online, at constant exchange rates) increased by 6 percent at the start of the second quarter of 2025, from May 1 to June 9. This increase in turnover reflects "positive reception from our customers," according to the Spanish fashion multinational, particularly for the new Spring/Summer 2025 (SS25) collections. Dividend Approval and board changes In other financial and corporate news, Inditex confirmed the proposed dividend for 2024 results. As approved in March, the Board of Directors will recommend to the General Shareholders' Meeting on July 15 the approval of a dividend of 1.68 euros per share. This will be distributed in two payments of 0.84 euros per share; the first was disbursed on May 2, and the second is scheduled for November 3. Finally, the company announced that José Arnau, Inditex's vice president since June 2012, will retire from the Board of Directors at the end of his term, following the General Shareholders' Meeting on July 15. During this meeting, the appointment of Roberto Cibeira, executive director of Pontegadea (Amancio Ortega's investment vehicle and Inditex's founder and majority shareholder), will be proposed as a new proprietary director. In summary Inditex presented its Q1 2025 results, showing stagnant sales (+1.52 percent) and profits (+0.46 percent) compared to 2024. Despite this, the company still sees 'strong growth opportunities' for its business model, with investments of 1.80 billion euros and a +6 percent sales increase at the start of Q2. At the upcoming General Shareholders' Meeting, approval will be sought for a dividend of 1.68 euros per share, and the departure of José Arnau, vice president of Inditex, will be announced, with the proposed appointment of Roberto Cibeira as a new director. This article was translated to English using an AI tool. FashionUnited uses AI language tools to speed up translating (news) articles and proofread the translations to improve the end result. This saves our human journalists time they can spend doing research and writing original articles. Articles translated with the help of AI are checked and edited by a human desk editor prior to going online. If you have questions or comments about this process email us at info@
Spectator
6 days ago
- Spectator
Are you in #ChronicPain?
The pinned post at the top of the r/ChronicPain subreddit is 'how to get doctors to take you seriously'. The subreddit has 131,000 subscribers, and is a tricky community for outsiders to understand. People talk in acronyms (chronic lower back pain – CLBP, myalgic encephalomyelitis – ME, acceptance and commitment therapy – ACT) and have their own vocabulary ('spoonies' and 'zebras'). There are flippant memes about muscle relaxants next to horrific stories of medical negligence. People report their condition being so bad that they've dropped out of school or are even unable to care for their children. We can imagine the feelings of grief – and, of course, the sheer physical suffering – that come with chronic pain conditions. Or at least, we can try to. But anger at not being taken seriously seems to be the predominant emotion on these forums. It's one thing to grieve for the life you thought you might live, and another to feel that people somehow see you as complicit in your own agony – whether due to compassion fatigue from friends, or dismissal by doctors. Medical institutions and quacks alike offer a carrot-on-a-stick approach to various treatments – many of them expensive – which often fail to improve quality of life. The resulting emotions are all different shades of anger: frustration, exhaustion, righteous indignation, pure outrage. Luigi Mangione posted on a variety of Reddit chronic pain communities (part of what is called the #cripfam) in the months leading up to his alleged shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. He advised someone with a back condition to 'fake a foot drop or piss yourself. This is the absolute nuclear option, but there comes a point where it's just ridiculous that people won't operate on your broken spine.' What specifically about pain leads to radicalisation? Pain is clearer than hunger, quicker than exhaustion, more potent than even desire. In his book What The Body Commands, the philosopher Colin Klein outlines a theory of pain based entirely on the idea that pain is inherently motivational. It is not only an unpleasant sensation, but an unpleasant sensation with a statement: do something. Listening to pain is useful because pain is not just a symptom. It is part of the cure: you are told not to continue putting pressure on a twisted ankle, or to keep agitating a scab on a scraped elbow. But chronic pain is tricksier. Patients are told by doctors to find a variety of ways to ignore the body. This seems counter-intuitive when your whole being is screaming: do something! So some people take opioids. Others cocoon themselves in online support groups. Motivation without direction can be dangerous. Many people with chronic pain have lost their work and been dismissed as histrionic by those they trusted. They have nothing left to lose. Patients are told by doctors to find a variety of ways to ignore the body. This seems counter-intuitive when your whole being is screaming: do something! Pain also brings cognitive distortions: it can make someone more susceptible to black-and-white thinking. Small studies show that people suffering from chronic pain are more prone to impulsivity. There have been medically motivated attacks in the past: psychiatrists working on chronic fatigue in the UK received death threats in 2011, and in 2022 a doctor in Tulsa was shot by a patient with back pain. People in pain have always been isolated and angry – often rightly so – but now they are very, very online. To ignore this is to ignore fertile ground for radicalisation, especially as a nascent ideology begins to emerge from the rants and commiserations of these forums. There used to be too many things to blame and too few heroes. But in the wake of Luigi, the mentality of 'us vs them' has narrowed. They have found a martyr in him, and an enemy in those institutions that seem determined to write them off. In America, this means insurance companies. In the UK, it may be politicians and NHS bureaucrats. Chronic pain persists for a variety of reasons, and there is no magic pill. Long-term opioid use is correlated with worse pain and is no longer recommended. Sufferers find it difficult to accept help in the form of cognitive behavioural therapy and antidepressants, as these are often seen as attempts to write them off as 'headcases'. This sort of help, despite being the most supported by data, is often seen as a full-on affront to the validity of their suffering. Chronic pain is affecting more and more people in the UK, with increasing numbers of NHS referrals. Meanwhile, doctors have less time to make them feel heard. In many ways, we are protected from the violent consequences of its radicalisation because pain is physically inhibiting – but I expect to see more Luigis. In Bethnal Green, there is a graffitied portrait of the American. The portrait is half Eastern Orthodox icon, half Rolling Stone magazine cover. Luigi has become a sainted rockstar of pain.
