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Associated Press
a minute ago
- Associated Press
FTC sues LA Fitness operators for 'exceedingly difficult' gym cancellation policies
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is suing the operators of LA Fitness, over allegations that they make it 'exceedingly difficult' for consumers to cancel gym memberships and other related services offered in their clubs nationwide. In a Wednesday complaint, the FTC accused Fitness International and its subsidiary Fitness & Sports Clubs of illegally charging consumers 'hundreds of millions of dollars in unwanted recurring fees' as a result of cumbersome cancellation processes. The agency said that tens of thousands of customers have reported difficulties with these policies to date. 'The FTC's complaint describes a scenario that too many Americans have experienced — a gym membership that seems impossible to cancel,' Christopher Mufarrige, director of the agency's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a statement. Beyond LA Fitness, California-based Fitness International operates brands like Esporta Fitness, City Sports Club, and Club Studio — spanning across more than 600 locations with over 3.7 million members nationwide. And the FTC pointed to two 'unfair and unlawful' cancellation processes that it says these gyms have used for years: in-person cancellation or cancellation by mail. Both of these options require consumers to print out a form on the gym's website, which includes logging in with credentials that the agency says some customers don't have or remember. And if a customer opts for in-person cancellation, there's limited hours and often difficulty finding a manager to process the forms, the complaint notes — while mailing the form comes with additional costs. 'Each of these cancellation methods is opaque, complicated, and demanding — far from simple,' the FTC writes in its complaint. It also alleges that the company doesn't adequately disclose cancellation offerings when consumers sign up for memberships, and that some will be signed up for additional services with recurring charges without realizing there may be different cancellation requirements. According to the FTC, Fitness International now offers website cancellations for subscriptions 'with stand-alone agreements' — but the agency said the process 'still imposes unnecessary burdens' on customers and claims that that option is buried online. It's also still not possible to cancel memberships on the company's mobile apps, the FTC added. Fitness International did not immediately respond to The Associated Press' request for comment on Wednesday. This isn't the first time that federal regulators have accused gym operators — and other companies with subscription services — of making their cancellation processes too difficult for consumers. Under the Biden administration, the FTC adopted a 'click to cancel' rule, which would have made it easier for consumers to end unwanted subscriptions. But last month, days before that rule was poised to go into effect, a federal appeals court blocked the proposed changes. In its litigation against Fitness International, the FTC says it's seeking a court order prohibiting the allegedly unfair conduct and money back for consumers who were harmed by difficult cancellation processes.
CNBC
a minute ago
- CNBC
Target's next CEO started as an intern—and rose up the ranks over 22 years
Twenty-two years ago, Michael Fiddelke was a finance intern at Target. Now, he's set to become the company's next CEO. Fiddelke, currently Target's chief operating officer, will take over the top position and join the board of directors on February 1, 2026, the company announced on Wednesday. He'll replace Brian Cornell, who's run the retailer for the last 11 years — overseeing it through record stock highs in 2021 and an ongoing market slump essentially ever since. When Fiddelke interned at Target in 2003, he was a graduate student at Northwestern University studying business administration and finance. Target hired him as a full-time analyst the following year, and he got promoted or changed jobs within the Minneapolis-based company roughly every two years, all the way up to his CEO appointment. His resume at Target between 2007 and 2024 includes several director titles, vice president, senior vice president, executive vice president and chief financial officer. "I can tell you that the intern that walked through those doors down the road 22 years ago wouldn't have predicted a Target path that leads to today," Fiddelke, 49, said in a video on LinkedIn on Wednesday. Fiddelke's job as CEO may not be easy. For the past four years, Target's sales have been generally flat, a trend that the company's leaders have described as a blip — but customers, former employees, vendors and analysts say is largely a result of subpar experiences in leanly staffed stores and a Trump-era turn away from diversity efforts, CNBC reported on July 15. "They have kind of lost their identity," said one former employee, who worked at Target for nearly 10 years. Target's fiscal second-quarter results exceeded Wall Street's earnings expectations, but its full-year outlook still predicts a single percentage point decline in sales. "Getting Target back to growth is my top priority," Fiddelke wrote in his LinkedIn post. "We'll need to operate differently, move with urgency and focus, and make bold choices to get there. We have the foundation to build new momentum, and I'm eager to accelerate work already underway and find new ways to deliver the incredible products and experiences our guests expect from us." When Fiddelke takes over, he'll join the likes of Nike's Elliott Hill, Microsoft's Satya Nadella and General Motors' Mary Barra as people who went on to lead the companies they joined as interns. His decades of experience at Target during both high and low periods help him "understand this business" and what makes it "distinctly unique," he said on Wednesday during a call with reporters. "I know you're not satisfied with where Target is today. Neither am I," he said in the LinkedIn video, speaking to consumers. "Getting us back to growth is my No. 1 priority and I'm eager to get to work."
Wall Street Journal
a minute ago
- Wall Street Journal
TNB Tech Minute: Baidu Reports Lower Revenue Amid Weak Ad Business - Tech News Briefing
Full Transcript This transcript was prepared by a transcription service. This version may not be in its final form and may be updated. Speaker 1: Here's your afternoon TNB Tech Minute for Wednesday, August 20th. I'm Julie Chang for the Wall Street Journal. In earnings, Chinese search engine giant, Baidu, reported lower quarterly revenue amid a weaker performance in its core advertising business. Profit was better than expected though. Revenue for the second quarter fell 3.6 percent from a year earlier to 32.71 billion yuan, which equals to about 4.55 billion dollars. Baidu's CEO said the company's AI cloud business helped mitigate the near-term pressure on its online marketing business. Plus, General Motors has a new team focused on artificial intelligence. The automaker has been on a hiring spree the last eight months, bringing on board nearly a dozen hires from top tech companies, from Google to Meta to AWS. Its goal: to build a small but mighty AI team that'll assist the organization everywhere from factory production lines to the NASCAR racetrack, as well as help individual groups build AI workforces. Finally, we exclusively report that US battery companies are increasingly looking overseas for new manufacturing opportunities. Group14, a Seattle-based Silicon Valley materials maker, said it closed a $463 million funding round led by South Korean conglomerate SK. As part of that deal, Group14 will take control of the company's silicon battery material manufacturing in South Korea, having previously held a 25% stake in the joint venture. This comes at a time when support for clean tech wanes in the country. And that's a wrap for your TNB Tech Minutes. Tune in tomorrow morning for another quick Tech update.
