Latest news with #MarsInc
Epoch Times
3 hours ago
- Health
- Epoch Times
Mars Inc. Says It Removed Additive Targeted by RFK Jr. From Skittles
Skittles no longer contains titanium dioxide, a chemical identified as potentially problematic by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy's commission in a recent report, the candy's manufacturer said on May 27. 'Our commitment to quality is what has enabled Mars to be enjoyed by consumers for over a century, and nothing is more important than the safety of our products,' a spokesperson for Mars Inc. told news outlets this week. 'All our products are safe to enjoy and meet the high standards and applicable regulations set by food safety authorities around the world, and that's something we will never compromise on.'
Bloomberg
3 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Skittles Removes Controversial Additive Targeted by RFK Jr.
By and Will Kubzansky Save Mars Inc. 's Skittles candies are no longer being made with titanium dioxide, a chemical that whitens foods, brightens colors and makes candy appear shiny, the company confirmed to Bloomberg News. The additive was banned in the European Union in 2022 over concerns that nanoparticles of the substance might accumulate in the body and damage DNA. It has also come under scrutiny by the Department of Health and Human Services in recent months under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
NBC Sports
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC Sports
Bill Belichick seems to confirm engagement report, through the name of his boat
When it comes to the Bill Belichick/Jordon Hudson situation, there are so many stories popping up every day. On one hand, we exercise restraint. On the other hand, we're running a business. And the Belichick-Hudson business is booming. An already robust month of NFL news has seen a major spike in PFT traffic thanks to the never ending Belichick P.R. imbroglio. The three most viewed stories for May flowed from the aftermath of the interview featuring Belichick in a shirt with two neck holes. Some would say that, at times, the audience should be denied the candy that it craves. But has Mars Inc. ever told a customer, 'Sorry, you've had enough Twix bars'? We're a smorgasbord of meat (even it it's Spam), potatoes, leafy vegetables, and dessert. So here's another piece of coconut cream pie. In the aftermath of the recent New York Times report that Hudson has told at least one person that she and Belichick are engaged to be married, has produced photos of a revision to the name of Belichick's boat. Dubbed VIII Rings for the six Super Bowls Belichick won with the Patriots and two with the Giants, the name has been changed. It's now 'I + VIII Rings.' And all that that implies. It's the latest example of the clumsy balance Belichick and Hudson are trying to strike. On one hand, they seem to want the attention even more than a chocoholic wants a Hershey's bar. On the other hand, they want to complain about the scrutiny that comes from the attention they actively seek. That's one of the many various factors that make this coupling so compelling. And it's why the audience wants to read about them almost as badly as they want to be read about.
Boston Globe
27-03-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Facebook returns to its roots: showing posts from friends and family
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up LEGAL Advertisement Former executive of Mars candy subsidiary charged with stealing $28 million from company Before his arrest Wednesday, Paul Steed was a respected sugar market expert for a subsidiary of famed candymaker Mars Inc. He served on a US trade advisory committee for sweeteners as well as on industry group boards, while giving presentations at conferences. Now Steed, of Stamford, Conn., is accused in a federal indictment of stealing more than $28 million from Mars since about 2013 through various schemes, including diverting funds to companies he set up. He is charged with seven counts of wire fraud and two counts of tax evasion. Steed, 58, a dual US and Argentine citizen, pleaded not guilty in federal court in Bridgeport on Wednesday and was ordered detained pending trial. A US magistrate judge said Steed was a flight risk and noted that while the government has seized $18 million of the allegedly pilfered funds, several million dollars remain unaccounted for and Steed has strong connections to family in Argentina. Steed's lawyer, federal public defender Phoebe Bodurtha, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Thursday. Mars Inc. said in a statement that the case involves 'the action of a single individual who sought to exploit the organization for personal gain.' 'We fully cooperated with law enforcement to see this matter quickly brought to justice and always remain committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards and integrity in all our operations,' it added. Steed worked remotely from his Stamford home as global price risk manager for Mars Wrigley, according to federal prosecutors. The company is a subsidiary of McLean, Va.-based Mars Inc., the maker of M&M's, Snickers, Skittles, Altoids mints, and Doublemint gum, as well as other food products and pet food. — ASSOCIATED PRESS Advertisement ECONOMY US applications for unemployment benefits hold steady, remain in recent healthy range A help wanted sign at a gas station in Arlington Heights, Ill. Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press US applications for unemployment benefits held steady last week, a sign that the labor market remains healthy as companies continue to retain their employees. Jobless claim filings ticked down by 1,000 to 224,000 for the week ending March 22, the Labor Department said Thursday. That's mostly in line with the 225,000 new applications analysts forecast. Weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered a proxy for layoffs, and have remained mostly in a range between 200,000 and 250,000 for the past few years. It remains unclear when job cuts ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency, or 'DOGE,' will show up in the weekly layoffs report, though the Labor Department's February jobs report showed that the federal government shed 10,000 jobs. That's the most since June of 2022. Economists don't expect the federal workforce layoffs to have much of an impact until the March jobs report, which comes out April 4. — ASSOCIATED PRESS Advertisement ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE OpenAI close to finalizing $40 billion SoftBank-led funding OpenAI CEO Sam Altman attended a talk session with SoftBank group chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son in Tokyo on Feb. 3. YUICHI YAMAZAKI/AFP via Getty Images OpenAI is close to finalizing a $40 billion funding round led by SoftBank Group Corp. — with investors including Magnetar Capital, Coatue Management, Founders Fund, and Altimeter Capital Management in talks to participate, according to people familiar with the matter. Magnetar Capital — an Evanston, Ill.-based hedge fund — could contribute up to $1 billion, according to multiple people, all of whom asked not to be identified because the information is private. The artificial intelligence developer's funding round would be the largest of all time, according to data compiled by research firm PitchBook. The deal is set to value the company at $300 billion including dollars raised — almost double the ChatGPT maker's previous valuation of $157 billion from when it raised money in October. — BLOOMBERG NEWS REGULATION Trump pick for SEC faces conflict-of-interest scrutiny The seal of the US Securities and Exchange Commission headquarters in Washington, D.C. Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg Paul Atkins, President Trump's pick to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, faced an early political test over his strong ties to Wall Street and digital-asset firms. At his nomination hearing Thursday, the former Republican SEC commissioner and founder of consulting firm Patomak Global Partners met with stiff opposition from Democratic lawmakers over his potential conflicts of interest and support of deregulation. Senator Elizabeth Warren, speaking just before his Banking Committee hearing, said she's concerned that Atkins is 'thinking about his past and future clients' rather than American families. That criticism is unlikely to get in the way of his approval by the GOP-controlled Senate. Atkins is considered a qualified candidate and an ideal choice to roll back Biden-era policies, support capital formation, and provide clarity to the crypto industry. Atkins told lawmakers that he's committed to standard ethics requirements. In his testimony, he promised lawmakers to work on 'clear rules of the road' for both Wall Street and digital-asset firms. 'Unclear, overly politicized, complicated, and burdensome regulations are stifling capital formation, while American investors are flooded with disclosures that do the opposite of helping them understand the true risks of an investment,' Atkins said. 'It is time to reset priorities and return common sense to the SEC.' — BLOOMBERG NEWS Advertisement REAL ESTATE Average US rate on a 30-year mortgage dips to 6.65 percent after rising for 2 weeks Homes in the West Seattle neighborhood of Seattle, Wash., on June 18, 2024. David Ryder/Bloomberg The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the United States fell slightly this week, a welcome reversal for homebuyers in what's traditionally the housing market's busiest time of the year. The rate fell to 6.65 percent from 6.67 percent last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 6.79 percent. This is the first decline in the average rate after rising two weeks in a row. The average rate has trended lower since mid-January, when it climbed to just over 7 percent — a relief for house hunters struggling to afford a home after years of soaring prices. Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, rose this week, however, pushing the average rate to 5.89 percent from 5.83 percent last week. A year ago, it averaged 6.11 percent, Freddie Mac said. Mortgage rates are influenced by factors including bond market investors' expectations for future inflation, global demand for US Treasurys, and the Federal Reserve's interest rate policy decisions. — ASSOCIATED PRESS ENTERTAINMENT The Sundance Film Festival will move to Colorado in 2027 after spending 40 years in Utah The marquee of the Egyptian Theatre during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, in 2020. Arthur Mola/Arthur Mola/Invision/AP After a yearlong search, the Sundance Film Festival announced Thursday that its new home will be Boulder, Colo., keeping Sundance in the mountains but moving it out of Park City, the Utah ski town that had for decades provided the premier independent film gathering its picturesque snowy backdrop. Organizers said that after 40 years in the mountains, the festival had outgrown Park City, and lacked the necessary theaters or affordable housing to continue hosting what has become one of North America's most sprawling movie events. Sundance had narrowed down the options to Salt Lake City (with a smaller presence in Park City), Cincinnati, and Boulder. Boulder, organizers said, emerged as their choice due to its close proximity to nature, its small-town charm, and an engaged community that provides Sundance the ideal setting for its future. 'Boulder is a tech town, it's a college town, it's an arts town, and it's a mountain town,' Amanda Kelso, acting chief executive of the Sundance Institute, said in an interview Thursday from Boulder. 'At 100,000 people, a larger town than Park City, it gives us the space to expand.' — ASSOCIATED PRESS Advertisement
The Hill
27-03-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Former executive of Mars candy subsidiary charged with stealing $28 million from company
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Before his arrest Wednesday, Paul Steed was a respected sugar market expert for a subsidiary of famed candymaker Mars Inc. He served on a U.S. trade advisory committee for sweeteners as well as on industry group boards, while giving presentations at conferences. Now Steed, of Stamford, Connecticut, is accused in a federal indictment of stealing more than $28 million from Mars since about 2013 through various schemes, including diverting funds to companies he set up. He is charged with seven counts of wire fraud and two counts of tax evasion. Steed, 58, a dual U.S. and Argentine citizen, pleaded not guilty in federal court in Bridgeport on Wednesday and was ordered detained pending trial. A U.S. magistrate judge said Steed was a flight risk and noted that while the government has seized $18 million of the allegedly pilfered funds, several million dollars remain unaccounted for and Steed has strong connections to family in Argentina. Steed's lawyer, federal public defender Phoebe Bodurtha, did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Thursday. His wife, Martina Steed, told The Associated Press in a brief phone call that she did not know all the facts of the case and declined further comment. Mars Inc. said in a statement that the case involves 'the action of a single individual who sought to exploit the organization for personal gain.' 'We fully cooperated with law enforcement to see this matter quickly brought to justice and always remain committed to maintaining the highest ethical standards and integrity in all our operations,' it added. Steed worked remotely from his Stamford home as global price risk manager for Mars Wrigley, according to federal prosecutors. The company is a subsidiary of McLean, Virginia-based Mars Inc., the maker of M&M's, Snickers, Skittles, Altoids mints and Doublemint gum, as well as other food products and pet food. Steed and his wife appeared to be living beyond their means, according to the judge's order authorizing his pretrial detention. Steed's annual salary was about $200,000 while his wife was making $40,000 to $50,000 a year as a hair stylist, Magistrate Judge S. Dave Vatti said in the order. Yet they paid $2.5 million in cash in 2023 for a property in wealthy Greenwich, Connecticut, and own a mortgage-free home in Stamford worth $1 million, he wrote. Steed also sent $2 million over the past several years to relatives, other people and entities in Argentina, where he apparently owns a cattle and tea ranch, according to the order. In July 2012 he set up a company, Ibera LLC, and a year later he began submitting false invoices from it to Mars, according to the federal indictment. The scheme allegedly went on until December 2020, with Steed stealing nearly $580,000 with the bogus invoices. A bigger scheme beginning in 2016 would result in the diversion of millions of dollars from Mars through another Steed-created company, MCNA LLC, the indictment said. Prosecutors say Steed told certain sugar refineries who were buying 're-export credits' from Mars to send the money to MCNA instead. Steed also used MCNA in other scams including one involving the theft of more than $11 million from the sale of Mars's shares in a financial services company, according to the indictment. Steed was appointed in early 2021 by then-U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to serve on an agricultural trade advisory committee for sweeteners and sweetener products. In a LinkedIn posting previewing a commodities conference in New York City last year, Steed was listed as serving in several sugar industry groups, including being a former president of the New York Sugar Club. He also was a member of the Intercontinental Exchange's Sugar Contract Committee and a board member of the U.S. Sugar Users Association.
