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The Morning Risk Report: BP’s Ouster of Its Chairman Brings More Turmoil After Years of Upheaval
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By Richard Vanderford | Dow Jones Risk Journal
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Good morning. Albert Manifold was an industry outsider tapped to oversee a turnaround at BP after years of upheaval. Now his abrupt departure has the major oil company facing a fresh bout of turmoil.
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Whistleblower reports: The London-based company this week removed Manifold from his post with immediate effect after its board received whistleblower reports that he was verbally abusive and bullying toward staff and had mishandled company information, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Too aggressive? Manifold brought an aggressive leadership style that executives at BP determined crossed the line into verbal abuse, the people familiar with the matter said. Manifold denies that he was abusive. Rather, his efforts to shake up the company, cut waste and channel investment away from underperforming projects sparked a backlash that led to his dismissal, said a person close to him.
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Vetting concerns: Manifold’s abrupt departure adds to the leadership turmoil that has hamstrung BP in recent years. The company has now had four chief executives and three chairmen since 2023, including interim roles. Manifold’s dismissal so early in his tenure raises questions about BP’s vetting process but also shows that the company’s governance mechanisms are working, said Carolyn Clarke, a co-founder of London-based corporate-governance consulting firm BRAVE Within.
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Content from our sponsor: Deloitte
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Private Equity: Why Modern Controls Matter in Finance ERP Transformations
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Without effective ERP internal controls, transformation can expose portfolio companies to significant risks such as errors, operational disruptions, and delayed growth. Read More
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New York New Jersey Stadium (temporarily renamed from MetLife Stadium) is set to host eight matches, including the final. Photo: Charly Triballeau/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
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New York and New Jersey subpoena FIFA on World Cup ticket prices.
The Attorneys General for New York and New Jersey on Wednesday issued subpoenas to soccer’s global governing body, compelling FIFA to disclose how it arrived at the unprecedented ticket prices for this summer’s World Cup.
The investigation will also look at other FIFA ticketing practices after fans reported being misled about seat locations and ticket categories.
FIFA officials declined to comment.
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Google employee charged with insider trading on Polymarket.
A Google software engineer allegedly earned $1.2 million by illegally trading contracts on Polymarket that allowed people to bet on who would be revealed as the most searched people of 2025, according to prosecutors.
Michele Spagnuolo, 36, was charged with fraud and money laundering over bets he allegedly made last year that were based on nonpublic search data Google restricts to “only a limited number of employees,” according to a criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday. The data revealed the most searched people at that time to be musicians Kendrick Lamar and d4vd, who both finished in the top five, court records said.
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The Trump administration last year brought fewer-than-average traditional financial fraud cases as it pivoted to a greater focus on consumer protection, healthcare fraud and fraud on government programs, Risk Journal reports (free link).
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Fender Musical Instruments sent cease-and-desist letters to guitar builders, including PRS, to stop production of Strat-shaped guitars. The company was emboldened by a German court ruling that declared the Stratocaster a copyrightable work of art.
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Exxon Mobil won shareholder approval Wednesday to move its legal home to Texas after CEO Darren Woods pitched the state as one with lawmakers, judges and juries that better understand the oil business.
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Before SpaceX can launch its Starship rocket again, the company needs to conduct an investigation into why the booster didn’t perform as expected during the company’s test flight last Friday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
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European Union authorities charged several individuals and companies with selling highly toxic materials as environmentally friendly charcoal.
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JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said the bank could consider an acquisition up to $20 billion in coming years due to regulatory flexibility.
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Australia’s government is suing 3M for more than US$1.4 billion over allegations that the manufacturing company covered up information on so-called forever chemicals used at 28 of the country’s defense bases.
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The European Union handed Temu a 200 million euro ($232.5 million) fine, saying consumers in the bloc were very likely to come across illegal items on the Chinese e-commerce group’s platform.
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The number of confirmed vessel crossings in the Strait of Hormuz Monday, compared to 20 over the weekend. Ship traffic across the waterway remains subdued even as oil prices fall on hopes of an agreement between the U.S. and Iran.
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Artificial-intelligence signage at the Canton Fair in Guangzhou, China. Photo: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg News
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China wants its companies to embrace AI—without firing workers.
Even as Chinese companies race to stay at the cutting edge of artificial intelligence development, Beijing is warning companies against replacing workers with AI, suggesting concern that the technology could create instability in the world’s second-largest economy.
Recent publicized labor disputes in China have sent a similar message, prompting companies to think twice before firing a worker due to automation.
China in recent years has struggled with youth disillusionment, with millions of college graduates competing for a limited number of desirable white-collar jobs. The unemployment rate among 16- to 24-year-olds in urban areas, excluding students, stood at 16% in April, according to government data.
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U.S. forces conducted new military strikes against Iran on Wednesday after Tehran launched drones at commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, according to U.S. officials, even as Washington and Tehran continue their efforts to forge a diplomatic settlement to the conflict and keep a fragile cease-fire intact.
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There are no signs that jet-fuel supplies will be at risk from the Mideast war this summer, according to German airline group Lufthansa.
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Canada unveiled a deal to sell liquefied natural gas to Germany, marking a significant step in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s effort to capitalize on its oil-and-gas reserves and position the country as an energy superpower.
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The independence of the Federal Reserve is still at risk, and safeguarding it will depend on continued support from voters and legislators, the head of the European Central Bank said Thursday.
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Two people died and nine others remained missing after a chemical tank collapsed in Longview, Wash. Officials said there was no hope of finding additional survivors.
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Robinhood Markets is launching a new feature that lets customers hand their trading and credit-card purchasing decisions to their favorite artificial-intelligence tools.
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Meta Platforms has started the rollout of subscription plans for Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
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New York City’s hotel owners last week signed the industry’s most expensive union contract ever. Travelers to the city will be paying for it.
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Cloud storage company Snowflake plans to pay $6 billion over the next five years for access to Amazon’s Graviton chips inside Amazon Web Services data centers.
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President Trump on Wednesday filed a revised lawsuit against the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, after a judge dismissed an earlier complaint that alleged he was defamed by an article about a birthday letter to disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
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