The daily business briefing: September 28, 2016
Wells Fargo CEO forfeits $41 million over sales scandal, SpaceX unveils Mars mission plans, and more


1. Wells Fargo CEO to lose millions over sales scandal
Wells Fargo is taking back $41 million in stock and salary from CEO John Stumpf as the company conducts an internal investigation of its sales scandal. The bank has faced rising pressure to hold its top executives accountable for the opening of about two million unwanted deposit and credit card accounts without customers' authorization, apparently to meet sales quotas. Last week, Stumpf faced a grilling in Congress, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) accusing him of "gutless leadership" and saying he should resign. His compensation forfeiture will be the industry's biggest, at least since the 2008 financial crisis. Former community banking chief Carrie Tolstedt, who has left the firm but was responsible when workers opened the unwanted accounts, will lose $19 million in unvested stock.
2. SpaceX reveals its plan for reaching Mars
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday unveiled his private spaceflight company's plan for sending cargo to Mars as soon as 2018, followed by a manned mission by 2025. SpaceX's "Interplanetary Transport System" would use a reusable rocket booster to refuel an orbiting spaceship, which would later deploy a solar power system on its trip to Mars, according to a video SpaceX released on Tuesday. The unveiling of the plan came less than a month after SpaceX suffered a setback when one of its Falcon 9 rockets exploded during a pre-flight test on a Cape Canaveral launchpad.
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3. Ford counters debate criticism from Trump
Ford Motor Co. pushed back against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Tuesday for his criticism of the automaker's big investments in Mexico during Monday's debate with Hillary Clinton. Trump singled out Ford as an example of an American company that has sent jobs out of the U.S. as a result of the North American Free Trade Agreement. Ford employees used social media to tout claims that Ford had invested $12 billion in U.S. plants and created nearly 28,000 U.S. jobs in the last five years.
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4. Tyson recalls 132,520 pounds of chicken nuggets
Tyson Foods is voluntarily recalling 132,520 pounds of cooked chicken nuggets that could contain hard plastic, federal regulators said Tuesday. The recall came after a customer found "foreign material" that might have come from a plastic rod used to connect a plastic conveyor belt, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Safety Inspection Service said. The recall applies to five-pound bags of fully cooked panko chicken nuggets. The packages are marked with a "use by" date of July 18, 2017.
5. SABMiller investors approve takeover by Anheuser-Busch InBev
SABMiller announced Wednesday that its shareholders had approved a $103 billion takeover by rival brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev. The decision removes the last remaining hurdle for the merger, as regulators around the world have already signed off. Anheuser-Busch InBev, maker of Budweiser, said the deal would create "the first truly global brewer." The merger unites a host of brands, including Beck's, Stella Artois, and Foster's. The combined company will have nearly a third of the world's beer market.
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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.
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