FTC: Hess CEO cut from Chevron board in merger

The U.S. antitrust regulator will allow Chevron Corp. to proceed with its $53 billion acquisition of Hess Corp. on the condition Chief Executive Officer John Hess is barred from the supermajor’s board, alleging he improperly communicated with OPEC.

The Federal Trade Commission said in a statement Monday that Hess communicated with the cartel and its allies, praising their efforts to stabilize oil production and reduce inventories, moves that typically raise prices. Chevron assented to a consent agreement with the FTC that will let the takeover advance.

“Mr. Hess’s communications with competitors about global oil output and other dimensions of crude oil market competition disqualify him from serving on Chevron’s Board of Directors,” said Henry Liu, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition.

The FTC voted 3-2 in favor of the agreement. The two dissenting commissioners criticized the decision as politically motivated, saying there were no concerns over competition nor laws broken. Commissioner Melissa Holyoak called it a sequel to the “fairy tale” reasoning the FTC used to block Pioneer Natural Resources Co. ex-CEO Scott Sheffield from joining Exxon Mobil Corp.’s board in May.

San Diego’s Petco stops selling rabbits

Petco announced last week it will shift from selling rabbits to putting them up for adoption.

The San Diego-based animal goods and services brand said it was not selling rabbits on a wide scale. The retailer launched a pilot in which it put “fewer than 50 rabbits” up for sale at select stores across the U.S. This move brings the company’s practices in closer alignment with animal rights groups, which have long pushed for an end to rabbit sales.

“The decision was made in line with the company’s longstanding Think Adoption First philosophy — which encourages prospective pet parents to consider adopting a homeless pet rather than purchasing one, whenever possible — and feedback received in partnership with animal rescue and welfare organizations nationwide,” the company said in a news release.

As a result, the miniature rabbits in stock at certain Petco stores as part of the pilot are now available for adoption.

Beyond making the pilot animals adoptable, Petco will also focus on “helping find homes for the thousands of rabbits already looking for loving families across the country,” said Benjamin Thiele-Long, who oversees communications, and environmental, social and governance for Petco, in a statement.

Verizon cellphone users report outages across U.S.

Thousands of Verizon users across the United States reported having little or no cellphone service on Monday morning in major cities, including in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, New York and Phoenix.

According to the website Downdetector, which tracks user reports of internet disruptions, more than 104,000 cases of Verizon outages were reported across the country, more than an hour after the first issues were reported.

On the site, many users said their cellphones were intermittently displaying “SOS” mode and that they could not place calls or send or receive text messages.

Verizon spokesperson Ilya Hemlin said he had no information on the cause of the problem or whether it was linked to localized power failures in certain parts of the country. He said the company would provide more information as soon as it was available.

Verizon, one of the largest cellphone carriers in the world, has 114.2 million wireless subscribers in the United States.

Compiled from Bloomberg, San Diego Union-Tribune and New York Times reports.