Apple Loses Top Talent; UnitedHealth Group Investigation; Meta Investment

On this episode of Stock Movers:
- Apple (APPL) shares are moving on news that Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams is retiring with the company's longtime No. 2, with Sabih Khan replacing him as COO. Williams will step down as COO this month and retire from the company later in the year, continuing to oversee the design team and manage health initiatives until his departure. Khan, a 30-year veteran of Apple, will report to Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook and likely add divisions like AppleCare to his existing operations, contending with challenges such as tariff costs and slowing iPhone growth.
- UnitedHealth Group (UNH) is lower this morning after the DOJ's criminal healthcare fraud unit intensified its investigation into the company's Medicare billing practices, focusing on how it leveraged doctors and nurses to boost government payments. The probe began at least a year ago and is now drawing fresh scrutiny as former employees speak with federal investigators. The Wall Street Journal reported that former UnitedHealth employees told investigators that the company encouraged the capture of certain lucrative diagnoses during patient assessments.
- Meta (META) shares are moving after it bought a minority stake in EssilorLuxottica SA, deepening the US tech giant's commitment to the smart glasses industry, according to people familiar with the matter. The deal aligns with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's commitment to AI and gives Meta the advantage of having more detailed manufacturing knowledge and global distribution networks, fundamental to turning its smart glasses into mass-market products.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news, The Stock Movers podcast,
your roundup of companies making moves in the stock market,
harnessing the power of Bloomberg Data.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Joining us today to Stock Movers John Tucker Here, it's
a podcast. Good morning John. Yes, it is Apple losing
more talent. The number two guy there is leaving. He's
the chief operating officer, Jeff Williams, retiring. Sixty two year
old Williams once considered a possible successor to the CEO,

(00:38):
Tim Cook. So somebody by the name of Sabik Khan
is going to replace Williams as CEO, while the Apple
chief Design team is going to shift to reporting directly
to Tim Cook. Now. At Apple, Williams was known for
crafting the supply chain. It could handle hundreds of millions
of devices a year and source components from thousands of
suppliers around the world, a pretty complex job. This marks

(01:02):
a major changing of the guard at an already pretty
tumultuous time for Thereemaker. Well, yeah, yesterday we told you
about the exit of Roaming Pang, an engineer and the
manager in charge of the Apple Foundation models team. He's
headed to Meta and Facebook also want to bring. There
was an interview with Peter Navarro, the trade guy on

(01:24):
Fox and he said Apple quote thinks it's too big
to tariff. So that's another concern.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Knocked down sixteen percent this year today.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
Yeah, throw into the mix there, it's very own AI.
Let's move on to the next one of the Department
of Justice, the Criminal Healthcare Fraud Unit intensifying its investigation
into United Health Group the medicare billing practices there, and
they're focusing on how it leveraged doctors and nurses to
boost government payments to the company. This pro began at

(01:59):
least a year ago, is now drawing fresh scrutiny. Former
employees are now speaking with federal investigators. This according to
the Wall Street Journal. They're reporting the former United Health
employees told investigators the company encouraged the capture of certain
lucrative diagnoses during patient assessments. And finally, what happened to

(02:20):
the smart classes that Google? Yeah, exactly, Well, it's all
making a comeback this time Meta Platforms. They have bought
a minority stake in the world's largest eyewear manufacturer SLR Laxotica.
This is all about smart classes, Meta acquiring just under
three percent of the ray band maker. It's a stake
worth about three and a half billion dollars. Meta is

(02:42):
considering further investment that could build the stake to around
five percent over time. The two companies have worked together
for a few years that develop AI powered smart classes.
Meta is currently selling the image capturing real time stock
prices all that stuff into their ray band glasses, which
are pretty smart looking. I think, is there any indication

(03:04):
this is gonna work?

Speaker 1 (03:07):
I don't Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
I want to get the Bloomberg terminal on my ray
vans so I don't have to look at the screen anymore. Exactly.
I can see quotes just staring at you. I don't know.
I just I mean, I'm very uncomfortable with the concept
of somebody looking at me and recording me.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
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