Category: 3. Business

Assistant teaching professor Viviane Kim led a study abroad program that taught students about marketing and brand design within a specifically Korean cultural context.

On Netflix, it’s all about the K-drama. K-pop is dominating Spotify. K-beauty is all the rage on TikTok.

The “K,” for those that don’t know, is Korea, a marketing and branding powerhouse of a country that seems to be everywhere right now (heard of K-wellness, or K-horror films?).

Led by assistant teaching professor Viviane Kim, “Immerse in K-Culture” explored the origins of this K-phenomenon and introduced students to branding and design from within the cultural context of Korea.

Korean branding goes global

“Immerse in K-Culture” is a Northeastern University Dialogue of Civilizations, a global study program with courses all around the world.

“Korea, as a small country, wanted to rely more on export goods,” Kim says — a huge percentage of the Korean GDP comes from manufacturing, she says — and so there was a big push around K-food and K-beauty. The two biggest cosmetic manufacturing companies, she continues, are in Korea. Whether it’s “Estée Lauder or Chanel or any high-end product,” she says, it “is manufactured in Korea.”

Because so many cosmetics are made in the country, “it was easier for Korean companies to manufacture and develop new brands.”

But Korea’s biggest export turned out to be something intangible — its cultural products, like K-pop music. “So they started to invest a lot of money,” she continues, into marketing their music, television and film.

Design lessons from K-culture

Students on the Dialogue took part in two courses, Identity and Brand Design and Typography, exploring just how the Korean experiment — marketing their cultural products to a global audience — managed to work so well.

By living and studying in Korea for four-and-a-half weeks, students learned about the local business ecosystem, Kim says, like the “K-beauty industry, K-entertainment industry and K-food industry in Korea, while they’re staying here. And then I asked everyone to launch a new brand, or new product or new service.”

This new brand constituted the overarching project students pursued during their month in Korea.

Megan Alexander, a rising second-year student majoring in design, based her brand on a local animal found only in Korea and limited parts of China, the water deer. “In Korea they really like characters and little cute things,” Alexander says, pointing to how even the capital city of Seoul adopted branded characters in 2023.

“I made a character that was kind of based in the culture, so that I could do research through mythical folk tales in Korea,” Alexander continues. 

Some of her classmates decided to focus on K-beauty and made fragrance or cosmetic brands, she says, but, “I wanted to focus more on the food, because I really like the packaging that all the Korean foods had. It was really interesting, and a lot of characters are also on the packaging.”

Alexander’s final design was for a juice brand she called “Mulde” — using “Mul,” the Korean word for water, and the first two letters of the word “deer” — with a stylized image of the water deer as its logo. Mulde’s tagline? “Sip the wild. Protect the wild.”

Socially responsible and irresistible

A crucial part of their time in Korea was performing market research. Kim says that her students identified social responsibility as a key ingredient when marketing to Generation Z and millennials. 

Making that socially responsible product functional and attractive would make their products irresistible — hence Alexander’s cute water deer logo combined with the “protect the wild” tagline. Alexander envisioned that, in Mulde’s business model, a significant portion of profits would go toward conservation.

Kalene Peterson, a fourth-year student currently in an art direction co-op with Bose, attended the “Immerse in K-Culture” Dialogue in 2024. She chose the music industry for her project, “because I used to be a big fan of K-pop,” she says, and she wanted to “add my own personal touches into their music industry.”

She called her company Peterson Talents — there are “no Petersons in Korea,” she quips — and identified a growing musical genre that the hypothesized company would focus on: K-indie. 

“I would take Korean indie music stars and promote [them] worldwide. So use the international platform to elevate their music, and show to the world,” Peterson says.

Career-ready through cultural immersion

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections, and while urine culture remains a frequently used diagnostic method in clinical microbiology laboratories, there is a growing need for rapid and accurate testing to ensure timely treatment [24]. This study evaluated the performance of urine flow cytometric screening using the UF-5000 and proposed an optimised workflow to efficiently differentiate between negative and likely positive urine samples while maintaining high diagnostic accuracy.

We analysed 4005 samples, comparing UFC results with culture results. Diagnostic cut-offs vary across laboratories due to differences in patient populations and different definitions used to classify significant bacteriuria. In our study, a UFC cut-off of < 30 cells/µl provided a balance between high sensitivity and reduced culture workload. Introduction of this method would decrease the need for urine cultures by > 30%, which is consistent with previous studies [12, 23, 25]. This reduction has substantial benefits, including lower costs, improved turnaround times, and decreased laboratory workload. Faster reporting of negative results allows > 30% of patients to receive same-day results. The rapid turnaround benefits both clinicians and patients by facilitating timely decision-making and improving antimicrobial stewardship. Despite these advantages, certain patient groups posed challenges. We observed lower agreement between flow cytometry and culture results in pregnant women, necessitating their exclusion from this workflow. Similarly, children showed reduced sensitivity and negative predictive value (NPV), leading to their exclusion as well. This aligns with Swedish UTI guidelines, which emphasise different diagnostic approaches for children and pregnant women [15]. Pregnant women are particularly at risk of complications, such as preterm birth and maternal hypertension, when bacteriuria remains untreated. Therefore, their urine samples should be cultured to detect uropathogens and group B streptococci [26]. Our data reinforce the recommendation that urine culture should remain the gold standard for these populations. Minimising false negatives is critical, as missing relevant infections can delay treatment.

False negatives are a known limitation of any screening approach. While false negatives do occur, they can be reduced through careful interpretation of the results and consideration of clinical factors. In our study, a total of 49 samples (1.5%) were negative by flow cytometry but positive by culture, of which three samples (0.09%) showed clinically significant bacteriuria (≥ 10⁴ CFU/mL), representing the most relevant false negatives in our cohort (Tables 4 and S5). The remaining 46 samples either contained yeast (2/46), mixed flora (2/46) or had low bacterial counts (10²–10⁴ CFU/mL) (42/46). This highlights that most false negatives in urine screening involve low concentration uropathogens, which are more challenging to detect but may still be clinically relevant. Importantly, clinical context plays a critical role in interpretation. Our findings further highlight the importance of clear clinical communication. In many cases with low bacterial concentrations (10²–10⁴ CFU/mL), the absence of detailed clinical information led to uncertainty regarding the clinical significance and the need for AST. In 57% of these FN samples, the laboratory noted the clinical relevance as unclear, and in some cases, the indication for AST was not evident. This supports the need for improved dialogue between clinicians and the microbiology laboratory to ensure accurate interpretation and appropriate testing decisions, particularly in borderline or diagnostically complex cases. When available patient symptoms were taken into account (if provided to the laboratory), the number of potential false negatives dropped from 42 to 29 (0.89%), illustrating how combining clinical and laboratory information enhances diagnostic safety. This highlights the importance of clinicians providing accurate clinical information to support laboratory decision-making. Nevertheless, in specific high-risk populations, such as immunocompromised patients and those in intensive care, urine culture remains indispensable, even if screening results are negative. These groups may present with lower bacterial loads that are clinically important but harder to detect through screening alone. Therefore, while UFC offers substantial benefits in reducing unnecessary cultures and streamlining diagnostics, careful consideration of patient population and clinical presentation remains essential to avoid underdiagnosis. Tailored sensitivity thresholds or complementary testing may be appropriate in high-risk settings to ensure optimal patient care [27, 28]. To further reduce the risk of false negatives, especially in samples with low bacterial counts, laboratories may consider implementing a structured decision-making protocol that combines flow cytometry results with relevant available clinical information such as symptoms, history of recurrent infections, or other risk factors. Such a workflow can guide targeted antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) in borderline cases, ensuring that clinically relevant infections are not missed. This approach emphasises the importance of ongoing communication between clinicians and laboratory personnel to enhance diagnostic accuracy and patient care.

While elevated leukocyte counts are commonly associated with infection, our findings confirm that such parameters must be interpreted in the context of clinical information. In several cases (3), elevated leukocytes were observed in samples for which no AST was performed, as the clinical data did not indicate the need for further workup. This illustrates the inherent limitation of using UFC as a standalone tool and reinforces the essential role of clinical context in guiding appropriate diagnostics. A reliable screening algorithm must therefore be supported by accurate and accessible clinical information to optimise diagnostic decision-making. Each laboratory must carefully assess the risks and benefits of screening methods compared to urine culture to ensure appropriate diagnostic decisions.

UFC has long been recognised as an effective tool for identifying bacteriuria [13]. However, its predictive performance varies across patient subpopulations. Our study found that the positive predictive value (PPV) for pregnant women was only 62.2%, whereas in children, it was notably high at 96.9%, suggesting that flow cytometry could be useful for paediatric patients as previously shown [29]. In the subgroup analysis excluding pregnant women (n = 3574), a bacterial cut-off value of > 4000 cells/µl demonstrated strong diagnostic performance (96.4% sensitivity, 95.3% PPV). This is in line with previous studies and highlights the methods’ potential to accurately identify relevant bacteriuria across a broad patient population [4, 9, 14]. The 40 (1.1%) false positive samples were mostly due to mixed flora, indicating contamination or polymicrobial infections that are difficult to distinguish using flow cytometry alone. Given that all screening-positive samples proceed to culture, these cases can be clarified through confirmatory urine culture, ensuring accurate reporting and minimising the risk of misclassification.

Identification of the UTI-causing bacteria as soon as possible is important, especially in cases of UTI complicated by bacteraemia or sepsis, where targeted therapy could improve patient outcomes. In this study, we evaluated the performance of the Bact Info-flag “Gram Neg?” in a subpopulation excluding pregnant women. Our findings demonstrate that the flag was activated in 61% of samples classified as positive based on bacterial count (> 4000/µl). Notably, all flagged samples were culture-positive, underscoring the high specificity of this indicator for detecting true bacterial infections. A key observation was the strong concordance between the Gram classification provided by the flag and the culture results. In 96% of cases, there was full agreement between the flag and the Gram-negative species identified in culture. Additionally, partial agreement, where both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria were detected, occurred in 3.3% of samples. Discrepancies were observed in only two cases (0.37%), suggesting a minimal rate of misclassification. The high specificity of the “Gram Neg?” flag highlights its potential use in laboratory workflows, particularly in rapidly distinguishing Gram-negative infections. This aligns with previous findings, where the “Gram Neg?” flag demonstrated good sensitivity and optimal specificity for predicting Gram-negative bacteria in culture, with an overall agreement of 99.8% when Gram negatives were present alone or together with Gram positives, and a very low discordance rate of 0.2% [4]. Given that Gram-negative bacteria often are associated with more severe UTIs and may require specific antibiotic treatments, early identification can support timely clinical decision-making. In urgent cases where immediate treatment is necessary, the ‘Gram Neg?’ flag may support early, targeted antibiotic initiation prior to culture confirmation. This could be particularly valuable in emergency settings or for vulnerable patient groups where treatment delays may have serious consequences. While further validation is needed, the flag may serve as a useful adjunct to guide empiric therapy decisions in appropriate clinical contexts. This could be particularly valuable in emergency settings or for vulnerable patient groups where treatment delays may have serious consequences. While further validation is needed, the flag may serve as a useful adjunct to guide empiric therapy decisions in appropriate clinical contexts.

Our proposed workflow for sorting urine samples based on screening results aims to optimise the laboratory workflow by reducing unnecessary cultures while maintaining diagnostic accuracy. The application of a < 30 BACT/µl rule for negative samples led to a 32% reduction in cultures, with a 55% decrease among negative samples in a population were pregnant women and children are excluded. This supports previous findings where a similar strategy was proposed highlighting the potential of such an approach in reducing laboratory workload while maintaining diagnostic safety [14]. The ability to confidently exclude a significant proportion of negative samples without additional testing is crucial for improving laboratory efficiency and resource allocation. For ruling in relevant bacteriuria, we established a cut-off of > 4000 cells/µl, providing a reliable indicator of clinically significant bacterial presence. The intermediate group with bacterial counts between 30 and 4000 cells/µl (51%) represents a diagnostic grey zone where culture remains necessary. Clinical context and additional diagnostic information are essential for safe decision-making until further refinements or supporting tools become available. The overall performance of our algorithm, as summarised in Table 8, supports its feasibility in routine laboratory practice, both for in- and out-patient samples. By implementing a structured decision-making process based on screening results, we can streamline urine diagnostics, minimising unnecessary cultures while ensuring that clinically significant cases are properly identified. Future studies should further validate these cut-offs in larger and more diverse populations, particularly in settings with different patient demographics or clinical guidelines. Additionally, integrating this algorithm with automated reporting systems could further enhance its practical application in high-throughput laboratories. Carryover and cross-contamination were minimal, which is crucial for microbiology screening, as the same tube is used for urine culture when the screening result is positive.

Limitations of the study: This study has several limitations. Its retrospective design may introduce selection bias and limits the control over sample handling and data collection. According to the manufacturer’s protocol, Sysmex UF-5000 analysis should ideally be performed on fresh urine samples within 4 h without preservatives. However, some outpatient samples required longer transport times and these could not be separately identified or excluded. This may affect the generalisability of our results to other settings where sample transport and processing times differ. Additionally, diagnostic cut-offs and bacteriological significance thresholds vary between laboratories and countries, which may limit direct applicability of our proposed cut-offs beyond our local context. European guidelines also highlight the importance of considering local epidemiology and clinical context when implementing new screening protocols [16, 22]. Future prospective studies in diverse clinical settings would help confirm the robustness and transferability of our findings.

OpenAI researchers Alex Wei, Sheryl Hsu and Noam Brown took a different approach than other AI Labs and achieved gold medal-performance on this year’s International Mathematical Olympiad. They prioritized general-purpose AI reasoning techniques over specialized mathematical tools. Their breakthrough demonstrates how test-time compute scaling and reinforcement learning can tackle hard-to-verify tasks, representing a significant leap in AI’s mathematical reasoning capabilities.

Build with general techniques, not specialized solutions: Alex emphasized that their team “really prioritized general purpose techniques” rather than developing specialized systems for mathematical competition. Unlike previous AI projects that required years of domain-specific engineering, this approach focused on scalable reinforcement learning methods that could improve reasoning across multiple domains, not just mathematics.

Small teams can achieve breakthrough results: The core team consisted of just three researchers working for only two months on the final sprint, though they built on broader OpenAI infrastructure. They leveraged existing work from inference, scaling, and training teams—demonstrating how focused execution can amplify organizational capabilities.

Self-awareness prevents hallucination in difficult problems: When the model encountered the most difficult problem, it acknowledged its inability rather than generating a plausible-sounding but incorrect solution. Training a model to give “no answer” represents a crucial advancement for AI reliability.

Test-time compute scaling enables deeper reasoning: The breakthrough came from scaling inference compute from seconds to hours, allowing models to think longer about complex problems. However, with longer-running problems, evaluation becomes a bottleneck requiring longer evals.

Competitions represent stepping stones, not the destinations: The IMO competition is emblematic of AI progress generally but there remains a large gap between it and real research breakthroughs. Ultimately, real-world utility is the standard by which AI systems are judged.

TOKYO — Japanese automaker Nissan sank into a 115.8 billion yen ($782 million) loss for April-June, but promised Wednesday to return to profitability later this year.

Nissan Motor Corp. did not give a full year net profit forecast. It recorded a 28.6 billion yen profit during the April-June quarter last year.

Quarterly sales for the current fiscal year slipped nearly 10% to 2.7 trillion yen ($18 billion).

The maker of the Leaf electric car and Infiniti luxury models said the results were better than expected.

But it faces “headwinds,” including declining sales, unfavorable exchange rates and President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Ivan Espinosa, who took the helm at Nissan in April replacing Makoto Uchida, said the company’s recovery plan remained urgent. Uchida stepped down to take responsibility for the dismal fiscal results.

Espinosa noted the initial steps of the company’s revival plan were kicking in, including cutting costs, realigning products, reshaping a market strategy and strengthening partnerships.

“We must now go further and faster to achieve profitability. Everyone at Nissan is united in delivering a recovery that will ensure a sustainable and profitable future,” he said.

Nissan, based in the port city of Yokohama, has been struggling but is promising a turnaround under Espinosa, a Mexican with two decades of experience at Nissan.

The company said some of its models, such as the N7 in China and the Magnite in Mexico, have been selling well recently.

Nissan recently ditched talks with Japanese rival Honda Motor Co. to set up a joint holding company. They said they will continue to cooperate on technology development.

Nissan is closing its flagship factory in Oppama, Japan, outside Tokyo, by the end of the 2027 fiscal year, moving production there to another plant in southwestern Japan.

Nissan is also slashing 15% of its global work force, or about 20,000 employees. That includes a 9,000 head count reduction announced late last year.

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For patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, recent therapeutic advances—including the continued development of bispecific and trispecific antibodies—are poised to reshape the treatment landscape and offer renewed clinical momentum, according to Joshua Richter, MD.

“I think [trispecific antibodies] are going to be part of the future of the management of myeloma,” Richter said. “We’re excited about these and other assets that are coming along. The question is: Can we get somebody the perfect balance of efficacy and toxicity—but with 1 drug?”

In an interview with OncLive®, Richter discussed the evolving treatment paradigm in 2025, including the FDA approval of linvoseltamab-gcpt (Lynozyfic) and the anticipated decision on belantamab mafodotin (Blenrep)–based combination regimens. He highlighted how novel modalities such as CAR T-cell therapies and trispecific antibodies targeting BCMA and GPRC5D are enabling deeper and more durable remissions. Richter also reflected on recent regulatory developments and emphasized the importance of practical, accessible therapies for patients who may not be candidates for advanced cellular treatments.

Richter is an associate professor of medicine at the Tisch Cancer Institute and director of Myeloma at the Blavatnik Family – Chelsea Medical Center at Mount Sinai in New York, New York.

OncLive: What is the current state of the treatment landscape for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma in 2025?

Richter: 2025 has become an exciting time for the world of relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma. We’ve had several recent approvals, including the approval of linvoseltamab, the BCMA×CD3 bispecific antibody. We have a Prescription Drug User Fee Act date of October 23 for the potential approval of belantamab mafodotin[–based regimens], the BCMA-targeted antibody-drug conjugate, either in combination with bortezomib (Velcade) or pomalidomide (Pomalyst) [and dexamethasone] in early relapsed myeloma.

We’re really trying to figure out in the relapsed/refractory world not, ‘Can we cure the disease?’ All the frontline trials are seeking to do that, [and we’re asking], ‘The disease has come back; can we push it so far down in remission that it really doesn’t come back within the patient’s lifetime?’

There are a lot of great trials that are seeking to do this, either with CAR T-cell therapy—and we have a whole bunch of new CAR T-cell therapies in the relapsed world—targeting things like BCMA, GPRC5D, and some [other agents] are dual-targeted, such as BCMA and CD19, where we’re trying to not just kill the myeloma cell but also the myeloma stem cell.

What has driven the recent momentum with bispecific and trispecific antibody development within this space?

[There are] a bunch of trispecific antibodies now in the relapsed/refractory world—with the Janssen BCMA×GPRC5D×CD3 trispecific [JNJ-79635322] and [ISB 2001] recently acquired by AbbVie, which is a BCMA×CD38×CD3 trispecific. Over the next couple of years, we [may increase] from 2 or 3 [agents], and we’re leveling up in the world of relapsed and refractory myeloma.

Trispecific data [for JNJ-79635322 presented] at the 2025 EHA Congress showed a 100% response rate at the [recommended phase 2 dose]. The sky’s the limit. We’re excited about what the future holds in this landscape.

In light of the recent Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) vote regarding belantamab mafodotin, what were your key takeaways from the discussion, and how do you see the advisory committee’s stance influencing access to therapies in the relapsed/refractory myeloma space moving forward?

One of the things that the ODAC really brings to light in my mind is some of the competing interests that we have to think about. As a clinician, my sole focus is the patient in front of me, but I recognize that the government is trying to balance everything here because they need to evaluate what the impact is going to be on a much broader scale.

My hope is that the patient advocate voice that was heard very loudly during the ODAC [meeting] will resonate, and my hope is that the drug will still be approved. My guess is that they will take a tack that they’ve used in previous approvals in myeloma—when the ODAC voted negatively—by approving the drug but with black box warnings.

There are a lot of places in the United States where CAR T-cell therapy are not available, and even bispecifics may not be feasible. The reality is, a drug like [belantamab mafodotin] could be given anywhere. I’m hoping that we have this agent in our tool shed. It’s not for everybody, but there are quite a number of people out there who would benefit from having belantamab [mafodotin].

What excites you most about the clinical potential of trispecific antibodies in relapsed/refractory myeloma?

One of the things that we’ve learned across the last few years is the importance of 2 main targets: BCMA and GPRC5D. We’ve seen this with a number of CAR T-cell therapies and bispecific antibodies. With the phase 1/2 RedirecTT-1 trial [NCT04586426], we saw that when we combined these two targets by giving both talquetamab-tgvs [Talvey] and teclistamab-cqyv [Tecvayli], we saw unprecedented response rates, especially in some of the harder-to-treat [patients with] extramedullary disease.

The question is: Can we achieve the same type of efficacy, but with one drug instead of multiple drugs, in an effort to maintain those response rates but reduce the adverse effects? That’s one of the things that the trispecifics are trying to do. So far, we’re starting to get a hint that these are highly efficacious drugs.

The Bank of Canada held their interest rate at 2.75 per cent on Wednesday — a move in line with what economists were predicting ahead of the decision.

The central bank says the Canadian economy is showing signs of resilience in the face of tariffs from the United States, but U.S. trade policy remains unpredictable.

This comes after the bank chose to hold rates in April and June, citing global tariff uncertainty.

Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem said that deals made between the U.S. and other world powers in recent weeks have reduced the risk of a “severe and escalating” global trade war, and the impact so far has been less severe than originally feared. 

But, with certain sectors being hit hard by tariffs, Macklem said challenges remain.

More to come

 

By Emily Bary

Palo Alto Networks’ stock is falling after the announcement of a splashy deal that would give the cybersecurity giant a foothold in the identity business, which stands to benefit from AI

Palo Alto Networks Inc.’s security empire is set to grow further with the company’s newly announced cash-and-stock deal for CyberArk Software Ltd.

The cybersecurity giant announced the deal on Wednesday, saying that it would usher in its “formal entry into Identity Security,” establishing that technology “as a core pillar of the company’s multi-platform strategy.” As companies embrace new technologies and artificial intelligence, they need to ensure that both employees and AI systems are properly credentialed to access systems, which is where identity products come in.

“Our market entry strategy has always been to enter categories at their inflection point, and we believe that moment for Identity Security is now,” Palo Alto Networks (PANW) Chief Executive Nikesh Arora said in a release.

Palo Alto Networks has been pushing a “platformization” approach to sales, trying to become the destination for all things cybersecurity and to get customers to pay for a more varied suite of its services. This has been a hotly debated strategy on Wall Street for over a year, as Palo Alto Networks has given discounted product to some customers in hopes of winning fuller paid platformization business from them down the road.

The deal comes with a splashy price tag, with the company agreeing to pay CyberArk (CYBR) shareholders $45 in cash and 2.2005 shares of Palo Alto Networks for each CyberArk share, representing a $25 billion equity value for CyberArk. Palo Alto Networks expects the deal to close in the second half of its 2026 fiscal year.

See also: Google plans to buy cybersecurity company Wiz for $32 billion. Here’s why the startup is so valuable.

Bernstein analyst Peter Weed wrote that a price tag above $20 billion “would swamp Palo Alto’s aggregate [amount] paid for all prior acquisitions in the last 15 years” by about 5 times.

The Wall Street Journal reported on advanced CyberArk deal talks Tuesday afternoon.

Palo Alto Networks shares are down 8% in Wednesday morning trading after losing 5.2% in Tuesday trading in the aftermath of the report.

Following that report, Evercore ISI analyst Peter Levine wrote that Palo Alto Networks was “missing only two key components of the cybersecurity stack to be the consolidated cyber platform.” Those elements are identity, which CyberArk offers, and endpoint, which Palo Alto Networks plays into, “but not at a level we’d consider best-of-breed or competitive with leading solutions in the market,” according to Levine.

He noted that Palo Alto Networks recently acquired ProtectAI, which helps customers monitor access to capabilities. Combining that with CyberArk’s tools for governing access could allow Palo Alto Netwoks to offer businesses “an end-to-end solution for securing AI environments at scale.”

Some analysts thought the deal made sense in their Tuesday notes leading up to the official announcement.

“This news feels logical given it’s a reiteration of [Palo Alto Networks’] focus on building a platform and protecting the new attack surface” brought on by generative artificial intelligence, Jefferies analyst Joseph Gallo wrote following the Wall Street Journal report. He thought the deal would represent a continuation of the company’s “strategy of buying best-of-breed technology,” although in this case, CyberArk has “material” financials of its own. The company did about $1 billion in revenue last year.

But Bernstein’s Weed was more measured, acknowledging the attractive opportunity in the identity market, which stands to benefit from AI, while also flagging that CyberArk’s stock was “not trading at a discount.”

“We worry any upside from the AI tailwinds are years away at best, and adoption comes with technical risk,” he wrote in a Tuesday report.

-Emily Bary

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The judgment saw the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council unanimously overturn a long-standing principle known as the “shareholder rule” which prevented companies from asserting privilege against shareholders except in limited circumstances. The landmark ruling is likely to have important implications for corporates in both Bermuda, where the dispute arose, and the UK.

Tom Aries, commercial litigation specialist at Pinsent Masons, said: “Importantly, this decision recognises that shareholders will, at times, have diverging interests to those of companies. Companies must consider and balance the perspectives of different shareholders and of other stakeholders – such as funders, employees, and others – whose interests may not align with those of shareholders. The judgment therefore rightly underscores the separate legal identity of companies and highlights that continuing to apply the rule could have discouraged companies from seeking candid legal advice on complex decisions.”

The case stems from the 2021 amalgamation of two companies within the Jardine Matheson group – Jardine Strategic Holdings Ltd and JMH Bermuda Ltd. The merger resulted in the cancellation of all shares in Jardine Strategic Holdings, with the newly formed entity, Jardine Strategic Limited, obligated to pay “fair value” for those cancelled shares to dissenting shareholders under the Bermuda Companies Act 1981.

A total of 81 shareholders, including Oasis Investments II Master Fund Ltd, challenged the valuation of US$33 per share offered by the company. They initiated appraisal proceedings in Bermuda’s courts, seeking a judicial determination of the fair value of their shares.

As part of the litigation, the shareholders sought disclosure of legal advice received by the Jardine Matheson group during the valuation process. Jardin Strategic resisted, citing legal advice privilege. The shareholders, however, invoked the so-called “shareholder rule”, arguing that a company cannot withhold privileged documents from its shareholders in litigation concerning their rights as shareholders.

The central question before the Privy Council was whether the shareholder rule formed part of Bermudian law and, by extension, whether it should continue to be recognised in England and Wales. The rule, historically rooted in English case law, had allowed shareholders to access privileged legal advice obtained by a company, except where the advice was prepared specifically in contemplation of litigation against those shareholders.

At first instance, the chief justice of Bermuda sided with the shareholders, ruling that Jardine Strategic could not assert privilege. The Bermuda Court of Appeal upheld that decision. Jardine Strategic then appealed to the Privy Council.

In a unanimous decision, the Privy Council allowed the appeal, holding that the shareholder rule does not form part of Bermudian law and should no longer be recognised in England and Wales either. The judgment emphasised that legal professional privilege is a fundamental right that protects the confidentiality of legal advice, noting that the shareholder rule was an anomaly that undermined this principle.

Andrew Herring, commercial dispute resolution expert at Pinsent Masons, said: “The decision confirms a significant obstacle for shareholder claimants pursuing claims against companies, including securities litigation. By permitting companies to assert privilege against shareholder claimants, the ruling enables companies generally to withhold disclosure of sensitive internal material such as, in the case of securities claims based on statements in corporate published material, legal advice received during the period in which the relevant statements were made or shaped. This may significantly curtail the evidentiary access available to claimants and, in turn, narrow the scope of claimants’ potential claims.”

The Privy Council has notably held that the rule should no longer be recognised in England and issued a so-called “Willers v Joyce direction”, which makes the decision binding on courts in England and Wales.

Emilie Jones, litigation expert at Pinsent Masons, said: “This is a significant step for the Privy Council to take and underscores the importance of this development. The shareholder rule has been doubted in England for some time, and this decision is likely to end that debate.”

“The confirmation that companies can generally assert legal professional privilege against shareholders shows the power of privilege as a protection for sensitive communications. It should therefore serve as another reminder to companies to ensure that they have good processes and practices in place to ensure that, where the protection of privilege is available for their communications, those communications are created and handled with care so as to maximise the chances that privilege will apply and be maintained,” she said.

Lexington, Mass., July 30, 2025 – FUJIFILM Healthcare Americas Corporation, a leading provider of diagnostic and enterprise imaging solutions, today announced the U.S. launch of the FDR Go iQ, an innovative portable digital radiography (DR) solution built for hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers. Equipped with intuitive touchscreen controls and a display at the tube head, as well as convenient built-in smart charging, technologists can acquire x-ray room image quality at the patient bedside.

“This new portable digital radiography system represents a major step forward in imaging mobility, performance, and user experience,” said Rob Fabrizio, director of strategic marketing, medical imaging systems, FUJIFILM Healthcare Americas Corporation. “The FDR Go iQ has an extremely slim and lightweight design, a retractable column, and an ultra-low profile, all of which enhances safety and maneuverability in even the busiest clinical settings. Additionally, the innovative built-in charging and touchscreen tube head controls ensure speed and precision wherever care is delivered.”

FDR Go iQ features include:

• a built-in 3D camera with advanced positioning guidance and ability to upgrade to future AI technologies
• intelligent smart charging automated in bin connection keeps the detector powered for extended use
• a touchscreen tube head display and controls, provide advanced positioning and tube alignment guidance, motion detection and exam parameters easily within reach
• an extra-large 19-inch display for confident image verification at the bedside
• a slim and lightweight design at just 22.5 inches wide and 970 pounds for optimized mobility in tight spaces
• mark-free polyurethane wheels and 360-degree swivel casters for smooth travel and turning
• dedicated storage with a detector lock
• convenient detector holding slots at the top of the main body to hold the DR detector securely during bagging and wipe down
• wipes and gloves storage to support fast access and infection controls

The system features innovative technologies to optimize image quality, workflow and patient safety. The FDR Go IQ coupled with FDR D-EVO III ultra-lightweight glass-free detectors feature Fujifilm’s exclusive Hydro AG antibacterial coating and patented Irradiated Side Sampling (ISS) for higher-resolution and improved dose efficiency compared to conventional circuitry designs. By acquiring its data on the patient side of the circuitry, ISS increases sharpness and Detective Quantum Efficiency (DQE) and reduces scatter and blur at ultra-low doses. Additionally, the system’s onboard technologist console features Fujifilm’s proprietary Dynamic Visualization™ II intelligent feature recognition processing which automatically adapts to anatomic characteristics and hardware to produce exceptional images with higher detail and contrast levels throughout.

The FDR Go iQ will be available for demonstration at The Association for Medical Imaging Management (AHRA) 2025 Annual Meeting and Exhibition on August 3-5 in Las Vegas. Visit the Fujifilm booth #303 and learn more online here.

About Fujifilm

FUJIFILM Healthcare Americas Corporation is a comprehensive healthcare company that has an extensive range of technology and expertise in the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases. Fujifilm’s innovative portfolio includes solutions spanning diagnostic imaging, enterprise imaging, endoscopic imaging, surgical imaging, and in-vitro diagnostics. The Non-Destructive Testing group delivers radiography solutions to ensure high accuracy inspection of transportation infrastructure, and assets within aerospace, and oil and gas industries.

The company is headquartered in Lexington, Massachusetts. For more information on healthcare offerings, please visit healthcaresolutions-us.fujifilm.com, and for NDT portfolio, please visit https://www.fujifilm.com/us/en/business/industrial-materials/non-destructive-testing.

FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo, leverages its depth of knowledge and proprietary core technologies to deliver innovative products and services across the globe through the four key business segments of healthcare, electronics, business innovation, and imaging with over 70,000 employees. Guided and united by our Group Purpose of “giving our world more smiles,” we address social challenges and create a positive impact on society through our products, services, and business operations. Under its medium-term management plan, VISION2030, which ends in FY2030, we aspire to continue our evolution into a company that creates value and smiles for various stakeholders as a collection of global leading businesses and achieve a global revenue of 4 trillion yen. For more information, please visit: https://holdings.fujifilm.com/en.