Settlement over realtor fees gets preliminary approval

TOBACCO

Philip Morris raised its full-year outlook after strong sales of its heated tobacco and nicotine pouch products. The tobacco company, whose brands include Marlboro cigarettes, IQOS heated tobacco sticks, and Zyn nicotine pouches, now expects adjusted earnings per share of as much as $6.67 in 2024 on a currency neutral basis. PMI is in the midst of transforming its business to reduce its reliance on cigarettes. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

MUSIC STREAMING

Spotify, the audio-streaming giant, swung to profit in the first quarter, as the company boosted subscribers and added new features. Paid subscribers rose 14 percent year over year to 239 million, the company said Tuesday in a statement, in line with analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Total active users, including those plans with advertising, grew to 615 million, compared with the 617.9 million forecast by analysts. The Sweden-based company raised prices last year and is again planning to charge more for its service. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

SNACKS

PepsiCo reported better-than-expected revenue in the first quarter on strong international demand for its snacks and beverages. The Purchase, N.Y.-based company said revenue rose 2 percent to $18.3 billion for the January-April period. That was higher than the $18 billion Wall Street forecast, according to analysts polled by FactSet. In North America Frito-Lay revenue rose 2 percent while Pepsi beverage sales were up 1 percent. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

HEALTH CARE

UnitedHealth says files with personal information that could cover a “substantial portion of people in America” may have been taken in the cyberattack earlier this year on its Change Healthcare business. The company said Monday after markets closed that it sees no signs that doctor charts or full medical histories were released after the attack. But it may take several months of analysis before UnitedHealth can identify and notify people who were affected. UnitedHealth did say that some screenshots containing protected health information or personally identifiable information were posted for about a week online on the dark web, which standard browsers can’t access. — ASSOCIATED PRESS

DELIVERIES

United Parcel Service Inc. reported profit higher than analysts’ estimates as the courier’s headcount management and restructuring of its delivery routes began to bear fruit. Adjusted first-quarter earnings were $1.43 per share, the Atlanta-based company said Tuesday in a statement. Analysts had forecast $1.30 a share on average in estimates compiled by Bloomberg. UPS maintained its guidance for the full year. The company announced a deal this month with US Postal Service to become its primary air cargo provider, replacing competitor Fedex Corp. after 22 years. The pact takes effect later this year. UPS is contending with higher labor costs after agreeing to a new union deal last year that raises wages and benefits over five years, with the biggest increase coming in 2024. The deal also sees upward adjustments to pension and health benefits and other expenses, including a new paid holiday. UPS said in January that it would cut 12,000 white-collar jobs — about 14 percent of its full- and part-time managers — to reduce costs. The efficiency push is being aided in part by new technologies including artificial intelligence, the company has said. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

AVIATION

A union that represents Boeing employees says the company retaliated against two engineers who raised concerns about its 777 and 787 jets in 2022. The planemaker gave “identical” negative evaluations to the workers who had been designated as representatives of the Federal Aviation Administration after they asked Boeing to re-evaluate engineering work on the widebody jets to account for a new FAA advisory, the SPEEA union said in a statement. The two engineers prevailed after almost six months of debate and Boeing re-did the analysis, the union said. A Boeing representative didn’t immediately comment. Boeing has come under increasing scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators following a near-catastrophic blowout of a fuselage panel on a 737 Max 9 during flight in early January. The FAA separately conducted an audit of Boeing’s production lines and found “multiple instances” of manufacturing lapses. One of the two engineers left Boeing, while the other filed a formal retaliation complaint that Boeing was required to log with the FAA, the SPEEA statement said. The union — which represents engineers, scientists, pilots, and technical workers — said it filed a National Labor Relations Board complaint on April 18 to get access to a report Boeing filed with the FAA. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

INTERNET

Google fired about 20 more workers it said participated in protests denouncing the company’s cloud computing deal with the Israeli government, bringing the total number of workers fired in the past week over the issue to more than 50, according to the activist group representing the workers. A spokesperson for Google confirmed it had fired more workers after continuing its investigation into the April 16 protests, which included sit-ins at Google’s offices in New York City and Sunnyvale, Calif. The firings come several days after chief executive Sundar Pichai told employees in a companywide memo that they should not use the company as a “personal platform” or “fight over disruptive issues or debate politics.” — WASHINGTON POST

REGULATION

The Federal Trade Commission on Monday sued to block Tapestry’s $8.5 billion acquisition of Capri, a blockbuster fashion tie-up that would bring together Coach, Kate Spade, Michael Kors, and Versace. The lawsuit is a rare move by the agency to block a fashion deal, given that the industry does not suffer from a lack of competition. In her nearly three years as chair of the FTC, Lina Khan has put a priority on taking on the power of big business in suits across industries. The agency has moved to block the supermarket merger between Kroger and Albertsons, Meta’s acquisition of virtual reality startup Within, and Microsoft’s bid for gaming giant Activision. — NEW YORK TIMES