The Seattle Seahawks, Super Bowl Winners, Go Up for Sale

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Voices are powerful things. At Vanguard, investors are also owners and their voices are heard. And now with investor choice, they have an even greater voice when investing. It's just another reason millions of investors have turned to Vanguard for 50 years. 50 million investors, 50 million voices. Vanguard. Vanguard is owned by its funds, which are owned by Vanguard's fund shareholder clients. To learn more, visit vanguard.com. All investing is subject to risk. Vanguard Marketing Corporation distributor, figure as of January 2025

Alex Ossola (0:33)

Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, testifies at a landmark social media trial. Plus, the leader of UnitedHealth privately invested millions of dollars in companies, including firms that compete with UnitedHealth.

Mark Maremont (0:44)

His investment company, which is called Cloverfields Capital, has this public-facing side. They invest in publicly traded stocks. What we found is that there's this completely different side of Cloverfields, which was really doing this venture capital investing in the health care industry on The Quiet.

Alex Ossola (1:04)

And who wants to buy a Super Bowl champion team? It's Wednesday, February 18th. I'm Alex Ossola for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the stand today in Los Angeles. Meta, along with Google, are the defendants in a lawsuit. It's the first of 3,000 cases against them, saying the companies should be held liable for making social media addictive for teens. Zuckerberg faced questions about his company's efforts to get more of its users' time and attention. In his testimony, Zuckerberg said, Meta's growth targets reflect and aim to give users something useful, not addict them, and that the company doesn't try to attract children as users. The Food and Drug Administration said it would review Moderna's application to sell a new seasonal flu shot. It's a reversal from earlier this month, when the FDA surprised the company, saying it wouldn't review Moderna's flu shot application. I'm joined now by Peter Loftis, who covers the pharmaceutical industry for the journal. Peter, what's different about Moderna's proposed flu shot versus the standard dose flu shot?

Peter Loftus (2:19)

It's based on this messenger RNA technology, and that's the same technology Moderna used to make the COVID-19 shots. The promise of mRNA technology is that things can be modified more quickly and be closer to the most recently circulating strain.

Alex Ossola (2:37)

So why did the FDA reverse course here and now say that they will look at Moderna's application?

Peter Loftus (2:43)

So the FDA said that the main study that tested Moderna's flu vaccine wasn't an adequate or well-controlled trial.

Moderna tested its vaccine against a standard-dose flu vaccine. And they did show that it had advantages. However, in the US, people over 65 are recommended to get a high-dose vaccine. This original trial did not compare it to the high-dose vaccine. So Moderna had a meeting with the FDA, and they proposed changing their approach to address some of the concerns. And one of them was that they would seek a conditional approval of its use in people 65 and older, and do another study that compares their vaccine against the high-dose vaccine.

Alex Ossola (3:34)

So of course, the FDA reviewing Moderna's application doesn't necessarily mean approving it. But what does this mean for Moderna?

Peter Loftus (3:42)

The demand for COVID-19 vaccines has really plummeted. And so they're not making as much money on their initial product. They would like to have new products. Initially, it looked like there was going to be this big delay in getting another product out. Now, they're back on track. And if the FDA does approve it, theoretically, they would have a supply available for this upcoming flu season.

Alex Ossola (4:06)

That was Wall Street Journal reporter Peter Loftus. Thanks, Peter.

Peter Loftus (4:09)

Thanks for having me.

Alex Ossola (4:10)

Moderna shares rose about 6% today. In other health news, the Journal has learned that the Trump administration named a new acting director of the CDC. It's Jay Bhattacharya, who has been leading the National Institutes of Health. The CDC hasn't had a Senate-confirmed leader since August. Bhattacharya, an economist and medical doctor, gained prominence during the COVID pandemic. He was a critic of school closures and masking. And he's been a steady ally of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again movement. Coming up, why a weapons deal between the US and Taiwan is up in the air? Plus, what minutes from the most recent Fed meeting show about the prospect of an interest rate cut? Those stories and more after the break.

SPEAKER_1 (4:57)

Voices are powerful things. At Vanguard, investors are also owners, and their voices are heard. And now with investor choice, they have an even greater voice when investing. It's just another reason millions of investors have turned to Vanguard for 50 years. 50 million investors, 50 million voices. Vanguard. Vanguard is owned by its funds, which are owned by Vanguard's fund shareholder clients. To learn more, visit vanguard.com. All investing is subject to risk. Vanguard Marketing Corporation distributor, figure as of January 2025