Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson’s rollout of its Covid-19 vaccine has hit another snag. U.S. health authorities Tuesday recommended a pause in the use of J&J’s shot after finding that six women who got the vaccine had developed blood clots and one died. The development comes after a quality lapse at a manufacturer recently affected about 15 million doses of the vaccine’s main ingredient. J&J shares added 0.3% Wednesday.
Microsoft Corp.
Microsoft is extending its run of big acquisitions. The tech giant has agreed to buy artificial-intelligence company Nuance Communications Inc. The $16 billion all-cash deal is Microsoft’s second-largest acquisition under Chief Executive Satya Nadella, after the company in 2016 spent about $26 billion for professional network LinkedIn. The pursuit of Nuance comes as rivals Facebook Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google might be distracted by antitrust probes that could potentially hobble their abilities to strike deals. The acquisition is also the latest sign that the next battleground for Big Tech will be in healthcare, an industry whose need to embrace data and software was underscored by the pandemic. Microsoft shares rose 1% Tuesday.
Coinbase Global Inc.