Deal or no deal?

Queen Elizabeth II approved legislation to block a no-deal Brexit yesterday, requiring Prime Minister Boris Johnson to seek a delay if an agreement isn’t made by the October 31 deadline. As of last night, parliament was suspended until October 14.

Getting tech-nical

Texas announced yesterday that it would lead 50 attorneys general in a multistate, bipartisan antitrust investigation into Google’s business practices. The new investigation comes amid several ongoing state and federal investigations into big tech companies.

The FDA & Juul

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter to Juul Labs yesterday, saying that the e-cigarette maker ignored federal laws in its marketing practices. According to the FDA, federal law requires that manufacturers of tobacco products demonstrate with scientific evidence that the product poses a low risk before marketing it as such.

Money talks

Hedge fund Elliott Management disclosed a $3.2 billion stake in AT&T yesterday. The activist investor is calling for changes at the telecommunications company, focusing on its leadership and M&A strategy.

CEO of Nissan Leafs

Hiroto Saikawa has resigned from his position as Nissan CEO effective September 16th. In the interim he will be replaced by COO Yasuhiro Yamauchi, and the company plans to announce a permanent replacement sometime in October.

Shipping up to Chicago

Uber has dedicated $200 million to expand Uber Freight. The business unit, which connects truck drivers with shipping companies, will establish its headquarters in Chicago, and plans to hire more than 2,000 employees over the next three years.

Where’s the beef?

Wendy’s announced it will offer breakfast nationwide in 2020, and hire 20,000 new employees to help support the expansion. The company currently offers breakfast at 300 of their locations.

The Happiest Place on Earth Pt. 2

In yesterday’s DONUT, we covered the heartwarming story of a selfless six-year-old from Florida, and today we’re back with the sweetest of updates.

Quick recap: for Jermaine Bell’s seventh birthday, his family was planning to go to Walt Disney World with money they’d been saving up for more than a year. But when Hurricane Dorian hit, he quickly gave up the birthday trip of his dreams and decided to use the money to serve food to hurricane evacuees near his grandmother’s South Carolina home.

When Disney heard about Jermaine’s good deeds, they decided it wasn’t something that should go unrewarded. A group of Disney employees – including Mickey Mouse himself – surprised Jermaine at his home on his birthday yesterday with hats and balloons, and an all-expenses-paid trip to the Walt Disney World Resort.

From rags to riches to…

After dropping out of high school and making a remarkable climb from an Australian drive-in movie theater to the top of the Hollywood film industry, Scott Neeson still didn’t feel fulfilled. The more things he accumulated, he said, the more unhappy he became.

So in 2003, after an extremely successful decade as president of 20th Century Fox International – he oversaw the release of Braveheart, Star Wars, and Titanic – he decided to get away from Los Angeles for a bit.

During a five-week trip through Asia, Neeson visited a garbage dump in Cambodia where he met dozens of children working knee-deep in trash, some of whom had been abandoned by their parents. Within a year of that encounter, he sold his home, cars, and yacht, and moved full-time to Cambodia, where he launched a charity to assist the children who’d captured his heart the previous year.

Now, the Cambodian Children’s Fund has close to 2,000 kids enrolled in its education program, has provided houses to more than 450 families in need, and distributes 45 tons of rice to the community each year. As for Neeson… he’s gained a family and a purpose – and that’s worth more to him than all the cars and yachts in the world.