CEO murdered on revenge of lack of coverage?
On Wednesday morning, Brian Thompson, CEO of $UnitedHealth(UNH)$ insurance business unit, was shot and killed outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown New York.The incident occurred shortly before 7 a.m. EDT as Thompson was traveling to a scheduled investor meeting.
He was shot in the chest by an assailant who had been waiting for him at the hotel's entrance and was pronounced dead a short time after being taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, according to reports.Police are calling the shooting a deliberate act rather than a random crime.
The CEO of a $500 billion market capitalization company said no, but the most important thing for investors is what effect it will have on the stock price.Looking at the disk, the news has had little impact.
UNH is a very typical institutional ticket, and the allocation targets are more related to defense; after all, it's only the CEO of the department and not the entire company, so perhaps investor concerns aren't quite as high as they could be.
There are only two possibilities for the incident: a personal grudge or a grudge against the insurance company.The former will have little to no effect on the company, while the latter may have some impact on what follows.
As an insurance company, the area that is most likely to generate controversy and invite criticism is insurance policies, especially claims.Previous reforms under Thompson's leadership have led to controversy and even scrutiny from federal officials and lawmakers over insurance coverage policies and denials of claims (e.g., denial of medically necessary services to insureds).
Some of the problems of internal exchange of interests, such as colleagues, upstream and downstream, or because of insider trading investigation and the tragic extermination of accomplices.
Of these reasons, I think a vendetta over an insurance dispute is the most likely, as Thompson had previously received death threats, according to the victim's wife.Even then he didn't take it seriously enough, so it's clear that he felt that someone with too large a social class gap with him might not be able to pose a threat to it.
In that case, the company's payout policy may be adjusted as a result of regulatory intervention, thus affecting the company's profit margin.
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