🧩 BASF €10.3 billion rejected
PLUS: $14.2M in TikTok settlement fees and AMD's $8.2B deal for Fei-Fei Li's startup
September 29, 2026
Lookzy: all your daily legal news in 0.1 billable hours. Plain English coverage of deals, litigation and legal trends trusted by lawyers at Cravath, Latham, Skadden, Gunderson and elsewhere.
Welcome to Lookzy. In today's Lookzy:
A free-speech appeal over low scores for hospitals that skipped a survey
The lawyers' share of Alabama's TikTok settlement
AMD agrees to buy Fei-Fei Li's AI startup for $8.2 billion
California requires the State Bar to seek disbarment for paid client recruitment
THE VERDICT
Arguing today's litigation news
Grading on appeal. Nonprofit Leapfrog is asking the Eleventh Circuit to protect its hospital safety grades as editorial judgments after five hospitals challenged low scores for skipping its survey. Its methodology assigns the lowest scores in some categories when survey data is missing. After a January bench trial, a judge found the approach a deceptive business practice and barred grades for the five Tenet-owned Florida hospitals under the current or similar methodology. Yelp, Consumer Reports and the New York Times are among Leapfrog's supporters. The nonprofit also faces more than $10.5 million in potential attorney fees—more than its annual revenue.
TikTok's legal tab. Alabama's settlement with TikTok and ByteDance allocates $14.2 million in fees and $2 million in expenses to Beasley Allen and Prince Glover Hayes. TikTok's first state-AG settlement guarantees at least $100 million, potentially rising to $300 million if 40 other AGs reach similar deals within the required period. Alabama alleged TikTok knowingly exposed young users to mental-health harms and misled consumers about safety. TikTok denies wrongdoing; the deal adds usage limits and enhanced age verification in Alabama.
Election strings cut. U.S. District Judge Amir Ali blocked FEMA from withholding 20% of roughly $1.1 billion in counterterrorism grants over election rules. Cities and counties in Texas, Ohio and Tennessee won the ruling; a separate state challenge remains pending. FEMA's conditions required hand-marked ballots, manual audits of at least 5% of ballots and federal citizenship-database checks. The judge found Congress had not authorized using counterterrorism money to demand those changes.
THE DEAL
Wheelin' and dealin' today's corporate news
Buying into physical AI. AMD agreed to buy Fei-Fei Li's World Labs for $8.2 billion in stock, with closing expected by year-end. Li will join as executive vice president and chief scientist reporting to Lisa Su. World Labs builds AI models that generate and simulate three-dimensional environments for robotics, design and simulation. Owning the startup would give AMD a closer view of the work its future chips may need to handle.
Control in installments. Aircraft-maintenance company AAR agreed to buy a 65% stake in MRO Holdings for about $1.8 billion in equity value and repay about $1.3 billion of MRO debt. The deal is expected to close in AAR's fiscal quarter ending February 2027, subject to regulatory approvals and customary conditions. Sellers including Bain will keep a stake, but AAR gets all of MRO's excess cash flow for the first two years. AAR can buy the remaining 35% in stages within six years.
29% premium rejected. Evonik reportedly turned down BASF's nonbinding €10.3 billion takeover approach as too low and declined formal talks or due diligence. The companies have not confirmed the reported price, which carried a roughly 29% premium to the unaffected share price, according to the FT. BASF says its valuation depends on synergies it cannot verify without Evonik's participation.
BOILERPLATE
Paid recruitment gets costlier. California has stiffened its existing ban on lawyers paying people or businesses to recruit clients, known as “capping.” Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law adding a $25,000 civil penalty per violation and requiring the State Bar to seek disbarment rather than settle discipline when a lawyer is found to have engaged in it. The law follows allegations of paid recruitment and some false claims in Los Angeles County's $4 billion sexual-abuse settlement. Downtown LA Law Group, which represented nine people who said they were paid, denies wrongdoing.
Two returns to Weil. Peter Feist is returning from Cravath to Weil as U.S. co-head of private equity, and Debra Sinclair is returning from Willkie as a restructuring partner. Feist left Weil in 2023 and led Cravath's PE group; Sinclair recently led the Saks Global Chapter 11 team. Their returns come amid a run of Weil leadership departures, including corporate leader Michael Aiello and M&A co-leader Matthew Gilroy to Cravath.
Alright, back to billing. That's all, folks!
