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McKinsey pays $500 MILLION opioid fine
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Consulting Humor
October 21, 2024
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Top story: McKinsey to pay at least $500 million to settle opioid fiasco
Source: Financial Times
McKinsey's $500M Payoff: The consulting giant is close to settling federal probes with a $500 million payout over its role in boosting opioid sales, adding to earlier state settlements.
Opioid Scandal Fallout: While McKinsey denies wrongdoing, the firm has spent $1 billion on compliance since cutting ties with opioid manufacturers in 2019, as legal challenges persist.
Costly Crisis: The opioid epidemic, responsible for over 645,000 deaths, continues to haunt McKinsey, despite its $16 billion in revenue and efforts to clean up its past.
It is looking like McKinsey’s opioid disaster might be coming to a costly end.
McKinsey & Co. is on the verge of handing over at least $500 million to settle federal investigations into its controversial role in boosting opioid sales. This settlement would resolve both criminal and civil probes launched by the Department of Justice into the consulting giant’s work with opioid manufacturers, as reported by insiders. While the ink isn’t dry just yet, it’s clear that McKinsey’s hefty payout is no small change for the company, which pulled in a record $16 billion in revenue last year.
If this deal gets the green light, it’ll add to the hundreds of millions McKinsey already coughed up to U.S. states in 2021. The consulting behemoth had been accused of helping Big Pharma sell more addictive painkillers through targeted marketing and sales strategies—a key factor in fueling America’s opioid crisis. McKinsey’s line? “Hey, our work was totally legal.” But even the firm admitted its actions didn’t meet its own high standards.
Though McKinsey cut ties with opioid manufacturers in 2019, the consequences of its past work continue to follow the firm. In the face of mounting legal challenges, McKinsey has reportedly spent around $1 billion on legal and compliance initiatives since 2018. While this may sound like a lot, it’s pocket change compared to the human toll of the opioid epidemic, which has claimed over 645,000 lives between 1999 and 2021.
As McKinsey braces for this latest settlement, it’s clear that the consulting giant is still paying for the sins of its past, even as the opioid crisis rages on in new and devastating ways.
The takeaway? Even the world’s top consultants can’t escape the consequences of bad advice.
Read more here.
Gossip roundup
Source: McKinsey
Pretty sure they teach McKinsey consultants to write the takeaway of the slide as the title… plz fix
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