Jessica Alba, who shot to fame in the James Cameron television series “Dark Angel,” as well as films such as “Sin City” and the “Fantastic Four,” will step down as chief creative officer at Honest Company, a personal care company that she founded.
Alba will keep a seat on the company board, but Honest said that she will now focus on “new endeavors.”
The actress founded Honest in 2012 after she suffered allergic reactions to baby laundry detergents. The company went public in May 2021, with shares soaring 44% in their stock market debut.
Sales at Honest Co. have risen steadily, but the company has struggled to turn a profit. Late Thursday, the company put up its first profitable quarter since mid 2021.
“Honest has been a true labor of love for me - one that showed me what’s possible when you infuse purpose into business," Alba said in a prepared statement.
Alba had early starring roles in Nickelodeon's series “The Secret World of Alex Mack,” as well as the revival of the 1960s television series “Flipper.”
Shares of Honest Co., based in Los Angeles, fell slightly before the opening bell Wednesday.
FILE - Jessica Alba arrives at the third Los Angeles Beverly Arts (LABA) Icon Awards, Friday, Sept. 22, 2023, at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles. Honest Company founder Jessica Alba is stepping down from the chief creative officer position at the personal care company. Alba, who gained fame as an actress in films like “Sin City” and the “Fantastic Four,” will be focusing on new endeavors, Honest said on Wednesday, April 10, 2024, but it didn't provide further details. Alba, will continue to hold a seat on the company’s board.(Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Fortnite says it's now unavailable on Apple's iOS globally because the tech giant blocked a bid to rerelease the popular video game for iPhone users in the U.S. and Europe.
“Apple has blocked our Fortnite submission so we cannot release to the U.S. App Store or to the Epic Games Store for iOS in the European Union," Epic Games-owned Fortnite wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, early Friday — claiming that Apple's move would now prevent the game's iOS availability around the world.
“Sadly, Fortnite on iOS will be offline worldwide until Apple unblocks it,” Fortnite said.
In a statement sent to The Associated Press, Apple said it had specifically asked Epic Sweden to resubmit the app update “without including the U.S. storefront of the App Store so as not to impact Fortnite in other geographies.” But, the company added, it "did not take any action to remove the live version of Fortnite from alternative distribution marketplaces.”
Fortnite's exile from the iPhone app store is the latest twist in a yearslong feud between Apple and Epic. Back in 2020, Apple pulled Fortnite from its app store and Epic filed an antitrust lawsuit against the company in the U.S., alleging the technology trendsetter was illegally using its power to gouge game makers.
After a monthlong trial in 2021, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled against most of Epic’s claims, but ordered Apple to loosen its previously-exclusive control over the payments made for in-app commerce and allow links to alternative options in the U.S. for the first time — threatening to undercut sizable commissions that Apple had been collecting from in-app transactions for over a decade.
After exhausting an appeal that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, Apple last year introduced a new system that opened the door for links to alternative payment options while still imposing a 27% commission on in-app transactions executed outside its own system.
Epic fired back by alleging Apple was thumbing its nose at the legal system, reviving another round of court hearings that lasted nearly a year before Gonzalez Rogers delivered a stinging rebuke last month — which held Apple in civil contempt and banned the company from collecting any commission on alternative payment systems.
That ruling cleared the way for Epic to finally return to the iPhone app store in the U.S., a reinstatement the video game maker was anticipating before Apple’s latest move.
Fortnite's availability in the EU, meanwhile, is under an alternative store for iPhone users — now called the Epic Games Store. Apple last year cleared the way for this last year under new regulatory pressures. As a result, Fornite and other Epic games had been available for download on iPhones using this store in the EU since August 2024.
Liedtke reported from San Francisco.
FILE - Shoppers look at Apple products in the Apple Store at the Walden Galleria in Buffalo, NY, on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
