Hims & Hers shares plunged today after Novo Nordisk filed a lawsuit and federal regulators called for an investigation into Hims' compounding strategy for GLP-1 drugs.

• 🥊 Novo's legal offensive escalates an ongoing feud as it moves to defend its crown-jewel drug franchise amid price pressure and rising U.S. competition — and puts at risk a Hims business line that's been central to its growth.

💊 Catch up quick: Hims said this weekend that it would no longer sell a compounded version of Novo's new Wegovy pill.

• That came after the Department of Health and Human Services referred Hims to the DOJ for investigation into whether the telehealth brand violated federal law.
• Also Friday, the FDA warned it would take "decisive steps" to restrict GLP-1 active ingredients intended for use in non-FDA-approved compounded drugs that are mass-marketed by companies, including Hims & Hers.

⚖️ Driving the news: None of those actions were enough to stop Novo from filing a lawsuit against Hims for patent infringement.

• Novo is accusing Hims of mass marketing unapproved knockoff versions of Wegovy and Ozempic that bypass FDA review, Novo general counsel John F. Kuckelman said in a statement.

🗣️ What Hims is saying: The company today called the lawsuit "a blatant attack by a Danish company on millions of Americans who rely on compounded medications for access to personalized care."

• Hims accused Big Pharma of "weaponizing the US judicial system to limit consumer choice" and said it would fight the case.

The impact: The events sent Hims shares down 16% today. Novo shares closed up 3.6% in the U.S.

Stripe is in talks to launch a tender offer that could value the payments company at more than $140 billion, Axios Pro has learned from multiple sources, Lucinda Shen writes.

• 📈 By the numbers: This would be a massive step up from Stripe's $107 billion valuation last fall, when it bought back shares from investors.

The big picture: Stripe has caught tailwinds from the AI boom, partnering with OpenAI for payments inside of ChatGPT and serving the likes of Lovable and Higgsfield.

Go deeper (on Axios Pro)

💼 Former Walmart executive Greg Foran was named CEO of Kroger. The grocery's previous CEO, Rodney McMullen, left after what the company called unacceptable personal conduct. (WSJ)

🥾 Eddie Bauer stores in the U.S. and Canada filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and began liquidation sales. (Axios)

🤖 ChatGPT is "back to exceeding 10% monthly growth," CEO Sam Altman told employees in an internal message. The company is expected to introduce an updated model this week. (CNBC)

🇪🇺 Europe is overly reliant on Visa and Mastercard, the CEO of a banking alliance said. The official warned that European commerce would be at risk if transatlantic relations worsen. (FT)

This was the first Super Bowl in quite a while where the ads were more interesting than the game, if you ask me.

Here's a rundown of how experts and viewers rated the commercials this year:

USA Today Ad Meter: The annual panel ranked Budweiser's heartwarming "American Icons" commercial (which paired a Clydesdale with a bald eagle) as the best ad of the night.

• Lay's "Last Harvest" ad ranked second in the list by 190,000 registered viewers.

AdAge: The trade pub gave four spots a perfect five-star rating.

• Anthropic's ad ribbing ChatGPT for embracing ads.
• Coinbase's karaoke commercial featuring the Backstreet Boys.
• Dunkin's "Good Will Dunkin'" spot featuring '90s sitcom stars.
• Squarespace's ad featuring Emma Stone freaking out about her URL.

AdWeek: The publication cited the Coinbase, Squarespace and Anthropic ads as among its top 10.

• Others cited included Instacart, Levi's, Manscaped, Pepsi Zero Sugar and Hellmann's.