Good morning. Today, controversy finds companies in Minneapolis; the UFC leaves pay-per-views behind as it tries to reach the next level; and the TikTok saga may finally have reached its end.

Companies’ ability to retreat from political engagement turns out to have limits. Right now you can find them around Minneapolis-Saint Paul.

The immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities has forced many leaders at companies based there, a list that includes UnitedHealth, U.S. Bancorp and 3M, to address the situation with employees and community members, The Wall Street Journal’s Chip Cutter and Sarah Nassauer report.

Target, Minneapolis’s best-known corporate brand, hasn’t said anything publicly since the detention this month of two local store workers, both U.S. citizens, but it has circulated updated guidelines for responding to “unannounced immigration-related contacts.”

Hilton seemed to quickly conclude its turn in the headlines by dropping a hotel from its system that turned away some federal agents, but last weekend supported another local owner’s decision to temporarily close a location where immigration officers had allegedly booked rooms.

The DoubleTree property had received bomb threats, Hilton CEO Chris Nassetta said in his first public comments on the matter. “A safety and security issue is a different issue—it’s closed to all,” said Nassetta, who gets two reports a day on social-media attention to the matter.

It’s not usually Hilton’s place to wade into divisive issues, Nassetta added, but that’s not so easy at the moment. “It’s hard to argue it’s not a little bit more complicated than normal,” he said.

More Minnesota: A federal magistrate judge refused to sign off on a complaint charging former CNN journalist Don Lemon over his presence at an anti-immigration enforcement protest that disrupted a church service in Minnesota. [WSJ]

You’d think UFC was on top of the world after Paramount agreed to pay $1.1 billion per year for the rights to its fights, but the move will also pose a new test for the brand when it premieres on Paramount+ this Saturday.

“The goal is to make the UFC bigger than ever by dropping the high-barrier-to-entry pay-per-view business model,” Joe Flint writes for the Journal.

Founder Dana White tells Joe: “I love that the slate is wiped clean and we have to go in and prove ourselves all over again.”

Paramount has been heavily promoting its costly new property with an ad campaign including a commercial that weaves UFC footage among clips from shows and movies like “Gladiator II.”

White for his part says he’s focused on the product:

What’s next? The UFC this June will hold multiple championship fights on the South Lawn of the White House as part of President Trump’s plans to celebrate America’s 250th birthday, with a viewing party on the Ellipse.

Paramount’s pitch: Paramount will use the UFC’s debut to introduce live, programmatic advertising during its streaming sports. [Variety] 

TikTok’s deal to keep operating in the U.S. was approved by the U.S. and Chinese governments, apparently resolving its yearslong fight to address U.S. national-security concerns.

The app will be operated by a new U.S. entity controlled by investors friendly with the U.S., Amrith Ramkumar writes for the Journal.

Its data-management and algorithm-training on American users will be overseen by Oracle, the cloud-computing giant that has safeguarded its U.S. data for years and has close ties to the Trump administration.

The investors are paying the U.S. government a multibillion-dollar fee for arranging the deal.

To be continued? Some lawmakers and security hawks say they worry that China could still influence the new U.S. TikTok through ByteDance, which is keeping almost 20% of it.

And the new majority owners’ relationships with the White House raise a different question for some, as The New York Times noted:

The community where marketing leaders drop the corporate speak and share what’s actually happening. The WSJ CMO Council unites leaders from the world’s most influential brands including Adobe, Audi, Google, IBM, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Meta, Taco Bell, P&G and Verizon.

Tap into the connections and WSJ intelligence that move careers forward and separate the prepared from the scrambling.

Request Information

Southwest is the new No. 1 airline in The Wall Street Journal’s annual rankings, which compare carriers by metrics like on-time arrivals, flight cancellations and involuntary bumping. [WSJ]

The U.S. Post Office is looking for new agencies to help promote its service and “reinvent” its lobby experience. [Ad Age]

P&G is selling diapers with silk fibers in China in its latest bid for premium positioning. [CNBC] 

Website building platform Wix will return to the Super Bowl ad roster after seven years away to promote its new AI tool. [Adweek] 

“Stealing Isn’t Innovation,” a new ad campaign supported by Hollywood actors and other creative professionals, assails AI that draws on copyrighted work without authorization. [Guardian]

South Korea enacted what it calls the world’s first comprehensive set of laws governing AI, with requirements including clear or audible labels to flag AI-generated content that could be mistaken for real life. [WSJ]

Activewear brand Fabletics is making its stores into major membership acquisition channels. [Modern Retail]

PopUp Bagels teamed up with Wingstop to offer a Lemon Pepper Schmear made with the chicken chain’s seasoning. [Restaurant Business] 

Universal Studios struck a deal to bring full-blown Pokémon experiences to its theme parks, starting in Japan. [THR]