A person receives a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test as the Omicron coronavirus variant continues to spread in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., December 22, 2021.
Andrew Kelly | Reuters
The omicron BQ coronavirus subvariants have risen to dominance in the U.S. as people gather and travel for the Thanksgiving holiday, putting people with compromised immune systems at increased risk.
BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 are causing 57% of new infections in the U.S., according to data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday. The omicron BA.5 subvariant, once dominant, now makes up only a fifth of new Covid cases.
The BQ subvariants are more immune evasive and likely resistant to key antibody medications, such as Evusheld and bebtelovimab, used by people with compromised immune systems, according to the National Institutes of Health. This includes organ transplant and cancer chemotherapy patients.
There are currently no replacements for these drugs. President Joe Biden, in an October speech, told people with compromised immune systems that they should consult with their physicians and take extra precautions this winter.
“New variants may make some existing protections ineffective for the immunocompromised. Sadly, this means you may be at a special risk this winter,” Biden said.
The XBB subvariant is also circulating at a low level right now, causing about 3% of new infections. Chief White House medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci, in a briefing Tuesday, said XBB is even more immune evasive than the BQ subvariants.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the new boosters, which were designed against omicron BA.5, probably aren’t as effective against infection and mild illness from XBB. But the shots should protect against severe disease, he said. Singapore saw a spike in cases from XBB, but there wasn’t a major surge in hospitalizations, he added.
Moderna and Pfizer said last week that their boosters induce an immune response against BQ.1.1, which is a descendent of the BA.5 subvariant.
Fauci, in the press briefing, said public health officials believe there is enough immunity from vaccination, boosting and infection to prevent a repeat of the unprecedented Covid surge that occurred last winter when omicron first arrived.
Warren Buffett donated more than $750 million in Berkshire Hathaway stock to four foundations associated with his family on Thanksgiving eve, and the legendary investor said the timing was no coincidence as this is his way of giving thanks to his children for their charitable work.
“I’ve got a personal pride in how my kids turned out,” Buffett told CNBC’s Becky Quick. “I feel good about the fact that they know I feel good about them. This is the ultimate endorsement in my kids, and it’s the ultimate statement that my kids don’t want to be dynastically wealthy.”
The 92-year-old investor donated 1.5 million Class B shares of his conglomerate to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named for his first wife. He also gave 300,000 Class B shares apiece to the three foundations run by his children: the Sherwood Foundation, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the NoVo Foundation.
The recipients this time didn’t include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The “Oracle of Omaha” has vowed to give away his fortune over time and has been making annual donations to the same five charities since 2006.
In June, he gave 11 million Class B shares to the Gates Foundation, 1.1 million B shares to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation and 770,218 shares apiece to his children’s three foundations.
Taylor Swift accepts the Artist of the Year award onstage during the 2022 American Music Awards at Microsoft Theater on November 20, 2022 in Los Angeles, California.
Kevin Winter | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Taylor Swift’s tour promoter is shifting blame for the botched “Eras” ticket sale squarely onto Ticketmaster, potentially fueling even more concerns about the Live Nation-owned ticket seller’s dominant role in the industry.
AEG Presents, the company in charge of handling Swift’s upcoming tour, has rejected claims made by Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s largest shareholder, Liberty Media, that the promoter chose to work with the ticketing site.
“Ticketmaster’s exclusive deals with the vast majority of venues on the ‘Eras’ tour required us to ticket through their system,” AEG said in a statement to CNBC. “We didn’t have a choice.”
Live Nation didn’t immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
A coalition of activists called “Break Up Ticketmaster” has claimed that because Live Nation controls 70% of the ticketing and live event venues market, performers and their representatives have little choice of where to sell their tickets. They have called on the Department of Justice to investigate Ticketmaster and Live Nation for “hiking up ticket prices” and “charging rip-off junk fees.”
Disney, in a shocking late Sunday announcement, said it had reappointed Iger as chief executive, effective immediately, after Iger’s hand-picked successor as CEO, Bob Chapek, came under fire for his management of the entertainment giant.
“It is with an incredible sense of gratitude and humility — and, I must admit, a bit of amazement — that I write to you this evening with the news that I am returning to The Walt Disney Company as Chief Executive Officer,” Iger wrote to employees in an email, which was obtained by CNBC.
Shares of Disney, a Dow component, were up about 8% in premarket trade Monday.
The dramatic upheaval comes 11 months after Iger left Disney, and days after Chapek said he planned to cut costs at the company, which had been burdened by swelling costs at its streaming service, Disney+. Earlier this month, the company’s earnings vastly underperformed Wall Street’s expectations. Even its theme park business, which reported a surge in revenue, delivered less than what analysts had projected.
Iger’s return also comes as legacy media companies contend with a rapidly shifting landscape, as ad dollars dry up and consumers increasingly cut off their cable subscriptions in favor of streaming.
Iger will help the company’s board develop a new successor, Disney said in a release.
Chapek was named chief executive in February 2020, succeeding Iger, who had previously said he wouldn’t return to the role.
Shares of Disney have fallen about 41% so far this year, as of Friday’s close. The stock hit a 52-week low Nov. 9.
Iger has signed on to work as CEO for two years, Disney said Sunday, “with a mandate from the Board to set the strategic direction for renewed growth and to work closely with the Board in developing a successor to lead the Company at the completion of his term.”
The company said Chapek stepped down. Soon after Chapek took over in 2020, Covid-19 became a pandemic and forced the shutdown of Disney’s theme parks and prevented it, for a time, from releasing movies in theaters. Nevertheless, the company’s stock soared in 2021, before crashing down to earth in recent months.
“We thank Bob Chapek for his service to Disney over his long career, including navigating the company through the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic,” said Susan Arnold, Disney’s board chair. She will remain in that role.
Chapek, whose contract as CEO was extended earlier this year, planned a hiring freeze, cost cuts and layoffs across the company, according to a memo CNBC obtained earlier this month. The internal memo came three days after the company’s poor quarterly earnings report.
Iger, who held the CEO role for 15 years at Disney, had favored Chapek as his successor. The two ultimately had a falling out, and their conflict cast a shadow over the company’s future. Chapek distanced himself from Iger with a series of decisions, including his new approach to streaming prices for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+.
Iger is a widely respected and liked figure at Disney. He oversaw its deals to acquire Pixar, Lucasfilm and its Star Wars properties, and Marvel – all of which have become multibillion-dollar intellectual property behemoths.
Chapek, meanwhile, angered employees with his initial silence about the “Don’t Say Gay” law in Florida, where the company’s Walt Disney World resort is located. He then received blowback from Republican politicians, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, for opposing it. Earlier this month, CNBC reported that Chapek had been in touch with Republican leaders in preparation for the GOP taking over the House.
It is with an incredible sense of gratitude and humility—and, I must admit, a bit of amazement—that I write to you this evening with the news that I am returning to The Walt Disney Company as Chief Executive Officer.
When I look at the creative success of our teams across our Studios, Disney General Entertainment, ESPN and International, the rapid growth of our streaming services, the phenomenal reimagining and rebound of our Parks, the continued great work of ABC News, and so many other achievements across our businesses, I am in awe of your accomplishments and I am excited to embark with you on many new endeavors.
I know this company has asked so much of you during the past three years, and these times certainly remain quite challenging, but as you have heard me say before, I am an optimist, and if I learned one thing from my years at Disney, it is that even in the face of uncertainty—perhaps especially in the face of uncertainty—our employees and Cast Members achieve the impossible.
You will be hearing more from me and your leaders tomorrow and in the weeks ahead. In the meantime, allow me to express my deep gratitude for all that you do. Disney holds a special place in the hearts of people around the globe thanks to you, and your dedication to this company and its mission to bring joy to people through great storytelling is an inspiration to me every single day.
The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) announced today that Robert A. Iger is returning to lead Disney as Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Mr. Iger, who spent more than four decades at the Company, including 15 years as its CEO, has agreed to serve as Disney’s CEO for two years, with a mandate from the Board to set the strategic direction for renewed growth and to work closely with the Board in developing a successor to lead the Company at the completion of his term. Mr. Iger succeeds Bob Chapek, who has stepped down from his position.
“We thank Bob Chapek for his service to Disney over his long career, including navigating the company through the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic,” said Susan Arnold, Chairman of the Board. “The Board has concluded that as Disney embarks on an increasingly complex period of industry transformation, Bob Iger is uniquely situated to lead the Company through this pivotal period.”
“Mr. Iger has the deep respect of Disney’s senior leadership team, most of whom he worked closely with until his departure as executive chairman 11 months ago, and he is greatly admired by Disney employees worldwide–all of which will allow for a seamless transition of leadership,” she said.
The position of Chairman of the Board remains unchanged, with Ms. Arnold serving in that capacity.
“I am extremely optimistic for the future of this great company and thrilled to be asked by the Board to return as its CEO,” Mr. Iger said. “Disney and its incomparable brands and franchises hold a special place in the hearts of so many people around the globe—most especially in the hearts of our employees, whose dedication to this company and its mission is an inspiration. I am deeply honored to be asked to again lead this remarkable team, with a clear mission focused on creative excellence to inspire generations through unrivaled, bold storytelling.
“During his 15 years as CEO, from 2005 to 2020, Mr. Iger helped build Disney into one of the world’s most successful and admired media and entertainment companies with a strategic vision focused on creative excellence, technological innovation and international growth. He expanded on Disney’s legacy of unparalleled storytelling with the acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm and 21st Century Fox and increased the Company’s market capitalization fivefold during his time as CEO. Mr. Iger continued to direct Disney’s creative endeavors until his departure as Executive Chairman last December, and the Company’s robust pipeline of content is a testament to his leadership and vision.”
Taylor Swift performs onstage during iHeartRadio’s Z100 Jingle Ball 2019 Presented By Capital One on December 13, 2019 in New York City.
Kevin Mazur | Getty Images
Taylor Swift responded to her fans Friday after Live Nation‘s Ticketmaster said a general public sale of tickets to the superstar’s “Eras” tour would be canceled because there weren’t enough tickets to meet high demand.
“It’s really difficult for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties, and excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse,” Swift wrote in a message posted on Instagram. She did not mention Live Nation or Ticketmaster in her statement.
“I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them, multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could. It’s truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them,” she wrote.
Separately, The New York Times reported Friday that Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation into parent company Live Nation’s practices. The probe predates the Swift ticket sale this week, according to the report. The Justice Department declined to comment.
Live Nation, Ticketmaster and the company’s largest shareholder, Liberty Media, also didn’t immediately comment about Swift’s Friday statement or the Times’ report on a Justice Department investigation.
Ticketmaster announced the cancellation hours after Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei defended Ticketmaster on Thursday. Maffei blamed a surge of demand from 14 million users, including bots, for site disruptions and slow queues for presales earlier this week.
“It’s a function of Taylor Swift. The site was supposed to open up for 1.5 million verified Taylor Swift fans,” Maffei told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “We had 14 million people hit the site, including bots, which are not supposed to be there.”
Maffei said Ticketmaster sold more than 2 million tickets on Tuesday and demand for Swift “could have filled 900 stadiums.”
The “Eras” tour is set to kick off in March 17 in Glendale, Arizona.
Read Swift’s full statement:
Well. It goes without saying that l’m extremely protective of my fans. We’ve been doing this for decades together and over the years, l’ve brought so many elements of my career in house. I’ve done this SPECIFICALLY to improve the quality of my fans’ experience by doing it myself with my team who care as much about my fans as I do. It’s really difficult for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties, and excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse.
There are a multitude of reasons why people had such a hard time trying to get tickets and I’m trying to figure out how this situation can be improved moving forward. I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them, multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could. It’s truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them.
And to those who didn’t get tickets, all I can say is that my hope is to provide more opportunities for us to all get together and sing these songs.
Thank you for wanting to be there. You have no idea how much that means.
Home sales declined for the ninth straight month in October, as higher interest rates and surging inflation kept buyers on the sidelines.
Sales of previously owned homes dropped 5.9% from September to October, according to the National Association of Realtors. That is the slowest pace since December 2011, with the exception of a very brief drop at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The October reading put sales at a seasonally adjusted, annualized pace of 4.43 million units. Sales were 28.4% lower year over year.
Even as sales slow, supply is still stubbornly low. There were 1.22 million homes for sale at the end of October, an decrease of just under 1% both month to month and year over year. That’s a 3.3-month supply at the current sales pace. Historically, a balanced market is considered to be a six-month supply.
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The median price of an existing home sold in October was $379,100, an increase of 6.6% from the year before. The price gains, however, are shrinking, as the seasonal drop in home prices this time of year appears to be much deeper than usual.
“Inventory levels are still tight, which is why some homes for sale are still receiving multiple offers,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the NAR. “In October, 24% of homes received over the asking price. Conversely, homes sitting on the market for more than 120 days saw prices reduced by an average of 15.8%.”
A “For Sale” sign outside a house in Albany, California, on Tuesday, May 31, 2022.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Overall, homes went under contract in 21 days in October, up from 19 days in September and 18 days in October 2021. More than half, 64%, of homes sold in October 2022 were on the market for less than a month, suggesting that there is still strong demand if the home is priced right.
While sales are dropping now across all price points, they are weakening most in the $100,000 to $250,000 range and in the $1 million plus range. On the lower end, that is likely due to the severe shortage of available homes in that price range. Big losses in the stock market, as well as inflation and global economic uncertainty, may be weighing on high-end buyers.
First-time buyers, who are likely most sensitive to the increase in mortgage rates, made up just 28% of sales, down from 29% the year before. This cohort usually makes up 40% of home purchases. Investors or second-home buyers pulled back, buying just 16% of the homes sold in October compared with 17% in October 2021.
Mortgage rates are now more than double the record lows seen just at the start of this year. But recent volatility in rates is also wreaking havoc on potential buyers. Rates shot up in June, settled back in July and August, and continued even higher in September and October. Then they dropped back again pretty sharply last week.
“For many, the week-to-week volatility in mortgage rates alone, which in 2022 has been three times what was typical, may be a good reason to wait,” said Danielle Hale, chief economist with Realtor.com. “With week-to-week changes in mortgage rates causing $100+ swings in monthly housing costs for a median-priced home, it’s tough to know how to set and stick to a budget.”
Taylor Swift poses with her awards during the MTV Europe Music Awards 2022 held at PSD Bank Dome on November 13, 2022 in Duesseldorf, Germany.
Kevin Mazur | Wireimage | Getty Images
Tickets for Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour will no longer be put on sale to the general publicFriday, after Live Nation’s Ticketmaster said there weren’t enough tickets to meet meet demand.
“Due to extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand, tomorrow’s public on-sale for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour has been cancelled,” Ticketmaster said in a tweet.
The company announced the cancellation hours after the CEO of Live Nation’s largest shareholder blamed a surge of demand from 14 million users, including bots, for site disruptions and slow queues for presales earlier this week.
Maffei said Ticketmaster sold more than 2 million tickets on Tuesday and demand for Swift “could have filled 900 stadiums.”
Shares of Live Nation fell more than 3% Thursday.
Much of the demand for Swift’s stadium tour stems from the record-breaking release of her new album “Midnights” and the fact that the singer has not toured since 2018′s “Reputation” stadium tour. Her “Lover Fest” tour was canceled due to the pandemic.
The “Eras” tour is set to kick off March 17 in Glendale, Arizona.
Legions of Swift’s fans took to social media to complain about the long wait times and confusion over “verified fan” tickets and presale codes. The verified fan program, which was established in 2017, was designed to keep tickets in the hands of actual fans and not resellers.
But, that didn’t appear to work in several cases. Within hours, tickets for the tour were already up for sale in the secondary market at exponential markups.
Disney plans to institute a targeted hiring freeze as well as some job cuts, according to an internal memo sent to executives.
“We are limiting headcount additions through a targeted hiring freeze,” CEO Bob Chapek said in a memo to division leads sent Friday and obtained by CNBC. “Hiring for the small subset of the most critical, business-driving positions will continue, but all other roles are on hold. Your segment leaders and HR teams have more specific details on how this will apply to your teams.”
He added: “As we work through this evaluation process, we will look at every avenue of operations and labor to find savings, and we do anticipate some staff reductions as part of this review.” Disney has approximately 190,000 employees.
Chapek also told executives business travel should be limited to essential trips only. Meetings should be conducted virtually as much as possible, he wrote in the memo.
Disney is also establishing “a cost structure taskforce” to be made up of Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy, General Counsel Horacio Gutierrez and Chapek.
“I am fully aware this will be a difficult process for many of you and your teams,” Chapek wrote. “We are going to have to make tough and uncomfortable decisions. But that is just what leadership requires, and I thank you in advance for stepping up during this important time.”
The moves come after Disney reported disappointing quarterly results. Shares of the company fell sharply Wednesday, hitting a new 52-week low, before rebounding later in the week.
McCarthy said during Disney’s earnings call Tuesday that the company was looking for ways to trim costs.
“We are actively evaluating our cost base currently, and we’re looking for meaningful efficiencies,” she said. “Some of those are going to provide some near-term savings, and others are going to drive longer-term structural benefits.”
Disney’s streaming services lost $1.47 billion last quarter, more than double the unit’s loss from a year prior. McCarthy said losses will improve in 2023, and Chapek has promised streaming will become profitable by the end of 2024.
Other large media and entertainment companies, including Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix, have cut jobs this year as valuations have slumped. Disney hasn’t announced any plans to eliminate jobs.
The full memo can be read here:
Disney Leaders-
As we begin fiscal 2023, I want to communicate with you directly about the cost management efforts Christine McCarthy and I referenced on this week’s earnings call. These efforts will help us to both achieve the important goal of reaching profitability for Disney+ in fiscal 2024 and make us a more efficient and nimble company overall. This work is occurring against a backdrop of economic uncertainty that all companies and our industry are contending with.
While certain macroeconomic factors are out of our control, meeting these goals requires all of us to continue doing our part to manage the things we can control—most notably, our costs. You all will have critical roles to play in this effort, and as senior leaders, I know you will get it done.
To be clear, I am confident in our ability to reach the targets we have set, and in this management team to get us there.
To help guide us on this journey, I have established a cost structure taskforce of executive officers: our CFO, Christine McCarthy and General Counsel, Horacio Gutierrez. Along with me, this team will make the critical big picture decisions necessary to achieve our objectives.
We are not starting this work from scratch and have already set several next steps—which I wanted you to hear about directly from me.
First, we have undertaken a rigorous review of the company’s content and marketing spending working with our content leaders and their teams. While we will not sacrifice quality or the strength of our unrivaled synergy machine, we must ensure our investments are both efficient and come with tangible benefits to both audiences and the company.
Second, we are limiting headcount additions through a targeted hiring freeze. Hiring for the small subset of the most critical, business-driving positions will continue, but all other roles are on hold. Your segment leaders and HR teams have more specific details on how this will apply to your teams.
Third, we are reviewing our SG&A costs and have determined that there is room for improved efficiency—as well as an opportunity to transform the organization to be more nimble. The taskforce will drive this work in partnership with segment teams to achieve both savings and organizational enhancements. As we work through this evaluation process, we will look at every avenue of operations and labor to find savings, and we do anticipate some staff reductions as part of this review. In the immediate term, business travel should now be limited to essential trips only. In-person work sessions or offsites requiring travel will need advance approval and review from a member of your executive team (i.e., direct report of the segment chairman or corporate executive officer). As much as possible, these meetings should be conducted virtually. Attendance at conferences and other external events will also be restricted and require approvals from a member of your executive team.
Our transformation is designed to ensure we thrive not just today, but well into the future—and you will hear more from our taskforce in the weeks and months ahead.
I am fully aware this will be a difficult process for many of you and your teams. We are going to have to make tough and uncomfortable decisions. But that is just what leadership requires, and I thank you in advance for stepping up during this important time. Our company has weathered many challenges during our 100-year history, and I have no doubt we will achieve our goals and create a more nimble company better suited to the environment of tomorrow.
Thank you again for your leadership.
-Bob
WATCH: Disney had to get into streaming, but Meta just did too much hiring
Employees stand next to a ET7 sedan at a NIO Inc. dealership in Shanghai, China, on Wednesday, June 8, 2022.
Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio on Thursday reported a loss of $577.9 million for the third quarter, significantly wider than a year ago, despite strong revenue following a 29% increase in vehicle sales.
Shares of the company were up over 10% in early trading Thursday.
Nio said on Oct. 1 that it delivered 31,607 vehicles in the third quarter, up 29% from the third quarter of 2021 and a record for the company.
Nio’s gross margin was 13.3%, slightly improved versus the 13% margin it reported in the second quarter, but down from 20.3% a year ago. Nio said the year-over-year margin decline was due to lower sales of regulatory credits, higher costs that have squeezed margins on its vehicles, and higher spending on its charging and service networks.
CEO William Bin Li said in a statement that the company has seen strong interest in its new ET5 sedan, which he expects “will support a substantial acceleration of our overall revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2022.” The ET5, the company’s second sedan, began shipping in September.
With the ET5 now available, Nio is working to increase production and shorten customer waiting times, Li said. Nio said that investors should expect it to deliver 43,000 and 48,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter, generating total revenue between RMB17,368 million ($2.4 billion) and RMB19,225 million ($2.7 billion).
Beyond Meat “Beyond Burger” patties made from plant-based substitutes for meat products sit on a shelf for sale in New York City.
Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images
Beyond Meat on Wednesday reported a wider-than-expected loss for its third quarter as demand for its meat substitutes tumbled.
Shares of the company bounced around in after-hours trading. The stock closed down 9% on Wednesday.
Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:
Loss per share: $1.60 vs. $1.14 expected
Revenue: $82.5 million vs. $98.1 million expected
Beyond reported a third-quarter net loss of $101.7 million, or $1.60 per share, wider than its net loss of $54.8 million, or 87 cents per share, a year earlier.
Bob Chapek, Disney CEO at the Boston College Chief Executives Club, November 15, 2021.
Charles Krupa | AP
Disney fell short of expectations for profit and key revenue segments during the fiscal fourth quarter Tuesday and warned strong streaming growth for its Disney+ platform may taper going forward.
Shares of the company fell roughly 8% in after-hours trading.
The company’s quarterly results missed Wall Street expectations on the top and bottom lines, as both its parks and media divisions underperformed estimates. And Chief Financial Officer Christine McCarthy tempered investor expectations for the new fiscal year, forecasting 2023 revenue growth of less than 10%. The company reported fiscal 2022 revenue growth of 22%.
Revenue in Disney’s media and entertainment division fell 3% year over year to $12.7 billion during the fiscal fourth quarter, as the company’s direct-to-consumer and theatrical businesses struggled. Analysts had expected segment revenue of $13.9 billion, according to StreetAccount estimates.
The company also posted lower content sales because it had fewer theatrical films on the calendar and therefore, fewer films to place into the home entertainment market.
Here’s how the company performed in the period from July to September:
Earnings per share: 30 cents per share adj. vs. 55 cents expected, according to a Refinitiv survey of analysts
Revenue: $20.15 billion vs. $21.24 billion expected, according to Refinitiv
Disney+ total subscriptions: 164.2 million vs. 160.45 million expected, according to StreetAccount
Disney+ added 12.1 million subscriptions during the period, bringing the platform’s total subscriber base to 164.2 million, higher than the 160.45 million analysts had forecast, according to StreetAccount estimates.
However, growth is expected to slow in the fiscal first quarter, Disney executives warned on Tuesday’s conference call.
At the end of the fiscal fourth quarter, Hulu had 47.2 million subscribers and ESPN+ had 24.3 million. Combined, Hulu, ESPN+ and Disney+ have over 235 million streaming subscribers. Netflix, long the leader in the streaming space, had 223 million subscribers, according to the most recent tally.
Disney CEO Bob Chapek said in the company’s earnings release that Disney+ will achieve profitability in fiscal 2024. The direct-to-consumer division lost $1.47 billion during the most recent quarter. It also reported a 10% drop in domestic average revenue per user (ARPU) to $6.10.
The company is set to hike prices for the service in December and is planning an ad-supported tier, which is expected to boost revenue.
Chapek has been on a mission to better link the company’s divisions as one single organization and accelerate its direct-to-consumer strategy.
The company reported record results in its parks, experiences and products segment, Chapek said. The division, which includes the company’s theme parks, resorts, cruise line and merchandise business, saw revenue increase more than 34% to $7.4 billion during the quarter.
Still, Wall Street had slightly higher hopes for the division: Analysts were expecting revenue of $7.5 billion, according to StreetAccount.
Operating income for the division rose more than 66% to $1.5 billion as spending increased at its domestic and international parks and consumers booked voyages on its new cruise ship, the Disney Wish. The parks unit, specifically, brought in $815 million in operating income, well shy of the $919 million expected by StreetAccount.
Disney cited higher costs and said they were only partially offset by higher ticket revenue, driven by the introduction of the Genie+ and Lightning Lane guest offerings.
CFO McCarthy said Tuesday Disney is looking for “meaningful efficiencies” and actively examining the company’s cost base.
Former executives at MoviePass and its parent company have been charged with fraud, according to a federal indictment that was unsealed Friday.
Theodore Farnsworth, 60, former CEO of Helios & Matheson, and Mitchell Lowe, 70, former CEO of MoviePass, are charged with misleading investors and making false statements about the movie subscription service to boost the stock price of its parent company, Helios & Matheson Analytics.
The indictment alleges that Farnsworth and Lowe in 2017, while describing the company’s $9.95 “unlimited” movie plan as thoroughly tested, sustainable and profitable, were aware that MoviePass’s offer was a marketing gimmick and that its parent company did not possess the technology or capability to monetize subscriber data.
Nor had the company done the rigorous marketing testing that it claimed to have completed, the Justice Department said.
MoviePass skyrocketed to popularity in 2017 because of its seemingly too-good-to-be-true unlimited movie pass that initially offered customers one movie voucher per day for $30 to $40 a month. The hope was that most subscribers wouldn’t actually use the service regularly, in the same way that gyms are able to offset cheap monthly fees because of no-show subscribers.
However, many MoviePass subscribers began to use the service too frequently and the company started to lose money quickly. In an effort to stay afloat, MoviePass began limiting the number of titles available among other restrictions. The service underwent several iterations of price and offerings before shuttering.
Without the backing of movie theaters, which had balked at MoviePass’ business model and intrusion into the industry, the company was forced to dismantle in September 2019.
Co-founder Stacy Spikes regained ownership of the company in late 2021, but a new version of MoviePass has yet to make its official debut. The company is currently planning beta tests in several cities including Chicago. The expectation is that the new subscription will offer three pricing tiers for $10, $20 and $30, respectively, with each level having a certain number of credits that can be used towards redeeming movie tickets.
Lowe and Farnsworth do not appear to be connected to the new iteration of MoviePass.
According to the DOJ document, the pair also allegedly knew that the price of MoviePass’ unlimited plan would not be enough to offset losses. The plan was to grow new subscribers, inflate Helios & Matheson’s stock and attract new investors, the indictment said.
The news of the indictment comes after the Securities and Exchange Commission in September accused Lowe, Farnsworth and another former MoviePass executive, Khalid Itum, of making false statements and falsifying records.
“The indictment repeats the same allegations made by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the Commission’s recent complaint filed on September 27th against Mr. Farnsworth, concerning matters that were publicly disclosed nearly three years ago and widely reported by the news media,” said Chris Bond, a spokesman for Farnsworth in a statement. “As with the SEC filing, Mr. Farnsworth is confident that the facts will demonstrate that he has acted in good faith, and his legal team intends to contest the allegations in the indictment until his vindication is achieved.”
Representatives for Lowe did not immediately respond to request for comment.
On Friday, the Justice Department said Farnsworth and Lowe are alleged to have falsely claimed that the number of tickets MoviePass subscribers were purchasing as part of their subscription was declining over time. Instead, the pair had directed employees to implement tactics to prevent subscribers from using their unlimited service, according to prosecutors.
The former CEOs are charged with one count of securities fraud and three counts of wire fraud. If convicted, they each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
Vials containing the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are displayed before being used at a mobile vaccine clinic, in Valparaiso, Chile, January 3, 2022.
Rodrigo Garrido | Reuters
Pfizer on Tuesday raised its 2022 earnings guidance after booking a strong third quarter that beat Wall Street expectations.
Pfizer now expects earnings per share of $6.40 to $6.50 for the year, up from its previous forecast of $6.30 to $6.45. The pharmaceutical company also raised the lower end of its sales guidance and now expects revenues of $99.5 billion to $102 billion for the year.
Pfizer raised its full year sales guidance for its Covid-19 vaccine to $34 billion this year, up $2 billion from the company’s previous expectations. The company is maintaining its revenue expectations of $22 billion for the antiviral pill Paxlovid.
Its shares rose by about 4% in premarket trading.
Here’s how the company performed compared with what Wall Street expected for the third quarter, based on analysts’ average estimates compiled by Refinitiv:
Adjusted EPS: $1.78 per share vs. $1.39 expected
Revenues: $22.6 billion vs. $21 billion expected
Pfizer’s sold $4.4 billion of its Covid vaccine worldwide in the quarter, a decrease of 66% compared to the same period last year. It sold $7.5 billion of the Paxlovid treatment during the quarter that ended Sept. 30.
Pfizer booked net income of $8.6 billion for the third quarter, a 6% increase over the same quarter last year.
Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla indicated that company is looking beyond the Covid pandemic which has led to record windfalls for the pharmaceutical giant.
Bourla said in a statement that Pfizer plans to launch 19 new products or new uses for existing drugs in the next 18 months. The company, for example, reported positive clinical trial data Tuesday for its maternal RSV vaccine that protects newborns.
The RSV vaccine is administered as a single dose to the mother in the late second or third trimester of her pregnancy. Pfizer’s data showed that in the first 90 days of the baby’s life, the vaccine was 81% effective at preventing severe lower respiratory tract illnesses that require hospitalization or assisted breathing.
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.
DETROIT — General Motors is suspending its advertising on Twitter following Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media platform, the company told CNBC on Friday.
The Detroit automaker, a rival to Musk-led electric vehicle maker Tesla, said it is “pausing” advertising as it evaluates Twitter’s new direction. It will continue to use the platform to interact with customers but not pay for advertising, GM added.
“We are engaging with Twitter to understand the direction of the platform under their new ownership. As is normal course of business with a significant change in a media platform, we have temporarily paused our paid advertising. Our customer care interactions on Twitter will continue,” the company said in an emailed statement.
Under CEO Mary Barra, the Detroit company was among the first automakers to announce billions of dollars in spending to better compete against Tesla in the battery electric vehicle segment.
A General Motors sign is seen during an event on January 25, 2022 in Lansing, Michigan. – General Motors will create 4,000 new jobs and retaining 1,000, and significantly increasing battery cell and electric truck manufacturing capacity.
Jeff Kowalsky | AFP | Getty Images
A spokesperson for Ford Motor, another Tesla rival, told CNBC that the automaker is not currently advertising on Twitter, and had not been doing so prior to Elon Musk’s take-private deal. They added, “We will continue to evaluate the direction of the platform under the new ownership.”
However, when presented with a screenshot of a promoted tweet from Ford CEO Jim Farley, the spokesperson could not confirm when was the last time Ford or its collaborators may have paid for ads, including promoted tweets, on the platform.
Ford is continuing to engage with its customers on Twitter.
Other auto companies, including Rivian, Stellantis and Alphabet-owned Waymo, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether they plan to suspend advertising or discontinue using the social media platform in wake of Musk’s $44 billion buyout of Twitter.
Electric truck maker Nikola said it had no plans to change anything regarding the platform.
The future direction of Twitter has been central to the takeover story. Musk has said he is a “free speech absolutist,” who would restore the account of former President Donald Trump, who was banned over his tweets during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.
Musk said on Friday that he plans a “content moderation council” and will not reinstate any accounts or make major content decisions before it is convened. Musk also said in a statement to advertisers this week that he cannot let Twitter become a “free-for-all hellscape.”
Henrik Fisker, CEO of EV startup Fisker Inc., deleted his Twitter account earlier this year when Twitter’s board accepted Musk’s bid to buy the company and take it private. Fisker Inc. continues to use Twitter, which every major automotive brand utilizes for customer engagement and marketing.
Musk has long boasted that Tesla does not pay for traditional advertising, a cost that has added up for conventional automakers’ brands through the years.
Instead, Tesla rewards people who run, or are members of, Tesla owners’ clubs as well as other social media influencers who promote the company’s products, stock and Musk on social networks, especially Twitter and YouTube as well as on fan blogs.
They are often granted early access to Tesla products, like the company’s Full Self Driving Beta software, and given passes to company events where attendance is limited.
In September 2020, Tesla weighed a stockholder proposal to begin strategic, paid advertising to educate the public about its vehicles and charging network. The Tesla board recommended against it, and shareholders voted with the board against starting to pay for traditional ad campaigns.
In the company’s annual report for 2021, Tesla wrote: “Historically, we have been able to generate significant media coverage of our company and our products, and we believe we will continue to do so. Such media coverage and word of mouth are the current primary drivers of our sales leads and have helped us achieve sales without traditional advertising and at relatively low marketing costs.”
It reported marketing, promotional and advertising costs were “immaterial” for the years ended Dec. 31, 2021, 2020 and 2019 in financial filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
— CNBC’s John Rosevear contributed to this report.
DETROIT – Ford Motor recorded a net loss of $827 million during the third quarter, weighed down by supply chain problems and costs related to disbanding its autonomous vehicle unit Argo AI.
Still, the automaker was able to narrowly beat Wall Street’s subdued expectations for the period and guided to the lowest end of its previously forecast earnings for the year.
Shares of the company were down roughly 1.5% in extended trading following the report.
Here’s how Ford performed during the third quarter, compared with analysts estimates as compiled by Refinitiv:
Adjusted earnings per share: 30 cents vs. 27 cents estimated
Automotive revenue: $37.2 billion vs. $36.25 billion estimated
The auto industry’s earnings and forecasts are being closely watched by investors for any signs that consumer demand could be weakening amid rising interest rates and looming recession fears. However, both Ford and crosstown rival General Motors continue to say demand for their products remains strong despite outside economic concerns and rising interest rates.
Ford reported adjusted earnings of $1.8 billion for the quarter, down 40% from a year earlier but slightly above its own previously announced expectations, set last month.
Ford in September partially pre-released its results, including projected adjusted earnings before interest and taxes in the range of $1.4 billion to $1.7 billion — some analysts had been expecting a quarterly profit closer to $3 billion — but affirmed full-year guidance of adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of between $11.5 billion to $12.5 billion.
On Wednesday Ford updated its guidance to forecast full-year adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of about $11.5 billion. It raised its full-year adjusted free cash flow forecast, however, to between $9.5 billion and $10 billion – up from $5.5 billion to $6.5 billion – on strength in the company’s automotive operations.
Ford recorded a $2.7 billion non-cash, pretax charge on its investment in Argo AI, which the company initially invested in starting in 2017. It later split its ownership of Argo AI with German automaker Volkswagen in 2019.
Ford CFO John Lawler said the company is winding down the operations to focus on advanced driver-assist systems such as its BlueCruise hands-free highway driving system and other operations that aren’t considered “fully autonomous.”
“It’s become very clear that profitable, fully autonomous vehicles at scale are still a long way off,” he told reporters. “We’ve also concluded that we don’t necessarily have to create that technology ourselves.”
Some of the roughly 2,000 employees for Argo AI are expected to be offered positions at Ford or Volkswagen, officials said. Volkswagen said in a statement that it will no longer invest in Argo AI.
In pre-releasing some results last month, Ford attributed the lower-than-expected earnings to parts shortages affecting 40,000 to 50,000 vehicles as well as an extra $1 billion in unexpected supplier costs during the quarter.
Lawler on Wednesday said the company still expects to finish those vehicles and have them shipped to dealers by the end of the year.
The vehicles, largely high-margin pickups and SUVs, dragged down Ford’s North American profits. The company’s adjusted profit margin for the region was just 5%, down from 10.1% a year earlier.
Ford’s North American operations recorded adjusted earnings of $1.3 billion during the third quarter, down 46% from a year earlier. The automaker recorded earnings gains in Europe and South America, while its operations in China lost $193 million.
Ford’s overall revenue during the quarter, which includes its financial arm, was $39.4 billion, a 10% increase from a year earlier. Through the third quarter, the company’s year-to-date revenue was $114.1 billion, a 16% increase compared to that same time period in 2022.
Ford’s earnings come a day after crosstown rival General Motors significantly outperformed Wall Street’s earnings expectations but slightly missed on revenue. GM’s adjusted profit margin for the quarter narrowed to 10.2% compared with 10.7% during the third quarter of 2021, including 10% in North America.
Chess grandmaster Hans Niemann filed a $100 million lawsuit against world champion Magnus Carlsen and others for alleged defamatory statements claiming that Niemann cheated in competition.
The suit claims that the defendants, including Chess.com, inflicted “devastating damages” against Niemann by “egregiously defaming him” and “unlawfully colluding” to bar him from the professional chess world.
“My lawsuit speaks for itself,” Niemann said Thursday in a Twitter post.
Niemann, 19, has admitted to cheating on two occasions, once when he was 12 years old and a second time when he was 16. But he denied claims that he cheated in an over-the-board match against Magnus Carlsen this year.
Carlsen withdrew from the Sinquefield Cup in September after losing to Niemann, and eventually came forward with concerns that Niemann had cheated in the match in which he defeated Carlsen.
“When Niemann was invited last minute to the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, I strongly considered withdrawing prior to the event. I ultimately chose to play,” Carlsen, 31, said in a statement posted to Twitter in late September. “I had the impression that he wasn’t tense or even fully concentrating on the game in critical positions, while outplaying me as black in a way I think only a handful of players can do.”
The suit claims that Carlsen’s comments were a retaliatory attempt to keep Niemann from damaging his reputation.
“Enraged that the young Niemann, fully 12 years his junior, dared to disrespect the ‘King of Chess,’ and fearful that the young prodigy would further blemish his multi-million dollar brand by beating him again Carlsen viciously and maliciously retaliated against Niemann,” the suit, filed in the Eastern District of Missouri where the match took place, alleges.
World chess champion Norway’s Magnus Carlsen poses with the FIDE world chess championship trophy after beating challenger.
TOLGA AKMEN | AFP | Getty Images
Chess.com subsequently banned Niemann after reporting that an internal investigation revealed evidence of more cheating than Niemann’s public statements had expressed.
“We have shared detailed evidence with him concerning our decision, including information that contradicts his statements regarding the amount and seriousness of his cheating on Chess.com,” representatives from the Chess website wrote in the “Hans Niemann Report” published in early October. “We have invited Hans to provide an explanation and response with the hope of finding a resolution where Hans can participate on Chess.com.”
Niemann’s lawsuit alleges a conspiracy between the defendants, including Chess.com, popular Chess.com streamer Hikaru Nakamura and Carlsen, whose “Play Magnus” platform is set to be bought by Chess.com. In the “Hans Niemann Report,” the website denies that Carlsen asked or influenced the decision to shut down Niemann’s account.
The report from Chess.com did not find evidence of cheating in Niemann’s over-the-board matches, including the match against Carlsen, though the website notes that its cheating detection is primarily used for online matches.
The report does, however, allege that Niemann likely cheated in over 100 online chess games, including several prize money events. It also shows that Niemann’s Chess.com “Strength Score” sits in the range of over a dozen anonymous grandmasters who have admitted to cheating. The report also notes that Niemann is by far the fastest-rising player by yearly gain in classical over-the-board chess.
Niemann’s defamation and collusion suit calls him an “American chess prodigy,” but Chess.com throws doubt on that claim. The report states that, of the 13 grandmasters under the age of 25, Niemann is the only one who became a grandmaster after the age of 16. In general they call him “statistically extraordinary.”
The report notes Chess.com‘s “best-in-class” cheat detection, which has elicited cheating confessions from four players in the global top 100. The report says that Niemann himself called it “the best cheat detection in the world.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering using the oral polio vaccine for the first time in more than 20 years to stop an outbreak in the greater New York City metropolitan area that left an adult paralyzed over the summer.
“We are in discussions with our New York State and New York City colleagues about the use of nOPV,” said Dr. Jannell Routh, the CDC’s team leader for domestic polio, referring to the novel oral polio vaccine.
“It will be a process. It’s not something that we can pull the trigger on and have it appear overnight,” Routh told CNBC. “There will be lots of thought and discussion about the reintroduction of an oral polio vaccine into the United States,” she said.
The New York State Department of Health, in a statement, said it is collaborating with the CDC on potential future options to respond to the outbreak.
U.S. drug regulators pulled the oral vaccine off shelves in 2000 because it contains a live — but weakened — strain of the virus that can, in rare circumstances, mutate into a virulent form that is contagious and potentially paralyze people who are not vaccinated.
Scientists believe this latest outbreak was caused by someone who was vaccinated with the live virus overseas and started a chain of transmission that eventually found its way to the U.S. Sewage samples in New York are linked to earlier samples in London and Jerusalem. It’s unclear where the transmission began originally. While the oral vaccine doesn’t normally cause polio that paralyzes people, this one did because it was able to mutate into more virulent strains while spreading across among people who weren’t vaccinated.
The U.S. currently uses the inactivated polio vaccine which is administered as a shot and contains chemically killed virus that cannot replicate, mutate or cause disease. While New York state health officials have launched an immunization drive with the inactivated polio shots, that vaccine hasn’t stopped this outbreak.
The CDC has set up a work group within its committee of independent vaccine advisors to develop criteria for when the novel oral polio vaccine might need to be used to stop the current outbreak in the New York City area and potential future ones. The work group met publicly for the first time on Wednesday.
“Since this outbreak occurred in New York, it was determined that we need to revisit polio. It’s really that simple,” said Dr. Oliver Brooks, the workgroup chairperson and chief medical officer at Watts Healthcare in Los Angeles.
The problem is that although the inactivated vaccine is highly effective at preventing paralysis, it does not stop transmission of the virus. The oral polio vaccine is much more effective at stopping transmission of the virus and is normally used to quash outbreaks.
The poliovirus strain currently circulating in the New York City metro area mutated from and is genetically linked to the Sabin Type 2 strain used in an older version of the oral polio vaccine.
The U.S., if needed, would use the novel oral polio vaccine which is a safer and newer version that is more stable and carries a much lower risk of mutating into a virus strain that can spread and cause disease in people who are unvaccinated.
The novel oral polio vaccine was developed to stop poliovirus outbreaks caused by the less stable older version of the vaccine, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. More than 450 million doses have been administered in 21 countries around the world.
Any decision to use the novel oral polio vaccine would require either an approval or emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. CNBC has reached out to FDA for comment.
An unvaccinated adult in Rockland County, New York was paralyzed in June after contracting poliovirus. It was the first known U.S. case in nearly a decade and the first in New York since 1990. There have been no further cases of paralysis so far, though New York state health officials have warned that unvaccinated people are at serious risk and should get up to date on their shots immediately.
New York State Department of Health has detected poliovirus in sewage dating back to April and as recently as September in several counties in the New York City area. The virus has been detected in 70 sewage samples across Rockland, Sullivan, Orange, Nassau, Kings and Queens counties.
The U.S. was declared polio free in 1979.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency in September and Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett declared the spread of poliovirus an imminent threat to public health.
Dwayne Johnson stars in Warner Bros.’ “Black Adam.”
Warner Bros.
Not even Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson could salvage Warner Bros.’ latest entrant into the DC Extended Universe.
“Black Adam,” which premieres Friday, did not impress critics, generating a meager 53% on Rotten Tomatoes from 102 reviews as of Thursday afternoon. While expectations are that the film can pull between $55 million and $75 million during its opening weekend, poor word of mouth could dash the reportedly $200 million film’s hopes before it has a chance to take off.
The film centers on Black Adam, a man who was bestowed the almighty power of the gods, but uses those gifts for vengeance. He is imprisoned for nearly 5,000 years and emerges in modern times to dole out his own unique form of justice.
Unlike his traditional superhero counterparts — in this film it’s the Justice Society, not the Justice League — Black Adam is not averse to the use of deadly force.
Here’s what critics had to say about “Black Adam” ahead of its theatrical debut:
“Watching an action movie shouldn’t feel like a chore, but ‘Black Adam’ does,” wrote Kristy Puchko in her review of the film for Mashable. “Amid a slew of publicly damned decisions, Warner Bros. has released a DC Extended Universe movie that is more exhausting than exciting, spooling out tedious exposition alongside ugly action for a muddled mess of a movie that squanders its big budget and the promising star power of Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge, and Noah Centineo.”
Puchko noted that “Black Adam” rushes through the introductions of Cyclone, Atom Smasher, Hawkman and Doctor Fate “so quickly that it’s actually comical.”
“In their rush to ‘meet the team,’ the screenwriters ramble out more hasty exposition that’s difficult to grasp amid the cross-cutting of so many introductions and quirky cameos (which I’ll admit are a thrill),” she said. “‘Black Adam’ is in such a hurry to pitch this batch of C-list heroes into their battle with the protagonist, that your head might be spinning.”
“‘Black Adam’ isn’t bad,” said Mark Kennedy in his review of the film for the Associated Press. “It’s just predictable and color-by-numbers, stealing from other films like an intellectual property super-villain.”
Kennedy noted that Johnson is a natural choice to play Black Adam, able to mix “might with humor,” but ultimately his performance and the overall film were “let down by a derivative and baggy screenplay.”
“[The film] goes from one violent scene to another like a video game in order to paper over a plot both undercooked and overcooked,” he said. “At one point, with the audience exhausted by all the carnage, they introduce skeletons who rise up as a legion from hell, just what we wanted.”
For Alonso Duralde of The Wrap “Black Adam” felt like “both too much and not enough,” a film where the “narrative gambits are helped by a sludgy visual style that’s either distractingly artificial or dispiritingly gloomy, except when it manages to be both.”
“The ensemble does what it can with the material, but no one’s going to be including this in their eventual life-achievement reels,” he said. “There’s a jarring sense of four-quadrant casting at work here — Brosnan for the parents! Centineo for the teens! Skateboard kid for the tweens! — that reads too obviously as a marketing strategy and not as a cast of characters who would actually be interacting in these circumstances.”
Like many other critics, Duralde said the film tries to make a correlation between the Justice Society’s sudden appearance in Kahndaq, a fictional country in the Middle East, and past U.S. imperialism, it stops short of making any meaningful statement.
Critics also narrowed in on the narrative choices of “Black Adam.” The superhero film tries to brand its titular character as a vengeful, dark anti-hero, but does nothing story-wise to elevate or redefine the genre.
“‘Black Adam’ so desperately wants to be a darker and gristlier version of the same hamburger that audiences have been served over and over again for the last 15 years, but Johnson — who’s also a producer on the film, and a part-time architect of this cinematic universe in addition to our own — can’t abide the idea of doing something that might leave even one audience member behind,” said David Ehrlich in his review of the film.
He called “Black Adam” “exhaustingly derivative,” noting that the film felt like it had been “audience-tested within an inch of its life.”
Not even the main antagonist of the film could inspire critics.
“They team up to fight what might be the single most forgettable villain in comic book movie history, which is a wild thing to say about a giant hell demon with a pentagram scar across its entire chest,” Ehrlich wrote.
Johnson has been connected to the Black Adam character at least 15 years, explained Matt Singer in his review of the film for ScreenCrush. The project has won and lost directors and writers for years, but the former WWE wrestler has always been attached.
“Alas, 15 years of work produced a pretty middling movie, one that does not seem to reflect what must have been hundreds of hours of writing and countless screenplay drafts,” he said.
“Instead, Black Adam plays like a committee-made product designed to zhoosh up the stagnant DC Extended Universe with a massive star and a batch of new heroes to spin off into future movies,” Singer said. “After two hours of dour table setting, you’re left with a clear direction for DC’s cinematic future — and a lot less interest in actually watching it.”
A child is administered a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pediatric vaccine.
Mayela Lopez | Reuters
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took a major step Wednesday toward ensuring that kids who are uninsured can receive Covid-19 vaccines for free after the federal government shifts its immunization program to the commercial market.
The CDC’s independent advisors voted unanimously on Wednesday to include Covid shots authorized for kids by the Food and Drug Administration in the federal government’s Vaccines For Children program.
The Vaccines for Children program provides vaccines to kids under age 19 whose families cannot afford them. Children are eligible for the program if they qualify for Medicaid or are uninsured, underinsured or Native American.
Including Covid shots in the program does not make them a routine childhood vaccination for school, said Dr. Jose Romero, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.
The U.S. government has been providing Covid vaccines to everyone in the U.S. for free during the pandemic. But the Biden administration is working on a plan to transition the vaccination program to the commercial market as soon as 2023, which means people will have to start paying for the shots.
Dr. Jeanne Santoli, a CDC official, said the public health agency will start awarding contracts for healthcare providers to give the Covid shots for free to uninsured kids.
Currently, children as young as six months old are eligible for Pfizer’s and Moderna’s two-dose primary series with the first-generation shots that target the original Covid strain. Kids as young as age 5 are eligible for the new booster shots that target the dominant omicron BA.5 subvariant.
The decision to include Covid shots in the free vaccine program will prove crucial to maintaining access for many children. As many as 5.3 million kids are expected to lose health insurance through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program whenever the Biden administration decides to end the Covid public health emergency, according to the Health and Human Services Department.
“This is an access issue. This is an issue to allow children that don’t have insurance to gain access to this vaccine,” said Romero.
Although Covid is generally less severe in kids than adults, more than 162,000 children under age 18 have been hospitalized with Covid since August 2020, according to data from the CDC. More than 1,800 children have died from Covid since the pandemic began, according to the data.
Public health officials are also worried about kids developing long Covid even after a mild infection.
One of the company’s flat aviation-specific Starlink antennas is seen on top of an aircraft.
SpaceX
SpaceX rolled out aviation-specific Starlink satellite internet service on Tuesday, with Elon Musk’s company looking to expand further into the inflight WiFi market.
The company is charging $150,000 for the hardware needed to connect a jet to Starlink, with monthly service costs between $12,500 a month and $25,000 a month. Deliveries to aviation customers are scheduled to “start in mid-2023,” the company said, and reservations require a $5,000 initial payment.
SpaceX advertises “global coverage” through a flat-panel antenna that customers would install on top of an aircraft. SpaceX said it is seeking Federal Aviation Administration certificates for a variety of aircraft, most of which are typically owned and operated as private jets.
As for the quality of the service, SpaceX says Starlink aviation customers can expect speeds up to 350 Megabits per second, “enabling all passengers to access streaming-capable internet at the same time.”
“Passengers can engage in activities previously not functional in flight, including video calls, online gaming, virtual private networks and other high data rate activities,” SpaceX said on its Starlink website.
SpaceX won’t install the antennas, however, noting that customers “will have to arrange the installation with a provider.”
But the company’s aviation service does not require a long-term contract, with SpaceX saying “all plans include unlimited data” and the “hardware is under warranty for as long as you subscribe to the service.”
One of the company’s flat aviation-specific Starlink antennas is seen on top of an aircraft.
This latest offering marks a direct challenge to leading inflight connectivity provider Gogo. But William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma said in a note to investors on Wednesday that the Starlink product “appears to be too big and too expensive to challenge” Gogo’s position in the small-to-midsize business jet market and that “this will likely come as a welcome relief to Gogo investors.”
“Starlink’s entry into the business jet connectivity market has pressured Gogo shares. We anticipate that Gogo will be able to fend off competition because of its unique air-to-ground cellular network. Gogo is the dominant provider of inflight connectivity for business jets, and serves over 6,600 business jets with its cellular network and an additional 4,500 aircraft with [satellite] connectivity,” DiPalma said.
Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note that, while Starlink’s “premium pricing” is expected to have “a relatively limited impact to Gogo in the near-term,” SpaceX’s new service “highlights growing competitive intensity in a market that Gogo has historically dominated with >80% market share.”
Starlink is the SpaceX’s plan to build an interconnected internet network with thousands of satellites, designed to deliver high-speed internet to anywhere on the planet. SpaceX has launched nearly 3,500 Starlink satellites into orbit, and the service had about 500,000 subscribers as of June. The company has raised capital steadily to fund development of both Starlink and its next-generation rocket Starship, with $2 billion brought in just this year.
The FCC has authorized SpaceX to provide mobile Starlink internet service, with the company’s product offerings now including services to residential, business, RV, maritime and aviation customers.
