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Jan Jensen’s loyalty and patience pay off with her promotion to Iowa women’s basketball head coach 2024-05-15 20:14:31+00:00 - IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Jan Jensen had numerous head coaching opportunities in her 24 years as an assistant on Lisa Bluder’s coaching staff at Iowa. A few of the offers, Jensen said, were good enough to get serious consideration, but ultimately she decided to stay with Bluder and the Hawkeyes. That loyalty was rewarded when Jensen, Iowa’s associate head coach the last 20 years, was elevated to head coach after Bluder announced her retirement Monday. “At the end of the day, this was where I wanted to be,” Jensen said during her introductory news conference Wednesday. Jensen succeeds the winningest coach in Iowa and Big Ten history. Her hiring adds to what was going to be a transition period for the Hawkeyes, who are coming off back-to-back appearances in the NCAA championship game and lose three starters, including two-time national player of the year Caitlin Clark. The Hawkeyes have appeared in 14 of the last 16 NCAA tournaments and have won the Big Ten Tournament title the last three seasons. “When you’re chasing greatness, you want to be a champion,” Jensen said. Jensen said the program was already entering a new era with the loss of Clark, who became Division I’s all-time leading scorer in her four years at Iowa. Starters Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall also finished their careers. Even with major personnel turnover, Jensen said she won’t lower her expectations, and she expects the same from her players. “I’d like to think they’re coming in with a mentality, little chip on their shoulder,” she said, “because most everybody else is going to say, ‘Hey, you lost all that.’ ” Iowa sold out every home game last season, including two NCAA Tournament games, and Jensen said she is counting on that kind of support to continue. “This year was going to be a lot different in the sense of rebuilding in the sense of graduating seniors, including a generational player like Caitlin,” Jensen said. “There were fans who came for Caitlin. A lot of people came for Caitlin, but they stayed for Hannah (Stuelke), they stayed for Syd (Affolter), they certainly stayed for Kate and Gabbie. I think they stayed for what this team and culture is.” Iowa athletics director Beth Goetz said it was an easy decision to promote Jensen. “This is a seamless passing of the baton,” Goetz said. “Jan models daily what it means have a tireless work ethic, to lead with compassion and fiery passion and to be confident in who you are and how to go about chasing your dreams. Everything we needed in the next leader of this storied program was right here.” Jensen said she was “shocked” when Bluder informed her that she was retiring after 40 seasons at three schools. “It’s a beautiful chapter closed,” said Jensen, who added Bluder would will be an advisor to the program. Jensen, a native of the western Iowa town of Kimballton, was one of the best high school players in the state’s 6-on-6 history, averaging 66 points per game as a senior. She went on to Drake, where she led the nation in scoring in her senior season in 1991. Two years later, she came back to Drake to work on Bluder’s staff, then followed her to Iowa when Bluder was hired as head coach in 2000. “I guess I’d just like to state that I love this state, and I cannot believe the journey I have had,” Jensen said. “Oh, boy. I always say, if God would take me tomorrow, I couldn’t have had it better.”
Netflix ad-supported tier has 40 million monthly users, nearly double previous count 2024-05-15 20:11:00+00:00 - Netflix's cheaper, ad-supported tier has amassed 40 million global monthly active users, the company said Wednesday. That's nearly double the 23 million figure the streaming giant shared in January. The company also said it would launch its own advertising platform and no longer partner with Microsoft for that technology. The tech giant will remain a programmatic advertising partner, but will also be joined by other ad tech companies including The Trade Desk, Google Display & Video 360 and Magnite. Netflix will begin testing its ad tech platform in Canada later this year and plans to launch it in the U.S. by the end of the second quarter next year. The company aims to set the platform live everywhere by the end of 2025. The announcements came on Wednesday alongside Netflix's Upfront presentation, designed to woo advertisers. The streaming giant joined its media peers for the second time in making an annual pitch to lock in advertising for its platform. Earlier on Wednesday the company said it reached a deal to stream two National Football League games on Christmas Day this year, and at least one matchup on the same day in both 2025 and 2026. Netflix has the option to host one or two games in future years, with 2024 serving as a test, co-CEO Ted Sarandos told CNBC on Wednesday. It marks Netflix's first real foray into live sports after years of resistance. Sports, particularly the NFL, has proven to be the glue that keeps traditional TV intact — and has also proven to be a boost to streaming services. Terms of the NFL deal were not disclosed, but people familiar with the matter said Netflix will pay in the ballpark of $75 million per game. Spokespeople for the NFL and Netflix declined to comment. The streamer will hire its own announcers for the games and partner with existing production companies. Sarandos told CNBC he felt the NFL was the right fit because it matched the streamer's event strategy, allowing Netflix to effectively own the day.
Want to drink for cheap this summer? Stay home 2024-05-15 20:00:00+00:00 - Budget drinkers might want to skip the bar and raise a glass at home this summer. Alcohol prices are up 2% since last year, according to the consumer price index for April, but beer and hard liquor served at bars and restaurants saw steeper hikes, jumping 4% and 2.7%, respectively. The booze squeeze comes as households rethink what they spend on food and drinks at home versus out and about. With grocery prices 1.1% higher than a year ago but restaurant checks up a steeper 4.1%, many eateries are seeing slower demand as diners balk at climbing menu prices. Consumers have long been used to paying a premium for drinks outside the house, but the inflation gap is stark heading into the summer: Prices for distilled spirits and wine consumed at home each rose just 0.8% from April 2023 to last month. Liquor prices at home fell 1% between March and April — a period when alcohol prices overall have been largely flat or declining slightly. Even so, costs for alcoholic beverages are 15% higher than before the pandemic, federal data shows. Bars will have happy hours and things, but they’re very restricted promotions. Neil Saunders, managing director at Global Data “That’s quite a lot,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of the retail consultancy Global Data. “Consumers are spending or having to pay a lot more for alcoholic beverages than they were historically. That is obviously a very negative thing.” To help offset the blow at bars and restaurant tables, beverage-makers are pushing more ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails. Bud Light’s parent company, AB InBev, told investors in its latest earnings call that its canned margarita and vodka seltzer brands “continue to grow strongly.” Even juice- and jam-maker Welch’s is getting in on the action, unveiling a line of canned cocktails last week. Premixed cocktails were the fastest-growing spirits category last year, rising nearly 27% to hit $2.8 billion in revenue, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS). The RTD category was the alcohol industry’s only segment to show both positive dollar and volume growth over the past year, NielsenIQ found in research released last month. “Compared to traditional categories like beer, wine, and spirits, RTDs are experiencing explosive growth,” Nielsen said. “This is due to factors like convenience, variety, and portability, while targeting specific consumer need-states and occasions.” Within the category, spirit seltzers — distinct from malt seltzers, hard sodas and hard teas — are growing fastest. Alcohol offers a miniature snapshot of the broader inflation picture, Saunders said, encompassing everything from manufacturing to transportation costs. Spirits are typically sold in glass bottles that tend to be heavier than plastic ones, for example, which can weigh on fuel expenses. Energy prices were up 1.1% in April from the previous month and 2.6% from the year before. Plus, wage pressures in roles not requiring a college degree, including many in leisure and hospitality fields where alcoholic drinks are served, can trigger eye-popping bar tabs for a night out with friends. As a result, Saunders said, the best deals are still likely found in wine shops, beer aisles and liquor stores. “Bars will have happy hours and things, but they’re very restricted promotions, whereas in retail stores you’ve got a lot more choice,” he said. Consumers might also want to reconsider their drinks of choice. I do see cautious behavior from consumers. Gavin Hattersley, CEO of Molson Coors Shifting weather patterns have driven up the price of wheat — a crucial beer ingredient — from $5.53 per bushel to $6.87 — the highest level since August of last year. Meanwhile, agave costs have plummeted in recent months, with continuing declines expected ahead. That’s giving high-end tequila brands a chance to make deeper inroads with American consumers this year. Vodka remains one of the most popular summer spirits ordered at bars and restaurants in big cities, according to data from payments processor Square, but tequila already dominates in San Antonio, Los Angeles and Miami. In New York and Washington, D.C., the choice is split. In the meantime, brewers and distillers are keeping a close eye on consumers’ spending habits. While spirits held their market-share edge over beer and wine for the second straight year in 2023, totaling $37.7 billion in revenue, “the phenomenal sales growth we saw during the pandemic was unprecedented and unpredictable but also unsustainable,” DISCUS CEO Chris Swonger told CNBC in February. “Now the spirits market is recalibrating.” “Inflation is proving to be a little more sticky than folks expected,” Molson Coors CEO Gavin Hattersley said on the company’s earnings call last month. “So I do see cautious behavior from consumers.” But price pressures aren’t turning people away everywhere. Despite the jump in beer prices, AB InBev reported rising sales in its latest earnings, with CEO Michel Doukeris telling investors that the beer industry “remained resilient.”
Trump prepares to 'rumble' with Biden in CNN presidential debate 2024-05-15 19:58:50+00:00 - If you want to understand how Donald Trump thinks about his upcoming debates with President Joe Biden in June and September, it's helpful to look at his post on Truth Social agreeing to them. “Just tell me when, I’ll be there,” Trump wrote Wednesday. “‘Let’s get ready to Rumble!!!’” The final sentence is the trademark — literally — of ring announcer Michael Buffer, who has used it to kick off boxing and pro wrestling matches since the 1980s, including at Trump's own casinos. He even said that it would be good to have a large venue "for entertainment purposes." That is appropriate. For Trump, the debate is not unlike a pro wrestling match, two fighters in a staged spectacle designed to hype the audience with easily telegraphed moves, dumb catchphrases and mugging for the camera. He even said that it would be good to have a large venue "for entertainment purposes." Lincoln and Douglas, this is not. Biden, meantime, telegraphed his contrasting vision for the debate in a letter from his campaign chair, Jen O'Malley Dillon, explaining why the campaign would not rely on the nonprofit Commission on Presidential Debates to set up the debates. The commission, she said, was too focused on "building huge spectacles." “The debates should be conducted for the benefit of the American voters, watching on television and at home — not as entertainment for an in-person audience with raucous or disruptive partisans and donors, who consume valuable debate time with noisy spectacles of approval or jeering," she wrote. While both Biden and Trump have agreed in theory to debate, they still need to agree on the details, and the presence of a live audience seems to be a sticking point. (CNN has confirmed that "no audience will be present" at its debate.) Biden doesn't want one; Trump wrote on Truth Social that's because "Biden is supposedly afraid of crowds." That's certainly not the reason. Biden, an inveterate glad-hander, loves nothing more than trying to win over a crowd with his accusations of "malarkey" and beaming chompers. It would be more accurate to say that Trump is afraid of not having a crowd. In fact, the Biden campaign is hoping to deprive him of one in order to throw him off his game. There's logic to this thinking. Trump feeds off the energy of a crowd, and he's never more alive as a politician than when he's bantering back and forth with adoring fans at one of his rallies. A darkened stage with just him and Biden answering tough questions from a seasoned journalist would not be as much fun for him. But the Biden campaign may be making a strategic error here. In fact, it's Biden who may have more to gain from having an audience at a presidential debate. That's because this is not a typical audience. If you've watched a presidential debate, you probably remember the solemnity of the proceeding, the moderator exhorting the audience to avoid clapping or cheering for anything other than the introduction of the two candidates. Sometimes, the moderator will even interject later if the crowd slips up and gets even slightly excited. This is not a Trump crowd, nor a Biden crowd. The people in the audience are carefully selected and acting on their best behavior. This is closer to the audience for a Verdi opera at a concert hall on senior citizen discount day than the monster-truck rally feel of a Trump event, and there's little evidence that it has helped Trump in the past. His one attempt at using the audience involved trying to throw Hillary Clinton off her game by inviting women who had accused her husband of sexual abuse to confront Bill Clinton on live TV before the debate began. That plan was thwarted, even though the women then sat in the audience, and it didn't seem to rattle Clinton anyway. While members of the audience are on their best behavior, they're still human, and that can still break through in ways that could help Biden in a debate. But while members of the audience are on their best behavior, they're still human, and that can still break through in ways that could help Biden in a debate. The first is applause, which does not come when it would at a typical rally. Instead, it tends to break out spontaneously at things on which people of all political persuasions would heartily agree. The best example of this came in 2012, when Barack Obama was debating Mitt Romney. The two got into a back-and-forth over whether Obama had called an attack in Libya "an act of terror," which ended when moderator Candy Crowley intervened to say that he had. While Crowley received a lot of criticism for getting involved, the audience actually applauded her intervention, likely because it ended the kind of tedious exchange over minor issues that pretty much everyone hates. The second is laughter, which even the most well-meaning audience member can't suppress. The best example of this came in 1984, when Ronald Reagan rebutted questions raised about his age from the moderator and Walter Mondale, saying that he would "not make age an issue of this campaign," and joking that "I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience." The audience broke into laughter. The line was so good that even Mondale laughed. Moments like those could help Biden. The audience at a debate is a proxy for the Americans watching at home, not unlike the "live studio audience" for an old sitcom, as former debate coach Jennifer Mercieca told me recently. "We look to them to understand how to respond," she said. If Biden were to manage to get a moment of spontaneous bipartisan applause (not likely, but possible) or laughter with a well-delivered zinger (more likely), that would be a potentially devastating signal to the viewers that Trump had lost the moment. As many as 70 million Americans may tune in for the first debate. Surely, we can let a few dozen of them watch it in person.
Danaher's rally shows how sticking with a troubled stock of a good company can pay off 2024-05-15 19:53:00+00:00 - Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. (We're no longer recording the audio, so we can get this new written feature to members as quickly as possible.) Market talk : The S & P 500 and Nasdaq jumped to new intraday highs Wednesday, extending the gains from the prior session's late-day rally. In fact, the S & P 500 broke above 5,300 for the first time ever. The Dow , meanwhile, was about a half percentage point away from its all-time high. The catalyst in Wednesday's session was a cooler-than-expected April consumer price index , which caused a rally in Treasury prices and a decline in yields (per their inverse relationship). As a result, the market odds for multiple Federal Reserve interest rate cuts this year increased. A weak retail sales report for April , also out Wednesday, was seen as a "bad news is good news situation" as cooling demand for goods could help ease inflation. The one thing we're staying guarded about in this rally is how overbought the stock market has become. You have to go back to last December to find a time when the S & P 500 Short Range Oscillator was this overbought. To be fair, it only took a shallow decline back then to work off that overbought condition — the S & P 500 fell about 2% from Dec. 28, 2023 to Jan. 4. However, the market needed a few weeks to digest the runup at the end of 2023 before it powered higher again. New high : We got a chance to catch up on Danaher 's bullish presentation at the Bank of America Healthcare conference on Tuesday. We thought management's conversation was consistent with what we heard last month when the life sciences and medical diagnostics firm delivered beats across its three main businesses. We took it as a sign that the long-awaited turnaround in the biotech industry was finally here. At the conference, Danaher continued to point out that the bioprocessing inventory destock will be behind them by the second quarter, driven by the normalization of inventory levels and ordering patterns from large customers. The company prudently continued to forecast low activity in China. One point from the conference that we found particularly interesting: If drug prices come down as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act, Danaher could see a tailwind on the assumption that volumes and consumption of those drugs to patients would increase. Danaher's business is mainly consumables, meaning it is volume-driven. Danaher shares rose more than 1% on Wednesday, adding to the 3% gains from the day before. The move puts the stock at a new 52-week high, though still about $30 per share below its Covid pandemic record. The stock's strong performance over the past year is a good example of how it can pay off to stick with an investment in a high-quality company as it works through temporary inventory challenges. The stock price in these cases will likely bottom long before its business cycle does. Cramer quick takes "It might be a big deal for unemployment claims that Red Lobster closed about 50 restaurants abruptly. That's a lot of employees," Jim Cramer said. "Disney doesn't deserve this decline as it is becoming a very cheap stock but people don't believe that Disney is serious about the firings now. No Peltz." "Data centers are natural gas hoggers. I think that there are going to be a lot of nat gas plants built to meet the power demand." Up next : Cisco Systems reports after Wednesday's closing bell, and we're interested in hearing what the networking equipment company has to say about its Splunk acquisition. Thursday morning, we'll hear from Walmart , Deere , and a couple of Chinese companies in Baidu and JD.com . (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED. Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. (We're no longer recording the audio, so we can get this new written feature to members as quickly as possible.)
OpenAI nurtures a creepy fantasy with its new AI chatbot, GPT-4o 2024-05-15 19:43:05+00:00 - The artificial intelligence company OpenAI is rolling out the newest ChatGPT model, which has the capacity to use voice capabilities to hold conversations with users in real time. The voice technology is shockingly sophisticated — it responds to user speech by convincingly mimicking the speed, emotional inflections and idiomatic language of a human. The chatbot also has the capacity to recognize objects and images in real time, and, in demonstrations, OpenAI developers propped up their phone and prompted the chatbot to comment on the user’s surroundings as if it were video-chatting with a friend. The voice technology is shockingly sophisticated — it responds to user speech by convincingly mimicking the speed, emotional inflections and idiomatic language of a human. OpenAI’s unveiling of GPT-4o has also generated buzz — and raised eyebrows — because the company has marketed it as a flirty, female companion. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted the word “her” on X ahead of the unveiling, an apparent reference to the 2013 film “Her” directed by Spike Jonze. In that film, Joaquin Phoenix, who plays a lonely writer going through a divorce, falls in love with a charming, superintelligent AI personal assistant voiced by Scarlett Johansson. One can’t help but notice that GPT-4o’s voice sounds a bit like Johannson’s. During the demonstrations, GPT-4o was consistently playful, giggly and even flattered users’ appearance. In the middle of solving an algebra problem for a user, it said, “Wow, that’s quite the outfit you’ve got on.” The comment was so overtly provocative that news reports have described the interaction as “flirtatious-sounding” and as a “come-on.” It’s all a little creepy, and it raises questions about whether the development of this kind of technology will prey on human vulnerabilities and reinforce some of our worst instincts as a society. Altman is inviting the public to crave a world like the one depicted in “Her.” But it’s not exactly a happy story. “Her” is a spooky tale that illustrates how advanced AI is an inadequate salve for loneliness. Phoenix’s character has verbal sexual encounters with his AI, but is unable to have a physical connection. He believes he has a unique romantic connection with the voice played by Johannson but discovers that “she” is in fact having conversations with thousands of other users simultaneously — and falling in love with many of them too. At the end of the film, the Johannson-voiced bot leaves Phoenix’s character to venture off elsewhere with other AIs who can operate at its computational speed, and the human character is bereft and left to seek fulfillment in the real world with other humans. Viewers may differ on whether his detour away from humans was a net good or not, but the movie showcases the limitations and diversions of connecting with AI instead of real people. GPT-4o is not a fraction as advanced as the AI character in “Her,” but it’s not hard to see how people who don’t understand how it works — particularly if they’re emotionally vulnerable — may be prone to projecting sentience onto the chatbot and seek substantial companionship with it. (And if not now, then at least at some point in the not-too-distant future, given the breakneck pace of innovation.) Some may be hopeful about the idea of bots as providing some kind of companionship to people, but we as a society have been flat-footed in terms of educating people about how these tools work and the trade-offs they present. What we do know is that it is in Big Tech’s interest to have people turn to their products instead of toward each other. And we do know that these companies’ profit margins benefit from convincing us to use bots as a Band-Aid solution for feeling lonely or abandoned, instead of working together to counteract the kinds of political, economic and social forces that corrode community, limit our freedom, and incentivize addition to screens. GPT-4o’s coquettish female voice also raises questions of whether this technology is insidiously reinforcing patriarchal gender norms. We should pause and reflect on the mass production of what may be the most humanlike AI voice technology to date taking on the sonic qualities of a flirty woman whose job it is to meekly take commands, permit endless interruption of its speech without complaint and then reward the user with endless affection — and borderline sexualized attention. Those might’ve been the expectations male executives had of their personal assistants in the 1950s, but it’s not where we’re at as a society today. We should be wary of the kinds of fantasies OpenAI wants to nurture — and question whether they’re really taking us forward.
Here's what Americans think is the best long-term investment 2024-05-15 19:43:00+00:00 - Why investment and retirement planning are more challenging for women — and what they can do about Why investment and retirement planning are more challenging for women — and what they can do about 03:15 Although most Americans have money socked away in the stock market, that isn't what they see as the best long-term investment, according to a new survey from Gallup. So what is? That would be real estate, with 36% of respondents pointing to that old pillar of the American Dream as the best place to invest their money, the polling organization found in its annual economy and personal finance survey. Stocks ranked second, with 22% rating it as the best choice for returns over time. The survey offers a peek into the mindset of the typical investor, whose opinions may be swayed more by the recent pandemic run-up in housing prices rather than the actual long-term returns of property ownership versus stocks. To be sure, real estate can definitely pay off, with the asset class returning about 215% since 2000, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller home index. Yet the S&P 500 has returned 287% over that same period. Real estate values have slipped from their record high at the end of 2022, when the median home sale price reached $479,500, but home prices are still well above their typical levels prior to the pandemic, Gallup noted. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 touched a record high on Wednesday after new data showed inflation eased slightly last month. "The recent performance of real estate and stocks likely explains their high position on the list this year," Gallup said. About 62% of Americans say they are invested in the stock market, which can include individual stocks, mutual funds or money saved in a retirement savings account, according to Gallup. That's little changed from last year's survey, but reflects one of the highest rates of stock ownership since 1998, when the organization started tracking the measure. Gallup based its finding on an April telephone survey of roughly 1,000 adults living across the U.S. Is gold a good investment? Meanwhile, about 18% of those polled said they viewed gold as providing the best long-term returns, down from 25% a year earlier. Gold is often viewed as an inflation hedge, which has drawn more investors to the precious metal in recent years. Long-term, gold has been worth its weight in, well, gold, with the price of an ounce of the shiny metal surging about seven-fold since 2000. Even so, investing in gold has its downsides, including the hurdles of cashing out of the investment compared with the ease of selling stocks and other liquid investments. Gold also doesn't pay dividends or interest, unlike stocks, bonds, CDs and other holdings. Interestingly, Gallup detected a partisan divide when it comes to attitudes toward gold, with 27% of Republicans viewing the metal as a good long-term investment, compared with only 7% for Democrats. That may also boil down to differences in opinion about the economy, with Republicans more likely to espouse negative views about the current economic situation than Democrats. If you believe that inflation could flare up again, for instance, you may be more likely to turn to gold as a way to hedge your bets. What kind of financial instruments don't make the grade as a long-term investment, according to the Gallup findings? Only 13% of those polled said they like savings accounts or CDs, perhaps a hangover from the years of meager returns as the Federal Reserve kept interest rates near zero after the 2008 financial crisis. And only 3% of respondents indicated a taste for cryptocurrency, which is notoriously volatile.
Netflix ad-supported tier has 40 million monthly users, nearly double previous count 2024-05-15 19:34:00+00:00 - Netflix’s cheaper, ad-supported tier has amassed 40 million global monthly active users, the company said Wednesday. That’s nearly double the 23 million figure the streaming giant shared in January. Separately, Netflix announced it would launch its own advertising platform and no longer partner with Microsoft for that technology. The tech giant will remain a programmatic advertising partner. Netflix introduced the ad-supported plan in November 2022 as part of a wider effort to drive revenue amid slowing subscriber growth. That strategy included last year’s password-sharing crackdown. The company said Wednesday that 40% of all signups in countries that have the ad tier available are for that cheaper plan. Netflix now has 270 million total subscribers. The monthly active ad-tier user figures come just a month after Netflix told investors it would no longer be providing quarterly subscriber number updates. The company said at the time that it was generating substantial profit and free cash flow and that its membership numbers were not the only factor in the company’s growth. It said the metric lost significance after it started to offer multiple price points for memberships. The surge in ad-tier users comes as linear TV audiences shrink and traditional media companies seek to gain a foothold in the streaming realm. Netflix has established itself as the leader in the segment as many other companies struggle to make their streaming platforms profitable. Key competitors have far fewer subscribers than Netflix does. In its first-quarter earnings report, Comcast said its streaming platform Peacock had 34 million subscribers.
McDonald's $5 value meal is coming in June — and staying for just a month 2024-05-15 19:25:00+00:00 - McDonald’s is set to offer a $5 value meal in the U.S., but only for a limited time. The promotion will include four items for $5 — a McChicken or McDouble, four-piece chicken nuggets, fries and a drink — and will run for roughly a month, beginning on June 25, according to a person familiar with the offering who was not authorized to speak about it publicly. “We know how much it means to our customers when McDonald’s offers meaningful value and communicates it through national advertising. That’s been true since our very beginning and never more important than it is today,” McDonald’s said in a statement to CNBC. CNBC last week reported the fast-food giant was working to bring a value offering to menus, with details being discussed and voted on by franchisees. An initial proposal for the meal did not clear necessary hurdles. Coca-Cola added marketing funds to the equation to make the deal more appealing, CNBC reported Friday. In a statement on Wednesday, Coca-Cola said: “We routinely partner with our customers on marketing programs to meet consumer needs. This helps us grow our businesses together.” Financial terms of that partnership were not disclosed. The monthlong promotion comes at a time when restaurants are finally beginning to feel a long-anticipated consumer pullback. McDonald’s recently reported a mixed first quarter, with U.S. same-store sales slightly missing expectations. Higher prices helped grow average checks, but some consumers pulled back as a result of the steeper costs. “Consumers continue to be even more discriminating with every dollar that they spend as they faced elevated prices in their day-to-day spending, which is putting pressure on the [quick-service restaurant] industry,” CEO Chris Kempczinski said on the company’s earnings call on April 30. He added McDonald’s has to be “laser-focused” on affordability to attract diners. “Great value and affordability have always been a hallmark of McDonald’s brand, and all three legs of the stool are coming together to deliver that at a time when our customers really need it. This is the power and promise of the Golden Arches,” John Palmaccio, McDonald’s owner and operator and chair of the Operators National Advertising Fund, said in a statement to CNBC on the $5 promotion. — CNBC’s Amelia Lucas contributed to this report.
Democrats Batter Bank Regulator Over F.D.I.C.’s ‘Toxic’ Workplace Culture 2024-05-15 19:07:36+00:00 - Martin Gruenberg is still the leader of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, an agency that supervises U.S. banks, but after a bipartisan grilling on Wednesday by members of a House committee overseeing bank regulators, he appeared to be hanging on by a thread. Democrats expressed dismay over his responses to the crisis at his agency, after a scathing report of a culture of widespread sexual harassment and discrimination. One congresswoman appeared to call for him to resign, as Republicans have been doing for months. “Personally, I do not have confidence that you can continue to lead in this role,” Representative Ayanna S. Pressley, Democrat of Massachusetts, told Mr. Gruenberg during an exchange. “I am so tired of white men failing up.” In a bruising session that lasted more than three hours, committee members repeatedly asked Mr. Gruenberg what he planned to do to change his behavior in response to reports that he had berated employees and created an environment in which people were afraid to communicate with him. (Two other federal bank regulators, the acting comptroller of the currency, Michael Hsu, and the Federal Reserve vice chair, Michael Barr, also offered testimony on bank regulatory matters, but much of the committee’s focus was on the F.D.I.C.)
UK government was ‘scared’, says man behind failed UAE-backed Telegraph bid 2024-05-15 19:07:00+00:00 - The former CNN executive who fronted a failed bid for the Telegraph newspaper by a UAE-backed consortium has suggested the government was not willing to listen to assurances about editorial neutrality. Jeff Zucker said there were figures in the UK who were “scared” of the £600m deal, which would have seen the Abu Dhabi-backed consortium, RedBird IMI, take control of the Telegraph and Spectator. The deal was effectively killed by new legislation brought forward by the government that blocks foreign states from owning newspaper assets in the UK. RedBird IMI announced last month that its takeover of the group was “no longer feasible”. Speaking at Truth Tellers, the Sir Harry Evans Investigative Journalism Summit in central London on Wednesday, Zucker said RedBird IMI had made “the strongest possible representations to the government here in the UK that there would be no influence” from the United Arab Emirates, and that the investor had been willing to make such assurances “legally binding”. He said that it was reasonable for the deal to be questioned, but added: “I think it’s also reasonable for others to listen to the answers. Whether they were willing to listen to the answers here on that is a different story.” View image in fullscreen Jeff Zucker says his experience with the Telegraph bid has not put him off other investment opportunities in the UK media. Photograph: Belinda Jiao/Reuters Asked why some people didn’t think it was a good idea, and were worried about the UAE having undue influence in the UK media, he said: “I don’t know that they didn’t think it was a good idea. I think they were scared of it.” RedBird IMI effectively took control of the Telegraph newspapers and the Spectator magazine in December when it repaid the debts of their owners, the Barclay family, including a £600m loan. Its withdrawal from a full takeover of the business will trigger a fresh round of bidding from interested parties. Speaking to the Guardian, Zucker said the reaction to the bid was “surprising” after a year in which “more than 1,000 journalists in the UK lost their jobs”. “It’s surprising to me at a time when journalism needs investment, capital, innovation and experience,” he said. “That’s what we were able to bring to the table and I think a lot of people who are smart and have foresight will, in the end, understand that.” The RedBird IMI takeover of the Telegraph, widely seen as the house journal of the Conservative party, was vocally opposed by many Tory MPs and peers who raised concerns about free speech, and the influence of the UAE which provides the financial backing for 75% of the investment firm. The concerns prompted the government to draw up legislation in March blocking foreign ownership of UK newspapers, which is expected to become law in the coming weeks. Zucker insisted RedBird IMI was “excited to sell our option on the Telegraph”, adding that there were “a lot of people who are interested” and there was “no reason to look back”. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Business Today Free daily newsletter Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion Asked if the experience would deter further investments in the UK, he said: “We’re not put off. In fact, we’re eager to continue other conversations”, pointing to its recent deal with All3Media, the London-based TV and film production company behind Fleabag and Squid Game: The Challenge. It is RedBird IMI’s fifth investment, after it launched in December 2022, with the goal of building a global media company across news, entertainment and sports. Zucker said he was optimistic about the future of the media industry, and its investment potential. “Consumption of entertainment and news and information is higher than ever, on more different platforms than ever before,” he said. “The onus is on us to figure out how best to monetise that and I’m confident that we’ll be able to figure that out.” Those legacy brands that survive would have “owners that are willing to experiment and innovate, have capital and are patient”, he added. Asked if media organisations understood the scale of the challenge he said: “I do think that there is a little bit of naivety in understanding that the world is changing rapidly. Those who are clutching their pearls don’t recognise that the world is changing. And those who don’t change, usually get left behind.”
UK trade summit in Saudi Arabia accused of promoting firms linked to senior Tories 2024-05-15 19:01:00+00:00 - A UK government trade summit in Saudi Arabia has been criticised for helping to promote businesses linked to a string of senior Conservatives, including peers and the former chair of the party, Ben Elliot. Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, has been in Riyadh this week launching the government-backed Great Futures campaign to promote British trade with Saudi Arabia, despite the Gulf country’s controversial record on the repression of women and LGBT people. Dowden led the trip of 450 British delegates alongside the culture secretary, Lucy Frazer, while the business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, was in Riyadh for trade talks on Tuesday. Rishi Sunak recorded a video message of endorsement for the summit. Among the UK delegates were three prominent Conservative peers employed by businesses with a presence at the Riyadh summit: Jo Johnson, a former education minister, who is the chair of FutureLearn, an education business, Philip Hammond, the former chancellor, who is the chair of an urban development firm called Innovo, which was sponsoring the event, and Eddie Lister, the former chief of staff to Boris Johnson, who is an unpaid director of the Saudi British Joint Business Council and employed by two of its members. Jo Johnson, the former universities minister, now a Conservative peer, was pictured signing a memorandum of understanding with a Saudi entity at the summit on behalf of FutureLearn and spoke on the main stage as part of a panel, while Lister also spoke on the stage for an event on infrastructure. Hammond hosted a side event on behalf of the Saudi British Joint Business Council, where he is an unpaid member of the advisory board, and was accompanied by Dominic Johnson, a trade minister and also a Conservative peer. Campaign groups called for more transparency about the event, with Tom Brake of Unlock Democracy saying: “With a number of prominent party grandees attending the Riyadh summit, and supported in their efforts by the UK government, total transparency is needed on who was invited to attend, why and the costs.” Rose Whiffen, at Transparency International UK, said: “Those in positions of power should always avoid the perception of handing out access and influence to their friends and supporters.” Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader, said the Conservatives had “serious questions to answer” about what appeared to be a clear conflict of interest, while Labour MP Fabian Hamilton, a member of the foreign affairs select committee, said Dowden had questions to answer about whether the summit was “helping to drum up business for his Tory friends”. Hammond said it was “preposterous” to criticise the summit for featuring Conservatives. “These missions are open to all British businesses. You surely are not suggesting that having any connection with a Conservative should make a business ineligible … The DIT’s job is to promote British trade. That is what this mission was doing.” He said he did not fly on any government-organised flight, that his role at the Saudi British Business Council was pro bono and that Innovo was one of many sponsors of the Great Futures event. Lister said criticism of the summit was “rubbish”, adding: “I am a director of the Saudi British Business Council and I have attended in that capacity and my role is to promote British business in Saudi Arabia. My speaking was all on construction and I have no personal interest in any construction in Saudi Arabia.” Other prominent Conservative-linked people to attend include Ben Elliott, the former Tory chair and ex-fundraiser for the party, who runs luxury concierge service Quintessentially. He was present at a function seated on a table with Lucy Frazer, the culture secretary, and a Saudi minister for tourism. Amanda Staveley, the co-owner of Newcastle United football club, along with the Saudi Public Investment Fund, who is also a Conservative donor and has strong connections to investors in the Middle East, was also present at the event and spoke on a panel. Asked about the presence of businesses with Conservative links at the summit, a government spokesperson said: “Great Futures participants were all British businesses invited through a rigorous and politically impartial process based on their potential to expand through a strengthened UK-Saudi economic partnership. “The summit was attended by a range of senior UK and Saudi business, cultural, creative industries and government figures. “Great Futures is the largest UK trade delegation of the last decade with more than 450 UK attendees. It is helping to grow the economy and create more jobs across the UK by promoting British business.” The government had no response to a request for the cost of the summit but it has previously argued that such summits provide a return on investment in terms of securing new investment for the UK.
GOP Sen. Mitt Romney says Biden should have pardoned Trump 2024-05-15 18:22:00+00:00 - Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, argued that President Joe Biden should have pardoned Donald Trump after the Justice Department brought indictments against the former president and pressured New York prosecutors not to pursue Trump's ongoing hush money trial. In an exclusive interview on MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle,” Romney expressed his dismay in response to Republican lawmakers, including the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s vice presidential prospects, rallying to Trump’s defense outside the Manhattan courthouse where Trump’s hush money trial is taking place. “How does that make you feel about Republicans?” Ruhle asked Romney. Romney, a vocal critic of Trump, said, “I think it’s a terrible fault for our country to see people attacking our legal system — that’s an enormous mistake. I think it’s also demeaning for people to quite apparently try and run for vice president by donning a red tie and standing outside the courthouse. It's just — I'd have felt awkward.” The Utah Republican argued that Biden should have pardoned Trump when the Justice Department announced charges against him and that the president “made an enormous error” by not pressuring New York prosecutors to drop their case against Trump. (Presidents can pardon only in federal cases.) "He should have fought like crazy to keep this prosecution from going forward,” Romney said, referring to Biden. “It was a win-win for Donald Trump.” Pressed by Ruhle whether that is Biden’s job to pardon Trump, Romney said he believes that Biden should have taken a cue from former President Lyndon B. Johnson, saying that the president could have stepped in and urged New York prosecutors to drop the case. “I have been around for a while. If LBJ had been president, and he didn’t want something like this to happen, he’d have been all over that prosecutor saying, ‘You better not bring that forward or I’m gonna drive you out of office,’” he said. Ruhle then noted that Romney supports having separate but equal branches of government. “I do. ... You may disagree with this, but had I been President Biden, when the Justice Department brought on indictments, I would have immediately pardoned him. I'd have pardoned President Trump. Why? Well, because it makes me, President Biden, the big guy and the person I pardoned a little guy.” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and several of Trump's potential vice presidential picks issued public remarks in front of the Manhattan courthouse where Trump is required to attend court proceedings in the hush money trial against him, expressing their support and loyalty for him as the trial limits his time on the campaign trail. The potential VP picks, which include Sen. JD Vance of Ohio and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, have echoed, without evidence, Trump's accusations of the trial being a Democrat-led effort to interfere with his campaign. Biden and Trump on Wednesday agreed to participate in general election debates in June and September, at least the first of which will not have a live audience. Asked whether debates matter today and if he thinks it would influence votes, Romney, who unsuccessfully ran for president against Barack Obama in 2012, said people have “low expectations” for Biden but “much higher expectations” about Trump. “The image that comes to mind is those two old guys on the Muppets, you know, that sat in the back ... that's what comes to mind. But I actually think there’ll be a huge audience for these debates,” he said. “I think people have very low expectations as to what President Biden will do. I think they have much higher expectations about President Trump and his competitiveness.” Romney added that he has had “good exchanges” with Biden and that Trump “seems energetic and forceful” during his rallies, but he’s unsure about what to expect when they go head-to-head in debates. “You have got a cheering crowd and you have got teleprompters you could read, so how will they do in person?” Romney said, referring to presidential campaign rallies. “I don’t know the answer to that, but I think America will be watching.”
Czech billionaire’s bid for Royal Mail is problematic from every angle 2024-05-15 18:19:00+00:00 - Almost every aspect of Daniel Křetínský’s fresh offer for the owner of the Royal Mail is unsatisfactory: the price, the identity of the bidder and the sketchy “undertakings” to protect the UK postal service. First, the terms – 370p a share, or £3.5bn – only look attractive if you think the government, or the next one, will maintain the current blinkered stance of refusing to reform Royal Mail’s six-day-a-week delivery obligations. Even as he issued a “minded to recommend” verdict on the terms, Keith Williams, the chair of International Distributions Services (IDS), the parent company, took a pop at the government’s intransigence on the universal service obligation – and he was right to do so. It should be screamingly obvious that Royal Mail needs some regulatory relief to compensate for the massive decline in letter volumes over the past 15 years. That issue, delayed by a pandemic that briefly yielded bumper profits for Royal Mail, should have been tackled years ago. But therein also lies the weirdness of the timing of this takeover offer and IDS’s backing for it. Williams is rolling over just as the government and Ofcom, the regulator, are conducting a review that could, possibly, deliver economic sustainability for Royal Mail in the form of a reduced second-class service. Nobody imagines regulatory nirvana, but £300m of cost-savings, as Royal Mail’s proposal has it, would clearly improve the medium-term financial profile. It is why the superficially huge 73% premium to the pre-offer share price of 214p is not quite as it seems. Second, the bidder here is almost the definition of problematic. Křetínský is a billionaire whose approach to clear and open communication has earned him the nickname “the Czech Sphinx”. In his last UK newspaper interview, he seemed to indicate to the Sunday Times a year ago that he would not bid for IDS. Many European countries, like the UK, have privatised or part-privatised their postal services, but none has let them pass into private ownership from abroad. The dire example of the water sector is a neon-lit example of the danger of allowing ownership of critical bits of infrastructure – a description that still, just about, fits Royal Mail – to slip out of view. A stock market listing, which guarantees a loose level of accountability to the outside world, is a far better model. Third, the set of “contractual undertakings” that the board of IDS is negotiating with Křetínský are a work in progress, at best, or junk mail at worst. It’s welcome, of course, that Royal Mail’s headquarters would stay in the UK, and that the business would remain tax-resident here. But in the next sentence we learn that “the exact scope and duration” of such pledges haven’t yet been pinned down. Nor is there any mention of whether GLS, the very profitable Amsterdam-based parcel business that is worth far more than Royal Mail, could be formally separated under Křetínský’s ownership. It is a significant issue because it raises the huge question of what financial resources would be given to a standalone Royal Mail, which is currently loss-making. Given that Křetínský’s group owns 30% of the Dutch parcels operator PostNL, one has to assume that the Dutch end of IDS is central to his takeover logic. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Business Today Free daily newsletter Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion When he made his initial, and rejected, 320p-a-share offer last month, it seemed possible that this takeover tale could quietly fizzle out. Thus it was easy for government ministers and Labour opponents to squirm and be noncommittal when asked about the national interest and foreign ownership. That is not an option now. This proposal needs maximum scrutiny.
Netflix and the N.F.L. Sign a Three-Season Deal 2024-05-15 18:15:55+00:00 - Netflix is no longer simply in the “sports-adjacent” business. On Wednesday, the streaming giant announced a three-season deal with the National Football League that will include showing two Christmas Day games on its service this year. It’s the first time Netflix has become partners with a major sports league, and it likely won’t be the last. The move follows Netflix’s increasingly aggressive push into the business of live events. In the past two weeks, “The Roast of Tom Brady” was its most-watched English-language TV show; a quirky six-day John Mulaney talk show went viral as part of the Netflix Is a Joke live comedy festival in Los Angeles; and the stand-up special “Katt Williams: Woke Foke” was viewed 4.3 million times. “Last year, we decided to take a big bet on live — tapping into massive fandoms across comedy, reality TV, sports and more,” Bela Bejaria, Netflix’s chief content officer, said in a statement. “There are no live annual events, sports or otherwise, that compare with the audiences N.F.L. football attracts.” The streaming business has matured in the United States, and though Netflix is the dominant service, it still needs to keep growing. With subscriptions relatively maxed out in America, the growth of other revenue streams has become crucial to the company’s success. Advertising is chief among them.
Honda recalls Ridgeline pickup trucks because rearview camera could fail in cold weather 2024-05-15 18:01:00+00:00 - Honda recalling more than 2 million cars, latest in series of automotive industry issues Honda is recalling about 187,000 of its Ridgeline pickup trucks because the rearview camera in those vehicles may stop working in cold, wintry weather. Rearview camera wiring on the vehicles is susceptible to cracking, as a result of water and salt attaching to the wiring in low temperatures. Honda has received 402 warranty claims related to the issue according to documents submitted by the Japanese automaker to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). No injuries or deaths have been reported. "The cracks are further expanded with the repeated freezing and thawing of saltwater and the opening and closing of the tailgate, ultimately resulting in fatigue and breakage of the tailgate harness electric wires," according to recall documents submitted by Honda to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Once the wire harness breaks, the rearview camera can no longer operate, increasing the risk of collision of injury while backing up. The recalled vehicles include 2020-2024 Honda Ridgeline pickup trucks manufactured between November 2019 and April 2024. As a remedy, Honda will replace the wiring for Ridgeline owners who take their vehicles to a dealership for repair. Anyone who has already paid for the fix can submit paperwork for reimbursement. Honda also said it is now using a newer, tougher material for the Ridgeline's rearview camera harness. Anyone with questions about the recall can contact Honda at 1-888-234-2138 and mention recall number YI7 or NHTSA at 1-888-327-4236. The Ridgeline rearview camera issue is the latest in a series of recalls by Honda in recent months. The company recalled more than 750,000 vehicles in February to replace a defective sensor that could result in the front passenger air bags inflating unintentionally. The automaker in December recalled more than 2.5 million cars because the fuel pump inside the fuel tank may fail, causing the vehicles to stall while driving and increasing the risk of a crash. Honda also recalled 106,000 CR-V hybrid SUVs in December because of a battery cable problem that increased the risk of a fire in an accident.
Rachel Reeves should be brave and stop blaming the economy 2024-05-15 17:17:00+00:00 - Perhaps the gaslighting is not restricted to the Conservatives (Rachel Reeves accuses Tories of ‘gaslighting’ public over economy, 7 May). Yes, the economy is in a mess, but there are alternatives to continued austerity and the continued impoverishment of increasing numbers of people. The Labour government in 1945 faced a much more difficult task than that facing governments today. Instead of listening to the siren voices of the City, it prioritised the wellbeing of people over reducing the national debt. The City may have disliked the radical policies of the government, but it could live with that, as it realised that there was a workable plan for economic recovery. A policy that prioritised people’s wellbeing would be one that redistributed income from the wealthiest to the poorest. Labour faced a far worse housing crisis then than it does today. The government rejected the idea of subsidising private rents, realising it would be a cash bonanza for landlords who could keep increasing rents, knowing the government would pay. Instead, it introduced rent controls and security of tenure, and started a large social housing programme – all of which kept housing costs down to an affordable level. Vienna today offers a contemporary example of benign intervention in the housing market, to the benefit of the Viennese people. Dusting off the old policy manuals and embarking on a major programme of income redistribution would work wonders for everyone. As a 77-year-old, I am sceptical about governments going for growth; I am old enough to remember Reginald Maudling’s disastrous “dash for growth” and many other successive similar failed attempts. Derrick Joad Leeds
UK firms accused of profiteering as study finds margins rose 30% post-pandemic 2024-05-15 17:12:00+00:00 - Thousands of UK companies have exploited their corporate power to increase profit margins since the pandemic, redistributing wealth from employees to employers and shareholders, according to the biggest study yet of data since 2019. A trawl through the accounts of 17,000 companies by the trade union Unite found pre-tax profit margins were 30% higher on average in 2022 compared with the average across 2018 and 2019. Post-tax margins were on average 20% higher. The findings are likely to further fuel concerns over widespread profiteering during the inflation crisis – triggered by the reopening of economies after pandemic lockdowns and war in Ukraine – with some businesses using the rising cost of living as an opportunity to increase their margins. Companies of all sizes and from almost all sectors, from banks to shipping firms and veterinary practices, saw pre-tax profit margins rise, even as wages have fallen in real terms and investment has slumped, the analysis shows. “This is why our economy is broken,” said the Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham. “Because of the choices of executives, investors, and politicians who choose short-term profits and fat dividends over investing in our industries and public goods.” Electricity generation companies and big banks have benefited most, the study found. Of the 16,600 companies analysed, 9,651 were shown to have increased their profit margins over the period, or roughly 60%. However, post-tax profit margins in these sectors were tempered by government windfall taxes, introduced to return some of the gains to the taxpayer. The Energy Price Levy increased the windfall tax on energy and gas companies from 25% to 35% in January 2023, while the rise in corporation tax combined with the Bank Levy increased tax on banks from 27% to 28%. The data also includes overseas profits made by UK registered companies, which would not have been inflationary in the UK. View image in fullscreen Medium-sized companies such as veterinary practices saw surprising gains: private equity-backed vet chains saw profit margins jump 280% at the height of the pandemic. Photograph: PeopleImages/Getty Images Some of the more surprising gains came from medium-sized companies, including veterinary practices and car dealerships. The UK competition watchdog is scrutinising the consolidation of independent vets by private equity-backed corporations, which it says may have contributed to more expensive bills for consumers. Profit margins jumped by 280% at the height of the pandemic for private equity-backed veterinary chains as hundreds of people bought pets to cope with isolation during the lockdowns, the Unite study found. At the six largest vet chains, which control half the market, profits surged to 237% of pre-pandemic levels in 2021 after losses in 2018 and 2019. Until last year, the Bank of England largely attributed inflationary pressures on companies to wage rises at the behest of workers, appealing to employees to forgo higher salaries to help slow down price rises. But a growing body of evidence suggests that persistent high inflation has come in part from companies setting their own prices rather than passing on the benefit of falling costs in the form of price cuts, a process that has been called “greedflation”. Studies by the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank have concluded rising corporate profits are contributing to higher inflation. In September, the Bank of England acknowledged that rising corporate profits were likely preventing a fall in inflation, after it surveyed a small, 2,500-strong sample of the UK’s 5m-plus companies. skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to Business Today Free daily newsletter Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion Unite used a much bigger sample. It added together the sum total of the profits of 16,600 companies, before dividing by the sum total of their turnover. Isabella Weber, an economist from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said central banks responded to profit-led inflation by tightening monetary policy, such as raising interest rates, triggering another round of windfall profits at the expense of ordinary people. Weber said: “Central banks have reacted to sellers’ inflation by hiking interest rates. This has created yet another opportunity for extraordinary profits, since banks reaped higher returns on their assets but did not pass them on to savers. Simply put, the strategy to fight sellers’ inflation and rising unit profits has been to create yet another opportunity for windfall profits.” A separate analysis published on Wednesday shows that over the past 30 years, the UK’s top 350 listed companies have switched from investing surplus funds to distributing it among shareholders. In the second half of the 1970s, private, non-financial corporations paid out 20p dividend payments for every £1 of gross fixed capital formation, a measure of investment, according to the thinktank Common Wealth. By the 2010s, this figure had risen to 95p before hitting 103p in the last five years. A government spokesperson said: “This government is backing our world-leading businesses and these profits are a cause for celebration.”
Education Dept. Extends Deadline to Consolidate Loans for Forgiveness 2024-05-15 17:05:41+00:00 - More than two weeks after a deadline passed for federal loan borrowers seeking debt relief, the Education Department has extended the offer, giving millions of borrowers a fresh shot at aid. The department said on Wednesday that borrowers would now have until June 30 to consolidate commercially held education debt under the Federal Family Education Loan Program — loans originally from private lenders — or Perkins loans into new direct loans, which are held by the Education Department. That consolidation is a required step for borrowers to receive relief through an expansive, but temporary, government waiver program intended to wipe out the remaining debt for borrowers who have been making payments for a term that’s typically at least 20 years. “The department is working swiftly to ensure borrowers get credit for every month they’ve rightfully earned toward forgiveness,” said James Kvaal, the under secretary of education. The previous deadline to consolidate was April 30. The move is part of the Biden administration’s effort to aggressively cancel education debts through longstanding relief programs and by easing bureaucratic barriers. One of the trickiest challenges has been reaching borrowers with loans through the Federal Family Education Loan Program, a lingering vestige of a previous federal student loan system.
Aldi recalls cream cheese spreads sold in 28 states due to possible salmonella contamination 2024-05-15 16:40:00+00:00 - Funeral for NJ trooper, resources for victims of Philadelphia fire and more stories | Digital Brief Funeral for NJ trooper, resources for victims of Philadelphia fire and more stories | Digital Brief 02:49 PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A string of cream cheese recalls for possible salmonella contamination has expanded to include Aldi stores in 28 states and the District of Columbia. Aldi said it is recalling four varieties of cream cheese spread that may have been contaminated by salmonella at a third-party supplier Schreiber Foods, Inc., the store chain said in a news release. Aldi says the following eight-ounce cups of cream cheese spread are impacted by the recall: Whipped cream cheese spread with UPC code 4099100101881, and sell by dates of 08/30/2024, 08/31/2024, 09/01/2024, 09/03/2024 and 09/04/2024; Chive & onion cream cheese spread with UPC code 4099100101751 and sell by dates of 09/13/2024 and 09/22/2024; Cream cheese spread with UPC code 4099100101737 and sell by dates of 09/01/2024, 09/08/2024 and 09/15/2024; Strawberry cream cheese spread with UPC code 4099100101744 and sell by dates of 09/08/2024 and 09/15/2024. The FDA says salmonella can cause fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. Infections can be serious and sometimes fatal for young children, the elderly or immunocompromised people. Where Aldi cream cheese recalled for possible salmonella contamination was sold The recalled products were sold at Aldi stores across 28 states and the District of Columbia. Those states are: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin. What do I do if I bought this recalled product? Aldi says anyone who bought the products should immediately throw it away, or return it to their local store for a full refund. Aldi says anyone who wants more information should contact Schreiber Foods at 1-800-644-5473 or email consumer.relations@schreiberfoods.com. Hy-Vee, Schnucks grocery chains recall cream cheese from same supplier Aldi's recall comes after three regional grocery chains — Hornbacher's, Hy-Vee and Schnucks — recalled cream cheese supplied by Schreiber's, of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Schreiber was alerted by one of its suppliers that a whey protein concentrate used in the cream cheese may have been tainted with salmonella, a spokesperson for Schnucks told CBS News. Schreiber Foods did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CBS News Philadelphia.