Raphael Stevens

The 3×3 women’s hoops league Unrivaled announced the close of its Series A funding round, raising an additional $28 million before its inaugural season.
Investors in the latest round of funding included NBA champion Giannis Antetokounmpo and 28-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps.
The league has signed 36 top players and said it offers the highest average salaries across any women’s professional sports league.

Chicago Sky coach Teresa Weatherspoon calls out to players during the first half of the team’s WNBA basketball game against the New York Liberty, May 23, 2024, in New York.
Frank Franklin II | AP

Startup basketball league Unrivaled announced on Monday it’s closed a Series A funding round, raising an additional $28 million before its inaugural season.
“Our players haven’t even taken the court yet and the foundation we are building with our partners unites unparalleled expertise, strategic insight, and an incredible product,” Unrivaled President Alex Bazzell said in a press release. “Together, we’re setting the stage for Unrivaled for years to come.”

The 3×3 women’s hoops league already secured $7 million in a seed round announced in May, meaning the league has received $35 million in total funds in 2024. The latest round was led by the Berman family and also included NBA champion Giannis Antetokounmpo and 28-time Olympic medalist Michael Phelps, among others.
Unrivaled was co-founded in 2023 by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier and advertises that the player-owned organization will give every Unrivaled player “equity and a vested interest in its success,” according to the press release.
The league has signed 36 top players and said it offers the highest average salaries across any women’s professional sports league.
While the Women’s National Basketball Association has seen exponential growth in the last few years, superstar rookies Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese received base salaries just over $70,000, compared with star rookies in the National Basketball Association who received millions their first year.
Unrivaled announced last week it had signed Under Armour as its official uniform partner. It’s also signed an exclusive, multiyear media rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery to air its games on TNT and truTV, as well as streaming platform Max. WBD participated in the Series A funding round, the league said Monday.

The round also included private investor Marc Lasry, University of South Carolina women’s basketball head coach Dawn Staley, and USC guard JuJu Watkins. Previous investors include soccer phenom Alex Morgan and actor and investor Ashton Kutcher.
The inaugural season begins on January 17. More

GM CEO Mary Barra, with the ending of its Cruise robotaxi operations, made it clear that the automaker’s growth priorities have shifted amid a broader, industrywide retrench to preserve capital.
The driverless ride-hailing service was supposed to be the shining star of GM’s growth opportunities, leading to $50 billion in revenue by the end of this decade.
Instead, GM is ending the robotaxi business and folding Cruise’s operations and an undetermined number of its nearly 2,300 employees into the automaker.

A Cruise autonomous taxi in San Francisco, California, US, on Thursday Aug. 10, 2023.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

DETROIT — For years, General Motors CEO and Chair Mary Barra has promised a new future for the company, away from a stodgy metal-bending automaker into a tech-driven, forward-thinking company poised for growth.
Part of the plan was for GM’s innovation division to identify trillions — yes, trillions — of dollars in new market opportunities such as electric commercial vehicles, auto insurance, military defense, autonomous vehicles and even, eventually, the potential for “flying cars,” also known as urban air mobility.

“We are creating world-class technology solutions and services that will change the way people move, along with new fleet solutions and entirely new business models,” Barra said during a virtual CES keynote in January 2022.
While GM has declined to disclose how much revenue such businesses have produced, Barra, with the ending of its Cruise robotaxi operations on Tuesday, made it clear that the automaker’s growth priorities have shifted amid a broader, industrywide retrench to preserve capital. Companies including GM are now focused on more “core” operations and adjacent business opportunities, including software, EVs and “personal autonomous vehicles.”
“You’ve got to really understand the cost of running a robotaxi fleet, which is fairly significant, and, again, not our core business,” Barra said during a Tuesday call with Wall Street analysts.
The driverless ride-hailing service was supposed to be the shining star of GM’s growth opportunities, with executives just a few years ago referring to it as an $8 trillion market opportunity that the automaker would lead. That included former executives touting $50 billion in revenue by the end of this decade, and Cruise being valued at more than $30 billion.
Instead, after spending more than $10 billion on Cruise since acquiring it in 2016, GM is ending the robotaxi business and folding Cruise’s operations and an undetermined number of its nearly 2,300 employees into the automaker.

Saving capital

As part of the wind down, GM is expected to disclose additional expenses from employee separation packages and repurchasing equity investments from outside investors, among other costs, in the next year.
GM cited the increasingly competitive robotaxi market, capital allocation priorities, and the considerable time and resources necessary to grow the business as reasons for its decision.
The automaker’s main competitor was Alphabet-backed Waymo, which is now the last entity with any notable public operations. Others, most notably Tesla, have ambitions for robotaxi businesses, but have failed to commercialize those operations thus far.
To GM’s credit, Wall Street, which previously pushed for such growth businesses, applauded the decision to end Cruise’s robotaxi ambitions. Shares of the company were initially higher, before ending the week level with when the announcement was made.

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GM stock since Dec. 9, 2024

GM, like other companies, has quickly shifted from trying to impress Wall Street with growth initiatives, including generating $280 billion in new businesses by 2030, to refocusing efforts on its core business to generate profits amid economic and recessionary concerns.
Analysts largely viewed GM’s decision as positive, saving the automaker more than $1 billion in capital annually, which they expect could be used for additional share buybacks, including a target to lower its outstanding shares to under 1 billion.
“It has been apparent for some time now that most investors have removed Cruise from their GM valuations, so today’s news comes as less of a surprise,” Wells Fargo analyst Colin Langan wrote in a Tuesday investor note.

Cruising no more

General Motors CEO Mary Barra speaks during a visit of the US president to the General Motors Factory ZERO electric vehicle assembly plant in Detroit, Michigan on November 17, 2021. 
Mandel Ngan | Afp | Getty Images

GM will combine the majority-owned Cruise LLC with GM technical teams. Barra repeatedly said last week that the automaker is not giving up on vehicle autonomy; it will focus on personal autonomous vehicles instead of robotaxis.
But it’s hard to ignore that Cruise is GM’s latest mobility venture or growth business to fold or not live up to expectations.
GM’s plans to diversify its business through fashionable industries such as ridesharing and other “mobility” ventures — a trendy term used previously by the industry for growth initiatives — or startups have largely fallen flat since the automaker started investing in such growth areas in 2016.
The automaker earlier this year folded its BrightDrop EV commercial vans into Chevrolet amid lackluster sales. It’s also failed to announce any meaningful plans for fuel cells for tie-ups with boats, trains and airplanes, and it’s shuttered several prior “mobility” businesses.
Not all of GM’s noncore businesses that were launched in recent years have failed. GM Energy and the BrightDrop commercial EV unit continue to operate under the automaker’s” Envolve” fleet business.
GM’s financial arm, meanwhile, continues to operate an insurance business that was launched in late 2020 as part of its growth initiatives with its OnStar telematics and data unit. GM on Friday said the operations are now in 12 states, and remain “well positioned for long-term success.”
GM also continues to operate a military defense unit and fuel cell business that have both recently announced new contracts or partnerships. That includes hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts for GM Defense.

Super Cruise

Other than saving capital, GM’s silver lining for canceling the Cruise robotaxi business was that it sees more promise in continuing to develop its Super Cruise hands-free advanced driver assistance system. That includes more semi-automated and, eventually, autonomous capabilities.
GM was the first automaker to offer such a hands-free system in 2016. However, it was an infamously slow ramp up until recently, when the automaker began rolling it out across its lineup. That started in 2021 and has continued to expand to more than 20 models, including high-volume vehicles such as its full-size pickup trucks and SUVs.

Interior of the 2025 Cadillac Optiq with GM’s Super Cruise hands-free driver-assistance system.

“The strategy shift demonstrates that GM continues to believe in the potential of AV technology for personal vehicles. Going forward, GM will focus on improving the capabilities of SuperCruise, which will be further enabled by ongoing technological advancements including in artificial intelligence (AI),” BofA Securities’ John Murphy said in a Wednesday investor note.
On the other side of the coin, Murphy also points out that the move could imply that other companies such as Waymo and Tesla “have better tech and/or that the market may not be appealing for later entrants.”

First-mover advantage lost

GM wasn’t expected to be a “later entrant” in robotaxis. In fact, it was the first to offer such rides to the public, and many believed it was one of the leaders until last year, when the company grounded its driverless operations in October 2023 following a crash involving a pedestrian in San Francisco.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration fined Cruise $1.5 million after the company failed to disclose details of the crash, which included a pedestrian being dragged 20 feet by a Cruise robotaxi after being struck by a separate vehicle.
A third-party probe into the incident ordered by GM and Cruise found that culture issues, ineptitude and poor leadership fueled regulatory oversights that led to the accident. The probe also investigated allegations of a cover-up by Cruise leadership but found no evidence to support those claims.
The report outlines multiple instances in which then-CEO and co-founder Kyle Vogt, who resigned from the company in November 2023, made the final calls to withhold information, specifically regarding media.
Vogt was not enthusiastic about GM’s decision to kill the robotaxi operations. He posted on X after the announcement, “In case it was unclear before, it is clear now: GM are a bunch of dummies.”
Vogt earlier this year pointed out GM’s history of having a first-mover advantage with technology, as it did with Cruise and Super Cruise, and squandering it. GM had a similar path with EV tech, like the EV1 — a battery-electric vehicle produced in the 1990s — and the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid-electric vehicle in the 2010s, which were both abandoned by the company.

GM follows several other companies in abandoning robotaxis, including its closest crosstown rival Ford Motor, which shut down its Argo AI autonomous vehicle unit with Volkswagen in 2022.
The robotaxi leader in the U.S. remains Waymo, which continues to expand operations for its publicly available fleet in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco, and will soon debut in Miami, Atlanta and Austin, Texas.
“In many ways this announcement highlights the economic challenges of scaling a robotaxi network and the role rideshare platforms can play as AVs attempt to commercialize (a bullish indicator), but we think the more tangible impact right now is on the partnership ecosystem given Waymo is already scaling despite the costs and Tesla has ambitions to do so as well,” Bernstein analyst Daniel Roeska said in an investor note last week. More

Travelers have shown airlines that they’re willing to pay more to get more room at the front of the cabin.
Meanwhile, frequent flyer members’ ranks are swelling, meaning there’s more competition for upgrades when seats are available.
Airlines are racing to add first-class or bigger international business classes with comforts such as lie-flat seats, entertainment systems with bigger screens and even suites with closing doors.

Passengers deplane through the business class seating area on an American Airlines flight, London Heathrow Airport, Aug. 14, 2018.
Jeff Greenberg | Universal Images Group | Getty Images

Cheap seats aren’t enough for airline passengers anymore.
Since the pandemic, travelers have shown airlines that they’re willing to pay up to sit at the relatively spacious front of the cabin. That means that many of the seats are already full, so it’s harder for frequent flyers to score free upgrades to the front of the airplane.

And the ranks of frequent flyers with elite status are swelling all the way from the airport lounge to the packed first boarding group, meaning more competition for those seats. Expect even more crowds during the year-end holiday period, which airlines predict will set another record.
Even in the off-season in early 2025, executives have been forecasting strong demand. U.S. airlines’ capacity in the first quarter will be up about 1% from a year earlier, according to aviation data firm Cirium.
“We’re seeing probably our best unit revenues on the transatlantic [routes], for example, in the dead of winter,” said Delta Air Lines President Glen Hauenstein at an investor day in November.
The price difference between first class and coach varies, of course, based on distance, demand, time of year and even time of day. For example, a round-trip ticket on United Airlines from its hub in Newark, New Jersey, to Los Angeles International Airport during the first week of February was $347 in standard economy and $1,791 in the carrier’s Polaris cabin, which features lie-flat seats, but not access to the international business-class lounge.
American Airlines’ nonstop flight from New York to Paris during Easter week 2025 was $1,104 in coach and $3,038 in the airline’s Flagship Business class.

A view from the Delta Sky Club at Los Angeles International Airport, Sept. 2, 2022.
AaronP | Bauer-Griffin | GC Images | Getty Images

Billions of dollars in revenue that keeps airlines afloat hangs in the balance. Airlines’ loyalty programs are a cash cow, and getting the balance right between perks such as free upgrades and bringing in cash is key.
In recent years, airlines have changed the requirements to earn status, rewarding spending and not just the distance flown. They’ve also raised the amount flyers need to spend to be anointed with elite status. Next year, customers will have to spend more on United to earn status. On Thursday, however, American said it would keep its requirements the same for the next earning year, which begins in March.

From giveaways to paying up

About 15 years ago, travelers were paying for seats in just 12% of Delta’s domestic first class. Now, that is closer to 75% and climbing, Hauenstein told investors last month.
“We gave them away based on a frequent flyer system,” Hauenstein said about first-class seats in 2010 and earlier. “The incentive was to spend as least as possible, fly as long as possible and get upgraded as often as possible. That led to a position where our most valued products were the biggest loss leaders.”
That’s now reversed for Delta, he said, as more money is going to the front of the cabin. The carrier generates 43% of its revenue from main cabin economy tickets, down from a 60% share in 2010.
The trend is cutting across the industry, from Delta, the most profitable carrier, to discounters such as Frontier Airlines, which is adding roomier first-class seats to the front of its Airbus fleet in 2025. On Wednesday, JetBlue Airways said it would introduce two or three rows of domestic business class on planes that don’t have its highest tier Mint business class with lie-flat seats, dubbing it “junior Mint.”
A day earlier Alaska Airlines announced it would retrofit some of its planes with premium seats as it readies new international flights after acquiring Hawaiian Airlines earlier this year, with revenue from higher price seats outpacing standard economy
“You see the Airbus 330s and the Boeing 787s are under-indexed in business class and lack an international premium economy cabin,” Andrew Harrison, Alaska’s commercial chief, said at an investor day in New York on Tuesday. “So we expect that beyond 2027, you will see our premium mix continue to grow.”

A Delta Sky Club passenger lounge inside the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Sept. 5, 2019.
Jeff Greenberg | Universal Images Group | Getty Images

Bigger business

Airlines are now racing to add first-class sections or bigger international business classes featuring bigger screens and closing doors to the flatbed seats.
“We’ve seen more paid demand for premium cabin than we ever did pre-pandemic,” said Scott Chandler, vice president of revenue management at American Airlines. “More people want the experience of the premium cabin.”
Chandler said American has worked over the past few years to make it easier for customers to buy up to pricier cabins, with post-purchase options to upgrade to first class or other cabins such as premium economy.

Read more CNBC airline news

American is retrofitting some of its longer range aircraft to include more premium seating, like other carriers, ditch first class entirely on some to add larger international business class cabins that will have new seats with sliding doors. Delta and United have also increased their premium offerings to keep up with customers who want to pay for the pricier seats.
“They are doing everything they possibly can to entice you to pay for their premium products. That’s absolutely what they should do,” said Henry Harteveldt, founder of travel consulting firm Atmosphere Research Group. Customers don’t buy a store-brand item at a department store and then expect “the sales person [to] ring up that product and hand you a designer bag for free.”
Southwest Airlines has taken its own approach. In 2026, it plans fly with several rows of extra-legroom seats, retrofitting its standard coach-only cabins that it has flown for more than half a century and doing away with open seating.
CEO Bob Jordan said it’s partly a “generational shift.”
“What we’re seeing is our younger customers seeking a little more premium,” he said in an interview this week. “A lot of this a mentality shift, the willingness to spend more on travel and less on other things.
But the airline decided to keep the number of seats on its aircraft largely similar and isn’t adding a first class like other carriers, after surveying customers and weighing the cost of losing space for more seats on board.
For first class, Jordan said, “You’re talking ovens, you’re talking meals, you’re talking provisioning. It’s a huge capital investment and a big leap.”
“But never say never,” he said. More

Consumers cut back their restaurant visits this year, intensifying competition for eateries that are now fighting for a smaller pool of customers.
The industry’s rocky year included 26 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings from restaurant chains including Red Lobster and TGI Friday’s.
But some chains like Chili’s walked away winners, thanks to savvy promotions that emphasized value, while fast-casual eateries like Cava and Wingstop benefited from the segment’s success.

A “location closed” sign hangs in the window of a closed Red Lobster restaurant in Torrance, California on May 14, 2024. 
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images

A rocky year for restaurants separated the industry’s biggest chains into winners and losers, as eateries competed for a smaller pool of customers who have grown more discerning about how they spend their dollars.
“I’ve been eating out less this year – it tastes just as good, and it’s way cheaper,” said Jennifer Jennings, who works in sales in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Prices for food away from home had risen 3.6% over the last 12 months as of November, according to the Labor Department’s consumer price index. Grocery prices climbed just 1.6% during the same time, making cooking at home more attractive than dining out.
In response, many consumers have cut their restaurant spending, leading to slower sales and greater competition. The value wars reignited this summer. Chains took aim at their rivals in marketing and social media posts. And restaurants ramped up innovation, hoping that new menu items could boost sluggish traffic trends.
“I think the common thread behind everything right now is that the chains that are winning aren’t standing still. They’re doing something innovative, whether that’s new menu items … maybe that’s a marketing innovation … maybe it’s just hyper-emphasizing value,” said RJ Hottovy, head of analytical research for Placer.ai.
The year started off slow, with declining year-over-year traffic in January and February, before visits picked up again in March, according to industry tracker Black Box Intelligence. But eateries struggled again over the summer as consumers tightened their belts. Even a slew of value meals that promised cheap burgers and fries couldn’t stem the tide.
As traffic has fallen, bankruptcy filings have soared. Twenty-six bars and restaurants have filed for Chapter 11 this year, just one shy of tripling 2020’s total during the pandemic, according to the Debtwire Restructuring Database. This year’s filers included big names like Red Lobster and TGI Fridays.

While traffic has improved into the fourth quarter, some industry experts say it’s too early to predict a full recovery. A Numerator survey of more than 2,000 consumers found that the majority — across all income groups — plan to maintain their current spending levels at limited-service restaurants in the coming months.
But the chains that are already winning have seen their gains grow in the fourth quarter, further fueling their success.
Here are the winners and losers of the restaurant industry in 2024:

WINNER: Value

Value became restaurant CEOs’ new favorite word this year as they sought to reverse falling sales and appeal to inflation-weary consumers.
McDonald’s rang the alarm for the industry in late April, warning that consumers have become more “discriminating.” Three months later, the company’s second-quarter sales missed estimates and foot traffic to its U.S. restaurants shrank. The burger giant responded by rolling out a $5 combo meal, and many of its rivals followed suit with their own discounts and deals.
Traffic tied to value menu deals climbed 9% through October compared with the year-ago period, according to Circana data.
But value meals alone won’t save the industry.
For one, the lift from the deals isn’t enough to offset overall traffic declines, according to David Portalatin, Circana senior vice president and industry advisor for food and food service.
Plus, “value” has come to mean more than just the price tag. It also includes the experience and quality.
“For the low-income consumer, it’s the dollar amount that matters. For everybody else, it’s value. Even if you have money, you’re noticing things are more expensive, and you’re going to be more selective,” Michael Zuccaro, Moody’s Ratings vice president of corporate finance, told CNBC.

LOSER: Fast food

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Despite a proliferation of $5 combo meals, traffic to quick-service restaurants fell almost 2% this year through October, according to Circana data. That’s bad news for the industry because fast food accounts for nearly two-thirds of overall restaurant visits.
Industry experts attribute the decline in fast-food traffic largely to low-income customers. Diners who make less than $40,000 account for more than a quarter of both McDonald’s and Taco Bell’s customer bases, based on Numerator data.
Many of those consumers have chosen to spend less at fast-food restaurants, whether it’s skipping the order of French fries or forgoing a visit altogether to cook at home.
“There’s a lot more competition with grocery and other food retailers,” Hottovy said. “That’s where most of the competition is, particularly for that lower- to middle-income consumer.”
The fast-food chains performing the best right now, like Yum Brands’ Taco Bell, have high value perception.
Typically, when consumers tighten their belts in an economic downturn or recession, fast-food restaurants benefit. Even as low-income consumers cut back, higher-income consumers trade down to fast-food combo meals. But that hasn’t happened this time as consumers who make more money have instead embraced a more holistic definition of value to decide where to spend their money. Those diners want a high-quality, satisfying meal more than they care about a deal.

WINNER: Chicken

Displays and signage are seen during LA Dodgers’ Mookie Betts Makes “Shortstop” at Raising Cane’s Ahead of Opening Day, receives $100K donation for his 5050 Foundation, at Raising Cane’s on March 27, 2024 in Alhambra, California. 
Phillip Faraone | Getty Images

The fast-food chains that performed the best in 2024 tended to focus on chicken: Chick-fil-A, Raising Cane’s and Wingstop.
Chicken prices have stayed relatively stable this year, while beef prices have climbed. Poultry also benefits because some consumers consider it a more healthy option than red meat, even when the chicken is breaded and fried.
Chicken has been gaining market share from beef since the chicken sandwich wars of 2019, and restaurants have been leaning into the shift in consumer behavior. McDonald’s, for example, recently added the Chicken Big Mac to its U.S. menu permanently.
Upstarts like Raising Cane’s have also been making a splash. The privately held chain, known for its chicken tenders, is the fourth-largest chicken chain in the U.S., with a market share of 7.8%, according to Barclays. The chain could soon overtake KFC, the rare chicken chain that’s struggled to resonate with U.S. consumers this year.
KFC, which is owned by Yum Brands, has fallen behind in recent years as competition has intensified. Rivals like Chick-fil-A and Popeyes have stolen market share with buzzy menu items and the consumer shift toward boneless chicken.

LOSER: Burgers

A Quarter Pounder hamburger is served at a McDonald’s restaurant on March 30, 2017 in Effingham, Illinois. 
Scott Olson | Getty Images

Those chicken chains are stealing market share from burgers. McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Restaurant Brands International’s Burger King all had lackluster years.
McDonald’s has long dominated the burger category, with 48.8% market share, according to Barclays. But the chain saw its grip slip earlier this year as it scared off low-income consumers with its menu prices. However, by October, things were looking up for the Golden Arches: its $5 value meal was winning back customers, and its pricier Chicken Big Mac was boosting traffic.
Then came a fatal E. Coli outbreak linked to the slivered onions used in its Quarter Pounders. While the company acted quickly to contain the fallout, sales tumbled, especially in the affected states. McDonald’s plans to chip in $165 million to help out franchisees and boost marketing efforts. The chain has also revived its popular McRib for a limited time and unveiled a new value menu that will launch in January.
Analysts are optimistic that McDonald’s will be able to put the incident behind it. Traffic turned positive in the week ended Dec. 8 for the first time since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the outbreak on Oct. 22, according to a note from Gordon Haskett Research Advisors.
For rivals Burger King and Wendy’s, that’s bad news.
Like McDonald’s, Burger King launched a $5 value meal over the summer to appeal to thrifty consumers. Its same-store sales fell in the third quarter, although Restaurant Brands CEO Josh Kobza said the business is much healthier than it was in September 2022, when the parent company formally launched Burger King’s U.S. turnaround strategy.
Likewise, Wendy’s has been struggling to gain a foothold in the value wars. The company recently announced that it would close 140 underperforming restaurants in the fourth quarter, in the hopes that culling its footprint would boost the overall business.
But a promotion tied to the 25th anniversary of Spongebob Squarepants has been a green shoot for the burger chain. Some locations even sold out of key ingredients for the “Krabby Patty” meal, according to an October note from Wolfe Research.

WINNER: Taco Bell

The logo for Taco Bell is seen on the sign outside of the fast food restaurant. 
Paul Weaver | SOPA Images | Getty Images

Taco Bell is another rare fast-food winner.
The Mexican-inspired chain was the only one of Yum Brands’ three holdings to report same-store sales growth every quarter so far this year. (Pizza Hut and KFC actually reported three straight quarters of same-store sales declines.)
Yum executives have attributed Taco Bell’s success to consumers’ perception of its value. It was the top limited-service chain that diners across all income groups considered to be more affordable than groceries, according to a Numerator survey of more than 2,000 consumers.
Yum has also credited Taco Bell’s “brand buzz.” Look no further than actress Selena Gomez’s Instagram post sharing her recent engagement, with Taco Bell’s Mexican Pizza prominently displayed on a picnic blanket; the brand’s PR chief said in a LinkedIn post that Taco Bell didn’t sponsor the post.
And the chain keeps moving. It’s rolling out artificial intelligence software to take drive-thru orders in hundreds of locations. And in early December, it unveiled a new drink-focused concept, called the Live Mas Café. The first location is being tested in San Diego.
As Taco Bell continues to stand out, Yum plans to highlight the brand in late January with an investor presentation outlining its strategy for next year.

WINNER: Fast-casual chains

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Cava’s stock has skyrocketed 192% this year. Wingstop’s quarterly same-store sales have climbed more than 20% in every report it’s released this year. And traffic to Chipotle’s restaurants keeps growing, despite online backlash over its portion sizes and the departure of longtime CEO Brian Niccol in September.
But it isn’t just those chains. Broadly, the fast-casual restaurant segment has seen traffic rise 3% through October compared with the year-ago period, according to Circana data. And dollar sales have increased 8% for the category.
“You spend more money by going out rather than staying in, and fast casual seems to strike the right balance of the value equation,” said Circana’s Portalatin.
Chipotle and its fellow fast-casual chains also benefit from a customer base that skews higher-income. Chipotle executives have previously said that they haven’t seen the same traffic reversals as the rest of the industry because the chain’s customers have more money to spend on eating out.
Of course, there were a few losers even in the fast-casual category. Chains like BurgerFi and Roti filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as their traffic fell and costs rose.
“Maybe they expanded too quickly and had other issues, and so they got into trouble,” John Bringardner, head of Debtwire.

WINNER: Brian Niccol

Niccol shocked the restaurant world in August when Starbucks announced he’d be taking over as chief executive, following his predecessor’s ouster. Chipotle’s stock fell and Starbucks shares soared on the news in a combined market cap swing of $27 billion, showing Wall Street’s belief in Niccol as a leader.
Niccol’s departure from Chipotle came six years into his tenure. He ushered the burrito chain firmly out of its foodborne illness crisis, leaned into online ordering, modernized its locations for the digital age and led the company through the pandemic. Wall Street analysts expect that his replacement, Scott Boatwright, will stay the course set by Niccol.
On the other hand, Niccol’s appointment at Starbucks will likely mean big changes for the coffee giant. The board hired him after two consecutive quarters of same-store sales declines. Customers had become fed up with its high prices and chaotic, unwelcoming stores, and even discounts and new drink launches couldn’t persuade them to return.
As CEO, Niccol has pledged to bring the company “Back to Starbucks.” In late October, he shared early thoughts to reshape the U.S. business, from small tweaks like bringing back Sharpies to much more ambitious plans, like cutting back its extensive drinks menu.
Heading into 2025, Wall Street is excited about his proposals. Piper Sandler ranked Starbucks as its best idea for restaurants that it covers. BTIG also named it as a top pick, alongside Wingstop.

LOSER: Casual dining

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Traffic to casual-dining restaurants has fallen 2% year-to-date through October, according to Circana data.
This year’s decline in visits follows years of waning demand for casual-dining chains. They’ve struggled to compete since the Great Recession, which brought the dawn of fast-casual options that offer high-quality food at cheaper prices with greater convenience.
Some consumers are also skipping casual-dining chains and instead frequenting local independents.
The segment’s biggest losers this year were Red Lobster and TGI Fridays, which both filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Red Lobster, which filed in May, has since exited bankruptcy with a new owner, leadership and strategy to turn around the business.
“You’re seeing some weeding out … of those concepts that are a little tired, a little under pressure,” Circana’s Portalatin said.
Other casual-dining chains that are struggling to win over customers include Applebee’s, owned by Dine Brands.
Still the category has some outliers, like Texas Roadhouse, Chili’s and Olive Garden. Their relative outperformance has boosted the segment’s metrics, hiding some chains’ deeper deterioration. (Olive Garden parent Darden Restaurants reports its latest quarterly results on Thursday.)

WINNER: Chili’s

While casual restaurants struggle, one bright spot was Chili’s, owned by Brinker International. A table at the chain more associated with families became a hot reservation among Gen Z diners.
The bar and grill’s turnaround finally took hold this year, boosted by sharp advertising and TikTok-viral deals. In its latest quarter, Chili’s reported same-store sales growth of 14.1%, fueled by a 6.5% increase in traffic.
The chain’s “3 for Me” bundle, priced at $10.99, appealed to consumers looking for value. Plus, Chili’s advertised the promotion by taking aim at the prices of its fast-food rivals. And its Triple Dipper combo, which offers three appetizers, took off on TikTok, causing sales of the menu item to soar more than 70% in its latest quarter compared with last year. The Triple Dipper now accounts for 11% of the chain’s business, Brinker CEO Kevin Hochman said on the company’s latest earnings call on Oct. 30.
Chili’s success has spawned copycats. Rival Applebee’s recently picked a fight with Chili’s over its competing $9.99 value meal. And Olive Garden reintroduced its Never Ending Pasta Bowl promotion.

WINNER OR LOSER? Restaurants in 2025

In mid-November, restaurant executives were feeling optimistic about 2025 at the Restaurant Finance and Development Conference in Las Vegas.
Circana’s Portalin echoed that sentiment, predicting that inflation will keep declining next year, bringing some much-needed stability to prices and the overall industry.
“Think about everything consumers have dealt with over the last year: natural disasters, global conflict, the polarizing national election,” he said. “If we could get all of that in the rear view mirror, and if we can maintain some of these basic fundamentals around income and labor, we think customer traffic will improve in 2025.”
But not everyone in the industry is so sure that 2025 will bring a restaurant recovery.
“I think we’re going to continue the same mindset that we’re leaving 2024 with, this value-oriented, deal-driven consumer,” Placer.ai’s Hottovy said.
Likewise, Moody’s outlook for the restaurant industry predicts modest sales growth, but Moody’s Zuccaro said companies will all be fighting for their share.
In other words, the value wars won’t slow down – and may even intensify. More

UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty mourned the death of Brian Thompson, who led the company’s insurance arm, and acknowledged that the U.S. health-care system is “flawed” and in need of reform.
In a New York Times opinion piece, Witty made his first public comments since last week’s fatal shooting of Thompson.
Witty said the company, together with employers, governments and other payers, needs to improve how insurers explain what is covered and how those decisions are made. 

Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group, testifies during the Senate Finance Committee hearing titled “Hacking America’s Health Care: Assessing the Change Healthcare Cyber Attack and What’s Next,” in the Dirksen Building in Washington, D.C., on May 1, 2024.
Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images

UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty on Friday mourned the death of Brian Thompson, who led the company’s insurance arm, and acknowledged that the U.S. health-care system is “flawed” and in need of reform. 
“We know the health system does not work as well as it should, and we understand people’s frustrations with it,” Witty wrote in a New York Times opinion piece. “No one would design a system like the one we have. And no one did. It’s a patchwork built over decades.”

UnitedHealth Group’s “mission is to help make it work better,” he said.
“We are willing to partner with anyone, as we always have—health care providers, employers, patients, pharmaceutical companies, governments and others—to find ways to deliver high-quality care and lower costs,” Witty added.
The New York Times piece marks Witty’s first public comments since last week’s fatal shooting of Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the largest private insurer in the U.S. UnitedHealth Group is the nation’s biggest health-care conglomerate based on revenue. Its nearly $475 billion market cap has shrunk since Thompson’s death on Dec. 4.
Luigi Mangione, 26, is accused of fatally shooting Thompson outside the Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan as the CEO headed to UnitedHealth Group’s investor day. Investigators have said Mangione was a critic of the health-care industry, a widely held view among Americans.
The killing has unleashed a wave of pent-up resentment and anger toward the insurance industry, which has become a popular villain blamed for spiraling health-care costs and difficulties accessing care. From denied claims, rising premiums and unexpected bills, to an overall lack of transparency, patients have flooded social media with stories about their own negative experiences with insurance.

Still, the killing comes after a challenging year for the insurers, which are under pressure to shore up profits. This year in particular, companies grappled with higher medical costs due to seniors opting for surgeries they had delayed during the Covid-19 pandemic. 
Witty acknowledged UnitedHealth Group’s role in the health-care challenges in the U.S.  
“Health care is both intensely personal and very complicated, and the reasons behind coverage decisions are not well understood,” Witty said, noting, “We share some of the responsibility for that.”
He did not provide specifics around what exactly could be done to reform the industry. But Witty said the company, together with employers, governments and other payers, needs to improve how insurers explain what is covered and how those decisions are made. 
He also noted that behind certain claims decisions “lies a comprehensive and continually updated body of clinical evidence focused on achieving the best health outcomes and ensuring patient safety.”
Witty said Thompson had done his best to help patients navigate the health-care system.

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