Raphael Stevens

Delta Air Lines on Thursday said last month’s CrowdStrike outage and subsequent mass flight cancellations cost it some $550 million.
That includes a $380 million revenue hit in the current quarter and an associated $170 million expense.
Delta has said the carrier will pursue legal action against Microsoft and CrowdStrike to recoup the cost of the incident.

A Delta Airlines Airbus A319-114 aircraft taxis at Los Angeles International Airport after arriving from Las Vegas on May 5, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. 
Kevin Carter | Getty Images

Delta Air Lines on Thursday said last month’s CrowdStrike outage and subsequent mass flight cancellations cost it some $550 million and reiterated that it is pursuing damages against the company as well as Microsoft.
The financial impact includes a $380 million revenue hit in the current quarter “primarily driven by refunding customers for cancelled flights and providing customer compensation in the form of cash and SkyMiles,” the Atlanta-based airline said in a securities filing.

The incident, in which it canceled some 7,000 flights, also meant a $170 million expense “associated with the technology-driven outage and subsequent operational recovery,” the carrier said, adding that its fuel bill will likely be $50 million lower because of the scrubbed flights.
Delta struggled more than its competitors to recover from the July 19 outage, which took millions of Windows-based machines offline around the world. The disruptions occurred at the height of the summer travel season, stranding thousands of Delta customers, a rare incident for the carrier that markets itself as a premium carrier that gets top marks for reliability.
“An operational disruption of this length and magnitude is unacceptable, and our customers and employees deserve better,” CEO Ed Bastian said in the filing. “Since the incident, our people have returned the operation to an industry-leading position that is consistent with the level of performance our customers expect from Delta.”
Delta’s cancellations in the days after the outage topped its tally for all of 2019. The U.S. Department of Transportation last month said it is investigating Delta’s response to the outage and flight cancellations.
CrowdStrike responded in a statement on Thursday that Delta “continues to push a misleading narrative” and said that the company’s chief security officer was in “direct contact” with Delta’s chief information and security officer “within hours of the incident, providing information and offering support.”

In a letter to CrowdStrike’s attorney on Thursday, Delta’s lawyer David Boies said 1.3 million customers were affected by the outage and that it shut down 37,000 Delta computers.
CrowdStrike and Microsoft lawyers earlier this week fired back at Delta, saying they reached out to offer Delta help. Microsoft on Wednesday suggested that Delta hasn’t invested enough in its technology compared with rivals.
“If CrowdStrike genuinely seeks to avoid a lawsuit by Delta, then it must accept real responsibility for its actions and compensate Delta for the severe damage it caused to Delta’s business, reputation, and goodwill,” Boies said in the letter to CrowdStrike on Thursday.
About 60% of Delta’s “mission-critical applications” and their data depend on Microsoft and CrowdStrike, he said, adding that the disruption “required significant human intervention by skilled crew specialists to get Delta people and aircraft to the right locations to resume normal, safe operation.”

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E.l.f. Beauty beat Wall Street’s quarterly estimates on the top and bottom lines as sales jumped 50%.
Tarang Amin, CEO of the cosmetics company, said its new Bronzing Drops serum has been wildly popular.
Despite the big sales beat, the beauty retailer posted cautious guidance.

Courtesy: e.l.f Beauty

E.l.f. Beauty’s growth story is still going.
The cosmetics retailer on Thursday blew past quarterly estimates again, posting a 50% gain in sales. 

The company’s sales soared to $324.5 million in its fiscal first quarter, leading it to raise its full-year guidance. That increase follows a staggering 76% jump in the year-ago quarter.
CEO Tarang Amin told CNBC the company saw growth across its categories. He added that its Bronzing Drops serum quickly became a best seller on the company’s website after its launch during the quarter.
Here’s how the cosmetics company performed compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: $1.10 adjusted vs. 84 cents expected
Revenue: $324 million vs. $305 million expected

The company’s reported net income for the three-month period that ended June 30 was $47.6 million, or 81 cents per share, compared with $53 million, or 93 cents per share, a year earlier.  
Sales rose to $324.5 million, up about 50% from $216.3 million a year earlier. 

Following quarter after quarter of outsized growth, Wall Street has come to expect a lot from E.l.f. Beauty. Though it raised its guidance Thursday, the outlook still fell flat after such a big first-quarter beat. 
For fiscal 2025, E.l.f. now expects sales of between $1.28 billion and $1.3 billion, compared with its previous outlook of $1.23 billion and $1.25 billion. Analysts had expected sales guidance of $1.3 billion, according to LSEG.
The company now anticipates its adjusted net income will be between $198 million and $201 million, compared with a previous outlook of between $187 million and $191 million. E.l.f. expects adjusted earnings per share to be between $3.36 and $3.41, compared with previous guidance of $3.20 to $3.25. Analysts had expected earnings of $3.42 per share, according to LSEG. 
Shares fell about 6% in extended trading.
When it reported fiscal 2024 results in May, E.l.f. disappointed investors with an outlook that came in below expectations. Sentiment later turned around after its finance chief, Mandy Fields, suggested that the company tends to issue conservative guidance. 
“Last year, we started our guidance at 22% to 24% range, ended the year at 77%,” Fields told analysts at the time. “I’m not saying that we’re promising 77% this year for sure. But what I will say is that gives you a little bit of insight into our guidance philosophy.” 
On Thursday, Amin told CNBC that Fields takes a “balanced” approach to guidance and prefers to take things one quarter at a time. 
“If you look at our history over the last five years, these 22 quarters, we typically guide lower than where we eventually come out,” said Amin. “We never want to get ahead of ourselves, and overall the strategy has worked just great … we’re going to take you through what we’re seeing quarter by quarter, and hopefully we continue to kind of beat that.” 
He added that he isn’t concerned about a consumer pullback in the beauty category and remains “bullish” on the broader environment.
“We are hearing kind of in the macro, ‘Hey, is the consumer being choosier?’ I’d say if they are, they’re choosing E.l.f.,” said Amin. “So we’re perhaps differently positioned, and if you look over the last 22 quarters, it didn’t matter what was happening in the category, whether it was the pandemic, whether it was inflationary pressures … you name it, we’ve performed well throughout that, and I think it really comes down to our fundamental business model and how we’re different.” 
E.l.f., a digitally native beauty retailer that was founded in 2004, has gained a newfound relevance among Gen Z and Gen Alpha consumers through marketing that lands with those younger shoppers and meets them where they are on places such as TikTok and Roblox. 
It’s known for creating value versions of prestige favorites, such as its new Bronzing Drops, which customers compare to Drunk Elephant’s product Sunshine Drops. The prestige skin care line offers its product for $38, while E.l.f.’s retails for just $12.
“These bronzing drops were the No. 1 requested item from our community, and our community comes to us and says, ‘Hey, there’s a prestige item there. We love them, but E.l.f., help us out. We can’t afford 38 bucks for bronzing drops,'” said Amin. “So we’ll study it. We’ll put our own E.l.f. twist on it and we’ll introduce ours at $12. Went to No. 1 right away on Elfcosmetics.com.”
The company doesn’t compare its products to any specific brands and instead lets its fan base fill in the blanks.
“Even though we don’t make the comparison ourselves, there’s like a thousand TikTok videos after we launch this product where people are doing side-by-sides or comparing it,” said Amin. “They’re like, it’s $12 versus the $38 item and actually, I like the E.l.f. one better, the quality’s better.'”
In July, the company expanded its collaboration with Roblox that enabled users ages 13 and up to buy limited edition products such as its “e.l.f. UP! Pets Hoodie” and mainstays such as its lip and SPF products. 
During the Olympics, it had splashy marketing campaigns with gymnast Gabby Douglas, a three-time gold medalist, and blind swimmer Anastasia “Tas” Pagonis. It also collaborated with actress Jameela Jamil on the launch of its new Bronzing Drops.
However, all that marketing doesn’t come cheap and has weighed on E.l.f.’s bottom line. During the quarter, selling, general and administrative expenses increased by roughly $88.6 million to $180.6 million, representing 56% of net sales. The spike in marketing spending contributed to a 10% drop in E.l.f.’s net income. 
Amin said the company is spending more on marketing this year than last but that was more a result of timing. He added E.l.f. is working to get marketing spend “more consistent” throughout the year as a percentage of sales. 
“We continue to invest more in marketing because it’s working,” said Amin. “Our marketing ROIs are multiples ahead of the category benchmarks, we’re growing very strong top line. We’re building awareness.” More

Paramount Global intends to cut about 2,000 jobs as part of broader cost savings.
Revenue fell as TV licensing fees dropped 48%, compounding declines in subscription fees and advertising sales.
Paramount’s streaming division swung to a profit of $26 million.

The Paramount Studios in Los Angeles on April 29, 2024.
Eric Thayer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Paramount Global is cutting 15% of its U.S. workforce, or about 2,000 jobs, part of a broader cost-cutting plan as it prepares for a merger with Skydance Media.
Paramount has identified $500 million in cost savings, which include the head count reductions, as part of $2 billion in synergies related to its transaction with Skydance. The job cuts, which will begin in the coming weeks and largely conclude by year end, will target the company’s marketing and communications department and employees who work in finance, legal, technology and other support functions, the company said during its earnings conference call Thursday.

Paramount agreed to a merger with Skydance Media last month. That deal includes a 45-day go-shop period — in which a special committee of Paramount’s board could find another buyer — that concludes later this month.
Meanwhile, earnings surged as the company’s streaming division swung to an unexpected profit — the first time Paramount has announced a profitable quarter for its direct-to-consumer business.
Shares climbed more than 5% in after-hours trading Thursday.
Here’s how Paramount performed in the quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: 54 cents adjusted vs. 12 cents expected
Revenue: $6.81 billion vs. $7.21 billion expected

Revenue falls

Second-quarter revenue dropped 11% and missed analyst estimates as licensing, TV advertising and cable subscription sales dropped.

The revenue drop was the largest miss compared to analyst estimates since February 2020, according to LSEG data. Paramount attributed the miss to a decline in TV licensing revenue, which can be difficult for analysts to model given their start and end dates.
Paramount+ revenue grew 46% on year-over-year subscriber growth and higher prices. Paramount+ customers decreased 2.8 million from last quarter to 68 million as the company unwound a Korean partnership deal with entertainment company CJ ENM’s Tving streaming platform.
Paramount’s streaming division turned a profit for the quarter of $26 million after losing $424 million a year ago. Analysts had estimated a loss of $265 million this quarter.
Paramount reaffirmed it’s on track to reach U.S. profitability for Paramount+ in 2025. The streaming service has raised prices and cut content spend.
Paramount’s quarterly profit is helped by not having an NFL licensing charge for the period, which will kick in later in the year.
Shares have slumped 31% so far this year amid declines among cable subscribers and a soft linear TV advertising market.
Paramount also took a $6 billion one-time impairment charge associated with the decline in its cable networks. It comes on the heels of a $9.1 billion write-down from peer Warner Bros. Discovery on Wednesday.
The company had to take the charge as an adjustment forced by its transaction with Skydance.

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Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is increasingly in need of a win for shareholders.
Warner Bros. Discovery shares plummeted Thursday after taking a $9.1 billion impairment charge on the decline of its linear business and uncertainty around NBA rights.
The company may be an activist target given its persistent struggles to boost value, but it’s also possible outside investors would have limited options for alternative strategies.

David Zaslav attends the world premiere of “The Flash”, in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 12, 2023.
Mike Blake | Reuters

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav needs a win. Soon.
Since merging Discovery with WarnerMedia in 2022 and immediately slashing billions in costs, Zaslav has struggled to convince shareholders that his company is a worthy investment.

Warner Bros. Discovery shares have fallen about 70% since April 8, 2022, the day the merger closed. His tenure has been defined by implementing thousands of layoffs, cutting movies and TV series for tax efficiencies, killing off CNN+ a month after its launch, hiring and firing CNN CEO Chris Licht, getting heckled at Boston University’s commencement by students chanting “pay your writers” during last year’s writers’ strike, and suing the NBA after the league chose not to renew media rights with his company following nearly 40 years in business together.
Making matters worse for him, Zaslav has long been one of the highest paid CEOs in the country. His 2023 compensation rose 26.5% to almost $50 million. Zaslav’s bonus is tied to increasing free cash flow and reducing debt, a mandate driven by John Malone, the media mogul and influential board member who has championed Zaslav, first at Discovery and now at Warner Bros. Discovery, which has a market capitalization of about $17 billion and $37.8 billion in debt.
The stock dropped roughly 9% in trading Thursday. The company took a whopping $9.1 billion impairment charge Wednesday given the loss of value in its linear cable networks — which still accounts for more than 100% of the company’s adjusted EBITDA. That means the rest of the company lost money.
Warner Bros. Discovery blamed “the continued softness in the U.S. linear advertising market and uncertainty related to affiliate and sports rights renewals, including the NBA” for the size of the write-down.
That’s not music to investors’ ears.

Part of the argument for why Discovery merged with WarnerMedia was that its diversified suite of content would be a “wonderful partner to advertisers,” as Zaslav said when the deal was initially announced in 2021.
Injecting uncertainty into the company’s valuation because of a loss of NBA rights also rings hollow given Zaslav’s claim in November 2022 that “we don’t have to have the NBA.”
“The write-down signifies that this company clearly overpaid for the linear assets as part of the WarnerMedia merger and, given the growing pressures on the linear ecosystem, it also raises a question on what the future cash flows will be on these assets after the potential of losing the NBA,” said Robert Fishman, an analyst at research firm MoffettNathanson.
Nonetheless, Zaslav projected a message of confidence during the company’s earnings conference call Wednesday.
“We feel good about where we are,” Zaslav said. “We have to look at all and consider all options, but the No. 1 priority is to run this company as effectively as possible.”

Fodder for activists

While the company continues to make progress adding streaming subscribers (gaining 3.6 million in the quarter) and moving closer toward sustained profitability, the decline in linear revenue and associated earnings continues to outweigh the growth in its flagship direct-to-consumer service, Max.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s failure to gain traction over the past two years suggests it could be a prime target for an activist investor, who could conceivably push for Zaslav’s ouster or, at the least, ask for the divestment of assets such as CNN or the gaming division.
The company also owns a number of other valuable businesses, including HBO, Warner Bros. studio and DC Comics. LightShed analyst Rich Greenfield has argued it should dramatically scale back its direct-to-consumer aspirations and focus on licensing content to other, larger streamers.
While Zaslav openly discussed seeking partnerships and mergers during Wednesday’s earnings conference call, finance chief Gunnar Wiedenfels brushed away talk of potentially breaking up the company, citing the benefits of “one Warner Bros. Discovery.”
“Every day I’m seeing evidence everywhere in the business of the benefits of those strategies,” Wiedenfels said.
There are two clear hurdles for a potential activist. The first is Malone’s influence over the board. It’s possible an activist fund may be scared away from angling for board seats if it thinks Malone’s power is so great that any suggestions will be rendered pointless.
The second is that Warner Bros. Discovery is arguably already pursuing the correct strategy given the company’s enormous debt load compared to its market valuation. If Zaslav is also looking for buyers for Warner Bros. Discovery, an activist’s pitch to sell the company may not be additive.
Warner Bros. Discovery generated more than $6 billion in free cash flow last year, buoyed by a drastic drop in content spending from the writers’ and actors’ strikes. That number will drop to about $4 billion this year as Hollywood has gotten back to work, according to MoffettNathanson.
Investors will surely want to know how losing the NBA will impact free cash flow in future years, assuming Warner’s lawsuit doesn’t net the company a package of games. But it’s possible that Malone and Zaslav’s strategy of focusing on streaming profitability and costs cuts will eventually pay off.
Still, it seems clear the pressure on Zaslav to show that he can deliver value is mounting. Looking at its competitors, Disney’s media properties appear on the upswing after several years of pain, and Paramount Global has pulled the rip cord and agreed to a merger with Skydance Media.
Part of why Zaslav fired CNN’s Licht last year is the narrative around him turned too toxic.
Now Zaslav in danger of falling into the same trap.
— CNBC’s Rohan Goswami contributed to this article.

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Boeing’s new CEO Robert “Kelly” Ortberg takes the reins of the aerospace giant on Thursday.
The 64-year-old aerospace veteran previously headed supplier Rockwell Collins.
Ortberg inherits a company mired in safety and manufacturing crisis.

Robert K. “Kelly” Ortberg is the Boeing’s new president and chief executive officer, effective August 8, 2024. Ortberg will also serve on Boeing’s Board of Directors.
Courtesy: Boeing

Aerospace veteran Robert “Kelly” Ortberg becomes Boeing’s new CEO on Thursday with a singular mission: restoring the reputation of a U.S. manufacturing icon.
That enormous goal will involve thousands of daily decisions that will determine whether Boeing can earn back the trust of regulators, airlines and the public; end persistent production defects; deliver aircraft on time and consistently to customers large and small; and stop burning cash.

That cash burn is running about $8 billion so far this year and counting. Meanwhile, Boeing shares are down some 37% so far this year, as of Wednesday.
Ortberg’s Day 1 activity is walking the floor of Boeing’s factory in Renton, Washington, where it builds its best-selling but problematic 737 Max. He plans to talk with employees and review safety and quality plans, with similar visits ahead at other Boeing plants.
“I can’t tell you how proud and excited I am to be a member of the Boeing team,” he said in a note to staff on Thursday. “While we clearly have a lot of work to do in restoring trust, I’m confident that working together, we will return the company to be the industry leader we all expect.”
Analysts and industry insiders are cautiously upbeat, painting the 64-year-old Ortberg — a more than three-decade veteran of the industry who spent years atop commercial and defense supplier Rockwell Collins after working up the ranks there — as a good listener with an engineering background (he has a mechanical engineering degree). Perhaps most importantly, he is a Boeing outsider.
“This guy has a fantastic reputation and level of experience in the industry,” said Richard Aboulafia, managing director at AeroDynamic Advisory. “He has a reputation for listening and for letting people push back.”

Trouble across businesses

Those skills will be key as Boeing tries to stabilize its production and eliminate manufacturing flaws.
Boeing’s top safety executive for commercial aerospace told a National Transportation Safety Board hearing earlier this week that the company is working on a design fix so the near-catastrophic door plug blowout it faced at the beginning of the year never happens again.
The hearing was part of the NTSB’s probe of the the midair blowout of a door plug from a packed, months-old Boeing 737 Max 9 as it climbed out of Oregon. While no one was seriously injured in the accident, it put Boeing back into crisis mode just as it was trying to move on from two fatal crashes of its best-selling 737 Max planes in 2018 and 2019.
Worker testimony at the NTSB hearing also showed manufacturing pressure and frequent fixes on planes, putting a spotlight on Boeing’s factories.
“I will be transparent with you every step of the way, sharing news on progress as well as where we must do things better,” Ortberg said in the memo. He vowed to share reports to staff, “giving you timely updates of what I’m seeing and hearing on the ground from our teammates and our stakeholders.”
Boeing last month agreed to plead guilty to defrauding the U.S. government during the Max certification, a deal that will require an independent corporate monitor at the company for three years.
But Ortberg will have to address issues not only in the commercial jet business, including the delayed certification of new 737 and 777 models, but also in its defense unit.
That segment of the business is facing issues with two 747s that will serve as the next Air Force One aircraft but are years behind schedule. Meanwhile, Boeing’s misfiring Starliner capsule, which launched in early June, has NASA debating whether to use SpaceX instead to bring astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams back from the International Space Station.
A decision is also looming over whether to launch a new aircraft as Boeing loses ground to rival Airbus.
The first 100 days of Ortberg’s time as CEO will be crucial, said Bank of America aerospace analyst Ron Epstein.
“The decisions made early in his tenure will have generational impacts on the company,” he said in a note on Monday.
Ortberg and his team will need to ensure Boeing’s workforce is trained, with thousands of new workers in factories after more experienced staff members took buyouts or were laid off in the pandemic. A union representing some 30,000 Boeing factory workers in Washington state and Oregon is seeking more than 40% raises and, last month, members authorized a strike if a deal isn’t reached this September.
“The principles of safety and quality should be equally important as the manufacturing rates,” Jon Holden, local president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said in a statement last week. “This potential collaboration with the new CEO could be a prime opportunity for Boeing to prove its dedication to its workforce and acknowledge the exceptional manufacturing capability and capacity of skilled IAM Members on the shop floor.”

Last week, alongside another quarterly loss, Boeing announced Ortberg would replace Dave Calhoun, who had said in March he would step down by year’s end.
That was part of a larger executive shakeup after the door plug blowout. Calhoun himself took over a Boeing in crisis in early 2020, replacing Dennis Muilenburg, who was ousted for his handling of the two Max crashes.
While Boeing is still based in Arlington, Virginia — where it announced it would move its headquarters in 2022 from Chicago — Ortberg will be based in the Seattle area, giving him a close eye on where the majority of Boeing’s commercial jetliner production is based.
“In speaking with our customers and industry partners leading up to today, I can tell you that without exception, everyone wants us to succeed,” Otberg said in his Day 1 note to employees. “In many cases, they NEED us to succeed. This is a great foundation for us to build upon.”
Getting off on the right foot with customers and the hundreds of suppliers that are struggling from pandemic-demand whiplash is important for Ortberg and the company. Boeing’s relationships with its bread-and-butter customers has suffered recently, and its leadership shakeup came after airline CEOs sought a meeting with the company’s board as delays of aircraft piled up in the wake of the doorplug blowout.
Southwest Airlines is among Boeing’s biggest customers and, like other carriers, has scaled back its growth plans, citing delivery delays of new, more-fuel efficient jets from Boeing. The airline’s CEO hinted at the big feat Ortberg has ahead of him.
“We look forward to working with Kelly Ortberg in his efforts to return Boeing to its place as the leading American aerospace company,” CEO Bob Jordan said in a written statement. “A strong Boeing is great for Southwest Airlines and it’s great for our industry.”
— CNBC’s Michael Sheetz contributed to this article.

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Eli Lilly reported second-quarter earnings and revenue that blew past expectations and hiked its full-year revenue outlook by $3 billion as sales of its blockbuster diabetes drug Mounjaro and weight loss injection Zepbound spike.
The drugmaker now expects full-year adjusted earnings of $16.10 to $16.60, up from a previous guidance of $13.50 to $14 per share.
The company also expects revenue for the year to come in between $45.4 billion and $46.6 billion, an increase of $3 billion at both ends of the range.

Eli Lilly on Thursday reported second-quarter earnings and revenue that blew past expectations and hiked its full-year revenue outlook by $3 billion as sales of its blockbuster diabetes drug Mounjaro and weight loss injection Zepbound spike.
Shares of Eli Lilly jumped more than 11% in premarket trading Thursday.

The drugmaker now expects revenue for the year to come in between $45.4 billion and $46.6 billion, an increase of $3 billion at both ends of the range.
The company also raised its full-year adjusted earnings to a range of $16.10 to $16.60, up from a previous guidance of $13.50 to $14 per share.
Eli Lilly said the guidance increase was primarily driven by the strong performance of Mounjaro and Zepbound and comes in part due to “improved clarity” into the company’s production expansions and planned launches of Mounjaro outside the U.S. The company said it hit several supply-related milestones during the quarter, without providing specific details.
Demand has far outstripped supply for incretin drugs such as Zepbound and Mounjaro, which mimic hormones produced in the gut to suppress a person’s appetite and regulate their blood sugar. That has forced Eli Lilly and its rival Novo Nordisk to invest heavily to boost manufacturing.
But Eli Lilly’s supply woes may be starting to ease. On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration’s drug database said all doses of Zepbound and Mounjaro are available in the U.S. after extended shortages.

Still, the company cautioned that expected increases in demand may result in period “supply tightness” for certain doses of its incretin drugs. 
“We just see unbelievable demand, and we’re not even trying that hard to promote this drug,” Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks told CNBC in an interview. “What you’re seeing is just consumer organic demand here as we’ve shipped more product, as we bring more supply online in the United States.” 
Ricks said the company has built six manufacturing plants, some of which are already ramping up, and hired thousands of workers to increase production. The company expects incretin drug production in the second half of 2024 to be 50% higher than it was during the same period last year, he noted.  
“We’re on that kind of ramp into 2025,” he said. Ricks added that Eli Lilly is still developing more convenient weight loss pills, which could help the company meet skyrocketing demand.
Here’s what Eli Lilly reported for the second quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG: 

Earnings per share: $3.92 adjusted vs. $2.60 expected
Revenue: $11.30 billion vs. $9.92 billion expected

The pharmaceutical giant booked net income of $2.97 billion, or $3.28 a share, for the second quarter. That compares with a profit of $1.76 billion, or $1.95 a share, a year earlier. 
Excluding one-time items associated with the value of intangible assets and other adjustments, Eli Lilly posted earnings of $3.92 per share for the second quarter of 2024.
The company posted second-quarter revenue of $11.30 billion, up 36% from the same period a year ago. 
Eli Lilly said sales were largely driven by higher demand for Mounjaro and Zepbound as production increases improved supply in the U.S.
It is Zepbound’s second full quarter on the U.S. market after winning approval from regulators in November. The weekly injection raked in $1.24 billion in sales for the period, which is well above the $922.2 million that analysts expected, according to StreetAccount. 
Meanwhile, Mounjaro took in $3.09 billion in revenue for the second quarter, more than triple the sales it booked during the year-earlier period. Analysts expected $2.39 billion in sales, according to StreetAccount.
Mounjaro prices were higher in the U.S. during the second quarter, which came in part due to greater access to the drug and decreased use of savings card programs compared with the year-earlier period. 
But the company said savings cards should have “minimal effect” on realized price comparisons in the second half of the year because the $25 monthly coupon for patients who don’t have insurance coverage for Mounjaro expired in June. 
Ricks said pricing of Eli Lilly’s incretin drugs was “pretty stable” during the second quarter. 
That differs from Novo Nordisk, which reported weaker-than-expected second-quarter sales of its weight loss drug Wegovy and diabetes injection Ozempic on Wednesday in part due to pricing pressure. 
Revenue from Wegovy was hit by higher-than-expected price concessions to U.S. pharmacy benefit managers, which negotiate drug discounts with manufacturers on behalf of insurers, Novo Nordisk executives said on an earnings call Wednesday.
Shares of Eli Lilly are up more than 30% this year after jumping almost 60% in 2023 due to the soaring demand for the company’s weight loss and diabetes drugs – and increased investor interest in their potential as treatments for other health conditions. That popularity comes despite their hefty monthly price tags, inconsistent insurance coverage and intermittent supply shortages. 
With a market cap of more than $730 billion, Eli Lilly is the largest pharmaceutical company based in the U.S. More

Disney’s post-pandemic box office has been riddled with starts and stops, but midway through 2024 the studio appears to have hit a groove.
“Inside Out 2” is the highest-grossing animated movie of all time and has topped $1.5 billion at the global box office.
“Deadpool & Wolverine” had the best domestic opening for an R-rated film and has scored more than $850 million in global ticket sales.
Still to come this year is “Moana 2,” the hotly anticipated sequel to 2016’s “Moana,” which was the most streamed movie of 2023.

Hugh Jackman, Robert Iger, and Ryan Reynolds at the Marvel Studios’ “Deadpool & Wolverine” World Premiere held at David H. Koch Theater on July 22, 2024 in New York, New York. 
Kristina Bumphrey | Variety | Getty Images

After years of starts and stops at the box office, Disney appears to have hit a groove in 2024.
Its latest Pixar film, “Inside Out 2,” is now the highest-grossing animated film of all time, topping $1.5 billion at the global box office. Its first R-rated Marvel Cinematic Universe flick — “Deadpool & Wolverine” —broke opening weekend records for an R-rated film and is set to surpass the $1 billion mark before the end of its run.

And the box office hits aren’t expected to stop there.
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, the studio is set to release “Moana 2,” the hotly anticipated sequel to 2016’s “Moana.” While the first film generated a little less than $700 million at the global box office, audience fervor for more “Moana” content is expected to drive high ticket sales in November. After all, it was the most streamed film of 2023.
Disney has already seen success from its animated franchises this year, as “Inside Out 2” has generated nearly double the $850 million its predecessor secured in 2015.
“The billion-dollar club, while growing ever less exclusive with each passing year, is no less a remarkable achievement for any film to join its ranks, particularly when one studio has the potential to land a trifecta of such hits for film released in the same year,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “Such is the enviable position that Disney, after a fallow post-Pandemic period has returned to glory with a vengeance. They are in the midst of phenomenal comeback year for the studio.”
A wild card for the studio is December’s “Mufasa: The Lion King,” a prequel to 2019’s “The Lion King.” While its predecessor generated $1.6 billion at the global box office, more than $1.1 billion of which came from international audiences, it’s unclear what appetite moviegoers have for this photorealistically animated sequel.

Disney has long been a box office champion, driving significant ticket sales domestically and globally. While its theatrical business is a relatively small part of its overall annual revenues, its a large part of Disney’s wider strategy. The company uses its theatrical successes across many of its other departments. Franchises like Star Wars, Marvel, Avatar and Pixar have transcended the big screen to become popular theme park lands and TV shows, and characters from those films appear on merchandise.
Disney’s recent box office rut came at a time when its theme parks were growing rapidly and generating enough revenue to balance out other pieces of the business that were less successful or still in the process of becoming profitable, like streaming platform Disney+. However, in the most recent quarter, Disney parks and experiences segment felt pressure due to lower consumer demand and inflation.
Having its theatrical business return to form is key for Disney because of how it can fuel other areas of the business.

Billion-dollar track record

Disney churns out more billion-dollar hits than anyone in the business. Of the 53 titles that have achieved this feat at the box office, more than half, or 27, have been under the Disney banner, according to data from Comscore.
Two of those films — 2009’s “Avatar” and 1997’s “Titanic” — were produced by 21st Century Fox prior to the 2019 merger of the two companies, but are considered part of Disney’s collection of billion-dollar features. Additionally, two Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man films that were co-produced by Disney and Sony topped $1 billion. However, those are not included in Disney’s haul because they were distributed by Sony.
In the year before the pandemic, Disney had seven theatrical releases top $1 billion at the box office. However, theater closures and production shutdowns, coupled with a creative team that was stretched too thin, led to a cinematic slump for the company in recent years.
Audiences and critics bemoaned Disney’s push for quantity, which sacrificed quality in major franchises. The company was also criticized for allowing some of its content to become too focused on social messages.
While “Avatar: The Way of Water” became one of the top all-time box-office hits in 2022, and several Marvel features topped $800 million in global ticket sales, Disney also saw some of its lowest animated feature hauls in decades and its lowest-ever MCU release.
“Much has been said about a few of Disney’s underwhelming box office performances in recent years but it was always a fool’s errand to count the studio out for long,” said Shawn Robbins, founder and owner of Box Office Theory. “Their leadership made clear and convincing strategic moves to address the commercial struggles of several key releases coming out of the pandemic era … We’re starting to see the early dividends of that pivot back to quality franchise content and a renewed emphasis on the moviegoing experience.”
Disney’s CEO Bob Iger has addressed the company’s theatrical woes on several occasions since returning to the helm of the company in late 2022.
He admitted Disney’s fall from theatrical grace had a number of causes. He said that during Covid lockdowns, the company conditioned audiences to expect its films on streaming, and that pandemic-related restrictions made it difficult for executives to oversee its increased number of film and television productions. Additionally, he said the company’s push to feed Disney+ with new content diluted its quality.
Iger promised investors that Disney’s creatives would right the ship. And he appears to be making good on that pledge.
On Wednesday, he credited “Inside Out 2” for the company’s outperformance in its content sales and licensing division during the most recent quarter. The company noted that the first “Inside Out” drove more than 1.3 million Disney+ sign-ups and generated more than 100 million views globally since the first trailer for “Inside Out 2” was released last November.
He also touted the company’s slate of franchise features coming in the next few years.
“Let me just read to you the movies that we’ll be making and releasing in the next almost two years,” Iger said during Wednesday’s earning call. “We have ‘Moana,’ ‘Mufasa,’ ‘Captain America,’ ‘Snow White,’ ‘Thunderbolts*’, ‘Fantastic 4,’ ‘Zootopia,’ ‘Avatar,’ ‘Avengers,’ ‘Mandalorian’ and ‘Toy Story,’ just to name a few. And when you think about not only the potential of those in the box office but the potential of those to drive global streaming value, I think there’s a reason to be bullish about where we’re headed.”

Upcoming Disney franchise film releases

2024

“Alien: Romulus”
“Moana 2”
“Mufasa: The Lion King”

2025

“Captain America: Brave New World”
“Snow White”
“Thunderbolts*”
“Fantastic Four: First Steps”
“Tron: Ares”
“Blade”
“Zootopia 2”
“Avatar 3”

2026

“Avengers: Doomsday”
“The Mandalorian and Grogu”
“Toy Story 5”
“Moana”
Untitled “Star Wars”

2027

“Avengers: Secret Wars”
Untitled “Star Wars”
“Avatar 4”

Investors are expected to get a bigger glimpse into Disney’s theatrical plans during its biannual D23 Expo taking place in Anaheim, California this weekend.
“The past speaks for itself, but there’s no doubting the importance of Disney’s role in the industry’s present and future,” said Robbins. “If Marvel and Pixar continue their turnarounds, and if the Star Wars franchise can eventually execute a similar rebound under Lucasfilm, it won’t be long before the parent studio returns to some familiar box office prowess up and down the calendar each year.” More