Raphael Stevens

Southwest Airlines is planning to reduce service next year to and from Atlanta, the world’s busiest airport.
The carrier said it could cut more than 300 pilot and flight attendant positions, according to a memo seen by CNBC.
Southwest isn’t laying the crews off, but they will likely have to bid to work from other cities.

A Southwest Airlines plane takes off from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) in Atlanta, Georgia, US, on Friday, July 12, 2024. 
Elijah Nouvelage | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Southwest Airlines is planning to reduce service to and from Atlanta next year, cutting more than 300 pilot and flight attendant positions, according to a company memo seen by CNBC.
The changes come a day before Southwest’s investor day, when executives will map out the company’s plan to cut costs and grow revenue as pressure mounts from activist investor Elliott Investment Management.

Southwest told staff it isn’t closing its crew base in Atlanta. Instead, it will reduce staffing by as many as 200 flight attendants and as many as 140 pilots, for the April 2025 bid month.
The airline also isn’t laying the crews off, but they will likely have to bid to work from other cities.

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Southwest will reduce its Atlanta presence to 11 gates next year from 18, according to a separate memo from the pilots’ union.
It will service 21 cities from Atlanta starting next April, down from 37 in March, the carrier said.
“Although we try everything we can before making difficult decisions like this one, we simply cannot afford continued losses and must make this change to help restore our profitability,” Southwest said in its memo. “This decision in no way reflects our Employees’ performance, and we’re proud of the Hospitality and the efforts they have made and will continue to make with our Customers in ATL.”

The unions that represent Southwest’s pilot and flight attendants railed against the airline for the staffing and service cuts.
“Southwest Airlines management is failing Employees while impacting Customers. Management continues to make decisions that lack full transparency, sufficient communication with Union leadership, and most alarmingly, a lack of focus on what has made the airline great, the Employees,” said Bill Bernal, the flight attendants’ union president.
A Southwest spokesman confirmed the changes and said the carrier will “continue to optimize our network to meet customer demand, best utilize our fleet, and maximize revenue opportunities.”

Travelers check in at a Southwest counter at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) in Atlanta, Georgia, US, on Tuesday, July 23, 2024.
Elijah Nouvelage | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The airline had already pulled out of certain airports, some of which it experimented with during the pandemic to focus on more profitable service.
Southwest is not only facing changing booking patterns and oversupplied parts of the U.S. market but aircraft delays from Boeing, whose yet-to-be-certified 737 Max 7 airplanes are years behind schedule
The airline’s COO, Andrew Watterson, told staff last week that it will have to make “difficult decisions” to boost profits.
The reduction in Atlanta, the world’s busiest airport and Delta Air Lines home hub, is the latest development for the airline. In July, Southwest announced it plans to get rid of open seating and offer extra legroom on its airplanes, the biggest changes in its more than half-century of flying.
Also on Wednesday, Southwest released an expanded schedule, selling tickets through June 4. In addition to the planned cuts in Atlanta, the carrier said it will boost service to and from Nashville, Tennessee. It will also start offering overnight flights from Hawaii, beginning April 8. Those include service from Honolulu to Las Vegas and Phoenix; Kona, Hawaii, to Las Vegas; and Maui, Hawaii, to Las Vegas and Phoenix.

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Businessman Paul Viera is increasing his stake in the San Antonio Spurs from 5% to 11% as NBA team valuations rise, CNBC has learned.
Viera bought the additional stake from food service company Aramark.
The NBA has been working to increase team ownership by people of color or former players.

The San Antonio Spurs logo is seen before the game against the Golden State Warriors in Game Three of Round One of the 2018 NBA Playoffs on April 19, 2018 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. 
Noah Graham | National Basketball Association | Getty Images

Businessman Paul Viera is increasing his stake in the San Antonio Spurs from 5% to 11%, CNBC has learned, as NBA valuations climb and make teams more attractive assets for investors.
About two weeks ago, Viera, founder and CEO of the Atlanta-based investment firm Earnest Partners, bought out food service company Aramark’s remaining interest in the Spurs at a steep discount in a deal that values the team at $2.5 billion, according to two sources familiar with the deal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss nonpublic information. Partial team owners can get major discounts when they buy small pieces of teams that give them less control over decisions.

Last May, Viera bought a 5% stake in the Spurs for an undisclosed enterprise value. But Aramark’s 2023 annual report says it sold a portion of its stake in the Spurs for $98.2 million in cash, resulting in a pretax loss of $1.1 million during fiscal 2023.
The Spurs’ majority owner is Peter Holt, managing partner of Spurs Sports & Entertainment, which also operates the team’s arena, the Frost Bank Center. The Holts joined the Spurs ownership group in 1996. Other minority owners of the team include Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell, Sixth Street Partners, the McCombs family and two-time NBA champion David Robinson, who played for the Spurs from 1989 to 2003.

Paul Viera, investor in theSan Antonio Spurs.
Courtesy: NBA

The Spurs have won five NBA titles, but have not made the postseason since 2019. The team finished with a 22-60 record in 2023-24, last in the Southwest Division, but rising superstar Victor Wembanyama is starting to change the team’s basketball and financial trajectory.
NBA teams are hot assets thanks in large part to the league’s new $76 billion, 11-year media deal.
Just two weeks ago, former Milwaukee Bucks star Junior Bridgeman paid a $3.4 billion enterprise value (equity plus net debt) for a preferred limited discount for 10% of the Bucks in a deal that valued the team at $4 billion, $800 million more than the club was valued at when Jimmy and Dee Haslam bought Marc Lasry’s 25% in April 2023.

Sports bankers tell CNBC that controlling stakes in the Spurs and Bucks are not far apart in value, at around $4 billion.
Both Bridgeman and Viera also add to the growing number of diverse owners in pro basketball.
The NBA has tried to increase the number of owners who are people of color or former NBA players.
Former players with a minority stake in teams include: Grant Hill in the Atlanta Hawks; Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway in the Memphis Grizzlies; Robinson in the Spurs; Dwyane Wade in the Utah Jazz; Elliot Perry in the Grizzlies; and Michael Jordan in the Charlotte Hornets.
All eyes now turn to the Boston Celtics. Just weeks after winning the NBA Finals, co-owner Wyc Grousbeck announced he was selling his stake in the team in July.
The Grousbeck family has its controlling stake in the Boston Celtics on the market, and sources tell CNBC they expect the reigning NBA champions to fetch between $5.5 billion and $6 billion. The Grousbecks bought the Celtics for $360 million in 2002.
The NBA declined to comment on Viera’s investment in the Spurs. Aramark and Earnest Partners did not respond to emails from CNBC regarding Viera’s investments.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal, CNBC’s parent company, is one of the NBA’s partners in its new media rights deal.

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Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic may decrease the risk of opioid overdoses in certain patients, according to a new study.
The results suggest semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic, could potentially become a new alternative treatment for opioid use disorder, which could help address the ongoing opioid epidemic.
The data adds to growing evidence that a highly popular class of diabetes and obesity treatments called GLP-1s may have health benefits beyond regulating blood sugar and promoting weight loss.

A box of Ozempic made by Novo Nordisk is seen at a pharmacy in London, Britain March 8, 2024.
Hollie Adams | Reuters

Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic may decrease the risk of opioid overdoses in certain patients, demonstrating its potential as an alternative treatment for opioid use disorder, according to a new study released Wednesday. 
The active ingredient in Ozempic, semaglutide, was associated with a “significantly lower” opioid overdose risk than other diabetes medications in people diagnosed with both Type 2 diabetes and opioid use disorder, said the paper published in JAMA Network Open. 

The results suggest that Ozempic could offer potential as a tool for addressing the ongoing U.S. opioid epidemic, which was declared a public health emergency in 2017. There are currently three effective medications to prevent overdoses from opioid use disorder, but a new alternative is needed because some patients simply don’t use them, said lead study co-author Dr. Rong Xu, a biomedical informatics professor at Case Western Reserve University. 
In 2022, only about a quarter of patients with opioid use disorder received recommended medications for it, and many discontinued treatment within six months, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics says opioids are a factor in around 72% of overdose deaths in the U.S. 
The study results also add to mounting evidence that a highly popular class of diabetes and obesity treatments called GLP-1s may have several health benefits beyond regulating blood sugar and promoting weight loss. Novo Nordisk, its rival Eli Lilly and independent researchers have been racing to study those drugs’ potential in patients with chronic conditions ranging from kidney disease and sleep apnea to addictive behaviors such as nicotine and alcohol use.
In the study released Wednesday, researchers from Case Western Reserve University and the National Institutes of Health analyzed the electronic records of nearly 33,000 patients who were prescribed semaglutide or other diabetes medications between December 2017 and June 2023. The study was not funded by Novo Nordisk. 
Around 3,000 people were prescribed semaglutide injections, while the remaining patients received treatments that ranged from insulins to older GLP-1s for diabetes. That includes dulaglutide, the active ingredient in Eli Lilly’s drug Trulicity, and liraglutide, which is the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk’s Victoza. 

Researchers monitored how many opioid overdose cases occurred in patients during a one-year period after they stopped treatment with semaglutide or other drugs. For example, there were 42 cases of opioid overdose among a group of patients that received semaglutide, compared with 97 cases among another group that received insulins, according to the study. 
That reflects a 58% lower risk of opioid overdose in patients who took semaglutide, Xu said.  
But Xu noted the study has limitations since it relies on data from electronic health records.

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More research, specifically clinical trials that randomly assign patients to receive semaglutide or other treatments, is needed to confirm how much Ozempic and other GLP-1s can help those with opioid use disorder, according to the study authors. Those randomized studies can also determine whether those treatments are beneficial to the general opioid use disorder population or only certain patients with the condition.
“The extent to which GLP-1 medications could benefit treatment of opioid use disorders and help prevent overdoses is unclear,” Dr. Nora Volkow, lead study co-author and director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health, said in a statement to CNBC. “The preliminary findings from this study point to the possibility that GLP-1 medications may have value in helping to prevent opioid overdoses.”
Xu added that the researchers plan to study semaglutide in patients with opioid use disorder and obesity. 

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Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol said he respects the rights of the coffee chain’s baristas to unionize.
Starbucks and Workers United are negotiating a framework for collective bargaining agreements for unionized cafes.
Today, Workers United represents more than 490 of Starbucks’ U.S. cafes and more than 10,500 of its employees.

A Starbucks worker wears a t-shirt and button promoting unionization on April 7, 2022, in Chicago. 
John J. Kim | Chicago Tribune | Tribune News Service | Getty Images

Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol said the coffee chain is committed to bargaining in good faith with the union that represents many of its baristas, as the two sides work to craft a labor deal.
“I deeply respect the right of partners to choose, through a fair and democratic process, to be represented by a union,” Niccol wrote on Tuesday in a letter to the union obtained by CNBC. “If our partners choose to be represented, I am committed to making sure we engage constructively and in good faith with the union and the partners it represents.”

He was responding to a letter from the Starbucks Workers United bargaining delegation sent a day earlier, ahead of another bargaining session between Starbucks and the union. The two sides are negotiating a framework that would be the basis for collective bargaining agreements between individual stores and the company. The union is pushing for fair scheduling, a living wage, and racial and gender equity, the delegation said in its letter.
“We know that many of your dedicated customers — as well as future generations of customers — have a vested interest in the outcome of our negotiations and reaching a foundational agreement,” the group wrote in its letter to Niccol.
Three years ago, Starbucks baristas started unionizing under Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union. For two and a half years, the coffee giant tried to curb the union push, leading to battles that played out in headlines, social media and courts.
But the turning point for both parties came six months ago when they agreed to work together on a path forward after mediation to resolve lawsuits sparked by the union’s posts on social media.
Niccol joined Starbucks several weeks ago, making him a newcomer to the union discussions. In his previous role as CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill, only one location, in Lansing, Michigan, successfully unionized. Last year, the burrito chain agreed to pay former employees of an Augusta, Maine, location $240,000 as part of a settlement for closing the restaurant when workers tried to unionize. Chipotle denied any wrongdoing.
Today, Workers United represents more than 490 of Starbucks’ U.S. cafes and more than 10,500 of its employees. The company has more than 16,700 locations in the U.S., more than half of which are owned by the company. More

Once a regional Mexican food, birria has seen its presence on U.S. menus more than quintuple over the past four years, according to Datassential.
Mexican-inspired chains such as Qdoba and Del Taco have added their own versions to their menus, while eateries with broader menus have also adopted it.
Birria’s versatility and flavor has helped it grow from being a specific dish to a protein found across menus and in many different foods.

Birria burrito surrounded by birria tacos, birria munchwrap, birria loaded fries and birria consommé at Little Miner Taco in North Bethesda, Maryland.
Laura Chase de Formigny | The Washington Post | Getty Images

Birria, which was once known as a regional Mexican food, has taken on a life of its own in the U.S., becoming a social media star and fast-food darling.
Traditionally, birria is a beef or goat stew, slow cooked with spices and chiles to give the meat lots of flavor. Birria tacos use the slow-cooked meat as a filling and usually include a consommé on the side to dip the taco.

Over the past four years, birria has seen its presence on restaurant menus grow 412%, largely thanks to midscale and casual-dining chains, according to market research firm Datassential. It has made the jump from Mexican-focused restaurants to eateries with broader menus, such as Sugar Factory’s American dining spots and Bowlero’s bowling alleys.
Mexican-inspired fast-food brands such as Qdoba, El Pollo Loco, Del Taco and even Taco Bell have released their own versions of birria, turning it into a new menu staple. And the dish is still growing. Datassential predicts that birria’s menu penetration will more than double over the next four years.

From Jalisco to TikTok

The Birria Tacos at Mariscos 1133 Restaurant in Washington, D.C.
Scott Suchman | The Washington Post | Getty Images

While birria might be newer to U.S. diners, it has been around for centuries in Jalisco, a Mexican state that borders the Pacific Ocean.
Goats, which were originally brought over by Spaniards, had become an invasive species, and eating them was an easy way to take care of the problem, according to Steven Alvarez, a St. John’s University professor who teaches a class on taco literacy. But making goat tasty required spices and chiles. Slow cooking the meat made it tender.
“The goat comes from Europe, the chiles — the guajillo peppers, ancho peppers — are native to the Americas, and they come together to make this thing that is distinctly new,” Alvarez said.

The dish migrated up to Tijuana, Mexico. There, in the 1950s, a taco vendor named Don Guadalupe Zárate swapped out goat for beef because it was cheaper, according to Alvarez. Adding water to make it a stew kept the meat from burning.
Over the past decade, birria moved north, to Los Angeles, where Mexican immigrants dished out tacos and consommé from food trucks such as Birrieria Gonzalez.
“What’s beautiful about [southern California] is that the Mexican food is always, constantly regenerated by what’s going on in Mexico, based on the immigration patterns,” Alvarez said.
More recently, birria took off in New York City, with restaurants and food trucks serving up tacos and consommé across the five boroughs.
But the true inflection point for birria came thanks to Instagram. Food influencers’ photos of birria tacos, with their beef cascading down into a cup of consommé, made mouths water, and introduced a new audience to the food, according to Alvarez. Once TikTok took off, so did videos of birria, whether for reviews of the restaurants and food trucks serving it or for recipes to make it at home.

Finding opportunity

Qdoba’s Brisket Birria, seen here in the chain’s quesadillas.
Source: Qdoba

Social media is partly why birria became a staple on Qdoba’s menu.
Katy Velazquez, director of culinary innovation for Qdoba, was first introduced to birria while in Mexico for a previous job. Later, while back in the U.S., she started seeing the food pick up online, thanks to “sexy cheese pull shots” on social media, she said.
Cut to the Covid-19 pandemic, when brisket prices were soaring, and Qdoba had to remove its Tex Mex-inspired version of brisket from its menu.
“We were losing money on every entrée that we sold,” Velazquez said.
But that loss gave her team the opportunity to create their own take on birria, using brisket as its base. The fast-casual chain’s final product is not made the same way that traditional birria is, but Velazquez and her team aimed to emulate the same flavor and tenderness.
“We get the benefit of seasonings that have hours of tomatoes that are reduced and simmered and then they get dehydrated and brought into it, so we get the same effect and flavor without hours and hours of work,” she said.
Qdoba introduced its birria two years ago, replacing its previous brisket entree permanently and charging customers extra for the new protein option. Since the chain is privately owned by Butterfly Equity, it does not disclose its financial results, including more details about the success of the launch.
This fall, the chain is repromoting its birria offerings, betting that its flavor will appeal to customers looking for a cozy lunch or dinner, Velazquez said.
“We’re really proud of it, and we’re proud to be able to bring something that was a regional Mexican cuisine to a really large audience at a brand like ours,” she added.

Birria everything

Lamb is seasoned for lamb birria in Oakland, California.
Liz Hafalia | San Francisco Chronicle | Hearst Newspapers | Getty Images

Birria’s fanbase is not growing just because Qdoba and other large restaurant chains have added it to their menus. It is also because of its own versatility, Christine Couvelier, a culinary trendspotter and founder of the Culinary Concierge, told CNBC.
“This is a dish that is not about heat — it’s flavor,” Couvelier said. “So when consumers try it on a menu, they aren’t afraid or surprised. This is a flavor that is cooked low and slow.”
Couvelier envisions many different possible iterations for birria: on top of poutine, in soups and even stuffed in ravioli. She has also started to see some packaged food companies experiment with sauces that include the flavors of birria.
“It has switched from a specific dish to a protein and can be found across the menu,” said Claire Conaghan, Datassential trendologist and associate director.
Now that birria is usually made using beef, it can be paired with nearly anything, Conaghan added.
According to Datassential, tacos are the most popular birria dishes found on menus, but the firm’s Menu Trends platform has also found birria quesadillas, grilled cheese, breakfast dishes and even ramen.
Birria ramen first popped up in Tijuana, Mexico, according to Alvarez. But it has made its way stateside, and even appeared on Del Taco’s menu.
Jeremias Aguayo, Del Taco’s senior director of culinary research and development, rejoined the chain’s culinary team in 2022, shortly after Jack in the Box bought Del Taco. He personally took on the goal of creating Del Taco’s take on birria.
The consommé recipe alone took Aguayo four months and 17 attempts to make just right, he said. At the same time, Del Taco came up with its beef birria recipe. The chain launched its quesabirria taco, birria quesadilla and birria ramen at the same time last November.
The result was Del Taco’s biggest promotion in years, leading to “big jumps” in sales, traffic and check average, according to Aguayo. Del Taco sold upward of one million birria ramen at more than 600 restaurants over two promotional windows. More