Raphael Stevens

U.S. women’s rugby star Ilona Maher reflected on winning the bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Paris, a victory that has reinvigorated the national team program.
The 27-year-old has also built an active fan base on social media.
Businesswoman and investor Michele Kang, who also owns professional soccer teams, announced a $4 million gift to the U.S. women’s rugby sevens team after the medal.

Ilona Maher became one of the Paris Olympics’ heroes after leading the U.S. rugby team to its first-ever Olympic medal for men or women.
The 27-year-old, frequently clad in bright red lipstick, helped Team USA bring home the bronze medal in a nail-biting win over Australia on Tuesday.

Following her win, the Vermont native spoke to CNBC about investments in women’s sports, how the victory will help rugby grow and how she has built a brand that includes millions of social media followers.
Maher said she has been focused on the 2024 Summer Olympics for the past three years — and the team’s existence after the games was not certain.
“Our coach said to us if we don’t win a medal, we might not have a program next year, and so that really stuck with me, those words, and so we delivered,” Maher said.
Fresh off the win against Australia, more good news came for U.S. rugby. Businesswoman and investor Michele Kang, who also owns professional soccer teams, announced a $4 million gift to the USA women’s rugby sevens team in a bid to grow the sport. Sevens refers to the teams that comprise up to seven people in that variation of rugby.
Maher said the donation, which will be rolled out over the next four years ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, will give the team needed momentum.

“I’m so happy that people are taking notice of it,” Maher said. “We’re trying to make this program better for all the women who came before us, who had to work full-time jobs to do this to make it better for all those coming in later.”
Maher said savvy investors will figure out that investing in women’s sports is good business, and there is money to be made.
“The personalities in women’s sports is just unlike that of the men. I think the way people connect with women is something special.”

Maher’s path to Olympic medalist

Maher didn’t even pick up the sport until she was 17. As a former field hockey, basketball and soccer player, she caught on quickly and never looked back.
She was recruited by Quinnipiac University, where she played center and helped the team win three national championships. She was named the nation’s top college rugby player in 2017.
Since college, Maher went on to compete in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, and then represented the U.S. at the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens in South Africa.

Ilona Maher, #2 of Team USA, runs with the ball while under pressure from Emma Uren, #7 of Team Great Britain, during the Women’s Rugby Sevens quarterfinal match between Team Great Britain and Team USA on day three of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Stade de France in Paris, France, on July 29, 2024.
Michael Steele | Getty Images

Maher said she has a degree in nursing, but has not yet had to use it. Instead, she said she has been building her brand on social media to complement her athletic career. She currently has more than two million followers on Instagram and another two million on TikTok.
“I want this to be what I can do for the rest of my life,” Maher said of her athletic career.
“I knew that platforms like TikTok and Instagram could be what does that for me, to create a brand, to put yourself out there … so it’s been really cool to build that up,” she added.
The 5’10” Olympic medalist has also made a name for herself promoting body positivity. She has represented brands such as Secret deodorant and reminded her followers that “All body types can be Olympians.”
She also is not afraid to show her silly side, whether it’s testing out the cardboard beds in the Paris Olympic village, converting football star Jason Kelce to a rugby fan or fangirling with Snoop Dogg.
Following the Olympics, Maher said she is ready for a much-needed break.
“I’m throwing my phone in the lake, and I’m not looking at it for a week,” she said.
“I think it’s going to be about hanging out with family, being able to relax and re-center in a way — and make some money,” she added.
Disclosure: CNBC parent NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. broadcast rights holder to all Summer and Winter Games through 2032.

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Biogen reported second-quarter earnings and revenue that topped estimates and hiked its full-year guidance as cost-cutting efforts showed progress and sales of its breakthrough Alzheimer’s drug, Leqembi, and other new products came in higher than expected. 
The biotech company is pinning its hopes on Leqembi and other new products to drive growth as it reduces costs and grapples with declining demand for its multiple sclerosis therapies.
Uptake of Leqembi appears to be picking up, with roughly $40 million in sales for the quarter.

A test tube is seen in front of displayed Biogen logo in this illustration taken on, December 1, 2021.
Dado Ruvic | Reuters

Biogen on Thursday reported second-quarter earnings and revenue that topped estimates and hiked its full-year guidance, as the company’s cost cuts showed progress and sales of its breakthrough Alzheimer’s drug, Leqembi, and other new products beat expectations. 
Biogen now expects full-year adjusted earnings to come in at $15.75 to $16.25 per share, up from a previous forecast of $15 to $16 per share.

The biotech company also expects 2024 sales to decline by a low-single-digit percentage. Biogen’s previous outlook was a low- to mid-single-digit percentage decrease from last year. 
Leqembi, which Biogen shares with Eisai, became the second drug proven to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s to win approval in the U.S. last summer. The therapy’s launch has been gradual due to bottlenecks related to diagnostic test requirements and regular brain scans, among other issues. 
But uptake of Leqembi appears to be picking up, with roughly $40 million in sales for the quarter. That’s above the $31 million analysts had expected, according to estimates compiled by StreetAccount. 
The drug posted just $10 million in sales last year following its launch. 
Biogen did not disclose how many patients are currently on Leqembi. The company in May said roughly 5,000 people were taking the drug.

Still, Leqembi faces hurdles in Europe, where a drug regulator recommended against approving the treatment due to its risk of brain swelling and bleeding. Biogen was “quite surprised and rather perplexed” by the decision and will seek a reexamination of it, the company’s CEO Chris Viehbacher told reporters on a press call Thursday.
Biogen hopes Leqembi and other new products will drive growth as it reduces costs and grapples with plunging demand for its multiple sclerosis therapies, some of which face competition from cheaper generics. 
“I can say today that all of the launches are in line with or ahead of expectations,” he said.
The company is on track to achieve roughly $1 billion in gross cost savings, or $800 million in net savings, by the end of 2025, according to Viehbacher.
Viehbacher added that “while you can see a significant decline in our operating expenses, we have at the same time, been able to invest massively in our new product launches and in those research and development projects that we think are the most important.”
Here’s what Biogen reported for the second quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG: 

Earnings per share: $5.28 adjusted vs. $4.03 expected
Revenue: $2.47 billion vs. $2.38 billion expected

Biogen booked sales of $2.47 billion for the quarter, which is roughly flat from the year-earlier period.
The drugmaker posted net income of $583.6 million, or $4 per share, for the second quarter. That compares with net income of $591.6 million, or $4.07 per share, for the same period a year ago. 
Adjusting for one-time items, the company reported earnings of $5.28 per share. 
Investors are closely watching other newly launched drugs apart from Leqembi. That includes Skyclarys, which came from Biogen’s acquisition of Reata Pharmaceuticals in July 2023. 
The treatment booked $100 million in sales for the second quarter. Analysts had expected the drug to take in $92.3 million for the quarter, according to StreetAccount. 
The Food and Drug Administration greenlit Skyclarys last year, making it the first approved treatment for Friedreich’s ataxia, a rare inherited degenerative disease that can impair walking and coordination in children as young as 5. 

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Viehbacher said the launch of Skyclarys is going “extremely well.” The company expects to market the drug in 20 countries by the end of the year, he added.
Zurzuvae, the first pill for postpartum depression, generated second-quarter sales of $14.9 million. Analysts had expected just $11 million in sales of that drug, StreetAccount estimates said.
Biogen shares that pill with Sage Therapeutics.
Meanwhile, Biogen’s second-quarter sales from multiple sclerosis treatments fell 5% to $1.15 billion as some products face competition from cheaper generics. 
Still, some of those drugs posted higher-than-expected sales. 
Tecfidera, for example, booked $252.2 million in revenue in the second quarter, which is relatively flat from the year-earlier period. Analysts had expected the once-blockbuster drug to rake in $233.3 million in revenue for the quarter, according to StreetAccount.
Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify that Biogen acquired Reata Pharmaceuticals in July 2023. 

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Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah likened the slowdown in the home goods category to the great financial crisis as the company reported misses on the top and bottom lines.
The e-tailer’s finance chief Kate Gulliver told CNBC in an interview that the declines it’s seeing are “similar to the declines that we saw in that 2008 to 2010 period.”
The category has been impacted by a stagnant housing market but could see a resurgence when the federal reserve cuts interest rates.

The first Wayfair brick-and-mortar store prepares to open on May 02, 2024 in Wilmette, Illinois. 
Scott Olson | Getty Images

Online home goods company Wayfair saw sales decline in its fiscal second quarter as its CEO likened the current slowdown in the home goods category to the 2008 financial crisis.
“Our credit card data suggests that the category correction now mirrors the magnitude of the peak to trough decline the home furnishing space experienced during the great financial crisis,” Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah said in a news release. “Customers remain cautious in their spending on the home.”

The e-tailer fell short of Wall Street’s expectations on both the top and bottom lines. Shares fell 10% in premarket trading Thursday.
Here’s how Wayfair did in its second fiscal quarter compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: 47 cents adjusted vs. 49 cents expected
Revenue: $3.12 billion vs. $3.18 billion expected

The company reported a loss of $42 million, or 34 cents per share, in the three-month period that ended June 30. That’s slightly better than the loss of $46 million, or 41 cents per share, that it posted during the same quarter a year earlier. 
Sales dropped to $3.12 billion, down about 2% from $3.17 billion a year earlier. The slowdown in sales came even as average order values rose in the quarter from $313 to $307 and after the company opened its first large format store.
For more than a year, home goods companies like Wayfair have seen sluggish demand for things like new couches and dining sets as the overall housing market turned stagnant against high interest rates. Consumers are buying fewer new homes, which means they have fewer reasons to buy new furniture. Plus, with stubborn inflation, they’ve been more choosy on where they’re spending their discretionary income, and with options like restaurants, new clothes and trips, home goods have not been a priority. 

Wayfair has needed to entice customers with discounts to bring them in and doesn’t expect to see a resurgence in the category until interest rates are cut and the housing market bounces back. 
“We see declines that are similar to the declines that we saw in that 2008 to 2010 period and I think what that speaks to is that the category has been going through just a massive correction, a correction that we’ve previously only seen during a GDP recession,” Wayfair finance chief Kate Gulliver told CNBC in an interview. 
“Obviously we’re not technically in a GDP recession as a country right now, and so this is somewhat a unique thing to this category… we’ve seen that kind of recession-like correction in the category over the last few years.” 
Reprieve could soon be on the way after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said interest rate cuts could come as soon as September as long as economic data continues on its current path.
Wayfair, which has implemented a string of mass layoffs to get its cost structure in line with the current size of its business, has struggled to reach profitability, but the quarter was the best for free cash flow generation and adjusted EBITDA in three years, Shah said. 
The company saw adjusted EBITDA of $163 million during the quarter, still below the $168 million that Wall Street had expected, according to StreetAccount. 
“We are running the business with the goal of demonstrating substantial growth in profitability this year, even as the top line remains challenging. And that will be our mindset every year going forward as well,” said Shah. More

Moderna reported second-quarter revenue that beat estimates and a narrower than-expected loss for the period.
But the company slashed its full-year sales guidance, citing lower sales in Europe, a “competitive environment” for respiratory vaccines in the U.S. and the potential for deferred international revenue into 2025. 
The biotech company now expects 2024 product revenue to come in between $3 billion and $3.5 billion, down from previous guidance of $4 billion. 

The Moderna Inc. headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, on Tuesday, March 26, 2024. 
Adam Glanzman | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Moderna on Thursday reported second-quarter revenue that beat expectations but slashed its full-year sales guidance, citing lower expected sales in Europe, a “competitive environment” for respiratory vaccines in the U.S. and the potential for deferred international revenue into 2025. 
The biotech company now expects 2024 product revenue to come in between $3 billion and $3.5 billion, down from previous guidance of $4 billion. 

Shares of the company fell more than 15% in premarket trading Thursday.
The company has started shipping doses of its vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus, called mRESVIA, in the U.S. following its approval in May for older adults. It’s Moderna’s second-ever commercially available product after its Covid vaccine, which has seen demand plunge as the world emerges from the pandemic and relies less on protective shots and treatments.
Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel told CNBC there has been “more intensity of competition” for both RSV and Covid vaccines. He noted that mRESVIA is the third RSV shot to enter the market following jabs from Pfizer and GSK, the latter of which dominated the market last year.
He added that “we’ve been having quite intense discussions with governments across Europe” to get Covid vaccine supply from Moderna.
But “some countries, as recently as of last week, have told us that because of a very tight budget … they just don’t have the capacity to buy more vaccine than they need because they already have” another contract, Bancel said.

He is referring to the European Union’s massive renegotiated Covid vaccine supply contract with Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech. He also pointed to the ongoing war in Ukraine, which is straining government budgets. 
Still, Moderna expects to return to sales growth in 2025 and to break even by 2026, with the launch of new products, Bancel said. 
Here’s what Moderna reported for the second quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Loss per share: $3.33 vs. loss of $3.39 expected
Revenue: $241 million vs. $132 million expected

The company booked second-quarter revenue of $241 million, with product sales from its Covid shot dropping 37% from the same period a year ago. Moderna reported $344 million in revenue in the prior-year period. 
The company said the revenue decline came in part from an expected transition to a seasonal Covid vaccine market, where patients typically take their shots in the fall and winter. But Bancel said Moderna had a “good spring season” in the U.S. for seniors, who are recommended to receive an additional dose of the latest round of Covid shots.
Moderna posted a net loss of $1.28 billion, or $3.33 per share, for the second quarter. That compares with a net loss of $1.38 billion, or $3.62 per share, reported for the year-ago period. 
Bancel said the company lost less than Wall Street expected in part due to its progress in cutting costs. 

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Moderna had “a little bit more sales than anticipated but a lot of cost savings ahead of what the Street was expecting,” he said. “So that’s why I’m really happy with the progress we’re making on both fronts.”
Cost of sales was $115 million, down 84% from the same period a year ago. That includes $14 million in write-downs of unused doses of the Covid vaccine and $55 million in charges related to the company’s efforts to scale back its manufacturing footprint, among other costs. 
Research and development expenses for the second quarter rose by 6% to $1.2 billion compared with the same period in 2023. That increase was primarily due to personnel costs, including a higher headcount. 
Meanwhile, selling, general and administrative expenses for the period fell by 19% to $268 million compared with the second quarter of 2023. SG&A expenses usually include the costs of promoting, selling and delivering a company’s products and services.
Moderna has so far managed to shore up investor sentiment about its path forward after Covid. Its shares are up nearly 20% this year on increasing confidence around its pipeline and messenger RNA platform, which is the technology used in its Covid vaccine and RSV shot.
The biotech company currently has 45 products in development, five of which are in late-stage trials. They include its combination shot targeting Covid and the flu, which could win approval as early as 2025.
Moderna is also developing a stand-alone flu shot, a personalized cancer vaccine with Merck and shots for latent viruses, among other products.

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Streaming sports service Venu Sports said it will cost $42.99 a month. It plans to launch this fall.
Venu is a joint venture between Disney’s ESPN, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox, and will feature all three companies’ portfolio of live sports, including NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB.
A 7-day free trial promotion will be available, and users who sign up at $42.99 a month will have access to that entry pricing for 12 months.

A detail view of a broadcast camera is seen with the NFL crest and ESPN Monday Night Football logo on it during a game between the Chicago Bears and the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field in Chicago on Dec. 20, 2021.
Icon Sportswire | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images

Venu Sports, the sports streaming joint venture between Disney’s ESPN, Warner Bros. Discovery and Fox Corp., will cost $42.99 a month.
The upcoming streaming platform announced its pricing on Thursday and said it plans to launch in the fall. It will offer a 7-day free trial. Further details are expected to be released when it launches. Venu is still pending regulatory approval.

The goal is for Venu Sports to become available ahead of the start of the NFL season, which begins on Thursday, Sept. 5, according to a person familiar with the matter. Fox holds the rights to Sunday NFL games, while ESPN is the broadcaster of Monday Night Football.
CNBC earlier reported the service would likely start at between $45 and $50 a month.
The high-end pricing — common in direct-to-consumer sports streaming services — was expected in part so it wouldn’t shake up any carriage agreements with traditional pay TV distributors. Live sports remain the highest rated TV programming and are the most costly part of the pay TV bundle. In turn, media rights valuations have ballooned, most recently the NBA’s 11-year, $77 billion package.
Users who sign up for Venu at $42.99 a month will have access to that entry pricing for 12 months, Venu noted Thursday — signaling there could be price increases ahead.
“Targeted at sports fans outside the traditional pay TV bundle, Venu is planning a launch in the U.S. in the fall and will offer thousands of live sports events from all the major professional sports leagues and top college conferences,” the company said in Thursday’s release.

The three media companies, which announced the joint venture in February, each own a one-third stake in Venu, which is run as its own company with its own management team. Former Apple and Hulu executive Pete Distad was appointed CEO. The subsidiary announced the name Venu in May.
The platform will include the entirety of the portfolio of live sports rights owned by its parent companies, including the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, college football and basketball, among others. Venu subscribers will also have access to 14 traditional TV sports networks of its parent companies, including ESPN, ABC, Fox, TNT and TBS, as well as the streaming service ESPN+.
“With an impressive portfolio of sports programming, Venu will provide sports fans in the U.S. with a single destination for watching many of the most sought-after games and events,” said Distad said in a news release. “We’re building Venu from the ground up for fans who want seamless access to watch the sports they love, and we will launch at a compelling price point that will appeal to the cord cutter and cord never fans currently not served by existing pay TV packages.”
Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are also planning to bundle their streaming services, Max, Disney+ and Hulu. The upcoming bundle will be priced at $16.99 a month with ads, and $29.99 a month ad-free. More

Eli Lilly’s weight loss drug Zepbound showed benefits in patients with a common type of heart failure and obesity, according to late-stage trial data.
The findings add to mounting evidence that Zepbound and other highly popular GLP-1 drugs have health benefits beyond promoting weight loss and regulating blood sugar.
Patients who took Zepbound were 38% less likely to be hospitalized, need to increase their heart failure medication or die because of heart complications compared to those who received a placebo. 

An Eli Lilly & Co. Zepbound injection pen arranged in the Brooklyn borough of New York, US, on Thursday, March 28, 2024. 
Shelby Knowles | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Eli Lilly’s weight loss drug Zepbound showed benefits in patients with a common type of heart failure and obesity, according to late-stage trial data the company released Thursday. 
The findings add to mounting evidence that Zepbound and other popular GLP-1 drugs have health benefits beyond promoting weight loss and regulating blood sugar, which could potentially lead to broader insurance coverage for those treatments.

Eli Lilly said it plans to submit the results from the phase three trial to regulators in the U.S. and other agencies starting later this year. 
Shares of Eli Lilly rose more than 3% in premarket trading Thursday.
Patients who took Zepbound were 38% less likely to be hospitalized, need to increase their heart failure medication or die because of heart complications compared to those who received a placebo, the study found. Zepbound also significantly improved heart failure symptoms and physical limitations, Eli Lilly said in a release. 
For a median of two years, the trial followed more than 700 patients who have heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, or HFpEF, and obesity. Some patients also had diabetes.
HFpEF refers to when the heart is unable to pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs. Eli Lilly said the condition is linked to a “high burden” of symptoms and physical limitations that affect a patient’s daily life, including fatigue, shortness of breath and a lower ability to exercise, among other issues. 

Roughly 6.7 million adults ages 20 and above have heart failure in the U.S., according to the latest estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 
Eli Lilly estimates that HFpEF accounts for almost half of all heart failure cases, and in the U.S., nearly 60% of patients impacted also have obesity. 
The safety data on Zepbound was consistent with previous trials studying the drug. The most common side effects were gastrointestinal, such as nausea and diarrhea, and mild to moderate in severity. 
Eli Lilly will present the data at an upcoming medical meeting and submit it to a peer-reviewed journal. 
The pharmaceutical giant’s main rival in the GLP-1 market, Novo Nordisk, is already one step ahead. 
Novo Nordisk earlier this year submitted an application for the use of its weight loss drug Wegovy in treating patients with HFpEF. The Food and Drug Administration in April also greenlit Wegovy for slashing the risk of serious heart complications. 
Meanwhile, both Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have been studying their respective drugs in patients with chronic kidney disease and fatty liver disease, among other conditions. GLP-1s work by mimicking hormones produced in the gut to suppress a person’s appetite and regulate their blood sugar.
But Zepbound targets both the GLP-1 and GIP hormone receptors, while Wegovy targets just GLP-1. More