Raphael Stevens

Delta is planning to launch its premium economy service on some transcontinental flights.
Premium economy seats can cost twice as much as standard economy for some flights.
Delta has said revenue from seating like premium economy or first class is growing faster than sales from standard economy.

A Boeing 767 passenger aircraft of Delta Air Lines arrives from Dublin at JFK International Airport in New York as the Manhattan skyline looms in the background on Feb. 7, 2024.
Charly Triballeau | Afp | Getty Images

Delta Air Lines said Monday that it will bring its premium economy service to transcontinental flights in September, its latest attempt to boost sales of higher-priced tickets to customers willing to splurge for more space and perks.
Premium economy is a relatively new class of service that major airlines offer on longer, mostly international flights. It sits between first or business class and the rest of economy and can command a ticket price often twice as much as standard coach.

Delta and its rivals like United are locked in an arms race to outfit planes with more premium seating, upgrade lounges and sell more rewards cards to capitalize on higher-spending travelers, while airfare overall slips. JetBlue Airways this year said its turnaround plan will emphasize profitable routes that offer its Mint business-class cabin. Even Southwest Airlines, under pressure to increase revenue, is considering a more expensive seat on its planes, breaking from its decades-old business model.
Ticket revenue from Delta’s main cabin rose 4% in the first quarter to $5.4 billion from a year ago, while premium-product revenue came in 10% higher at $4.4 billion.
The added service will start Sept. 10 on four of 11 peak-day flights between Los Angeles and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on Boeing 767s. Delta said it plans to expand service later this year.
Delta customers who purchase standard economy tickets will be able to pay for upgrades to premium economy on the transcontinental flights.
Delta said Medallion elite members of its loyalty program, will be eligible for complimentary upgrades to so-called Delta Premium Select, but they will also be able to list for upgrades to its top-tier Delta One product on those flights.

Some of Delta’s planes flying some routes previously had premium economy seats on them, but the carrier wasn’t offering the service that comes along with it, like amenities kits, noise-canceling headphones, a full meal and a blanket. The seats were sold as extra legroom tickets, which are a rung below premium economy.
Some American Airlines’ shorter domestic flights operate a similar model, featuring lie-flat seats but not the Flagship service offered on international flights. More

Activist Elliott Management has a $1.9 billion stake in Southwest Airlines and plans to push for leadership changes at the struggling company.
The stake makes Elliott one of Southwest’s largest shareholders.
Southwest has struggled with challenges including Boeing’s 737 Max delivery delays.

A Southwest Airlines jet comes in for a landing at Laguardia Airport in New York City, New York, U.S., January 11, 2023. 
Mike Segar | Reuters

Activist hedge fund Elliott Management has amassed a $1.9 billion stake in Southwest Airlines and plans to push for leadership changes at the airline that has lagged big rivals.
The stake makes Elliott one of Southwest’s largest shareholders, according to FactSet. Shares of Southwest were up 7% in premarket trading Monday.

The company had a market capitalization of $16.6 billion as of Friday’s close.
Southwest has struggled with delays at Boeing of new 737 Max planes, the newest models of the plane which the carrier exclusively flies, as well as shifting travel demand patterns after the pandemic.
The airline’s leaders are now looking for new ways to drum up revenue to better compete with rivals that offer travelers more perks and products. Southwest CEO Bob Jordan, who took the helm in February 2022 after decades with the airline, told CNBC in April that the carrier is considering ditching its single class of airplane seating and longtime boarding method.
The airline also faced a reckoning from a holiday meltdown at the end of 2022 that cost it more than $1 billion and forced the airline long known for good customer service to win over the flying public and make quick fixes to its internal staff scheduling software.
Southwest shares are down by more than 50% from three years ago when travel demand, led by domestic trips, was starting to come back. In contrast, Delta Air Lines shares are up around 10% over that period and United Airlines are down about 7%.

Elliott’s campaigns at other companies have likewise centered on a change in leadership. Elliott’s second campaign at Crown Castle in 2022 and settlement agreement with automotive parts supplier Sensata earlier this year are just two instances.
In just the last few months, the activist has taken a $2.5 billion stake in semiconductor firm Texas Instruments, a $2 billion stake in Japanese conglomerate SoftBank and a $1 billion stake in mining concern Anglo American.  More

A majority of family offices made at least six direct investments last year, where they buy a stake in a private company or provide lending, according to a survey by BNY Mellon Wealth Management.
Investing directly allows them to contribute their expertise and management advice to the portfolio companies, as well as their capital.
Private companies are increasingly attracted to family offices as banks tighten lending and private equity firms do fewer deals.

Westend61 | Getty Images

Family offices are increasingly becoming their own private equity funds and investing in companies directly, according to a new survey.
A majority (62%) of family offices made at least six direct investments last year, where they buy a stake in a private company or provide lending, according to the survey of family offices by BNY Mellon Wealth Management.

An even larger number of family offices (71%), plan to make the same number or more direct investments in 2024. With the number of family offices tripling since 2019, and their total assets reaching an estimated $6 trillion or more, the flood of family office money into private companies could reshape private markets and the private equity industry.
“Direct investment presents exciting opportunities for family offices to leverage their unique competencies,” according to the report.

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Family offices — the private investment arms of wealthy families — are often founded by entrepreneurs, who are skilled at running a private company, according to the report. Investing directly allows them to contribute their expertise and management advice to the portfolio companies, as well as their capital.
At the same time, private companies are increasingly attracted to family offices as banks tighten lending and private equity firms do fewer deals. Family offices have the advantage of offering more patient capital, since they’re typically investing for decades or even generations.
“Successful private market deals capture the illiquidity premium, meaning that they can potentially achieve significantly higher returns than are available through public markets or even pooled private market investments,” the report said.

Family offices are also co-investing alongside private equity firms, which can reduce the fees and increase carried interest payments.
Direct investing has its challenges, of course. Family offices typically succeed in industries where the family office built their fortune or have special expertise, which can limit their investing range. Doing proper due diligence – a deep dive into the financials and management of a company – can be difficult for small family offices. As a result, many are seeking help from larger wealth management firms and deal advisors.
While two-thirds of family offices do their own internal due diligence on direct investments, nearly half also seek input from an investment consultant.

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Moderna said its combination vaccine targeting Covid and the flu was more effective than existing standalone shots for those viruses in a late-stage trial. 
The biotech company is the first to release positive phase three data on a Covid and flu combination shot, giving it a potential lead over rivals Pfizer and Novavax. 
Moderna plans to file for regulatory approval for its combination jab this summer in the U.S. and hopes it can enter the market in 2025, said the company’s CEO Stephane Bancel.

Moderna on Monday said its combination vaccine that targets both Covid-19 and the flu was more effective than existing standalone shots for those viruses in a late-stage trial. 
The biotech company is the first to release positive phase three data on a Covid and flu combination shot, giving it a potential lead over rival vaccine makers Pfizer and Novavax. 

Moderna plans to file for regulatory approval for its combination jab this summer in the U.S. and hopes it can enter the market in 2025, the company’s CEO Stephane Bancel said in an interview. 
Moderna, Pfizer and Novavax have said that combination shots will simplify how people can protect themselves against respiratory viruses that typically surge around the same time of the year. The added convenience is critical as fewer Americans roll up their sleeves to get vaccinated against Covid. 
Bancel added that combination shots could reduce the burden of respiratory viruses on pharmacists and the broader U.S. health-care system, which has been grappling with a labor shortage that has many workers stretched thin.
Moderna’s messenger RNA combination shot, called mRNA-1083, is made up of both the company’s vaccine candidate for seasonal influenza and a newer, “next-generation” version of its Covid shot. Both of those experimental vaccines – mRNA-1010 and mRNA-1283 – have shown positive results in separate phase three trials. 
The ongoing late-stage trial on mRNA-1083 examined the combination shot in 8,000 patients. 

The study compared the combination shot with an enhanced flu vaccine called Fluzone HD and Moderna’s currently licensed Covid shot, Spikevax, in one group of patients ages 65 and above. The trial also compared Moderna’s combination jab with a standard flu shot called Fluarix and Spikevax in another group of participants between the ages of 50 and 64. 
In both age groups, a single dose of Moderna’s combination vaccine produced “statistically significantly higher” immune responses against three strains of influenza and the Covid omicron variant XBB.1.5.
Moderna said the safety of the combination shot, along with how well patients could tolerate it, was acceptable. The most common side effects were injection site pain, fatigue, muscle pain and headache. The majority of those effects were mild to moderate in severity. 
Moderna is also developing a combination shot targeting the flu and RSV, and another vaccine targeting all three respiratory viruses: Covid, flu and RSV. 
Meanwhile, Pfizer and BioNTech also are studying a vaccine that targets both Covid and the flu in a late-stage trial. Novavax is developing a combination for those viruses as well, but its Covid shot uses protein-based technology.

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During the Covid-19 pandemic, child care took center stage as day cares shuttered, schools went remote and parents attempted to juggle their children with their jobs.
A shortage of workers and available slots for children has weighed on the sector since.
The nation’s infant-toddler child care crisis costs the U.S. an estimated $122 billion in lost earnings, productivity and revenue every year, according to projections from advocacy group ReadyNation.

Vadym Buinov | Moment | Getty Images

The Covid-19 pandemic brought to the surface both cracks and resilience in the American economy, with child care taking center stage as day cares shuttered, schools went remote and parents attempted to juggle their children with their jobs.
While employment in the child care sector has made a post-pandemic return to baseline, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a shortage of workers and available slots for children in some areas is weighing on the sector.

Costs are also going up for families. A February report from Bank of America showed costs for families increased between 15% and nearly 30% in terms of the average child care payment per household, year on year, during the fourth quarter of 2023. The largest increase was seen among households with average incomes of between $100,000 and $250,000 annually.
Policy advocates argue that child care, including for infants and toddlers, is an economic issue that affects all Americans, not just those with young kids.
Billions in stabilization funds from the American Rescue Plan Act earmarked for the child care sector expired last fall, which could lead to increased costs for families or centers closing their doors.
ReadyNation, an advocacy group of more than 2,000 business executives, lobbies in support of policies and programs at both state and federal levels that support a strong workforce and economy, including child care.
The group released a report in 2023 that found the nation’s infant-toddler child care crisis costs the U.S. an estimated $122 billion in lost earnings, productivity and revenue every year. That is up from $57 billion in 2018, before the pandemic exposed and exacerbated holes in the system for working families and the companies that rely on them.

ReadyNation’s study found a combination of “Covid-19 and insufficient policy action have now significantly worsened the crisis.”
“All taxpayers are impacted by this. We need to realize that the loss of taxpayers is $1,470 every year per working parent because of lower income taxes being paid and lower sales taxes because of lack of purchasing power from people that are unemployed,” said Nancy Fishman, national director of ReadyNation.
Part of the nationwide solution is supporting what the group calls the “workforce behind the workforce” — early child care providers.
“Supporting the early childhood workforce could include such things as making sure child care providers have access to benefits. We all know how much benefits matter, whether it’s health-care benefits, or the ability for them to find high-quality child care for their own children,” Fishman told CNBC. “Programs that support additional training and education for child care providers are important as well.”

Solutions in the Golden State

In California alone, the economic toll including lost earnings, productivity and revenue is an estimated $17 billion, ReadyNation projects. That is higher than any other state in the country, according to the group’s estimates.
While child care jobs in the state have rebounded to a 2020 baseline as of this spring, according to analysis from the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, other states have seen larger job gains post-pandemic.
Some child care workers in California organized in 2019, with the Child Care Providers United, which today represents more than 40,000 home-based licensed and license-exempt, friends and family, child care providers. The providers are a part of the state subsidy program in California, and the union is a partnership of SEIU Locals 99 and 521, as well as UDW/AFSCME Local 3930.
The group won its first contract in 2021 and gained access to first-in-the-nation retirement benefits.
The union says child care providers currently get reimbursed at a percentage of what it costs them to provide care in the state. Average child care provider pay is $7 to $10 an hour, with many providers reporting no take-home pay, it said.
Providers are currently advocating through the state budget process to be reimbursed for the full cost of providing care to create more dignity in their work, keep providers open and attract new providers to the workforce.
Deborah Corley-Marzett operates an in-home center for subsidized care in Bakersfield, California. She told CNBC she would like to hire more staff to help support her and the children, but it is difficult to find the right fit and offer competing wages in this environment. Low-wage workers in the state’s fast-food sector, for example, just secured a historic $20 an hour minimum wage, pressuring other sectors to keep up.
“I have a staff shortage problem. I literally can’t afford to hire someone to come in and work in the mornings with me right now. I can’t afford it,” Corley-Marzett said. “I don’t have enough children right now. But I can’t physically take on any more children.”
Lawmakers argue progress has been made, but there is more work to do. State Senator Nancy Skinner, a Democrat representing parts of the Bay Area and chair of the California Women’s Caucus, said the group continues to prioritize early child care and education. The group advocated for a $2 billion increase in the state’s spending over the course of the past two years toward early care and education, for a total of $6.5 billion.
The Caucus’ current focus is maintaining steady rate reimbursement rates for child care providers as the state stares down a budget deficit.
“We have low unemployment, but many sectors of the economy are looking for workers,” Skinner told CNBC. “If your family is in a situation where you can’t go to work because you don’t have adequate child care, or you can’t afford child care, then you cannot fulfill that job that’s sitting there, vacant and waiting for you.”

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