Raphael Stevens

Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services on Friday reversed its stance on Spirit Airlines’ planned tie-up with Frontier Airlines.
ISS called JetBlue Airways’ all-cash bid a “superior alternative.”
ISS cited market volatility, energy prices and recession fears.

LaGuardia International Airport Terminal A for JetBlue and Spirit Airlines in New York.
Leslie Josephs | CNBC

Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services on Friday reversed its stance on Spirit Airlines’ planned tie-up with Frontier Airlines, urging Spirit shareholders to vote against the deal and calling JetBlue Airways’ all-cash bid a “superior alternative,” yet another twist in the battle for the budget airline.
ISS in May originally urged shareholders to vote against the Frontier cash-and-stock deal, then in late June changed its recommendation after Frontier sweetened its bid to include a reverse breakup fee that matched JetBlue’s.

Now ISS has withdrawn its recommendation citing market volatility, energy prices and recession fears that “may lead shareholders to conclude that the certainty of value of the cash consideration is preferable to the potential upside of the Frontier deal.”
Frontier’s CEO, Barry Biffle, on Sunday called its latest sweetened offer its “best and final” in a letter to his Spirit counterpart, and fretted about a lack of shareholder support for that deal.
Advisory firm Glass Lewis last month recommended shareholders vote in favor of the Frontier deal.
The change comes after repeated delays to a shareholder vote on the Frontier-Spirit deal, which Spirit has delayed four times. The vote is now scheduled for July 27.
“We remain confident that Spirit shareholders continue to overwhelmingly recognize the clear superiority of our proposal,” JetBlue said in a statement Friday, again urging Spirit shareholders to vote down the Frontier deal.
Spirit declined to comment, while Frontier didn’t immediately respond. JetBlue’s shares rose 2.4% on Friday, while Spirit’s rose 3.2% and Frontier’s ended 1.3% higher.

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Disney will raise the price of ESPN+ to $9.99 per month from $6.99 per month starting Aug. 23.
This is the largest ESPN+ price increase to date. Disney raised the price by $1 per month, first in 2020 and then in July 2021.
Disney isn’t changing the price of its Disney bundle, which consists of Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, keeping it at $13.99 per month.

Mike Windle | ESPN | Getty Images

Disney is increasing the price of its sports streaming service ESPN+ to $9.99 per month, a 43% increase.
The previous price of ESPN+ had been $6.99 per month. The increase will kick in on Aug. 23. An annual subscription to ESPN+ will jump from $69.99 to $99.99.

It’s unusual for the price of a streaming service price to rise more than 40% in a single increase. Disney’s last two ESPN+ price rises have been for just $1 per month, first in 2020 and then last July.
The dramatic rate hike accomplishes several goals for Disney. Assuming customers stick with the service, it should help Disney boost revenue for its streaming products, which still lose money for the company.
Second, Disney hopes it will remind subscribers there’s a lot of new and valuable content on the service, including live National Football League games, exclusive Grand Slam tennis matches from Wimbledon and the Australian Open, PGA Tour events, and National Hockey League games. Increasing the price of ESPN+ will also help Disney pay for its most recent renewal of “Monday Night Football,” which cost the company $2.6 billion per year. As part of that deal, Disney has the right to simulcast “Monday Night Football” on ESPN+ when the company chooses.
Third, and perhaps most important for the company’s go-forward strategy, Disney isn’t changing the price of its bundle, which will remain $13.99 per month. It consists of Disney+, advertising-supported Hulu and ESPN+.

Boosting Disney+

Disney has a goal of reaching 230 million to 260 million Disney+ subscribers by the end of 2024. Disney ended last quarter with 137.7 million global Disney+ subscribers and 22.3 million ESPN+ customers.

While Disney doesn’t break out how many of the more than 22 million ESPN+ subscribers are paying for it through the bundle, narrowing the price difference between only paying for ESPN+ and paying for all three Disney streaming services should move some solo ESPN+ customers toward the bundle. That will help increase the aggregate Disney+ number, potentially enabling Disney to reach its 2024 target.
Hitting that mark is arguably Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Chapek’s top priority. While Disney shares tend to trade on Disney+ subscription numbers, investors have largely ignored ESPN+ and Hulu’s quarterly performances. Disney renewed Chapek’s contract last month through July 2025.
ESPN+ has become a stronger product in the past year as Disney moves more exclusive live games to the service. ESPN+ now includes the NHL.TV out-of-market package and PGA Tour Live, which were once both subscription products that cost $9.99 per month or more by themselves.
Still, ESPN+ isn’t an exact replica of cable network ESPN, which shows all “Monday Night Football” games and many National Basketball Association games that aren’t yet available on ESPN+. The ESPN cable channel continues to take in billions of dollars annually for Disney, though sales fall each year as millions of Americans cancel traditional pay TV.
“Being in the sports space is still very valuable, but you’ve got to go where the consumer is going,” former Disney Chairman and CEO Bob Iger told CNBC in December. “The question that Bob [Chapek] will deal with and is dealing with is do you accelerate that or try to accelerate it, or do you hold back as long as you possibly can? I happen to believe the future of ESPN is bright if it can make that successful migration to the new platforms.”
Disney rose more than 3% in afternoon trading.
WATCH: Future of ESPN is bright if it can migrate in digital transformation, says former Disney CEO Iger

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“I don’t know if I’ll be physically able to play another British Open here at St. Andrews,” Tiger Woods said.
The 46-year-old golf legend and three-time British Open champion missed the cut Friday.

Tiger Woods of the U.S. reacts on the 18th during the second round of the 150th Open Championship – Old Course, St Andrews, Scotland, Britain, July 15, 2022.
Paul Childs | Reuters

After two difficult days at St. Andrews, Tiger Woods missed the British Open cut Friday, finishing nine shots over par.
He was visibly emotional as he crossed the Swilcan Bridge to the 18th hole. After finishing, he speculated that this may his last go-round there. He has called the storied Scottish course his favorite to play on.

“I don’t know if I’ll be physically able to play another British Open here at St. Andrews,” he said, according to NBCUniversal’s Golf Channel.
Woods, 46, has dealt with several health issues in recent years. He mounted a comeback this year after a 2021 car accident nearly forced the amputation of his right leg.
Since his return, Woods has played in three majors, including the British Open. He finished 47th in the Masters earlier this year at Augusta National, but skipped the U.S. Open. He made the cut in the PGA Championship, but withdrew for health reasons after a disappointing third round.
Woods has won 15 major championships since he turned pro in 1996. Of those, he won three British Open championships — two of those victories coming at St. Andrews.
Cameron Smith, Cameron Young and Dustin Johnson were atop the leaderboard as of 12:30 p.m. ET.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet Friday that the electric car company could lower prices if inflation “calms down.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a higher-than-expected inflation rate this week.
Tesla hiked prices across its models as recently as June, increasing the cost of its Model Y long-range from $62,990 to $65,990.

Brand new Tesla cars sit in a parking lot at a Tesla showroom on June 27, 2022 in Corte Madera, California. 
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images

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“Exceptional, perhaps record-breaking temperatures are likely early next week,” Paul Gundersen, chief meteorologist at the Met Office, says.
Parts of the U.K. have experienced uncomfortably hot weather in recent days.
In January 2022, the World Meteorological Organization said 2021 had been “one of the seven warmest years on record.”

An office worker carries a large fan in central London on July 12, 2022. On Friday, the Met Office issued a Red Extreme heat warning for parts of the country.
Yui Mok | PA Images | Getty Images

The U.K. on Friday issued a “Red Extreme” heat warning, with authorities saying temperatures could potentially hit 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) next week.
In a statement, the Met Office said the warning would cover parts of eastern, southeastern, central and northern England on July 18 and 19.

“Exceptional, perhaps record-breaking temperatures are likely early next week, quite widely across the red warning area on Monday, and focused a little more east and north on Tuesday,” Paul Gundersen, chief meteorologist at the Met Office, said.
“Currently there is a 50% chance we could see temperatures top 40°C and 80% we will see a new maximum temperature reached,” Gundersen said.
Friday’s new heat warning came on the same day the U.K. Health Security Agency issued a Level 4 Heat-Health Warning for England. The warning runs between midnight on Monday and midnight on Wednesday next week.
According to the Met Office, Level 4 denotes a national emergency and takes place “when a heatwave is so severe and/or prolonged that its effects extend outside the health and social care system.”
“At this level, illness and death may occur among the fit and healthy, and not just in high-risk groups,” it adds.

People are being advised to take a number of actions to cope with the heat. These include:

Looking out for young children and babies, older people, and people with underlying health conditions.
Closing curtains in rooms facing the sun.
Dressing appropriately in relation to the weather.
Avoiding excess alcohol.
And drinking “plenty of fluids.”

The U.K.’s record high temperature stands at 38.7 degrees Celsius. That was reached on July 25, 2019, in Cambridge.
Parts of the U.K. have experienced uncomfortably hot weather in recent days, with an Amber Extreme heat warning already issued between July 17 and 19 for a significant chunk of England and Wales.
“Temperatures are expected to start to return closer to normal for the time of year from the middle of next week onwards as cooler air pushes across the country from the west,” the Met Office said.

More from CNBC Climate:

In January 2022, the World Meteorological Organization said 2021 had been “one of the seven warmest years on record.” The WMO based its finding on the consolidation of six international datasets.
In a statement at the time, the WMO said global warming and what it called “other long-term climate change trends” were “expected to continue as a result of record levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.”
Back in the U.K., Nikos Christidis, climate attribution scientist at the Met Office, said climate change had “already influenced the likelihood of temperature extremes in the UK.”
“The chances of seeing 40°C days in the UK could be as much as 10 times more likely in the current climate than under a natural climate unaffected by human influence,” Christidis added. More

Uniper said reducing gas volumes from its own storage facilities was necessary “in order to supply our customers with gas and to secure the Uniper’s liquidity.”
It comes even as Europe is sweltering under a heat wave that has seen temperatures exceed 40 degrees Celsius in several countries.
“The next few months are going to be really tough,” said Dan Yergin, vice chairman at S&P Global.

An employee monitors for gas leaks during safety checks at Uniper’s Bierwang natural gas storage facility.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

German energy giant Uniper on Friday said it is having to draw down gas from storage facilities, reducing supplies needed for winter even as Europe is experiencing an extreme heatwave.
The embattled utility told CNBC in a statement that reducing gas volumes from its own storage facilities was necessary “in order to supply our customers with gas and to secure the Uniper’s liquidity.”

Finnish majority-owner Fortum said last week that Uniper submitted a bailout application to the German government after running into extreme financial distress due to a scarcity of gas and soaring prices.
Germany’s economy ministry said Friday that there is still no timeframe for government assistance, according to Reuters.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference on July 8, Uniper CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach warned that drawing down gas supplies from its storage facilities was a possibility due to the “enormous decrease” of imported gas from Russia.

Uniper CEO Klaus-Dieter Maubach addresses a press conference about the government’s rescue plan at the company’s headquarters in Duesseldorf, Germany on July 8, 2022.
Ina Fassbender | Afp | Getty Images

It comes even as Europe is sweltering amid a heat wave that has seen temperatures exceed 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in several countries.
Droughts and wildfires have been recorded in Spain and Portugal and sweltering temperatures have spread to the U.K. and France. Climate scientists have repeatedly made clear that human-caused global heating is making heat waves more likely and more intense.

As scorching temperatures spread across the region, European policymakers remain focused on preparations for when the cold weather returns.
Governments are scrambling to fill underground storage with gas supplies to provide households with enough fuel to keep the lights on and homes warm during winter.

‘Really tough’ few months ahead

Uniper was the first German energy company to sound the alarm over soaring energy bills in the wake of Russia’s onslaught in Ukraine. The company has received only 40% of Russian contracted volumes in recent weeks and has been forced to source the replacement volumes at significantly higher prices.
What’s more, annual maintenance on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline — the European Union’s biggest piece of gas import infrastructure — has fueled fears of further disruption to gas supplies.

Russia suspended deliveries via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline on July 11. The summer maintenance works are scheduled to run through to July 21.
Germany fears Russia may continue to throttle Europe’s energy supplies beyond the scheduled end of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline maintenance for “political reasons.”
The Kremlin has previously dismissed claims it is using oil and gas to exert political pressure over Europe.
Dan Yergin, vice chairman at S&P Global, highlighted that Russian President Vladimir Putin outlined Moscow’s energy strategy at the St. Petersburg International Economic Conference last month.
Putin “talked about economic hardship as a result of energy problems in Europe leading to social conflict, leading to the rise of populist parties who would be more favorable to Russia. And, as he said, a change in elites in Europe,” Yergin said.
Putin’s aim “is to crack the alliance,” he told CNBC’s “Capital Connection” on Friday. “And so … the next few months are going to be really tough. It is going to be a race to see whether Europe can be in a position to have enough gas to get through the winter and Russia is going to do, I think, everything it can to ensure that it doesn’t get there.”
Yergin said he expects Europe’s winter energy problems to “reverberate around the world.”

— CNBC’s Annette Weisbach contributed to this report.

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