Raphael Stevens

Paramount Pictures and Skydance said the seventh and eighth installments in the “Mission Impossible” franchise would be delayed due to the lingering pandemic.
The yet-untitled “Mission Impossible 7” is now scheduled to arrive in theaters on July 14, 2023, and “Mission Impossible 8” is set for June 28, 2024.
This marks the latest pandemic-related postponement for the franchise’s seventh installment. Its most recent release date was May 27, 2022.

Tom Cruise runs along Blackfriars Bridge in London, during filming for “Mission Impossible 6.”
Victoria Jones – PA Images

The Tom Cruise-led “Mission Impossible 7” is moving on the calendar once again. This time, it’s setting its sights on 2023.
Paramount Pictures and Skydance said Friday that both the seventh and eighth installments in the blockbuster movie franchise would be delayed due to the lingering pandemic. The yet-untitled “Mission Impossible 7” is now scheduled to arrive in theaters on July 14, 2023, and “Mission Impossible 8” is set for June 28, 2024.

This marks the latest pandemic-related postponement for the seventh “Mission Impossible” film. Its most recent release date was May 27, 2022.
The delay comes as the domestic box office is seeing more misses than hits when it comes to franchise blockbusters. While a film like “Spider-Man: No Way Home” has generated more than $703 million in the U.S. and Canada, no other film released in 2021 has garnered more than $225 million in domestic ticket sales.
The “Mission Impossible” franchise has relied heavily on international ticket sales, especially from China. “Mission Impossible: Fallout” tallied $791 million in global ticket sales when it came out in 2018, and around $570 million of that total came from sales outside the U.S. and Canada. Ticket sales in China accounted for around $181 million of that business.
China has been more selective about which Hollywood films it allows in theaters, meaning many blockbuster films are missing out on significant revenue.

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Peloton said it’s resetting its production levels and considering layoffs in order to make its business more “flexible.”
CEO John Foley sent a memo to workers late Thursday that was posted publicly, after CNBC reported earlier in the day that Peloton was temporarily halting production of its cycles and treadmills.
“We feel good about right-sizing our production, and, as we evolve to more seasonal demand curves, we are resetting our production levels for sustainable growth,” Foley said.

A Peloton exercise bike is seen after the ringing of the opening bell for the company’s IPO at the Nasdaq Market site in New York City, New York, U.S., September 26, 2019.
Shannon Stapleton | Reuters

Peloton shares rose nearly 12% Friday after the company said it’s resetting its production levels and considering layoffs in order to make its business more “flexible.”
Chief Executive John Foley sent a memo to workers late Thursday that was also posted publicly, after CNBC reported earlier in the day that Peloton was temporarily halting production of its cycles and treadmills. Separately, CNBC reported Tuesday that Peloton has been working with McKinsey & Co. to look for areas to cut costs.

“We’ve found ourselves in the middle of a once-in-a-hundred year event with the COVID-19 pandemic, and what we anticipated would happen over the course of three years happened in months during 2020, and into 2021,” Foley said in the memo.
“We feel good about right-sizing our production, and, as we evolve to more seasonal demand curves, we are resetting our production levels for sustainable growth,” he added.
Foley said rumors that the company is halting “all production” are false.
CNBC obtained internal documents that outlined a plan at Peloton to pause Bike production for two months, from February to March. The documents suggest it already halted production of its more expensive Bike+ in December and will do so until June. Under the plan in the documents, Peloton wouldn’t manufacture its Tread treadmill machine for six weeks, beginning next month. And it would not produce any Tread+ machines in fiscal 2022, according to the documents. Peloton had previously halted Tread+ production after a safety recall last year.
Peloton declined to comment on those details. In his memo, Foley said the media was lacking context on Peloton’s plans.

Regarding job cuts, Foley said that Peloton is currently evaluating its organizational structure and the size of its team. “We are still in the process of considering all options as part of our efforts to make our business more flexible,” he wrote.
On Thursday evening, Peloton preannounced its financial results for the three-month period ended Dec. 31 and said it sees revenue coming in a previously forecast range. However, the company added fewer subscribers in the latest period, than it had expected.
Shares shed nearly 24% in trading Thursday, hitting an intraday low of $23.25. Even with Friday’s gains, the stock closed at $27.06, which means Peloton shares remain below its IPO price of $29.
Loop Capital Markets analyst Daniel Adam said in a note to clients on Thursday evening that even if Peloton didn’t have any equipment to sell in the future, “the subscription business alone is worth substantially more than the current market value of the company.”
Peloton counted 2.49 million connected fitness subscribers at the end of the fiscal first quarter. Those are people who own a Peloton product, such as its Bike+ or Tread, and also pay a monthly fee to access Peloton’s digital workout content. 
Adam has buy rating on the shares and a $90 price target.
Separately, BMO Capital Markets analyst Simeon Siegel lowered his price target on Peloton shares to $24 from $45. Siegel notably has maintained the lowest target among the analysts who cover the company.
“Peloton lies at the edge of an important precipice; a material strategic reset is likely required to stem meaningful cash-burn and faltering demand,” Siegel said in a research note Thursday evening. “Yet, improved profitability demands sacrificing revenue. Connected fitness is in its infancy, yet we believe Peloton estimates still appear too high.”
“We worry the bad news is not yet fully priced in and the path to recovery remains long,” he added.
At least eight analysts had trimmed their Peloton price targets by Friday morning.
Read the full memo that Peloton CEO John Foley sent to employees here.

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A federal judge in Texas blocked the Biden administration from enforcing an executive order requiring federal employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Biden’s executive order “amounts to a presidential mandate that all federal employees consent to vaccination against COVID-19 or lose their jobs,” the judge wrote.
The ruling marks the latest setback for President Joe Biden, whose efforts to boost U.S. vaccination rates through sweeping workplace safety rules have been repeatedly stymied in the courts.

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021.
Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A U.S. judge in Texas on Friday blocked the Biden administration from enforcing an executive order requiring federal employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
The ruling marks the latest setback for President Joe Biden, whose efforts to boost U.S. vaccination rates through sweeping workplace safety rules have been repeatedly stymied in the courts.

Judge Jeffrey Brown, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, wrote in a 20-page ruling that Biden’s executive order “amounts to a presidential mandate that all federal employees consent to vaccination against COVID-19 or lose their jobs.”
“Because the President’s authority is not that broad, the court will enjoin the second order’s enforcement,” read Brown’s ruling in U.S. District Court in Galveston, Texas.
The judge cited last week’s Supreme Court opinion blocking a federal rule that would have required workers at large companies to either get vaccinated or face weekly Covid testing. At the same time, the high court voted to allow a separate vaccine mandate for medical facilities that take Medicare or Medicaid payments.
Brown’s ruling said it was a “bridge too far” to let the president, “with the stroke of a pen and without the input of Congress, require millions of federal employees to undergo a medical procedure as a condition of their employment.”

CNBC Health & Science

Asked about Brown’s ruling later Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki noted that a “remarkable” 98% of federal workers are already vaccinated.
“We are confident in our legal authority here,” Psaki said.

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Nike executive Larry Miller spoke to “The News With Shepard Smith” about his troubled past and his new memoir.
The chairman of Nike’s Jordan brand said he’s thankful the family of the man he killed as a teenager forgives him.
Miller’s book, titled “Jump: My Secret Journey from the Streets to the Boardroom,” is available now.

Nike executive Larry Miller, who kept his past secret for more than 50 years, told CNBC that he’s thankful the family of a man he killed in 1965 when he was a teenager forgives him.
Miller, former president and current chairman of Nike’s Jordan brand, was convicted of shooting and killing 18-year-old Edward White. Miller was 16 years old at the time. Now 72, Miller pleaded guilty back then and spent 4½ years in prison. He served five additional years for a series of armed robberies.

While rising through the ranks at Nike, Miller never talked about his troubled past. Now, he’s releasing a memoir, co-written with his daughter, titled “Jump: My Secret Journey from the Streets to the Boardroom.” It published earlier this week.
Last month, Miller met with the White’s family.
“If nothing else comes out of this book … the most important thing for me is to be able to know that in spite of the pain and hurt I caused their family, that they’re willing to forgive me,” Miller said this week on “The News with Shepard Smith.”
Miller met with White’s sister, Barbara Mack, along with White’s two children. Mack, now 84, told The New York Times she forgave Miller for the murder but told him if she had been 30 years younger, she “would have been across the table.”
At the time of the murder, White had an 8-month-old child, Hasan Adams; and another Azizah Arline, who was born after his death. Adams, now 56, said he forgives Miller as well. Arline, 55, told the Times that she’s not yet “100 percent forgiving” but hopes to be one day.

When he first considered writing the book, Miller said he spoke to longtime friend and colleague Michael Jordan along with Nike co-founder Phil Knight.
“I think if either one of them had said, you know, ‘I don’t know if you should do this,’ I might have been reluctant. But they both agreed … this was a story that I should tell,” Miller told Smith.
“I’m getting comfortable with my story being out there,” Miller added. “I tried so hard to hide over the years. … It’s kind of been freeing to be able to not have to carry this around.”
Miller, who was also formerly president of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers, first told his story to Sports Illustrated in October before any details about the book could be leaked.
Laila Lacy, Miller’s daughter, pushed her father for 13 years to tell his story. They began working on the memoir about six years ago.
Miller told SI that he hopes his story can show that, “formerly incarcerated people can make a contribution.”

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Brazil’s economic minister said Friday that Western central bankers are “sleeping at the driving wheel” as economies slip deeper into a high inflation environment.
Speaking to CNBC’s Geoff Cutmore via videoconference at The Davos Agenda, Paulo Guedes said that the inflation “beast is out of the bottle.”
“Inflation will be a problem, a real problem very soon for the Western world,” he said.

Brazil’s economic minister warned Friday that Western central bankers are “sleeping at the driving wheel” as economies slip deeper into a high inflation environment.
Speaking to CNBC’s Geoff Cutmore via videoconference at The Davos Agenda virtual event, Paulo Guedes said that the inflation “beast” is already loose and set to become a real problem.

“My fear is that the beast is out of the bottle,” Guedes told the panel.
“I think the central banks are sleeping at the driving wheel. They should be aware, and I think inflation will be a problem, a real problem very soon for the Western world,” he said.
Far from being transitory as some central bankers have suggested, Guedes said that inflation could be a long-term issue for Western governments, who have left themselves little room for maneuver.
“I don’t think inflation will be transitory at all,” he said. “I think these supply adverse shocks will fade away gradually, but there’s no arbitrage anymore to be exploited by the Western sides.”

Economy Minister Paulo Guedes speaks during a press conference in Brazil on March 16, 2020 in Brasilia, Brazil.
Andre Coelho | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Brazil, for its part, moved early to stem the worst inflationary pressures by winding down its Covid stimulus packages last year, Guedes said.

Brazil’s economy briefly returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2021 before slipping lower again.
“We took advantage of the recovery to remove, gradually, the monetary and fiscal [stimulus],” Guedes said, adding that the government has room to react should another coronavirus wave emerge.
Guedes’ comments contrast with those central bankers who argue that current levels of inflation are, indeed, transitory and containable.
Also speaking at The Davos Agenda Friday, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said inflation in the euro area was unlikely to worsen dramatically, arguing that the recent surge was due to short-term pressures such as supply bottlenecks and energy prices.
Meantime, U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is widely expected to hike interest rates at the central bank’s next meeting in a bid to stem rising inflation. It follows similar moves by the Bank of England in December. More