Raphael Stevens

Jeff Bezos has long dedicated Wednesday afternoons to either updates or discussions at Blue Origin, people familiar with the situation told CNBC.
In the past month Bezos added Tuesday afternoons as well, those people said, effectively doubling the amount of time he spends each week with his space company.
He has called Blue Origin his life’s most important work and, while demands on the time of one of the world’s richest people are high, Bezos now is significantly committing more energy and focus to his space company.

Jeff Bezos pops champagne after emerging from the New Shepard capsule after his spaceflight on July 20, 2021.
Blue Origin

Jeff Bezos has called Blue Origin his life’s most important work — and the hours he is devoting to the space company are growing accordingly.
Bezos has long dedicated Wednesday afternoons to either updates or discussions at Blue Origin, people familiar with the situation told CNBC — meetings that were in person before the Covid pandemic and have been by phone since. However, within the past month he has added Tuesday afternoons as well, those people said.

While Bezos’ increased engagement with the company has been previously reported, just how much he’s involved with Blue Origin has not. Because Bezos is one of the richest people in the world and still involved at Amazon as the company’s executive chairman, demands on his time are high, so spending twice as much time with his space company represents a significant added commitment.
Blue Origin and Bezos did not respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
His doubled effort comes at a critical moment in Blue Origin’s history. The company is locked in a fierce court battle over NASA’s award of a multibillion-dollar lunar lander contract to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, a key customer of its BE-4 rocket engines is becoming increasingly vocal after years of delay, Blue Origin’s first orbital rocket is similarly years behind schedule, and its suborbital space research and tourism business is now underway in earnest.
Blue Origin’s technology development is also facing a new obstacle in the form of departing top talent, as CNBC reported in August. Disagreement with decisions made by Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith was the most common reason senior leaders and engineers are leaving, people familiar told CNBC. Smith is a former Honeywell executive Bezos hired to run the company in 2017.
The added time at Blue Origin partially illustrates how Bezos is renewing his focus on the company. For example, one person told CNBC that Bezos used to hold a companywide question-and-answer session with employees every year but had stopped doing so. Now he is turning his attention back to Blue Origin.

It’s unclear whether Bezos is also investing more heavily in Blue Origin. In 2017, he said he was selling $1 billion a year of his Amazon stock to fund Blue Origin’s development, but recently he has increased those stake sales without indicating whether all of those funds are going to the space company.

Rendering of a United Launch Alliance’ Atlas V rocket carrying Amazon satellites.
ULA/Amazon

Bezos, who stepped down as Amazon CEO in July, is also paying attention to how the two companies he founded might interact. Blue Origin senior leadership has held regular meetings about winning the contracts to launch Amazon’s Project Kuiper internet satellites, people familiar told CNBC. But, after United Launch Alliance — the rocket-building joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin — won the first Amazon launch deal earlier this year, Bezos has begun sitting in on Blue Origin’s Kuiper meetings, those people said.
Amazon, when it announced the ULA nine-launch contract in April, emphasized that multiple launch partners will be required to launch the 3,235 Kuiper satellites. That leaves the door open for Blue Origin to grab the next one — this time, perhaps, with the help of the man who knows Amazon better than anyone else on the planet.

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Vaccinating children against Covid is a crucial step in changing the way many Americans view the coronavirus going forward, Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Monday.
“Once adults are able to vaccinate their kids, the anxiety about getting a breakthrough infection … I think that’s going to start to resolve,” the former FDA chief said.
However, Gottlieb acknowledged the process is likely to be a “slow evolution.”

Dr. Scott Gottlieb told CNBC on Monday he believes vaccinating children against Covid is a crucial step in changing the way many Americans view the coronavirus going forward.
“I think the reason why a lot of people are overestimating the risk of coronavirus, or are still worried about it even if they’re vaccinated … is because the kids are still vulnerable,” the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner said on “Squawk Box.”

“Once adults are able to vaccinate their kids, the anxiety about getting a breakthrough infection — knowing that you’re probably not going to get very sick, your odds of getting very sick are very low if you’re vaccinated, but you could bring it back into the house — I think that’s going to start to resolve,” he added.
Gottlieb, who now serves on the board of Covid vaccine maker Pfizer, acknowledged the process will be a “slow evolution,” especially after the highly transmissible delta variant has caused a surge in new Covid infections, hospitalizations and deaths in recent months.
“We’ve just spent a year, year and a half, trying to prevent every single infection. We’re going to evolve to a place where this is an endemic virus where this becomes a way of life, or a fact of life, if you will. It’s going to be an evolution. It’s not going to happen overnight,” Gottlieb said, stressing that simply vaccinating U.S. adults is not enough for the psychological transition to fully occur.
“It’s going to be when we can vaccinate the children, when the prevalence declines, when the hospitalizations and deaths start to decline, and they will. They will on the back end of this delta wave,” he said.
Pfizer’s vaccine could be available to kids ages 5 to 11 by Halloween, after the company said last week it generated a “robust” immune response in trials involving that cohort of children and planned to submit its data to regulators. The company’s shot is currently available for kids ages 12 to 15 under an emergency use authorization, while it is fully approved for those ages 16 and up.

Moderna, which has received emergency clearance for its Covid vaccine in people ages 18 and up, is also conducting trials in younger kids.

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New Covid cases are starting to fall again in the U.S., with the seven-day average of new daily infections sitting at 119,598, according to a CNBC analysis of data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. That’s down 19% compared with one week ago. However, the seven-day average of new daily deaths is holding steady at roughly 1,987, according to CNBC’s analysis. Deaths tend to lag infections by a few weeks.
“We’re still really in the throes of this,” said Gottlieb, who led the FDA from 2017 to 2019 in the Trump administration.
While consistently touting the crucial role vaccines play in protecting against Covid, the Pfizer director has also emphasized coronavirus drug treatments, particularly if it becomes endemic like seasonal influenza.
Existing therapeutic options include antibody treatments from the likes of Regeneron and Eli Lilly, as well as Gilead Sciences’ antiviral drug remdesivir, which is administered through an IV. Pfizer and Merck are currently studying their own oral antiviral treatments for Covid.
“Roche has a drug that’s also in advanced development, a little further behind, but looks very promising, and then there are a whole host of drugs that are in earlier development that were engineered to target specifically this SARS-CoV-2,” the scientific name for the novel coronavirus, Gottlieb said. “I do believe we’re going to have an antiviral.” He added, “This isn’t a hard virus to drug in terms of how it replicates.”

Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and is a member of the boards of Pfizer, genetic testing start-up Tempus, health-care tech company Aetion and biotech company Illumina. He also serves as co-chair of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ and Royal Caribbean’s “Healthy Sail Panel.”

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While most cast members are returning for “Saturday Night Live’s” 47th season, long-time regular Beck Bennett is departing the NBC late-night show.
Additionally, Bowen Yang and Chloe Fineman have been upped to repertory players this season.
The variety series has also added three new featured players: Aristotle Athari, James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman.

(l-r) Anchor Colin Jost, anchor Michael Che, and Beck Bennett as Bob Baffert during Weekend Update on Saturday, May 15, 2021.
NBC | NBCUniversal | Getty Images

“Saturday Night Live” has announced its cast lineup for its 47th season.
While most cast members, including Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Cecily Strong, Pete Davidson and “Weekend Update” hosts Michael Che and Colin Jost are returning, long-time regular Beck Bennett is departing the NBC late-night show.

Bennett joined “SNL” as a featured player at the start of season 39 in 2013 and was promoted to a series regular in 2015. His most notable characters were Sen. Mitch McConnell, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, former Vice President Mike Pence and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Lauren Holt, who was a featured player last season, also isn’t returning.
Additionally, Bowen Yang, who was nominated for an Emmy Award as a guest performer and writer, and Chloe Fineman have been upped to repertory players this season.
The variety series has also added three new featured players: Aristotle Athari, James Austin Johnson and Sarah Sherman.
The newest season of “SNL” debuts Saturday, featuring Owen Wilson as host and Kacey Musgraves as the night’s musical guest. The show recently won eight Emmy Award wins, including best variety sketch series.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of NBC and CNBC.

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Beyond Meat will start selling its meat-free chicken tenders in select grocery stores in October.
The company rolled out the chicken alternative in restaurants across Canada and the U.S. in July.
In its latest quarter, grocery sales accounted for roughly three-quarters of Beyond’s U.S. revenue.

Beyond Meat’s meatless chicken tenders
Source: Beyond Meat

Beyond Meat’s meatless chicken tenders are heading to the freezer aisles of grocery stores.
The maker of meat alternatives announced Monday that its latest substitute will be sold in retail stores nationwide in October.

Beyond unveiled the newest version of its plant-based chicken in July. Panda Express used it as part of its meat-free orange chicken in select markets, while more than 1,000 A&W locations in Canada sold out of its Beyond Meat Nuggets. The tenders were the first Beyond chicken substitute available across the U.S. in more than two years after the company discontinued its original chicken frozen strips to focus on the Beyond Burger.
The new iteration of its meatless chicken uses faba beans as its protein source.
“We think it’s important to continue offering the consumer a diversity of proteins,” CEO Ethan Brown said in an interview. “You’ll see, in the coming years, we’ll come out with products that have different proteins altogether.”
Brown said the company is taking a cue from consumers’ existing shopping behavior. Grocery shoppers who eat meat typically buy a range of proteins, adding fish, beef and chicken to their carts.
“We’re trying to build out a plant-based option for consumers across the meat aisle — wherever they’re consuming something that is animal protein, we want to offer a plant-based version of it,” Brown said.

According to the company, the chicken tenders contain half the saturated fat of a traditional chicken tender.
In the latest quarter, grocery sales accounted for roughly three-quarters of Beyond’s U.S. revenue. Both segments of the company’s business have been hit by the pandemic as restaurants shuttered and consumers loaded their pantries with nonperishable groceries.
“Now, with the delta variant out there, it’s more of a mix of things,” Brown said. “It’s kind of a less clear landscape than it was when the pandemic first hit, but our products continue to do really well in retail, and so we expect this one to be really well received.”
Select Walmart, Harris Teeter, Giant Foods and Shoprite locations will stock the chicken tenders at a suggested retail price of $4.99 per package. Beyond anticipates that it will add more retailers and locations later this year. It will be placed in the frozen section for retailers, but not side-by-side with other Beyond items, Brown said.
Walmart is also doubling down on its distribution of Beyond Meat products by adding more locations that sell its meatless sausage patties, meatballs and beef crumbles. It’s the third time this year that Walmart has expanded Beyond’s shelf space. The goal is to make the product widely accessible, continue to communicate its health benefits and to achieve lower prices than animal protein, Brown said.
“If you look at Beyond Meat’s strategy, beginning back in 2009, we have never been about the high-end restaurants,” Brown said. “While we appreciate that and understand it’s important for our culture, we have always been about providing consumers the food that they love, where they are shopping and for the mainstream. And there’s nothing that’s more representative of that than Walmart.”
While supply chain and labor issues have rippled through the food industry, Brown said it has not hit Beyond Meat or its chicken supply at the moment.
“We do see supply chain issues occurring throughout industry in transportation, logistics, things like that, but nothing specific to this product,” he said.
Shares of Beyond have fallen 9% this year, dragging its market value down to $7.15 billion.

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Bryson DeChambeau of Team United States open a champagne bottle after their victory in the 2020 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits on September 26, 2021 in Kohler, Wisconsin.
Darren Carroll | PGA of America | Getty Images

Team USA took a six-point advantage into the final day in Wisconsin and required just 3.5 points in the Sunday singles to regain the trophy, with Steve Stricker’s team in command throughout as they secured their second successive home victory in the biennial contest.
Padraig Harrington’s team needed a comeback greater than the one produced in the ‘Miracle at Medinah’ in 2012 to retain the trophy in unlikely fashion, three years on from their impressive success in Paris, although were largely second-best as they failed to put any pressure on the home side.

Rory McIlroy led Europe out in the opening match for the third consecutive Ryder Cup, despite losing all three of his matches over the first two days, with the Northern Irishman visibly emotional after avoiding a winless campaign by seeing off Xander Schauffele 3&2.
McIlroy was the highlight of what was an otherwise embarrassing session for the visitors, with Patrick Cantlay rounding off his unbeaten debut by seeing off Shane Lowry 4&2 and Scottie Scheffler despatching Jon Rahm 4&3 to inflict a first defeat of the week on the world No 1.

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Bryson DeChambeau ended Sergio Garcia’s 100 per cent record with a 3&2 win to leave the hosts on the brink of victory, with Collin Morikawa’s half-point against Viktor Hovland enough to ensure the Ryder Cup would be returning to American soil.
Morikawa became the second reigning Open Champion in a row to go unbeaten and clam the clinching point, just as Francesco Molinari did at Le Golf National, with the American celebrations already in full flow as they extended their record-breaking margin.

Team USA pose with the trophy after winning the Ryder Cup.
Brian Snyder | Reuters

Brooks Koepka came through a tight tussle with Bernd Wiesberger to defeat the Austrian on the penultimate hole, while Dustin Johnson claimed a narrow victory over Paul Casey to become the first American since Larry Nelson in 1979 to win all five of his matches.
Ian Poulter — McIlroy’s foursomes partner over the first two days — also struggled to hold back tears as he maintained his unbeaten record in the singles by defeating Tony Finau 3&2, while Europe added another point when Lee Westwood won two of his last three holes to snatch a 1up victory over Harris English.
Tommy Fleetwood tied with Jordan Spieth to bolster Europe’s hopes of avoiding a history-making loss, only for Team USA to get to 19 points when Matt Fitzpatrick found water with his approach into the final hole and handed Daniel Berger a 1up victory.
The 10-point winning margin is the biggest since players from continental Europe were allowed to compete in the Ryder Cup in 1979, breaking the previous record of 18.5-9.5 set by USA in 1981 and Europe in both 2004 and 2006.

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Webull CEO Anthony Denier calls its deal with the Nets a “coming-out party” in sports sponsorships.
Terms of the agreement for the jersey patch weren’t announced, but people familiar with the agreement told CNBC it’s a multiyear pact that pays the Nets roughly $30 million per year.

Kevin Durant #7 of the Brooklyn Nets shoots the ball against the Washington Wizards during a preseason game on December 13, 2020 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Nathaniel S. Butler | National Basketball Association | Getty Images

The Brooklyn Nets on Monday landed one of the National Basketball Association’s top jersey patch sponsorships with New York-based brokerage platform Webull, the parties told CNBC.
Terms of the agreement for the jersey patch weren’t announced, but people familiar with the agreement told CNBC it’s a multiyear pact that pays the Nets roughly $30 million per year. Since the NBA started its jersey patch asset in the 2017-18 season, the Golden State Warriors had the most expensive deal at $20 million per season with Japan-based e-commerce company Rakuten.

Webull is an online trading platform headquartered in New York and owned by Chinese holding company Fumi Technology. It competes with online brokers like Robinhood with its commission-free offerings and is valued at $1 billion, according to PitchBook.
With the agreement Nets owner BSE Global, Webull obtains the Nets jersey patch, and local and international rights to leverage the Nets’ intellectual property outside of North America. Webull also will have a jersey presence on other BSE properties, including the WNBA’s New York Liberty, the NBA G League’s Long Island Nets, and NBA 2K esports team.
Webull replaces Motorola, which took a one-year jersey patch deal with the Nets for the 2020-21 season. The team used that deal to make up for money lost due to the pandemic, which cost teams 40% of revenue due to fan restrictions. BSE CEO John Abbamondi called the agreement “transformative,” adding the two companies have matching consumer bases.
“When you look at what Webull is doing with democratizing access to the financial markets to a younger generation of investors that lines up well with our younger fan base,” Abbamondi said. “We have very similar DNAs in terms of our customers and cultures of our companies.”

Brooklyn Nets patch with online finance company Webull
Source: Brooklyn Nets

The Nets become the latest NBA team to secure a patch deal, joining the Portland Trail Blazers, which landed the NBA’s first cryptocurrency jersey patch via crypto platform StormX. And last week, the Minnesota Timberwolves landed a patch deal with digital security company Aura even though the franchise is in disarray amidst an ownership change.

Companies crave jersey patches from teams that have top national TV exposure, large social media impressions and star players with massive followings. The Nets have three in Kevin Durant, James Harden, Kyrie Irving — and having a former All-Star in Blake Griffins helps, too.
To make the asset more attractive, the NBA increased the size of patches and permitted teams to leverage global rights. Abbamondi said the international component of the agreement has enhanced interest in the patch.
“We were looking for is somebody that serves the international piece of this as well as the uniform piece,” Abbamondi added. “We found that with Webull.”
Like other NBA jersey patch agreements, Webull will also get digital signage at the Barclays Center and work with the Nets to enhance STEM programs for underserved communities throughout the city. The Nets deal is the first sports partnership for Webull.
“We’ve been operating the last several years under the radar,” Webull CEO Denier said. “The average person and maybe average investor has never heard of Webull in many cases, but we’ve become a significant player in the brokerage world. This is our coming-out party — us planting our flag in the ground to let the world know that we’re here. And that works well with the Nets.”
The Nets join other NBA teams that will open up training camp this week to prepare for the 2021-22 season. Financially, Abbamondi said the team is approaching a better year after the pandemic damaged revenue. The Nets made $280 million in revenue for the 2020-21 season, down from $304 million the prior year, according to Forbes.
“There’s no secret that this has been a challenging 18 months for the live sports business, but we’re excited about our future,” Abbamondi said. “We do anticipate being at full capacity all season and being a fully vaccinated arena.
“As we sit here today, we’re number two in new season ticket sales, and our partnership business is very robust as well,” Abbamondi added. “We feel good about the business, not discounting the headwinds Covid continues to present, but feel good about where we are, all things considered.”

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