Raphael Stevens

Aspiration, a California-based online bank that espouses green-friendly business pratices, becomes a founding partner in the Los Angeles Clippers’ new arena in a deal valued at more than $300 million.
As part of the deal, Aspiration’s ads will appear on signs throughout the arena and in other co-marketing opportunities.
Aspiration’s green marketing ties nicely with the Clippers’ goal to operate the Intuit Dome on a 100% carbon-free basis.

Inside of LA Clippers new arena
Source: LA Clippers

The Los Angeles Clippers added another paying partner for the franchise’s planned Inglewood arena, helping to offset its expected $1.2 billion cost.
The National Basketball Association team owned by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced Monday it has agreed to a deal with “green” financial services company Aspiration. Under the agreement, Aspiration becomes a founding partner of the team’s new arena — Intuit Dome — which broke ground earlier this month with a $500 million-plus naming rights deal with the owner of TurboTax.

Aspiration will be featured in signs around the arena and in other marketing materials, including some that are related to fighting climate change and reducing fans’ personal carbon footprints.
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but people with knowledge of the agreement told CNBC it eclipses $300 million. Combining this deal with Intuit’s contract gives the Clippers more than $800 million in committed revenue for the Intuit Dome, which is scheduled to open in 2024.
Aspiration is based in nearby Marina del Rey, with investors including actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Philadelphia 76ers coach (and former Clippers coach) Doc Rivers. Aspiration has raised $450 million to date, according to PitchBook, and entered an agreement to go public via a $2.3 billion SPAC merger with InterPrivate III Financial Partners last month.
Aspiration allows its customers to choose how much they pay for banking services and espouses a mission of combating climate change — it promises, for instance, not to put any money into funding the coal or oil industries.
That mission fits with the Clippers’ plan to operate their complex as 100% carbon-free. Intuit Dome will operate as a fully electric arena, and the Clippers said the complex would save nearly 10 million gallons of water per year through conservation and the use of reclaimed water. In addition, the complex will use carpool incentives that the Clippers claim could reduce vehicle trips by 15%, and help the Port of Los Angeles buy 26 electric tugboats to improve local air quality.

“There is a responsibility associated with building the best arena in the world,” Ballmer said in a statement. “Aspiration becoming our first founding partner supports the stake we are planting in the ground to make Intuit Dome the most sustainable arena in the world.”

Inside of LA Clippers new arena.
Source: LA Clippers

As part of the deal, the Clippers and Aspiration will launch a fund to “provide fans with the opportunity to offset their own carbon impact whenever they purchase a ticket” to Intuit Dome events, the two parties said.
In a statement to CNBC, Aspiration co-founder and CEO Andrei Cherny lobbied for more teams to emulate the Clippers and use Aspiration’s tech to increase awareness about climate change.
“With this partnership, Aspiration is providing the Clippers with instant access to a range of tools to make the Intuit Dome a first-of-its-kind climate-positive arena,” Cherny said. “We hope the Clippers’ commitment to sustainability will become the new standard in professional sports.”
The Clippers estimate that Intuit Dome will generate roughly $260 million in annual economic activity for Inglewood, including over 7,000 full- and part-time jobs. The team also pledged $100 million to a community benefits package that will include investments in after-school programs, services for seniors, libraries and housing in the area.
The dome is also going to be a technical marvel, with a double-sided Halo video board with 44,000 square feet of LED lights, and technology for fans to purchase concessions and team merchandise without using cash or cards. The tech behind this white-label asset is still up for auction.
The Clippers will open training camp this week to prepare for the 2021-22 NBA season, which begins Oct. 19. The Clippers open the season on the road at Chase Center against the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 21.

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“Within a year I think we will be able to come back to normal life,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.
Bourla said “the most likely scenario” is the need for annual coronavirus vaccine shots.

There will be a return to normal life within a year, Pfizer CEO and Chairman Albert Bourla said on Sunday, adding that it’s likely annual Covid vaccination shots will be necessary.
“Within a year I think we will be able to come back to normal life,” Bourla said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week.”

Returning to normal life will have caveats, he said: “I don’t think that this means that the variants will not continue coming, and I don’t think that this means that we should be able to live our lives without having vaccinations,” Bourla said. “But that, again, remains to be seen.”
Bourla’s prediction about when normal life will resume is in keeping with that of Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel. “As of today, in a year, I assume,” Bancel told the Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung, according to Reuters on Thursday, when asked for his estimate of a return to normal life.
In order to make that happen, Pfizer’s Bourla suggested it is likely annual coronavirus vaccine shots will be needed.
“The most likely scenario for me is that, because the virus is spread all over the world, that it will continue seeing new variants that are coming out,” Bourla said. “Also we will have vaccines that they will last at least a year, and I think the most likely scenario is annual vaccination, but we don’t know really, we need to wait and see the data.”
On Friday, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Rochelle Walensky authorized the distribution of Pfizer and BioNTech’s Covid-19 booster shots for those in high-risk occupational and institutional settings, a move that overruled an advisory panel. Walensky approved distributing the booster shots to older Americans and adults with underlying medical conditions at least six months after their first series of shots, in line with the advisory panel.

The World Health Organization strongly opposes a widespread rollout of booster shots, saying wealthier nations should give extra doses to countries with minimal vaccination rates. 
Bourla said on Sunday it is “not right to decide if you’re going to approve or not boosters” on any other criteria than “if the boosters are needed.”
On Tuesday, Tom Frieden, former head of the CDC, criticized Moderna and Pfizer for not sharing vaccination intellectual property more broadly to help accelerate global vaccination rates.
“While focusing on selling expensive vaccines to rich countries, Moderna and Pfizer are doing next to nothing to close the global gap in vaccine supply. Shameful,” Frieden said tweeted on Twitter.
Bourla said it is not a good idea to wave intellectual property.
“Intellectual property is what created the thriving life sciences sector that was ready when the pandemic hit,” Bourla said. “Without that, we wouldn’t be here to discuss if we didn’t with us or not because we wouldn’t have vaccines … Also, we are very proud of what we have done. I don’t know why [Frieden] is using these words. We are very proud. We have saved millions of lives.”
Pfizer is selling vaccines at different prices to countries with different levels of wealth. Developing countries are buying vaccines at cost from Pfizer, Bourla said. And Bourla pointed to the fact that Pfizer is selling one billion vaccine doses to the U.S. government at cost. The U.S. government is then donating those vaccine doses “at no cost, completely free, to the poorest countries of the world,” he said.

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Local authorities in Singapore have tightened Covid measures as infections in the country soar, hitting five new daily highs in the past week.
But health experts told CNBC that the latest virus wave may not be a bad thing for Singapore’s highly vaccinated population, where the vast majority of cases are mild.
“For these people, infection will not have any short-term or long-term consequence to their health, but may additionally trigger a natural immune response which reduces the chance of subsequent infection,” said Teo Yik-Ying of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.

People walk at a pedestrian crossing along the Orchard Road shopping district in Singapore on September 7, 2021.
Roslan Rahman | AFP | Getty Images

SINGAPORE — Authorities in Singapore have tightened Covid measures as infections in the country rise to fresh record highs — but two health experts told CNBC they are not terribly concerned.
The country’s health-care system and workers have been strained by the increase in cases, and there is a need to slow down transmission to avoid seeing more infections in vulnerable groups such as the elderly, the health ministry said Friday when stricter measures were announced again.

For the next four weeks, group sizes for social gatherings will be reduced to two people from five people, and working from home will be the default.
Still, medical experts told CNBC that the latest virus wave may not be a bad thing since Singapore’s population is highly-vaccinated.
Many of the patients with Covid-19 have avoided severe illness and will gain further protection against future infection as antibodies fight the virus, according to Teo Yik-Ying, dean of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at the National University of Singapore.

Around 82% of Singapore’s population has received two doses of a Covid vaccine. Health authorities on Sunday said 98% of infected individuals had no or mild symptoms over the last 28 days.
Case numbers may remain high for a few months, but the “vast majority” will be well protected by the vaccines and won’t fall seriously ill, Teo said.

“For these people, infection will not have any short-term or long-term consequence to their health, but may additionally trigger a natural immune response which reduces the chance of subsequent infection,” he said in an email.

Potential benefits of natural infection

Letting the virus transmit slowly through the population is “not necessarily a bad thing,” said Ooi Eng Eong, a professor in Duke-NUS Medical School’s emerging infectious diseases program.
The two main vaccines used in Singapore are developed by Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna, and both use the messenger RNA technology.
mRNA vaccines instruct the body to produce a so-called spike protein which is found on the surface of the virus that causes Covid-19. It is harmless, but triggers the immune system to develop antibodies so that the body will be able to fight off infection better if exposed to the real virus.
“If we get a natural infection, our immune system will be able to recognize a larger part of the virus” as opposed to just the spike protein, Ooi said, adding that it could make a person more resilient against future variants.

Instead of infection followed by vaccination, we’re going to go vaccination followed by infection, which I think is even better because infection will mostly be mild.

Ooi Eng Eong
Professor at Duke-NUS Medical School

He said Singapore could reap the benefits of natural infection that some parts of Europe and North America are experiencing, but in the reverse order.
“Instead of infection followed by vaccination, we’re going to go vaccination followed by infection, which I think is even better because [infections] will mostly be mild,” he said.
“Those [countries] that had high rates of disease last year paid the price” of higher death rates, he told CNBC.

More new variants?

When asked if widespread transmission of Covid could lead to new variants emerging, Ooi acknowledged that it’s difficult to predict what will happen.
However, he pointed out that future variants will have to compete with the “very transmissible” delta variant, the dominant strain worldwide.
“It’s very hard to beat delta,” he said.
There were also concerns about mu, a new variant of interest, but it couldn’t take off because delta was too strong, he said.
“Having said that, I think the wise thing to do is still to be prepared that something fitter than delta could eventually emerge, or that the new variant could escape the immunity produced by vaccination,” Ooi said.

Local Covid situation

The number of severe Covid cases remains within expectations, according to Singapore’s health ministry.
There were 172 cases that required oxygen supplementation, and 30 in the intensive care unit (ICU) as of Sunday. ICU capacity can be ramped up to 1,600 beds if needed, the government said.
The two professors who spoke to CNBC were split on the whether there’s a need for new restrictions.
Ooi said the current virus wave is “well within the limits” of Singapore’s capacity. The new restrictions are “unnecessary” and will slow down efforts to live with the disease, he added.
While Teo agreed that the situation wasn’t worsening, he said tightening measures are needed to provide “breathing space” for Singapore to make adjustments to operational and hospitalization protocols.

CNBC Health & Science

Hospital beds are filling up because of the country’s “very cautious” approach, and not because that many people need acute medical care, Teo said.
The long-term plan against Covid is a combination of vaccination and natural infection to provide protection while not overwhelming hospitals, he said, adding that he does not anticipate an increase in the death rate, but the absolute numbers can be expected to rise.
As of Sunday, Singapore reported 87,892 Covid cases and 78 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
— CNBC’s Cory Stieg and Berkeley Lovelace Jr. contributed to this report.

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Kids should be able to go trick-or-treating this Halloween with a couple of caveats, Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an interview with ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.
Walensky recommended trick-or-treating outside, limiting crowds and avoiding crowded Halloween parties.
Pfizer CEO and Chairman Albert Bourla said vaccine data for kids ages 5 to 11 would go to the Food and Drug Administration soon. “It’s a question of days, not weeks,” Bourla said on “This Week.”

NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 31: A child dressed as Wonder Woman for Halloween at Fort Green Park on October 31, 2020 in New York City. The CDC shared on their website alternative ways to still celebrate the holiday while being safe. (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)
David Dee Delgado | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Kids should be able to go trick-or-treating this Halloween with a couple of caveats, Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Sunday.
“I certainly hope so,” Walensky said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” when asked whether it’s safe for children to go trick-or-treating this year. “If you’re able to be outdoors, absolutely,” she said.

The head of the CDC also recommended that parents and kids “limit crowds” on Halloween.
“I wouldn’t necessarily go to a crowded Halloween party, but I think that we should be able to let our kids go trick-or-treating in small groups,” Walensky said. “I hope that we can do that this year.”
On Monday, Pfizer and BioNTech announced a smaller dose of their Covid-19 vaccine is safe and generates a “robust” immune response in a clinical trial of kids ages 5 to 11.

Pfizer CEO and Chairman Albert Bourla said the data would be presented to the Food and Drug Administration soon.
“It’s a question of days, not weeks,” Bourla said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week.”

“Then it is up to FDA to be able to review the data, and come to their conclusions, and approve it or not,” Bourla said. “If they approve it, we will be ready with our manufacturing to provide this new formulation of the vaccine.”
The vaccine for kids age 5 to 11 is “one-third of the dose that we are giving to the rest of the population.”
In the meantime, as schools are mostly back in session, the CDC’s Walensky told “This Week” that kids who get the coronavirus are, primarily, not getting it while they are at school.
“Our science has actually demonstrated that the disease generally comes in from the community,” Walensky said. “When schools are practicing a proper mitigation and prevention strategy, it is not where their transmission is actually happening.”
If proper safety precautions are not happening at schools, then transmission is much higher, the CDC chief said.
Most schools, 96%, have stayed open this school year, Walensky said.
“And yet, we also published a study out of Arizona that demonstrated that places that had no masks in place were three and a half times more likely to have outbreaks than places that did have masks in place,” Walensky said.
“We know how to keep them safe,” Walensky said. “And when we don’t use the proper mitigation strategies, they’re more likely to have outbreaks and have to close.”

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Since its September 3 debut, “Shang-Chi” has garnered $196.5 million in the U.S. and Canada, outpacing ticket sales for Universal’s “F9” and Disney’s other Marvel film “Black Widow.”
The latest Marvel film is now the highest-grossing domestic release of 2021.

Simu Liu stars as Shang-Chi in Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.”

“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” continues to outperform at the domestic box office. The latest Marvel film has topped the charts for the fourth consecutive weekend and is now the highest-grossing domestic release of 2021.
Since its September 3 debut, “Shang-Chi” has garnered $196.5 million in the U.S. and Canada, outpacing ticket sales for Universal’s “F9” and Disney’s other Marvel film “Black Widow.”

“Fans of ‘Shang-Chi’ have continued to be drawn to the multiplex to see the latest Marvel extravaganza as Disney’s theatrical first strategy continues to pay big dividends for the film,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
“Shang-Chi” was one of the first Disney blockbusters to get a theatrical-only release during the pandemic. Its performance has encouraged the studio to release the rest of its 2021 slate in movie theaters exclusively.
Globally, “Shang-Chi” has generated $363.4 million, the fourth-highest haul of 2021.
“The film’s run is a strong statement for how lucrative theatrical exclusivity remains to the industry’s ecosphere, and a signal for what crowd-pleasing movies can do as box office recovery prepares for its next phase beginning with October’s packed slate,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at Boxoffice.com.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal distributed “F9.” 

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