Raphael Stevens

In this articlePTONA monitor displays Peloton Interactive Inc. signage during the company’s initial public offering (IPO) across from the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York, U.S., on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019.Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesPeloton announced Tuesday the launch of a corporate wellness program as it aims to reach new users and grow its membership base.Businesses that sign up will be able to offer employees subsidized access to Peloton’s digital fitness membership and its high-end cycles and treadmills. Peloton said its corporate partners will receive access to tailored features such as team tagging and group exercises that encourage accountability and foster bonding with colleagues. Peloton will also assist corporate partners with outfitting office workout spaces.The online furniture retailer Wayfair, electronics maker Samsung, software giant SAP and British telecommunications firm Sky are among the first businesses to join the program, Peloton said.Peloton shares were falling less than 1% in premarket trading.Peloton President William Lynch said the offering promises to become one of its biggest growth channels.Peloton started investing in the corporate wellness platform about a year ago, as it began to receive requests from companies to partner, he said.”With the return to work, and as companies acknowledge that they need healthy employees — especially coming off the pandemic — we’ve seen incredible demand for the platform,” Lynch said. “We feel like our timing is great.”Financial terms weren’t disclosed.The perk could help companies lure talent back to the office post-pandemic or assist in retaining staff in a tight labor market. Employees are increasingly seeking out health-related benefits at the office. They’re also looking to earn a paycheck from businesses that maintain a balance between life and work. And after a year where life was turned upside down for so many, people seem to be more cognizant of maintaining their physical and mental health.”The crux of it is, employers see the benefit of the connection between healthy employees and productivity,” Lynch said.In addition to cycling and running content, Peloton’s fitness app also includes mediation, yoga and strength classes. A digital membership for people who don’t own any Peloton equipment costs $12.99 per month. An all-access membership is $39 a month.Demand for Peloton’s equipment and memberships surged during the pandemic, fueling a more than 400% runup in the company’s stock. Shares are down nearly 29% year to date, however, as investors worry people may lose interest in working out at home and head back to the gym or boutique fitness studio.Last year, Peloton saw incredible momentum, as revenue doubled to $1.8 billion from $915 million a year earlier. As of March 31, Peloton had 2.08 million connected fitness subscribers — people who own a Peloton product and pay a monthly fee for access to its workout content.The company’s growth hasn’t come without problems. In May, Peloton recalled its Tread+ and Tread treadmills over safety concerns. And earlier this month, software security company McAfee said it exposed a vulnerability in its Bike+ that allowed hackers to install malware through a USB port and potentially spy on riders. The flaw has since been fixed.Cassidy Rouse, Peloton’s vice president of new market development, will transition to oversee its corporate wellness initiative and report to Chief Revenue Officer Tim Shannehan.Disclosure: Comcast owns CNBC’s parent NBCUniversal and Sky. More

In this articleMCDQSR-CAA Big Mac is displayed on a page of the McDonald’s appDaniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesMcDonald’s announced Tuesday it will launch its first-ever loyalty program nationwide on July 8 after months of testing.The fast-food giant joins rival chains like Restaurant Brands International’s Popeyes and Yum Brands’ Taco Bell in creating rewards programs to hold onto the digital customers the companies gained during the pandemic. Chipotle Mexican Grill announced on Tuesday an expansion of its existing program to offer more redemption options to members. Loyalty programs can fuel more frequent visits, higher average checks and offer restaurants’ valuable insights about consumers.McDonald’s started testing the program in November, slowly expanding it to more regions across its home market. While it has successful loyalty programs in other countries like France, this marks the first nationwide launch in the U.S.The chain’s U.S. president, Joe Erlinger, told analysts in April that the company saw digital sales of almost $1.5 billion during its first quarter, including orders on its digital kiosks, mobile app and delivery platforms. But the loyalty program could raise that number even higher.The program allows customers to earn 100 points for every dollar that they spend. They can work toward 16 rewards options, split up into four different tiers. The easiest items, like hash browns or a cheeseburger, cost just 1,500 points to redeem. A Happy Meal or Big Mac will set members back 6,000 points.To encourage customers to join the loyalty program, they’ll earn 1,500 points after their first order as a rewards member.McDonald’s is hoping the program will also help add a personal touch to the customer experience. In February, the company’s vice president of digital, media and customer relationship management, Alycia Mason, said workers will greet loyalty members by name as they move through the drive-thru lane. Customers will also get a personalized email after they pick up their orders that includes upcoming deals tailored to them.McDonald’s has also worked to integrate its new loyalty program into its broader suite of technology. The program is part of the company’s new “MyMcDonald’s” platform, which ties together its various tech investments, like its app and digital menu boards, and makes it easier for customers to order and pay for their food. Shares of McDonald’s have risen more than 8% this year, giving it a market value of about $180 billion. More

In this articlePGDaniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesTide to Go is going to outer space. The Procter & Gamble brand is partnering with NASA to keep astronauts’ spacesuits fresh, even on Mars.Company and NASA scientists have created a fully degradable detergent that will clean clothes without wasting water. Over the next decade, they’ll be testing fabric care products, including Tide to Go pens and wipes, at the International Space Station and on missions to the moon and Mars.Beyond making a difference for the handful of astronauts who travel to space, the partnership could have larger implications for Earthbound consumers. Climate change has already begun stressing the global water supply, from causing droughts in some regions to floods in others. A quarter of the world’s population face “extremely high” water stress, according to the World Resources Institute.”Scientific breakthroughs always starts from a very limited application, but when we get that breakthrough, the ability to use it to solve today’s problems on Earth is going to be phenomenal,” said Shailesh Jejurikar, chief executive officer of P&G’s fabric and home care division.Space research and development have led to many discoveries that have impacted people on Earth, like new water purifiers, the technology that led to CAT and MRI machines and drugs to combat muscle atrophy and bone loss more effectively.Jejurikar said NASA reached out to P&G as it tried to solve the cleaning challenges that astronauts face in space. According to NASA filings, the consumer packaged goods giant has had a Space Act Agreement with the agency since August. The partnership has an estimated dollar value of more than $111,000 and is nonreimbursable, so each party bears the cost of its own participation.The months or even years that astronauts spend away from Earth means that their spacesuits and clothes can become smelly and stained. Clothes have to be reworn several times before they are ejected with other waste into the atmosphere or sent back to Earth as trash. A crew member will receive 160 pounds of clothes per year through resupply shipments.”It’s actually an extremely tough cleaning challenge. Astronauts, to stay fit, need to work out a couple of hours every day to manage their health,” Jejurikar said. “And if you’re working out two to three hours every day, it’s going to be sweaty.”But their location presents unique challenges for laundry, like the changes in gravity and the need to reuse every drop of water. Jejurikar said that while Tide’s innovation process is the same as usual, the restrictions shape the focus of the team’s efforts.For Earthbound Tide scientists, existing data and machine learning technology have helped understand what likely will or will not work in space. Some conditions can also be mimicked, like the need for the water to be reused for drinking and the weakened gravitational force.Next year, the partnership’s prototypes will get a first test at the International Space Station to see if the products hold up in microgravity conditions and when exposed to space’s radiation levels.”While this is interesting work that we are doing, it is one of the many projects at work that we are doing to see how we can significantly get the technology breakthroughs to make better use of resources on Earth,” Jejurikar said.Earlier this year, Tide set a goal to cut its greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030. P&G is also a founding member of the 50L Home Coalition, which strives to address the challenges of water scarcity and climate change by cutting down individual water use from 500 liters to 50 liters per day. Jejurikar serves as the group’s co-chair. More

A woman reacts as she receives the Johnson & Johnson vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), as part of a government plan to inoculate Mexican border residents on its shared frontier with the United States, in Tijuana, Mexico June 17, 2021.Jorge Duenes | ReutersCoronavirus vaccine booster shots will likely be needed in the fall, according to experts, who are urging governments to organize them now.It comes as the Delta variant of the coronavirus, first identified in India, continues to spread rapidly across the world.CNBC Health & Science Read CNBC’s latest global coverage of the Covid pandemic:Covid boosters in the fall? As calls grow for third shots, here’s what you need to know WHO says delta is the fastest and fittest Covid variant and will ‘pick off’ most vulnerableAustralia’s New South Wales extends mask mandate for Sydney as Covid cluster grows U.S. to split 55 million Covid vaccine doses between Latin America, Asia and Africa U.S. extends travel restrictions at Canada, Mexico land borders through July 21 Some countries, like the U.S. and U.K., have already signaled that they could roll out Covid-19 booster shots within a year. Now, pressure is building on governments to mobilize booster shot programs — no easy task given the ongoing uncertainties surrounding the pandemic, vaccines and variants.However, concrete plans for Covid-19 booster shots are lacking. Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, last month said it was, “just something we’re gonna have to figure out as we go.” As talk of booster shots grow, here’s what we know so far:What?First of all, there are question marks over whether we actually need a third dose of any Covid-19 vaccine given that we don’t know how long immunity currently lasts.In the U.S. and U.K. the shots being used are those from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, with the U.K. also relying heavily on the AstraZeneca-Oxford University vaccine.There are also unknowns regarding whether people should get a booster shot that’s the same as the vaccines they originally had. And also whether the shots need to be tweaked to deal with variants, much like the flu vaccine, or whether they can remain as they are.When?Booster shots could potentially be rolled out before countries have even completed their initial vaccination programs. To date, almost 60% of the adult population in the U.K. is fully vaccinated, while just over 55% of adults in the U.S. are.The U.S. is also offering the shot to the over-12s, whereas the U.K. is not yet offering the vaccine to anyone under 18.On Monday, the BBC cited a senior government source as saying plans for a Covid-19 booster jab program will be published “in due course” and that “extensive” research was being conducted into the effect of different vaccine combinations.In May, the U.K. launched the Cov-Boost study which is studying the use of seven different Covid-19 vaccines when given as a third dose. The results, due in September, would “inform plans for booster program,” the government said.How?Experts argue that there needs to be extensive planning in place for any booster program in order to help health services cope. This is particularly important given that they are under pressure not just from delivering the current vaccination programs, but also tending to the health needs of those patients whose procedures and treatments were delayed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.In the U.K., the chair of Royal College of General Practitioners, Martin Marshall, told the BBC’s “Today” radio show that Britain’s National Health Service needed to know what it would be expected to do come the fall.”We do need to know, first of all, whether a booster vaccination program is needed … who will need it, like more vulnerable and older people. We need to know where they will be given them [the booster shots] and by whom,” he said Monday.”Our GPs and nurses are extremely busy, so is it possible that a booster campaign can be given by non-clinical trained vaccination staff?,” he asked, arguing in favor of giving a booster alongside the winter flu vaccination.On the same radio show, Anthony Harnden, deputy chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (which advises the U.K. government on its vaccination policy) cautioned that who is targeted by any booster campaign should be carefully considered.He said priority needs would be “data driven,” although he recognized the need for the NHS to plan ahead.  MoralityThere is a moral argument over whether booster vaccination programs are the right thing to do when many less developed countries are lagging in their vaccination programs.The World Health Organization has urged richer countries to donate vaccines to poorer ones before they consider booster shots. Indeed, the jury is out at the WHO over whether a booster shot is even needed.”We do not have the information that’s necessary to make the recommendation on whether or not a booster will be needed,” the World Health Organization’s Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said in Zoom call on Friday, Bloomberg reported, adding that the “science is still evolving.”Delta variantCalls for booster shots come amid rising concerns over the spread of the more transmissible variant delta variant, which WHO’s Swaminathan noted Friday was well on its way to becoming the dominant strain globally.WHO officials also said last week that there were reports the delta variant caused more severe symptoms, but that additional research was needed to confirm those conclusions. Still, there are signs that the delta strain could provoke different symptoms than other variants.So far, the vaccines have proved resilient to new variants, remaining largely effective in preventing serious Covid-19 for fully-vaccinated people. An analysis from Public Health England released last Monday found two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines were highly effective against hospitalization from the delta variant.On Friday, the WHO’s Swaminathan said that scientists still needed more data on the variant, including its impact on the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines.”How many are getting infected and of those how many are getting hospitalized and seriously ill?” Swaminathan said Friday. “This is something we’re watching very carefully.”- CNBC’s Berkeley Lovelace Jr. contributed reporting to this story.Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that just over 55% of adults in the U.S. are fully vaccinated against Covid-19. More

In this articleVIV-FRFrench media group Vivendi has won the backing of shareholders for its proposed spin-off of crown jewel Universal Music Group.During a shareholder meeting Tuesday, investors overwhelmingly backed the proposal — which would see the world’s largest music label complete its listing on the Euronext Amsterdam in late September.The proposal involves distribution of 60% of UMG’s share capital to shareholders through the public listing in Amsterdam.The crucial vote came after billionaire investor Bill Ackman’s SPAC Pershing Square Tontine Holdings signed a deal to buy 10% of UMG for around $4 billion. The deal, announced over the weekend, gave UMG an enterprise value of 35 billion euros ($41.55 billion) for 100% of its share capital.A consortium led by Chinese titan Tencent Holdings already owns a 20% equity stake in the group. UMG accounts for around three-quarters of Vivendi’s profits.Although the spinoff has secured investor backing, criticisms have been leveled by activist hedge funds Artisan Partners and Bluebell, which claim it disproportionately benefits larger shareholders, including Vincent Bollore, over smaller investors. The French billionaire holds 30% of the voting rights in UMG.Almost three-quarters of shareholders also voted in favor Vivendi’s plan to buy back and cancel up to 50% of its stock.Matti Littunen, European media analyst at Bernstein, noted that some investors had reservations about the tax implications for smaller shareholders of the UMG spinoff, along with questions about why Vivendi is not spinning off a larger share of the business, opting instead to sell small portions to entities such as Ackman’s SPAC.”Why sell some of it for cash and not distribute more to shareholders and let them figure out what to do with the proceeds?” he told CNBC’s “Street Signs Europe” on Tuesday.”In general, there is still lots of suspicion about the capital allocation for Vivendi after this deal, so as mentioned, lots of controversial aspects to this distribution.” More

In this articleCMGPedestrians wearing protective masks walk in front of a Chipotle restaurant in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Monday, April 19, 2021.David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesChipotle Mexican Grill announced on Tuesday the first major upgrade to its loyalty program since it was launched two years ago.Chipotle Rewards members will now be able to redeem their points for more rewards across its entire menu and more quickly. Just two visits to a Chipotle restaurant is enough for a free order of chips. Additionally, members can redeem their points to support Chipotle’s nonprofit partners, like the National Young Farmers Coalition.Before, points took longer to earn and could go only toward a free entree. Members earn 10 points for every $1 they spend in the restaurant, online or in the app.The changes come as other restaurant chains, like McDonald’s and Restaurant Brands International’s Popeyes, create their own programs to hold onto the digital customers the companies gained during the pandemic. Loyalty programs can fuel more frequent visits, higher average checks and offer restaurants’ valuable insights about consumers.Zoom In IconArrows pointing outwardsStarbucks made similar tweaks to its own loyalty program in 2019. In the three quarters following the coffee giant’s revamp, it added 3.1 million loyalty members, up 15% from a year earlier.Since Chipotle Rewards debuted, it has added 22.9 million consumers to its ranks. The burrito chain has quickly built its membership by automatically enlisting users of its mobile app to the program. The surge of digital orders during the pandemic helped further expand membership. In the first quarter, online sales overtook in-person orders for the first time.”Obviously the last year has been abnormal in terms of people’s purchasing behavior and what they’re doing, but we do see that when someone joins our rewards program, we can understand what their behavior was before they joined and their behavior after,” said Curt Garner, Chipotle’s chief technology officer. “Collectively, guests come more quickly for their second experience after joining and are building more frequency and engagement in our app.”To promote the changes, Chipotle has created a racing video game that will go live for 48 hours, starting Wednesday at 12:01 p.m. ET. The top eligible scorer will win a 2021 Tesla Model 3, and the rest of the players in the top 10 on the leaderboard will take home an electric bike or electric skateboard.Shares of Chipotle have risen nearly 3% this year, giving it a market value of $40.16 billion. More