Raphael Stevens

A general view of the National Football League Players Association logo during the NFLPA press conference on January 30, 2020 at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beack, FL.Rich Graessle | Icon Sportswire | Getty ImagesPrivate investment firm RedBird Capital wants to unload its 40% stake in OneTeam Partners, a firm mainly run by the National Football League Players Association, people familiar with the matter told CNBC.RedBird founder, Gerry Cardinale, invested in OneTeam in 2019. Wall Street bankers are floating its enterprise value is up to $2 billion. The Athletic first reported the company was seeking to sell.Two of the individuals who discussed the matter believe the $2 billion figure is undervalued, but if correct, RedBird’s stake increased to roughly $800 million in less than two years. Chatter in sports business circles suggests the firm surpassed its goal and is ready to cash out. OneTeam started with $125 million in funding, according to Crunchbase.But potential buyers of RedBird’s stake should keep in mind that OneTeam is a risky enterprise filled with union politics.The 33rd NFL team?OneTeam is a licensing and business arm for player associations. The firm leverages name, image and likeness (NIL) as a group, manages players’ intellectual property and invests in newer companies on the union’s behalf.It was founded by the NFLPA and Major League Baseball Players Association, launched in 2019, and now oversees established licensing agreements with top companies including Electronic Arts, maker of the Madden video game franchise, Take-Two Interactive and Sony. Companies need unions and pay a rights fee for their products. Video games, sports apparel, trading cards, and merchandise are historically the top four drivers in sports licensing.RedBird’s role in the partnership includes negotiating terms for OneTeam, finding new collective rights opportunities and growing value. It makes a percentage of the return from revenue. The firm is betting the NIL space will explode with colleges coming online, and thinks non-fungible tokens (NFTs) will play a factor. Add in the built-in licensing deals from the aforementioned companies, and it sees value with OneTeam.Sports bankers call OneTeam the 33rd NFL team – meaning it holds value for unions, especially in football because it allows them to share equally in a portion of league revenues.Chris Paul #3 of the Phoenix Suns looks on during the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on January 27, 2021 at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona.Barry Gossage | National Basketball Association | Getty ImagesIt doesn’t have the NBA players union OneTeam’s assets, including the Major League Soccer and Women’s National Basketball Association players’ unions, look good on paper. But it’s missing an essential asset – the NBA players association. The NBA is the most internationally marketable organization of the four major U.S. sports leagues. NBA players are more recognizable, have prominent social media followings and have better national and global appeal. That allows companies to activate better sponsorships and leverage licensing deals. The league also has a younger fanbase and is ahead in the NFT space, which has cooled off.But the NBPA operates its licensing division internally and doesn’t need OneTeam. But, OneTeam could thrive should it eventually capture both NBA and hockey unions. And popularity around women’s sports is also on the rise, which can help increase revenue if those leagues grow. For now, though, NFL and MLB are the core unions at OneTeam. Baseball players have shown little interest in enhancing their marketability. And in football, striking deals with both the NFL and the players union can be expensive for companies, since the league commands top dollar.In addition, getting star NFL players to activate partnerships is a challenge, according to people familiar with NFLPA operations. Generating future revenue around just NFLPA and MLBPA licensing, and NIL, will be difficult for OneTeam.The firm has interesting plans around the esports space. But it needs the NBA players and global soccer unions, too.DeMaurice Smith the Executive Director of the National Football League Players Association speaks during the NFLPA press conference on January 30, 2020 at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beack, FL.Rich Graessle | Icon Sportswire | Getty ImagesNavigating union politics is trickyPotential buyers may also need to brace for more tension inside the unions.In the NFLPA, the future of executive director DeMaurice Smith, who helped form OneTeam and holds a board seat, remains blurry. Some players are still unhappy about the new 10-year collective bargaining agreement and could look to replace him.On the MLBPA’s front, their collective bargaining agreement with team owners is set to expire on Dec. 1, and a lockout will hurt baseball. It’s unclear what will happen with OneTeam with MLB games beyond 2021 at risk and if Smith is replaced. And this comes following a major restructuring of licensing deals due to the pandemic, which killed sports-related revenues.There’s also a concern around RedBird’s ties to the MLB.In March, RedBird took a minority share in Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox. That deal included NBA star, LeBron James. It’s a non-controlling stake, but considering the rocky history of MLB players and owners, double-dipping in the baseball business is tricky.RedBird is technically a team owner now and has an interest in player affairs with OneTeam. Individuals familiar with the matter told CNBC RedBird isn’t being forced to sell its position in OneTeam due to concerns about MLB team ownership. But it puts MLBPA executive director Tony Clark, who also has a board seat with OneTeam, in an awkward position.MLB, NFLPA and RedBird did not respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.Gerry Cardinale, chief executive officer of Redbird Capital Partners LLC, stands for a photograph next to a 10-foot-tall statue of the Incredible Hulk in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2018.Griselda San Martin | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesIs the timing right for RedBird?In sports business circles, the timing and valuation of RedBird’s stake in OneTeam is questionable. If the future is so bright, why is RedBird looking to sell?This is fiduciary capital, and when discussing the NBA’s private equity play, a Wall Street CEO noted firms like RedBird don’t make a return on fiduciary money until they sell something. Cardinale’s history of transactions includes selling RedBird’s stake in On Location Experiences to Endeavor in 2020. That was a combined $70 million investment made in 2015, and it returned over $600 million, according to Bloomberg.So, Cardinale has a history of cashing out when the timing is right. But it’s unclear if RedBird will get nearly $800 million for OneTeam’s stake, even with his track record.But maybe another investment firm like BlackRock Capital, which some sources floated as a potential buyer, see the same potential that RedBird does. But no matter what firm buys it, the company will have to be willing to navigate the risks within the unions and sports leagues. More

In this articleADS-DEKasper Rorsted, chief executive officer of Adidas AG, gestures while speaking during a Bloomberg Television interview in London, U.K., on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2019.Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesSocial media has made it easier for consumers to hold companies and CEOs accountable for their actions, and that’s a good thing, Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted told CNBC’s Sara Eisen at the CNBC Evolve Global Summit.”I think that the scrutiny on companies and CEOs are much greater today. I think that part of the reason is social media is bringing a transparency and also a news flow out that was never there before,” Rorsted said. “It drives change, it drives responsibility, and it drives transparency.”The scrutiny will force the fashion industry, which produces 8% to 10% of global carbon emissions, to become environmentally friendly, Rorsted said.”This is only the beginning, but the impact plastic has on our global environment is so negative. And as a company that stands for something positive … we really want to make sure that that problem is tackled,” Rorsted said. “It’s so fundamental for companies to really help innovate and find solutions that address the environment, not to be disrupted for the future.”Adidas has made strides to create sustainable products, including using ocean plastics in its shoes and vowing to make nine out of every 10 products sustainable by 2025.”I don’t mean this disrespectfully, but European companies — maybe due to regulation — have tended to be ahead,” Rorsted said. “We see ourselves as a leader in sustainability, but we actually welcome everybody who has taken a step forward.”The company partnered with Allbirds to create shoes with a low carbon footprint, largely due to the rival shoemaker’s success with creating sustainable products at a low cost, which has been a challenge for Adidas. Allbirds uses materials such as merino wool, recycled bottles and cardboard and castor bean oil to manufacture its shoes.”They’ve done, been doing a great job on certain elements of innovation. We can bring the footwear expertise into it, which they probably had to a lesser extent,” Rorsted said. “Succeeding in sustainability is more important than, you know, competing with each other.”Later this summer, Adidas will be releasing its classic Stan Smith shoe using a leather derived from mycelium, the fibrous root structure of mushrooms. The company anticipates it will be very popular.”We have done a recent survey; 70% of our consumers prefer to buy sustainable products. So I think there’s going to be a great demand for this product,” Rorsted said. More

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon is so worried about inflation he won’t invest the Wall Street bank’s cash. Homebuyers are backing out of the market amid a pricing frenzy and used car sticker shock is now a bigger deal than new car pricing on the dealership lot.It is not news that inflation is running hot. The May Consumer Price Index spike of over 5% was the highest since 2008. Strip out food and energy prices from that inflation print and it was the highest inflation reading since January 1992. Producer prices, meanwhile, rose at their fastest pace in over a decade. And according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York survey, consumers fears about inflation are at a record, too.A good question then: Why is the S&P 500 Index setting new records, the Dow hanging near if now slightly below a post-pandemic rally record, and the Nasdaq coming off a recent seven-day winning streak right before the Fed’s meeting concludes on Wednesday? All three major stock market indices are now between roughly 90% (the Dow) to over 110% (Nasdaq) above their pandemic lows.For Nick Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research, all the comparisons between current inflation numbers and records from the past are interesting for market historians, but less relevant to the stock market outlook. Stock futures were muted ahead of the Fed on Wednesday.A patient bond market is the keyThe reason for his bullish take amid the inflation fears and the number he says that is more important to watch than CPI: the bond market. It is signaling patience.Even with the hot inflation print Treasury yields remain low. Yes, the inflation numbers can be real — and a valid concern for the bears, especially when they point to prices for homes and rentals — but market historians should also note that the bond market has a history of being slow to react to inflation trends.The 10- year Treasury yield remains right around 1.5%.The bond market is not signaling an inflationary environment that is here to stay and Colas is willing to bet that the bond market is a better bettor right now than Jamie Dimon.”Treasury yields are not wrong,” he said. “If you think it [inflation] will come roaring back don’t be in bonds, don’t be in stocks.”Getty ImagesHis bullish take on why the bond market is showing patience is that all the factors which are pushing up inflation are transitory in nature, as the Fed has consistently said. That includes used car prices which are spiking not only because fiscal and monetary policy have given car buyers more buying power, but also as a result of the chip shortage in the auto market and less supply of new cars. When short-term factors are stripped out, CPI is actually close to where it was right before the pandemic hit the U.S, a little over the 2% mark from February 2020.The exception which supports the bears: inflation in home prices and rentals, which could stick and weigh on the economy in a less transient nature.But Colas concludes from that data that while shelter inflation will continue to rise, history says it alone is not enough to keep CPI moving swiftly higher when other factors, including energy, used vehicles, car insurance and airfares — all of which drove the recent increase —  are “safely in the transitory inflation camp.”Cautious on stocks, not panicky on inflationYields have retreated from March highs, and that has helped lift the S&P to a new all-time record. Colas now counts himself cautious on stocks, but not bearish on the market due to fears of a more hawkish Fed.”We’ve been a touch cautious (but not bearish) on US stocks lately, and a modest new high alone is not enough to shift our view,” he wrote to clients after last week’s CPI.  “Clearly, a decent chunk of our ‘no secular inflation’ thesis is already priced into Treasuries. Big Tech should see a small catch-up rally as a result.  But as for the next move higher in large caps, we still think that will only happen as companies report Q2 in July and signal their outlook for the rest of 2021.”His bigger picture view is that while markets can go through short-term periods of panic related to bonds and stocks, the bond market often takes a long time to really catch up to inflation. Historians can look at every CPI going all the way back to the 1950s if they’d like, but Colas noted that the period he looks to right now is when the U.S. was coming off the last major period of inflation that ended in the 1980s and saw inflation decline from double-digit percentages to 2%. It took the Treasury bond market 20 years to accept that inflation had been beaten in the U.S.”Bottom line: This is exactly why 10-year Treasuries ignore even 1-2 years of CPI data,” he wrote in a recent note to DataTrek clients.   The lesson: “The Treasury market is a ‘show me’ market,” Colas tells CNBC. “It wants to see inflation go up or down for a long time before it re-prices. … high inflation this year says nothing about the future and before the pandemic, because we had such low inflation, it [the bond market] will need a lot of proof before it says inflation is rising again,” Colas said.Investors do not expect a hawkish FedMarket pros are not expecting a sudden hawkish turn in the Fed’s thinking or its conviction that inflation is “transitory.”A Bank of America fund manager survey finds that roughly three-quarters of professional investors agree with the Fed.”It’s hard to say it’s [going to be] hawkish because … I think it’s going from uber dovish to overly dovish,” Rick Rieder, Blackrock’s chief investment officer global fixed income, told CNBC.There may be some more dissent among Fed members, but a rate hike is not expected until at least 2023 and many traders are willing to believe that will remain the Fed’s position on Wednesday. “Some of this hawkish expectation is way overblown,” Michael Arone, State Street’s chief investment strategist for the U.S. SPDR business, told CNBC. “Powell is going to say the labor market has 7.5 million jobs to go before it gets back to where it was.”For Colas, what bonds have to say will remain the more important market commentary. 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LONDON — The chief executive of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis on Wednesday outlined how policymakers and the health industry can learn from the coronavirus crisis to improve pandemic preparedness.”Pandemics have been with us for centuries. If you go back into the recorded history, probably on the order of 15 pandemics in the last 200 to 300 years. And, so pandemics periodically happen, and they are probably bound to happen again in the future,” Novartis CEO Dr. Vas Narasimhan told Julianna Tatelbaum at the virtual CNBC Evolve Global Summit.”We know what the solutions are — it is just very hard to maintain the investments over time. We need world-class surveillance to really identify when viruses move from animal populations to human populations, and we need a policy framework for that information to be very rapidly shared,” he said.Narasimhan said health systems would need “warm preparedness” such as having protective-gear stockpiles and manufacturing capabilities ahead of time. It would also be essential to maintain the stock levels of critical goods to help patient care and continue to invest in therapeutics, vaccines and diagnostics, he added.”We know the answers and we know what needs to happen. The tricky thing, I think, is going to be four [or] five years from now. Often what happens is attention moves away from pandemic preparedness, investments go down and then the susceptibility levels go up,” Narasimhan said.An official in personal protective equipment (PPE) manages the crowd as people queue to receive China’s Sinopharm Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine in Phnom Penh on May 31, 2021, as part of the government’s campaign to halt the rising number of cases of the virus.TANG CHHIN SOTHY | AFP | Getty Images”I’m optimistic this time. I think this pandemic has really been a wake-up call. I also think we have better technology than we have ever had from a therapeutics and diagnostics standpoint, so hopefully for the next pandemic will be even better.”Narasimhan said the topic of future pandemic preparedness was discussed by health ministers and other biopharmaceutical executives at the G-7 health minister’s meeting earlier this month.The Basel-based firm has seen its efforts to repurpose existing medicines to fight the coronavirus pandemic come up short thus far. Novartis announced on Dec. 14 that a late-stage clinical trial of ruxolitinib in addition to standard of care therapy showed no statistically significant reduction in severe complications of Covid-19, including death and admissions to the intensive care unit.The company had previously said late-stage trials of anti-inflammatory medicine canakinumab failed to help Covid patients.More recently, Novartis said that alongside Swiss drugmaker Molecular Partners it would start clinical trials for an investigational medicine they are developing to treat Covid.The clinical trial program, referred to as “Empathy,” is designed to examine the safety and efficacy of ensovibep in patients who are in the early stages of Covid infection. The aim is to prevent worsening symptoms and hospitalization.The first phase of the study will enroll 400 patients to identify a dose with optimal safety before a second late-stage trial moves ahead with an additional 1,700 patients. The results are expected in the first half of next year.Covid cases worldwideIn the week through to June 15, the number of new Covid cases and deaths continued to decrease, with more than 2.6 million cases and 72,000 deaths reported, according to data compiled by the World Health Organization.It marked the lowest weekly incidence of cases since February, with weekly cases down across all WHO regions except for the African region when compared to the previous week. The number of new deaths in the past week fell across all regions expect Africa and Southeast Asia.To date, more than 176.6 million Covid-19 cases have been reported globally, with 3.82 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University data. More

In this articleGMGM CEO and chairman Mary Barra speaks during an “EV Day” on March 4, 2020 at the company’s tech and design campus in Warren, Mich., a suburb of DetroitGMDETROIT – General Motors said on Wednesday it will increase spending on electric and autonomous vehicles to $35 billion through 2025, a 30% increase from plans announced late last year. It also said it is raising its earnings guidance for the first half of the year.The additional money will be used to expand its rollout of EVs and accelerate production of its battery and fuel cell technologies, including two new U.S. battery plants in addition to two that are currently under construction.America’s largest automaker is racing to catch up to EV leader Tesla and compete for a leadership position against other well-established automakers such as Volkswagen. GM plans to sell more than 1 million EVs annually by 2025.”We are investing aggressively in a comprehensive and highly-integrated plan to make sure that GM leads in all aspects of the transformation to a more sustainable future,” GM CEO Mary Barra said in a statement.GM’s plans to expand its electric and autonomous vehicle lineup and technology have been praised by Wall Street. Its stock has almost tripled since reaching a 12-month low of $23.33 last July. Shares were trading up slightly before the markets opened Wednesday at about $61 a share.GM said the new investments are enabled by its strong underlying business, including record pretax earnings over the last three quarters.CFO Paul Jacobson on Wednesday said GM expects to deliver better-than-expected results in the second quarter despite a global semiconductor chip shortage that’s impacting the industry. He said GM expects adjusted pretax earnings of between $8.5 billion and $9.5 billion during the first half of the year, up from an estimated $5.5 billion.For the year, GM previously said it expected pretax profits “at the higher end” of a $10 billion to $11 billion range. It didn’t provide an update on its full-year earnings. GM’s increased spending plans come less than a month after crosstown rival Ford Motor increased its EV spending to more than $30 billion by 2025. But Ford’s investments date back to 2016, while GM’s are form 2020 through 2025.Prior to the coronavirus pandemic shutting down auto factories in March, GM initially said it would invest $20 billion in autonomous and electric vehicles through 2025. It increased that spending to $27 billion in November as it pulled ahead vehicle programs and accelerated battery cell production.GM’s new investments were announced ahead of Barra’s meeting Wednesday with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats to discuss EVs and vehicle emissions, according to Reuters, which first reported on the automaker’s plans late Tuesday. More

Aerial images of Kea island also known as Gia or Tzia, Zea, and, in antiquity, Keos, is a Greek island in the Cyclades archipelago in the Aegean Sea. Kea is part of the Kea-Kythnos regional unit.NurPhoto | NurPhoto | Getty ImagesLONDON — The European Union decided Wednesday to add the United States to its safe travel list, meaning it will be easier for American citizens to take a vacation in one of the 27 member states, two EU sources have confirmed to CNBC.Nonessential travel from the United States and from other places had been banned in the EU in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic to avoid further contagion. However, as vaccinations gather pace, the 27 EU ambassadors based in Brussels recommended on Wednesday that the region allow nonessential travelers from eight new countries and territories.These are the U.S., Albania, North Macedonia, Serbia, Lebanon, Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong.In an interview with The New York Times in April, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that fully vaccinated American tourists would be allowed to visit the bloc this summer.But this new EU recommendation could go one step further in allowing U.S. tourists to visit with only a negative test and avoid the need for a period of quarantine. It is now up to the individual EU countries to decide how they will implement the guidelines and allow tourists to enter. Travelers should confirm the rules on their intended destination before flying.Wednesday’s recommendation at the EU level aims to coordinate the travel rules across the bloc and should be finalized in coming days, following the national decisions from each member state.UK omittedOne notable absence from the exemption list is the United Kingdom, where almost half of the population is currently fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.One EU official, who did not want to be named due to the sensitivity of the subject, said nonessential travel from the U.K. remains banned “due to the delta variant.”The U.K. government earlier this week delayed a plan to lift all coronavirus restrictions this month due to rising infections. A recent surge in the number of Covid cases is linked to the delta variant first discovered in India, which is believed to be around 60% more infectious than previous variants of the virus.The U.K. is now hoping that more vaccinations in the next four weeks will allow it to end all coronavirus measures on July 19. More

In this articleDGE-GBDiageo owned whiskies on a bar at their headquarters in Edinburgh where Diageo announced a £150 million investment over three years to transform its scotch whisky visitor experiences.Andew Milligan | PA Images | Getty ImagesSmirnoff Vodka owner Diageo has signed a multiyear deal with the NFL to become the league’s first spirits sponsor.While the National Football League has long had relationships with beer brands like Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Bud Light, it has been slower to embrace spirits. Until 2017, distillers couldn’t even advertise during games. An advertising campaign on drinking responsibly from Diageo’s Crown Royal whisky was the first spirits commercial to air during an NFL game after the ban was lifted.”What they’ve done from a responsibility standpoint to us, really stood head and shoulders above other spirit companies in the marketplace,” said Nana-Yaw Asamoah, vice president of business development and sponsorship for the NFL. “And that goes for their marketing standards, which hold themselves to a higher standard than the rest of the market, and kind of used it to inform our policies as we looked to advertising restrictions and opening up spirits in-game advertising in 2017.”Since the repeal of Prohibition, the spirits industry has regulated its own advertising and marketing with voluntary guidelines for distillers. For example, the code requires that spirits producers advertise only on TV programs where at least 71.6% of the audience is at least 21 years old. Spirits’ higher alcohol content carries a taboo that separates it from beer and wine in the eyes of some watchdogs, who want even stricter standards for hard liquor, citing concerns about underage consumers viewing those ads.The spirits industry’s advertising spending fell last year but is up in 2021. According to Kantar Media, it rose 20% in the first quarter of 2021 from a year earlier.Diageo North America Chief Marketing Officer Ed Pilkington said in an interview that the company will continue to focus on responsible drinking as part of its partnership with the NFL.Diageo was also the first industry sponsor of NASCAR, which lifted its ban on spirits partnerships in 2004. Asamoah said the NFL could have chosen a spirits sponsor two years earlier but decided to wait.”We always take the approach that we don’t have to be first, but we want to make sure to get it right,” he said. “After looking at other leagues and how they approached the spirits base and how we started in 2017 — in 2019 we allowed our teams to start having relationships with spirits brands, 20 of which have a spirits partner, so we really felt like this was a good time.”Financial terms and the specific length of the deal between Diageo and the NFL were not disclosed in Wednesday’s announcement. It will include all of Diageo’s spirits portfolio, although the company plans to focus primarily on the Smirnoff, Crown Royal and Captain Morgan Spiced Rum brands at the start. Its Guinness beer is not part of the deal.Diageo also got the international rights. The NFL has been trying to expand its fanbase overseas with several international games every season in London and Mexico City. For the upcoming season, the league is planning to hold two games in London.”We’re excited for that as well, especially for our international brands like Captain and Smirnoff, which are big brands in the U.K. and that links over there as well,” Pilkington said.In addition to displaying the brands’ logos and TV advertisements to the NFL’s millions of fans, Diageo also has plans to display its partnership with the football league in liquor stores and host responsible drinking programs. The company is also sponsoring the NFL’s annual Fan of the Year contest this year.”We’ll make sure to do it in a really holistic way,” Pilkington said.Prior to the sponsorship, Diageo already had partnerships with 12 NFL teams and stadiums. Pilkington said the company is in talks to add more teams to that roster. More