Raphael Stevens

Nearly 1,000 Asian American chief executives and business leaders across the nation have pledged to donate $10 million toward causes that support Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities amid a national outcry against anti-Asian violence.Zoom CEO Eric Yuan, YouTube cofounder Steve Chen, OpenTable CEO Debby Soo and Care.com founder Sheila Marcelo are among the business leaders committed to the pledge to collectively donate $10 million over the course of a year. The group will partner with the Asian Pacific Fund to support community-based organizations, including Stop AAPI Hate, AAPI Women Lead, the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF), Asian Americans Advancing Justice and the Association for Asian American Studies.”As a proud Asian American, it is disheartening to see the hatred and violence against our community,” Zoom’s Yuan told CNBC Make It in a statement. “Racism in any form is unacceptable, and I feel strongly it is important to lend my voice and stand up with my fellow colleagues, friends and family who are suffering during this time.”In addition to financial support toward justice causes, the business leaders stated their commitments to support Asian employees, such as by creating and funding AAPI employee resource groups, and to ensure better representation at their companies, such as by improving reporting on the diversity of Asian Americans, a term that encompasses as many as 19 origin groups, at all levels of their organization.The coalition of business leaders took out a paid advertisement in The Wall Street Journal Wednesday to announce their commitment and implore allies in corporate America to do more to support their AAPI workforces.”The Asian American business leaders in our community are committed to fighting for change,” the open letter states. “The change that is needed requires a national awakening and a dialogue that involves leaders from every community if we are to undo the generations of systemic bias and racism. We are business leaders. We can help make change happen.”More than 2,800 Asian American business leaders and their allies have since signed the pledge.Researchers say hate incidents targeting AAPIs have increased over the course of the pandemic, due in part to racist characterizations of the coronavirus. Stop AAPI Hate said it received 3,795 self reports of anti-Asian hate incidents between March 2020 and March 2021. Academics add that the latest string of anti-Asian racism is part of a long history of xenophobia and scapegoating of Asians in the U.S.Anti-Asian racism and violence was put into sharp focus following the March 16 Atlanta-area shootings that killed eight people, including six Asian women. In the two weeks since, about $25.8 million has been pledged for AAPI justice groups or causes by nearly 30 philanthropic donors, according to a preliminary analysis that the philanthropy research group Candid shared with The Associated Press. By comparison, $595,000 had been committed this year before the attacks, and $54 million was donated to AAPI causes in all of 2020, the AP reports.Advocacy groups say they often see a spike in donations following high-profile events, but the sustainability of financial support remains to be seen.”Typically, emergency-response donors are not sustainable donors,” said Sung Yeon Choimorrow, executive director of the NAPAWF’s national chapter. “They’re generous in the moment and then move on.””Our challenge, not only in fundraising but across our programmatic work, is to keep interest in our cause high,” Choimorrow told the AP. “This is the first time Asian American and Pacific Islander women are being heard, and we don’t want to relinquish that megaphone.”The White House announced several initiatives Tuesday to address anti-Asian violence, including reinstating and expanding the White House Initiative on AAPIs, improving data-collection efforts to study national hate crimes statistics and funding training for state and local law enforcement agencies to promote accurate reporting of hate crimes.Additionally, the Department of Health and Human Services will provide $49.5 million to programs helping AAPI survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, and the National Science Foundation will spend $33 million to study bias and xenophobia.Check out:How to take action against anti-Asian racism at work and in your personal life5 things you can do in the moment if you witness racial harassmentHow to support Asian American colleagues amid the recent wave of anti-Asian violence’The model minority myth is killing us’: Facebook exec calls public to confront anti-Asian racismDon’t miss: Use this calculator to see exactly how much your third coronavirus stimulus check could be worth More

Boston Red Sox Chairman Tom Werner told CNBC on Thursday he does not expect coronavirus outbreaks to significantly alter the course of the Major League Baseball season.Werner’s comments on “Squawk Box” came on opening day, which marks the start of the second MLB season played during the pandemic, following last year’s shortened campaign.”I certainly think that we’ve gone beyond where we were six months ago. The protocols in baseball are very strong. The players are heeding them,” Werner said. “Sure, I think there might an occasional outbreak, but I do think it will be a rare event if some games are canceled.”After Werner’s CNBC appearance, the contest between the Washington Nationals and New York Mets set for Thursday night was postponed due to Covid concerns. A Nationals player tested positive for the coronavirus earlier this week, and some teammates are quarantining following contact tracing.Some coronavirus protocols could relax for teams this season once a certain vaccination threshold is met. While not many MLB players have been vaccinated yet, the league anticipates that number to rise once teams are back in their home cities from spring training, according to The Associated Press.The 2020 season was delayed for months after the pandemic hit the U.S., but eventually a 60-game schedule got underway in July. Dozens of games ended up being postponed during the season due to Covid cases, although it progressed as planned to the playoffs, and the Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series in late October.Members of the Boston Red Sox look on during a team workout ahead of the 2021 Opening Day game on March 31, 2021 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts.Billie Weiss | Boston Red Sox | Getty ImagesThis year, the 162-game schedule is back — and so are fans at ballparks. Last year, regular-season games were played in empty stadiums. A limited number of spectators were allowed to attend some playoff contests in the fall.To start the season, capacity at the Red Sox’s historic home, Fenway Park, is capped at 12%, which equates to a little more than 4,500 fans, according to NBC Boston.Werner said he hopes that number will only increase in the months ahead as more Americas are vaccinated against Covid.”I certainly don’t have a crystal ball, but we’re hoping … the vaccine rollout continues to be expeditious, and I would certainly hope that, by the end of the season, stadiums will be at full capacity,” he said.About 29% of the U.S. population has received at least one Covid vaccine dose, as of Wednesday, according to data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That includes roughly 16% of the country’s population who are fully vaccinated.The vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna require two doses for full immunity protection, while Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is a single shot. Those are the only three inoculations cleared for emergency use in the U.S. More

In this articleKMXDASHTWTRSue Bird of the Seattle Storm celebrates during the game against the Las Vegas Aces in Game Three of the WNBA Finals on October 6, 2020 at Feld Entertainment Center in Palmetto, Florida.Ned Dishman | National Basketball Association | Getty ImagesA series of CarMax advertisements featuring WNBA superstar Sue Bird, which recently went viral on social media, uses humor and misdirection to elevate female athletes who have faced decades of underrepresentation in media. Bird’s accomplishments on the court put her among the best players to ever play professional basketball.The ads — part of CarMax’s “Call Your Shot” campaign — were released earlier this month but took off on Twitter over the weekend. The spot gaining the most attention starred Bird, NBA standout Steph Curry and an actor portraying a CarMax employee who was overjoyed to sell a vehicle to an athlete of Bird’s caliber. It challenges gender bias in sports.”I think it’s setting a new standard because it has resonated so positively with so many people,” said Nancy Lough, a professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who studies sports marketing and gender equity. The commercial understands that “today’s consumer is smart,” she told CNBC. “They want to be respected. Women want to be respected, but men appreciate that [there] needs to be respect across the board.” In the ad, the CarMax associate tells Curry, “Man, if you’d have told me this morning I’d be working with a four-time champ …” Before he can finish, he’s interrupted by the Golden State Warriors guard, who believes he’s correcting the CarMax rep by saying he’s only won three league titles.”No. I sold a car to Sue Bird,” the employee says in the ad, pointing across the lot as the camera cuts to Bird, a longtime Seattle Storm guard, who is seen waving and stepping into the vehicle.”Eleven all-star appearances, can you imagine?” the salesman asks. Curry, a 33-year-old seven-time NBA all-star, responds, “I mean, I’m working on it.” The commercial has resonated on social media; in one Twitter post, the video has 1.7 million views.”This is the best ad I’ve ever seen,” tweeted Sarah Fuller, the two-sport Vanderbilt University athlete who last year became the first woman to score points in a Power 5 conference college football game.The viral moment for the CarMax ads comes as Bird’s alma mater, the University of Connecticut, plays in the women’s NCAA basketball tournament’s Final Four on Friday. The women’s games this year have enjoyed strong viewership following the rise in popularity of the WNBA in its Covid-shortened season last year. The WNBA’s 2021 season, its 25th, is expected to begin later this spring.Graham Unterberger — a senior copywriter at the Martin Agency, which worked on the CarMax campaign — said he found out that Bird was partnering with the auto retailer in the fall, around the time the Storm won the WNBA title for the fourth time.”When we saw her name, we were like, ‘This is freaking awesome. We have the best basketball player on the planet that we can write spots for,'” Unterberger said in a video call with CNBC. “After writing spots, we saw the potential to pair [Curry and Bird] together.”One reason the commercial starring Bird and Curry strikes a chord is that it places a female athlete’s career accolades firmly above those of a male athlete, Lough said.”Historically, traditionally and very commonplace today, a WNBA athlete being compared to an NBA athlete is always positioned as though the WNBA is lesser than, and, in this case, we actually get to see that flipped in a really fun and clever and novel new way,” she said.The ad is also a testament to the recognizable brand that Bird has built across her nearly two decades in the WNBA, Lough added.The No. 1 pick in the 2002 draft, Bird has spent her entire WNBA career with the Storm, recording the most assists in league history. The 40-year-old Bird is returning for the upcoming 2021 season.In the past, companies that wanted to use an athlete to help build their brand have generally just turned to male sports figures, Lough said. However, there has been a shift toward better marketing representation of female athletes, she added, pointing to tennis stars Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka as examples.Bird’s series with CarMax — which recently became the WNBA’s first-ever official auto retail partner — serves as the latest chapter of that welcome evolution, Lough said. Another instance came earlier this month, when Los Angeles Sparks forward Chiney Ogwumike, a two-time WNBA all-star and ESPN commentator, starred in a solo ad campaign for food-delivery service DoorDash. How the ‘Call Your Shot’ ads took shapeAs the creative process for the Curry-Bird ad progressed, they simply “let the one with the most rings win out,” according to Dustin Dodd, the Martin Agency’s senior art director.”I don’t know how you look at Sue Bird’s resume and not say, ‘GOAT,'” Unterberger added, using an acronym for greatest of all time. “It just is what it is.””To us, when you think about the WNBA’s rise in recent years, Sue Bird is a huge part of that history and a huge part of bringing that game forward,” he said. “She’s won championships in different decades with the same team. She’s just an icon.”Bird and Curry were never on location together to film the commercial, Dodd said. Bird was in Connecticut, while Curry was in California. The video shoots also took place weeks apart. “We just had to cobble it together the best way possible, and luckily it’s resonated with people,” he said.In another one of the six ads in the series starring Bird, she tells the actor representing a CarMax associate her middle name is “Buckets” — a basketball slang term — after being asked for that bit of info to complete a sales form. Following seconds of awkward silence, she tells him, “Nah, it’s Brigit.”Another centers around CarMax delivering a purchased vehicle directly to Bird’s home. She relays the gate password to the employee over an intercom letter by letter, and viewers find out the entrance code spells out “GOAT.”Unterberger said he’s appreciated the conversation the ads featuring Bird have sparked around boosting representation of female athletes, suggesting other companies should take note. “It’s not just WNBA fans. It’s not just NBA fans. It’s blossomed into this bigger thing, and I think that alone should prove that this is a worthy endeavor,” he said.The commercials gained traction online as the women’s and men’s college basketball tournaments were entering their later rounds and disparities in accommodations at the two NCAA tournaments — particularly around weight room equipment and different types of Covid tests — were sharply criticized earlier this month.Lough said she thought both the widespread condemnation of the tournament inequities and the positive response to the CarMax ads with Bird were significant in their own ways when it comes to advancing gender equity in athletics.”We’ve had waves of attention in women’s sports,” she added, recalling the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta when the U.S. women’s soccer team won the gold medal. “But right now, it’s different.””This is a wave of momentum that has been building for some time,” she said, “and quite honestly, I don’t see it stopping, and that’s new.” More

In this articleAMCShares of AMC Entertainment fell as much as 5% on Thursday after the company’s CEO updated CNBC on its plans to seek shareholder approval to authorize an additional 500 million shares.AMC has navigated the coronavirus pandemic through fundraising efforts that have staved off bankruptcy and allowed the movie theater chain to continue to operate, albeit at limited capacity.In January, the company disclosed that it had secured enough financing to remain open and operational deep into 2021. However, AMC later realized it could raise even more cash and capitalize on its stock’s recent Reddit-driven rally, which fueled its market value.Shares of the company are up more than 375% since January and its market cap currently hovers at just under $4.6 billion. AMC’s stock hit a 52-week low of $1.91 on Jan. 5, but then soared to $20.36, setting a 52-week high on Jan. 27.”Dilution is something we care about, but I will say we are formally asking approval from our shareholders to authorize another 500 million new shares that the company could issue if it wishes,” CEO Adam Aron said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “There are a lot of benefits to our shareholders of having more authorized shares out on the market.””We’ll be sensitive to dilution issues, but at the same time there’s an opportunity to bolster our cash reserves and there’s an opportunity to buy back debt at a discount or pay deferred theater rents,” he added. “There are a lot of good reasons for shareholders to give us the authority.”AMC first announced plans to seek the additional stock authorization in March and shareholders will vote on the measure in May.”We have asked our shareholders to approve an increase of our authorized share capital by 500 million shares,” a representative from AMC said in a statement Thursday. “This is not an approval of an actual issuance of those shares but would give AMC’s board the flexibility to authorize future issuances of shares for a variety of purposes, if the board determines it is in the interests of AMC’s shareholders. When you’re navigating these uncharted waters of the pandemic, flexibility is a very good thing.”Aron noted that the increase in vaccinations and new movie releases is already having a positive impact for AMC. He said Wednesday’s attendance for the opening of “Godzilla vs. Kong” in North America was 10 times what it has been for every other Wednesday so far in 2021.Warner Bros. said Thursday that “Godzilla vs. Kong” secured $9.6 million in ticket sales on its opening night, a record debut for the pandemic.Clarification: This story was updated with AMC’s comment that it is seeking approval to increase its authorized share capital to provide it with flexibility to potentially offer stock. It is not an approval of an actual stock issuance. More

In this articleMACMacerich’s Paradise Valley Mall in Phoenix, AZ.Google EarthThe future of the suburban shopping mall could look something like a mini community, with far fewer places to shop.The U.S. mall owner Macerich announced Thursday it’s sold a majority stake in Paradise Valley Mall in Phoenix, for $100 million, to a joint venture with an affiliate of the Phoenix-based, mixed-use real estate company RED Development. The partners will convert the 92-acre site into a community with homes, offices and a grocery store.The 1970s-era Paradise Valley Mall has been rezoned to allow the sprawling plot of land to include high-end grocery options, restaurants, 3.25 million square feet of residential space, office buildings and some retail shops.”As the retail landscape continues to evolve here in Arizona and around the country, our decision to realize the market value of this non-core asset makes sense for Macerich,” Macerich President Ed Coppola said in a statement.Malls packed full of clothing, footwear and other retail shops are looking for a new life, as more consumers buy online and skip trips to dated department stores and archaic food courts. This transition was only accelerated by the Covid pandemic, which has kept many Americans stuck at home, surfing the web.Market share and shopper traffic has also increasingly shifted to off-mall retailers such as Target and Walmart. One consumer research firm, Coresight Research, has estimated that 25% of America’s roughly 1,000 malls will close by 2025. Often, as one or two department stores in a mall close, that triggers a wave of closures by other businesses within the mall, leaving the owner no choice but to look for new uses or get rid of the property entirely.”America’s malls have reached the end of their useful life,” said Mark Toro, a managing partner in Atlanta of real estate developer North American Properties. “Communities across the U.S. have turned their backs on what was once their center.””These properties often occupy real estate that would best be repurposed to better serve the community,” he said.A few malls are becoming e-commerce warehouses to meet retailers’ rising demand for industrial space. Amazon, for example, opened a distribution facility where Randall Park Mall used to sit in North Randall, Ohio. It’s also taken over Euclid Square Mall in Euclid, Ohio.Inside a mall in Burlington, Vermont, meantime, kids are now attending high school in what used to be a Macy’s department store.The future of each struggling mall will likely be case by case, dependent upon the surrounding town’s needs, experts say. It could entail demolishing the property entirely, and undergoing rezoning, for a new community. In some instances, developers will view the land that the mall sits on as worth more than the mall itself.Macerich, which owns or has interests in 47 regional shopping centers, said the transaction with RED Development closed Monday and generated net proceeds of about $95 million. It will retain a 5% stake in the project through the venture.Macerich shares were up less than 1% on Thursday, having risen about 10% year to date. The real estate owner has a market cap of $1.94 billion. More

In this articleTA still from Warner Bros.’ “Godzilla vs. Kong.”Source: Warner Bros.”Godzilla vs. Kong” tallied $9.6 million during its opening night, marking the best debut for any movie released during the Covid health crisis and signaling a turning point for pandemic-ravaged movie theaters.The Warner Bros. film screened in 2,409 venues Wednesday and will expand to 3,064 locations by Friday. Friday also marks the first time that around 500 Regal locations will be reopened to the public since October, when the company shuttered locations due to the ongoing pandemic.Last weekend, around 3,066 theaters were open in North America, according to data from Comscore. That’s just shy of the 3,469 that were open over the weekend of Sept. 18 last year, which marked the highest number of open theaters during the pandemic.As vaccination rates continue to rise and studios continue to release big blockbusters, theater operators are hopeful that more theaters will be able to open and capacity restrictions will be lifted. Currently most theaters domestically are permitted to operate at 50% capacity.Over the weekend, “Godzilla vs. Kong” was released internationally, securing more than $121 million at the global box office ahead of its Wednesday debut domestically. Around $70 million of that haul was brought in from China, where theaters are open at 75% of audience capacity. More

Tina Meeks first started posting about motherhood on Instagram because she felt lonely as a relatively new mom.It was 2015, and Meeks and her husband James, an entrepreneur in the tech space, had just moved to Dallas from Phoenix. At 27, and with no one to commiserate with about the trials of parenting a five-year-old and a newborn, Meeks felt like a fish out of water in her new community.”Nobody seemed to understand, not even my husband,” she tells CNBC Make It. “So I turned to the internet to connect, just have somebody tell me that I wasn’t over here in my head going crazy. I began sharing the ups and the downs of balancing motherhood and my work life.”Meeks, who is now 34, called her Instagram “Her Life Sparkles,” based off of her childhood nickname, Sparkle. She gave recommendations on clothes, family, relationships, hair care and parenting. She posted pictures of food and her kids in Halloween costumes.From a $1,000/year side hustle to a 6-figure full-time businessThat first year, Meeks made about $1,000 collaborating with brands. To Meeks, it was just a side hustle to go with her full-time job as an insurance adjuster, where she was earning a $55,000 salary.But in 2018, Meeks got pregnant with a third child. While the pregnancy was unplanned, it actually ended up being very good for her brand. Her Instagram following quickly jumped from 2,000 to 10,000.A few months later, she recalls, “the floodgates opened, and brands — diapers, clothing, soap — started reaching out wanting partner with me.” Meeks had created a very shoppable life on social media, with thousands of moms eagerly waiting for her next product recommendation or photo offering a glimpse into mommy life.In the influencer hierarchy, based on interviews with several mom influencers on my “Under the Influence” podcast, a micro-influencer might have anywhere between 10,000 and 50,000 followers.That may be smaller than some of the top-tier influencers (500,000 to 1 million followers), but micro-influencers often have very intimate relationship with brands and high engagement from followers. This can make their brand very lucrative, as it did for Meeks, who currently has an Instagram following of 57,000.When Meeks realized the potential growth of her business, she decided to take things more seriously. She studied photography and purchased a professional camera.That paid off hugely. When the pandemic struck, Meeks found a way to use her new digital skills. The companies she worked with, including Children’s Place and Fab Kids, could no longer shoot their own ads because of quarantine restrictions. So she offered all her services, becoming a one-woman digital marketing studio.Meeks’ kids became little models. She had a child in every age bracket — an infant, a toddler and a school-aged child — and could shoot all kinds of content for brands right in her house.In 2020 alone, Meeks made more than $300,000 from working with brands and consulting aspiring mom influencers on how to grow their business. She was able to quit her job and turn her side hustle into a full-time business.A booming, multibillion-dollar industryThe influencer industry is set to grow to approximately $13.8 billion this year, according to a 2021 report from Influencer Marketing Hub — and experts don’t see the growth slowing down anytime soon.Based on my interviews with influencers and digital marketing experts, the starting point for how much an influencer gets paid for a single post is about $100 per 10,000 followers.That means macro-influencers with about 500,000 followers can make up to $5,000 for a single Instagram post. The recommended sweet spot is to post at a rate of once a day. So even if only half of the posts are sponsored, an influencer can bring in about $910,000 per year.Nine times out of 10 in brand board rooms and marketing rooms, there isn’t someone who knows how to speak to Black women in a way that’s going to connect.Tina MeeksMom influencer and Content Creator, Her Life SparklesMeeks’ following is growing exponentially, but she says she doesn’t believe in the standard metrics. She sets her own rates, and when a brand comes to her with what they want to pay, she always negotiates because she knows that her audience engagement is high and that she has a lot of trust with the Black moms who follow her.”It’s on a campaign-to-campaign basis. I go by the calculation of 4% to 6% of your following size as your baseline rate,” Meeks says.”Nine times out of 10 in brand board rooms and marketing rooms, there isn’t someone who knows how to speak to Black women in a way that’s going to connect,” she explains. “So not only are you hiring me to create quality content, you’re also hiring me to speak to my audience about your product in a manner that is relatable and valuable to their life. That connection point alone is priceless.”Meeks’ story is just one example that proves how powerful mom influencers are in the social media marketing industry — one that is often ignored, perhaps because it’s dominated by women and made for women. “Moms are a much more lucrative category than millennials,” Joe Gagliese, co-founder and CEO of the influencer marketing agency Viral Nation, tells CNBC Make It. “They have a lot of more buying power, and are usually very PG-rated in their content. They’re very brandable.”Meek agrees, adding that “people are obsessed. Now, with more people at home during the pandemic, they are just so wrapped up in our family and our story and what we’re doing and what the kids are doing.” Meek’s advice to aspiring mom influencersMeeks is more vocal about her influencer journey now, “because I believe that I can help other women do this.” (About 15% of her income comes from coaching other influencers — through through online classes and e-books — on how to make money.)Here’s her best advice:1. Remain true to who you are and allow yourself to be a beginner.”No one starts at the top tier of their work field,” Meeks says. “You have to try, fail, and try some more to get there. There are thousands of moms, wives, makeup artists and stylists telling their stories, but none of them are you. Being you is what will set you apart from the pack.” 2. Be willing to put in serious effort.”Yes, I get paid to spend time with my family and do everyday things like hang out in a rental home for the weekend or have an Easter egg hunt in coordinated outfits,” Meeks admits.But she also works harder now than she ever did in her 9-to-5 job.In addition to being a wife and mom of three, she says, “I’m a photographer, copywriter, editor, image consultant, hair and wardrobe stylist, secretary, research and development analyst, tech support, accounts payable and so many other titles.”3. Be prepared to have your personal life show up in your work.Meeks loves her job and having the ability to support her family in ways she never could have imagined. But the downside, according to Meeks, is that “balance can be lost if I’m not careful.” She now understands that she has to create clear boundaries to try and keep her professional life and her personal life separate. “I can’t always be on and available to my online community,” she says. “Sometimes I just have to be my kids’ mom and my husband’s wife.”Jo Piazza is a podcast creator and host of the critically acclaimed series “Under the Influence” and “Committed.” She is also the bestselling author of nine books that have been translated into more than 10 languages. Her latest novel, “Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win,” was recently released in paperback. She is also the author of the upcoming book “We Are Not Like Them.” Follow her on Twitter @JoPiazza.Don’t miss: More