Raphael Stevens

In this articleACIAPRNKRCustomers shop at the produce section of a Kroger Marketplace in Versailles, Kentucky, U.S., on Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2020.Scotty Perry | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesAs Kroger tries to woo customers, the more than a century-old grocer is banking on an age-old question.”A big part of our fresh strategy is helping answer the daily dilemma of ‘What’s for dinner?'” Chief Merchant and Marketing Officer Stuart Aitken said.At a virtual investor day on Wednesday, Kroger said it is experimenting with new ways to offer customers quick, restaurant-quality meals from ghost kitchens or convenient, preassembled dinner kits. Those investments in prepared food could help the grocer’s business — particularly as Americans grow tired of cooking or return to busier lives and fuller calendars after getting vaccinated for Covid-19.For grocers, the pandemic has created an opportunity to expand into meal kits and prepared food, said Krishnakumar Davey, president of strategic analytics at IRI. Consumers have been trying to quickly throw together meals as they work from home. Many restaurants have permanently closed during the pandemic, giving grocers a chance to gain market share. Plus, he said, grocers can assemble meal kits from items in their existing deli and bakery departments.The meal kit industry grew nearly 13% from 2019 to 2020 to become a $9.13 billion market, according to estimates from market research firm. The pace of growth will likely flatten this year, but it will remain a hot category as more professionals work at least part of the week remotely, Davey said.”A few days of the week, people will be working from home and if you are working from home, you don’t have time to fix up a lunch,” he said.Kroger acquired meal kit company Home Chef in 2018. Its competitor, Albertsons, owns Plated.Kroger is the country’s largest supermarket chain, with nearly 2,800 stores and numerous brands including Harris Teeter and Fred Meyer. The company’s same-store sales, excluding fuel, grew 14.1% and its digital sales rose 116% in the year ended Jan. 30.However, the Cincinnati-based grocer’s forecast anticipates same-store sales will drop by 3% to 5% this year. Its leaders laid out its strategy to turn digital growth into a more profitable business and drive new revenue streams, such as through its advertising business.One key part of that strategy will be continuing to test new ideas, Aitken said.”Innovation is the lifeblood in fresh [foods],” he said. “We may fail with some, but when we do, we’ll fail fast. That said, when we detect a home run, we’ll scale it at pace that matters, that will move the needle for Kroger.”Among them, Kroger struck a deal with ghost kitchen company ClusterTruck last year. The company opened two on-premise kitchens of about 1,000 square feet inside of Kroger stores. Customers can order from more than 80 meals, which they can pick up in stores or order for delivery.A handful of its stores in the Midwest will soon have a Saladworks inside, a fast-casual restaurant that makes customized salads and wraps.Kroger is growing Home Chef, a meal kit company that competes with Hello Fresh and Blue Apron. Kroger has added the quick-cook solutions and an oven-ready version to some of its stores. Sales of Home Chef increased 118% in the most recent fiscal year and it is poised to become Kroger’s next billion-dollar brand, Aitken said.And he said Kroger has a new pilot that’s coming soon that is focused on family meals. More

Vice President Kamala Harris (2-L) and Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry (L) watch as US President Joe Biden signs executive orders after speaking on tackling climate change, creating jobs, and restoring scientific integrity in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC on January 27, 2021.Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty ImagesPresident Joe Biden on Wednesday introduced a massive infrastructure proposal to reshape the U.S. economy and build out clean energy infrastructure as part of a broader effort to curb climate change.If signed into law, the proposal would rank as one of the largest federal efforts ever to curb the country’s greenhouse gas emissions and advance the president’s commitment to put the country on a path to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.The measure, called the American Jobs Plan, includes $174 billion in spending to boost the electric vehicle market and shift away from gas-powered cars. It proposes replacing all the country’s lead pipes and updating water systems to ensure drinking water is safe.The administration’s plan, which also includes measures unrelated to climate and infrastructure, is ambitious and could be difficult to impose even if it does pass through both chambers of Congress.CNBC InfrastructurePresident Joe Biden has proposed spending more than $2 trillion to fix and update America’s infrastructure, including roads, bridges, ports and green energy technology. Read more of CNBC’s infrastructure coverage here:Biden aims to narrow racial inequities with infrastructure planHow Biden’s plan addresses climate changeEV charging system a priority in Biden’s plan, but it won’t be easy”If we act now, in 50 years people are going to look back and say: ‘This was the moment that America won the future,'” Biden said at a union hall in Pittsburgh.The initiatives involve funding to install half a million charging stations across the country by 2030, incentives for Americans to buy EVs and money to retool factories and boost domestic supply of materials. Electric cars only make up about 2% of new auto sales in the U.S.The proposal also includes $100 billion in funding to update the country’s electric grid and make it more resilient to worsening climate disasters, such as the recent winter storm that caused widespread blackouts in Texas.As global temperatures rise, the U.S. will update aging infrastructure like roads and bridges to be more resilient to weather events like droughts, floods and wildfires. The plan will retrofit millions of homes to increase energy efficiency, with efforts focused on the low-income and minority communities most vulnerable to climate change.Biden also proposes the creation of a “Energy Efficiency and Clean Electricity Standard,” a mandate that would require a portion of U.S. electricity come from zero-carbon sources like wind and solar power. The mandate would require congressional approval.CNBC PoliticsRead more of CNBC’s politics coverage:Here are the details of Biden’s $2 trillion infrastructure planHow Biden’s infrastructure plan addresses climate changeSupreme Court appears willing to side with athletes in NCAA pay caseThe president is calling on Congress to invest $35 billion in research and development for projects on technologies to mitigate climate change and create jobs, such as carbon capture and storage, hydrogen, offshore wind, and electric vehicles.In an effort to help fossil fuel workers transition to new jobs, the plan also includes $16 billion to employ those workers to cap oil and gas wells and reclaim old coal mines to curb methane leaks. Another $10 billion would establish a “Civilian Climate Corps” to employ people to restore land.Some environmental advocates and liberal Democrats criticized the proposal as insufficient to tackle climate change, pointing to Biden’s vows to spend $2 trillion over four years to transition the economy to net-zero emissions.”This is not nearly enough,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., wrote in a tweet about the infrastructure plan.Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said Biden’s plan is “industry-friendly” and falls short on the president’s promise to cut emissions and decarbonize the electricity sector.Other environmental groups praised Biden’s plan as boosting clean energy and confronting the threats of worsening climate disasters.”President Biden is demonstrating today that he is committed to building a better society for all people,” Mitchell Bernard, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement.”Congress must now work expeditiously to turn this vision into reality by passing legislation to invest in clean energy, safe drinking water, public transit, affordable housing — and much, much more,” Bernard said.The administration would fund part of the spending by eliminating tax credits and subsidies for fossil fuel producers. Biden plans to fund a bulk of the plan by raising the corporate tax rate to 28%, after the Trump administration cut the levy to 21% from 35% as part of a tax law in 2017. More

In this article6758.T-JPPaul Simon performs onstage during The Nearness Of You Benefit Concert at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center on January 20, 2015 in New York City.Ilya S. Savenok | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty ImagesSony Music Publishing announced Wednesday that it acquired Paul Simon’s entire song catalog, which spans his six-decade music career.The deal includes iconic songs such as “The Sound of Silence” and “Mrs. Robinson,” which were released when Simon was part of the music duo Simon & Garfunkel, as well as songs Simon released on his own such as “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” and those on the “Graceland” album. Financial terms were not disclosed. “To be entrusted with his songs and recorded music is a privilege of the highest artistic order for the Sony Music Group worldwide,” Rob Stringer, Sony Music Group’s chairman, said in a press release.Simon joins a number of other music artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Stevie Nicks to recently strike deals to sell their catalog of songs. Simon will be joining other musicians that are under Sony Music including The Beatles, Carole King, Queen and Michael Jackson.”I began my career at Columbia/Sony Records and it feels like a natural extension to be working with the Publishing side as well,” said Simon in a press release.Since its inception in 1964, Simon & Garfunkel released five studio albums and has sold over 100 million records. After the group split in 1970, Simon began his solo career and collected 16 Grammy awards for his work in the music industry. He is a two-time inductee at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and also the co-founder of The Children’s Health Fund, a nonprofit that helps underserved communities receive access to health care. More

In this articleDASHFood delivery app DoorDash is seeking “tens of million of dollars” in damages from its partner, software company Olo, accusing it of breaching a contract and fraudulently overcharging it.Olo is a software company that helps restaurants like Shake Shack and Chili’s manage its online orders. The firm made its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in mid-March, expanding its presence at a time when online food ordering is surging. Its stock soared 39% on the first day. However, Olo’s stock fell 7% in trading Wednesday, at one point sinking to its lowest level since its debut, as further details of its litigation with DoorDash were disclosed in court documents on Tuesday at the New York State Supreme Court.DoorDash told the court that it was overcharged by Olo, which had promised the delivery app that its fees “would never be higher than the fees charged to any other delivery platform provider.” The two companies formed a partnership in 2017, and since then, the delivery app accounts of almost 20% of Olo’s revenue. That contract runs until March 2022.”To maximize revenues for its IPO, Olo cheated its largest business partner,” DoorDash stated in the legal document.DoorDash claimed that it realized it was being overcharged after it acquired another food delivery provider Caviar in 2019.When DoorDash allegedly confronted Olo with evidence of these breaches, it said that Olo told the company that the clauses “simply disappeared after six months through a minor contract addendum addressing only the fees themselves and that DoorDash never had any right to the lowest fees.”Olo also previously claimed that it did not consider Caviar a competitor to DoorDash because Caviar’s clients are restaurants in a higher price range than DoorDash’s.Olo disclosed the disagreement between the companies in its S-1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in February. It said that DoorDash is seeking “damages in excess of $7.0 million.”In the court filing Tuesday, DoorDash said the actual amount could higher, possibly “tens of millions of dollars” if Olo had honored its agreement.On Wednesday, Olo said, “DoorDash’s allegations are baseless.” It declined to comment further on the ongoing litigation, saying that the “evidence speaks for itself.”The Financial Times was the first to report on DoorDash’s latest filing with the court. More

In this articleDALEdward Bastian, chief executive officer of Delta Air Lines Inc., speaks during an interview in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019.Christopher Goodney | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesDelta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian on Wednesday blasted a controversial GOP-backed Georgia voting law after facing backlash on social media for not coming out strongly enough against the new rules.The bill, signed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp last week, is set to require identification for absentee voting, limit ballot drop boxes and prohibit offering food or water to voters in line. President Joe Biden called the bill “Jim Crow in the 21st century.””Last week, the Georgia legislature passed a sweeping voting reform act that could make it harder for many Georgians, particularly those in our Black and Brown communities, to exercise their right to vote,” Bastian said in a staff memo Wednesday.”Since the bill’s inception, Delta joined other major Atlanta corporations to work closely with elected officials from both parties, to try and remove some of the most egregious measures from the bill,” Bastian wrote. “We had some success in eliminating the most suppressive tactics that some had proposed. However, I need to make it crystal clear that the final bill is unacceptable and does not match Delta’s values.””The entire rationale for this bill was based on a lie: that there was widespread voter fraud in Georgia in the 2020 elections. This is simply not true,” Bastian said. “Unfortunately, that excuse is being used in states across the nation that are attempting to pass similar legislation to restrict voting rights.”Bastian’s comments come as a host of other executives slammed the new law and several Black CEOs urged chief executives to oppose efforts to restrict voting access.”As the voting legislation that was put forward in Georgia, when we looked at it, we felt based on our knowledge of the political climate here, there was no chance that that bill was going to be eliminated altogether,” Bastian told staff Tuesday in a video message, which was reviewed by CNBC.He said Delta, which is based in Atlanta, worked to push legislators to make changes to improve the bill.”I know many of you are disappointed, frustrated and angry that we did not take a stronger public stand against specific measures in the bill,” Bastian said. “Unfortunately, the reality is that would have made it much harder to shape the legislation at all and we would have lost a seat at the table.”Bastian added he knew staff had to face questions from customers about the company’s stance.Last week, Bastian said the Georgia voting law had “improved considerably during the legislative process,” prompting calls for a boycott of Delta on social media.Georgia’s Kemp shot back on Wednesday.”At no point did Delta share any opposition to expanding early voting, strengthening voter ID measures, increasing the use of secure drop boxes statewide, and making it easier for local election officials to administer elections — which is exactly what this bill does.”The last time I flew Delta, I had to present my photo ID,” Kemp said in a statement. “Today’s statement by Delta CEO Ed Bastian stands in stark contrast to our conversations with the company, ignores the content of the new law, and unfortunately continues to spread the same false attacks being repeated by partisan activists.”Delta declined to comment further or specify which parts of the bill it tried to change.– CNBC’s Kevin Stankiewicz contributed to this article. More

In this articleGMGeneral Motors employees work on the assembly line at the Fairfax Assembly & Stamping Plant in Kansas City, Kansas.Jim Barcus for General MotorsGeneral Motors CFO Paul Jacobson is “increasingly confident” the automaker will hit its earnings targets for the year despite a global shortage of semiconductor chips that’s forced several plant closures.”This is a very volatile situation and it changes a lot. I still feel comfortable that the full year, we’ll be able to deliver the numbers we said we were because we’re thinking creatively,” he said Wednesday during a Bank of America conference.GM had a “really solid” first quarter, led by strong consumer demand, according to Jacobson. He warned investors “it’ll be choppy for the first half of the year, particularly as it relates to free cash flow.”GM’s earnings forecast for the year is $10 billion to $11 billion, or $4.50 to $5.25 per share, in adjusted pretax profits and adjusted automotive free cash flow of $1 billion to $2 billion. The forecasts factor in the potential impact of the chip shortage, including a hit of $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion to its free cash flow. More