Raphael Stevens

UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty mourned the death of Brian Thompson, who led the company’s insurance arm, and acknowledged that the U.S. health-care system is “flawed” and in need of reform.
In a New York Times opinion piece, Witty made his first public comments since last week’s fatal shooting of Thompson.
Witty said the company, together with employers, governments and other payers, needs to improve how insurers explain what is covered and how those decisions are made. 

Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group, testifies during the Senate Finance Committee hearing titled “Hacking America’s Health Care: Assessing the Change Healthcare Cyber Attack and What’s Next,” in the Dirksen Building in Washington, D.C., on May 1, 2024.
Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images

UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty on Friday mourned the death of Brian Thompson, who led the company’s insurance arm, and acknowledged that the U.S. health-care system is “flawed” and in need of reform. 
“We know the health system does not work as well as it should, and we understand people’s frustrations with it,” Witty wrote in a New York Times opinion piece. “No one would design a system like the one we have. And no one did. It’s a patchwork built over decades.”

UnitedHealth Group’s “mission is to help make it work better,” he said.
“We are willing to partner with anyone, as we always have—health care providers, employers, patients, pharmaceutical companies, governments and others—to find ways to deliver high-quality care and lower costs,” Witty added.
The New York Times piece marks Witty’s first public comments since last week’s fatal shooting of Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the largest private insurer in the U.S. UnitedHealth Group is the nation’s biggest health-care conglomerate based on revenue. Its nearly $475 billion market cap has shrunk since Thompson’s death on Dec. 4.
Luigi Mangione, 26, is accused of fatally shooting Thompson outside the Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan as the CEO headed to UnitedHealth Group’s investor day. Investigators have said Mangione was a critic of the health-care industry, a widely held view among Americans.
The killing has unleashed a wave of pent-up resentment and anger toward the insurance industry, which has become a popular villain blamed for spiraling health-care costs and difficulties accessing care. From denied claims, rising premiums and unexpected bills, to an overall lack of transparency, patients have flooded social media with stories about their own negative experiences with insurance.

Still, the killing comes after a challenging year for the insurers, which are under pressure to shore up profits. This year in particular, companies grappled with higher medical costs due to seniors opting for surgeries they had delayed during the Covid-19 pandemic. 
Witty acknowledged UnitedHealth Group’s role in the health-care challenges in the U.S.  
“Health care is both intensely personal and very complicated, and the reasons behind coverage decisions are not well understood,” Witty said, noting, “We share some of the responsibility for that.”
He did not provide specifics around what exactly could be done to reform the industry. But Witty said the company, together with employers, governments and other payers, needs to improve how insurers explain what is covered and how those decisions are made. 
He also noted that behind certain claims decisions “lies a comprehensive and continually updated body of clinical evidence focused on achieving the best health outcomes and ensuring patient safety.”
Witty said Thompson had done his best to help patients navigate the health-care system.

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Costco topped Wall Street’s earnings and revenue estimates.
The warehouse club drew more store traffic, as shoppers bought jewelry, luggage and more.
E-commerce sales rose 13% in the quarter compared with the year-ago period.

A Costco Wholesale store in Connecticut.
Lindsey Nicholsonp | Getty Images

Costco on Thursday beat Wall Street’s quarterly earnings and sales estimates, as e-commerce sales jumped and shoppers bought jewelry, luggage and furniture.
On the membership-based warehouse club’s earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Gary Millerchip said customers have remained selective with purchases. But, he added, they have shown they’re willing to spend, especially as inflation comes down, if they see a “combination of newness of items, quality and value.”

He said Costco’s strong sales of meat and produce indicate that shoppers are dining out less and cooking at home more.
And, he added, the retailer has seen a “bifurcation with the member,” with some who are still spending on “high-quality premium cuts” and others with “a gravitation towards those lower price per pound items across categories like poultry and cuts of beef and pork as well.”
Here is how the warehouse club did for the fiscal first quarter compared to what Wall Street expected, according to a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: $4.04 vs. $3.79 expected
Revenue: $62.15 billion vs. $62.08 billion expected

In the three-month period that ended Nov. 24, Costco’s net income rose to $1.80 billion, or $4.04 per share, from $1.59 billion, or $3.58 per share in the year-ago period. Revenue increased from $57.80 billion in the year-ago period.
Costco has benefited from its reputation for selling bulk items at better value, as U.S. households feel the cumulative effect of higher food and housing prices. The membership-based club also hiked its annual membership fee for the first time in about seven years. The quarterly results are the first Costco has reported since that fee increase took effect in September.

Costco’s membership fee revenue came in at $1.17 billion, compared to the $1.16 billion Wall Street had expected. It jumped by almost 8% year over year, excluding the impact of foreign exchange rates.
But on the company’s earnings call, Millerchip said the membership fee hike didn’t have much of an effect yet because of deferred accounting. It represented less than 1% of fee growth in the quarter, he said.
Comparable sales for the company increased 5.2% year over year. In the U.S., comparable sales rose 5.2% as well.
Customers visited Costco’s stores and website more during the quarter. Traffic rose 5.1% globally and 4.9% in the U.S. The company’s average ticket was up 0.1% worldwide and 0.3% in the U.S., including the negative impact of gas deflation and foreign exchange rates. If adjusted to exclude those, average ticket would have risen 2% worldwide and 2.3% in the U.S.
Gold and jewelry, gift cards, home furnishings, sporting goods, health and beauty aids, luggage kiosk and hardware were all up double digits year over year, Millerchip said.
In Costco’s fresh category, which includes items like produce, sales grew by high single-digits in the quarter, Millerchip said. Sales of meat were up by double-digits, as some members continued to purchase pricier premium cuts and other bought low-cost options, he said.
Costco’s private label brand, Kirkland Signature, is growing faster than the total business, Millerchip said. And, he added, Costco has been able to cut prices on some items, such as Kirkland’s organic peanut butter, its chicken stock and its Sauvignon Blanc.
He said the club’s food courts, optical departments and travel services, such as rental car and cruise bookings, also did well in the quarter, but gas sales declined by low double digits as prices per gallon fell.
E-commerce sales rose 13% in the quarter compared with the year-ago period. The company is gaining market share by shipping big and bulky items, CEO Ron Vachris said on the company’s earnings call, and it hit nearly 1 million deliveries in the quarter, which was a new record.
Online traffic, conversions and average order value all increased year over year, Millerchip said.
Membership renewal rates were 90.4% worldwide, down one tenth of a percent, Millerchip said on the company’s call. He said renewal rates are down slightly as it attracts more new members through digital channels. He said those signups tend to renew at a slightly lower rate.
It ended the quarter with 77.4 million paid household members, an approximately 8% year over year increase, or 138.8 million cardholders.
Costco also hit new records in its U.S. bakery division by selling 4.2 million pies in the three days prior to Thanksgiving and selling 274,000 whole pizzas in its food courts across the country on Halloween, Vachris said on the call.
Costco opened seven new clubs in the quarter and plans to open 29 during the fiscal year, including three relocations, Vachris said. Ten of those clubs will be outside of the U.S. The company has a total of nearly 900 clubs, with 617 in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
As of Thursday’s close, shares of Costco are up nearly 50% so far this year, surpassing the 27% gains of the S&P 500 during the same period. Shares closed at $988.39 on Thursday.

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Warner Bros. Discovery on Thursday announced a restructuring plan to segment its business into linear and streaming units.
Longtime TV powerhouse HBO will be slotted under the streaming unit, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The move could simplify future consolidation.

President and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery David Zaslav arrives for the world premiere of “The Flash” at Ovation Hollywood in Hollywood, California, on June 12, 2023.
Michael Tran | Afp | Getty Images

Warner Bros. Discovery on Thursday announced a restructuring plan to segment its business into linear and streaming units in a move that could simplify future consolidation.
Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery gained 15% Thursday.

The company’s new global linear networks division will house its networks of news, sports, scripted and unscripted programming such as CNN, TBS, TNT, HGTV and the Food Network. A streaming and studios unit will house Warner Bros. Discovery’s film studios and streaming platform Max.
Longtime TV powerhouse HBO will be slotted under the streaming unit, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The update comes weeks after Comcast announced it would spin out its cable networks, including CNBC, MSNBC, E!, Syfy, Golf Channel, USA and Oxygen.
“We continue to prioritize ensuring our Global Linear Networks business is well positioned to continue to drive free cash flow, while our Streaming & Studios business focuses on driving growth by telling the world’s most compelling stories,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said in a statement.
Warner Bros. Discovery expects to complete the restructuring by the middle of next year.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of CNBC.
— CNBC’s Alex Sherman contributed to this report.

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Scott Boras represented Juan Soto in his negotiations with the New York Mets.
Soto’s deal is the largest contract in sports history.
Boras said Soto’s performance at Citi Field also factored into his decision.

Major League Baseball super agent Scott Boras just negotiated the biggest contract of his life.
On Thursday, the New York Mets signed 4-time All-Star Juan Soto to a record-breaking $765 million, 15-year contract. It’s the largest deal in professional sports history.

Soto will be the first player in the MLB to earn more than $50 million in a single season.
“Half the league wanted to participate in this,” Boras told CNBC’s “Power Lunch.” “So many teams were seeking this rare value, because in the end, it was just good business to acquire it.”
Boras talked about the difficult decision Soto and his team had in finding the best fit. One factor in his decision was his recent performance at Citi Field, where the Mets play.
“Juan Soto’s performance levels in Citi Field are well known to him,” Boras said. “He plays at his highest level of performance and players think about execution. You think about all these factors.”
In Soto’s 35 games at Citi Field, the left-handed hitter scored 12 home runs, 26 RBI’s and had an on-base percentage of .466 and .709 slugging.

His longest homerun of his career, 466 feet, came at Citi Field on August 12, 2020.
Boras also shared that it wasn’t all about the money for the 26-year-old player.
“When you’re an athlete, you think about all things, but you primarily also think about your routine, your performance,” Boras said. “There’s vastly more things than the economics.”
Speaking at his introductory press conference, Soto said the Mets had treated him like family.
“They showed me a lot of love on the standpoint of what they have and how they’re going to try to make it comfortable. That’s one of the things that impressed me more, and how they’re going to treat everybody around me and my family,” Soto said. More

Federal Aviation Administration chief Michael Whitaker said he will step down on Jan. 20, when President-elect Donald Trump is scheduled to be inaugurated.
Whitaker, who was nominated to the top FAA role by President Joe Biden, began a five-year term in October 2023.
Trump’s last appointed leader, ex-Delta captain Steve Dickson, stepped down in early 2022.

Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Mike Whitaker listens to a question during a news conference on the FAA’s work to hold Boeing accountable for safety and production quality issues, at the Federal Aviation Administration Headquarters on May 30, 2024 in Washington, DC. 
Andrew Harnik | Getty Images

The head of the Federal Aviation Administration, Mike Whitaker, said Thursday he will step down Jan. 20, the day President-elect Donald Trump takes office, leaving the key agency that oversees Boeing and the U.S. airline industry again without a leader.
Whitaker was confirmed to serve a five-year term as FAA administrator in October 2023. He set production limits and heightened the agency’s scrutiny of Boeing after a near-catastrophic door-plug blowout on a Boeing 737 Max in January, when he was months into the job.

Mark House, the FAA’s assistant administrator for finance and management, will become acting deputy administrator.
The agency has seen several changes in leadership in recent years. These have come during one of the U.S. aviation industry’s most tumultuous periods, which has included two crashes of Boeing’s best-selling 737 Max planes and a subsequent grounding, the Covid-19 pandemic, and series of high-profile close calls and safety issues involving U.S. airlines and airports.
Trump’s last nominee to lead the FAA, ex-Delta captain Steve Dickson, resigned in 2022, midway through his term.
“You have seen leadership come and go — and through every transition you have kept air travel steady and safe. This transition will be no different,” Whitaker said in a statement.
A spokesman for Trump’s transition team didn’t immediately comment.

Trump has not yet nominated an FAA administrator for his second term. His eventual nominee, if confirmed, will face a host of challenges, including continued oversight of Boeing and staffing up and modernizing air traffic control. Shortages of controllers have vexed airline executives, who have blamed staffing shortages for congestion in some of the country’s busiest airports.
The FAA’s oversight of the space industry has also been the source of controversy. Companies including Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin have been urging improvements to the FAA’s speed and efficiency in regulating rocket launches and spacecraft returning from orbit.
Musk also said in September that his company would sue the FAA for “regulatory overreach,” after the agency fined SpaceX for license violations and, according to the company, held up test flights of its Starship rocket. More