Raphael Stevens

The NBA’s exclusive negotiating window with incumbent media partners Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery will likely pass without a deal announcement, according to people familiar with the matter.
Both Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are actively in talks with the NBA, and those discussions will continue past April 22, when the exclusive window expires.
Amazon, NBCUniversal, Netflix, YouTube TV and Apple have all expressed preliminary interest in talks with the NBA about potentially buying a package of games as a new partner, CNBC reported last year.

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James, #23, during the NBA game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Jan. 7, 2024.
Jevone Moore | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images

The National Basketball Association’s exclusive media rights negotiating window with current partners Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery is likely to expire Monday without a new deal, according to people familiar with the matter.
Beginning next week, the NBA will be able to work on agreements for new partners to show packages of games. Amazon, Apple, YouTube TV, Comcast’s NBCUniversal/Peacock and Netflix have all had preliminary conversations with the league expressing potential interest, CNBC reported last year. The exclusive negotiating window with the league’s incumbent partners officially ends Monday.

While no agreement is expected to be announced by the deadline, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery both continue to work on terms with the league, an NBA spokesperson confirmed. The NBA would like to bring in at least one new partner to serve as a flagship streamer, CNBC reported last year. The league wants a “robust” streaming partner that will use marketing and reach to make the games a priority on their platform, CNBC reported.
“We continue to have productive discussions with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery on a renewal of our media deals,” a league spokesperson said in a statement to CNBC.
Spokespeople for Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery declined to comment.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s TBS began airing NBA games in 1984, and TNT has shown NBA games since 1988. Disney’s ESPN and ABC have broadcast the NBA since 2002. The two companies have both publicly expressed a desire to renew with the NBA and have joined forces with Fox to launch a new streaming service geared to sports fans that don’t already pay for cable. That service will debut in the fall, the companies said earlier this year.

A more complex deal

The NBA is looking to double the $24 billion it generated from its previous media rights deal with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery by adding new partners and charging more for rights, CNBC reported last year. In 2014, during the NBA’s last negotiation, the league renewed its rights with Disney and Time Warner about five months before the end of its exclusive negotiating window. The NBA also doubled the price for its rights in that deal from its previous agreement.

This time, the discussions with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are more complicated because of the likely addition of a third party. Both Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery aren’t eager to lose the rights they already have. Still, the league is looking for a large increase in fees, and neither company wants to carry the full burden of paying significantly more for what they already have, according to people familiar with the negotiations.
That allows for the league to bring in another party — or possibly even two more. The NBA could sell its new in-season tournament package of games to a separate media company other than its primary new streaming partner, one of the people said.
The value of popular live sports programming has increased because of its value to advertisers. While ad-free subscription streaming services have increasingly become the home for popular scripted programming, sports are still predominantly watched live, forcing viewers to see commercials.
Last year’s NBA playoffs was the most watched in 11 years across TNT, ABC, ESPN and NBA TV, according to Nielsen. The 2023-24 NBA regular season averaged 1.09 million viewers, up 1% from last year and the highest across-network average in four years, according to SportsMediaWatch.
Still, regular-season viewership plateaued this year among standard cable and broadcast networks. Across ABC, ESPN and TNT, the average televised audience of 1.56 million was down 1% from last year’s 1.59 million and was the lowest in three years. TNT averaged 1.4 million viewers for its 65 regular-season games, equaling the year prior, according to a Warner Bros. Discovery spokesperson.
The first round of the NBA playoffs will start Saturday.
Disclosure: Comcast’s NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.
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The median price of an existing home sold in March was $393,500, up 4.8% from the year before.
Inventory did improve slightly, rising 4.7% month-to-month to 1.11 million homes for sale at the end of March.
Regionally, sales fell everywhere except in the North, where they rose 4.2% month-to-month. Sales fell hardest in the West, down 8.2%. Prices are highest in the West.

Sales of previously owned homes dropped 4.3% in March compared with February, to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 4.19 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors. Sales were 3.7% lower than in March 2023. This came after a big jump in sales in February.
Rising mortgage rates are likely the cause of the slowdown.

This sales count is based on closings from contracts likely signed in January and February. Mortgage rates stayed lower in January, in the mid 6% range on the popular 30-year fixed loan. They then shot higher in February.
Regionally, sales fell everywhere except in the Northeast, where they rose 4.2% month to month. Sales dropped hardest in the West, down 8.2%. Prices are highest in the West.
“Though rebounding from cyclical lows, home sales are stuck because interest rates have not made any major moves,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, in a release. “There are nearly six million more jobs now compared to pre-COVID highs, which suggests more aspiring home buyers exist in the market.”
Inventory did improve slightly, rising 4.7% month to month to 1.11 million homes for sale at the end of March. That’s a 3.2-month supply at the current sales pace. Inventory is now 14.4% higher than March of last year.
More supply did not cool home prices, however. The median price of an existing home sold in March was $393,500, up 4.8% from the year before. It’s also the highest price ever for the month of March. The annual comparison was, however, slightly lower than the month before.

The spring housing market is getting more competitive, and moving faster. The typical home sat on the market for just 33 days compared with 38 days in February.
Investors pulled back a bit, making up 15% of sales, compared with 21% in February and 17% in March of last year. First-time buyers did make a comeback though, accounting for 32% of sales, up from 26% in February and 28% the year before.
All-cash purchases accounted for 28% of sales, down from 33% in February but up from 27% one year ago. Pre-pandemic, that share was generally around 20%.
Mortgage rates have moved even higher this month, with the average rate on the 30-year fixed hovering around 7.5%, according to Mortgage News Daily.
“Every time you get to that round number, it is always that psychological barrier,” Yun said.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ties to U.S. tech company CEOs have helped to boost the country’s and his own profile ahead of national elections that start Friday.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk will visit India next week, following discussions Modi had with Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Apple’s Tim Cook and Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai last year.
India faces a range of hurdles to ensure future investments.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Apple CEO Tim Cook listen as India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, speaks during a meeting with senior officials and CEOs of American and Indian companies, in the White House in Washington, D.C., on June 23, 2023.
Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images

The ironclad relationship that India Prime Minister Narendra Modi has developed with CEOs of the largest U.S. tech companies is giving his nation the foreign support that India has craved for more than a decade.
Those ties also have boosted Modi’s own profile ahead of key elections that start Friday, a former Indian government official told CNBC on the condition of anonymity.

The promise of further economic growth in India as China’s economy slows has led many American CEOs to support Modi’s policies.
Tensions between Washington and Beijing have also pushed U.S. conglomerates to diversify their manufacturing bases to countries including India to avoid disruptions from any potential conflict.
“Shifting supply chains away from rivals makes India a very important linchpin,” Manjari Chatterjee Miller, senior fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, told CNBC.
The support from major U.S. companies also helps to shield Modi from criticism of India’s continued purchase of Russian and Iranian oil, as most major economies sanction the two nations.
Ahead of the election, Apple’s expansion into India in particular has given Modi political clout and created more investing interest among U.S. companies, experts told CNBC.

“The story of Apple, such a marquee name, has worked in Modi’s favor – not only has it helped the economy, but it has also given him political swagger,” said Pravin Krishna, Chung Ju Yung distinguished professor of international economics and business at Johns Hopkins University.
Modi has established an ongoing dialogue with a range of powerful Silicon Valley CEOs as India’s national election starts.
The election, which will end in early June, is expected to see more than 960 million citizens vote. Polls suggest Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party is expected to win.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) meets with Elon Musk (L) in New York, United States on June 20, 2023. (Photo by Indian Press Information Bureau (PIB) / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Indian Press Information Bureau | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Tesla CEO Elon Musk plans to head to New Delhi next week. Ahead of Musk’s visit, Modi’s government lowered import taxes on electric vehicles for manufacturers who invest $500 million in setting up production centers in India. The move has clearly drawn interest from Tesla.
The last meeting between the two leaders came in June in New York, where Musk brought up India’s high import tax, according to sources. Following Musk’s one-on-one meeting with Modi, he said Tesla was hoping to build a factory in India soon.
However, Tesla’s desire to expand in India goes beyond building and selling electric vehicles. Tesla is also interested in learning more about India’s lithium reserves, which were discovered in 2023, two sources told CNBC. A scarcity of lithium — a key EV component — as electric cars gain popularity has created an arms race among global manufacturers.
Modi’s rapport with corporate America has grown exponentially in the last 18 months as U.S. tensions with China push the West to look to India for opportunity.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang flew to India in September to meet the prime minister and discuss ways to work on artificial intelligence projects. During his trip, Huang revealed plans to partner with India’s Tata Partners and Reliance to build out the country’s AI infrastructure.
When Modi made a state visit to the White House in June, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Apple CEO Tim Cook, AMD CEO Lisa Su, among others, attended a roundtable to discuss opportunities to work with India on artificial intelligence.

Modi faces challenges to more investment

In order to ensure U.S. companies keep investing in India, Modi has some huge hurdles to overcome.
“Land and labor laws are at the top of the list,” Frank Wisner, former U.S. ambassador to India, told CNBC.
India’s current laws make it difficult to hire and fire workers, as well as buy land, which could pose problems for U.S. businesses trying to expand.
If Modi’s government is reelected, it will also be tasked with bringing down India’s high youth unemployment rate of 44% and implement training programs that would strengthen the country’s manufacturing base, adds Miller. If the underlying issues hindering India’s growth are not fixed, that could challenge U.S. companies from continuing to expand there, experts told CNBC.
“India’s reputation as a place to do business can accelerate even further if bureaucratic red tape, regulatory complexities, and mediocre corporate governance are gradually eradicated or minimized,” Dinyar Devitre, an advisory board member of General Atlantic who has served on multiple public boards including Altria, Kraft Foods, SAB Miller and IHS Markit, told CNBC.
For now, the money is pouring in. Foreign direct investment into India has steadily risen from $36 billion in 2014 to over $70 billion in 2023, according to Visual Capitalist. During the same period, investment in China has fallen.
ETF data shows investors continuing to allocate capital into India, according to Roundhill Investments’ Dave Mazza. So far this year, inflows to India sit at $2.5 billion, right behind Japan’s $3.5 billion. At the same time, China has seen outflows of nearly $1 billion.
“India remains one of the most attractive growth and investment stories for this decade,” says Jitania Kandhari, Managing Director at Morgan Stanley Investment Management to CNBC. Kandhari acknowledges that valuations are high but adds that “earnings have kept up.” More

Kam Ghaffarian has helped build the new space economy, with leadership roles at Intuitive Machines, Axiom Space, Quantum Space and X-Energy.
At the center of his ambitions is his family office, IBX — which stands for “Imagine, Believe, Execute” — that he said aims to find “new homes and stars.”

Kam Ghaffarian, co-founder and chairman of Axiom Space Inc., speaks during an interview at the company’s headquarters in Houston, Texas, U.S., on Friday, Jan. 14, 2022. 
Go Nakamura | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Jeff Bezos wants to build permanent outposts on the moon and colonize space. Richard Branson wants to make spaceflight as commonplace as air travel. Elon Musk wants to settle Mars to make humanity multiplanetary.
IBX’s Kam Ghaffarian wants to go even further: the stars.

“There’s this common denominator of combining altruism, to do something purposeful and good, and combine it with capitalism to make a positive impact,” he told CNBC’s Morgan Brennan at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. “The vision for IBX is protecting our home, our planet, and then finding new homes and stars and everything involved to do that. So, on the space side, if we say that the ultimate destiny for humanity is interstellar travel, and going to the stars, then we need to take a lot of intermediary steps to do that.”
It might sound farfetched if it wasn’t for his track record. Ghaffarian has been instrumental in ushering in the new space economy, having co-founded and invested in a cadre of commercial space ventures.
Publicly traded Intuitive Machines, where Ghaffarian is co-founder and executive chairman, recently made history when its Odysseus spacecraft successfully landed on the moon, becoming the first commercial lander to do so.
Ghaffarian is also the co-founder and chairman of Axiom Space, which now regularly sends private astronauts on commercial missions to the International Space Station — the first company allowed to connect modules and provide full-service missions to the ISS — as it works to build its own space station.
With Quantum Space, where he’s also the executive chairman, the focus is on deep space commerce and communication through a superhighway of satellites stretching from earth orbit to the moon and beyond; X-Energy, which he founded, has developed operating nuclear reactors that it says are “designed to be intrinsically safe,” as well as nuclear propulsion capabilities.

His family office, IBX (which stands for “Imagine, Believe, Execute”) sits at the center of this space exploration constellation.
“We’ve got to do all the intermediate steps. I’m with Elon [Musk] and Jeff [Bezos], both my dear friends, to be able to first do the LEO [low earth orbit], be able to go to the moon and Mars, because we’ve got to do those before we can go interstellar,” Ghaffarian explained on CNBC’s Manifest Space podcast.

Follow and listen to CNBC’s “Manifest Space” podcast, hosted by Morgan Brennan, wherever you get your podcasts.

Unlike other high-profile billionaires building commercial space companies, Ghaffarian made his fortune through the space industry, and rather than focusing on access to space, he’s leveraging those falling costs to build out infrastructure and business activities in space.
The Iran-born entrepreneur, who emigrated to the U.S. some four and a half decades ago, co-founded a government services company called Stinger Ghaffarian Technologies that became a top contractor for NASA before KBR acquired it in 2018.
“If you create a company that is fantastic, and you develop unbelievable technologies, but nobody wants to buy it, or there is no business case, then you will have not made any difference,” Ghaffarian said. “How do you create a business model where you are purposeful, you’re making a difference, but also … can provide return to the investors in a massive way?”
Ghaffarian believes the space economy will be worth trillions of dollars — and sooner than many realize. He sees the technological leaps forward in artificial intelligence and quantum computing as crucial to unlocking the full potential of space.
He said microgravity-based pharmaceutical research and industrial manufacturing, sustainable propulsion and energy sources, and the building out of lunar infrastructure will be some of the capabilities and services in greater demand in the coming years.
“It’s normal for people to not quite appreciate it. …. When did people appreciate the AI revolution — 10 years ago? Not really, right? And all of a sudden, now we have this herd mentality that everybody’s jumping in” said Ghaffarian, who also cited the early days of Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Tesla and SpaceX, even air travel, as templates for the space world. “I think we are in the beginning of that in this space exploration and space ecosystem, space economy, and it’s still not there, but my belief is that it is taking off and it’s going to grow rapidly, and I truly believe that they’re underestimating the size of the market.”
As investors catch on, the space billionaire’s ventures will continue to shoot for the stars. More

Alaska Airlines forecast second-quarter earnings of between $2.20 to $2.40 per share.
The carrier expects 2024 earnings of as much as $5.25 a share, well above estimates.
Alaska said travel demand has strengthened.

An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 taxis at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on March 25, 2024 in Seattle, Washington. 
Stephen Brashear | Getty Images

Alaska Airlines forecast second-quarter and full-year earnings well ahead of estimates on Thursday thanks to strong travel demand, despite a first-quarter loss stemming from a midair blowout of a door plug on a nearly new Boeing 737 Max 9 in January.
Alaska forecast adjusted earnings per share of between $2.20 and $2.40, above the $2.12 analysts polled by LSEG expected. For 2024, the carrier expects earnings ranging from $3.25 to $5.25 a share, well above the average of $4.36.

The company’s shares were up more than 3% in premarket trading.
Delta and United have also forecast strong travel demand for 2024 will drive earnings.
The airline received $162 million from Boeing for the Jan. 5 accident, which caused the Federal Aviation Administration to briefly ground the planes. Alaska said it expects additional compensation from the manufacturer.
The Seattle-based carrier reported a net loss of $132 million, or $1.05 a share for the first quarter, down from $142 million, or $1.11 a share a year earlier. It also reported revenue of $2.2 billion for the first quarter, slightly above the estimated $2.19 billion analysts polled by LSEG expected and 2% above last year.
Adjusting for one-time items, Alaska posted a net loss of 62 cents a share, less than the $1.05 per-share loss analysts were expecting, according to LSEG. More