Raphael Stevens

Private holding company Ames Watson acquired bankrupt tween retailer Claire’s in late August for $140 million.
Co-founders Tom Ripley and Lawrence Berger told CNBC they plan on revitalizing the company by upgrading its merchandising and marketing.
Ames Watson said the process of rebuilding Claire’s could take up to a year to be reflected in stores nationwide.

People walk by a Claire’s store on December 11, 2024 in San Rafael, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Claire’s is headed for a major makeover.
The tween retailer, known for its ear piercing stations, jewelry and purple carpeting, declared bankruptcy in early August, the second time in seven years, citing nearly $500 million in debt and an increasingly competitive environment.

Weeks later, private holding company Ames Watson announced it was buying up roughly 1,000 Claire’s stores across North America in a $140 million deal to rebuild the brand. The announcement paused the liquidation process at most Claire’s stores.
“We went and started to do some very deep due diligence, and we came to the conclusion that this was a broken business, not a broken brand,” Ames Watson co-founder Lawrence Berger told CNBC.
Ames Watson’s portfolio includes makeovers of other businesses, including hat retailer Lids and women’s retailer South Moon Under. Berger said the company, which has more than $2 billion in revenue, thinks of itself as a “mini Berkshire Hathaway,” buying and transforming companies without any intentions of selling them.
On top of its mounting debt, Claire’s has been facing a multitude of challenges. The retailer is expected to face headwinds from President Donald Trump’s global tariffs, and malls have seen dwindling traffic over the past few years. Competitors, like Studs and Lovisa, have also popped up, aiming to offer sleeker ear piercing experiences.
Fellow Ames Watson co-founder Tom Ripley said he was first introduced to Claire’s through his twin daughters, who both got their ears pierced at one of the retailer’s stores over a decade ago. Ripley said that experience, coupled with customers’ loyalty to the brand, showed him that it was worth investing in.

“It’s a temple to girlhood and that place you buy your first lip gloss, a friendship bracelet and your first piercing,” Ripley told CNBC. “Claire’s has been a rite of passage to generations.”

Revitalization plan

Ames Watson identified three core areas from the company’s research that it believes are central to a Claire’s rebirth: merchandising, labor and marketing. At the same time, the co-founders said they’re intent on retaining the Claire’s identity that was so central to millennials.
With merchandising, Berger said the company plans to update the products in the store to reflect current trends while also retaining the classic look of Claire’s products. The new products might include collaborations or exclusives, he added, with the company eyeing a line of products specifically curated for sleepovers.
“I think the merchandising, probably 70% of it is pretty good, but there’s 30% that I think we need to change,” Berger said. “So I think it’ll take us six to nine months for the customers to see that.”
Ames Watson also plans on increasing pay, benefits and training for store employees, including having a dedicated “piercing excellence team” that will travel around the country and train piercers at every store. The piercing stations themselves will also be receiving an upgrade, Berger added.
Finally, the new Claire’s will lean into fresh marketing that connects with the company’s nostalgia and will bring customers along for each new step of its makeover, the co-founders said.
“We’re going to be very, very open with our community about what we’re changing, in the hope that we can really connect with them and build a relationship that lasts for many, many years,” Berger said.

Claire’s co-founders Tom Ripley and Lawrence Berger
Photo: Ames Watson

The co-founders said their strategy with taking Lids from a struggling retailer to a revitalized business is informing the way they’re approaching Claire’s. Ames Watson acquired Lids in 2019 for $100 million and grew the company’s revenue, enhanced its in-store embroidery experiences and raised pay for employees.
For Claire’s, its piercing business is just as central to its brand as embroidery is to Lids because they’re both experiences that customers can’t get online, Ripley said. The framework for modernizing Lids without losing its essential business pieces — focusing on product, experience and people — is the same that Ames Watson plans to use for Claire’s.
“We don’t over-leverage, we don’t outsource the hard work and we don’t flip businesses,” Ripley said. “We roll up our sleeves, do the work ourselves and build for the next generation.”
Ripley said nostalgia is at the heart of the Claire’s brand, and the company is focused on modernizing Claire’s without losing its “magic.”
The storefronts will also get revamps, with the iconic purple carpets getting a fresh cleaning and the presentation of the merchandise getting an upgrade.
“Part of the wonder and fun of Claire’s is the ability to walk in that store, and you don’t know what to expect. You sort of meander around, and you discover things,” Berger said. “We don’t want to change that.”

The co-founders said they hope the rebirth of Claire’s will also speak to the millennial moms who would bring their children to stores. The pair said the company is experimenting with adding products in the store for the generation of women who grew up with Claire’s at its height.
With these changes, Ripley and Berger said they hope Claire’s will reemerge as the major player it once was in malls across America.
“Our hope is that we’ll be profitable from day one — that’s what our investment thesis is and, to be frank, that’s what healthy companies are,” Berger said. “We believe that it’s structured in a way that it should be profitable, but that means that we’ve got to do our jobs right.” More

YouTube TV and NBCUniversal are ramping up for a carriage dispute that could lead to a blackout at the end of the month.
NBCUniversal has never pulled its programming from any video distributor in its history within in the U.S.
YouTube TV said in a statement it will issue a $10 credit to all customers if NBCUniversal programming is off the air for “an extended period of time.”

INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 17: A detail view of a NBC Sunday Night Football video camera during the first half between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium on November 17, 2024 in Inglewood, California.
Ric Tapia | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images

YouTube TV subscribers may soon be without “Sunday Night Football,” “The Voice” and other NBCUniversal programming as the parties ramp up for a carriage dispute that could lead to a blackout at the end of the month.
CNBC reported the two sides could be headed for a potential blackout earlier Thursday. It’s a sign of YouTube’s relatively newfound muscle in streaming and television.

YouTube TV has about 10 million subscribers, according to people familiar the matter.
NBCUniversal said in a statement that YouTube TV “has refused the best rates and terms in the market, demanding preferential treatment and seeking an unfair advantage over competitors to dominate the video marketplace — all under the false pretends of fighting for the consumer. The result: YouTube TV customers will lose access to NBCUniversal’s premium programming.”
Starting Thursday night, NBCUniversal will begin running messages for YouTube TV customers alerting them to the impending loss of networks if a deal isn’t reached.

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NBCUniversal has never “gone dark” in its history in the U.S., both under the ownership of Comcast and General Electric before that, according to a company spokesperson.
YouTube TV issued its own statement Thursday, saying, “NBCUniversal is asking us to pay more than what they charge consumers for the same content on Peacock, which would mean less flexibility and higher prices for our subscribers. We are committed to working with NBCUniversal to reach a fair deal for both sides ahead of our current agreement expiring on September 30. If their content is unavailable for an extended period of time, we’ll offer our subscribers a $10 credit.”
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC upon Comcast’s planned spinoff of Versant. More

Costco topped fourth-quarter earnings and revenue estimates.
The warehouse club has been winning over younger members with better merchandise and stronger digital offerings.
E-commerce sales increased by 13.5% compared with the year-ago period, excluding the impacts from changes in gas prices and foreign exchange.

A Costco store in Richmond, California, US, on Thursday, May 29, 2025.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Costco on Thursday topped Wall Street’s expectations for quarterly earnings and revenue as the warehouse club posted double-digit gains in both membership income and its e-commerce business.
Unlike many other retailers, the company does not share an annual outlook.

On the company’s earnings call, CFO Gary Millerchip said the retailer has worked hard to offset higher tariff costs. In some cases, it has introduced new items from its Kirkland Signature private-label brand as alternatives to goods hit by tariffs, he said. About a third of Costco’s U.S. sales come from imported goods.
Costco is also changing its merchandise assortment in some cases, he said, such as buying more U.S.-made items or leaning into categories with less tariff exposure like health and beauty.
He said overall inflation remained in the low- to mid-single-digit range, with food price increases similar to last quarter. Yet for the second consecutive quarter, he said inflation returned for non-food merchandise, primarily driven by imported items.
Shares of the retailer fell slightly in extended trading.
Here’s how Costco did in its fiscal fourth quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: $5.87 vs $5.80 expected
Revenue: $86.16 billion vs. $86.06 billion expected

Costco’s net income for the three-month period that rose to $2.61 billion, or $5.87 per share, compared with $2.35 billion, or $5.29 per share a year earlier. Revenue increased from $79.7 billion in the year-ago period.
Same-store sales, an industry metric that takes out one-time factors such as store openings and closures, rose 6.4% excluding the impact from changes in gas prices and foreign exchange. That result, which was reported along with Costco’s August sales numbers, marks two quarters in a row of decelerating same-store sales.
E-commerce sales increased by 13.5% compared with the year-ago period, excluding the impacts from changes in gas prices and foreign exchange.
For the full year, e-commerce sales exceeded $19.6 billion, a 15% year over year increase, Vachris said on the company’s earnings call. That amounts to a little over 7% of Costco’s net sales for the year.
Vachris said Costco is adding more digital features, including the rollout of checkout technology to clubs that makes it faster for employees to scan small- and medium-sized transactions. It’s improving the search features on its website and app. And, he said, it’s created a virtual waiting room on its website for high-demand items like Pokemon cards during peak traffic periods.
As U.S. consumers look for value, Costco and its warehouse club competitors have opened new locations and attracted more members. Younger shoppers have signed up for the stores as the retailers offer more convenient ways to shop online, a wider variety of merchandise and cheaper meals.
In an interview this summer, Millerchip told CNBC that the average age of the company’s members has fallen, and just under half of its new signups each year from people under 40.
As members across age groups join, Costco’s revenue, which includes net sales and membership fees, has also grown. Its full-year revenue totaled $275.24 billion, up about 8.1% year over year.
In the quarter, its membership fee income jumped about 14%, which reflects its increase in paying shoppers, the rising number of members who are upgrading to higher-tier memberships and its higher annual fee. Last fall, it raised its membership fee for the first time since 2017. Costco shoppers now pay $5 more per year or $10 more annually for its higher-tier membership when their annual fee renews.
Millerchip said on the company’s earnings call that the membership fee increase accounted for a little less than half of its membership fee income growth in the quarter.
On the company’s earnings call, CEO Ron Vachris said Costco opened 27 new warehouses, including three relocations. It plans to open another 35 warehouses in the coming fiscal year, including five relocations.
Traffic to stores and Costco’s website rose 3.7% globally during the quarter, Millerchip said on the call. Meanwhile, average transaction size climbed 2.6% worldwide, excluding gas and foreign exchange changes, he added.
During the quarter, sales in Costco’s fresh category, which includes perishable items, grew by high-single-digits led by double-digit gains in meat, Millerchip said on the company’s earnings call. Non-food grew by high-single-digits, too, as jewelry, gift cards, toys and men’s apparel all rose by double-digits year over year.
Gold bars, however, were less of a growth driver in the quarter because Costco is lapping a year-ago period when it first started to sell the item, Millerchip said.
Shares of Costco have jumped by about 180% over the past five years. Yet the retailer has underperformed the market more recently, as shares are up just over 2% so far this year compared to the S&P 500’s more than 12% gains during the same time. More

Acclaimed music producer Jack Antonoff is rejecting claims by Live Nation Entertainment CEO Michael Rapino that concert tickets are still “underpriced.”
Antonoff argued that ticket resales above face value creates confusion and exploitation, distancing artists from their audiences.
Rapino’s comments at the Game Plan conference came just days before the Federal Trade Commission sued Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster for what it called “illegal” ticket resale tactics.

Jack Antonoff speaks on stage at “Up Close & Personal” In My Studio With…Jack Antonoff at The Village Recording Studio on Aug. 11, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Unique Nicole | Getty Images

Acclaimed music producer Jack Antonoff is rejecting claims by Live Nation Entertainment CEO Michael Rapino that concert tickets are still “underpriced.”
The CEO’s comments came at the CNBC Sport and Boardroom Game Plan conference last week, when he said, “In sports, I joke it’s like a badge of honor to spend [$70,000] for Knicks courtside. … When you read about the ticket prices going up, it’s still an average concert price [of] $72. Try going to a Laker game for that, and there’s 80 of them [in a season].”

Antonoff responded to those comments in a post on X Thursday saying, “this really breaks my heart and is a sick way of looking at.”
“Answer is simple: Selling a ticket for more than its face value should be illegal,” he wrote. “Then there is no chaos, and you give us back the control instead of creating a bizarre free market of confusion amongst the audience who we love and care for.”
Antonoff, famous for working with superstar Taylor Swift, also pointed to ticket resellers allegedly hiking prices on the Live Nation site. He went on to say his team tries to find “new ideas” to get around things like dynamic pricing to make concerts more affordable for fans.
“It could all be so easy if the people up top didn’t see the audience as a faceless group to extort money from,” Antonoff wrote.
Rapino’s comments at the Game Plan conference came just days before the Federal Trade Commission sued Live Nation and its subsidiary Ticketmaster for what it called “illegal” ticket resale tactics. In the filing, the FTC explained that the companies “tacitly worked” with scalpers that enabled them to “unlawfully purchase” tickets to increase profits.

″[Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s] illegal conduct frustrates artists’ desire to maintain affordable ticket prices that fit the needs of ordinary American families, costing ordinary fans millions of dollars every year,” the lawsuit read.
Live Nation did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Live Nation is also being sued by the U.S. Department of Justice to break up the company over alleged antitrust violation.
“We allege that Live Nation relies on unlawful, anticompetitive conduct to exercise its monopolistic control over the live events industry in the United States at the cost of fans, artists, smaller promoters, and venue operators,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland in a May 2024 statement announcing the lawsuit. More

New car sales are seeing a surprising boost heading into the fourth quarter.
Consumers are worried about changing regulations on tariffs, electric vehicles and more, meaning many are rushing to buy vehicles now.
Cox Automotive raised its 2025 new vehicle U.S. sales forecast to 16.1 million from a previous range of 15.6 million to 15.7 million due to stronger-than-expected demand so far this year.

GMC SUVs parked outside a GMC Buick dealership in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, on March 22, 2025.
Artur Widak | Nurphoto | Getty Images

DETROIT — Uncertainty surrounding U.S. regulations on tariffs, electric vehicles and other auto-related issues have given new car sales a surprising boost heading into the fourth quarter, according to a new industry analysis.
Cox Automotive on Thursday raised its 2025 new vehicle U.S. sales forecast to 16.1 million from a previous range of 15.6 million to 15.7 million due to stronger-than-expected demand so far this year. That would be up from roughly 16 million vehicles sold domestically in 2024.

Cox’s updated forecast is in-line with other industry estimates of 16.1 million units from J.D. Power and 16.2 million vehicles from Edmunds.
Cox analysts said the resilient sales — forecast to be up 4.6% compared with the same time period last year — are due to consumers deciding not to wait to buy a new vehicle for fear of higher prices.
The first bump occurred earlier in the year amid President Donald Trump’s announcements of tariffs. That was followed more recently by a surge in EV sales ahead of the end of an up to $7,500 federal credit for the purchase of such vehicles that will be eliminated at the end of this month.
“The role of changing policies has been a positive story for the new vehicle market so far, with sales running well ahead of last year’s pace,” Cox Automotive senior economist Charlie Chesbrough said during a Thursday webinar. “A strong stock market is supporting vehicle demand and uncertainty around future. Higher prices [are] leading many potential vehicle buyers to purchase sooner rather than later.”
The pull-ahead in sales has benefitted the U.S. automotive industry so far this year, but Chesbrough said the pace of sales — currently at 16.3 million — is expected to slow in the fourth quarter and into next year.

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“We expect Q4 sales to slow as demand for EVs and plug-ins falls once tax credits expire and tariff costs are incorporated more into pricing for the performance of the manufacturers in 2025,” he said.
The robust sales, as well as regulatory changes eliminating fuel efficiency fines and corporate tax change benefits, have helped some automakers offset part of the higher tariff costs, according to Cox analysts.
Regarding sales, Cox predicts General Motors has benefited the most from the resilient demand through the third quarter, with a 1 percentage point increase in U.S. market share compared with the same period a year earlier. The Detroit automaker is followed by Toyota Motor and Hyundai Motor, both expected to be up 0.6 percentage points, and by Ford Motor, forecasted to be up 0.4 percentage points.
“The biggest are getting bigger, while smaller and more specialized brands are stalling or losing share,” Chesbrough said. “It may be that having more product offerings across more segments is key to capturing more buyers in today’s market.”
Smaller carmakers in the U.S. such as Nissan Motor, Volkswagen, Subaru and Tesla, are all estimated to have lost market share through the third quarter of this year, according to Cox. Jeep parent Stellantis also continues to struggle amid a yearslong sales decline, Cox estimated.
Many automakers are scheduled to release their third-quarter sales starting next week, followed by third-quarter earnings reports beginning late next month. More

Shares of CarMax were down more than 20% on Thursday after the used auto retailer missed Wall Street’s quarterly earnings and revenue expectations.
The company’s results included earnings per share of 99 cents compared with expectations of $1.05 and revenue of roughly $6.6 billion versus estimates of $7.02 billion.
CarMax CEO Bill Nash described the fiscal second quarter that ended Aug. 31 as “challenging.”

A sign is posted in front of a CarMax dealership on April 10, 2025 in Santa Rosa, California. 
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images News | Getty Images

DETROIT — Shares of CarMax fell 20% in trading Thursday after the used auto retailer missed Wall Street’s quarterly earnings and revenue expectations, leading to the stock’s lowest price in more than five years.
CarMax shares ended Thursday at $45.60 — the stock’s lowest close since March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic closed down U.S. auto production and many retailers. The stock is down about 44% so far this year, with the company’s market cap at $6.84 billion. 

The company’s quarterly results included revenue of roughly $6.6 billion, down 6% from a year earlier, and adjusted earnings per share of 99 cents. excluding some special factors, according to LSEG. Analysts surveyed by the financial markets data firm had expected earnings per share of $1.05 and revenue of $7.01 billion.
Other key results, such as sales and net income, were also down compared with a year earlier. The company’s overall vehicle sales fell 4.1% compared with the same period a year earlier, assisting in a roughly 28% decline in net income to $95.4 million.
CarMax CEO Bill Nash described the fiscal second quarter that ended Aug. 31 as “challenging” in the company’s quarterly release. He cited changing market conditions, a pull-ahead in sales earlier in the year due to tariff fear-buying and depreciation in its inventory fleet as some reasons for the company’s lackluster performance.
“For the quarter, each month was down year over year, and each month got a little weaker throughout the quarter,” Nash told investors on the company’s quarterly call on Thursday. “But certainly, we put ourselves in a better position with the start of this quarter, both on an inventory position as well as from a pricing standpoint.”
Shares of other car retailers were also down after CarMax’s results, as many investors and Wall Street analysts watch the company’s performance as an early barometer ahead of other quarterly reporting.

Shares of other vehicle retailers such as Group 1 Automotive, AutoNation, Sonic Automotive and Lithia Motors also fell Thursday, losing between roughly 2% and 6%.
Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that earnings per share for the quarter were adjusted. More

Sales of previously owned homes were essentially flat in August.
The median price of an existing home sold in August was $422,600, up 2% from a year ago.
Supply fell 1.3% last month from July although it is still up 11.7% year over year

A sold sign is posted in front of a home for sale on Aug. 27, 2025 in San Francisco, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Sales of previously owned homes were essentially flat in August, coming in 4 million units on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis, according to the National Association of Realtors. That is a 0.2% drop from July and an increase of 1.8% from August of last year. Sales were strongest in the Midwest and weakest in the Northeast.
This count is based on closings, so people signing their deals in June and July, when mortgage rates were about 50 basis points higher than they are today. Rates began dropping sharply at the start of September, which would not figure into these numbers.  

The upper end of the market is moving better than the lower end. Sales of homes priced above $1 million gained 8% year over year, the top performer. Sales of homes priced below $100,000, however, dropped more than 10% from a year ago.
“Record-high housing wealth and a record-high stock market will help current homeowners trade up and benefit the upper end of the market. However, sales of affordable homes are constrained by the lack of inventory,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the Realtors, in a release.
The Midwest was the best-performing region in August, NAR said, noting affordable market conditions. Median home prices in the Midwest were 22% below the national median price, the report said.

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Supply is what seems to be changing most in the housing market right now. After a pretty big run-up earlier this year, supply fell 1.3% last month from July although it is still up 11.7% year over year. That was the first monthly drop since the start of this year.
Sellers, seeing weaker prices and higher mortgage rates, are coming off the market or deciding to wait a while longer before listing in the first place. There was a 4.6-month supply of homes for sale in August, which is considered lean.

Weaker supply is keeping prices in positive territory. The median price of an existing home sold in August was $422,600, up 2% from a year ago and the 26th consecutive month of annual price gains.
Homes are staying on the market longer, notching 31 days on average in August, up from 26 in August 2024. The share of first-time buyers is historically low at 28%, and all-cash buyers are still king at 28% of sales, up from 26% a year ago. More