Raphael Stevens

SpaceX pulled off its first private spacewalk.
Two members of the Polaris Dawn mission’s crew — Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis — stepped outside of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, protected from the harsh environment of space by the company’s suits.
Isaacman and Gillis spent about seven minutes each outside the capsule, with a focus on testing the mobility of the spacesuits.

Polaris Dawn commander Jared Isaacman emerges from SpaceX’s Dragon capsule during a spacewalk on Sept. 12, 2024.

SpaceX pulled off its first spacewalk in the early hours of Thursday morning, in a historic first for a company.
The marquee event of the private Polaris Dawn mission went smoothly, with two of the crew members — Jared Isaacman and Sarah Gillis — stepping outside of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule “Resilience.” It’s the first time civilians, and not government astronauts, have performed a spacewalk.

“Back at home we all have a lot of work to do but from here, Earth sure looks like a perfect world,” Isaacman, the mission’s benefactor and commander, said after emerging from the spacecraft.
The spacewalk, otherwise known as an extravehicular activity, or EVA, is seen by SpaceX as a crucial milestone in its goal of sending people to other planets.
SpaceX spent more than two years developing suits that can protect astronauts while in the harsh environment of space alongside the Polaris Program run by Isaacman, the billionaire founder of payments company Shift4. The mission is also the first to fly employees of the company, represented by mission specialist Gillis and medical officer Anna Menon.

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The Polaris Dawn event took about two hours in total, with the full crew of four exposed to the vacuum of space after the spacecraft’s hatch opened. Isaacman and Gillis spent about seven minutes each outside the capsule, with a focus on testing the mobility of the spacesuits.
SpaceX launched the mission on Tuesday. In addition to the spacewalk, Polaris Dawn reached an orbit of more than 1,400 kilometers from Earth — the furthest humans have traveled in space since the Apollo program — and is performing about 40 science and research experiments, as well as raising funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

The Polaris Dawn crew, from left: Anna Menon, Scott Poteet, Jared Isaacman, and Sarah Gillis.

Isaacman, who first traveled to space leading the Inspiration4 mission in 2021, is leading the Polaris Program in an effort to push the boundaries of private spaceflight.
“This is the inspiration side of it … anything that’s different than what we’ve seen over the last 20 or 30 years is what gets people excited, thinking: ‘Well if this is what I’m seeing today, I wonder what tomorrow’s gonna look like or a year after,'” Isaacman told CNBC before the mission. More

Former NBA player Junior Bridgeman is set to buy a 10% stake in the Milwaukee Bucks, three sources familiar with the deal said.
Bridgeman, the current owner of Ebony and Jet Magazines, is getting a preferred limited partner discount to buy a portion of the team that he played for from 1975 to 1984, the sources said.
The deal values the team at $4 billion.

Ulysses “Junior“ Bridgeman attends Day 2 of 2023 Invest Fest at Georgia World Congress Center on August 27, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. 
Paras Griffin | Getty Images

Businessman and former NBA player Ulysses Lee “Junior” Bridgeman is buying a 10% stake in the Milwaukee Bucks, according to three sources familiar with the deal. The transaction will value the team at $4 billion.
NBA owners will be notified of the sale in a memo Thursday, added the sources, who asked to remain anonymous because the details of the deal are not public.

Bridgeman, the current owner of Ebony and Jet magazines, is getting a preferred limited partner discount of 15%, or a $3.4 billion valuation, to buy a portion of the team that he played for from 1975 to 1984, the sources said.
He is reported to have a net worth of more than $600 million after finding success in a variety of businesses ranging from fast-food chains to being a Coca-Cola bottling distributor.
Bridgeman and the Bucks did not immediately respond for comment.

Junior Bridgeman #2 of the Milwaukee Bucks looks to make a play against the Boston Celtics during a game played in 1984 at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.
Dick Raphael | National Basketball Association | Getty Images

The Milwaukee Bucks are owned by Jimmy and Dee Haslam, Wes Edens, and Jamie Dinan. The three ownership groups each have about a 25% stake in the team.
This would mark the first NBA sale since the league signed an 11-year media agreement with Disney, Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Amazon Prime in July.

The deal shows the Bucks, a small-market team, are continuing to grow. When former Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry sold his 25% stake in the team to the Haslams last April, the team was valued at about $3.2 billion.
The team, which finished third last season in the NBA Eastern Conference, is losing money because it paid a reported $52 million luxury tax last season. The Bucks will likely pay a hefty luxury tax this season as they are paying Giannis Antetokounmpo $48 million, Damian Lillard $45 million and Khris Middleton $31 million for the 2024-2025 season.
The Bucks have two won NBA championships, in 1971 and 2021.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.

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McDonald’s will extend its $5 value meal into December in most U.S. markets.
Franchisees have been voting on extending the value meal in their local markets, and roughly 80% of local markets have opted to extend the deal into December. 
The restaurant sector focused on value this summer, as companies including McDonald’s, Burger King and even Starbucks attempted to lure consumers in with discounted offerings as diners cut back on restaurant spending.

McDonald’s will extend its $5 value meal into December in most U.S. markets as it looks to win back lower-income consumers.
Franchisees have been voting on extending the value meal, and roughly 80% of local markets have opted to extend the deal into December. Votes on extensions are ongoing, so additional locations may be added in the weeks to come.

The value meal offers a McDouble or McChicken sandwich, small fries, four-piece chicken nuggets and a small soft drink for $5.
Owners will also be offering local promotions in the weeks and months to come, in addition to the value bundle, the company said. Deals will also be available in McDonald’s app.
“Together with our franchisees, we’re committed to keeping our prices as affordable as possible, which is why we’re doubling down with even more ways to save,” McDonald’s U.S. President Joe Erlinger said in a statement about the meal’s extension into December.

A McDonald’s McDouble cheeseburger, small fries, four-piece chicken nuggets, and a small soft drink arranged in New York, US, on Monday, June 17, 2024. 
Lucia Buricelli | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The restaurant sector focused on value this summer, as companies including McDonald’s, Burger King and even Starbucks attempted to lure consumers in with discounted offerings. Diners have pulled back on their restaurant spending after years of persistent inflation.
After McDonald’s posted declining second-quarter same-store sales in July, executives told restaurant operators and analysts the company would focus on how to recapture consumers with deals, as they pushed for an extension of the $5 value meal. The offer ran through the end of August, after 93% of restaurants had agreed to keep it on the menu following its initial four-week run in June and July.

In a memo to the U.S. system obtained by CNBC after the July earnings report, Erlinger said McDonald’s struggled to sell diners on affordability in the most recent quarter, adding that he expects “industry and competitive challenges” to continue throughout the year. Erlinger encouraged operators to look ahead to building momentum for next year, adding that “channeling a long-term mindset is crucial” to the company’s success. 
“Reversing the narrative and re-establishing our position as the leader on value and affordability is possible, but it cannot be done overnight,” he wrote at the time. “It will happen through sustained and coordinated actions that show the customer we’re on their side.”
The $5 meal trial performed well among low-income consumers, and sentiment around the company’s value had started to improve, Erlinger said in the July memo. More

Noom on Thursday announced it is offering users access to compounded semaglutide as part of a new weight loss product starting at $149.
The digital health company already offers branded GLP-1s through its platform, but it wanted to give patients access to a cheaper alternative.
Noom said its new offering also supports patients if they decide they want to taper off the medication.

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Noom GLP-1 RX
Courtesy of Noom

Digital health company Noom on Thursday announced it will offer a compounded GLP-1 drug as part of a new weight loss product that starts at $149. 
The treatment will feature compounded semaglutide, the same active ingredient in Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster obesity and diabetes drugs Wegovy and Ozempic. Noom has offered weight loss programs for years, and consumers can already try to access those branded medications through its platform. 

But Noom is the latest in a string of digital health companies to offer compounded versions of the medications as a cheaper alternative for consumers while demand for weight loss and diabetes drugs spikes. Hims & Hers and Sesame have launched similar programs in recent months — and the market for low-cost options has grown more competitive.  
“Our position is that more supply, especially at a reasonable price, is needed right now, not less,” Noom CEO Geoff Cook told CNBC in an interview. 
Wegovy and Ozempic belong to a highly popular class of medications called GLP-1s, which mimic certain gut hormones to tamp down a patient’s appetite and regulate their blood sugar. The compounded versions are custom-made alternatives to the brand drugs, and they can be produced when brand-name treatments are in shortage.
Compounded GLP-1 medications are typically much cheaper than their branded counterparts. Wegovy and Ozempic both cost roughly $1,000 per month before insurance. Most insurance plans cover GLP-1s when they are used to treat diabetes, but coverage of the weight loss drugs is less widespread. Spiking demand can also make it difficult for many patients to find the branded treatments.
Cook said consumers will pay $149 for their first month in Noom’s program and $279 for the following months as the dose of their medication increases. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not review the safety and efficacy of compounded products, and the agency has urged consumers to take the approved, branded GLP-1 medications when they are available. However, the FDA does inspect some outsourcing facilities that compound drugs, according to its website.
Noom said it is working with an FDA-regulated 503B compounding pharmacy to provide its medication for its new program, which is called Noom GLP-1 RX. 
“The drug manufacturer we’re working with generates 20 generic medications, epinephrine being one of them — a lifesaving medication that’s available in hospitals all across the United States,” Dr. Adonis Saremi, chief medical officer of Noom, told CNBC in an interview. “So we’re really confident and happy with our vetting process.” 
The company said it has also introduced a way for participants to taper off the compounded treatment if they would like to stop taking it. GLP-1s are intended for long-term use, which means some patients may end up taking them indefinitely. 
Cook said Noom has seen both anecdotal and real-world evidence that patients are able to maintain weight loss after they stop taking the drugs. Six out of seven patients are off GLP-1s by the two-year mark anyway, he said. 
“It’s prescribed by the doctor, the person takes their medicine, they lose weight, but then life happens,” Cook said. “They eventually stop taking the medication, or their insurance stops covering it, they’ll change a job [so] it’s no longer covered.” 
Cook said not everyone will be able to taper off the medication, so some people will likely end up taking it indefinitely. The company will provide a free year of Noom or “substantial medication discounts” to anyone who regains the weight within 18 months after following its program for a year, it said in a release. 
Consumers can get started with the Noom GLP-1 RX program by filling out an intake form on the website. Noom said one of its contracted, obesity-trained doctors will review the intake form and decide if the compounded medication is appropriate for that patient. If so, the drugs will arrive at their door within a week, Noom said. 
Participants will learn how to inject their medication, and they can use a chat feature to talk one-on-one with a coach and their Noom clinician, the company said. They’ll also have access to a range of psychology-based programming and tools to help keep them from losing muscle mass, such as features for tracking protein intake and engaging in resistance training, Noom said.
And if users decide they are ready to move off the medication, they can chat with their clinician or tap “initiate taper” in their settings, Noom said.  
“I think there’s a lot of folks who don’t want to be on a medication for the rest of their lives, and in any event, people aren’t doing that in the real world,” Cook said. “Our goal is just not to sell more medications. It’s to drive sustained weight loss outcomes.” More