Raphael Stevens

Space infrastructure company Redwire reported second-quarter results Monday.
“Our outstanding commercial and operational improvement continued in the second quarter of 2023, leading to record financial performance on both a sequential and year-over-year basis,” Redwire Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Baliff said in a statement.
It also reaffirmed full-year revenue guidance, as it expects to bring in between $220 million and $250 million in 2023.

A Redwire Corporation banner is displayed at the New York Stock Exchange, Sept. 8, 2021.
Source: NYSE

Space infrastructure company Redwire said Monday that it nearly erased its net losses during the second quarter and further grew its contract backlog.
Redwire brought in $60.1 million in second-quarter revenue, up 64% from the same period a year ago. Its backlog of contracted orders increased nearly 70% year over year, to $272.8 million from $162.1 million a year prior.

The company trimmed its net loss to $5.5 million, dropping the amount 93% from $77 million in the quarter a year ago.
“Our outstanding commercial and operational improvement continued in the second quarter of 2023, leading to record financial performance on both a sequential and year-over-year basis,” Redwire Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Baliff said in a statement.
Redwire stock rose as much as 8% in after-hours trading from its close at $3.43 a share. Shares of Redwire have climbed more than 70% this year.

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The company also reaffirmed full-year revenue guidance, saying it expects to bring in between $220 million and $250 million in 2023.
The company had $36.2 million in available liquidity at the end of the quarter, which was a split mix of cash and borrowing capacity. More

Paramount Global reached an agreement to sell book publisher Simon & Schuster to private equity firm KKR for $1.62 billion.
The media company announced the deal after it reported second-quarter earnings on Monday.
Paramount’s overall revenue fell 2% to $7.6 billion, while the TV segment was dragged down by lower advertising revenue.

The publishing offices of Simon and Schuster in New York.
Amy T. Zielinski | Newscast | Universal Images Group | Getty Images

Paramount Global agreed to sell book publisher Simon & Schuster to private equity giant KKR for $1.62 billion, the media company said Monday as it reported earnings.
KKR’s entry into the book publishing space comes months after Paramount scrapped its initial agreement to sell Simon & Schuster to rival Penguin Random House — which was valued at $2.2 billion — after a federal judge rejected the merger and it raised red flags with the government.

Paramount’s stock was up nearly 4% in after-hours trading.
Paramount executives said during Monday’s earnings call that the proceeds of the Simon & Schuster sale would be used in the company’s ongoing effort to pay down debt.
The $200 million termination fee Paramount received from Penguin when that deal was scrapped, along with the money saved when the company cut its dividend, will also go toward lowering leverage, CFO Naveen Chopra said Monday.
Paramount has also been considering offloading a majority stake in BET Media Group, the owner of the BET cable network and studio, VH1 and the streaming service BET+, CNBC previously reported. Paramount CEO Bob Bakish said on Monday’s call that he wouldn’t comment on any specific moves, but said the company was open to divesting, acquiring and partnering to drive shareholder value.
Paramount reported revenue of $7.62 billion for the quarter, down about 2% year-over-year, as the company’s TV segment was once again dragged down by lower advertising revenue.

For the quarter ended June 30, Paramount reported a net loss of $299 million, or 48 cents a share, compared with earnings of $419 million, or 62 cents per share, in the same period last year.
Media companies have been grappling with a soft advertising market, particularly affecting the traditional TV business.
Advertising revenue in the TV segment fell 10%. Revenue in the TV business revenue overall dropped 2% to $5.16 billion.
Executives said Monday that the advertising revenue on traditional TV during the third quarter would be similar to the first half of the year, but they expect it to improve during the fourth quarter. Advertising has been weak as businesses worry about the prospect of a recession.

In this photo illustration, Paramount+ (Paramount Plus) logo is seen on a smartphone against its website in the background.
Pavlo Gonchar | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images

Advertising revenue on digital platforms like Paramount+ and the free, ad-supported Pluto, is expected to grow, however. Media companies have been leaning on advertising to reach profitability for their streaming businesses as subscriber growth has stagnated.
Advertising revenue for the streaming business rose 21%.
Paramount said its streaming segment continued to grow. Paramount+ had about 61 million subscribers by the end of the quarter, and subscription revenue grew more than 47% to $1.22 billion.
Paramount+ recently combined with Showtime’s streaming app, and increased its prices.
The price increase is driving average revenue per user and overall streaming revenue, and the company will fully see the benefits of the change next year, Chopra said Monday.
Raising prices, in addition to adding ad-supported tiers, has allowed media companies to push streaming businesses toward profitability. Chopra noted pricing and tier changes will also roll out internationally, and the company believes that it has room to raise prices over time due to its strong portfolio of content.
Meanwhile, revenue for Paramount’s film business fell 39% to $831 million, since last year the period included the release of “Top Gun: Maverick,” the highest grossing domestic release in 2022. More

Last week, Panini filed an antitrust lawsuit against Fanatics alleging that it had engaged in “calculated, intentional, anticompetitive conduct” to establish a monopoly in the trading card industry.
On Monday, Fanatics countersued, alleging interference with business relations and a breach of duty to negotiate in good faith.
The dispute comes down to licensing rights for NBA and NFL trading cards.

Track President Brandon Igdalsky addresses the media and fans as NASCAR debuts the new FANATICS fan shopping experience at Pocono Raceway on Friday morning prior to the weekends events for the running of the Windows 10 400 in Long Pond, PA.
David Hahn | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images

Sports platform Fanatics and competitor Panini have in recent days become enmeshed in a legal battle, with a pair of lawsuits between the trading card rivals.
Last week, Panini filed an antitrust lawsuit against Fanatics alleging that it had engaged in “calculated, intentional, anticompetitive conduct” to establish a monopoly in the trading card industry. On Monday, Fanatics countersued, alleging interference with business relations and a breach of duty to negotiate in good faith.

The dispute comes down to licensing rights for professional sports league and their associated trading cards: Panini currently has the league and player union licenses to produce trading cards for the NBA and NFL. It’s held those exclusive rights since 2009 and 2016, respectively.
But Fanatics secured long-term deals with both leagues and their unions to take over the exclusive rights once the existing deals expire in 2025 and 2026, respectively.
In its antitrust suit against Fanatics, Panini alleged that “Fanatics positioned itself to drive Panini and other potential competitors out of the market, and erected barriers to entry blocking their return.”
Panini also alleged that it was not “given an opportunity to bid or otherwise compete for the licenses Fanatics acquired.”
Fanatics, in its countersuit, denied antitrust behavior and said it won the rights because of a superior offer and because Panini had “failed to capitalize on its opportunities.”

Fanatics claims Panini “embarked on a protracted, unlawful, and deceitful campaign of unfair trade practices, strong-arm tactics, and tortious misconduct to hamper Fanatics Collectibles’ nascent business, in the hopes that it could force Fanatics Collectibles to pay an extortionate amount for Panini to terminate its licenses early.”
In a statement provided to CNBC, David Boies, chairperson of Boies Schiller Flexner and the legal counsel for Panini, said that Fanatics’ lawsuit is “a desperate attempt to avoid dealing with its serious antitrust liability as set out in the litigation filed against it last week.”
“If Panini had been as unsuccessful as Fanatics pretends, Fanatics would not have had to use decades-long exclusive dealing arrangements to lock it out of the market, or improperly cut off Panini’s supply, interfere with Panini’s production facilities, and raid its employees,” Boies said in the statement.
Fanatics declined to comment further on the lawsuits.
Fanatics, which started as an e-commerce platform in 2011, has quickly grown to hold exclusive merchandise rights spanning from the NFL and NBA to the International Olympic Committee.
In recent years, the company has turned toward trading cards and collectibles and sports betting, looking to deepen the connection it has already made with millions of sports fans through its apparel business.
In 2021, Fanatics signed a deal with MLB and its players association to become the exclusive licensee of baseball cards, ending what had been a 70-year relationship between Topps and MLB. The move also helped to terminate a SPAC merger for Topps after it lost the MLB rights. Topps was ultimately acquired by Fanatics in January 2022.
In recent months, the company has looked to advance its trading cards and collectibles business, adding things like game-worn jersey patches to rookie cards and launching a livestream shopping experience where card collectors can take part in live card “breaking.”
The company’s specific trading card business was valued at $10.4 billion in September 2021 after a $350 million Series A round that included Silver Lake, Endeavor Group holdings and private equity firm Insight Partners, according to multiple media reports. The NBA and MLB, as well as their player unions, also have equity stakes in the company as part of their licensing deals.
In December, the three-time CNBC Disruptor 50 company raised $700 million to bring its valuation to $31 billion. More

Lucid generated just over $150 million in revenue in the second quarter, less than Wall Street had expected.
Deliveries of its Air electric luxury sedan also fell short of expectations during the period.
But a $3 billion capital raise in May has extended the company’s cash runway by about a year, into 2025.

In an aerial view, a sign is posted on the exterior of Lucid headquarters on March 29, 2023 in Newark, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Luxury electric vehicle maker Lucid Group reported that its second-quarter revenue fell short of Wall Street’s expectations after it delivered fewer of its Air luxury sedans than expected during the period.
But a recent capital raise has extended the EV maker’s runway by a year, into 2025. The company also said it has begun to ship vehicles to Saudi Arabia. That country’s Ministry of Finance agreed last year to buy at least 50,000, and up to 100,000, EVs from Lucid over the next decade.

Here are the key numbers from Lucid’s second-quarter report, together with Wall Street consensus estimates as reported by Refinitiv:

Loss per share: 40 cents. It was not immediately clear if that was comparable to Wall Street expectations of a loss of 33 cents, according to analysts surveyed by Refinitiv.
Revenue: $150.9 million vs. $175 million expected.

Lucid shares rose more than 3% in extended trading.
Lucid’s net loss for the quarter was $764.2 million, or 40 cents per share. A year ago, Lucid reported a net loss of $555.3 million, or 33 cents per share. Revenue in the second quarter rose to $150.9 million from $97.3 million in the same period in 2022.
Lucid said on in July that it delivered 1,404 Air sedans in the second quarter. That was about 600 fewer than Wall Street had expected. The company delivered 1,406 vehicles in the first quarter of 2023, and 679 vehicles in the second quarter of 2022.  
Lucid ended the second quarter with $6.25 billion in available liquidity, including $5.5 billion in cash and the remainder in available credit lines, enough to last into 2025, CFO Sherry House said.

Lucid had $3.4 billion in cash and an additional $700 million in available credit lines as of March 31, which it said at the time was sufficient to fund its operations into the second quarter of 2024. It raised about $3 billion in a stock offering at the end of May.
Lucid reaffirmed the production guidance it provided in May, when it said that it expected to produce “over 10,000” vehicles in 2023. It had originally estimated 2023 production of between 10,000 and 14,000 vehicles in February, despite a claimed “more than 28,000 reservations” for the Air at that time.
Lucid hasn’t provided an update on Air reservations since, but there have been signs for months that the company faces a lack of demand for the well-reviewed but pricy sedan.
In a bid to spur demand following price cuts from Tesla and other EV rivals, Lucid on Saturday said that it will trim Air prices by as much as $12,400. The company reduced the price of the base-model Air Pure by $5,000, to $82,400.
It cut the price of the higher-end Touring and Grand Touring by $12,400 to $95,000 and $125,600, respectively.
The lower prices apply both to vehicles in Lucid’s inventory and those being built to order now. The lower prices on existing vehicles will be valid while supplies last, Lucid said.
A Lucid spokesperson declined to say how many vehicles are currently in its inventory.
Lucid confirmed on Monday that it still expects to launch new versions of the Air later this year, and a second model — a luxury SUV called Gravity — in 2024.
Lucid said in June that it struck a deal to supply Aston Martin Lagonda with electric-vehicle powertrains, battery systems and related technology. In return, it said at the time, Lucid will receive about $232 million in phased payments and a 3.7% stake in the British supercar maker.
Correction: Lucid’s May capital raise totaled $3 billion. A key point in this story previously misstated that number. More

Boeing said Monday it aims to be ready to fly NASA astronauts with its Starliner capsule for the first time by March.
The company delayed the launch twice this year — most recently due to issues with the spacecraft’s parachutes and a type of tape used in its assembly.
Starliner continues to be a costly and behind-schedule endeavor for Boeing, with the company absorbing about $1.5 billion in cost overruns to date.

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is seen before docking with the International Space Station on May 20, 2022 during the uncrewed OFT-2 mission.

Boeing said Monday it aims to be ready to fly NASA astronauts with its Starliner capsule for the first time by March, resetting its timeline after the company delayed a planned launch this summer.
“Based on the current plans, we’re anticipating that we’re going to be ready with the spacecraft in early March,” Boeing VP and Starliner manager Mark Nappi said during a press conference.

“That does not mean we have a launch date in early March,” Nappi added. “We’re now working with NASA — Commercial Crew program and [International Space Station] — and ULA [United Launch Alliance] on potential launch dates based on our readiness … we’ll work throughout the next several weeks and see where we can get fit in and then then we’ll set a launch date.”
The company continues to work toward Starliner’s crew flight test, which is planned to carry NASA astronauts to the ISS in a final demonstration before beginning regular spaceflights.
Boeing delayed the launch twice this year — most recently due to issues with the spacecraft’s parachutes and a type of tape used in its assembly — and now expects the capsule won’t fly crew until next year.

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On Monday, representatives from NASA and Boeing said work to replace the problematic tape is expected to be complete by the end of September, and a parachute drop test is planned for “mid-to-late” November. Boeing’s Nappi noted that the parachute work “is the critical path” toward being ready in March.
NASA’s Commercial Crew manager Steve Stich said Starliner is 98% complete in terms of progress toward the agency certifying the spacecraft to carry its astronauts.

As for the timing of Boeing’s first operational flight, Stich deferred, saying it depends on the timing and outcome of the final test flight.
“Could we fit it into the end of next year? It’s probably a little too early to tell whether we could fit that flight in or not,” Stich said.
Starliner continues to be a costly and behind-schedule endeavor for Boeing. Due to the years of delays and development cost overruns, Boeing last month reported that it’s absorbed about $1.5 billion in overrun costs to date. More

Hospitals like Baptist Health in Jacksonville, Florida, are looking at ways to leverage artificial intelligence to cut down on administrative tasks which contribute to burnout for nurses and doctors.
Its doctors are using an app from Microsoft’s Nuance unit to transcribe and document patient visits.
While hospitals are requiring doctors to review AI-generated notes before putting them in patient records, there are concerns that process may become too automated.

When Dr. Tra’chella Johnson Foy greets her patients, she sits across from them facing away from the computer in the exam room. Then, she pulls out her phone, and asks for permission to record the appointment.
“It listens in on our visit so I can pay more attention to you,” explains Foy, a family physician at Baptist Health in Jacksonville, Florida, while looking straight at her patient.

Foy and other doctors at Baptist Health have been using the DAX app, powered by artificial intelligence, from Microsoft’s Nuance division since last year. The program transcribes doctors’ and patients’ comments, then creates a clinical physician summary formatted for an electronic health record. 

Dr. Trachella Johnson

The app frees doctors from having to type up notes during patient visits, and from having to finish them up at night. A practice so common doctors have a nickname for it.
“Pajama time — which should be the time where you’re getting ready to wind down and go to bed. We’re usually still charting and noting and doing things that are going to enhance the life of the patient but not necessarily our own quality of life,” Foy said.

The cost of tackling burnout

Harnessing AI programs to put pajama time to rest, and helping doctors and nurses fight burnout, is a top priority for Baptist Health’s chief digital and information officer, Aaron Miri.
“There’s new economies of scale … that health care will be able to get into [by] leveraging AI,” Miri said. “You eliminate all the administrative redundancy, and bureaucracy overhead, and you allow folks to work at top of license.”

Administrative processes like documenting visits, requesting insurance pre-authorization for procedures, and processing bills account for about 25% of health-care costs, according to a National Bureau of Economic Research study. 
The researchers estimate adopting AI to simplify those tasks could help hospitals cut their total costs by 5% to 11% in the next five years, while physician groups could achieve up to 8% savings, and health insurers up to 10%.
But the upfront investment won’t be cheap: An Advisory Board survey of health-care executives last year found that 1 in 4 expected to see costs for artificial intelligence and analytics increase 25%.
Larger health systems like Baptist may be in a better position to fund that investment than smaller hospitals, and more likely to have the tech staffing to help integrate the new generative AI solutions.
“If it cost me X, but I just made my patients a whole lot happier and my physicians a whole lot more productive? Well, there’s an answer right there by itself,” said Miri.

Keeping people in the mix

Right now, hospital systems working with the new generative AI programs to automate administrative tasks are requiring doctors and nurses to check over the automated documents before they’re included in medical records.
“What organizations are doing is they’re looking at these high-impact use cases, but also making sure that they mitigate the risks and looking at ways that we can choose the scenarios where we put a human in the middle,” said Dr. David Rhew, chief medical officer and vice president of health care for Microsoft’s Worldwide Commercial Business.
But there are concerns that as organizations look to cut costs and boost efficiency, automation could take humans out of the mix.
Former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb worries that generative AI could eventually eliminate some doctors’ jobs by creating “large language models that operate fully automated, parsing the entirety of a patient’s medical record to diagnose conditions and prescribe treatments directly to the patient, without a physician in the loop.”
Patients are also wary of how the technology could be used for their own care. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed in CNBC’s All America Survey last month said they would be uncomfortable with AI being used to diagnose medical issues.
Dr. Lloyd Minor, the dean of the Stanford School of Medicine, worries more about how the fast-moving technology could be used to impact patient access to care.
“My deepest fear is that medical data is used in a pernicious way, either to block access to the appropriate health care, or to distort the way that health care is delivered,” said Minor, who helped launch an initiative to promote responsible use of AI.
Last month, health insurers Cigna and UnitedHealthcare were each sued over the use of conventional computer algorithms to deny medical claims.

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“Generative AI should open doors for access, it should provide pathways for providing equitable care that have not existed in the past,” Minor said.
In July, the White House secured a pledge from seven of the leading U.S. companies in artificial intelligence to commit to collaborating within the industry to build in safeguards into the fast-evolving technology.
The group included Google, Amazon Web Services and Microsoft — all three have launched generative AI products for health care.
Health systems are already a popular target for hackers and data thieves, despite rigorous regulatory privacy requirements. Generative AI is developing so quickly, the fear is that efforts to develop safety guardrails for the new technology are already playing catch up.
“It’s very important for us as a society to embrace the responsible AI principles of being able to move forward … so that the good actors are defining the future and not allowing the bad actors to potentially define that,” said Rhew. More