Raphael Stevens

Nike is planning to lay off less than 1% of its corporate staff.
The move is part of CEO Elliott Hill’s efforts to realign how teams are structured across the business.
Under Nike’s former CEO, the business was segmented into women’s, men’s and kids. Hill is now undoing that work.

Nike is planning another round of layoffs as part of CEO Elliott Hill’s efforts to realign the business and get it back to growth, CNBC has learned. 
The cuts will impact less than 1% of Nike’s corporate staff. It’s unclear how many jobs will be impacted. Nike’s EMEA and Converse businesses will not be impacted. 

“As we shared in Q4 earnings, NIKE, Inc. is in the midst of a realignment. The moves we’re making are about setting ourselves up to win and create the next great chapter for NIKE,” the company told CNBC in a statement. “This new formation is built to put sport and sport culture back at the center, to connect more deeply with the athlete and the consumer, and to give us the space to create what only NIKE can.”
Last February, Nike announced plans to lay off 2% of its staff, or more than 1,500 jobs, as part of a broader restructuring. The latest round of layoffs is part of Hill’s efforts to change how teams are structured within the corporation. 
Under former CEO John Donahoe, Nike changed the way its business was segmented. Instead of being divided by sport, it was divided into women’s, men’s and kid’s as part of a broader effort to grow its lifestyle business. 
Some critics say that adjustment was among the reasons that Nike’s innovation pipeline fell apart as the company focused on lifestyle products geared to a wide range of consumers, instead of being directed at athletes. 

A Nike store in Hanoi, Vietnam, on July 3, 2025.
Nhac Nguyen | Afp | Getty Images

Hill, a longtime Nike veteran, is now undoing that work so the business is squarely focused on sports and culture. After Hill shared his vision in June, leaders were identified in July to head the new teams, the company said, adding a “small number” of staff will depart as a result of the shifts.

In a memo to staff, Nike said as part of the changes, some staff will take on a new position or level, report to a new manager or join a new team.
Staff will learn if they’re impacted during conversations by Sept. 8. The majority of the new roles will take effect on Sept. 21.
“To make space for these conversations, corporate employees based in an office location in the U.S. and Canada will work remotely next week, unless otherwise informed by your leader,” the memo said.
Since taking the helm of the world’s largest sportswear brand, Hill has been on a mission to reverse an ongoing decline in sales, reignite innovation and win back wholesale partners. 
When announcing fiscal fourth-quarter earnings in June, Nike said it expects its sales and profit declines to moderate in the quarters ahead, indicating the worst is now behind it and the fruits of its turnaround could come sooner than expected. In a call with analysts at the time, Hill hinted at the realignment that’s now starting to materialize. 
“Instead of a men’s, women’s and kids construct, Nike, Jordan, and Converse teams will now come to work every day with a mission to create the most innovative and coveted product, footwear, apparel and accessories for the specific athletes they serve,” said Hill.
Hill said the company would organize into “sport-obsessed teams” which would “drive a relentless flow of innovative product across all three of the brands.” More

Pending home sales dropped 0.4% in July from June, but were still 0.7% higher from July of last year.
Redfin reports 15% of contracts were canceled in July.
Just 16% of Realtors expect buyer traffic to improve over the next three months, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Signed contracts to buy existing homes, known as pending sales, were weaker in July compared with June, and were canceled at the highest rate since at least 2017.
The monthly pending home sales index from the National Association of Realtors dropped 0.4% in July from June, but was still 0.7% higher from July of last year.

Mortgage rates in July were moving slightly higher, which could account for some of the drop. The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed mortgage started July at 6.67% and then moved to 6.85% by the middle of the month and ended July at 6.75%, according to Mortgage News Daily. The rate fell more sharply in August and is now sitting at 6.51%.
“Even with modest improvements in mortgage rates, housing affordability, and inventory, buyers still remain hesitant,” said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the NAR. “Buying a home is often the most expensive purchase people will make in their lives. This means that going under contract is not a decision homebuyers make quickly.” 
Not only are sales moving lower, but buyers are canceling these contracts at a swift pace. Redfin, a real estate brokerage, found 15% of contracts were canceled in July, the highest rate since it began tracking the metric in 2017. This is based on a Redfin analysis of pending-sales data from MLS, a national database of listings.

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The report found cancellations most prevalent in Texas and Florida, citing specifically high rates in San Antonio (22.7%), Fort Lauderdale (21.3%) and Tampa (19.5%).
Redfin agents cited “cold feet” as the primary reason buyers are backing out, according to the report. That tracks with the overall uncertainty consumers are feeling about the current state of the economy.

An NAR survey of Realtors found just 16% said they expect an increase in buyer traffic over the next 3 months.
Regionally July sales dropped month-to-month in the Northeast and Midwest, were flat in the South and rose in the West.
“It’s been a ‘Cruel Summer’ overall: buyers remain squeezed by affordability challenges while sellers have been slow to adjust expectations, leaving the housing market stuck in neutral,” said Realtor.com senior economist Jake Krimmel. “Mortgage rates, too, offered little relief in July.” More

Best Buy topped Wall Street’s fiscal second-quarter revenue and earnings expectations.
Yet the consumer electronics retailer stuck by its full-year forecast, which it had cut in May.
The company is contending with slower housing turnover, higher tariffs and selective spending by shoppers.

Logo of Best Buy displayed outside a Best Buy store in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, on March 22, 2025.
Artur Widak | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Best Buy surpassed Wall Street revenue and earnings expectations for its most recent quarter on Thursday, but stuck with its full-year forecast, citing tariff uncertainty.
CEO Corie Barry said the retailer’s earnings call that it’s “increasingly confident about our plans for the back half of the year” and said the company is “trending toward the higher end of our sales range.”

Yet she said, “given the uncertainty of potential tariff impacts in the back half, both on consumers overall as well as our business, we feel it is prudent to maintain the annual guidance we provided last quarter.”
The consumer electronics retailer said it expects revenue of $41.1 billion to $41.9 billion and adjusted earnings per share in a range of $6.15 to $6.30 for its full fiscal year 2026. In May, Best Buy had cut its full-year profit guidance from a prior range of $6.20 to $6.60.
The middle of Best Buy’s expected full-year revenue range would be roughly flat to its revenue of $41.53 billion in the previous year. Best Buy said it expects full-year comparable sales, a metric that tracks online sales and sales at stores open at least 14 months, to range between a 1% decline and a 1% increase.
Chief Financial Officer Matt Bilunas said the company’s full-year guidance reflects that some shoppers could hold off on purchases in the third quarter. He said the retailer could see a slowdown in the business in October “as people are waiting for those holiday deals to come.”
For Best Buy, back-to-school season is a crucial time as families and students come to the store for laptops, tablets and more. Barry said the company has seen “a strong customer response” to its sales events during the season.

“These results demonstrate an important aspect of our thesis: Our model really shines when there is innovation,” she said.
Shares of Best Buy rose about 1% in premarket trading.
Here’s how the retailer did for the three-month period that ended August 2 compared with what Wall Street was expecting, according to a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: $1.28 adjusted vs. $1.21 expected
Revenue: $9.44 billion vs. $9.24 billion expected

Best Buy’s net income for the fiscal second quarter of 2026 fell to $186 million, or 87 cents per share, from $291 million, or $1.34 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Adjusting for one-time items, including restructuring charges, Best Buy reported earnings per share of $1.28.
Revenue increased from $9.29 billion in the year-ago quarter.
Best Buy has been navigating a challenging trifecta of factors. Customers have bought fewer kitchen appliances as they put off home purchases and projects because of higher interest rates. Some have hesitated to splurge on pricier items because of tariff-related uncertainty or held out on tech replacements as they wait for new or eye-catching items. The company’s annual sales have declined for the past three years.
To spur growth, Best Buy launched a third-party marketplace earlier this month to offer shoppers a wider selection of consumer electronics, accessories and more. On the marketplace, sellers who apply for the platform can list their own brands and items on Best Buy’s website and app.
The company already increased prices on some items because of tariff-related higher costs, Barry said on a mid-May call with reporters. She did not specify which items now cost more and described price increases as “the very last resort.”
Still, tariffs did not have a material impact on fiscal second-quarter financial results, Barry said on the company’s earnings call Thursday.
Barry said that shopping patterns at Best Buy have not changed from previous quarters. She said customers are “resilient, but deal-focused” and have been attracted to the company’s sales events like the one it held in July.
“In the current environment, customers continue to be thoughtful about big ticket purchases and are willing to spend on high price point products when they need to, or when there is technology innovation,” she said.
Best Buy’s comparable sales rose 1.6% in the fiscal second quarter compared to the year-ago period. That marked the company’s highest growth in three years, Barry said on the company’s earnings call.
In the U.S., comparable sales increased 1.1%, as customers bought mobile phones, video gaming equipment and items from its computing category. However, those sales trends were partially offset by weaker sales of appliances, home theaters, tablets and drones, the company said.
Gaming in particular had stronger-than-expected sales in the quarter, thanks to the release of the Nintendo Switch 2, Barry said. The retailer capitalized on the highly anticipated launch by offering a way for customers to pre-order and opening stores at midnight when the gaming console dropped on June 5, so customers could line up and get it right away.
In the back half of the year, Barrie said Best Buy will try to rev up sales in slower categories like appliances and home theater by sharpening price points, adjusting the merchandise it sells and expanding the staffing devoted to them. The retailer has increasingly leaned on its vendor partners to staff stores, bringing in employees of Apple and Samsung for example, to support sales in different parts of its stores.
Barry said the retailer expects brands to ramp up those staffing contributions in the back half of the year.
Best Buy’s fiscal second-quarter online sales in the U.S. rose 5.1% year over year and accounted for about a third of Best Buy’s total U.S. revenue in the quarter.
This is breaking news. Please check back for updates. More

Lawyers for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez said late Wednesday that she remains in the role because only President Donald Trump can fire her.
The statement came hours after the White House said it had fired Monarez after she refused to resign.
It’s the latest in a leadership upheaval at the CDC, as at least four other top health officials announced Wednesday they were quitting the agency

Susan Monarez, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), arrives to testify for her confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on June 25, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Kayla Bartkowski | Getty Images

Lawyers for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez said late Wednesday that she remains in the role because only President Donald Trump can fire her.
In a post on X, the lawyers said White House staff in the personnel office notified Monarez of her firing on Wednesday. But the lawyers said Monarez is a presidential appointee, so only Trump can oust her.

“For this reason, we reject notification Dr. Monarez has received as legally deficient and she remains as CDC Director,” attorney Mark Zaid said in the post, “We have notified the White House Counsel of our position.”
It’s the latest in a leadership upheaval at the CDC. The statement came hours after the White House said it had fired Monarez after she refused to resign.
In an earlier statement, Zaid said Monarez “refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts” and that “she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda.”
“For that, she has been targeted,” he said.

Monarez and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were at odds over vaccine policy, The New York Times reported Wednesday, citing an anonymous administration official.

Kennedy, a prominent vaccine skeptic, has taken several steps to change immunization policy in the U.S.
Monarez, a longtime federal government scientist, was sworn in on July 31. She is the first CDC director to be confirmed by the Senate following a new law passed during the pandemic that required lawmakers to approve nominees for the role.
At least four other top health officials announced Wednesday they were quitting the agency shortly after the Health and Human Services Department said Monarez was “no longer” CDC director in a post on X.
In an interview on Fox News on Thursday, Kennedy declined to comment on “personnel issues.” But he said the agency “is in trouble, and we need to fix it, and we are fixing it, and it may be that some people should not be working there anymore.”
He said Trump has “very, very ambitious hopes for the CDC right now.” But Kennedy said the CDC “has problems,” claiming that the agency took the “wrong” approach when it came to social distancing, masking and school closures during the Covid pandemic.
“If there’s really a deeply, deeply embedded … malaise at the agency, and we need strong leadership that will go in there and that will be able to execute on President Trump’s broad ambitions for this agency, the gold standard science and who it was when we were growing up,” Kennedy said. “We’re going to be the most respected health agency in the world.”
The leadership departures comes at a tumultuous time for the agency, which is reeling from a gunman’s attack on its Atlanta headquarters on Aug. 8. A police officer died in the shooting. 
— CNBC’s Angelica Peebles contributed to this report. More

Dick’s Sporting Goods beat Wall Street’s expectations on the top and bottom lines.
The company raised its full-year sales and earnings guidance and said it saw growth in both average ticket and transactions.
In May, the company announced it would acquire Foot Locker for $2.4 billion. The deal is expected to close in early September.

A Dick’s Sporting Goods store is shown in Oceanside, California, U.S., May 15, 2025.
Mike Blake | Reuters

Dick’s Sporting Goods raised its full-year sales and earnings guidance after delivering fiscal second-quarter results that beat expectations.
The company is now expecting comparable sales to grow between 2% and 3.5%, up from a previous range of 1% and 3% and ahead of analyst estimates of 2.9%, according to StreetAccount. 

Dick’s said its earnings per share are now expected to be between $13.90 and $14.50, up from a previous range of $13.80 to $14.40. Analysts were expecting $14.39 per share, according to LSEG.
Here’s how the company performed compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: $4.38 adjusted vs. $4.32 expected
Revenue: $3.65 billion vs. $3.63 billion expected

The company’s reported net income for the three-month period that ended Aug. 2 was $381 million, or $4.71 per share, compared with $362 million, or $4.37 per share, a year earlier. Excluding one-time items related to its acquisition of Foot Locker and other costs, Dick’s posted earnings per share of $4.38.
Sales rose to $3.65 billion, up about 5% from $3.47 billion a year earlier. During the quarter, comparable sales also grew 5%, well ahead of expectations of 3.2%, according to StreetAccount. 
“Our performance shows how well our long-term strategies are working, the strength and resilience of our operating model and the impact of our team’s consistent execution,” CEO Lauren Hobart said in a news release. “Our Q2 comps increased 5.0%, with growth in average ticket and transactions, and we drove second quarter gross margin expansion.”

While Dick’s comparable sales guidance came in ahead of expectations, its full-year revenue outlook was slightly below estimates. The company said it’s expecting revenue to be between $13.75 billion and $13.95 billion, below estimates of $14 billion, according to LSEG.
Dick’s said its raised profit guidance includes the impact of tariffs that are currently in effect. In an interview with CNBC’s Courtney Reagan, Dick’s executive chairman Ed Stack said the company has implemented some price increases to offset the impact of higher duties but has been “surgical” in its approach.
“We’ve been able to do what we need to from a pricing standpoint, whether that’s from the national brands or from our own brands, and then other places where we’ve held price, we’ve been able to do that, and we’ve offset it someplace else, which is what you have to do in these in these situations, and the team’s done a great job doing that,” Stack said.
Dick’s said its guidance doesn’t include any potential impact from its acquisition of Foot Locker, such as costs or results from the planned takeover, which is expected to close next month. 
In May, Dick’s announced it would be acquiring its longtime rival for $2.4 billion, giving it a competitive edge in the wholesale sneaker market, most importantly for Nike products, along with a bigger global presence.
Nike is a critical brand partner for both Dick’s and Foot Locker and, at times, their performance is reliant on how well the sneaker brand is doing. During the quarter, Stack said new drops from Nike’s revamped running portfolio, including the Pegasus Premium and the Vomero Plus, are performing so well, it can’t keep the shoes in stock.
“Anything that’s new, innovative and kind of the cool factor, is blowing out,” Stack said.
However, the acquisition also comes with risks. Foot Locker’s business has been in the midst of an ambitious turnaround under CEO Mary Dillon but the company is still struggling.
In the quarter ended Aug. 2, Foot Locker’s sales fell 2.4% and it posted a loss of $38 million. The company faces a range of existential challenges, including its heavy mall footprint, its small online business and a core consumer that often has less discretionary income than the core Dick’s consumer. 
Once the businesses are combined, Foot Locker’s struggles could ultimately weigh on Dick’s overall results. On the other hand, the combined company will become the No. 1 seller of athletic footwear in the U.S., which will allow it to better compete against its next biggest rival, JD Sports. 
Stack acknowledged to CNBC that Foot Locker’s earnings “were not great” but said the company has a strategy.
“We have a game plan of how to turn this around,” Stack told Reagan. “We think that we can return Foot Locker to its its rightful place in the top of this industry and we’re excited to roll up our sleeves and get started with that.”
Dick’s plans to operate Foot Locker as a separate entity. Moving forward, Stack said the company plans to break out details on how each brand is performing when releasing quarterly results. It’ll provide separate details on how Dick’s performed and how Foot Locker performed so investors can get a sense of what’s going on in each part of the business.
Earlier this week, Dick’s said it had received all regulatory approvals associated with the transaction. It’s unclear if it had to divest any stores to satisfy the FTC’s requirements.
During a conference call with analysts at 10 a.m. ET, investors will be looking for more information on how the combined entities will operate and how Foot Locker will fit into the overall strategy.  More

Amtrak is debuting its NextGen Acela trains on Thursday, the company’s next step in its goal of achieving high-speed rail.
The new trains will slowly replace the current Acela equipment, increasing the top speed from 150 mph to 160 mph.
The launch comes amid years of delays and post-pandemic struggles for Amtrak.

Amtrak’s NextGen Acela.
Courtesy: Amtrak

Amtrak rolled out its NextGen Acela trains on Thursday, marking the next phase for the U.S.’s attempt at high-speed rail.
Dubbing itself as “America’s only high-speed rail service,” the new trains will run between Washington, D.C., and Boston, with a top speed of 160 mph. It’s an extension of Amtrak’s existing Acela trains, which run through the busy Northeast corridor and operate at speeds up to 150 mph on certain sections of the route.

According to Amtrak, more than 69 million passengers have traveled on Acela trains since the service began at the end of 2000. In fiscal year 2024, Amtrak said customers rode more than 3 million Acela trips, generating nearly $530 million in ticket revenue.
The new trains, contracted with French manufacturer Alstom, will replace the current Acela equipment. Amtrak said the NextGen Acela trains will accommodate 27% more customers and have enhanced features like free, high-speed Wi-Fi, as well as wider seats, a tilt system that enables a smoother ride and more daily departures.
At its launch, Amtrak said it will begin with five new trains, aiming to deploy all 28 by 2027.

Inside Amtrak’s NextGen Acela train.
Courtesy: Amtrak

“I think America deserves high-speed rail,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a Wednesday event with Amtrak in Washington, D.C. “This is, at 160 miles an hour, one great step in that process.”
Like its predecessor, the Acela fleets offer only first class and business class seating. The rail company will operate both the older trains and newer models over the next few months as more of the NextGen trains are added.

“These trains are beautiful, they are fast, they are state-of-the-art, and they are American-made,” Amtrak President Roger Harris said at the Wednesday event. “There has never been a better way to travel by train in America.”
The parts for the new trains were manufactured in 29 states, with 95% produced within the U.S., Amtrak said, adding that the manufacturing generated more than 1,200 new jobs.
As of 2024, Amtrak owned 16 Acela trainsets.

A rocky track record

Amtrak employees walk past the Amtrak NextGen Acela, an all-new high speed train running between Washington, DC, and Boston, prior to the train’s inaugural departure from Union Station in Washington, DC, August 27, 2025.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images

The new trains are not without struggles. Amtrak originally planned on debuting them in 2022, but faced numerous delays.
In May, Amtrak said it was eliminating 450 roles to save $100 million in annual costs. That came after the White House reportedly forced CEO Stephen Gardner to resign in March as President Donald Trump called for changes. Amtrak has yet to name a new CEO.
The rail company has also lost money for years. In fiscal year 2024, Amtrak reported $3.6 billion in revenue compared with $8.8 billion in capital and operating expenses. It recovered 84% of its operating costs with ticket sales and other revenue, Amtrak added.
The new trains are also significantly slower than their high-speed counterparts in Europe and Asia, with Japanese bullet trains operating at a top speed of 200 mph.
It’s not America’s first attempt at the high-speed rail, either.
California has aimed for more than a decade to build a bullet train that can travel between Los Angeles and San Francisco in under three hours. That vision has since been trimmed, aiming to now connect just a 170-mile stretch of land with questions surrounding its viability.
Last month, Duffy formally terminated all of the California High-Speed Rail Association’s federal funding after a Federal Railroad Administration report determined that the project was unable to complete its goals, and on Tuesday, he pulled an additional $175 million from the project. The state of California has filed to sue the government for what it calls an “illegal” action with the canceled federal funding.
Private rail company Brightline has also attempted the high-speed rail formula in Florida. The company aims to privatize the rail system and has welcomed millions of passengers on its trains, which travel at 125 mph.
But Brightline has had its fair share of financial struggles. The company is facing looming debt and reported a net loss of roughly $549 million in 2024, marking an uncertain road ahead. More