Business

French luxury retailer Printemps opened its first U.S. store in New York City.
The company, which was founded in 1865, has 20 department stores in France
It is opening the store at a time when luxury sales have slowed around the globe.

Printemps’ new store is located in New York City’s Financial District. The store has creative merchandise displays, such as in its sneaker room.
Courtesy: Gieves Anderson for Printemps New York

A piece of Paris has landed in New York City.
French luxury retailer Printemps officially opened its first U.S. store this week in the city’s Financial District. The retailer celebrated its opening on Friday, which coincided with the start of spring — its namesake.

The 55,000-square-foot store spans two floors and carries a wide range of merchandise, including clothing, shoes, handbags, makeup and more. About 25% of its brands are either not available or rare in the U.S., such as the Joseph Duclos brand, a French luxury name that made a handbag sported by Taylor Swift, Printemps CEO Jean-Marc Bellaiche said.
In an interview with CNBC, Bellaiche said the retailer aims to stand out from other luxury players with the store’s eye-catching architecture; unique mix of popular luxury brands and hard-to-find French brands; and programming and services, which include beauty and spa treatments and clothing and accessory repairs.
Printemps Group was founded in 1865 and operates 20 department stores in France. Compared with its French stores, the U.S. location has more of an experiential bent, with rotating displays of merchandise resembling pop-up shops and food concepts, including a restaurant and a café with French pastries. Its playful design is inspired by a Parisian apartment, and it is located at One Wall Street, a historic Art Deco skyscraper.
For instance, one of the highlights of the Printemps store is the Red Room. The Art Deco-style room was decorated floor to ceiling with red and gold mosaics by master muralist Hildreth Meière and completed in 1931. It was previously a reception room and banking hall for the Irving Trust and Bank Company, and was designated an interior landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Printemps restored the room and turned it into a “shoe forest” where shoppers can browse for footwear or order a glass of wine at a nearby bar.

The store also will include Maison Passerelle, a fine dining restaurant steered by Gregory Gourdet, a two-time Top Chef finalist and three-time James Beard award winner. It will open in April.
Printemps is opening the U.S. store as luxury spending slows across the globe. Even some wealthier consumers have pulled back on discretionary purchases because of inflation and economic uncertainty. In China, a key market for higher-end goods, luxury spending has not bounced back to pre-pandemic levels.
Sales in the global luxury industry are projected to grow 1% to 3% annually through 2027, according to a report last month by consulting firm Kearney. The report attributed the slowdown to weaker demand among Chinese consumers, inflationary pressures in the U.S. and economic uncertainty fueled by trade disruptions and policy changes by the Trump administration.
That is a marked change from 2020 to 2021, when global luxury spending jumped about 27%, according to Kearney’s report. Global luxury spending across goods and services totaled an estimated $500 billion in 2024.
Still, Brian Ehrig, one of the report’s authors and a partner in Kearney’s consumer practice, said the U.S. remains an attractive market for luxury brands because of consumers’ resilience.
“On a relative basis, we have the healthiest economy, if you look at the major economies,” he said. “And then the other thing is, Americans love to shop.”
Ehrig added that other high-end retailers have doubled down on investments in large and eye-catching physical stores, too, such as LVMH-owned Tiffany & Co. and Louis Vuitton opening new stores in New York City. He said the in-person experience is more critical in a sector where items come with such high price tags and expectations for personal service.
“There’s something special about being in a luxury retail store, about the way you’re taken care of and you’re made to feel like a VIP when you’re there,” he said. “And there’s just no way to do that online or on an iPhone.”
Other internationally based retailers with lower price points are expanding and opening more stores in the U.S., too, including Ireland-based Primark and Spain-based Mango.
For Printemps, the U.S. opportunity became clear, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, as more Americans visited Paris and came to its stores, Bellaiche said. In terms of sales, Americans are the third-largest spenders for Printemps after the French and Chinese, he added. Yet, Americans are closing the gap, with sales to American customers tripling from 2019 and 2024, he said.
Even with its luxury focus, Laura Lendrum, CEO of Printemps America, said the store mixes in more approachable items for tourists or aspirational shoppers who may stop by for a cup of coffee or browse for a $50 gift.
Here’s a look inside the store:

Printemps turned the Red Room into its shoe department. The mosaic-covered space was designated an interior landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Courtesy: Gieves Anderson for Printemps New York

Customers can also stop for a drink at the Red Room Bar, which is on the ground floor of One Wall Street. It’s one of the food and bar offerings that the retailer added to try to attract store visits and drive repeat visits.
Courtesy: Gieves Anderson for Printemps New York

Salon Vert is one of five food and beverage concepts inside Printemps’ New York City store. It is a Paris-inspired raw bar. The store also includes a cocktail bar, restaurant and café named after Printemps’ founders Jules and Augustine Jaluzot.
Courtesy: Gieves Anderson for Printemps New York

The store’s beauty department is in a hallway that links the building’s original Art Deco tower and its newer section. It will include some brands that are new to the U.S., such as French fragrance makers.
Courtesy: Gieves Anderson for Printemps New York

While browsing for beauty items or clothing, customers can stop by The Champagne Bar.
Courtesy: Gieves Anderson for Printemps New York

When shoppers enter Printemps from Broadway, they will walk into a multicolored marble space with casualwear and gifts. They can also order coffee or a croissant at Café Jalu, which is named after Printemps’ founders Jules and Augustine Jaluzot. The store’s design is inspired by a Paris apartment, and this space is intended to be the playroom.
Courtesy: Gieves Anderson for Printemps New York

The Boudoir-themed room in Printemps New York will display Printemps’ evening and vintage clothing. It will also showcase fine jewelry.
Courtesy: Gieves Anderson for Printemps New York More

London’s Heathrow Airport resumed flights late Friday local time after a nearly daylong outage.
The airport, Europe’s busiest, was closed due to a fire at a nearby electrical substation, disrupting nearly 1,000 flights.
As the fire appears to be outside of airlines’ control, flight compensation may not be payable, according to a note issued by Citi on Friday.

London’s Heathrow Airport closed Friday after a fire at a nearby electrical substation caused a power outage, disrupting travel for tens of thousands of passengers planning to fly in or out of Europe’s busiest airport.
The first flight since the closure departed late Friday local time, and Heathrow posted on X that it hopes to run a “full operation” on Saturday.

More than 800 flights were canceled in and out of the airport on Friday, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware, as of the most recent update, upending travel at the major hub and connecting airport.
Airlines warned travelers that disruptions could continue into the weekend, and Heathrow posted that travelers shouldn’t go to the airport unless advised to do so by their airline.

FlightTracker data after a major electrical fire near Heather International closed the airport on March 21st, 2025
Source: FlightTracker24

London’s Metropolitan Police said that while there was “no indication of foul play,” the counterterrorism division would now lead the investigation into the fire.
“Given the location of the substation and the impact this incident has had on critical national infrastructure, the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command is now leading enquiries,” the force said in a post on X.
“This is due to the specialist resources and capabilities within that command that can assist in progressing this investigation at pace to minimise disruption and identify the cause,” it said.

“Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage across the airport. … Whilst fire crews are responding to the incident, we do not have clarity on when power may be reliably restored,” a Heathrow spokesperson said earlier Friday.

Canceled and diverted flights

More than 120 flights were already in the air when the closure was announced and were diverted or returned to their originating airports, according to Flightradar24. Nearly three-quarters of the flights scheduled to depart from Heathrow, or 500 flights, and half of the arrivals destined for the airport, 300 flights, were also scrubbed.
Airlines around the world due to operate flights into and out of Heathrow told passengers to stay home.
The fire and airport closure left thousands of travelers stranded. British Airways was the most affected airline, with over half of its Friday schedule canceled.
The airline said it would offer “flexible options” for rebooking to passengers set to travel to or from Heathrow on Friday through the weekend, in an online post.
“Our teams are currently working hard to review our long-haul schedule as well as the implications for our schedule tomorrow and beyond,” it said in a statement.
As the fire appears to be outside of the airlines’ control, they may not be required to cover compensation, according to a note issued by Citi on Friday.
American Airlines, a British Airways partner across the Atlantic, said almost 20 flights from Thursday were diverted or canceled and that it provided overnight hotels for affected customers. It canceled another 20 on Friday.
It was not clear when its operations would resume, and a spokeswoman for American said it would restart Heathrow operations “when airport conditions allow.”
European travel and leisure stocks fell on news of the airport closure.

‘Catastrophic’ fire

Workers investigate the electrical substation following a fire at an electrical substation supplying power to the facility, in London, United Kingdom on March 21, 2025. The UK’s Heathrow Airport announced early Friday that it has been forced to close following a fire at an electrical substation supplying power to the facility. (Photo by Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Rasid Necati Aslim | Anadolu | Getty Images

Ed Miliband, U.K. energy minister, described the fire as “catastrophic,” according to Reuters, adding that the airport’s backup generator had been affected by the blaze.
Speaking to ITV’s “Good Morning Britain,” Miliband said the National Grid told him “it’s like a fire they’ve never, kind of, quite seen anything like the scale of what happened before,” according to a post by the program on X.
Miliband added that the National Grid was trying to use another backup system to restore power to the airport.
Power cuts also affected about 16,000 homes around the airport. As of 8 a.m. GMT, electrical supply was restored to all but around 4,900, according to the U.K. energy company Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks.

Travel chaos as London’s Heathrow remains closed. Here’s what airlines are telling passengers

‘It makes Heathrow look quite vulnerable’

Heathrow Airport has an estimated 1,300 takeoffs and landings at the airport per day, according to its website. It handled a record 83.9 million passengers last year — a nearly 6% increase from 2023.
Speaking to “Good Morning Britain,” Miliband said on Friday, “We’ve got to understand why this happened, and we’ve got to work out what the lessons are for the resilience of our infrastructure.”

Firefighters douses flames of a fire that broke out at a substation supplying power to Heathrow Airport in Hayes, west London on March 21, 2025. 
Benjamin Cremel | Afp | Getty Images

He said the National Grid is looking at whether there is “sufficient resilience” in place at the airport, given that the fire also affected a backup generator.
“It makes Heathrow look quite vulnerable. And therefore, we’ve got to learn lessons … about not just Heathrow, but how we protect our major infrastructure,” Miliband said.
Willie Walsh, CEO of the International Air Transport Association, or IATA, an airline industry group, criticized Heathrow Airport for being “totally dependent on a single power source without an alternative,” in an online statement, describing it as a “total planning failure” by the airport.
Walsh questioned who would cover the costs of the resulting travel disruptions.
“We must find a fairer allocation of passenger care costs than airlines alone picking up the tab when infrastructure fails,” he said. “Until that happens, Heathrow has very little incentive to improve.”

‘Very wide’ implications

Anita Mendiratta, a travel and tourism advisor and founder of consultancy AM&A, described the implications of the fire and closure of the airport as “very wide.”

“What we also need to take into account is over and above passenger traffic, over 4,000 tons of cargo go through Heathrow every single day,” she told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe.”
More than 1.4 million tonnes of cargo flew in and out of Heathrow in 2023, according to a post on the airport’s website, with 90% of goods transported in the hold of passenger aircraft.
Airport officials said they will update travelers “when more information on the resumption of operations is available.”
Travelers can check Heathrow Airport’s website or social media platforms, including X, for the latest information. More

Compounding pharmacies were largely supposed to stop making versions of tirzepatide this week, but it’s still available on some popular websites like Amble, EllieMD, Willow and Mochi Health.
Pharmacies were able to make copycat versions of Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and Mounjaro while the drugs were in shortage. But the FDA declared the shortage over late last year.
Mass compounding of Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide — the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic — is supposed to stop by the end of May.

This week was supposed to mark the end of compounding pharmacies making copycat versions of Eli Lilly’s weight-loss drug Zepbound and its diabetes drug Mounjaro. Online, it doesn’t look like much has changed. 
Popular websites like Amble, EllieMD, Willow and Mochi Health are all still advertising versions of tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Zepbound. Some, like Ivim, have stopped taking new patients.

Mochi Health has no plans to stop, and neither do the four pharmacies it uses to supply patients with the medications, said Mochi CEO Myra Ahmad. The company uses a network of about 500 providers to write prescriptions for weight-loss drugs, including compounded versions. It’s betting that offering personalized versions of the drugs will keep the company out of the crosshairs. 
“It can be different dosing schedules … some patients prefer to go up in dosage much more slowly,” Ahmad said. “Some patients like to mix a number of other medications into their compounded formulations, depending on the side effects that they’re having. Some patients have side effects with any additives and brand name formulations. Compounding really opens up the door for so much personalization.” 
Amble, EllieMD and Willow didn’t respond to CNBC’s request for comment. 
Compounding is where pharmacies mix ingredients of a drug to create a specialized version for specific patients. Say someone is allergic to a dye in a branded medication or needs a liquid form and the main manufacturer only sells capsules. In that case, the patient can turn to a compounded version.
When drugs are in shortage, they can be compounded in larger quantities to help fill the gap. 

Copycat versions of Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic have been widely available in recent years because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration listed the brand versions as being in short supply. 
That created a booming business for pharmacies compounding the highly popular class of weight loss and diabetes medications called GLP-1s.
But late last year, the FDA said all doses of Mounjaro and Zepbound were readily available and took the drug off its shortage list, spelling the end for mass compounding of the drug. After months of legal challenges, the FDA gave smaller pharmacies until early March to stop and larger pharmacies until this week before it started enforcing its rules.
The larger facilities aren’t allowed to compound tirzepatide at all anymore. Smaller ones aren’t supposed to make products that are essentially copies of a commercially available drug, a moniker with some wiggle room. The FDA sees essential copies as those that have a dosage within 10% of the commercially available drug or combine two or more commercially available drugs.
Mochi insists all of its prescriptions are personalized, including doses that differ from the standard Zepbound strengths. Other websites like EllieMD are advertising tirzepatide mixed with vitamin B12. 
Scott Brunner, CEO of the Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding, said formulations or dosage strengths that aren’t commercially available aren’t considered a copy. However, combining two drugs into one — like adding vitamin B6 or B12 — would be considered a copy under a strict reading of FDA guidance. 
“FDA guidance are pretty clear about what is and is not a copy,” Brunner said. “And I would say any compounding pharmacy or outsourcing facility that continues to prepare copies of tirzepatide injection after today are putting themselves in a certain amount of legal risks.” 
John Herr, pharmacist and owner of Town & Country Compounding Pharmacy, stopped compounding tirzepatide earlier this month. He didn’t want to take the risk even though his 300 to 400 patients on it have been calling nonstop to complain about losing access.
Town & Country, based in Ramsey, New Jersey, was charging patients about $200 a month — about one-fifth the list price for Zepbound and less than half the price Lilly charges self-paying patients. 
What happens next is an open question. Enforcing the ban on mass compounding of tirzepatide mostly falls to the FDA. The agency didn’t immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Lilly can try to sue companies that continue, but it hasn’t had much luck in the past. A Florida judge last year dismissed one of Lilly’s cases, saying the company was trying to enforce a law that only the FDA can. 
Ahmad, the CEO of Mochi, said she isn’t worried about Lilly taking legal action against her providers. The way she sees it, they have established patient-physician relationships with the autonomy to decide how best to manage their patients.
The next two months will be informative. Mass compounding of semaglutide — the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy — needs to stop by the end of May, according to the FDA.
Hims & Hers Health has already said it will stop selling commercially available doses of semaglutide when the time comes. Customers who have a personalized dosing regimen will be able to continue without any change, the company added. 
-CNBC’s Leanne Miller contributed to this report More

President Donald Trump has imposed 25% tariffs on certain goods from Canada and Mexico and is expected to follow through on broader tariffs starting on April 2.
Related Group CEO Jon Paul Pérez said contractors are raising prices in anticipation.
For now, Related said the high end of the real estate market remains strong, especially in Florida.

Related Group CEO Jon Paul Pérez.
Courtesy of Future Proof and Triangle BLVD

Building contractors are already hiking prices as much as 20% to offset potential tariffs, a move that could also raise prices of new condos and homes, according to the CEO of developer Related Group.
President Donald Trump has imposed 25% tariffs on certain goods from Canada and Mexico, including steel and aluminum, and is expected to follow through on broader tariffs starting on April 2. Even before those wider levies take effect, uncertainty over tariffs and inflation is causing many contractors to hike real estate project costs.

Related Group CEO Jon Paul Pérez said contractors bidding on seven projects that Related has in the works are raising prices.
“We’re seeing [subcontractors] throw an additional cushion into their numbers anticipating tariffs,” Pérez told CNBC during a live Inside Wealth conversation. “It could be as much as 20%, depending on what material they’re getting from another country.”

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Pérez said the price hikes are driven by the anticipation of higher costs, rather than current levels, and noted it’s unclear how the higher costs will be divided between contractor and developer.
“When you go through their numbers in detail and you start negotiating, you quickly find out they’re just sort of padding to protect themselves,” he said.
As a result, tariff fears could add further upward pricing pressure on a housing market that’s already crippled by high prices and elevated mortgage rates. According to a survey from the National Association of Home Builders, rising prices for construction materials could add $9,200 to the cost of a typical home.

Related Group is one of the largest and most prominent developers in the U.S., spanning affordable housing to luxury condo buildings, mainly in South Florida. The company currently has more than 90 projects in some stage of development, including rentals, affordable housing units, mixed-use developments and luxury condos.
Related’s founder and chairman, Jorge Pérez, said that in addition to tariff concerns, the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration could also drive up prices for developments, since the construction industry relies heavily on workers from overseas.
“There will absolutely be a cost effect in our industry, in particular the construction industry,” he said. “Losing these people will have an inflationary effect.”
For now, Related said the high end of the real estate market remains strong, especially in Florida. The company sold two condo penthouses at its exclusive new development on Fisher Island near South Beach, Miami, for a total of $150 million.
Related is also building a luxury oceanfront condo tower in Bal Harbour, Miami, called Rivage Residences Bal Harbour, that is offering a mega-mansion in the sky — combining two penthouses that could total more than 20,000 square feet and fetch over $150 million.
“The high-end buyer is a very particular buyer,” said Jorge Pérez. “Those people are buying over $10 million condominiums and typically they’re very, very wealthy. So they’re less affected, we’re not seeing a decline in that market.”
Chairman Pérez said the “middle market,” or those buying condos in the $1 million to $3 million range, are taking more of a wait-and-see approach given the uncertainties around tariffs and immigration. Many condo buyers in Miami and South Florida are from Canada and Latin America, and are therefore more sensitive to potential changes in immigration policy.
“South Americans are coming and saying, ‘What’s going to happen with immigration policies?’ or, ‘Am I going to lose my visa?'” he said. “We had a project where we just lost seven or eight Canadian and Mexican buyers that were ready to sign contracts, but when all these things came from tariffs, they didn’t want to buy. But I think that will calm down.” More

Nike expects its sales decline in the fiscal fourth quarter, which is set to end in May, to be at the “low end” of the “mid-teens range,” far worse than analysts expected.
The company said its guidance is based on its ongoing restructuring efforts, plus tariffs and sliding consumer confidence.
During the sneaker giant’s key holiday quarter, sales declined 9%, driven by weakness in China.

Pedestrians walk past a Nike store featuring a modern design and mannequins displaying winter apparel on December 5, 2024, in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. 
Cheng Xin | Getty Images

Nike on Thursday warned that sales will drop by a double digit percentage in its current quarter as the sneaker giant contends with new tariffs, sliding consumer confidence and a slower than expected turnaround.
In a conference call with analysts, finance chief Matt Friend said Nike expects its sales decline in the fiscal fourth quarter, which is set to end in May, to be at the “low end” of the “mid-teens range.” It also anticipates its gross margin will fall between 4 and 5 percentage points as it ramps up efforts to liquidate excess inventory and stale styles that are no longer resonating with consumers — a process it expects to continue into fiscal 2026.

“We believe that the fourth quarter will reflect the largest impact from our … actions, and that the headwinds to revenue and gross margin will begin to moderate from there,” said Friend. “We are also navigating through several external factors that create uncertainty in the current operating environment, including geopolitical dynamics, new tariffs, volatile foreign exchange rates and tax regulations, as well as the impact of this uncertainty and other macro factors on consumer confidence.”
The guidance is far worse than analysts had expected. Consensus estimates from LSEG show Wall Street had expected sales to be down 11.4% in the current quarter.
Shares fell more than 4% in extended trading and are down more than 5% year to date, as of Thursday’s close.
Beyond guidance, Nike beat Wall Street’s expectations in its fiscal third quarter.
Here’s how the company performed during the quarter, compared with estimates from analysts polled by LSEG:

Earnings per share: 54 cents vs. 29 cents estimated
Revenue: $11.27 billion vs. $11.01 billion estimated

The company’s reported net income for the three-month period that ended Feb. 28 was $794 million, or 54 cents per share, compared with $1.17 billion, or 77 cents per share, a year earlier.
Sales dropped to $11.27 billion, down about 9% from $12.4 billion a year earlier. Like other retailers, Nike saw strong demand in December followed by “double digit” declines in January and February. 
While Nike delivered a strong earnings beat, expectations were low headed into the release and profits fell 32% from the year-ago period.
During the quarter, Nike’s gross margin fell by 3.3 percentage points to 41.5%, lower than expectations of 41.8%, according to StreetAccount. That’s largely because of the costs associated with Nike’s efforts to clear out old inventory in favor of new, innovative styles. In a press release, the company attributed its drop in gross margin to “higher discounts, higher inventory obsolescence reserves, higher product costs and changes in channel mix.”
Meanwhile, sales were down 9%, driven by weakness in China. During the quarter, sales fell 17% in the key region to $1.73 billion, falling short of expectations of $1.84 billion, according to StreetAccount. 
“I spent some time over there in December. I hadn’t been over there in a while. The competition is a bit more aggressive than what I remembered,” CEO Elliott Hill, who left Nike in 2020 and returned last year, told analysts. “So we’ve just got to accelerate our pace.”
Thursday’s release comes about five months into Hill’s tenure as CEO and his efforts to turn around the business and get it back to growth. He has focused on winning back wholesale partners, reigniting innovation and wooing back athletes that have fled to new competitors, but the work has not yet yielded results.
“I’ll start by saying I’m proud of the progress we made against the key actions we committed to 90 days ago. While we met the expectations we set, we’re not satisfied with our overall results,” Hill told analysts. “We can and will be better.”
During the quarter, sales on Nike’s direct channels dropped 12% to $4.7 billion. Wholesale revenue fell 7% to $6.2 billion.
Plus, since Hill took over, the company is now contending with a new set of dynamics that could make its comeback even harder to execute.
In the three months since Nike last reported earnings, President Donald Trump has put a new 20% tariff on goods imported from China, consumer sentiment has fallen, and retail sales in both January and February were weaker than expected.
Out of the hundreds of suppliers and manufacturers that Nike works with, about 24% of them are located in China, according to a manufacturing disclosure published in January. If the retailer doesn’t raise prices to offset tariffs and can’t push the cost entirely on to suppliers, Nike’s margins are expected to take a hit from the new duties. On Thursday’s call, Nike didn’t say whether it would raise prices or how exactly the new duties would affect margins.
Further, when consumers aren’t feeling confident and cutting back on spending, discretionary products like new clothes and shoes are one of the first things they cut out in favor of necessities. Over the last few years, the overall sneaker and apparel markets have been slow because consumers have cut back on clothes and shoes. But up until recently, strong companies were still performing well and taking market share from weaker competitors.
However, that trend began to shift over the last few weeks when even the strongest of companies started to sound the alarm about soft consumer spending when they reported first-quarter earnings, raising questions about the health of the economy.
During the quarter, sales in North America — Nike’s largest market — fell 4% to $4.86 billion. Still, revenue in the region came in better than the $4.53 billion analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount.
Nike is widely expected to reclaim the market share it lost and reset its business, and some insiders say the company’s problems have been overblown. Even so, the tariffs and economic fears could mean that the retailer’s turnaround could take longer, and be more difficult, than expected.
What’s key to Nike’s turnaround plan is its ability to reignite innovation and create the type of industry-leading shoes and apparel that have long made it the market leader. During a call with analysts, Hill said early releases for the company’s new Pegasus Premium “nearly sold out” across North America and will scale through fall 2025. Its Romero 18, created for the everyday runner, has seen “outstanding” results, and Nike plans to double distribution by mid-April.
“It will take time to reach the volume to replace the handful of classic franchises we over-indexed on, but our approach is simple,” said Hill. “Help consumers fall in love with something new from Nike, and that something is not replacing one icon for another.”
Nike has already made strides in its efforts to grow its female consumer base, another key component to boosting revenue and apparel sales. Last month, it announced it was teaming up with Kim Kardashian’s intimates brand Skims to create a new product line dubbed NikeSKIMS that will include apparel, footwear and accessories. The buzzy partnership is expected to give Nike improved inroads with women and allow it to better compete with Lululemon, Alo Yoga and Vuori, which cater more to women than Nike currently does.
Further, Nike debuted a new ad campaign geared toward female athletes during the Super Bowl, its first big game advertisement in decades. The campaign showed that reaching female athletes and capturing the buzz around women’s sports will be a center point of Hill’s strategy.
If Nike can continue to show positive signs from new product launches and partnerships, the rest of its headwinds might just be drowned out as noise. More

Darden Restaurants beat Wall Street’s expectations for quarterly earnings, but its revenue fell short of estimates.
Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse reported weaker-than-expected same-store sales growth.

The Olive Garden logo is displayed on the front of an Olive Garden Italian restaurant in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, on February 15, 2025. 
Artur Widak | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Darden Restaurants on Thursday reported weaker-than-expected sales as Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse underperformed analysts’ projections.
The restaurant company blamed weather for the sales slowdown and maintained its full-year forecast, lifting investors’ confidence that the rough quarter was a blip.

Darden shares rose 5% Thursday.
Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: $2.80 adjusted vs. $2.79 expected
Revenue: $3.16 billion vs. $3.21 billion expected

Darden reported fiscal third-quarter net income of $323.4 million, or $2.74 per share, up from $312.9 million, or $2.60 per share, a year earlier.
Excluding costs related to its acquisition of Chuy’s, Darden earned $2.80 per share.
Net sales rose 6.2% to $3.16 billion, fueled largely by the addition of Chuy’s restaurants to its portfolio.

Darden’s same-store sales rose 0.7%, less than the 1.7% increase expected by analysts, according to StreetAccount estimates.
Executives blamed this winter’s low temperatures and snowstorms for the disappointing quarter ended Feb. 23. When excluding weather, same-store sales across all four of Darden’s segments grew during the quarter, and only consumers making less than $50,000 were spending less at its casual-dining restaurants.
“Even if [consumers] say they’re feeling feeling less optimistic, we haven’t seen a huge correlation between that and dining out,” CEO Rick Cardenas told analysts on the company’s conference call. “So I think as long as incomes are going up and outpacing inflation, I think they’re likely to keep spending.”
Both Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse, which are typically the two standouts of Darden’s portfolio, reported underwhelming same-store sales growth. Olive Garden’s same-store sales rose 0.6%. Analysts were anticipating same-store sales growth of 1.5%. And LongHorn’s same-store sales increased 2.6%, missing analysts’ expectations of 5% growth.
In February, Olive Garden finished rolling out delivery with Uber Direct. The chain’s delivery customers typically spend 20% more than the average curbside pickup order, and Olive Garden saw delivery order volume increase every week.
“Now at the end of the third quarter, our pilot restaurants were running around 2.5% of sales in delivery, and the other restaurants were following that same pattern,” Cardenas said.
In the first three weeks of March, both Olive Garden and LongHorn saw strong momentum, executives said.
Darden’s fine dining segment, which includes The Capital Grille and Ruth’s Chris Steak House, reported same-store sales declines of 0.8%. The segment saw stronger demand during the holiday season, but consumers pulled back again in the new year.
“We are seeing more persistent check management post-holidays, so I guess we’re not ready to claim victory yet on fine dining. It’s still soft,” CFO Raj Vennam said.
The last segment of Darden’s business, which includes Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen and Yard House, saw same-store sales shrink 0.4% in the quarter.
For the full year, Darden reiterated its forecast for revenue of $12.1 billion. It narrowed its outlook for adjusted earnings from continuing operations to a range of $9.45 to $9.52 per share. Its prior forecast was $9.40 to $9.60 per share.
Darden’s fiscal 2025 outlook includes Chuy’s results, but the Tex-Mex chain won’t be included in its same-store sales metrics until the fiscal fourth quarter in 2026.

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Correction: A previous version of this story misattributed a quote about Darden’s fine-dining business. More

Inventory at the end of February stood at 1.24 million units, an increase of 17% year over year.
The median price of a home sold in February was $398,400, up 3.8% from the same time last year.
Sales were only higher annually in the highest price categories, above $750,000.

Sales of previously owned homes in February rose 4.2% from January to 4.26 million units on a seasonally adjusted, annualized basis, according to the National Association of Realtors. Industry analysts had expected a drop of 3%.
Sales were 1.2% lower compared with February of last year.

This count is based on closings, so contracts signed in December and January, when mortgage rates were rising and briefly held in the 7% range on the 30-year fixed. Rates today are in the high 6% range.
“Home buyers are slowly entering the market,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist, in a release. “Mortgage rates have not changed much, but more inventory and choices are releasing pent-up housing demand.”
Sales were only higher annually in the highest price categories, above $750,000. Sales around the median price were down 3% year over year.
Inventory at the end of February stood at 1.24 million units, an increase of 17% year over year, but still just a 3.5-month supply at the current sales pace. A six-month supply is considered balanced between buyer and seller.
“We are still in a relatively tight market condition,” Yun said.

That tight supply is keeping pressure on prices. The median price of a home sold in February was $398,400, up 3.8% from the same time last year. That is a record high for the month of February. All four geographical regions of the country saw price increases.

A “For Sale” sign outside of a home in Atlanta, Georgia.
Dustin Chambers | Bloomberg | Getty Images

First-time buyers edged back into the market, making up 31% of February sales compared with 26% the year before. Investors, however, pulled back, accounting for just 16% of sales, down from 21% last year.
All-cash sales, however, remained relatively steady at 32% of sales, down just slightly from the year before. Cash is usually favored by investors, so this suggests, given the drop in investor sales, that more owner-occupants are using cash.
While these sales were higher than expected, they are more indicative of the market two months ago than they are now. A separate survey of real estate agents in February from John Burns Research and Consulting found more than half of respondents indicated this spring’s resale market is weaker than normal. This resale index dropped for the first time in four months.
“Current sales ratings remain weak, with 53% of agents reporting weaker than normal sales. This is better than 56% one year ago but lower than January’s 47%. Affordability constraints and economic uncertainty keep many buyers on the sidelines,” according to the report from John Burns.

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The Boston Celtics are being sold to an ownership group led by private equity executive Bill Chisholm.
The deal values the Celtics franchise at $6.1 billion, a record for a U.S. sports team.
Majority owner Wyc Grousbeck will stay on as team CEO and governor through 2028.

A group led by private equity executive Bill Chisholm is buying the National Basketball Association’s reigning champion Boston Celtics at a valuation of $6.1 billion, the team’s ownership announced Thursday.
Private equity firm Sixth Street is part of the new ownership group and will contribute more than $1 billion, one person familiar with the matter said. Other members of the ownership group include Boston-area businessman Rob Hale, a current team owner, and Bruce Beal Jr., president of real estate firm Related Companies.

“Growing up on the North Shore and attending college in New England, I have been a die-hard Celtics fan my entire life,” Chisholm said in a Thursday news release. “I understand how important the Celtics are to the city of Boston — the role the team plays in the community is different than any other city in the country. I also understand that there is a responsibility as a leader of the organization to the people of Boston, and I am up for this challenge.”
The Celtics’ current ownership group, Boston Basketball Partners, is led by the Grousbeck family. Wyc Grousbeck, the team’s CEO and governor, will remain in those roles through the 2027-28 season. If approved, the sale will go through this summer.

Owner Wyc Grousbeck of the Boston Celtics reacts as he holds the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy during the 2024 Boston Celtics championship parade following their 2024 NBA Finals win on June 21, 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts. 
Billie Weiss | Getty Images

“Bill is a terrific person and a true Celtics fan, born and raised here in the Boston area,” Grousbeck said in a statement. “His love for the team and the city of Boston, along with his chemistry with the rest of the Celtics leadership, make him a natural choice to be the next Governor and controlling owner of the team.”
The NBA declined to comment.
It is unclear how much Chisholm, co-founder of the firm Symphony Technology Group, will personally pay as part of the deal.

The $6.1 billion sale price is the highest for a team in U.S. sports history, surpassing the $6.05 billion deal for the National Football League’s Washington Commanders in 2023. The Celtics’ total valuation could reach $7.3 billion by 2028 depending on the league’s overall performance, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC.
CNBC Sport’s Official NBA Team Valuations list released in February had estimated the Celtics franchise to be worth $5.5 billion. The top-valued team was the Golden State Warriors at $9.4 billion.
The sale of the Celtics to a large ownership group comes as sports franchise valuations skyrocket, making it more difficult for individuals or families to buy a team themselves. The NFL last year followed the NBA and other major leagues in allowing private equity firms to take stakes in teams.
Soaring media rights payments have contributed to rapid growth in team valuations. The 11-year, $76 billion agreement the NBA signed with Walt Disney, NBCUniversal and Amazon starting next season more than doubled the annual value of the league’s previous media deal.
The Celtics have won 18 championships, the most in the history of the NBA. The team has the second-best record in the NBA’s Eastern Conference this season and is considered a strong contender to win its second consecutive title.
— CNBC’s Michael Ozanian, Leslie Picker and Scott Wapner contributed to this story.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. More