Business

Peloton launched its own secondary marketplace, Repowered, to get a slice of the burgeoning resale market for connected fitness equipment.
Beginning Tuesday, people can list their equipment and gear for sale on Repowered and set their own price with the help of a generative AI tool, the company said.
It said sellers will get 70% of the sale price and the rest will be shared between Peloton and the platform provider, Archive.

A Peloton bike is displayed at a Dick’s Sporting Goods store on May 08, 2024 in Daly City, California. 
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Peloton on Tuesday launched its own marketplace for reselling used equipment and gear as the company looks to capitalize on the many bikes and treadmills collecting dust in people’s homes. 
The platform, dubbed Repowered, will allow members to post listings for their used Peloton equipment and gear and set a price with help from a generative AI tool, the company said.

Sellers have the final say on how much to list the item for, but the AI tool will suggest a price based on information about the product, such as its age, Peloton said.
It said sellers will get 70% of the sales price, while the rest will be shared between Peloton and its platform provider, Archive. Sellers will get a discount toward new equipment, while buyers will see the activation fee for a used product drop from $95 to $45, the company said. 
Buyers will be able to see the equipment’s history on the listing and have the option to get the item delivered for an extra fee, Peloton said. 
The resale market for used bikes and treadmills is booming. The company said it wants to streamline the sale process for members and offer a safe and comfortable way for prospective customers to buy equipment. It’s also an opportunity for Peloton to reach a wider array of new users as it plots a pathway back to growth.
Last summer, Peloton said it had started to see a meaningful increase in the number of new members who bought used Bikes or Treads from peer-to-peer markets such as Facebook Marketplace. At the time, it said paid connected fitness subscribers who bought hardware on the secondary market had grown 16% year over year, and it believed those subscribers exhibited a lower net churn rate — or membership cancellation — than rental subscribers. 

Peloton has plenty of enthusiastic fans who use the company’s equipment every day, but some people have likened it to glorified clothes racks because so many people stop using them. While those owners paid for their exercise machines when they bought them, many have canceled their monthly subscription, which is how Peloton makes the bulk of its money, according to the company’s financial records. 
Peloton is already reaping the subscription revenue from people who bought hardware on the secondary market, but now it will get a cut of that market with little upfront cost. 
Repowered is a direct challenger to not just Facebook Marketplace but also the burgeoning startup Trade My Stuff, formerly known as Trade My Spin, which sells used Peloton equipment. 
Trade My Stuff founder Ari Kimmelfeld told CNBC he previously met with Peloton to discuss ways to collaborate.
But Peloton said Repowered isn’t connected with Trade My Stuff. 
Repowered is launching first in beta in New York City, Boston and Washington, D.C., with plans to go nationwide in the coming months, Peloton said. The platform will launch first to sellers, and once there’s enough inventory available, it’ll go live to buyers, the company said.  More

Alaska Airlines is planning its European debut with Seattle-Rome flights next year.
The four-times-a-week nonstop service is set to begin next May and goes on sale this fall.
The carrier has been eager to expand internationally since its acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines last year.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 30: An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 airplane departs Los Angeles International Airport en route to Washington D.C. on March 30, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
Kevin Carter | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Alaska Airlines plans to start its first flights to Europe next year with nonstop service to Rome from Seattle.
The Seattle-based carrier’s new route is enabled by its acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines — and its fleet of long-haul jets — last year.

Flights are set to begin next May and will go on sale this coming fall, Alaska said Tuesday. The four-times-a-week service will use Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner jets, which are in the combined company’s fleet after the merger.
Alaska plans to add a host of long-haul international destinations through the end of the decade from Seattle.
“We are serious about building a global gateway out of Seattle, and we will serve the major demand markets,” said Alaska’s chief commercial officer, Andrew Harrison.

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Alaska’s leaders have said they want to expand globally, and added Tuesday that many members of the airline’s Mileage Plan loyalty program have requested Rome service from its Seattle hub.
Italy has remained a popular destination, prompting much larger rivals like Delta and United to ramp up service there, including with new nonstops to Sicily and smaller cities on the mainland.

Alaska launched service to Tokyo’s Narita International Airport last month and plans to start service to Seoul in September. Harrison said the Tokyo flights are running about 80% full and added that he expects the flights to the two Asian capitals to boost cargo revenue.
To operate the routes, the airline needs Federal Aviation Administration approval to have the combined fleet from Hawaiian on a single operating certificate, which Alaska expects in the fourth quarter. More

Hims & Hers Health announced Tuesday it will acquire European telehealth platform Zava.
The deal will expand Hims’ services to Ireland, France and Germany and will grow its active customer base by roughly 50%.
The deal is set to close by mid-year. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The Hims logo arranged on a smartphone in New York, US, on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. 
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Hims & Hers Health announced Tuesday it will acquire European telehealth platform Zava in its push to expand globally.
“We’re excited to take this moment to really accelerate both the European expansion, but also use this platform as an accelerant as we move into more markets,” Hims & Hers CEO Andrew Dudum told CNBC in an interview.

The deal is set to close by mid-year, according to the company’s press release. While terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, the company said details of the transaction will be available in financial disclosures at closing.
Shares of Hims & Hers gained about 5% in premarket trading Tuesday.
Dudum spoke at length during the company’s first-quarter earnings call in mid-May about the company’s commitment to global expansion.
“Early traction in the UK gives us confidence that we can scale out platform globally and extend out mission to help people around the world,” Dudum said at the time.
Hims first expanded its global footprint to the United Kingdom in 2021 when it acquired London-based vertical health platform Honest Health.

The deal to acquire Zava will expand the company’s services to Ireland, France and Germany and will grow its active customer base by roughly 50%, adding 1.3 million customers to Hims’ existing base of 2.4 million subscribers.
Zava CEO David Meinertz, who launched the platform in 2011, said the deal will provide relief to an otherwise overwhelmed European healthcare system.
“The medications are priced more competitively than in the U.S. so more people can actually afford it and we are seeing a huge demand,” said Meinertz. “The demand is increasing with additional strains on the statutory systems that telehealth can alleviate.”
In the EU, the statutory healthcare system generally refers to the publicly funded health insurance and healthcare delivery systems within individual member states. These systems are universal, providing comprehensive coverage to citizens and residents, although access and coverage can vary. 
After the acquisition closes, Zava platforms will maintain their branding for a “few quarters” before being rebranded as Hims & Hers, Dudum said. Meinertz will become a general manager of the international business.
Dudum noted that while some companies are pulling back or withholding growth outlook given macroeconomic uncertainty, he has full confidence that pushing forward is the right decision.
“The pricing on pharmaceuticals is so much more consumer advantageous in broader Europe relative to the U.S.,” said Dudum. “The ability to bring accessible, personalized treatments to customers overseas may be equal or easier than what we see domestically just given the pricing and complexities of insurance and [pharmacy benefit managers] and the pricing power that exists here.” More

Roark Capital has invested in Dave’s Hot Chicken, a fast-growing restaurant chain that focuses on spicy chicken tenders.
Dave’s U.S. sales soared 57% last year and surpassed $600 million, according to Technomic.
Roark’s investment follows a boom for chicken-focused restaurants and a rising tolerance for spice among younger consumers.

The Dave’s Hot Chicken logo is displayed at a Dave’s Hot Chicken restaurant on February 26, 2025 in Rosemead, California. 
Mario Tama | Getty Images

Private equity firm Roark Capital has bought a majority stake in Dave’s Hot Chicken, the company announced on Monday.
Financial terms were not disclosed, but Dave’s CEO Bill Phelps said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that the reported $1 billion valuation for the deal is “pretty close.”

Since its founding in a Los Angeles parking lot in 2017, the fast-growing chicken chain has expanded to more than 300 locations by franchising its restaurants. Dave’s U.S. sales soared 57% last year and surpassed $600 million, according to data from market research firm Technomic.
Roark’s investment follows a boom for chicken-focused restaurants, fueled by the so-called “Chicken Sandwich Wars” sparked by Popeyes in 2019. A wave of quickly expanding upstarts, like Dave’s and Raising Cane’s, have challenged legacy chains like Yum Brands’ KFC, further boosting the category’s growth.
Dave’s success also comes as younger consumers seek more heat in their food. The chain offers a diverse range for the chicken’s “hotness” — from no spice to “Reaper,” which requires the orderer to waive liability. The Reaper has sent at least one customer to the hospital; co-founder and Chief Business Officer Arman Oganesyan said the diner who signed the waiver offered a bite to her boyfriend, who couldn’t handle the heat.
But the restaurant’s menu overall is small and focused on its oversized chicken tenders, which can also be inserted into a bun to make sliders. According to Oganesyan, its sliders are the perfect size to eat with one hand, leaving the other free to scroll on a phone.
Phelps, who previously led Wetzel’s Pretzels for 25 years, joined Dave’s in 2019, less than two years after its founding.

Co-founders Oganesyan, Dave Kopushyan and brothers Tommy and Gary Rubenyan have stuck around and plan to continue in their roles after the deal closes. Along with Phelps, they’re also holding onto their equity as minority stakeholders.
“The timing was absolutely right,” Phelps said. “We were at an inflection point where we could get an incredible valuation, and yet there was still significant upside for Roark, so that’s the perfect place to be.
“Roark has the ability to use their international supply chain to reduce the costs. And it’s a better deal for the franchisees, but they also have the international ability to grow with all of their franchisees around the world, so we have an opportunity to blow this thing up very quickly,” he added.
Looking ahead, Dave’s could reach up to 4,000 locations worldwide over the next 10 years, Phelps said.
So far, Dave’s has resisted conforming to industry practices, like focusing on speed of service, switching to cheaper ingredients or expanding its short menu. Sticking to many of its founders’ original practices allowed the chain to keep the quality of its signature chicken high even as it opens new restaurants every day, Dave’s COO and President Jim Bitticks said.
Executives don’t expect that to change under Roark’s ownership either.
“How did we get to that billion-dollar brand status? We leaned into what they created, rather than adjusting it or changing it based on conventional wisdom,” Bitticks said.
The deal marks Roark’s first restaurant deal since the firm’s blockbuster purchase of Subway for a reported $9.6 billion in 2023. Roark’s portfolio also includes two holding companies, Inspire Brands and GoTo Foods, that collectively own more than a dozen restaurant brands, like Arby’s, Dunkin’ and Cinnabon.
Roark has been keeping an eye on Dave’s since the early days.
“They came to our 15-store grand opening,” Oganesyan said. “We’d see them at conferences all the time. They understood the potential of the brand. … When the time came where we needed that new investor to come in, they were some of the only people on our minds.
Early Dave’s investors aren’t the only ones making money from the deal. Masterminded by Phelps, the company plans to give dozens of its employees, from its support center team to restaurant assistant managers, significant bonuses.
“He literally made 20 millionaires,” Oganesyan said. More

Nothing in Fox’s television schedules last year was quite as exciting—or, at times, as profane—as the drama that played out in a closed probate court in Reno, Nevada. Rupert Murdoch, the now 94-year-old founder and controlling shareholder of Fox Corporation and its sister company, News Corp, was trying to change the terms of a family trust in order to block three of his children from inheriting control of the companies on his death. The high-stakes legal manoeuvre was rejected. An appeal—and thus a new season of morbid entertainment for media watchers—is in the works. More

More office space is set to be removed than added this year, shrinking the overall office footprint.
Office vacancies soared to a record high and still hover right around there at 19%.
Developers also have another 85 million square feet of office space being readied for conversion in the next few years.

After several years of deep distress, the beleaguered U.S. office market has reached an inflection point. This year, office conversions and demolitions will exceed new construction for the first time in at least 25 years.
Simply put, more office space is being removed than added, shrinking the overall office footprint, according to exclusive new data from CBRE Group. The commercial real estate services firm has been tracking this since 2018, but estimates it may be the first time such a dynamic has played out this century, and likely longer.

CBRE found that across the largest 58 U.S. markets, 23.3 million square feet of space is slated for demolition or conversion to other uses by the end of this year. In comparison, developers are projected to complete construction of 12.7 million square feet of office space in those same markets.
“This net reduction – albeit slight – of office space across major markets likely will contribute to lowering the vacancy rate in the quarters ahead, which would benefit building owners,” said Mike Watts, CBRE Americas president of investor leasing.
All of this is being driven by the fundamental shift in office attendance, resulting from the growing remote-work culture since the start of the pandemic. Office vacancies soared to a record high and still hover right around there at 19%.
But the market is starting to recover. More employers are ordering staff back to the office full-time, and, as the job market tightens, more employees are willing to take what they can get, even if it means more in-person attendance.
Net absorption, which is the amount of space newly occupied in a quarter versus the amount vacated, has been positive for the past four quarters after six straight quarters of being negative. Office-leasing activity increased 18% in the first quarter of this year, compared with the same time frame the year before.

With less supply and steadily increasing demand, office rents should stabilize. For prime office locations and new, so-called Class A space, rent has recovered. Beneficiaries in that space are some of the major office REITs, like Vornado, BXP, Alexandria Real Estate Equities and SL Green.
“The office market will benefit as obsolete space is removed from the market in favor of the highest and best use. Additionally, conversions will boost the vibrancy of neighborhoods within various markets,” said Jessica Morin, CBRE Americas head of office research.
Developers also have another 85 million square feet of office space being readied for conversion in the next few years. Since 2016, office conversions to multifamily residences have generated roughly 33,000 apartments and condominiums, according to CBRE, given that each conversion, on average historically, yields about 170 units. There are about 43,500 units in the pipeline from conversions already underway.
The reduction in office space overall is a positive for commercial real estate, but it will be slow going.
“The conversion trend faces a few headwinds. The pool of ideal buildings for conversion will dwindle over time. And costs for construction labor, materials and financing remain high,” Watts said. More

Byron Allen is looking to sell his group of broadcast TV stations, in a bid to reduce his company’s debt load.
Allen Media Group owns and operates 28 broadcast TV stations in 21 markets, which are affiliated with ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox.
In a release Monday, Allen said the company has already received numerous inquiries and written offers for most of the stations.

Byron Allen, founder, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group, speaks during the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, on May 2, 2022.
Patrick T. Fallon | Afp | Getty Images

Byron Allen is putting his broadcast TV stations up for sale.
Allen Media Group said on Monday it has retained investment bank Moelis & Co. to sell its group of 28 owned and operated broadcast TV stations, which are affiliated with ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox in 21 markets across the U.S.

In a news release, Allen said the company has invested more than $1 billion into acquiring the stations over the past six years and after receiving “numerous inquiries and written offers” for most of the stations, has decided to explore a sale.
The Allen Media Group stations join others that have recently hit the sale block. Last year, CNBC reported that Sinclair was exploring the sale of more than 30% of its stations. Apollo Global Management is also reportedly exploring a sale of its Cox Media Group portfolio of TV and radio stations.
Allen Media Group said a sale of the stations would significantly reduce its debt load. Earlier this year, the company refinanced a $100 million debt facility. While S&P Global Ratings said it expected the company to maintain sufficient liquidity over the next 12 months, it noted that Allen Media Group still maintained a junk rating and faced future debt risks.
Last year, CNBC reported that Allen Media Group had been consistently late in making payments to its network owners, in some cases as much as 90 days past due, with the payments totaling tens of millions of dollars throughout the year. The reason for the lateness had been unclear, and representatives for Allen Media Group declined to address the details of CNBC’s reporting.
The stations have also reportedly undergone layoffs.

Allen, a former comedian, founded Entertainment Studios, now known as Allen Media Group, in the early 1990s. He later formed Allen Media Group Broadcasting in 2019 and has built up his profile and business ever since with a string of smaller deals.
He has also become known for expressing interest in buying various media assets to bulk up his media empire. In recent years, he has made a $30 billion bid for Paramount Global when it was up for sale in 2024, as well as a $10 billion offer for ABC and other Disney networks, and he reportedly offered $3.5 billion for Paramount’s BET Media Group.
Disclosure: Comcast’s NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC and broadcast network NBC.

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SailGP is providing real-time odds to gaming platfoms to allow users to place bets
SailGP’s sports betting push is part of a broader strategic plan to attract new fans, drive deeper engagement and grow the league’s popularity
SailGP is continuing to grow event ticket sales and TV audiences, setting new league records internationally in the 2024/2025 season

Ticket holders on Governors Island, New York gather to watch SailGP races, Season 4, New York, Sunday 23rd June 2024.
Katelyn Mulcahy for SailGP

Fans watching the New York races for international sailing league SailGP this weekend will have another reason to root for their favorite team.
SailGP is working with gaming companies DraftKings in the United States and Bet365 internationally to let fans place bets on races, starting at the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix on June 7 and 8.

“It’s a sport that’s naturally built for sports betting and gaming onsite in person at the events,” said SailGP chief revenue officer Ben Johnson. “It’s communal; it’s high speed; there are lots of different winners, event-to-event.”
The move is part of a broader strategy to increase engagement and attract new fans to the sailing league, which was co-founded by tech billionaire Larry Ellison and champion yachtsman Russell Coutts in 2018.
The league pits 12 co-ed international teams racing identical 50-foot Catamarans against each other, with boats traveling at speeds that can exceed 60 mph. The races take place alongside the shoreline, where there are pop-up stadiums so fans and cameras can get a close look at the action.

USA SailGP Team, Rolex SailGP Championship, Season 5, New Zealand 18 January 2025
Felix Diemer for SailGP

The New York Grand Prix this weekend is nearly the halfway point for the fifth SailGP Championship season. The tight competition and novelty of the race outcomes positions the sport well for gaming, Johnson said.
“It is really reflective of how good the teams are currently and how much competition there is on a race-to-race basis, which makes it really fun for fans from a betting and gaming perspective,” he said. “You can have an odds favorite, but at the end of the day, it really depends which team is sailing most competitively that weekend in that venue.”

SailGP is already generating revenue through ticket sales, sponsorship and media rights.
The 2025 ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix in January drew a record 25,000 ticketed fans to the event, according to the league. In February, the 2025 KPMG Australia Sail Grand Prix attracted SailGP’s largest-ever dedicated global TV audience, reaching 21.1 million viewers, according to YouGov.

Spectators watch Rolex SailGP Championship, Season 5, New Zealand, Sunday 19 January 2025.
Ricardo Pinto for SailGP

In October 2023, 1.78 million U.S. viewers watched the Spain Sail Grand Prix on CBS, the largest linear TV audience in the U.S. for sailing race in 30 years, including the Olympics and the America’s Cup, according to Nielsen.
The event was slotted after a NFL game, and SailGP is poised to capitalize once again on those viewers this season, Johnson said.
“Our two biggest broadcast windows are coming up in in the third quarter,” said Johnson. “They’ll be again after NFL games, which we think is the most fun opportunity to highlight SailGP to a national audience at scale and that’s where we’re seeing the records set.”
Across digital platforms, SailGP is drawing younger and more diverse fans than have been historically associated with yacht racing. Over the past year, it has notched up 1.4 billion video views across all social media channels and tripled its YouTube subscriber base, with nearly half of its subscribers (49%) between the ages of 18 to 34. By comparison, about a quarter of YouTube subscribers to the Americas Cup and the Ocean Race sailing league channels are in that cohort.

Fans gather for SailGP races, Season 2, Cadiz, Andalucia, Spain 9th October 2021
Jon Buckle for SailGP

With gaming, SailGP is betting it can convert casual viewers into invested spectators and amp up the excitement. During live races, the league says it captures 270,000 data points per second, which are processed, along with historical performance data, to supply real-time odds to bookmakers.
This weekend, fans have the option to bet on the winner of each race, which teams will make it to the event finals, the winner of the event final and the overall season champion. A key aspect of the onsite activations will be teaching the racing rules of sailing, Johnson said. 
“The rules piece is a huge benefit for us because it gives people a really vested interest, not just who’s in first and second, but why.” said Johnson.
With growing viewership, sponsorship dollars are flowing. In November, SailGP signed Rolex as its first title partner of the global sailing competition. Many of the individual teams have now attracted major sponsors including brands such as Red Bull, Emirates, Mubadala, Tommy Hilfiger, Rockwool and Deutsche Bank.
The league is also selling off teams to investors at increasingly rich valuations.
In November 2023, an investor group led by Marc Lasry’s Avenue Sports Fund completed its acquisition of the U.S. team for $35 million, a significant jump from the previous $5 million to $10 million range for team acquisitions.
And on Tuesday, SailGP announced that the Red Bull Italy SailGP Team had been acquired by a consortium of investors led by Muse Capital founding partner Assia Grazioli-Venier and luxury brand entrepreneur Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo, with sailing legend Jimmy Spithill as CEO and co-owner. Hollywood actress Anne Hathaway also took a stake in the team. Teams are now being acquired for in excess of $50 million, the league told CNBC.

Red Bull Italy SailGP Team, Season 5, Rolex SailGP Championship, Los Angeles 15 March 2025
Ricardo Pinto for SailGP

With the Italy sale, 10 of 12 teams are now independently owned, and future teams will be independently owned and financed.
“It’s a really interesting consortium right now of private equity, family offices, athletes, actors, actresses, that we think really help with that strategic lens of how do we go and grow this sport and bring it to as many fans around the world in the largest way possible,” Johnson said. More