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Boeing’s first-quarter loss narrowed to $31 million and it burned less cash than analysts estimated.
Boeing’s airplane deliveries rose close to 60% from a year ago as the company worked to stabilize production.
Executives are likely to receive questions about tariffs and President Donald Trump’s trade war.

Boeing is preparing to ask for Federal Aviation Administration approval to ramp up production of its bestselling 737 Max jets to 42 a month later this year, CEO Kelly Ortberg said Wednesday, as airplane deliveries picked up this year and the company narrowed its losses.
Boeing reported a first-quarter net loss of $31 million, improvement from a loss of $355 million a year earlier, as revenue rose 18% to $19.5 billion, slightly ahead of analysts’ estimates.

The company’s cash burn of about $2.3 billion was an improvement over the nearly $4 billion it used in the first quarter of 2024, and was better than analysts expected. Ortberg told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” that the company is on track to generate cash in the second half of the year.
Shares of Boeing gained about 6% in premarket trading.
The results include only the impact of global tariffs as of March 31, the company said. Executives will get questions on Wednesday’s 10:30 a.m. ET earnings call about tariffs as the manufacturer is currently caught in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump’s trade war, which is set to drive up prices of aircraft and imported parts and materials.
GE Aerospace CEO Larry Culp said Tuesday that he’s met with Trump and suggested restoring duty-free trade for the aerospace industry, a major U.S. exporter that helps soften the United States’ trade deficit. GE, which makes aircraft engines, and RTX said they expect tariffs to cost more than $1 billion combined this year.
“While we are closely watching the developments in global trade, our strong start to the year combined with the demand for airplanes and our half trillion-dollar backlog for our products and services gives us the flexibility we need to navigate this environment,” Boeing CEO Ortberg said in a staff note Wednesday.

Here’s how Boeing performed compared with what Wall Street analysts surveyed by LSEG expected for the first quarter:

Loss per share: 49 cents adjusted vs. $1.29 loss expected
Revenue: $19.5 billion vs. $19.45 billion expected

On a per-share basis, the company reported a loss of 16 cents, compared with a loss of 56 cents during the same quarter a year earlier. Adjusting for one-time items related to pensions costs and income taxes, among others, Boeing reported a loss of 49 cents per share.
Ortberg, who was hired last year and tasked with getting the manufacturer past a series of safety and manufacturing crises, outlined progress, including production rates of its best-selling 737 Max.
The CEO has in recent months touted improved safety and manufacturing processes at Boeing’s factories as he tries to guide the company past several accidents, including a door plug that blew out from a packed flight midair in January 2024 after the 737 Max left Boeing’s factory without key bolts installed. There were no fatalities or major injuries.

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Last week, Boeing released results of an employee survey that showed that only 27% would highly recommend working at Boeing and that 67% felt proud of working at Boeing, down from 91% in 2013. Less than half of employee respondents said they had confidence in senior leaders’ ability to “make decisions, communicate direction and respond to concerns raised by employees.”
Since the January 2024 accident, Boeing must receive approval from the FAA to increase production of the 737 Max to above 38 jets a month. Boeing had been producing significantly below that level after the accident and a nearly two-month union strike last year halted much of the company’s production.
Revenue in Boeing’s commercial airplane unit rose 75% during the first quarter from a year ago to $8.1 billion, with deliveries up to 130 planes from 83 a year ago.
“We are moving in the right direction and making progress as we reported our first-quarter 2025 results today,” Ortberg said in Wednesday’s staff memo. “From delivering more airplanes to scoring a transformational win for the fighter of the future, there is a lot of good work happening across our teams, and we are seeing positive results in the four key areas of our recovery plan that will position us for the rest of the year and beyond.”
Boeing has been refocusing its efforts on its core businesses. On Tuesday, it announced it would sell parts of its digital aviation businesses, including its Jeppesen navigation unit, to Thoma Bravo for $10.55 billion in an all-cash deal.
Revenue in its defense unit, which has been plagued with cost-overruns and quality issues, fell 9% during the first quarter to $6.3 billion, though the company recently scored a major win after Trump awarded Boeing a contract to build the U.S. Air Force’s all-new fighter jet, dubbed the F-47.

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Less than a decade after cable giants like Comcast and Charter Communications jumped into the mobile business, the segment has become a significant financial driver.
Nearly half of all wireless line additions last year were from a cable operator, according to data from MoffettNathanson.
Investors have largely shrugged at the strides made in mobile, likely due to the intense focus on broadband, industry executives and analysts told CNBC.

10’000 Hours | Digitalvision | Getty Images

Cable companies are increasingly calling on mobile for their next big opportunity.
The cable industry’s foray into wireless has long been considered a retention tool for the behemoth broadband business. Less than a decade after cable giants like Comcast and Charter Communications jumped into the mobile business, the segment has become a significant financial driver — and a priority when it comes to growth.

“It’s not only a play for additional broadband customers, it’s a product that kind of generates financial returns in and of itself, and where we continue to grow really dramatically,” said Charter Communications Chief Financial Officer Jessica Fischer in a recent interview.
Cable companies, once well known for offering pay TV bundles and landline phone service, are now burgeoning providers of home internet and, most recently, mobile phone services. Comcast provides its services under the Xfinity brand, while Charter’s products are under the Spectrum banner.
These two companies, as well as smaller operators like Altice USA, have experienced consistent quarterly growth in mobile customers. Nearly half of all wireless line additions last year were from a cable operator, according to data from MoffettNathanson.
This is the flipside of cable’s broadband business, which has been plagued by net customer stagnation and even losses, weighing down stock prices. Cable executives have pointed to intense competition, and it’s unclear if or when this trend will change. In response, Charter has centered offerings and bundles around mobile, and Comcast recently said it will follow suit.
Customers have been attracted to cable wireless offerings in part due to much cheaper pricing, sometimes as much as hundreds of dollars less each year than traditional wireless plans.

But the growth in mobile hasn’t yet equated to growth in the companies’ stock prices.
Investors have largely shrugged at the strides made in mobile, likely due to the intense focus on broadband, industry executives and analysts told CNBC.

Media analyst Craig Moffett, co-founder of MoffettNathanson, said this dynamic reminds him of the 2009-2010 time period, when investors were focused on the decline of pay TV, once considered cable’s “core business,” and didn’t give broadband growth its due.
“The threat to the broadband business today is nowhere near the threat of the [pay TV] business,” said Moffett. “[Pay TV] was facing an existential and secular decline, and now broadband is facing some competition. But no one is arguing that it’s going away.”
He noted the mobile market is about double the size of the broadband market, so cable operators have a big opportunity in capitalizing on both.
“There’s much more to gain, and much less to lose,” he said.
Comcast Chief Financial Officer Jason Armstrong highlighted the company’s growth potential during an earnings call in January.
“While we are the incumbent in the $80 billion U.S. residential broadband market, we are the challenger in the far larger $200 billion U.S. wireless market,” said Armstrong. “Wireless is an integral part of our broadband strategy.”
Comcast and Charter report first-quarter earnings on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

Dialing up

Mobile has taken off for cable companies since being launched less than 10 years ago.
Charter’s Spectrum Mobile lines have grown from 1.08 million in the fourth quarter of 2019 to 9.88 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. Over that same period, Comcast’s Xfinity Mobile lines increased from 2.05 million to 7.83 million, and Altice expanded its Optimum Mobile base from 69,000 to nearly 460,000.
This pales, however, in comparison to Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, which each have more than 100 million wireless customers. These companies are also offering home broadband options now, including fiber-based broadband as well as 5G high-speed internet, which is becoming an increasingly popular alternative. Verizon touted its home internet growth during its earnings report this week.
Conversely, cable companies have collectively lost over 1 million internet customers and 8.7 million cable customers in the past three years.
Last year, Charter unveiled a series of changes, including aggressive pricing and packages that included mobile lines. Earlier this year, Comcast said it would shift its strategy to similar tactics to grow its mobile business even further.
“We will lean into wireless more than ever before,” Comcast President Mike Cavanagh said during January’s earnings call with investors.
This week, Comcast introduced a new Xfinity Mobile higher-end plan in a bid to attract more customers. The company also recently created the role of chief growth officer and hired media and tech veteran Jon Gieselman to focus on its Xfinity residential business.

For Charter and Comcast, mobile customer additions most often come from their existing base, rather than incoming customers.
Customers of Altice USA’s Optimum mobile who bundle the service with other products like broadband and cable TV are more than 20% less likely to drop their service, according to Michael Parker, Optimum’s president of consumer services.
An Optimum-commissioned survey published Tuesday highlights the bundling opportunity for cable companies. About 25% of Americans said they would likely subscribe to a bundle in the next year, and 80% believe bundling internet and mobile is more cost-effective than purchasing them separately.
Altice USA’s mobile plans are offered to anyone in the company’s footprint, even if they don’t subscribe to other Altice services. This is the opposite of most other operators, which require you to be a customer in order to receive mobile.
Altice has set a goal of 1 million mobile customers by the end of 2027.
Mobile “wasn’t really intended at the outset to really drive meaningful business. But everyone figured out real quickly that it actually is a strong standalone business,” Parker said.

Going mainstream

Igor Golovniov | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Mobile and the other segments of the cable business work somewhat in symbiosis.
The higher-margin broadband segment partially subsidizes mobile, which on its own would not be as attractive of a business, according to KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Brandon Nispel. And in turn, bundles that include mobile can appeal to current or prospective broadband customers.
But the cable companies still face a particular challenge in brand awareness for their mobile offerings.
Besides being newer entrants to mobile, the brands are often most recognizable to those in the footprints of the cable companies. That means a fairly siloed addressable market, in some respects. But as the companies have broadened marketing for their mobile services, uptake has improved, executives say.
Altice’s mobile lines grew 42.6% year over year during the fourth quarter, which Parker attributed to both product construct and marketing.
Rich DiGeronimo, Charter’s president of product and technology, said more people are catching on to Spectrum’s mobile business.
“I think our brand recognition of Spectrum Mobile — it now exists,” said DiGeronimo. “I think we’re much more mainstream than we used to be.”
A big part of the marketing magic is affordable pricing.
Cable operators are able to extend much cheaper offers due to the agreements that allow them to use existing wireless networks.
Charter and Comcast use Verizon’s network, while Altice has an agreement with T-Mobile. Since the cable operators don’t own and maintain the networks, these agreements allow them to offer mobile plans at much lower rates than the network providers do.
Executives point out that much of the overwhelming amount of customer traffic is over Wi-Fi rather than the wireless network.
“To be frank, I think wireless for us, given the advantages we have with acquisition costs and offloading wireless onto Wi-Fi, is a firmly profitable business for us,” Comcast’s Armstrong told CNBC in an interview.
For wireless companies, even when they lose customers to cable companies, there’s a silver lining. The customers are still on Verizon’s network, so they get a cut from the cable operators. Industry executives say the deal is mutually attractive.
Telecommunications leaders have acknowledged that their cable partners are increasingly encroaching on their territory, but none express concern. For one, it’s not easy to get someone to drop their wireless plan.
“If cable wants to get aggressive and if they want to give away a free line, that’s certainly their prerogative,” said Verizon Chief Financial Officer Tony Skiadas at a March investor conference. “But whether they charge for it or not, they still have to pay us, Verizon, for the free line. So, look, we’re going to compete on the strength of our offerings.”
AT&T CEO John Stankey said at a recent investor conference that cable operators are on the defensive when competing against the company’s broadband product. AT&T has a better product, improving cost structure and higher-rated service, he said.
“To their credit, they’ve had a couple of good decades,” Stankey said, referring to the cable companies. “I would like this to be our decade.”
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC. More

Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, or AANHPI, consumers are taking a bigger share of the live sports audience, according to a Nielsen report.
These audiences are spending 15% more time viewing live sports compared with the general public, and are 33% more likely to subscribe to sports-specific streamers, the report found.
Live sports almost always nab the biggest audiences on both traditional TV and streaming, and have drawn the most advertising dollars.

Los Angeles, CA, Wednesday, April 2, 2025 – Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) celebrates as he approaches home plate after hitting a game-winning, walk off homer to beat the Atlanta Braves 6-5 at Dodger Stadium,. 
Robert Gauthier | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

Asian Americans are making up a bigger share of live sports viewership than ever before, according to a report from Nielsen.
The Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, or AANHPI, audience spends 15% more time viewing live sports than the general public, Nielsen reported Wednesday.

In general, live sports draw the largest audiences for both traditional TV and streaming platforms. As more consumers shift to streaming, the pay TV bundle has dwindled. More sports content than ever is now available on streamers, in some cases exclusively.
As a result, advertisers are increasingly spending more on live sports rather than other content on TV and streaming platforms. The rise in Asian American consumption across various forms of media is a signal to advertisers and marketers that this is a key demographic to cater to, according to the Nielsen report.
“As digital media and commerce evolve, Asian American consumers are leading the charge, embracing interactive and shoppable ad experiences at higher rates than the general population,” said Stacie de Armas, senior vice president of diverse insights & intelligence at Nielsen, in the release. “Marketers who recognize the importance of cultural connection in their digital strategies will build stronger relationships with this influential and engaged audience.”
In general, AANHPI consumers are more digitally connected, Nielsen said, as they spend an average of nine hours and six minutes per week logged onto their computers, which is almost an hour more than all U.S. adults.
Since January, streaming has taken 53% of Asian Americans’ total TV time, up 45% from last year — with 20% of that viewership happening on YouTube.

These audiences also “over index the total U.S.” when it came to time spent on Netflix and Amazon, which have the highest percent of programs featuring Asian talent, according to Nielsen.
The AANHPI audience is 33% more likely to subscribe to sports-specific streaming platforms, according to Nielsen’s report. While major streaming platforms like Amazon’s Prime Video, Netflix and others have added sports to their rosters, some services, like Disney’s ESPN+ and direct-to-consumer counterparts of regional sports networks, are also offerings.
In particular, Nielsen said Asian American viewership spiked 146% during the 2024 World Series, which saw the Los Angeles Dodgers triumph over the New York Yankees. The Dodgers’ star Shohei Ohtani has nabbed some of the biggest audiences for baseball in both the U.S. and his home country, Japan.
The AANHPI audience’s interest in women’s basketball has also risen. The demographic’s viewership of the 2024 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship was up nearly 70% year over year, while the WNBA draft rose 240%. Nielsen pointed to Natalie Nakase becoming the WNBA’s first Asian American head coach this year, and players like Te-Hina Paopao driving the audiences’ interest.
Sports podcasts are also becoming more popular with Asian American audiences, with listenership up 28% between 2022 and 2024.

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Eli Lilly & Co. is suing four telehealth companies selling compounded versions of tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Lilly’s weight-loss drug Zepbound and diabetes drug Mounjaro.
Lilly claims Mochi Health, Fella Health, Willow Health and Henry Meds are deceiving consumers and turning them away from Lilly’s medicines.
Selling compounded GLP-1s became a booming business amid shortages of popular drugs such as Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy.

An injection pen of Zepbound, Eli Lilly’s weight loss drug, is displayed in New York City on Dec. 11, 2023.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Eli Lilly is suing four telehealth companies selling compounded versions of the pharmaceutical giant’s weight loss drug Zepbound and its diabetes treatment Mounjaro, the company’s latest attempt to crack down on the booming industry of copycat drugs.
In lawsuits filed Wednesday, Lilly accuses the sites — Mochi Health, Fella Health, Willow Health and Henry Meds — of deceiving consumers about “untested, unapproved drugs” and turning them away from Lilly’s medicines.

Lilly alleges the companies are claiming to offer personalized options when they are actually mass-marketing slightly different versions of Lilly’s drugs in order to skirt FDA rules. Lilly also claims some of the sites are selling formulations of the drugs that haven’t been studied, such as oral tablets and drops.
Mochi, Fella, Willow and Henry Meds didn’t immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.Lilly’s diabetes drug Mounjaro went into short supply in late 2022, allowing pharmacies and outsourcing facilities to produce the treatment, a practice called compounding. Novo Nordisk’s weight loss drug Wegovy was also in short supply, opening up the market for compounding GLP-1s.
That business boomed online, where people sought versions of the treatments if they couldn’t find the brand names or couldn’t get them covered by insurance. Mass compounding of tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Mounjaro and Zepbound, was supposed to stop last month after the Food and Drug Administration declared the shortage of the drugs over.
Some pharmacies kept doing it anyway, producing versions that differ slightly from the brand name, which could possibly keep them out of the FDA’s crosshairs. Earlier this month, Lilly sued two pharmacies, alleging they falsely marketed their products as personalized versions of the drugs that have been clinically tested and are made using stringent safety standards.
One of the telehealth platforms Lilly is now suing, Mochi Health, planned to continue selling compounded versions of tirzepatide, betting that offering personalized treatments would keep it out of legal trouble, Mochi CEO Myra Ahmad told CNBC in March.

Asked whether she feared legal action from Lilly, Ahmad said she wasn’t worried about her prescribers since “they have established patient-physician relationships” and “the beauty of medicine is really that they get full autonomy to decide what is the best way to manage their patients.”
Lilly in its filing Wednesday claimed Ahmad is not a licensed physician and that Mochi and its “unlicensed owners exercise undue influence and control over, among other things, the prescribing decisions of physicians” and as a result engage in the “unlawful corporate practice of medicine.”
Lilly makes a similar allegation against Fella Health, accusing the company of making “sweeping corporate decisions that dictate patient care, such as when Fella changed patients en masse from one tirzepatide formulation to another with additives.”
In all four cases, Lilly is seeking to stop the sites from marketing or selling tirzepatide. But it could take months, or even longer, for the cases to make their way through the courts. More

Six of the top policy groups representing the U.S. automotive industry are uncharacteristically joining forces to lobby the Trump administration against 25% tariffs on auto parts that are set to take effect May 3.
The group – representing franchised dealers, suppliers and nearly all major automakers – say the upcoming levies could jeopardize U.S. automotive production.
The letter is addressed to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer.

Jamell Harris loads raw casting heads to be manufactured at the Stellantis Dundee Engine Complex on August 18, 2022 in Dundee, Michigan.
Bill Pugliano | Getty Images

DETROIT – Six of the top policy groups representing the U.S. automotive industry are uncharacteristically joining forces to lobby the Trump administration against 25% tariffs on auto parts that are set to take effect by May 3.
The group – representing franchised dealers, suppliers and nearly all major automakers – say in a letter to Trump administration officials that the upcoming levies could jeopardize U.S. automotive production. The letter notes many auto suppliers are already “in distress” and wouldn’t be able to afford the additional cost increases, leading to broader industry problems.

“Most auto suppliers are not capitalized for an abrupt tariff induced disruption. Many are already in distress and will face production stoppages, layoffs and bankruptcy,” the letter reads. “It only takes the failure of one supplier to lead to a shutdown of an automaker’s production line. When this happens, as it did during the pandemic, all suppliers are impacted, and workers will lose their jobs.”
The letter, dated April 21, is addressed to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Jamieson Greer.
It is signed by the heads of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, American International Automobile Dealers Association, Autos Drive America, vehicle suppliers association MEMA, National Automobile Dealers Association, and American Automotive Policy Council.
The joint letter is uncharacteristic, if not unprecedented, for the automotive industry. The organizations rarely, if ever, sign on to a single joint message.
The groups say they represent the country’s No. 1 manufacturing sector that supports 10 million American jobs in all 50 states and pumps $1.2 trillion into the economy every year.

Automakers not represented by the groups include electric vehicle makers Tesla Motors, Rivian Automotive and Lucid Group.
“President Trump has indicated an openness to reconsidering the administration’s 25 percent tariffs on imported automotive parts – similar to the tariff relief recently approved for consumer electronics and semiconductors. That would be a positive development and welcome relief,” the letter reads.
The letter comes a week after President Donald Trump said he may “help” some auto companies that need more time to move or increase U.S. vehicle production.
“I’m looking for something to help some of the car companies, where they’re switching to parts that were made in Canada, Mexico and other places, and they need a little bit of time because they’re going to make them here,” Trump said April 14. “But they need a little bit of time, so I’m talking about things like that.”
Auto executives and experts have told CNBC Trump’s tariffs are more dire for auto suppliers than the automakers themselves. The impact could cause a ripple effect through the global supply chain, they say.
Auto officials are expecting a drop in vehicle sales amounting to millions of units, higher new and used vehicle prices, and increased costs of more than $100 billion across the industry, according to research reports from Wall Street and automotive analysts.
“We support more manufacturing and additional supply chains that run through the United States, but it is not possible to reroute global supply chains overnight or even in months. This will take time,” reads the letter. More

The Food and Drug Administration is phasing out the use of artificial dyes by the end of next year.
The policy change will hit food and drink companies like PepsiCo, General Mills and WK Kellogg.
The so-called Make America Healthy Again platform argues a corrupt alliance of drug and food companies and the federal health agencies that regulate them are making Americans less healthy.

Candy is displayed for sale, as U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., along with FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, announce the FDA’s intent to remove from the U.S. food supply “petroleum-based synthetic” food dyes, which are present in numerous foods such as breakfast cereals, candy, snacks, and beverages, at a grocery store in Medford, Massachusetts, U.S., April 22, 2025.
Brian Snyder | Reuters

The fluorescent red of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, the brilliant teal of Mountain Dew Baja Blast and the colorful rainbow of Skittles may soon be dimmed.
The Food and Drug Administration is phasing out the use of petroleum-based synthetic dyes by the end of next year, the agency announced on Tuesday.

“For the last 50 years, American children have increasingly been living in a toxic soup of synthetic chemicals,” FDA Commissioner Marty Makary said at a press conference.
Food and beverage companies use additives like red dye 40 to give cereal, chips, sports drinks and other products bright hues that attract shoppers. But backlash against artificial colorants has been brewing in the U.S. for more than a decade.
The changes will affect a slew of food giants, including PepsiCo, General Mills, Mars and WK Kellogg. The industry has argued that the claims about the dangers of artificial dyes lack evidence that would support any bans.
As of Tuesday, the FDA and the food industry don’t have a formal agreement to remove artificial dyes but instead “an understanding,” according to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. It is unclear what enforcement actions the agency would take if food and beverage companies do not comply.
“There are a number of tools at our disposal,” Makary said. “I believe in love, let’s start in a friendly way and see if we can do this without any statutory or regulatory changes, but we are exploring every tool in the toolbox to make sure this gets done very quickly. And they want to do it — so why go down a complicated road with Congress?”

The FDA is taking several actions, including setting a “national standard” and timeline for the food industry to transition from petroleum-based food dyes to natural alternatives, according to Makary. The agency is also initiating a process to revoke authorization of synthetic food colorings, including those not in production, within the coming weeks.
He added that the FDA is also eliminating the remaining six synthetic dyes on the market from the U.S. food supply by the end of the year, specifically red dye 40, yellow dye 5, yellow dye 6, blue dye 1, blue dye 2 and green dye 2. It is also requesting food companies to phase out red dye 3 by the end of next year, which is sooner than the 2027 to 2028 deadline previously announced, according to Makary.
“For companies that are currently using petroleum based red dye, try watermelon juice or beet juice. For companies currently combining petroleum-based yellow chemical and red dyes together, try carrot juice,” he said. 

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary holds up a study from The Lancet during an announcement of the FDA’s intent to phase out the use of petroleum-based synthetic dyes in the nation’s food supply during a press conference at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 22, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters

Makary added that the agency plans to authorize four additional color additives using natural ingredients in the coming weeks, while also expediting the review and approval of other natural ingredient colors.
Makary cited a Lancet study that concluded that artificial colors in the diet “result in increased hyperactivity.”
“The F in FDA stands for food,” he said. “Now, there’s no one ingredient that accounts for the child chronic disease epidemic. And let’s be honest, taking petroleum-based food dyes out of the food supply is not a silver bullet that will instantly make America’s children healthy, but it is one important step.”
Last month, Kennedy told top food executives that removing artificial dyes from the food system is an urgent priority of the Trump administration. Meeting attendees included the CEOs of PepsiCo North America, Kraft Heinz, General Mills, Tyson Foods, WK Kellogg, J.M. Smucker and the Consumer Brands Association, the industry’s top trade group.
Kennedy has used Kellogg’s Froot Loops as his primary example when railing against artificial colorants.
While it is unclear exactly how removing dyes could affect the companies’ businesses, it will be a major effort to overhaul recipes — and the new looks could affect how consumers perceive the products.
Makary said phasing out petroleum-based food dyes won’t increase food prices, pointing to other countries that have made similar moves. However, synthetic dyes are generally more cost-effective than natural alternatives, which often require larger quantities to achieve vibrant colors and can carry higher production costs, according to some reports and one natural ingredient manufacturer.
Previously, pushback from consumer advocates led some of the companies to tweak their formulas and drop artificial dyes without any government intervention. In 2015, Kraft Heinz changed the recipe of its trademark mac and cheese to use the same natural colors found in the European version of the product.
But the changes don’t always stick. In 2017, General Mills reversed course, putting its artificially colored Trix cereal back on shelves. The naturally dyed cereal, which used turmeric, radishes and purple carrots, was not as vibrant, and customers rejected the new version.
Kennedy is at the helm of a $1.7 trillion agency that oversees food and tobacco products, vaccines and other medicines, scientific research, public health infrastructure and government-funded health care. After just two months on the job, he has drastically changed the nation’s federal health agencies. 

U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. leaves the stage after discussing the findings of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) latest Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network survey, at the Department of Health and Human Services in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 16, 2025.
Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters

In March, he announced plans to slash 10,000 full-time employees across different departments and consolidate divisions. He has cut back crucial parts of HHS, including offices that handle HIV prevention efforts and work to eliminate health-care disparities. The Food and Drug Administration is also suspending a quality control program for testing fluid milk and other dairy products due to reduced capacity in its food safety and nutrition division, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Kennedy’s so-called Make America Healthy Again platform argues a corrupt alliance of drug and food companies and the federal health agencies that regulate them are making Americans less healthy. He has pledged to end the chronic disease epidemic in children and adults, and has been vocal about making nutritious food, rather than drugs, central to that goal.
In January, before President Donald Trump or Kennedy took office, the Food and Drug Administration revoked its authorization of one type of red food dye called Red No. 3. The dye is known to cause cancer in laboratory animals, but food manufacturers were allowed to use it for years because scientists didn’t believe it raised the risk of cancer in humans at the level it is typically consumed.
At least one company is benefitting from the ban on artificial dyes: McCormick, which helps companies tweak their flavors and formulas.
“Now, reformulation activity has always been a part of the work that we do with our customer base, and we’ve been doing that for quite some time, but we are seeing a tick up in reformulation activity,” McCormick CEO Brendan Foley told analysts on the company’s earnings call in late March, adding that companies are seeking help cutting both artificial colors and sodium from their products. More

In an apparent move to crack down on password sharing outside the home, Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming service Max has launched a new feature it’s calling Extra Member Add-On.
Similar to Netflix’s paid sharing model, the new feature allows users to add an extra person who does not live in the same household to their subscription for a monthly fee.
Priced at $7.99 a month, the friend or family member of the primary account owner gets their own stand-alone account under the same subscription.
At least for now, the option is limited to one add-on profile per subscription.

Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Warner Bros. Discovery is taking a page out of Netflix’s playbook.
In an apparent move to crack down on password sharing outside the home, the company’s streaming service Max has launched a new feature it is calling Extra Member Add-On. Similar to Netflix’s paid sharing model, the new feature allows users to add an extra person who does not live in the same household as the primary account holder to their subscription for a monthly fee.

Priced at $7.99 a month, the friend or family member of the account owner gets their own stand-alone account under the same subscription. Existing profiles attached to customers who do not live within the primary household can be transferred to these new account types, which means their watch history and recommendations will follow them to the new account.
At least for now, the option is limited to one add-on profile per subscription.
Netflix long teased its password crackdown before implementing similar changes in 2023, a strategy that was quickly adapted by Disney last fall for its Disney+ service.
“Extra Member Add-On and Profile Transfer are two key Max advancements, designed to help viewers with a new way to enjoy our best-in-class content at an exceptional value, and offer subscribers greater flexibility in managing their accounts,” said JB Perrette, CEO of global streaming and games at Warner Bros. Discovery, in a statement Tuesday. 
Warner Bros. Discovery’s plan to cut down on password sharing was floated back in December. The move comes as streamers attempt to boost revenue from these direct-to-consumer platforms and sustain profitability.

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For countries worried that their trade surpluses with America put them in the firing line for tariffs, Donald Trump has a solution: buy American fuel. This month Mr Trump declared that his country’s deficit with the European Union would “disappear easily and quickly” if the bloc did only that. He and his cabinet have pressed other allies, including India and the Philippines, to increase their purchases of American liquefied natural gas (LNG). Scott Bessent, Mr Trump’s treasury secretary, has sought to persuade Japan, South Korea and Taiwan to invest in a vast LNG project in Alaska and commit themselves to purchasing a “substantial portion” of its output. More