Business

University of Connecticut star Paige Bueckers has teamed up with Intuit to offer free educational financial literacy programs to athletes and students at universities nationwide.
The company says it will offer an NIL Tax Empowerment Workshop to help athletes understand the tax implications for name, image and likeness revenue streams.
Bueckers has signed more than 25 deals with companies such as Gatorade, Chegg, Bose, Verizon, Madison Reed and StockX.

Paige Bueckers, #5 of the UConn Huskies, shoots the ball in the second half during the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament Final Four semifinal game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio, on April 5, 2024.
Steph Chambers | Getty Images

University of Connecticut star Paige Bueckers, on the cusp of becoming a WNBA No. 1 pick, is taking her talents to the realm of financial literacy.
The star Huskies guard has teamed up with Intuit to offer free educational financial literacy programs to athletes and students at universities nationwide.

“I know how important financial literacy is, and learning how to manage your income, your taxes and making smart financial decisions, so for me to be able to share that opportunity with others, I think was very important,” Bueckers told CNBC.
As part of Intuit’s new campaign, the financial technology platform will be offering a suite of financial education programs with the purpose of helping students navigate their financial future. The company says it will offer an NIL Tax Empowerment Workshop to help athletes understand the tax implications for name, image and likeness revenue streams.
Bueckers, 23, is part of one of the first classes of student-athletes to take full advantage of the new policies allowing for NIL deals. Beginning in 2021, the NCAA relaxed its rules and for the first time began allowing students to profit off their name, image and likeness. It has dramatically changed the model for college student-athletes.
She said she has learned most of her financial literacy through a financial advisor.
“I’ve been very blessed, very fortunate to have this opportunity with NIL to be able to capitalize off of that, start to build wealth, start to make money in college as a student athlete. But definitely, I think at first when NIL came into play, I didn’t really know much about finances,” she said.

To date, Bueckers has signed more than 25 deals with companies such as Gatorade, Chegg, Bose, Verizon, Madison Reed and StockX.
In December, she made history by becoming the first NIL athlete to launch a shoe with Nike.
Bueckers said NIL has not only been beneficial to her personally, but it has also been helpful to women’s sports overall.
“It’s done great things to the women’s game,” she said, “in terms of the visibility of seeing people on commercials, ads and all over social media.” More

Best Buy beat Wall Street’s earnings and revenue expectations for its fiscal 2025 fourth quarter.
The company saw comparable sales rise slightly year over year.
CEO Corie Barry said price increases are “highly likely” after President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada took effect.

A man walks by the front of a Best Buy store at American Dream Mall on November 29, 2024 in East Rutherford City.
Kena Betancur | Getty Images

Best Buy on Tuesday posted fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that topped expectations, but CEO Corie Barry projected that prices for U.S. consumers would rise as President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China and Mexico go into effect.
On Best Buy’s earnings call, Barry said China and Mexico are the company’s top two supply chain sources, with about 55% and 20% of its products sourced from those countries, respectively.

“Trade is critically important to our business and industry. The consumer electronic supply chain is highly global, technical and complex,” Barry said. “We expect our vendors across our entire assortment will pass along some level of tariff costs to retailers, making price increases for American consumers highly likely.”
Barry’s comments came as consumers and investors try to parse out how the new duties will affect household budgets, company sales and the U.S. economy. She spoke shortly after Target CEO Brian Cornell told CNBC that he expects consumers will see higher produce prices in a matter of days due to the Mexico tariffs.
Barry added that the company directly imports only 2% to 3% of its products, and that Best Buy is reviewing and adjusting its supply chain sourcing. She said that the company typically carries six weeks of supply at a time, and that she expects pricing changes to affect the second through fourth quarters of the fiscal year.
“The giant wild card here, obviously, is how the consumers are going to react to the price increases, in light of a lot of price increases potentially throughout the year and a general consumer confidence that is showing a little signs of weakness at the moment,” Best Buy CFO Matt Bilunas said on the call.
Shares of the company fell more than 13% on Tuesday morning.

Here’s how the consumer electronics company did compared with what Wall Street was expecting for the company’s fiscal 2025 fourth quarter ended Feb. 1, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: $2.58 adjusted vs. $2.40 expected
Revenue: $13.95 billion vs. $13.70 billion expected

Fourth-quarter revenue fell 4.8% from $14.65 billion during the same period a year ago.
Best Buy reported fourth-quarter net income of $117 million, or 54 cents per share, compared with a net income of $460 million, or $2.12 per share, during the year-ago period. Adjusting for a noncash goodwill impairment charge related to Best Buy Health and other restructuring initiatives, Best Buy reported fourth-quarter earnings of $2.58 per share.
Comparable sales, defined by Best Buy as revenue from online sales and stores open at least 14 months, rose 0.5% year over year for the quarter, excluding the additional week in fiscal 2024. Best Buy had forecast a change ranging from flat to down 3%. In the U.S., quarterly comparable sales rose 0.2% year over year.
Full-year fiscal 2025 revenue came in at $41.53 billion, down 4.4% from $43.45 billion in fiscal 2024. Best Buy’s fiscal 2025 had one fewer week than the prior-year period, which the retailer estimates added $735 million in revenue to its fiscal 2024 total.
For fiscal 2026, the company issued full-year guidance of $41.4 billion to $42.2 billion in revenue and comparable sales growth of 0% to 2% year over year.
“We believe consumer behavior will be largely similar to last year – remaining resilient but still dealing with high inflation that is driving expenses up across their lives, making them value focused and thoughtful about big ticket purchases. And, at the same time, we continue to see a consumer that is willing to spend on high price point products when they need to or when there is technology innovation,” Bilunas said in a news release.
Best Buy said the guidance does not account for the impact of recent or proposed tariffs. President Donald Trump imposed an additional 10% tariff on China starting Tuesday, on top of the 10% tariff on the country that he ordered in January. In addition, 25% duties on goods from Mexico and Canada also begin Tuesday.
On the earnings call, Barry said a 10% tariff on China would decrease comparable sales by 1%, but that a 20% tariff wouldn’t necessarily result in a 2% reduction in comparable sales.
“We’ve never seen this kind of breadth of tariffs, and this of course impacts the whole industry. So it’s not just a Best Buy question, it is a broad industry question. And I say that because that makes the estimation of the impact all the harder,” Barry said.
Barry said Best Buy will launch its U.S. third-party marketplace feature by the middle of the year. The company will phase in features such as fulfillment as a service for sellers and product returns at Best Buy stores. The company already has a third-party marketplace in Canada.
“It is still early in the process, and we are pleased with the strong interest from sellers and believe it indicates a promising launch,” Barry said.
The retailer’s computing and mobile phones segment saw comparable U.S. sales growth of 6.5% year over year for the quarter, along with an increase of 8.5% overseas. While the phone refresh cycle hasn’t impacted sales as much over the past six years, the success of AT&T and Verizon employees assisting customers at Best Buy stores gives the company more confidence about its mobile phone sales, Barry said on a call with reporters on Tuesday.
Amid sluggish home sales in the U.S., Bilunas said Best Buy’s appliances business is facing challenges due to consumers mostly replacing single units rather than purchasing packages and premium items. Quarterly comparable sales for appliances fell 11.4% year over year in the U.S., though they rose 4.9% in Best Buy’s international segment.
Correction: Best Buy CEO Corie Barry spoke with reporters on Tuesday. An earlier version misstated the day.

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Target beat Wall Street’s fourth-quarter expectations on the top and bottom lines, but it’s planning for a rough first quarter, adding to concerns about consumer health. 
The big-boxer’s forecast comes after other retailers like Walmart raised concerns about a slow start to the year and economic data showed consumer confidence is falling. 
Target’s issues are often self-inflicted, but its guidance can offer glimpses into larger spending patterns because of its size and the range of consumers it serves.

Target on Tuesday warned that it expects a “meaningful” drop in first-quarter profit compared to the year-ago period as it contends with “ongoing consumer uncertainty,” soft sales in February and concerns around tariffs. 
The first three months of the year tend to be slow for retailers because consumers typically pull back after the holiday shopping season. But Target’s tepid guidance comes after Walmart and E.l.f. Beauty raised concerns last month about a slower than usual start to the year.

Coupling those weak forecasts with a sharper-than-expected decline in consumer spending in January and the biggest drop in consumer confidence since 2021 in February, Target’s guidance is the latest warning sign about the health of the consumer and the U.S. economy.
Plenty of Target’s troubles have been self-inflicted in recent years, but as a big-box retailer that caters to large swaths of the population, its performance can offer insight into spending patterns ahead, especially when other companies have made similar comments. 
In a statement, Target’s finance chief Jim Lee said February sales were “soft” and “declining consumer confidence” hurt discretionary sales. He also blamed “uncharacteristically cold weather,” saying it affected apparel sales. 
“We expect to see a moderation in this trend as apparel sales respond to warmer weather around the country, and consumers turn to Target for upcoming seasonal moments such as the Easter holiday,” said Lee. “We will continue to monitor these trends and will remain appropriately cautious with our expectations for the year ahead.”
Target CEO Brian Cornell also told CNBC that President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on Mexican imports set to take effect Tuesday could force the company and other grocers to raise price on produce like bananas, strawberries and avocados in the coming days.

Beyond its outlook, Target reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street’s expectations.
Here’s how Target did compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: $2.41 vs. $2.26 expected
Revenue: $30.92 billion vs. $30.82 billion expected

Target’s net income for the three-month period that ended Feb. 1 was $1.10 billion, or $2.41 per share, compared with $1.38 billion, or $2.98 per share, a year earlier.
Sales dropped to $30.92 billion, down about 3% from $31.92 billion a year earlier. In the year-ago period, Target benefited from an extra week, which has skewed year-over-year comparisons.
For its current fiscal year, Target is expecting earnings per share to be between $8.80 and $9.80, which at the midpoint is more or less in line with estimates of $9.31, according to LSEG. However, it’s expecting sales to grow just 1%, well behind estimates of 2.6%, according to LSEG.
Target’s first-quarter guidance will also likely surprise investors. While it declined to share specific figures, Target said it’s expecting “to see meaningful year-over-year profit pressure in its first quarter relative to the remainder of the year.” Meanwhile, analysts were expecting profits to grow 0.9%, according to LSEG.
In the leadup to Target’s earnings report, the retailer raised its comparable sales guidance for the fourth quarter in January after it saw steady traffic during the crucial holiday shopping months, but it stood by its profit guidance, indicating that it relied on deals and discounts to drive sales.
That strategy ultimately impacted profits. During the quarter, Target’s gross margin fell about 0.4 percentage points due in part to “higher promotional and clearance markdown rates,” it said in a press release.
Target, which has long enticed shoppers with its wide range of discretionary merchandise, has struggled to win consumers over with those nice-to-have items amid persistent inflation, high interest rates and steep competition from online discounters and rival Walmart. That shift in mix has hurt Target because discretionary merchandise tends to be more profitable to sell than household essentials like groceries and toothpaste.
The company has said that it’s been able to drive momentum when it offers new eye-catching merchandise – such as fresh workout gear, pet accessories or seasonal flavors of food. 
For example, customers showed up and spent when Target started selling leggings from All In Motion, which came in bright colors and glittery patterns, for $25, Chief Commercial Officer Rick Gomez told CNBC in an interview last month. They also responded well when Target redesigned bras from its intimates and sleepwear line, Auden.
“When we have newness with style, on trend, at affordable prices, the consumer is willing to shop,” Gomez said.
During the fourth quarter, comparable sales trends in apparel grew by nearly 4 percentage points compared to the third quarter and Target is looking to sustain that momentum. At the end of February, Target said it was partnering with Champion and Warby Parker, which will see both brands show up in Target stores and online.
As part of its multiyear deal with Champion, Target will carry an exclusive line of sportswear that’s designed more for lounging and living, rather than proper gym clothes. With Warby Parker, Target will open five shop-in-shops and start offering the eyewear brand’s products online, with a larger rollout planned for next year.
The partnerships are designed to entice shoppers with fresh merchandise, bring new customers in and position Target to compete against its rivals, but it may take some time before these deals start bearing fruit.
Even though the agreements were announced at the beginning of the year, they won’t officially launch until the second half of 2025.

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Serena Williams, the former top tennis player in the world, has joined the ownership group of the Toronto Tempo.
Williams will help the Canada-based WNBA team with its visual identity.
The tennis legend also has ownership stakes across the National Women’s Soccer League, the National Football League and TGL Golf.

Serena Williams, one of sport’s greatest champions, joins Canada’s first WNBA team as a managing partner.
CNW Group | Toronto Tempo

Tennis superstar Serena Williams is continuing her investment in women’s sports with a new ownership stake in the Women’s National Basketball Association’s Toronto Tempo, the team announced Monday.
The Tempo, the WNBA’s first expansion team in Canada, will begin play in the 2026 season and is also owned by Larry Tanenbaum, chairman of Kilmer Sports Ventures.

“I have always said that women’s sports are an incredible investment opportunity. I am excited to partner with Larry and all of Canada in creating this new WNBA franchise and legacy,” Williams said in a statement.
The size of Williams’ stake was not disclosed.
As part of Williams’ role with the team, she will play an active role in the team’s visual look from jersey designs to merchandise collaborations.
“Serena is a champion,” said Teresa Resch, president of the Tempo Basketball Club. “She’s the greatest athlete of all time, and her impact on this team and this country is going to be incredible.”
The deal is pending final approval from the league.

Since retiring from tennis in August 2022, Williams, the former No. 1 tennis player with 23 Grand Slam singles championships, has been busy building her off-court portfolio.
She is also a minority owner in the National Women’s Soccer League’s Angel City FC, the National Football League’s Miami Dolphins and TGL’s Los Angeles Golf Club. More

Ireland’s Primark, Spain-based Mango, Canadian retailer Aritzia and Japan-based Uniqlo are adding new stores across the U.S.
International retailers are drawn to the U.S. because of its fragmented market of apparel retailers and more resilient consumer, said Monique Pollard, a London-based retail analyst for Citi.
Social media has also made it easier for new brands to break in, even with a smaller footprint of stores.

ELMHURST, NY — One of the newest additions to Queens Center is a store that many local mallgoers may not recognize.
Along with well-known mall staples like Macy’s, American Eagle and Bath & Body Works, the shopping center is now home to a Primark. The Ireland-based discount retailer, which sells clothing, shoes, purses and more, opened its doors there in December — and it has more U.S. stores on the way.

Across the country, a growing number of malls and shopping centers are getting a dose of international influence. Retailers including Primark, Spain-based Mango, Canadian retailer Aritzia and Japan-based Uniqlo are adding new stores across the U.S. — and pushing into regions where they haven’t gone before, outside of coastal cities like New York City or Los Angeles.

Primark store at the Queens Center mall in Elmhurst, NY. 
Melissa Repko | CNBC

Nearly 19,000 stores opened in the U.S. between 2018 and 2023 and about 28% of those were foreign-owned retailers, according to the most recent available figures from GlobalData, a market research firm.
And in the past few years, retailers based in Europe or elsewhere around the world have announced ambitious U.S. expansion plans.
Primark, which has 29 stores in the U.S., plans to reach 60 locations in the country by the end of next year. It has signed leases for new stores in diverse parts of the U.S., including El Paso, Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; Hyattsville, Maryland; and Miami, Florida.
The retailer, known as Penneys in Ireland, has become a household name in Ireland, the U.K. and other parts of Europe since its first store opened in Dublin in 1969. The U.S. market has become an important place to break new ground as the company hits a “maturity point” in some European countries, president of Primark U.S. Kevin Tulip said in an interview with CNBC.

“The U.S. is the number one consumer market,” he said. “So to be here and to get it right means a lot. But you really need to get it right.”

Why the U.S. is a retail expansion target

Primark isn’t the only one with big ambitions for the U.S.
Barcelona-based retailer Mango announced a $70 million expansion last fall, including plans for 42 new storefronts in the U.S. in 2024, 20 more locations this year and a new logistics center outside of Los Angeles. Those locations will be scattered in parts of the Sun Belt and Northeast, Mango CEO Toni Ruiz told CNBC in an interview. 
Vancouver-based Aritzia’s U.S. footprint is now nearly as large as its fleet of stores in its home country. Last year, the retailer opened 14 new stores, including three expansions or relocations, in North America. That brought its store count to 61 in the U.S., as it added boutiques in major cities like Chicago and Miami and smaller markets like Plano, Texas and Sacramento, California.

Shoppers wait in line to enter newly opened women’s clothing store Aritzia on Michigan Avenue on Black Friday on Nov. 29, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois.
Kamil Krzaczynski | Getty Images

And more stores are coming this year in cities including Scottsdale, Arizona and Murray, Utah, the company said.
The U.S. has many ingredients that brands from Europe and other parts of the world look for, said Monique Pollard, a London-based retail analyst for Citi. The U.S. has a fragmented market of apparel retailers, and its consumer spending has proven more resilient than in some other inflation-weary markets like the United Kingdom, she said.
Plus, fashion trends are going global more quickly as influencers on Instagram and TikTok and consumers’ own travel influences what they wear. That can make it easier for a new brand to break into an unfamiliar region, said John Mercer, head of global research for Coresight Research.
“There are fewer differences to kind of iron out between markets,” he said, adding that foreign brands now “stand a better chance” than in previous years or decades.
Social media has made it possible for brands with even a tiny footprint of physical stores to gain traction in the U.S. About 63% of consumers under 25 and 57% of those between 25 and 34 discover products or brands on social media at least weekly, according to a retail survey by research advisory group Forrester.

Shoppers walk into Uniqlo at the Westfield UTC shopping center on Jan. 31, 2025 in San Diego, California.
Kevin Carter | Getty Images

Viral trends have fueled sales for some of the international newcomers, through products like Aritzia’s Super Puff winter coat and Uniqlo’s shoulder bag. Both companies credited social media for driving popularity of those items two years ago.
Shrinking department stores and retail bankruptcies have left market share for foreign retailers to grab — and some empty stores in malls for them to fill. Macy’s is in the middle of closing about 150 of its namesake locations across the U.S. Many specialty baby stores have also shuttered due to bankruptcies, including Buy Buy Baby, which was owned by Bed Bath & Beyond, and Babies R Us.
Primark’s Tulip said children’s clothing has been one of company’s strong categories in the U.S., saying the company has noticed higher demand and less competition.
And some of its stores have replaced retailers like J.C. Penney that have shuttered some locations, or others such as Bed Bath & Beyond that have gone out of business.
Mango, Aritzia, Uniqlo and Zara are all in the early innings of U.S. growth, though, with less than 100 stores each across the country. That means that at least for now, the U.S. businesses account for just a small piece of those companies’ global business and a tiny fraction of the country’s apparel market.
The U.S. represents about 5% of global sales for Primark. Tulip said he expects that percentage to grow and already, that growth has begun to influence the retailer’s product range. One change is that it’s now making more leisurewear to suit American shoppers’ tastes, he said.

Mango flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York City.
Courtesy: Mango

The risks of expansion

Yet in any new market, success isn’t a guarantee — and relevance can fade.
Sweden-based H&M paved the way for other foreign retailers when it opened the doors of its first U.S. store about 25 years ago on New York City’s Fifth Avenue. Since then, the retailer has become a well-known mall name strongly associated with its fast fashion approach of quickly responding to trends and selling cheaper versions of hot items.
But more recently, the Swedish retailer’s sales have disappointed as it faces stiffer competition in the U.S. and abroad from low-priced Chinese online retailer Shein and Spanish rival Zara, which is owned by Inditex.

A shopper carries Foot Locker and Zara shopping bags while walking down the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, California, March 20, 2023.
Patrick T. Fallon | Afp | Getty Images

Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing has gained traction in the U.S. after earlier pushes into the country fell flat. The Japanese retailer reported losses of roughly $71.5 million in fiscal 2016 from retiring assets and shuttering stores in the U.S.
Now, the company is back in growth mode and has pledged to reach 200 stores in North America by 2027.
For Primark, the U.S. has come with a learning curve, too, Tulip said. The retailer broke into the U.S. market in 2015 by opening a store in Boston, a city with a large Irish population that would recognize its brand. Then, he said, it moved cautiously to try to understand the U.S. shopper before opening more locations in the Northeast and then heading further to Southern states.
At many of Primark’s store openings, enthusiastic shoppers have turned up early and waited in a line before doors swung open, he said.
Yet the Irish retailer has had missteps too, he said. Primark carries a lot of licensed merchandise, such as Disney and Marvel-themed clothing or jackets and T-shirts with the logos of popular NBA and NFL teams.
But when it expanded to the U.S., that sports merchandise didn’t land in the way it had hoped.
“Initially we thought, you know, surely everyone in Europe loves the Dallas Cowboys and, you know, let’s land that product into every [U.S.] store and everyone’s going to absolutely go wild for it,” he said. “But we saw pretty quickly that actually people are very passionate about their local sports team.”
He said Primark pivoted to carrying only relevant local sports teams, such as having Buffalo Bills items in upstate New York.
Primark also has a unique quirk that could become a weakness: It sells exclusively through brick-and-mortar stores. Its lack of an e-commerce business in the U.S. could make it vulnerable to retailers like Amazon, Walmart and Shein, especially since those sites sell many low-priced wardrobe staples.
More than 50% of Primark’s clothes are everyday basics, such as underwear, T-shirts and socks, according to the company’s website.
As the newcomers have tried to gain traction with American shoppers, some brands have taken a different tack. Zara’s net store count in the U.S. has stayed flat at just shy of 100 for the past five years. 
Instead of more locations, Zara’s parent company has added more room in its stores. In 2013, the average store size for Inditex’s retailers including Zara was around 6,000 square feet. That’s shot up to an average of about 8,600 square feet a decade later, according to a Citi analysis based on data from company filings.

While the growing international retailers have only a small footprint in the U.S., they have already proven influential, as they offer shoppers fresh choices and U.S. retailers new competition.
One of Primark’s next expansion moves show the company is not subtle about its ambitions: a store is set to open in New York City’s Herald Square. It will be a less than two-block walk from Macy’s iconic flagship store.
On a recent day at Queens Center a few miles away, prospective customers browsed the aisles of the Primark store, and some left with an armful of purchases.
Jeanette Torres, a retiree who lives in Brooklyn, heard about the brand from her son. She said the company’s low prices convinced her to shop there. She purchased a T-shirt, underwear and winter hat, which cost a total of about $30.
She said she likes that those prices don’t come at the expense of the store experience. Primark has brighter lights and neater locations than off-price retailers like Burlington Stores, where she said “everything is on top of everything.”
Bruce Wolinsky, another retiree from Queens, made his first trip to Primark by accident. He went to the mall with his Macy’s credit card, a 25% off coupon and a need for a new pair of shoes.
He never made it to the department store. Instead, he walked into Primark and walked out with a $22 pair of lace-up navy blue and brown sneakers.
— CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge contributed to this report. More

Thirty years after Pizza Hut introduced stuffed crust, Domino’s Pizza is introducing its own take on the now-classic menu item.
Domino’s worked on its own version for three years to make sure it got the item right.
Ahead of the launch of Parmesan Stuffed Crust, the pizza chain spent 12 weeks training franchisees and 7,000 stores on how to make it properly.

Domino’s Parmesan Stuffed Crust.
Source: Domino’s Pizza

Domino’s Pizza is finally releasing its own version of stuffed crust on Monday, aiming to win over the customers who are willing to spend more on the pricey pizza customization.  
Thirty years ago, Yum Brands’ Pizza Hut debuted the cheesy stuffed crust, marketing the launch with a television commercial starring Donald Trump. As years passed, rivals Papa John’s and Little Caesars eventually followed with their own takes. Trump went from hawking pizza to sitting in the Oval Office.

Generations of consumers have grown up with stuffed crust, including the increasingly important Gen Z diners, who are entering the workforce and buying their own pizzas now. The addition is critical for Domino’s, the top U.S. pizza chain, to compete with rivals Pizza Hut and Papa John’s, which have ceded market share to Domino’s in recent quarters but still steal the pizza chain’s customers.
“Nearly 13 million Domino’s customers each year are buying stuffed crust from our competitors, and these are our customers who have to leave our brand because we’re the only national pizza brand that doesn’t offer it,” Domino’s Chief Marketing Officer Kate Trumbull told CNBC.
Domino’s has taken so long to release stuffed crust that a survey of its customers found that 73% already believed that the chain offered it on the menu, according to Trumbull.
That all changes on Monday, when Domino’s launches its Parmesan Stuffed Crust. The menu item is included in the pizza chain’s $9.99 carryout deal.
When Pizza Hut originally launched stuffed crust, Domino’s viewed the menu item as gimmicky, according to Trumbull. Plus, the company heard that stuffed crust caused bottlenecks and slowed down service, leading to unhappy customers and workers.

But Domino’s perspective changed after more national competitors followed Pizza Hut’s lead. The chain committed to launching its own version in 2022, when its sales were faltering in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic pizza boom.
“It has been one of the longest development efforts in the company’s history,” Trumbull said.
The process began with extensive market research. Findings included that stuffed crust customers tend to buy pizza more frequently and often spend more per transaction.
Eight potential iterations followed before Domino’s landed on the right recipe for its Parmesan Stuffed Crust, made with mozzarella and topped with garlic seasoning and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.
At the same time, Domino’s was improving its restaurants’ overall operations, retraining its employees across the system on making its crust and rolling out a custom dough spinner to restaurants. If the pizza chain hadn’t made its kitchens more efficient, it wouldn’t have been able to launch stuffed crust, according to Trumbull.
Ahead of the launch of Parmesan Stuffed Crust, the pizza chain spent 12 weeks training franchisees and 7,000 stores on how to make it properly.
“We’re not going to leave anything to chance after taking three years,” Trumbull said.

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Boeing and Airbus say installations of new seats are holding up aircraft deliveries.
Supply chain issues and certification of new first- and business-class seat models have delayed deliveries to airlines.
Airlines are scrambling for newer, more luxurious seats that fetch higher fares.

A Lufthansa First Class “Allegris” cabin, which was set up outside the show. 
Peter Kneffel | Picture Alliance | Getty Images

Heated or cooled seats. Ultra-high-definition TV screens. Benches. Convertible beds. All-aisle access. And of course, the coveted privacy door.
Ever-more luxurious first- and business-class cabins that have hundreds of parts and require regulator approval are the latest hold-up as new airplanes arrive late to customers, according to the heads of the world’s biggest airplane manufacturers.

Boeing has 787 Dreamliners, a twin-aisle jetliner used on some of the world’s longest flights, on the ground at its South Carolina factory “that are held up for delivery for the seats, which obviously go in pretty late in the assembly process,” CEO Kelly Ortberg said at a Barclays industry conference on Feb. 20.
Part of the problem is airlines’ rush to win over high-paying customers by offering comforts and more of the scarce space on board — even if a few extra inches.
“It’s getting the seats certified, and it’s not actually the butt part of the seat,” Ortberg continued. “It’s the cabinet and the doors … for first class and business class. These are pretty complex systems, and getting those certified has taken both the seat suppliers and us longer than anticipated.”
Similar issues are hitting Boeing’s main rival Airbus, the CEO of the European manufacturer, Guillaume Faury, said on an earnings call the same day.
“We have delays in seats” as well as cabin “monuments” like galleys and closets that are “delaying the time at which we can deliver a plane fully completed,” Faury said.

Together the companies account for the vast majority of the commercial airplane market.
Aircraft deliveries are crucial for manufacturers’ revenue because customers pay the bulk of a jetliner’s price when they receive the plane, rather than when they first order it.

A first-class compartment of a commercial passenger plane in the 1950s.
Authenticated News | Archive Photos | Getty Images

Pricier seats

Airlines and aerospace manufacturers are highly regulated, and new seat designs, some features and even cabin layouts must win approval from regulators before taking to the skies. Passengers also need to be able to safely exit those seats in the case of an emergency.
Some new aircraft cabins are still awaiting certification, and delays are adding to years of supply chain strains and labor shortages coming out of the pandemic.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has fired hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration workers in a cost-cutting spree. The agency said the positions aren’t “safety critical,” but didn’t say whether staffing issues could further slow down aircraft or other certifications.
Getting the state-of-the-art seats installed at the front of the cabin means millions in revenue for airlines. For example, Delta Air Lines on Friday was selling a round-trip standard economy ticket between New York and Paris during the first week of May for $816. Move to Delta One, the carrier’s top-tier seat, and the same route jumps to $5,508.
New planes’ longer ranges compared with older models are opening up new nonstop routes for carriers.
“No one is happy right now,” about the delays, said Henry Harteveldt, founder of travel consulting firm Atmosphere Research Group. “They’re not able to get their new show ponies in.”

Members of staff display the first class cabin of a Qatar Airways Boeing 787, at the Farnborough International Air Show in Farnborough, England, Monday, July 22, 2024.
Alberto Pezzali | AP

A business-class seat can have about 1,500 parts, and weight is key, especially for an industry that has taken great pains to remove fuel-costing weight on board. That includes using thinner paper for seatback magazines to lighter cutlery.
Germany’s Recaro, a major airplane seat manufacturer, says its R7 business class seat weighs about 80 kilograms, or around 176 pounds.
“You’re trying to make everything as light as you can and also have a pleasing aesthetic value,” said Harteveldt.
Switzerland’s flag carrier, Swiss, said the center of gravity shifted in some of its aircraft after testing out its new seat models, so it has to make design changes and is looking at a “weight plate” before the new seats can fly commercially.
Customers “clearly signal to us that it is time to modernize the cabin interiors of our long-haul fleet, especially the [Airbus] A330,” a spokesman for Swiss said in an email. “At the same time, we are working on solutions and observing trends and technologies that could allow us to achieve a different and more useful weight distribution.”

Luxury travel boom

New business class seats cost in the low-six digits apiece, which “compares to the price of luxury car,” according to Recaro.
To airline executives they’re worth it. They say customers, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, have shown they are willing to pay up to sit toward the front of the cabin.
Delta, for example, said in November that just 43% of its sales last year came from the main cabin, while 57% came from premium seats and its loyalty program. In 2010, 60% of revenue came from the main cabin.
CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC in January that the trend toward premium travel is likely to continue.

Airlines working to glow-up the front of their planes span the globe: Australia’s Qantas, Delta, American, JetBlue and others. Lufthansa’s new Allegris cabins on the Boeing 787s are held up in certification, a spokesman said.
Singapore Airlines said in November that it will bring first-class seats to its longest flights, more than 17 hours. CEO Goh Choon Phong said in a news release that the offerings will “push the boundaries of comfort, luxury, and modernity.”

A Singapore Airlines A380 first class suite
Leslie Josephs | CNBC

American Airlines, for its part, has been waiting for months to debut a new seat for its wide-body planes and just won approval for those on its 787-9 Dreamliner. A spokeswoman said the airline is working with regulators and that it plans to introduce the new suites on its Airbus A321XLR, a long-range version of a key Airbus plane, and its retrofitted Boeing 777-300ER later this year. It unveiled the seats in September 2022 and initially planned to debut them last year.
“The biggest thing I can say on all those fronts though is that we are dependent on the supply chain. Right now, that supply chain, especially in regard to seats, is very tight,” CEO Robert Isom said on an earnings call in October. He said the company’s message to suppliers and partners is: “‘Work with us to make sure that we get those — that equipment — on dock as expected,’ and we’re really pushing to make sure that that’s the case right now.”

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The Los Angeles Dodgers have deferred over $1 billion in current player contracts in the past few years, an unprecedented amount that has made headlines this offseason.
The deferrals have sparked anger and derision among some baseball fans questioning their compliance with Major League Baseball regulations.
While teams have negotiated deferrals into contracts for decades, the Dodgers’ financial and team success has exacerbated current concerns over competitive imbalance in MLB.

Members of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrate on the field after winning Game 5 to win the 2024 World Series presented by Capital One between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Oct. 30, 2024.
Mike Lawrence | Major League Baseball | Getty Images

As Major League Baseball’s spring training kicks into gear, the Los Angeles Dodgers are wrapping up a nearly perfect offseason.
After the Dodgers captured the World Series in October, the team notched more wins in the winter. The club retained key players, brought in coveted free agents and deferred over $130 million in new contracts — sending many baseball fans into an uproar that has reignited backlash to the sport’s financial model.

Criticism of the Dodgers deferring money, or delaying paying players much of their salary until after their contract with the team ends, first began in 2023. The team signed Shohei Ohtani to a then-record 10-year, $700 million deal, but deferred $680 million of that total. The team’s offseason this year amplified that criticism into outright fury, provoking allegations that the Dodgers manipulated MLB’s salary system to build a superteam.
While contract deferrals have become more common across MLB, the Dodgers have relied on them more than any other team. Of roughly $1.5 billion in known deferred money on active MLB contracts, the Dodgers account for about $1.04 billion — or two-thirds, according to data from sports contract website Spotrac compiled by CNBC.
Contract deferrals can provide advantages to both franchises and players, sports business experts told CNBC. But the practice is just one piece of larger criticism of the fairness and sustainability of MLB’s financial structure. Critics aren’t just angry at the Dodgers’ ability to defer money; they’re frustrated by what they see as a league with no salary cap creating unfavorable conditions for teams unable or unwilling to spend as much as the Dodgers do year after year.
“The Dodgers are definitely way, way, way out in their own space when it comes to these deferral deals,” said N. Jeremi Duru, law professor and director of the Sport & Society Initiative at American University.

The benefits of deferrals

Teams kick salary down the road for a simple reason: They save money now, controlling the cost of a star-studded roster. They may decide present success is worth future liabilities.

Unlike many other professional sports leagues, MLB doesn’t have a salary cap limiting how much teams can pay players. It does, however, enforce a “competitive balance tax,” which levies a fee on teams that exceed a certain payroll threshold. The tax payment depends on the amount by which the payroll exceeds the threshold.
For luxury tax purposes, a team’s payroll is calculated by summing the average annual values of each contract, according to MLB’s current collective bargaining agreement. For contracts with deferred salary, that number typically turns out smaller than if the pay weren’t deferred, so teams can use the practice to lower their tax bills.
The Dodgers, for instance, would have paid Ohtani $70 million a year on a standard version of his contract. But with deferrals, his yearly salary for luxury tax purposes is only $46 million, according to FanGraphs.
Most teams would not feel comfortable punting over $1 billion in salaries to the future, but the Dodgers are one of MLB’s most popular and financially successful franchises. They’ve led the league in home attendance every season since 2013, according to ESPN, and are the second-most valuable team in the league behind the New York Yankees, according to Forbes.
The Dodgers’ market size and global reach grant them the “firepower” to ink expensive but deferred contracts, said David Carter, sports business professor at the University of Southern California and founder of consulting firm Sports Business Group.
“How far down the road can you see revenue coming in from media deals, particularly your local or regional deal? What about sponsorship and sponsorship upside, and what about ticketing? And the Dodgers have been off the charts in those areas for a very long time,” Carter told CNBC.
The Dodgers declined to comment on their use of deferrals.
The benefits of deferrals for players are less obvious. Just as teams save money on tax bills for considerations of how money depreciates over time, players lose out by delaying their payments, Robert Raiola, director of the sports and entertainment group at accounting firm PKF O’Connor Davies, told CNBC.
But players can sacrifice money now to help a club build a World Series contender. Dodgers All-Stars Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts accepted a combined $172 million in deferrals in the years before Ohtani’s deal.

Freddie Freeman #5 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates as he walks to first base after hitting a grand slam home run in the 10th inning during Game 1 of the 2024 World Series presented by Capital One between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on Friday, October 25, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
Rob Tringali | Major League Baseball | Getty Images

And they can recoup some of those losses by deploying strategies, like negotiating for a signing bonus in a contract, to minimize their personal tax bill.
Signing bonuses are taxed by a player’s state of residency, not the states where they play games, so players who live in a state with a smaller or no income tax can receive a larger chunk of the bonus, Raiola said.
Some players with contract deferrals can also save on or avoid state taxes on their deferred payouts if they move to a different state or country. Federal tax law prohibits states from taxing the retirement income of nonresidents, and deferral plans that include relatively equal payments over at least 10 years, like Ohtani’s contract does, stand to qualify as retirement income.

The state of the game

The Dodgers’ extensive usage of deferrals has drawn ire from some baseball fans. As more and more reports of Dodger free agent signings receiving deferred money surfaced on social media this offseason, commentators accused the team of skirting the competitive balance tax and sarcastically compared the Dodgers to buy now, pay later services like Klarna.
Sports business experts stress that the Dodgers are following the rules and are far from the first organization to defer payments. Many current and retired MLB players are still receiving deferred payments from deals struck years ago with former teams — the most notable of which is Bobby Bonilla’s agreement with the New York Mets.
The Dodgers’ ability to shell out on salaries both now and later has sparked fresh complaints about the league’s competitive balance. Even by reducing their tax payments with deferrals, the Dodgers will still pay a league-leading $142 million in luxury taxes in 2025, according to Spotrac. The current deferral debate is a microcosm of a broader gripe that the wealthiest and most successful MLB franchises can use their financial muscle to eliminate parity within the sport.
“Without question, I think there’s a lot of concern from a lot of corners that this is bad for the competitiveness of baseball,” Duru said.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 30: Stan Kasten, President and CEO of the Los Angeles Dodgers, celebrates with the Commissioner’s Trophy after defeating the New York Yankees 7-6 in Game Five to win the 2024 World Series at Yankee Stadium on October 30, 2024 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Elsa | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images

Complaints about the best teams dominating the league are nothing new, and MLB does have a revenue-sharing system that redistributes income to the lowest-earning franchises. But some current trends in baseball are amplifying these fears. MLB teams earn much of their revenue from their media rights deals with regional sports networks, many of which have faced financial crises in the past few years.
The Dodgers, meanwhile, enjoy one of the more stable broadcasting arrangements in the league. The team’s current contract, inked in 2013 with Time Warner Cable (now owned by Charter Communications), is reportedly worth between $7 billion and $8 billion over 25 years, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The Dodgers are also at the forefront of MLB’s global expansion efforts, especially in Asia. Already one of the most recognizable MLB teams worldwide, the Dodgers feature three top Japanese players (Ohtani, Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki). All Dodgers games are broadcast in Japan, and this year the team will open its season in Tokyo.
Steven Bank, a business law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the Dodgers are beginning to resemble soccer “superclubs”: historically successful teams like Manchester United that have global fanbases. MLB has to maintain a delicate balance between its biggest names racking up championships and other teams having a chance to win, he said.
“There is an argument from a business perspective that superclubs draw more eyeballs and that that benefits everybody,” Bank said.
Case in point: TV ratings for the Yankees-Dodgers World Series in 2024 jumped 67% from 2023’s championship series between the Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks and set several postseason viewing records in Japan.
MLB wants to maintain the competitiveness of the sport, Carter said, but above all the league’s job is to increase the value of its franchises — even if some teams benefit more than others.
“Ultimately, it’s best for the league if these big-market franchises do really well,” Carter told CNBC.

What’s next for MLB

Deferrals will likely remain a contentious topic in MLB for years to come, especially before the league’s collective bargaining agreement expires at the end of 2026.
The league previously tried to eliminate deferrals during negotiations for its last CBA, which took effect in 2022. Commissioner Rob Manfred said in December that deferrals can “at some point become problematic.”
He pointed to a repayment crisis two decades ago, when former Diamondbacks owner Jerry Colangelo negotiated about $250 million in deferred salaries to build a roster that ultimately won the World Series in 2001. The team then faced financial turmoil, raising ticket prices and trading star players to help pay off its debts. The episode spurred MLB to change its rules: Team ownership must now have the funds for deferred salary fully available within a year and a half of a contract being signed, according to the MLB collective bargaining agreement.
“We’ve strengthened our rules in terms of the funding of deferred compensation in order to avoid that kind of problem. But, you know, look, obviously the bigger the numbers get, the bigger the concern,” he said.
MLB referred a CNBC interview request to Manfred’s comments.
Any MLB effort to stop deferrals will likely face opposition from the players union, Duru said, and a prolonged disagreement over the issue could lead to a work stoppage for the league.
For now, deferrals aren’t going anywhere in MLB. Raiola said he expects to see more teams located in higher-tax states to “catch on” and negotiate deferred contracts.
The Dodgers haven’t been the only franchise pushing salary to the future this offseason. Alex Bregman deferred $60 million of his $120 million contract with the Boston Red Sox, while Anthony Santander will receive $61.75 million of his $92.5 million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays as deferred compensation.
It’s not just baseball fans who are upset with the practice. Some California politicians, displeased about the possibility of athletes retiring elsewhere and depriving the state of income taxes, are taking matters into their own hands.
In March 2024, state Sen. Josh Becker introduced legislation that would call on Congress to impose a cap on deferred compensation. The bill, which calls out Ohtani’s contract and claims he could save over $90 million in taxes if he were to retire outside of California, passed the state Senate but was withdrawn by Becker after it received insufficient support in the state Assembly.
“Ohtani’s dodging taxes like curveballs,” Becker told CNBC. “Everyone else is playing fair.”
Becker said deferred compensation was originally intended to help people retiring from more typical jobs, rather than professional athletes. He hopes to reintroduce the bill next year.
Malia Cohen, California’s state controller and a bill sponsor, said the state’s wealthiest residents have an “outsize impact” on California’s income tax revenue and should pay their fair share. Additional tax revenue would help all Californians, she added.
The Dodgers, especially Ohtani, are at the epicenter of the deferral controversy because of the sheer amount of money involved, USC’s Carter said. But until the rules change, the team is entitled to continue its spending spree.
“Everybody seems to be skiing inbounds now,” Carter said. “And so until that’s no longer the case, then this issue need not really be actively revisited.” More