Business

United is offering pilots unpaid time off in May and potentially through the summer, the pilots’ union said.
The airline’s pilots’ union cited delayed Boeing deliveries for the update.
United’s CEO is among airline leaders who have expressed frustration at Boeing, whose chief executive last week said he would step down.

Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner, from United Airlines company, taking off from Barcelona airport, in Barcelona on 28th March 2023. 
JanValls | Nurphoto | Getty Images

United Airlines is asking pilots to take unpaid time off next month, citing late-arriving aircraft from Boeing, according to a note sent to pilots.
It’s another example of how Boeing’s customers say the manufacturer’s production problems and safety crisis are impacting their growth plans. The offer comes after United and other airlines in recent years have clamored for more pilots when the Covid-19 pandemic travel slump ended and demand surged.

“Due to recent changes to our Boeing deliveries, the remaining 2024 forecast block hours for United have been significantly reduced,” the United chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association, the pilots’ union, said in a note to members Friday. “While the delivery issues surround our 787 and 737 fleets, the impact will affect other fleets as well.”
United confirmed the request for voluntary, unpaid time off. The airline previously said it would pause pilot hiring this spring because of aircraft arriving late from Boeing, CNBC reported last month.
The union said it expects United to offer more time off “for the summer bid periods and potentially into the fall.”
United was contracted to receive 43 Boeing 737 Max 8 planes and 34 Max 9 models this year, but now expects to receive 37 and 19, respectively, according to a company filing in February. It had expected Boeing would also hand over 80 Max 10s this year and 71 next year. That model hasn’t yet been certified by the Federal Aviation Administration, and the airline removed them from the delivery schedule because it is “unable to accurately forecast the expected delivery period,” it said in the filing.
United CEO Scott Kirby has been among the most vocal about the production problems and delivery delays at Boeing, including most recently the crisis stemming from a door plug that blew out of a nearly new Boeing 737 Max 9 operated by an Alaska Airlines flight that was at about 16,000 feet.

Other airlines bosses have also grown frustrated with the delivery delays resulting from Boeing’s manufacturing issues.
Southwest Airlines last month said it was reevaluating its 2024 financial guidance, citing fewer Boeing deliveries, and has paused pilot and flight attendant hiring, while Alaska Airlines said its 2024 capacity estimates are “in flux due to uncertainty around the timing of aircraft deliveries as a result of increased Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Justice scrutiny on Boeing and its operations.”
Boeing declined to comment.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun last week announced he would leave at the end of the year as part of a broad leadership shake-up, which included the departures of the board chairman and the head of Boeing’s commercial airplanes unit.

Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

Fast-food workers in California at chains with more than 60 national locations now earn $20 an hour.
Other business owners, including restaurant operators not targeted in the law, are watching to see if they need to hike their wages to keep up with the shifting labor market.
The average wage for hourly food-service workers in California was $17.89 an hour, according to self-reported Glassdoor data from Oct. 1 to March 28.

An employee hands an order to a customer through a drive-thru window at a McDonald’s restaurant in Oakland, California, April 9, 2020.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

As fast-food chains in California start to pay their workers a higher minimum wage, other business owners across the state are watching to see whether they will have to raise their own pay to compete.
Starting Monday, fast-food workers in California at chains with more than 60 national locations earn $20 an hour, higher than the state’s broader minimum wage of $16 per hour. The new pay floor stems from a state law passed in September, which also establishes a nine-person council that will determine future wage hikes and suggest other guidelines for labor conditions for the industry. There are more than half a million fast-food workers in the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom said when signing the bill into law.

Some affected chains have responded to the mandated wage hike by slashing their workforces and hiking their menu prices. Franchisees for pizza chains Papa John’s, Round Table and Pizza Hut laid off drivers ahead of the deadline. McDonald’s, Wingstop and Chipotle Mexican Grill are among the chains that have said they’ll pass on the higher labor costs to their customers by making their menu items more expensive.
“The consequences are business owners — franchisees who are not large companies, despite what the political supporters of this law have said — these are small businesses and they’re facing now mandated higher costs. And those costs are going to get passed on to the customer and will likely result in fewer jobs,” Matthew Haller, president and CEO of franchisee advocacy group the International Franchise Association, told CNBC.
The law won’t directly touch other restaurants in California — small coffee chains, mom-and-pop diners and upscale steakhouses — but they still could have to adjust their pay as they compete for the same employees. And industries that rely on hourly workers, such as retail and hospitality, may also face pressure to match their wages or risk losing their employees.
“I think we are going to see spillover effects within food service, but beyond that, we should expect to see spillover effects to other industries that are competing for this talent,” Daniel Zhao, lead economist for career site Glassdoor, told CNBC.
The law takes effect as job growth has slowed in the most populous U.S. state. California’s unemployment rate was 5.3% in February, outpacing the U.S. rate of 3.9%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

California pay is already high

While the new fast-food minimum wage is among the highest in the U.S., California employers are used to paying more for their labor. Roughly three dozen California cities and counties have local minimum wages higher than the state pay floor of $16 an hour.
Even when it is not mandated, restaurants usually find themselves paying more than the minimum wage to attract hourly workers. For years, the industry has struggled with a labor crunch as teens seek out internships instead of restaurant jobs and older workers decamp for other industries with better working conditions and benefits.
The average wage for hourly food service workers in California before the law took effect was $17.89 an hour, according to self-reported Glassdoor data from Oct. 1 to March 28. But only 22% of the state’s hourly restaurant workers were making at least $20 an hour in that time.
The pay hike will have a bigger effect on fast-food restaurants in areas with lower costs of living, such as Fresno, according to Zhao. In major metropolitan areas, the gap between prior pay rates and the new minimum wage is likely smaller.
For example, at Andytown Coffee Roasters in San Francisco, non-tipped employees already make more than $20 an hour, according to owner and CEO Lauren Crabbe. She said she’s “personally thrilled” that fast-food workers for large chains will earn a higher wage in California, though she thinks the legislature missed an opportunity to target giants in other industries, such as retail.
“If a multinational company making millions in profit cannot afford to pay the people making their product and serving their customers at least $20 [an hour] in 2024, then they do not have a viable business model,” Crabbe said.
The chief executive of the Cheesecake Factory isn’t sweating the wage hike, either. As a full-service restaurant chain, the company won’t be obligated to pay its California workers $20 an hour. But CEO Matthew Clark said on the company’s earnings call in February that the chain’s tipped positions already make much more, and he believes that’s the case for fast-food workers, too.
“Many of the California [quick-service restaurant] urban locations are already paying $19 and $20,” he said. “We believe that’s partly why they agreed to do it in the first place.”
Businesses outside the restaurant industry are also eyeing the wage increase for fast-food workers.
Jennifer B. Perez runs Growing Roots in Long Beach. The company has 13 employees and has been in business since 2002, designing, installing and maintaining indoor plants for commercial and residential clients.
Perez monitors hikes in industries outside her own to remain competitive. She gave workers raises this year ahead of the fast-food hike. Workers without experience are making $19 an hour, she said, on the lowest end of her pay scale and more than $2 above the local minimum. They also have paid time off, and health, vision and dental insurance.
“It’s a ripple effect, because I’m not part of that industry,” Perez told CNBC of the fast-food increase. “I’m always over minimum wage, but since that keeps increasing and increasing, and it’s a 25% increase from $16 to $20, it’s definitely something to think about.”
Like many business owners, Perez has to consider how inflation affects both her company’s labor costs and her clients’ budgets.
“Most small businesses can’t just do a straight 25% increase across the board, or price increases across the board,” she said.

Advocates prepare to go bigger

From start to finish, the California law, which was backed by the Service Employees International Union, has been controversial.
The restaurant industry fought back against the initial incarnation, which Newsom signed into law in 2022, by gathering enough signatures for a referendum to make California voters decide on the matter. The SEIU responded by backing a bill that would impose joint-employer liability on franchised businesses, holding franchisors like McDonald’s responsible for labor infractions committed by their franchisees. The two sides came to a deal in September, resulting in the new law and doing away with the joint-employer provisions.
Newsom came under fire in February after Bloomberg reported that a carve-out for restaurants that bake their own bread on premise benefited the governor’s donor Greg Flynn, owner of the Panera Bread franchisee Flynn Restaurant Group. Newsom’s office denied the story and said that Panera would be required to pay its workers at least $20 an hour. Flynn later said that all his California locations will raise their pre-tip wages to $20 an hour or higher, effective Monday.

After one contentious victory, the SEIU is gearing up for more fights for similar raises for fast-food workers in other states. SEIU President Mary Kay Henry told CNBC that New York, Washington and Illinois are all potential battlegrounds.  
“It’s taken us 10 years to get to this table. And [the workers] feel like they’re going to have a voice on the job that they’ve never been able to experience before,” Henry said.
California will test how the sector-specific minimum wage affects workers, their employers and the broader labor market. Fast-food chains, industry experts and economists will be watching to see if the gloomy predictions for job losses come to pass — or if higher pay comes with benefits even for the businesses dispensing the wages.
Glassdoor’s Zhao said the $20 wage could lure back some of the workers who left their restaurant jobs to work at an Amazon warehouse or to drive for Uber. Plus, those fast-food workers will now have more money in their pocket.
“Folks who are earning more money can also spend more money that gets re-injected into the economy,” he said. More

Dana Walden is in the running to be Bob Iger’s successor as Disney CEO, according to people familiar with the matter.
If she is chosen, Walden would be the first female CEO of Disney in its 100-year history.
She’s proven herself as a TV executive, but some former Disney executives question whether her resume is suitable for the top job.
More than 20 colleagues and friends spoke with CNBC about her strengths, faults and the perceived likelihood she will take over for Iger.

Dana Walden, co-chair of Disney Entertainment
Rich Polk | Getty Images

In 1994, a captain of the media and entertainment industry saw something in Dana Walden that made him think she was capable of a bigger role.
Thirty years later, that may happen again.

That first time, the executive was Peter Chernin, then president of 20th Century Fox Filmed Entertainment and later president and chief operating officer of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. Chernin plucked Walden from Fox’s corporate communications division and gave her a job in TV.
In 2024, the executive is Bob Iger, Disney’s CEO, and the position he’s considering Walden for is that of his successor, according to people familiar with the process. The appointment would make Walden the first female CEO of the Walt Disney Co. in its 100-year history.
Just a year into her early career at 20th Century Fox, working in publicity, Walden delivered a presentation at a company retreat in Santa Barbara, California. She was determined to leave a lasting impression on Chernin, now chairman and CEO of investment firm The Chernin Group, after several encounters in which he’d never remembered her.
To get his attention, Walden decided to be bold. She told Fox executives, including Chernin, that they weren’t being aggressive enough to secure top talent. Fox needed to take bigger swings to generate relationships and land shows that could make it to syndication, Walden argued. A spokesperson for Walden confirmed the details of the presentation.
When the retreat ended, Chernin called Peter Roth, then president of 20th Century Fox Television, who later ran Warner Bros.’ TV division.

“The next day she was in my office, and we gave her a job in programming,” Roth said in an interview.
That set Walden on a career course correction that’s led her to the doorstep of becoming Iger’s successor.

Peter Chernin
Getty Images for Malaria No More 2013

Walden, co-chair of Disney Entertainment, is competing internally with Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro, ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro, and Alan Bergman, who is Entertainment co-chair with Walden, to be named the next CEO of Disney, said the people familiar, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private.
Iger plans to name a successor and then stick around at Disney to teach that person the job before departing at the end of 2026, CNBC reported in September. He’s fighting to maintain control of Disney’s future against a threat from Trian Partners’ Nelson Peltz.
Peltz has argued he should help spearhead a successor search, considering Iger has pushed back his retirement five times and returned to the job after Bob Chapek, named CEO in 2020, was fired in 2022. Peltz has claimed the Disney board can’t be trusted to handle succession. Disney shareholders will vote on Peltz’s candidacy to the board at its annual meeting Wednesday.
Several executives at Disney privately told CNBC they believe Walden, 59, is the favorite to land the top job, though they have no inside knowledge of the process, and their proximity to Walden may skew their perception. Her relationship with Iger (she lives just blocks from his house in Brentwood, California), her track record of success as a TV executive, her trust among Disney board members, and the symbolism about what it would mean to have a female executive all work in her favor.
“She’s the single best talent exec to come out of TV in the last 20 years,” Chernin said in an interview.
“She would be an outstanding CEO,” Roth added. “Absolutely outstanding.”
Walden declined to comment for this story. More than 20 colleagues and friends spoke with CNBC about her strengths, faults and the perceived likelihood she will take over for Iger.
Allies of Walden’s told CNBC she won’t even discuss succession with them (though many said they tease her about it), choosing to focus on the job of running Disney Entertainment with Bergman that she’s tasked with today.
She faces stiff competition in the other Disney division heads. Walden has spent the last three decades focused on producing TV hits. She hasn’t had the same range of responsibilities as Pitaro, who has run the company’s sports media empire since 2018. And she has no experience running parks and resorts, which Iger and the board may decide is more essential to Disney’s future than a TV business with hazy financial prospects in the streaming era.
Six former colleagues — all of whom worked closely with Walden — privately questioned her business acumen in interviews with CNBC.
“There are people that are in creative positions that rise to a level of management who figure out what a P&L [profit and loss] statement is, what a balance sheet is, what quarterly earnings are,” said one of the people, who asked to remain anonymous to speak candidly. “Dana doesn’t really bother with any of that.”
A second former coworker said Walden’s profile simply doesn’t translate to becoming the Disney CEO — a job that involves close investor interaction, geopolitical deals for parks and resorts, and strategic thinking around acquisition and investment.
“She’ll be eaten up by real investors,” said the person, who likewise requested anonymity. “Does she have the necessary depth of business knowledge? She can learn, but you can’t have someone teach you decades of finance, business and tactics in a year or two.”
Walden supporters dismissed those concerns as either simply incorrect or an example of persistent stereotypes against female executives. Walden has met with many institutional investors through her years at Disney, according to people familiar with the matter.
“There’s something about looking at female execs where questions are asked that would never be asked of men,” said Jennifer Salke, the head of Amazon Studios and a former colleague of Walden’s. “Can they scale? Can a creative person be a business leader? I find that to be a huge bugaboo. She’s in charge of billions of dollars of assets, but she’s not capable of being a business leader?”

Jennifer Salke
Stephen Desaulniers | CNBC

Walden defenders brush off criticism from ex-Disney colleagues as the remnants of a grudge against Fox employees who came over as part of Disney’s $71 billion acquisition of Fox’s entertainment assets in 2019, or perhaps as part of an ulterior motive to diminish her CEO prospects in favor of their own preferred candidates.
“At some point, everyone running anything was something before that,” Chernin said. “Anybody they choose will have never been the Disney CEO prior to that.”

Hollywood ties

Chernin and Walden both began their careers in public relations, making them two of a small club of TV executives who started that way — former HBO head Richard Plepler is another exception. Chernin saw Walden’s background as a strength, rather than a weakness.
“She knows nothing is more important to a studio than talent relationships,” said Craig Hunegs, who worked closely with Walden when he was president of Disney TV Studios from 2019 to 2021.
Walden’s entire life has ties to Hollywood. She grew up modestly in Studio City, a neighborhood of Los Angeles, and attended the private Westlake School for Girls (a predecessor of the coed Harvard-Westlake School), where she became friendly with Carol Burnett’s daughter Carrie Hamilton.
Walden’s parents made connections in the entertainment industry from their time living in Las Vegas, where her mother was a background dancer who performed with George Burns, among other artists. Her father became a member of The Friars Club, famous for its Dean Martin celebrity roasts, and established friendships with entertainers including Martin and Buddy Hackett. Walden spent her childhood years with celebrities as family friends, attending dinner parties and occasionally celebrating holidays at their homes. She went on to marry a member of the entertainment industry, producer Matt Walden, in 1995; they have two daughters, now in their 20s.
After graduating from the University of Southern California, Walden took a job working for public relations firm Bender, Goldman & Helper, starting out as a receptionist and an assistant. Within four years, she’d become a vice president.
At Bender, she represented “The Arsenio Hall Show” on behalf of her client Paramount. The show poached Walden to come work as head of marketing for Hall’s production company. Less than a year later, Lucie Sulhany, president of Paramount Domestic Television, took a job as a high-ranking Fox TV executive. She asked Walden to come along and work in publicity, and Walden joined her with an eye toward eventually making TV shows.

Dana Walden
Jason Laveris | Filmmagic | Getty Images

Mastering the TV business

At Fox, Walden and fellow TV executive Gary Newman jointly began running the studio business — the engine of the company that makes series both for itself and other networks. Starting in 1999, they kept that position for the next 15 years until they were promoted to run all of Fox Broadcasting in 2014.
A former attorney, Newman began his partnership with Walden handling many of the business issues, while Walden developed a reputation for winning over creative talent and having impeccable taste for both dramas and comedies.
“People used to joke we were work spouses,” Newman said in an interview. “She was very good at the job very quickly. It’s just a combination of being smart, being really fast, being curious, being fearless.”
Over time, Walden mastered the business side of TV, according to Newman and others who have worked with her.
“The difference between Dana in the beginning of our partnership, when she leaned on her creative background, and where she was a few years later was night and day,” Newman said. “She picked up what she needed to pick up about business. I had a surgery at one point — the responsibility fell on Dana to be in there for me. That included being in charge of the business side of things.”
Newman recounted one difficult negotiation over a Fox-produced show with CBS. It was the day before CBS would announce its fall schedule, and it wasn’t clear if the broadcast network would pick up the series. CBS gave Newman and Walden a midnight deadline to revise a deal on its terms or it would cancel the show. Walden told Newman that CBS was bluffing, realizing the show was the linchpin for other programming that day. She persuaded Fox to simply ignore the deadline. The next day, CBS included the series, proving Walden right.
“I don’t know if she plays poker, but she’d be a great poker player,” Newman said.

Dana Walden, Ryan Murphy, Bob Iger, and FX Networks Chairman John Landgraf, from left, attend the premiere of Murphy’s limited series “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans,” Jan. 23, 2024.
Credit: Disney

Fox’s studio began churning out hits, including “24,” “Homeland,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Two and a Half Men,” “Modern Family,” “This is Us,” “New Girl,” “Bob’s Burgers,” and mini-empires created by Seth MacFarlane (“Family Guy,” “American Dad,” “The Cleveland Show”) and Ryan Murphy (“Nip/Tuck,” “Glee,” “American Horror Story,” “9-1-1”).
Walden began making lasting relationships with TV showrunners and producers who have repeatedly worked with her, including MacFarlane, Murphy, “Modern Family” co-creator Steve Levitan and “This is Us” creator Dan Fogelman. She earned a reputation for her creative notes on scripts, particularly on shaping “24,” an unusually constructed drama that ran from 2001 to 2014 and earned critical praise for its storytelling techniques, according to Rick Rosen, a partner and head of TV of the talent agency WME .
“People felt her notes and constructive criticisms helped move that show forward,” recounted Rosen, who represented Howard Gordon, at one time the “24” showrunner. “She helped get it unstuck.”
Walden’s taste, her discipline around getting talent to deliver on budget, and her honesty about what’s working and what isn’t have set her apart from other executives, according to Levitan.
“Hollywood is a business of relationships,” Levitan said. “What you can’t teach somebody is how to inspire people. She is whip smart. If there is a subject that she needs to take a deep dive on, she’s going to be an expert in that subject before you know it.”

Joining Disney

Disney’s acquisition of Fox moved Walden to a new company with a new culture. Iger called Walden on the day of the deal’s announcement in December 2017 to let her know he wanted her to come to Disney, according to people familiar with the matter. Newman planned to stay at Fox; he ultimately exited the company in 2018.
Walden hoped she’d run Disney’s TV unit as a direct report to Iger, according to people familiar with her thinking at the time. But Iger wanted Peter Rice, Walden’s boss at Fox, for the top job. Passed over, Walden considered walking away from both Disney and the studio she helped build for other opportunities, the people said.
Still, she had a strong relationship with Rice, who ultimately persuaded her to stay despite her disappointment. Walden eventually took Rice’s job when Disney fired him in 2022 after Chapek and some members of the Disney board concluded he wasn’t a team player, specifically noting that he’d privately criticized the company’s messaging around Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, according to people familiar with the matter. Chapek told Rice he wasn’t a culture fit despite years of Rice receiving positive feedback, the people said. A Disney spokesman and Rice declined to comment.
“The conversations around selling a series — licensing fees, profit participation, residuals — or discussions about budgets, and how many guest stars we can sign, or which platform a series should air on … all of that I’ve done directly with Dana,” said Rich Appel, the executive producer and co-showrunner of “Family Guy.” “No disrespect to Gary [Newman], but for the past few years, it’s only been Dana.”
At Disney, Walden has hit several home runs, including FX’s “The Bear,” Hulu’s “The Dropout” and “Only Murders in the Building,” and ABC’s “Abbott Elementary.” She has heavily invested in marketing children’s show “Bluey,” which in 2024 has spent time as the most-watched show on all streaming services. She has also focused on building up Disney+’s family programming with originals including “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” “Spidey and His Amazing Friends” and “Goosebumps.”
Still, critics say it’s easy to cherry-pick the successes and ignore the failures. One Disney insider said that grading Walden’s performance honestly would require a robust analysis of all the shows she’s greenlit.

The anti-Chapek

The last time Iger chose a successor, it didn’t go well. As outlined by CNBC in 2023, the relationship between Chapek and Iger, who remained Disney’s executive chairman until the end of 2021, fell apart, and the Disney board ultimately fired Chapek and brought Iger back less than three years later.
Iger returned as CEO in part to right the wrong he believed he made by selecting Chapek as his successor, according to people familiar with his thinking. If he’s looking for the anti-Chapek candidate, Walden fits the description.

Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek

Chapek climbed the corporate ladder at Disney for 30 years by showcasing his business and finance chops. He studied microbiology at Indiana University and got his MBA from Michigan State University. He developed expertise in the minute details of Disney’s parks and resorts, such as how specific hotel discounts could affect park attendance and the price elasticity of seasonal ticket rate adjustments.
But he had almost no Hollywood relationships. Without a foundation of trust, “The Town,” as Hollywood is known, turned on Chapek. Agents, producers and showrunners blamed him for Disney’s forceful public rebuke of A-list star Scarlett Johansson in a Covid pandemic-related contract dispute and for bungling the company’s response to “Don’t Say Gay,” as CNBC reported in 2023.
Walden’s resume sets her up as Chapek’s inverse: a Disney outsider whose Hollywood ties are among the best in the industry. In the latter months of Chapek’s tenure as CEO, as CNBC reported, Disney communications head Kristina Schake began setting up meetings for Chapek with Hollywood’s power players — at Walden’s house.
A potential handover from Iger to Walden would also look very different from the Iger-Chapek transition, predicted United Talent Agency Vice Chairman Jay Sures, a close friend of Walden’s. Chapek saw Iger as a threat to his power, according to people familiar with his thinking at the time. Walden would stay close to Iger for as long as possible, Sures said.
“When Bob Chapek got the job, he couldn’t wait for Bob Iger to leave. If Dana ever got the job, she’s gonna dread the day Bob Iger leaves,” Sures said. “She values the skill and leadership he brings. She knows a good thing when she sees it.”

Combating female stereotypes

If Walden were appointed CEO, she would be the first woman to run the century-old company. Some close to Iger say he would look fondly on being the person to help break the glass ceiling.
Amazon’s Salke said she’s had several discussions over the years with Walden about how to survive in the male-dominated entertainment world. It requires a deftness of character and ability to avoid enemies, said Salke.
“I watched ‘Barbie,'” said Salke, referencing the Greta Gerwig-created hit 2023 movie that skewers elements of modern patriarchy. “That speech from America Ferrera’s character [Gloria], it’s true. You have to be likable but not too likable. If you’re too likable, that’s seen as threatening to men.”
While Walden has crossed a bridge to become close friends with a number of her professional colleagues (she’s the godmother of Murphy’s children), she is attuned to her image in ways male executives don’t have to worry about, according to people familiar with her personality.
Even when the attention is nonthreatening, Walden is aware that her appearance may be judged as readily as her business performance, the people said.
“When I first met her, the writers would see Dana walk by from time to time, and we used to call her ‘Why Miss Jones,'” Levitan said. “Because she’d wear these glasses. So it was like in old Hollywood movies, when an actress would take off her glasses and one of the characters would say, ‘Why, Miss Jones! You’re beautiful!'”
Levitan later became close friends with Walden and praised her professionalism. Of note, he cited last year’s cancellation of “Reboot,” a show he created for Hulu.
“I don’t agree with the decision that was made there, and I don’t agree that it got a fair shake,” Levitan said. “But Dana and I talked about it. She took me through her reasons. And it’s a genuine conversation. There’s a reason people are pretty effusive about the way Dana handles herself. It’s because she genuinely goes out of her way to treat people with decency.”

Steve Levitan
Peter “Hopper” Stone | Getty Images

Walden and her team have a reputation for sending birthday gifts to Hollywood’s movers and shakers and bottles of champagne to them when their shows premiere. Supporters view it as relationship-building. Critics said her actions sometimes border on corporate largesse.
Walden herself has joked that she was “raised by wolves” at Fox, and that she’s had to consciously adjust to the more toned-down Disney culture over the last five years, according to people familiar with her thinking.
She’s also had to toe a line between stereotype and successful executive. Of the 20 people interviewed for this story, nearly every one of them called Walden “direct” and “demanding.”
“Sharp elbows, right?” Salke said, anticipating the hackneyed criticism of female leaders. “So many times Dana and I have been the only women in the room. Can she be demanding and hold people to a high bar? Yes. But men come on in, and the first thing they do is fire people, and no one bats an eye.”
Walden’s champions noted that every successful executive is demanding of excellence, and said her directness is a major strength that separates her from many other TV executives.
“She can be ‘business’ tough,” said WME’s Rosen. “Nobody likes to deliver bad news. A show is canceled, or it’s over budget, or this project didn’t work. But she’s not harsh. You feel like she’s coming from a place of optimism — let’s figure out where we go from here.”

The final pick

While the Disney board will have the ultimate say on the company’s next CEO, Iger will likely be the real decision-maker, given his history at the company, status among board members, and knowledge of the job.
“The importance of the succession process cannot be overstated, and as the Board continues to evaluate a highly qualified slate of internal and external candidates, I remain intensely focused on a successful transition,” Iger said in a statement in 2023 when he renewed his contract as CEO to the end of 2026.
Even if Iger agrees with some of Walden’s critics about whether her strengths will specifically fit the top job at Disney, it’s possible his recollection of his own experience being selected as CEO in 2005 could influence his decision. 
“Go back and look at the articles that were written about Bob Iger,” Sures said. “I was friends with Bob then. It was a lot of ’empty suit’ — a good-looking, tall guy who never had any experience in the movie business and never did anything in M&A [mergers and acquisitions] before in his life. Nineteen years later, he’s one of the greatest, if not the greatest CEO the entertainment business has ever seen.”
“The same things are being said about Dana now,” Sures said.
Iger and the board’s selection for a successor may ultimately come down to the direction they envision for Disney.
D’Amaro could be the choice if they decide the parks are the most important part of the company’s future. Pitaro seems logical if ESPN and its upcoming digital transformation are seen as an essential part of Disney’s future, as opposed to its past. Either Walden or Bergman could be the choice if creative taste and relationships trump all, though Bergman’s recent troubles with Disney’s film division may be a knock against them.
Still, Chernin said it’s a mistake to view Disney so simply. The magic of the company is how all the parts interact with each other, rather than emphasizing one unit over all others, he said.
“The business is changing so rapidly. That company is going to change so much,” Chernin said. “Someone is going to have to imagine what a media company of the future looks like. Bob [Iger] is going through that right now. He’s actively spending every day thinking that through. The most important part of that company is ongoing relationships with customers.”
WATCH: Disney board member James Gorman talks succession, upcoming annual meeting vote More

Toyota Motor is evaluating an expansion of its U.S. truck lineup that could include all-electric or plug-in hybrid electric versions of its Tacoma and Tundra pickups, an executive told CNBC.
Jack Hollis, EVP of Toyota Motor North America, said the automaker is assessing its options to determine what makes the most sense based on customer demand and emissions regulations.
Toyota is one of several automakers reassessing its product portfolio amid slower-than-expected adoption of electric vehicles and in light of the Biden administration’s revised emissions rules.

2024 Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter

NEW YORK — Toyota Motor is evaluating an expansion of its U.S. truck lineup that could include all-electric or plug-in hybrid electric versions of its Tacoma and Tundra pickups.
Jack Hollis, executive vice president of Toyota Motor North America, said the Japanese automaker is assessing its options to determine what makes the most sense based on expected customer demand and tightening federal emissions and fuel economy regulations.

“I do think there’s room to grow our entire truck footprint. Whether it be Tundra, Tacoma or something else in addition to the lineup,” Hollis told CNBC on Tuesday during the New York Auto Forum conference. “Whether that’s a compact or something else, I think it’s important for us to continue to see what the customers are looking for.”
Toyota has previously discussed a broad lineup of battery-electric vehicles, or BEVs, including a midsize pickup model like the segment-leading Tacoma. The latest conversations have introduced the potential for plug-in hybrid vehicles, or PHEVs.
Toyota earlier this year said it would invest $1.3 billion in a Kentucky plant to produce a new all-electric, three-row SUV for the U.S. market. The automaker’s Thailand president this week confirmed Toyota will produce a BEV of its small Hilux pickup for global markets, according to Reuters.

A Pearl White Toyota Hilux 2.8 D-4D.
Getty Images

Hollis said the electric Hilux is “very cool.” He declined to speculate whether Toyota could bring that vehicle to the U.S.
He confirmed, however, that the company is “looking into both” BEV and PHEV versions of the Tacoma and full-size Tundra. The Tundra was last redesigned for the 2022 model year, followed by Tacoma last year.

“We’re in the evaluation of both. There are reasons why a BEV can work and there’s a reason why PHEV can work,” he said, in posing the question, “What’s the best mix of those based upon each of those two trucks or even for 4Runner or Sequoia [SUVs]?”
There are currently five all-electric pickup trucks on sale in the U.S., but they remain priced more so as luxury vehicles than mass-market models. Their prices range from $50,000 to easily more than $100,000, and sales of the vehicles have largely slowed after automakers rushed all-electric pickups to market.
There are not any plug-in hybrid electric pickups currently on sale in the U.S. Stellantis’ Ram brand is expected to release an “extended-range” plug-in vehicle with an electric generator powering an engine later this year.
Toyota is one of several automakers reassessing its product portfolio amid slower-than-excepted adoption of EVs, and in light of the Biden administration’s revised emissions rules that aim to better take into account hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
José Muñoz, Hyundai president and global chief operating officer, told CNBC on Wednesday the company is reevaluating its plans to exclusively produce all-electric vehicles at a new plant under construction in Georgia.
“Everything is on the table,” Muñoz said. “We will adjust to the market demand and, for the time being, we are on track for what the regulators are requesting.”

Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

The wealth of the top 1% hit a record $44.6 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter.
All of the gains came from stock holdings thanks to an end-of-year rally.
Economists say the rising stock market is giving an added boost to consumer spending through what is known as the “wealth effect.”

Martin Puddy | Digitalvision | Getty Images

A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
The wealth of the top 1% hit a record $44.6 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter, as an end-of-year stock rally lifted their portfolios, according to new data from the Federal Reserve.

The total net worth of the top 1%, defined by the Fed as those with wealth over $11 million, increased by $2 trillion in the fourth quarter. All of the gains came from their stock holdings. The value of corporate equities and mutual fund shares held by the top 1% surged to $19.7 trillion from $17.65 trillion the previous quarter.
While their real estate values went up slightly, the value of their privately held businesses declined, essentially canceling out all other gains outside of stocks.
The quarterly gain marked the latest addition to an unprecedented wealth boom that began in 2020 with the Covid-19 pandemic market surge. Since 2020, the wealth of the top 1% has increased by nearly $15 trillion, or 49%. Middle-class Americans have also seen a rising wealth tide, with the middle 50% to 90% of Americans seeing their wealth increase 50%.

Economists say the rising stock market is giving an added boost to consumer spending through what is known as the “wealth effect.” When consumers and investors see their stock holdings soar, they feel more confident spending and taking more risk.
“The wealth effect from surging stock prices is a powerful tailwind to consumer confidence, spending and broader economic growth,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics. “Of course, this highlights a vulnerability of the economy if the stock market were to falter. This isn’t the most likely scenario, but it is a scenario given that stocks appear richly (over) valued.”

Yet, the latest report also highlights how top-heavy stock ownership remains in the U.S. According to the Fed report, the top 10% of Americans own 87% of individually held stocks and mutual funds. The top 1% own half of all individually held stocks.
Economists say a rising stock market brings outsized benefits to the wealthy, mainly boosting the high end of the consumer and spending markets. The wealth of middle-class and lower-income Americans depends more on wages and home values than stocks.
“Those households in the top one-third of the income distribution and who own the bulk of the stock holdings account for approximately two-thirds of consumer spending,” Zandi said.  
Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab, said stocks represent a growing share of the assets of the top 1%. Stocks accounted for 37.8% of the overall share of household assets for the top 1% at the end of 2023, up from a recent low of 36.5%.
Yet because the wealthy don’t need to spend as much of their gains – a phenomenon known as the marginal propensity to consume – Sonders said the added stock wealth for the 1% may not have a substantial impact on the consumer economy.
She noted that consumer confidence among those making more than $125,000 a year has been in “secular decline” since 2017, according to the Conference Board.
“While the bump in stock prices might link to stronger confidence, it doesn’t necessarily point to stronger spending at the higher end,” she said.
With the S&P 500 already up 10% this year, it is likely that the wealth of the upper echelon has already topped the record at the end of 2023. While inequality declined slightly in 2021 and 2022, as wages increased and housing prices surged, the wealth gap has since crept back to pre-pandemic levels.
The top 1% accounted for 30% of the nation’s wealth at the end of the fourth quarter, while the top 10% accounted for 67% of all wealth.
Sign up to receive future editions of CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank. More

Home Depot said it’s acquiring SRS Distribution in an $18.25 billion deal.
It’s the company’s latest and biggest push to win sales from home professionals such as contractors who tackle major projects.
The acquisition is the largest in Home Depot’s history.

Home Depot on Thursday said it is acquiring SRS Distribution in an $18.25 billion deal, the latest and largest sign of its ambitions to drive sales by winning more business from contractors, roofers and other home professionals.
The home improvement retailer expects the acquisition to close this fiscal year, which ends in late January. It said it will finance the deal through cash on hand and debt.

Home Depot already draws half of its business from pros, while the other half comes from do-it-yourself customers. With the deal, the Atlanta-based company is making yet another push to gain the customers who tackle complex and lucrative construction jobs, particularly as homeowners pull back on DIY projects. That was one of the priorities that Home Depot leaders laid out for this year. It’s also why the company has been opening a growing network of distribution centers that can stock large quantities of items that pros need, such as lumber or shingles, and deliver them directly to a job site.
The acquisition is the largest in Home Depot’s history.
In an interview with CNBC, CEO Ted Decker described the deal as “a complementary accelerator” to its efforts to attract more pros. He said the deal increases Home Depot’s total addressable market by $50 billion.
SRS Distribution sells supplies to professionals in the landscaping, pool and roofing businesses. The McKinney, Texas-based company has approximately 11,000 employees and 760 branches across 47 states. It also has a fleet of 4,000 delivery trucks and a dedicated salesforce that caters to the home pros, Decker said.
The acquisition adds to other recent deals that the retailer has made in the pro space. They include the approximately $8 billion acquisition of HD Supply, a national distributor of maintenance, repair and operations products in the multifamily and hospitality markets, in 2020. Last year, it also made two other acquisitions for undisclosed amounts: International Designs Group, which owns Construction Resources, a distributor of surfaces, appliances and other products that sells to home pros; and Temco, an appliance delivery and installation company.

Decker said he’s confident the deal will get approved by federal regulators, even as they increase scrutiny of mergers and acquisitions.
“With the separate customer base, different channels, different purchase occasions, we feel good that this will go through,” he said.
The acquisition is expected to be dilutive to Home Depot’s earnings per share due to amortization, but accretive in terms of cash earnings per share in the first year after the deal closes.
Home Depot has leaned into the pro business as its growth stagnates. The retailer, a major beneficiary of pandemic trends, has dealt with moderating sales as consumers take on fewer home projects and spend more on grocery bills and experiences. Over the past few quarters, customers have bought fewer big-ticket items and tackled smaller, less pricey projects. 
Decker said last month on an earnings call that Home Depot would focus on opening new stores, attracting more pro sales and trying to make customers’ shopping experience more seamless.
Home Depot plans to open a dozen new stores during the fiscal year. It recently announced it will open four distribution centers that cater to pros. 
The acquisition comes after the home improvement retailer said last month that it expects slower sales trends to continue. It said it anticipates total sales for the full year will grow about 1%, including an additional week in the fiscal year. Yet it expects comparable sales, which take out the effect of store openings and closures and do not include the additional week, to drop by about 1%.
Home Depot had a total of 2,335 stores across the U.S., Mexico and Canada as of the end of the fiscal year in late January. It has about 465,000 employees. 
As of Wednesday’s close, shares of Home Depot are up about 11% this year. That’s slightly ahead of the 10% gains of the S&P 500. Home Depot’s stock closed at $385.89 on Wednesday, bringing its market value to about $382 billion. More

Walgreens reported fiscal second-quarter sales that beat Wall Street’s expectations.
But the retail pharmacy giant lowered the high end of its fiscal 2024 adjusted profit guidance in part due to a “challenging” retail environment in the U.S.
The company also posted a steep net loss for the quarter as it recorded a hefty nearly $6 billion charge related to the decline in value of its investment in primary-care provider VillageMD.

A person rides past a Walgreens truck, owned by the Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc., in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., November 26, 2021. 
Andrew Kelly | Reuters

Walgreens on Thursday reported fiscal second-quarter sales that beat Wall Street’s expectations, but lowered the high end of its full-year adjusted earnings outlook in part due to a “challenging” retail environment in the U.S.
The company also posted a steep net loss for the quarter as it recorded a hefty nearly $6 billion charge related to the decline in value of its investment in primary-care provider VillageMD. Walgreens has been closing dozens of VillageMD clinics amid financial woes and sees the business as critical to its ongoing push to transform from a major drugstore chain into a large health-care company.

The results come as Walgreens’ new CEO, Tim Wentworth, works to slash costs and steer the company out of a rough spot. Shares of Walgreens fell 30% last year as the company faced weakening demand for Covid products, low pharmacy reimbursement rates, an unsteady push into health care and a challenging macroeconomic environment. 
In a release Thursday, the company said it is confident it will meet its goal of saving $1 billion during fiscal 2024 through its ongoing cost-cutting program. Walgreens has laid off employees, closed unprofitable stores and used artificial intelligence to make its supply chain more efficient, among other efforts.
Here’s what Walgreens reported for the quarter, compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv:

Earnings per share: $1.20 adjusted vs. 82 cents expected
Revenue: $37.05 billion vs. $35.86 billion expected

Walgreens narrowed its fiscal 2024 adjusted earnings guidance to between $3.20 and $3.35 per share. That compares with the company’s previous outlook of $3.20 to $3.50 per share. Analysts surveyed by LSEG expect full-year adjusted earnings of $3.24 per share.
Walgreens said the new guidance reflects the hurdles facing retailers in the U.S. and an early wind-down of its sales-leaseback program. It also takes into account lower earnings due to Walgreens’ forward sale of shares of drug distributor Cencora, formerly known as AmerisourceBergen.

The company said a stronger performance in its pharmacy services segment and a lower adjusted effective tax rate helped to offset the factors dragging on its earnings. 
The company did not give a new revenue forecast for the fiscal year. Walgreens has not provided that guidance since October, when it said it sees $141 billion to $145 billion in sales. 
The company reported a net loss of $5.91 billion, or $6.85 per share, for the quarter. That compares with a net income of $703 million, or 81 cents per share, for the same period a year ago. a
Excluding certain items, including the $5.8 billion non-cash charge related VillageMD, adjusted earnings per share were $1.20 for the quarter.
The company booked sales of $37.05 billion in the quarter, a roughly 6% jump from the same period a year ago. 

Walgreens sees growth across all divisions

The company said that increase reflects sales growth across its three business segments. But Walgreens’ U.S. health-care division stood out as sales jumped about 33% in the fiscal second quarter compared with the same period a year ago. 
Revenue for the segment came in at $2.18 billion.
The company said the higher sales reflect VillageMD’s acquisition of multispecialty care provider Summit Health and growth across all businesses in the segment on a pro-forma basis.
VillageMD sales grew 20% due to same-clinic growth, among other factors. Sales from the segment’s specialty pharmacy company, Shields Health Solutions, grew 13%, due to new contracts and expansions of current partnerships.
Specialty pharmacies are designed to deliver medications with unique handling, storage and distribution requirements, often for patients with complex conditions such as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis.

Walgreens and VillageMD
Source: Walgreens

Meanwhile, Walgreens’ U.S. retail pharmacy segment generated $28.86 billion in sales in the fiscal second quarter, an increase of almost 5% from the same period last year.
That segment operates more than 8,000 drugstores across the U.S., which sell prescription and nonprescription drugs as well as health and wellness, beauty, personal care, and food products. 
Walgreens said pharmacy sales for the quarter rose 8.2% compared with the year-ago quarter, as comparable sales climbed 8.7% due to price inflation in brand medications and “strong execution” in pharmacy services. 
Total prescriptions filled in the quarter including immunizations totaled 305.7 million, a more than 2% increase from the same period a year ago. 
Retail sales for the quarter fell 4.5% from the prior-year quarter, and comparable retail sales declined 4.3%. The company pointed to a challenging retail environment and a weaker respiratory season, among other factors. 
Walgreens’ international segment, which operates more than 3,000 retail stores abroad, posted $6.02 billion in sales in the fiscal second quarter. That’s an increase of more than 6% from the year-ago period. 
The company said sales from its U.K. subsidiary, Boots, grew 3%. More

Moderna announced positive clinical trial data on three experimental vaccines and said it will move those shots to final stage studies.
The update brings the biotech company a step closer to having multiple products on the market, which it badly needs amid plunging demand for Covid shots worldwide.
Moderna will chart its post-Covid future Wednesday during its fifth annual “Vaccines Day,” an investor event in Boston.

Nikos Pekiaridis | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Moderna has more to offer beyond its Covid vaccine.
The biotech company Wednesday announced positive clinical trial data on three experimental vaccines against other viruses. The company is moving those shots to final stage studies, it said.

The update brings Moderna a step closer to having multiple products on the market, which it badly needs amid plunging demand for Covid shots worldwide. The company’s Covid jab is its only commercially available product.
Moderna’s stock has long been tied to that vaccine, with shares falling nearly 45% last year. But shares of the company closed 3% higher on Wednesday after the announcements.
Moderna will chart its post-Covid future Wednesday during its fifth annual “Vaccines Day,” an investor event in Boston focused on the company’s vaccine portfolio.
That business has an estimated total addressable market of $52 billion for infectious disease shots, which includes $27 billion for respiratory vaccines and more than $25 billion for latent shots and other jabs.
A category of viruses called latent viruses linger inside patients for prolonged periods without causing any symptoms but can “reactivate” and cause serious health complications later in their lives. They represent a huge unmet need that Moderna can address, Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel told CNBC in an interview on Wednesday.

“Once those viruses are in your body, it’s in your body forever,” he said, adding that there are no approved shots for several of the latent viruses, including some that Moderna is targeting.
The company will present new clinical trial data on the three vaccines, including some against latent viruses, at the event Wednesday.
Those vaccines include a shot against norovirus, a highly contagious stomach bug that causes vomiting and diarrhea; a vaccine against Epstein-Barr virus, a common herpes virus that can cause contagious infections and is associated with some cancers; and a shot designed to target a virus that causes shingles and chickenpox.

More CNBC health coverage

Moderna will also discuss other updates across its vaccine business. The company has five other shots in late-stage clinical trials and said it expects to release data on two of those jabs this year. That includes its combination vaccine against Covid and the flu and a shot against another common herpes virus called cytomegalovirus, or CMV. 
Among the other vaccines in late-stage development is a jab against respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, which is expected to win regulatory approval in the U.S. in May. 
It also includes a new and improved version of Moderna’s Covid shot. The company on Tuesday said its “next-generation” Covid shot triggered a stronger immune response against the virus than its current vaccine on the market in a late-stage clinical trial.
Another shot in phase three trials is the company’s flu vaccine.
Also on Wednesday, Moderna said it recently entered into a development and commercialization funding agreement with Blackstone Life Sciences, a private equity segment of The Blackstone Group. Blackstone will fund up to $750 million to advance Moderna’s flu shot program, with “a return based on commercial milestones” and low single-digit royalties. 
Bancel told CNBC the company’s messenger RNA platform, used in its Covid vaccine, “is working so well” against other diseases. That mRNA technology works by teaching the body to produce a harmless piece of a virus, which triggers an immune response against certain diseases.
“Think about the [total addressable market] Moderna is going after – we’re going to be one of the most important vaccine companies in the world,” he said.
Still, it will take time before Moderna’s pipeline will pay off.
The company in its third-quarter earnings release in November said it expects revenue to fall to $4 billion in 2024 before it grows again in 2025. It expects to break even in 2026, executives said during a November earnings call.

New clinical trial data on three vaccines

Moderna’s latest shots to move into late-stage trials represent significant opportunities for the company.
There is currently no approved shot to prevent norovirus, the most common cause of the stomach flu. The virus results in approximately 200,000 deaths per year and substantial health-care costs, according to Moderna. 
The company examined two different norovirus shot candidates in a phase one trial on more than 600 patients ages 18 to 49 and 60 to 80 in the U.S.
An interim analysis showed that a single dose of a trivalent vaccine called mRNA-1403 targeting three norovirus strains triggered a strong immune response across all dose sizes. The shot also had a “clinically acceptable” safety profile. 
Moderna said it is moving that shot to a phase three trial. The market for norovirus vaccines represents a $3 billion to $6 billion annual market, according to the company. 

Grace Cary | Moment | Getty Images

There are also no shots currently approved to prevent Epstein-Barr virus. It accounts for more than 90% of cases of infectious mononucleosis, a contagious infection known as mono, which can cause fever, sore throat and chronic fatigue.
Both the virus and mono are associated with a higher risk of certain cancers. The virus also increases a patient’s risk of developing multiple sclerosis by 32-fold, according to Moderna. That disease is characterized by the the immune system eating away at the protective covering of nerves.
“It’s a big issue for teenagers. There are sometimes kids who have to redo a year of high school or college, which is a big waste of your life,” Bancel said. “But it has also been associated with multiple sclerosis, which is a terrible disease affecting mostly women … so we think we could prevent that.”
Moderna has been developing two shots designed to tackle multiple conditions associated with Epstein-Barr virus. That includes a shot designed to prevent mono called mRNA-1189, which will move to a phase three study after positive early stage trial data.
A phase one trial examined that vaccine in patients 12 to 30 years old in the U.S. The study found that the shot produced an immune response against mono and was overall well tolerated across all dose sizes.
Moderna is developing another shot called mRNA-1195, which is designed to target multiple sclerosis and a subcategory of lymphoma in solid organ transplant patients. A phase one trial on that vaccine is fully enrolled, according to the company.
Bancel said the company believes the Epstein-Barr virus will be “a several billion dollar market.”
Varicella-Zoster virus causes both chickenpox and shingles. Older adults have declining immunity against that virus, making them more vulnerable to developing painful, itchy and blister-like rashes. About 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. will develop shingles at some point in their lives, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 
Moderna studied its vaccine against the virus, mRNA-1468, in an early to mid-stage trial on healthy adults ages 50 and older in the U.S.
The shot caused a strong immune response at one month after the second dose and was generally well tolerated by patients, according to the company. Additional data from that ongoing trial will be available later this year.
Moderna estimates that the market for Varicella-Zoster virus could be $5 billion to $6 billion annually.  More