Business

JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines on Monday said they are ending their agreement to merge.
The CEOs of JetBlue and Spirit cited regulatory hurdles in ending their merger agreement.
Spirit will receive $69 million from the deal termination its CEO said.

A JetBlue Airways plane sits on the tarmac at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on January 31, 2024 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images

JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines on Monday said they are ending their agreement to merge, weeks after losing a federal antitrust lawsuit that challenged the deal.
The CEOs of the two carriers cited regulatory hurdles in ending their merger agreement.

A federal judge in January sided with the Justice Department and blocked JetBlue’s attempted takeover of budget carrier Spirit. In his ruling, Judge William Young said JetBlue’s takeover of Spirit would “harm cost-conscious travelers who rely on Spirit’s low fares.” The airlines had argued that they needed to combine to better compete with the larger airlines that control most of the U.S. market.
JetBlue and Spirit had appealed the judge’s decision, but JetBlue noted the appeal was required under the terms of the merger agreement. Analysts had expected little chance of a successful appeal.
The Justice Department cheered the news on Monday, a year after it filed its suit to block the deal. “Today’s decision by JetBlue is yet another victory for the Justice Department’s work on behalf of American consumers,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
Spirit’s shares tumbled almost 11% on Monday to end the trading session at their lowest closing price on record, $5.76 per share, while JetBlue’s stock closed more than 4% higher at $6.75.
Almost two years ago, JetBlue swooped in with an unsolicited bid for Spirit Airlines, which had weeks earlier struck a merger agreement with fellow budget airline Frontier. JetBlue ultimately won Spirit shareholder approval to take over the discount carrier.

“It was a bold and courageous plan intended to shake up the industry status quo, and we were right to compete with Frontier and go for an opportunity that would have supercharged our growth and provided more opportunities for crewmembers,” JetBlue CEO Joanna Geraghty said in a note to staff on Monday.
“However, with the ruling from the federal court and the Department of Justice’s continued opposition, the probability of getting the green light to move forward with the merger anytime soon is extremely low,” she said.
Geraghty took over as CEO from Robin Hayes last month, tasked with stopping JetBlue’s losses, improving its operation and trimming costs. Activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed a nearly 10% stake in the airline on her first day, and days later won two board seats at the New York-based airline.
JetBlue’s prospective purchase of Spirit would have been a buoy for the struggling discounter airline, which is facing the grounding of dozens of its Airbus planes for inspections stemming from a Pratt & Whitney engine defect. Spirit expects compensation from the engine-maker as a result of the flaw.
With the deal off the table, Spirit must confront its financial problems alone, something its leaders say it is equipped to do.
The company said it was working to refinance its debt, and last month said it was on a path back to profitability thanks to better-than-expected demand. It projected revenue for the first quarter above analysts’ expectations.
“Throughout the transaction process, given the regulatory uncertainty, we have always considered the possibility of continuing to operate as a standalone business and have been evaluating and implementing several initiatives that will enable us to bolster profitability and elevate the Guest experience,” Spirit CEO Ted Christie said Monday.
He said that Spirit shareholders received $425 million in prepayments from JetBlue during the agreement, and that JetBlue will pay Spirit $69 million related to the agreement’s termination.
The Spirit deal wasn’t JetBlue’s first attempt at linking up with another airline to gain scale. It previously had a partnership with American Airlines in the congested Northeast U.S. to coordinate schedules and routes.
But last year a different federal judge sided with the Justice Department and knocked that partnership down, calling it anticompetitive. That ruling left open the possibility of tweaking the structure of the agreement and reviving it.
American appealed the ruling last year, but JetBlue did not, saying it would instead focus on its Spirit deal.
American CFO Devon May told reporters at an investor event on Monday: “We’ll see what opportunities there are going forward of having a new relationship.”
JetBlue didn’t immediately comment.
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American ordered 260 new narrow-body planes.
The order includes jets from Airbus, Embraer and Boeing’s yet-to-be certified 737 Max 10.
American said it would start retrofitting its A319 and A320 planes in 2025 for a bigger first class.

American Airlines flight 718, a Boeing 737 Max, takes of from Miami International Airport on its way to New York on December 29, 2020 in Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images

American Airlines said Monday it is ordering 260 new narrow-body jets, including dozens of Boeing’s long-delayed 737 Max 10.
The order includes 85 of Boeing’s 737 Max 10 planes and 85 of the Airbus A321neo, aircraft it says will help it upgauge on domestic and short-haul international routes. The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline is also ordering 90 Embraer E175 planes.

American’s order is a vote of confidence for Boeing, which is struggling with a series of production flaws and certifications of new planes that have taken years longer than originally expected. Scott Kirby, CEO of rival carrier United Airlines, said earlier this year that his airline has been weighing fleet plans without its Max 10s because of the delays.
American’s CFO Devon May said the airline has additional Airbus options for new aircraft as well as financial protections with Boeing, and the ability to take already-certified models if the Max 10 certification is further delayed.
“We don’t in any way want to be harmed financially through any of these aircraft orders,” May told reporters on Monday.
May said American currently expects the Max 10 deliveries to start in 2028.
He noted the Max 10, the largest of the Max family, wouldn’t have lie-flat seats, but would be configured like some of the airline’s A321neo aircraft, with about around 190 seats and about 20 first-class seats up front.

American said it would also convert orders for 30 Boeing 737 Max 8 planes, a model that is already a staple of its fleet, into the larger 737 Max 10s. The order includes purchase options for another 193 planes from the three manufacturers.
Boeing is facing additional scrutiny from the Federal Aviation Administration after a door plug blew out midair during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. That flight was operated on a Boeing 737 Max 9.

Read more CNBC airline news

American is planning to grow its first class on some of its narrow-body planes, the carrier also said Monday alongside its first investor day in more than six years. Starting in 2025, it will retrofit its older Airbus A319 and A320 planes to increase the number of first-class seats from eight to 12 and 12 to 16, respectively.
The airline is planning to retire its fleet of 50-seat, single-class regional jets in favor of the two-class planes, with in-seat power and satellite Wi-Fi by the end of the decade. The planes will be operated by American’s wholly-owned regional airlines.
The aircraft orders are included in American’s previous capital expenditure targets.
Airlines have been grappling with high demand for first class and other premium seats as more customers rack up points with credit cards and appear willing to shell out for more space on board.
American said on Monday that it expects about 80% of its revenue this year to come from “premium content,” meaning products beyond the cheapest tickets, and its loyalty program, up from a 70% share in 2017.
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American said 80% of 2024 revenue will be driven by its loyalty program and passengers who buy tickets that cost more than the cheapest seats.
The carrier is planning to expand its domestic first-class seats on older aircraft.
The airline declined to provide profit or revenue forecasts for the first quarter or full year.

A Boeing 737 passenger aircraft of American Airlines arrives from Austin at JFK International Airport in New York as the Manhattan skyline looms in the background on February 7, 2024.
Charly Triballeau | Afp | Getty Images

American Airlines said Monday that 80% of its revenue this year will come from loyalty program members and passengers who buy more expensive tickets, up from a 70% share in 2017.
American and other carriers have poured billions of dollars into new cabins, lounges and onboard upgrades to cater to high-spending travelers. American’s rival, Delta Air Lines, has repeatedly said that growth in premium revenue, which it considers tickets for extra legroom seats and higher-end cabins, has become a bigger share of its overall sales and is growing faster than ticket sales in the coach cabin.

American earlier Monday said that it was ordering 260 new Boeing, Airbus and Embraer planes to revamp its fleet and that it would retrofit older Airbus planes to increase the size of their first-class cabins.
American’s revenue forecast is part of its first investor day in more than six years. It considers “premium content” tickets that cost more than the cheapest offering. The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline said it expects to grow pretax margins in the coming years and chip away at its debt load.
The carrier is in the process of renegotiating its credit card agreements with its partners, Citi and Barclays. Airlines make billions of dollars a year by selling frequent flyer miles to banks for their co-brand cards or other loyalty credit cards.
American and other airlines have changed their loyalty programs to reward customers based on how much they spend instead of just how much, and how far, they fly. Over the years they have required higher spending to reach elite status.
Vasu Raja, American’s chief commercial officer, said Monday that a renegotiation of the contracts would increase revenue for American.

“If you if you were to ask any of our card partners, they have very few cards, if any, in their portfolio that are exhibiting the kind growth in spend per active account and total acquisition growth as well as what ours has done,” Raja said during the investor day presentation.
The carrier declined on Monday to provide profit or revenue forecasts for the first quarter or full year. Analysts polled by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv, are projecting 2024 earnings per share of $2.56 and revenue of $54.97 billion.
American shares fell more than 5% on Monday.
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WEIGHT-LOSS drugs called GLP-1 agonists help users shed fat, and with it the negative health effects of obesity. This can have life-changing effects for the people who take them. It is also increasingly affecting the lives of corporate citizens. Since June 2021, when Wegovy, the first GLP-1 slimming jab, was launched in America, the market value of WW (formerly Weight Watchers) has crashed by 90%. On February 28th Oprah Winfrey announced that she would leave the dieting firm’s board and sell all her shares in order to avoid conflict of interest around her use of GLP-1s. Food giants such as Nestlé are already planning for a future where the drugs dampen demand for sugary snacks. Bosses of consumer-goods firms brought up weight-loss drugs twice as often in the last full set of quarterly earnings calls, in late 2023, as they had in the previous one (see chart 1).image: The EconomistThe drugs’ biggest impact so far, though, has been on their makers. Sales of Wegovy, developed by a Danish firm called Novo Nordisk, swelled from $876m in 2022 to $4.5bn in 2023. The company expects double that this year. Zepbound, introduced in America in November by Eli Lilly, an American pharma giant, is expected to generate $2.9bn in sales in its first full year. Bloomberg, a data provider, predicts that by 2030 yearly sales of weight-loss medications will reach a staggering $80bn, putting them among the biggest classes of drugs in history. Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are expected to corner more than 90% of the market (see chart 2).image: The EconomistInvestors’ appetite for the duopoly’s shares has been as insatiable as dieters’ for its products. In the past three years Novo Nordisk’s market capitalisation has expanded more than three-fold, to $560bn, turning it into Europe’s most valuable company. Eli Lilly is worth $740bn, more than twice what it was at the start of 2023 (see chart 3). They are now the world’s two biggest pharma firms by market value. There is excited talk of the industry’s first trillion-dollar company—and the second. To live up to those lofty expectations, however, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk must make enough of the drugs to meet demand, widen the pool of patients and fend off a clutch of challengers.image: The EconomistGLP-1 agonists are astonishingly effective and relatively safe. Originally introduced to help diabetic patients by promoting insulin production, they regulate the body’s response to eating and create a feeling of fullness that suppresses appetite. Patients who take them lose more pounds than people on other weight-management plans. In clinical trials users of Wegovy shed about 15% of their body weight on average. Those on Zepbound lost around 20%.Given that 2.7bn people, or 38% of those aged older than five, are obese or overweight, according to the World Obesity Federation, the drugs are also in high demand. Because the injections must be taken weekly rather than just once, the more people start treatment, the faster total demand rises. And it is already rising so fast that Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are struggling to meet it.Making the drugs requires two main components: the active ingredient and the “skinny pens” that patients use to inject the medicine. Right now both are hard to find. Neither the Danish firm nor its American rival has explained why they cannot get hold of more of the necessary chemicals, but it is clearly a problem. A shortage of semaglutide, which gives Wegovy its powers, has forced Novo Nordisk to push back the launch of a pill version of Wegovy, which works as well as the shot, is easier to make and less unpleasant to administer, but which requires 20 times the amount of the active ingredient.Making enough of the skinny pens for Wegovy and Zepbound has also been a challenge. These devices are made at specialised “fill-finish” factories. Both Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are pouring billions of dollars to boost supply by teaming up with manufacturers or building their own capacity. In November the American firm announced plans to spend $2.5bn to build a new factory in Germany. The same month Novo Nordisk said it would invest $6bn in expanding capacity at its Danish site. In February Novo Nordisk’s parent company agreed to pay $16.5bn for Catalent, a big American manufacturer, to boost production for America’s gargantuan market. Despite these investments, analysts expect demand to outstrip supply for at least a few years.The limited production capacity has helped the companies in one way, by masking another problem. So far only half of the 110m obese Americans have access to the drugs through their health insurance. To hit the rosy revenue forecasts, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk need to make their drugs available to a wider group of patients. Medicare, a government health-care programme for the elderly, is prohibited by law from covering weight-loss drugs. Private health insurers are put off by the drugs’ costs. Even though discounts mean they typically pay around 60% of Wegovy’s list price in America of around $16,000 a year, many insurance firms are reluctant to cover an expensive drug that must be taken indefinitely.To bring insurers on board, the two companies are running trials to prove that GLP-1s do more than just help people lose weight. A trial by Novo Nordisk found that Wegovy lowers the risk of major heart problems by 20%. Eli Lilly is conducting a giant trial with 15,000 participants, set to finish in 2027, which studies the effect of tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Zepbound and Mounjaro, a related diabetes medicine, on the overall health and lifespan of obese adults. There is evidence to suggest that GLP-1s also help with conditions such as sleep apnea, chronic kidney disease, Alzheimer’s disease and fatty liver disease. The use of GLP-1 drugs to treat these illnesses has not yet been approved by regulators. But David Risinger of Leerink Partners, an investment bank, believes that as more health benefits emerge, it will become hard for insurers to deny coverage.Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk may in time deal with their capacity and coverage problems. That still leaves a third challenge: competition. The booming market has unleashed a flood of wannabes, from big pharma to biotechnology startups. Bloomberg estimates that close to 100 candidates for weight-loss drugs are in various stages of development. Most imitators are refining the GLP-1 approach to craft drugs that outdo existing ones by delivering more weight loss or easier use.One idea to boost efficacy is to combine GLP-1 with other agonists. Zepbound already uses one called GIP along with GLP-1 to increase energy expenditure, decrease fat accumulation and reduce nausea. Viking Therapeutics, an American biotech firm, uses a similar cocktail. On February 27th it shared trial data which showed that its anti-obesity medicine helped patients lose more weight even than Zepbound. Viking’s share price more than doubled. A drug in development by Boehringer Ingelheim, a German drug company, and Zealand Pharma, a Danish biotech firm, uses another agonist called Glucagon in combination with GLP-1 to deliver weight loss and fight liver diseases.Other rivals, such as Pfizer, an American drug giant, and Carmot Therapeutics, a biotech firm which in December was scooped up for $2.7bn by Roche, a Swiss behemoth, are focusing their efforts on doing away with needles. Besides being cheaper to make and easier to pop, oral drugs do not need refrigeration like many injectables do. This makes them more suitable than jabs for patients in poorer countries, many of which also face an obesity crisis but lack robust “cold-chain” logistics. Ray Stevens, chief executive of Structure Therapeutics, another biotech firm pursuing oral weight-loss drugs, believes that it is still “early innings”. It will be a while before pharma’s weight-loss winners are decided, he says.The two pioneers do, however, have a head start. The patents for Wegovy and Zepbound expire only in 2032 and 2036, respectively. No rival product is about to go on sale. Developing a new drug takes on average nine years, so even those already in early trials are unlikely to be available before 2027. Most important, the prospect of years of healthy profits has not lulled either Novo Nordisk or Eli Lilly into complacency. On the contrary, the two companies are innovating furiously in order to maintain their edge over potential competitors—and to steal a march over one another.Already Eli Lilly has closed Novo Nordisk’s early lead thanks to Zepbound’s greater efficacy. The American drugmaker’s share price relative to its forecast profits in the coming year is almost twice that of its Danish rival. Novo Nordisk’s fortunes are much more closely bound up with GLP-1 than those of Eli Lilly, which also has money-spinners in cancer and immunology treatments. Novo Nordisk hopes its pill and seven other related drugs in various stages of trials will help it regain its lead. Eli Lilly, for its part, has six drugs in the works, including a promising pill of its own in late-stage trials that if all goes well could be in pharmacies by 2026. Only one of them can be the first to a trillion dollars. But as they race, millions of patients will be the real winners. ■ More

The owners of this $24 million listing in Delray Beach, Florida, are looking to surpass the local record for price per square foot by more than 40%.
The mansion is located in Stone Creek Ranch, a gated community that’s home to billionaire hedge fund manager Steven Cohen, NFL star Khalil Mack and singer-songwriter Romeo Santos.
The average price per square foot of a mansion in Delray Beach has more than doubled in just five years.

The owners of this Florida mansion are asking for $24 million for their almost 11,500 square-foot residence inside one of the most expensive gated communities in Delray Beach, Florida.
The price tag puts the home, known as Villa Ananda, at a price per square foot of almost $2,100, which is well beyond record-breaking territory for a non-oceanfront home in the town.

Aerial view of Villa Ananda and the man-made lake that wraps around the estate rear garden.
Daniel Petroni Photography

“As long as affluent clientele regard Florida as a haven for lifestyle and tax benefits, the ultra luxury real estate market will flourish,” listing broker Senada Adzem told CNBC.
Over the past five years, the Delray Beach market has more than flourished — it has skyrocketed. Since 2018, the average price per square foot of a luxury home — representing the top 10% of sales — in Delray Beach has more than doubled from $416 to almost $840, according to the Elliman Report.
The 102% rise in Delray Beach is even more impressive when you consider it outperformed both the Miami coastal mainland, which saw an 86% increase in luxury price per square foot, and the Manhattan, New York, market where the average price per square foot of a luxury home declined 2%.

Villa Ananda’s living area is flanked by a sleek gray and white kitchen on one side and a wall of wine on the other.
Daniel Petroni Photography

The average luxury home sale in Delray Beach has also seen a dramatic rise, increasing 90% from $2 million in 2018 to $3.8 million in the last quarter of 2023.
“People tend to think of Miami and Palm Beach when the subject turns to high-end South Florida real estate,” Adzem told CNBC. “But Delray Beach is, without question, one of the region’s premier luxury residential markets.”

Many of the town’s high-net-worth residents have been drawn to an exclusive enclave called Stone Creek Ranch. The gated community is home to billionaire hedge fund manager Steve Cohen; National Football League star Khalil Mack; Gerry Smith, CEO of ODP, the parent company of Office Depot; and singer-songwriter Romeo Santos, to name a few.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Antonio Neri purchased a home here back in 2019 for $7.5 million. He sold it in 2022 for $14 million, an almost 87% increase in under three years. Both deals were brokered by Adzem.

16141 Quiet Vista in Stone Creek Ranch was purchased by HP Enterprise CEO Antonio Neri for $7.5M who sold it three years later for a hefty profit.
Daniel Petroni

“I purchased the home because I loved it and the neighborhood. It also turned out to be an extraordinary investment,” Neri told CNBC.
Just last year, the 37-residence community saw its priciest sale to date when a 17,800 square-foot mansion at 9200 Rockybrook traded for $26 million, or about $1,460 per square foot, in a deal that was also brokered by Adzem.

Villa Ananda’s entrance is flanked by mature Italian Cypress trees.
Daniel Petroni Photography

While her latest listing, 9303 Hawk Shadow Lane, isn’t the most expensive home to hit the market here, at almost $2,100 a square foot, it would be the highest price per square foot ever achieved in Stone Creek Ranch, surpassing the previous record by more than 40%.
“Trophy properties have gained momentum in the South Florida market over the past three years — for tax benefits, for safety reasons and because of the pandemic,” Adzem told CNBC.
The real estate agent knows this high-end neighborhood well. Over the past four years, she has sold five properties here, twice each, and brokered more than $136 million in transactions — all of them within just 500 meters of her latest listing.

An aerial view of the Rockybrook Estate in Delray Beach, Florida.
Douglas Elliman

While buyers-turned-sellers, like Neri, have turned hefty profits in a short time, Adzem believes the market is still trending in the right direction. Limited supply helps.
“The high demand for estates within Stone Creek Ranch, with only 37 multimillion-dollar properties available, further underscores this market dynamic,” said Adzem.

Here’s a look inside the 6 bedroom, 10 bathroom Villa Ananda:

Aerial view of 9303 Hawk Shadow Lane in Delray Beach.
Daniel Petroni Photography

The one-story residence sits on 2.5 acres surrounded by a man-made lake.
Missing from the property’s lush green landscape are Florida’s ubiquitous palm trees. There’s not a single one on the estate. Instead, the land is peppered with towering Italian Cypress trees, bougainvillea, rose bushes, pines and vegetation chosen for its resemblance to olive trees.
Adzem tells CNBC that landscape architect Krent Wieland and the owners opted for greenery that would make the residence feel less like a Florida mansion and more like a luxurious villa in the Italian countryside.

The view from Villa Ananda’s loggia includes manicured gardens, a saltwater pool and a 20-person hot tub.
Daniel Petroni Photography

“Every detail of their surroundings was meticulously curated, inspired by the awe-inspiring vistas of southern Italy’s countryside,” said Adzem.

The home’s loggia includes a kitchen, bar, lounge, dining area and fireplace.
Daniel Petroni Photography

Villa Ananda’s primary suite spans about 3,500 square feet with two sleeping areas. This is larger of the suite’s two bedrooms.
Daniel Petroni Photography

According to Adzem, Villa Ananda’s primary suite spans more than 3,500 square feet, with two home offices, two walk-in closets, a pair of baths and a wellness area with an infrared sauna and massage table.

One of the two baths in the primary suite.
Daniel Petroni Photography

One of the primary suite’s two home offices.
Daniel Petroni Photography

Interiors are designed by Inson Dubois Wood with bespoke furniture by Studio Liaigre, Adzem tells CNBC, and while the furnishings are not included in the asking price, they are negotiable.

One of the primary suite’s two walk-in closets.
Daniel Petroni Photography

Custom chandeliers in the living room, formal dining room, baths and even closets are crafted from a pearly-white rock called Selenite, a crystal that’s formed when calcium-rich saltwater evaporates.

The dining area off the kitchen.
Daniel Petroni Photography

There’s dining for twelve off the kitchen, plus a separate formal dining room that can accommodate 10 guests.

The formal dining room.
Daniel Petroni Photography

The kitchen’s waterfall countertops are crafted from a white Calacatta Crema marble, and the wood floors are washed in a soft gray hue that resembles weathered drift wood.

The kitchen.
Daniel Petroni Photography

Outside, there’s a saltwater pool, 20-person hot tub, zen garden, fire features, a fruit tree orchard and rose garden.

A view of the home’s saltwater pool and stone sundeck.
Daniel Petroni Photography

The stone driveway leads to a parking courtyard flanked by air-conditioned garage areas for nine cars.

The home has air-conditioned parking for nine cars.
Daniel Petroni Photography More

Ford Motor’s U.S. sales jumped 10.5% last month compared with February 2023, led by increases in its hybrid and all-electric vehicles sales.
The spike in hybrid sales is part of Ford’s plan to double down on the technology. THe company said hybrid sales totaled 12,045 in February, including 6,463 units of its small Maverick Hybrid pickup.
Despite the increases in hybrids and EVs, 89.5% of Ford’s sales last month were traditional cars and trucks.

A 2022 Ford Motor Co. Maverick compact pickup truck during the Washington Auto Show in Washington, D.C., on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022.
Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images

DETROIT – Ford Motor’s U.S. sales jumped 10.5% last month compared with February 2023, led by increases in its hybrid and all-electric vehicles sales.
The Detroit automaker Monday reported sales of 174,192 cars and trucks for February. The results included an 81% jump in EV sales and roughly 32% uptick in hybrid models. Sales of traditional internal combustion engines also increased, up 7.5% from the same month a year earlier.

The spike in hybrid sales is part of Ford’s plan to double down on the technology. The company said hybrid sales totaled 12,045 in February, including 6,463 units of its small Maverick Hybrid pickup.
Sales of EVs for Ford have fluctuated month to month based on demand and pricing. Sales of Ford’s all-electric vehicles last month were up across the board, including a 64.3% increase in its Mustang Mach-E crossover and a nearly doubling in sales of the all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup.
Despite the increases in hybrids and EVs, 89.5% of Ford’s sales last month were traditional cars and trucks in February.
Sales of Ford’s highly profitable F-Series pickups fell by 5.8% last month to 51,829 units. Shipments of new 2024 models of the pickup were delayed due to an undisclosed quality issue, Automotive News reported last month.
Amid quality and warranty issues, Ford CEO Jim Farley has instituted more stringent testing and quality checks during new vehicle launches.

Ford reported total year-to-date sales through February were 311,325 units, a 6.6% increase compared with the same time period a year earlier.
Shares of Ford were up more than 4% during trading Monday morning. Rivals General Motors and Stellantis, neither of which reports monthly sales, were up about 1% each.
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Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two” opened with an estimated $81.5 million at the box office, the highest of any film released so far in 2024.
The Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment film was buoyed by IMAX ticket sales, which represented around 23% of domestic ticket sales, or $18.5 million.
Legendary Entertainment CEO says “Dune: Part Three” could happen “if Denis [Villeneuve] gets the script right and he feels that he can deliver another experience on par with what we’ve just completed.”

Sandworms emerge on the desert planet Arrakis in Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two.”
Warner Bros. | Legendary Entertainment

After a two-month drought, “Dune: Part Two” has delivered a much-welcomed deluge of ticket sales to the domestic box office — and its success could bring a third franchise film to cinemas.
The Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment film opened with an estimated $81.5 million at the box office, the highest of any film released so far in 2024.

“Like an oasis in the desert, ‘Dune: Part Two’ is a sight for sore eyes across theatrical exhibition and all of Hollywood,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com.
Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic, the second in the Dune franchise, was buoyed by IMAX ticket sales, which represented around 23% of domestic ticket sales, or $18.5 million.
“The only reason it wasn’t higher is we ran out of seats,” said Rich Gelfond, CEO of IMAX.
Gelfond noted that presales of the film were “really impressive” and that in many locations, tickets for IMAX screenings aren’t available until three weeks out.
“The lesson is that if you take a beautiful visual experience, a good story and you put it in the hands of a brilliant filmmaker with an IMAX camera, you’re going to get very good results,” Gelfond said.

Notably, the entirety of “Dune: Part Two” was filmed using IMAX digital cameras.
Expectations from studio executives, theater owners and box office analysts are that the film will have a long tail in cinemas and continue to collect strong ticket sales in the weeks to come. Similar, Gelfond said, to Universal’s “Oppenheimer” and Disney’s “Avatar: The Way Of Water.”
Internationally, the film is expected to tally $97 million, bringing its global haul to $178.5 million. IMAX represented 18% of all international ticket sales, the company said. The film will debut in China on March 8.
“I think this is a movie where you know the word of mouth is going to carry it,” Josh Grode, CEO of Legendary Entertainment told CNBC. “It is a stupendous piece of filmmaking. There’s no other way to say it. I’ve just about run out of adjectives.”
Grode didn’t dismiss rumors of a potential third film in the franchise, noting that, “We have to have all creative stakeholders aligned and support the vision.”
“I think everybody is very excited and really enjoying this moment and if Denis [Villeneuve] gets the script right and he feels that he can deliver another experience on par with what we’ve just completed then I don’t see why not,” he said.

Timothee Chalamet stars as Paul Atreides in Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two.”
Warner Bros. | Legendary Entertainment

The strong opening for “Dune: Part Two” comes after the film was removed from the 2023 movie calendar because dual Hollywood labor strikes made it impossible for cast members to promote the film publicly.
Grode noted that Legendary Entertainment struggled with the decision to move the film out of its November slot and to a new date in March. However, he felt that without a marketing campaign “that matched the movie” the film might not reach as many moviegoers.
“Hindsight is always 2020, but I think it may be absolutely the right decision,” he said.
The film’s cast has been heavily promoting the film for weeks, participating in junkets, video interviews and appearing on late-night shows. Even the stars’ premiere outfits have been making headlines, driving more awareness of the film’s release.

Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya attend the World Premiere of “Dune: Part Two” in Leicester Square in London, England, on Feb. 15, 2024.
Gareth Cattermole | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

Alongside industry veterans such as Christopher Walken, Stellan Skarsgard, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Dave Bautista, “Dune: Part Two” features four of the biggest young stars in Hollywood: Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Florence Pugh and Austin Butler.
Heading into the weekend, the domestic box office had tallied less than $900 million in ticket sales through the first two months of the year, a nearly 18% drop from the same period in 2023, according to Comscore data. A boost at the beginning of the year could prove critical to a box office that’s still struggling to reclaim $10 billion in domestic annual ticket sales, a mark last seen before the Covid-19 pandemic.
“In any given box office year there is a turning point and in 2024 the ‘Dune: Part Two’ debut represents a milestone in a year bereft of blockbuster-sized offerings,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “The box office year of ’24 officially kicked off this weekend two months late and not a moment too soon and will help build the much-needed momentum for March and beyond for movie theaters.”
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal distributed “Oppenheimer.” More

If you think Tim Cook has always led a charmed life at the helm of Apple, think again. The years straight after the death of Steve Jobs in 2011 were a trial by fire. First there was antitrust: America’s Department of Justice (DoJ) sued Apple for conspiring to fix e-book prices. Then there was competition: Samsung, a South Korean rival, went to war with the iPhone with bigger, sleeker models. Then came broader concerns. Apple’s new voice assistant, Siri, made rookie errors. Ditto Apple Maps, which went as far as relocating the Washington Monument to the Potomac River. At the time, the question hanging over the company was existential: could Apple’s creative spark survive the death of its founder? One of Mr Cook’s lieutenants was so miffed at the criticisms that he publicly retorted in 2013: “Can’t innovate anymore, my ass!”A decade or so later, Mr Cook may be having a moment of déjà vu. On all three counts—antitrust, Asian competition, the existential question of innovation and growth—there are parallels between then and now. Competition watchdogs in the EU are demanding compliance by March 7th with rules that for the first time breach the “walled garden” which keeps users and developers bound within Apple‘s playpen. In America the DoJ’s trustbusters may soon launch a case against Apple. In China, Huawei, a domestic mastodon, is seizing market share. Hanging over everything is the nagging concern, amid a levelling off in iPhone sales, that Mr Cook is missing the opportunity to pull another rabbit out of the hat with generative artificial intelligence (gen AI).In short, with its market value down by 10% since mid-December, and Microsoft, thanks to gen AI, vaulting past it to become the world’s most valuable company, sceptics wonder if Apple is now so dominant it has lost its mojo. So jaded is the narrative that many pay little heed to the buzz about the Vision Pro, Apple’s snazzy—though lavishly priced—mixed-reality headset. What hopes they have are pinned on the company’s annual developer conference in June, when they want Mr Cook to announce whizzy gen-AI upgrades proving that Apple can join the chatbot hypefest. That, though, is not how the company does things. Nor should it be.Go back to the threat from Samsung in Mr Cook’s early days. Back then investors pestered Apple to come up with a bigger phone, just as now they want it to match Samsung’s models with gen-AI bells and whistles. But Apple doesn’t rush things. It wasn’t until the launch of the iPhone 6 in 2014 that it produced a large-screen phone. When it came, it was a smash hit. Its modus operandi remains the same. It is rarely first with a product. It seeks to improve what is already out there, learning from others’ mistakes and eventually trouncing the competition. Of course, that poses a risk. In theory, a scrappy upstart may produce new technology products cheaper and faster, pulling the rug from under the market leader. Perhaps a young company building a killer device for the gen-AI era already has Apple in its sights.Yet you do not have to be a true believer to see why Apple may be right to take its time. First, there will be more to gen AI than chatbots. They appear to be a revolutionary technology. But so far they are just a better (and accident-prone) way of putting in a query and getting an answer. That is not Apple’s forte. “They are features, not products,” as Horace Dediu, an expert on Apple, puts it. Nor does Apple compete with other tech giants, such as Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet, to run cloud-computing platforms with large language models (LLMs) on which other firms can build gen-AI apps. Instead of relying on cloud services, it seems to be working on ways to embed gen AI in its own devices, bolstering its ecosystem. Since 2017 it has been using homemade chip technology called neural engines to handle machine-learning and AI functions that its gadgets use behind the scenes. In late February it emerged that it was scrapping its ten-year project to build an Apple car and redirecting the engineers towards gen AI. No doubt it is moving up a gear—though not from an idle start. Apple will reveal nothing about its intentions. But one of the options it has is hiding in plain sight: the Vision Pro. The most recent gen-AI launches, such as OpenAI’s Sora, which converts text to video, and Groq, which speaks at humanlike speed in response to questions, suggest that eventually something other than written words could be the main gateways to gen AI. The Vision Pro is all about sounds and images.Known unknownsIn the short term none of this will resolve the growth question. In fact, the regulatory onslaught in the EU via the Digital Markets Act, which from this week will apply to big-tech “gatekeepers” including Apple, could potentially crimp its biggest growth engine, services. For the first time Apple will be forced to allow third-party app marketplaces and alternative payment systems outside its App Store on devices in Europe. It has made no secret of its disdain for the rules. It calls them a threat to safety and privacy, and has introduced complex new fees for those who dare bypass its protective walls. Some developers have slammed its compliance measures, but they are likely to work: inertia means that many will probably stick with the status quo. As for a possible DoJ antitrust case, it would be a headache. But its scope is not yet clear.China is a bigger problem with no clear solution. Huawei has become a formidable competitor, though in the long run it may be constrained by an America-led ban on sales to it of high-end chips. However big the geopolitical risks, Apple and China are so co-dependent that they may be stuck with one another.Still, don’t give up on Mr Cook yet. Apple is bound to be working on gen-AI products that do not leave egg on its face—just, as is its way, not in the open. At this stage, the vast sums needed to train AI models favour deep-pocketed incumbents over scrappy upstarts, which will work to Apple’s advantage. You can almost hear Cupertino muttering, “Can’t innovate anymore, my ass!” ■ More