Business

Coors Light and Miller Lite’s parent company reported a quarterly earnings beat as it returned to profit and grew its market share.
Molson Coors grew its marketing and administrative spending nearly 19% in the fourth quarter as the company looked to maintain those gains.
CEO Gavin Hattersley said he remains confident that the shifts in the U.S. beer industry will be “permanent.”

A Miller Lite and a Coors Light is displayed in Chicago on Oct. 9, 2007.
Scott Olson | Getty Images

Brewer Molson Coors said on Tuesday that it expects to maintain its market share gains in the year ahead.
The company, which makes Coors Light and Miller Lite, reported strong fourth-quarter earnings Tuesday as net sales for 2023 grew 9.3%. Those revenue gains were in large part tied to consumers migrating away from AB InBev’s Bud Light products after boycotts began last April.

“Molson Coors was well positioned to benefit from the significant shifts in consumer purchasing habits,” the company said in its earnings release, though it didn’t directly refer to the boycotts.
It was a return to profit for Molson Coors from a loss a year ago. The company reported net income of $103.3 million, or 48 cents a share, for the quarter, compared with a loss of $590.5 million, or $2.73 a share, during the same period last year.
Molson said its underlying earnings were $1.19 per share, which outpaced the $1.12 per share analysts were expecting, according to LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv.
CEO Gavin Hattersley shared his confidence in the company’s plan to maintain its leadership in the beer category on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call.
“The gains we’ve seen in our core brands have been consistent for over nine months,” Hattersley said. “We’re growing in every region, every channel, with every major customer in the United States, and at this point, we believe that the shifts in the U.S. beer industry are permanent.”

Molson also invested a significant amount of capital in the fourth quarter, spending nearly 19% more on marketing and administrative costs to achieve those gains.
The company was among the advertisers that spent big on Sunday’s Super Bowl game, with a commercial featuring LL Cool J and the icy Coors Light train. For the second consecutive year, the average cost of a 30-second ad spot was $7 million.
“We invested strongly behind our brands, increasing marketing spend over $50 million in the quarter,” said Greg Tierney, vice president of financial planning and analysis and investor relations, on the company’s earnings call. “Our focus was on retaining our existing drinkers and attracting new ones.”
Some analysts on the earnings call remained skeptical that Molson’s gains from the Bud Light boycott would be sustainable. The stock fell nearly 3% Tuesday despite the rosy outlook. But others think Hattersley’s strategy will pay off for investors.
TD Cowen analyst Robert Moskow said in a note to investors that the company “will hold on to the majority of the share they picked up from the Bud Light boycotts.”
Ariel Investments, which has invested in Molson Coors since 2018, also remains confident in the stock’s performance.
“The core brands were growing dollar share even before the Bud Light controversy,” said Tim Fidler, Ariel Investments’ portfolio manager.Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

ESPN Bet is planning to launch in New York.
Penn Entertainment is buying Wynn Interactive’s mobile sports betting license in New York state for $25 million, after it was shut out of the licenses the state awarded in 2021.
Penn’s newly rebranded sportsbook ESPN Bet has been making gains and taking market share in states where it operates.

Courtesy: ESPN Bet

ESPN Bet is coming to the Big Apple.
Penn Entertainment, which operates the sports betting platform, will pay Wynn Resorts $25 million for market access, it said Tuesday. It’s the same amount Wynn paid New York state to operate there.

Wynn Interactive, a subsidiary of Wynn Resorts, was awarded a New York mobile sports betting license in 2021. Penn was not — and it has missed out on the action from the nation’s largest sports betting market.
In the two years since New York launched online sports betting, at least $35.7 billion has been wagered in the state. During every month but one during that period, it has had a higher betting handle than any other state.
At the time the state awarded licenses, speculation was rampant that Penn lost out on one for its Barstool Sportsbook due to controversy surrounding Barstool founder Dave Portnoy. Neither the New York State Gaming Commission nor the company ever confirmed that.
But last year, Penn sold Barstool back to Portnoy for $1, after paying $551 million.
The transaction came as Penn made a $1.5 billion deal over 10 years, plus $500 million in stock warrants, to license one of the most recognizable brands in sports: ESPN.

When ESPN Bet launched in mid-November, well after the start of the National Football League season, it was in some 17 states and had roughly 2% market share. But it saw a notable improvement almost right away. For instance, it grabbed 7.4% market share in Pennsylvania in November, up from 3.7% in October.
FanDuel and DraftKings still occupy a near duopoly nationally, with BetMGM and Caesars taking up the third and fourth positions. But Eilers & Krejcik estimated ESPN Bet came away with 8% market share when it launched in November, good enough to take a third-place position.
Bank of America analyst Shaun Kelley wrote in a note Friday that ESPN Bet could be a surprise beneficiary of Taylor Swift fans tuning into the NFL, and Sunday’s Super Bowl specifically, due to the singer’s relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
Now, if New York gaming regulators sign off on the license transfer to Penn, ESPN Bet could provide new and potentially formidable competition in the nation’s biggest sports betting market.Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

JOIN US FOR HEALTHY RETURNS SUMMIT ON MARCH 29 2023. REGISTER BELOW

A UnitedHealth Group health insurance card is seen in a wallet, Oct.14, 2019.
Lucy Nicholson | Reuters

Good afternoon! Health insurers are feeling the squeeze as older patients head to the doctor more than expected.
CVS, which owns health insurer Aetna, on Wednesday slashed its full-year profit outlook, citing the potential for higher medical costs to bite into its profits. That warning came two weeks after insurance giant Humana cited the same factor as it issued a dismal 2024 earnings guidance.

Medical costs from Medicare Advantage patients have spiked over the last year as more older adults return to hospitals to undergo procedures they had delayed during the Covid pandemic, such as joint and hip replacements. 
Medicare Advantage, a type of privately run health insurance plan contracted by Medicare, has long been a key source of growth and profits for the insurance industry. More than half of Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in such plans, enticed by lower monthly premiums and extra benefits not covered by traditional Medicare, according to health policy research firm KFF. 
But investors have become more concerned about the runaway costs, which insurance companies say may not come down anytime soon. Other companies in the Medicare Advantage space are UnitedHealth Group and Elevance Health.
CVS executives said on an earnings call Wednesday that the company’s insurance division saw slightly higher rates of outpatient care, including hip and knee surgeries, in the fourth quarter. They also saw more use of supplemental benefits such as dental and vision care, and “some pressure” from RSV vaccinations.
The executives said inpatient care, or formal hospital admissions, was in line with the company’s expectations for the period. 

The insurance segment’s medical benefit ratio — a measure of total medical expenses paid relative to premiums collected — increased to 88.5% for the fourth quarter from 85.8% during the year-ago period. A lower ratio typically indicates that the company collected more in premiums than it paid out in benefits, resulting in higher profitability.
Last month, Humana said it saw an even bigger jump in medical costs in the fourth quarter. The company said the increase came partly from higher outpatient activity, but the company largely blamed it on an unexpected increase in inpatient care in November and December. 
That pushed its medical benefit ratio in its insurance segment to a whopping 91.4% for the quarter, up from 87.4% for the same period a year ago. 
Higher medical costs may be a larger problem for Humana than they are for CVS and other insurers. That’s because Humana is more dependent on its Medicare Advantage business than its rivals, as it accounts for more than 80% of its earnings, UBS analysts said in a Jan. 25 note.
They added that there is no other part of Humana’s business that could meaningfully dampen the hit from higher medical costs on the insurance side. Humana has a specialty pharmacy segment called CenterWell, but it only brought in roughly a fifth of the revenue that the company’s insurance division booked for the fourth quarter. 
Meanwhile, CVS has a retail pharmacy business and a health services segment, both of which posted stronger-than-expected revenue for the quarter.
Another insurance giant that has been seeing higher medical costs, UnitedHealth Group, also has large health-care services and pharmacy operations that diversify its earnings streams. 
The bigger question for all three companies is how exactly a new policy called the “two-midnight rule” will impact their insurance businesses. 
Starting this year, Medicare Advantage plans have to cover their members’ hospitalizations at the higher inpatient rate if their doctors predict they’ll have to stay beyond two midnights. That policy has applied to traditional Medicare plans for nearly a decade. 

The latest in health-care technology

A sign is posted in front of the 23andMe headquarters on February 01, 2024 in Sunnyvale, California. 
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Trouble at 23andMe 
 It’s been a rough few months for 23andMe. 
The genetic testing company, which rose to prominence with its at-home DNA testing kits, reported rocky fiscal third-quarter results last week. 23andMe posted revenue of $45 million for the quarter, which is down from the $67 million it reported in the same period last year. 
During the company’s quarterly call with investors, co-founder and CEO Anne Wojcicki said 23andMe is considering splitting up its consumer and therapeutics businesses to help boost its stock price, which has been trading under $1.  
The company received a deficiency letter from the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Department in November, giving the company 180 days to bring its share price back above $1. If 23andMe fails to clear the threshold, it will be delisted from the exchange.
“We have not made any definitive decisions about what we are going to do,” Wojcicki said during the call. 
23andMe is also contending with mounting legal troubles as it faces more than 30 class-action lawsuits following a data breach it disclosed late last year that affected nearly 7 million people. The company has incurred $2.7 million in expenses related to the incident so far.
 For now, investors are watching to see how 23andMe navigates the challenging road ahead.
 Layoffs across Amazon Pharmacy, One Medical 
Last week, Amazon cut a “few hundred roles” across its One Medical and Pharmacy units, the company confirmed to CNBC’s Annie Palmer. 
In a memo to employees, Amazon Health Services lead Neil Lindsay said the company has “identified areas where we can reposition resources,” leading to the reductions.
Amazon has pushed into the health-care industry in recent years as it works to build out its own medical ecosystem.
In 2018, the company announced plans to buy the online pharmacy company PillPack, which would later help Amazon launch its own pharmacy. Four years later, Amazon shared that it would acquire the primary care provider One Medical for roughly $3.9 billion.
But despite its lofty ambitions in health care, the segment is not exempt from CEO Andy Jassy’s aggressive cost cutting efforts. The company has announced job cuts within its Audible, Prime Video, Twitch, MGM Studios and Buy with Prime divisions in recent weeks, adding to the more than 27,000 layoffs the company began carrying out in late 2022. 
You can read the full memo about the recent Amazon Pharmacy and One Medical layoffs here.
Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at [email protected] and Ashley at [email protected] More

From consumer gadgets to cars, China has time and again shown a knack for emulating cutting-edge foreign technology. Yet the semiconductors that power the digital economy have proven trickier to master. That has been the source of much anxiety among its political and business elites in recent years. America’s decision in 2022 to halt exports to the country of its whizziest chips and chipmaking tools brought into stark relief the chokehold of China’s geopolitical rivals over the industry. In December last year China’s imports of the lithography machines used to imprint circuits onto silicon wafers surged by 450%, compared with the previous year, as local chipmakers raced to buy advanced kit from ASML, the Dutch market leader, before export restrictions by the Netherlands came into effect in January.Although the Chinese government has been splashing subsidies on its domestic chip industry for many years, mounting concern over the trade restrictions being imposed by America and its allies have led it to double down on the effort. In 2022 China’s government ramped up a national effort often referred to as the “Information Innovation” project, or xinchuang, that aims to replace foreign suppliers of, among other things, semiconductor technology. What’s more, whereas the state once pushed reluctant chipmakers to co-operate with local suppliers, their investors and boards now demand it as a form of insurance against trade wars. As a result, China’s semiconductor supply chain is steadily deepening. But can it ever match that of its rivals?China’s chip industry operates under a shroud of secrecy. Breakthroughs and setbacks are often deemed to be state secrets, the divulgence of which can result in arrest. In August Huawei, a Chinese tech champion, shocked the world by producing a smartphone that contained a seven-nanometre (nm) chip, making it capable of 5G internet speeds. The company is now rumoured to be on the cusp of creating chips as small as 5nm, in partnership with SMIC, China’s largest foundry. Huawei’s Ascend chips, which the firm has designed for AI applications, are reportedly now being used by the likes of Baidu, a local search-engine giant and creator of Ernie, China’s answer to ChatGPT. Like Nvidia, America’s AI-chip champion, Huawei has developed a proprietary software platform, called CANN, that helps developers use its chips to build AI models.All that still places China’s chip industry far from the technological frontier. Even if Huawei and SMIC succeed at producing 5nm chips, they will remain comfortably behind Samsung, a South Korean tech giant, and TSMC, a Taiwanese foundry, both of which began mass-producing 3nm chips in 2022. China’s lack of advanced lithography equipment will be a big barrier to further progress. In December a top shareholder in SMEE, China’s main hope in lithography, said on social media that the company’s machines had succeeded at producing 28nm chips—though it then quickly deleted the details, causing plenty of confusion. If true, that would still leave the company trailing ASML, whose top-of-the-line machines can produce 3nm chips.Look away from the bleeding edge, however, and China is steadily chipping away at its reliance on foreign semiconductor technology. Huawei, which was burned in 2019 by sanctions that cut off its access to American technology, has been actively cultivating China’s wider chipmaking ecosystem. It is reportedly co-operating closely with a number of chip foundries, either by co-investing in projects or exchanging staff. In March last year it declared it had made a number of breakthroughs in the development of electronic-design-automation (EDA) software, used to generate blueprints for chips, which it said would free China’s industry from the need to rely on foreign suppliers of the tools for 14nm-and-larger semiconductors. Though unconfirmed, its collaborator on this is widely believed to be Empyrean, a Chinese maker of EDA tools whose sales have rocketed in recent years.Such collaborations are happening more often. China’s foundries historically relied on importing tried and tested machinery from abroad. Now some of the largest, including SMIC, have become more open to testing local alternatives. That gives the suppliers a chance to receive feedback and improve their designs. Although this comes with significant costs—and risks—for the chipmakers, China’s government is thought to be easing the way by providing subsidies to those of them that purchase local equipment.image: The EconomistThe upshot has been a big boost to Chinese manufacturers of chipmaking equipment. The domestic market share of Chinese producers of wafer-fabrication tools has risen from 4% in 2019 to an estimated 14% last year, according to Bernstein, a broker (see chart). AMEC, a Chinese firm whose machines are used to strip away residual material from a chip, controlled 10% of the Chinese market in 2021. Since then the company has been rapidly gaining share from foreign rivals such as America’s Lam Research (where its founder, Gerald Yin, used to work). Bernstein reckons AMEC’s market share reached 16% last year and will rise to around 30% by 2025. Naura, a peer, estimates its sales grew by 50% last year. Wazam, a Chinese supplier of the film used to insulate semiconductors, is beginning to make inroads, too, with a trial under way at a local chipmaker.China has already pumped some $150bn of subsidies into its chipmaking industry over the past decade, according to a recent estimate by America’s Department of Commerce. The government, through various investments, is now present throughout the country’s semiconductor supply chain. SMIC is partially state-owned, as is AMEC. Empyrean is majority-owned by a state firm. The government of Shenzhen, the southern city where Huawei is based, invests in many of the chipmakers the company is working with. None of this is as efficient as relying on global supply chains. That shows that China’s officials have not efficiency but security in mind. And they have decided that the price is worth paying. ■ More

A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by a major pharmaceutical industry lobbying group and two other organizations challenging Medicare drug price negotiations.
The decision is an early win for the Biden administration as it grapples with a flurry of other legal challenges from drugmakers to the Inflation Reduction Act’s price talks.
U.S. Judge David Ezra of the Western District of Texas sided with the Biden administration in dismissing the suit by PhRMA, the Global Colon Cancer Association and the National Infusion Center Association.

Activists protest the price of prescription drug costs in front of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) building on October 06, 2022 in Washington, DC.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images

A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit brought by a major pharmaceutical industry lobbying group and two other organizations that challenged Medicare’s new powers to negotiate prices for costly prescription medicines. 
The decision is an early win for the Biden administration as it grapples with a flurry of other legal challenges that drugmakers have filed against the Medicare drug price negotiations. The key policy under the Inflation Reduction Act aims to make medicines more affordable for seniors and could cut into pharmaceutical industry profits. 

The judge’s ruling won’t end the legal battle over the policy, which could end up at the Supreme Court. Medicare issued its initial drug price offers to manufacturers for the first 10 medications subject to the talks earlier this month, with final negotiated prices going into effect in 2026.
U.S. Judge David Ezra of the Western District of Texas sided with the Biden administration in dismissing the suit by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, the Global Colon Cancer Association and the National Infusion Center Association, which argued that the price talks were unconstitutional. 
In a 14-page ruling, Ezra specifically dismissed the National Infusion Center Association, or NICA, from the case, arguing that the court does not have jurisdiction over the group’s legal challenge. He wrote that NICA’s claims fall under the Medicare Act and could only be heard by a court following an administrative review by the federal agency. 
Ezra dismissed the rest of the case given that NICA is the only plaintiff based in the district. 
PhRMA is “disappointed with the court’s decision, which does not address the merits of our lawsuit, and we are weighing our next legal steps,” spokesperson Nicole Longo told CNBC in a statement. PhRMA represents many of the largest drugmakers in the world, including Eli Lilly, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson.

But PhRMA and the two other organizations could appeal the decision. Legal experts say the pharmaceutical industry hopes to obtain conflicting rulings from federal appellate courts, which could fast-track the issue to the Supreme Court. 
A slate of major companies with drugs selected for negotiations, including J&J, Merck, and Bristol Myers Squibb, have filed separate lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the price talks. Those cases are still pending.
Notably, a federal judge in Ohio issued a ruling in September denying a preliminary injunction sought by the Chamber of Commerce, one of the largest lobbying groups in the country, which aimed to block the price talks before Oct. 1.
PhRMA, NICA and the Global Colon Cancer Association filed their lawsuit in June, alleging that the negotiations delegate too much authority to the Department of Health and Human Services. 
The suit also argued that the price talks violate the Eighth Amendment because they include a “crippling” excise tax aimed at forcing drugmakers to accept the government-dictated price of medicines. 
The groups also argued that the price talks violate due process by denying pharmaceutical companies and the public input on how Medicare negotiations will be implemented.
Department of Justice attorneys on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services countered that NICA lacked standing because it doesn’t make or sell prescription drugs that could be subject to the negotiations. More

Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey said inflation is moderating in most markets globally, with some exceptions such as Argentina.
In the majority of Coke’s markets, shoppers were only paying about 3.5% more for their drinks than they were a year earlier.
“When you think about 95% of the business, 3.5% on a global basis is close to what we were getting prior to Covid, prior to this inflation spike,” Quincey said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”

James Quincey, CEO of Coca-Cola Co., speaking on “Squawk Box” at the WEF in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 18, 2023.
Adam Galica | CNBC

Inflation is moderating in most markets, after a stretch in which the beverage maker relied on price hikes to drive higher revenue, Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey said Tuesday.
Coke reported its fourth-quarter results Tuesday, and said higher prices helped the company beat Wall Street’s estimates for its quarterly sales. But Coke’s price hikes have slowed from the last two years’ double-digit increases.

Coke’s overall prices were up 9% in the fourth quarter, but Quincey said that came from hyperinflation in markets such as Argentina. In the majority of Coke’s markets, shoppers were only paying about 3.5% more for their drinks than they were a year earlier.
“When you think about 95% of the business, 3.5% on a global basis is close to what we were getting prior to Covid, prior to this inflation spike,” Quincey said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”
The U.S. consumer price index was up 3.1% in January compared with the year-ago period, according to U.S. Department of Labor data released Tuesday.
In July, Coke executives said the company was done raising prices for 2023. Consumers in Europe and the U.S. had started switching to cheaper private-label juices and bottled water instead of buying its Simply and Smartwater brands.
Quincey also said Tuesday that the U.S. consumer has gone in two different directions. Those with more disposable income are buying Coke’s premium drinks, such as Fairlife milk, while those with tighter budgets are pulling back their spending and buying more value packs.

Coke’s North American volume shrank 1% in the quarter as a result.
Shares of Coke fell less than 1% in morning trading.Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

Boeing delivered 27 planes in January, down from 67 in December and its lowest tally since September.
It sold three Boeing 737 Max planes, but also logged three cancellations.
Boeing executives have been scrambling to persuade airline customers, investors and regulators that it will find more reliable footing after a Jan. 5 incident on an Alaska Airlines flight.

An aerial photo shows Boeing 737 MAX airplanes parked on the tarmac at the Boeing Factory in Renton, Washington, U.S. March 21, 2019.
Lindsey Wasson | Reuters

Boeing’s aircraft orders and deliveries fell in January as the company grappled with the fallout from a midflight blowout of a fuselage panel on one of its 737 Max 9s, an accident that overshadowed the manufacturer’s strong finish in 2023.
The company handed over 27 planes last month, its lowest tally since September, compared with 67 deliveries in December. It sold three Boeing 737 Max planes, but also logged three cancellations.

The deliveries were roughly in line with what some analysts expected. The three gross orders come after a big December when Boeing sold 371 planes.
Boeing rival Airbus handed over 30 planes in January.
Boeing executives have been scrambling to persuade airline customers, investors and regulators that it will find more reliable footing after the Jan. 5 accident, when a door plug blew out on an Alaska Airlines flight at 16,000 feet shortly after it left Portland, Oregon. No one was seriously injured on Flight 1282, but the violent detachment ripped off headrests and exposed travelers to a gaping hole in the 26th row.
Bolts that hold the unused exit door panel in place appeared to be missing from the fuselage piece, which had been removed and put back at Boeing’s 737 Max factory in Renton, Washington, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report Feb. 6.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun has vowed to review manufacturing processes at the company’s facilities. The Federal Aviation Administration said it would halt Boeing’s planned production increases until it is “satisfied that the quality control issues uncovered during this process are resolved.”

“I’m sort of glad they called out a pause because that’s a good excuse to just take our time, do it right,” Calhoun said on an earnings call Jan. 31.
Boeing earlier this month disclosed it would have to rework about 50 undelivered Max planes because of incorrectly drilled holes, a new production glitch that could slow deliveries.
The FAA is auditing Boeing’s production, and the agency’s administrator, Mike Whitaker, told CNBC last month that it will keep “boots on the ground” at Boeing and perform direct inspections of work there. The audit includes about two-dozen inspectors, stationed at the Renton factory and in Wichita, Kansas, where Spirit Aerosystems makes the Max fuselages.
Boeing now has to periodically pause its production line, and CFO Brian West said at a TD Cowen investor conference on Tuesday that the company expects to be at a steady rate of 38 Max planes a month in the second half of the year.
“We are doing that so that we can get the benefit of our audit, we can get the benefit of our own inspection protocols, and that will just slow the line,” West said.
FAA Administrator Whitaker is traveling to the Renton plant this week.
Boeing’s January deliveries included three Max planes to Chinese customers, the first in about four years.  More

Paramount Global announced Tuesday it is laying off about 800 employees, or roughly 3% of its workforce, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Paramount Global, which owns CBS, said Monday that the network set record highs for Super Bowl viewership.
Bakish warned of impending layoffs in an internal note sent in January. He said at the time that Paramount Global must “operate as a leaner company and spend less.”

Paramount executive Bob Bakish attends the 2022 MTV Europe Music Awards (EMAs) at the PSD Bank Dome in Duesseldorf, Germany, November 13, 2022. 
Thilo Schmuelgen | Reuters

Paramount Global is laying off hundreds of employees, just one day after the company announced CBS had record Super Bowl viewership, Chief Executive Officer Bob Bakish said Tuesday in an internal memo to employees.
Paramount will lay off about 800 people, or an estimated 3% of its workforce, according to a person familiar with the matter. Paramount Global ended 2022 with about 24,500 full-time and part-time employees.

Affected workers will be notified Tuesday, Bakish said in the note.
“These adjustments will help enable us to build on our momentum and execute our strategic vision for the year ahead — and I firmly believe we have much to be excited about,” Bakish wrote in the note.
Paramount shares fell about 4% in morning trading Tuesday.
Deadline first reported the number of cuts in January.
Paramount Global owns a variety of assets including CBS, Paramount Pictures, Pluto TV, Paramount+ and cable networks including Nickelodeon, BET and Comedy Central. The job cuts come as the media company considers merger and acquisition options. Paramount Global has held early merger talks with Skydance Media and Warner Bros. Discovery in recent months, CNBC has previously reported.

The media company had warned employees of impending cuts in a Jan. 25 internal memo. Bakish said at the time that Paramount Global needs to “operate as a leaner company and spend less.”
Its Paramount+ streaming service continues to lose money each quarter. The platform lost $238 million in the third quarter. The company reports fourth-quarter earnings Feb. 28.

Blowout Super Bowl

Super Bowl 58 on CBS was the most-watched television show in history, with an estimated 123.4 million people having watched across all platforms.
CBS charged a record high average $6.5 million for every 30-second advertisement for the Super Bowl, according to the research company Guideline.
The network earned tens of millions in additional revenue because the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers went into overtime. More