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Activist investor Ancora issued a letter to Disney shareholders urging the company to add Nelson Peltz to its board.
The endorsement comes after Peltz and his firm Trian Fund Management launched a proxy fight last week.
The investor says that change in Disney’s boardroom is “certainly warranted.”

Disney World’s Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Activist investor Ancora on Tuesday urged Disney to put Nelson Peltz on its board, days after Peltz and his firm, Trian, launched a proxy fight with the entertainment giant.
“In an effort to avert an election contest following a year of distractions and disappointing performance, we hope you join us in encouraging the Board to pursue a viable compromise with Trian Fund Management, L.P. and Nelson Peltz,” Ancora wrote in the letter. “Mr. Peltz (or a qualified designee) would make a fantastic addition to Disney’s Board.”

Ancora also suggested that much of Disney’s difficulties in recent years — including streaming losses and and several box office flops — could be pinned on the company board.
“A degree of shareholder-driven change is certainly warranted in Disney’s boardroom following an extended period of absentminded governance, ineffective succession planning, polarizing actions and sustained value destruction,” Ancora said Tuesday. “While it has been argued that challenges largely stem from the tenure of Bob Chapek, the Board was in the driver’s seat before, during and after that time.”
Disney fired back at Trian last week, suggesting that the move was fueled by a personal grudge against Disney CEO Bob Iger held by Peltz ally and former Marvel boss Ike Perlmutter. Trian oversees about $3 billion in Disney stock, but the overwhelming bulk of the shares is owned by Perlmutter, whom Disney laid off earlier this year. Trian is seeking more than two seats on Disney’s board, which is populated by directors seen as loyal to Iger.
Ancora’s announcement Tuesday didn’t disclose the size of its stake in Disney. Ancora owned more than 60,000 shares of Disney as of September, according to FactSet. That would be equivalent to an approximately $6 million stake as of Tuesday.
Disney had a market cap of about $160 billion as of Tuesday, its shares closing down by more than 1%. The stock is up more than 4% this year, underperforming the broader S&P 500.

Disney did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

Every few days a Falcon 9 rocket takes off to ferry satellites into orbit. You might think it would feel commonplace by now. Not for the crowds gathered at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on December 1st. First came the exhilaration. The sight of the rocket blazing through the sky, then dropping its reusable first stage, with Mary Poppins-like grace, onto the launch site provoked gasps of awe, as did the sonic boom that followed. “It never gets old. It’s like being at an AC/DC concert,” a bystander murmured. Then came the realisation of the accomplishment. This spacecraft had a geopolitical payload: it carried South Korea’s first spy satellite, trying to catch up with North Korea days after the hermit state reportedly put its own spyware into orbit. It also had a scientific one: it took Ireland into the space age, by carrying the country’s first satellite, built by students at University College Dublin.It was lost on no one that they had Elon Musk to thank for the spectacle. At the same time, the almost unwavering reliability of the engineering marvels the founder of SpaceX, the firm behind the Falcon, has fathered—SpaceX has launched and recovered its rockets 250 times—stands in stark contrast with the unhinged, error-prone remarks that in recent weeks have made him sound like a petulant space cadet. These included: appearing to endorse an antisemitic tweet on X, his social-media platform (an act he later called “foolish”); a cringeworthy trip to Israel that he said was to promote peace but looked more like an apology tour; a barrage of “Go fuck yourself”s to advertisers such as Disney at a New York Times summit, after they pulled their ads from X; and crass self-mythologising like his comment that he has “done more for the environment than any single human on Earth”.One attendee at the rocket launch sighed that Mr Musk, for all his genius, now reminded him of the messed-up Tony Soprano, from the mobster TV series. But another, a young British physics buff, put his finger on why the entrepreneur still enjoyed a cult following. “He’s clearly a very troubled man. But being strong and turning a troubled past into a successful future is attractive. He’s a mega leader. He has to make people believe he can walk on water.”This points to the quandary at the heart of the Musk phenomenon. Is the braggadocio just the showmanship of a business pioneer? Can a man who has challenged conventions of engineering, energy and economics to revolutionise land and space travel get away with defying rules of human decency because of the importance of his mission? Or has the mission itself gone to his head, creating a saviour complex that could eventually bring him down?The answer is a combination of all three. Mr Musk’s provocative humour, from boyish fart jokes to pranks like smoking pot in public, have helped burnish his reputation as a business maverick. Often he goes too far, riling regulators and raising concerns about the state of his mental health. But his rule-breaking also thrills his fans and, though his main marketing technique has been to sell great products, helps his brands get noticed; until this year, Teslas sold themselves by word of mouth, rather than by advertising. His showmanship has a Willy Wonka quality to it; it is hard to know where the magic ends and the madness begins, but you can hardly tear your eyes away.To be sure, now that Tesla, worth $750bn, is the most valuable carmaker in the world and SpaceX is reportedly valued at $150bn, his motives for continuing to behave obnoxiously are murkier. An anecdote in Walter Isaacson’s recent biography suggests they may be compulsive. Mr Musk’s friends once took his phone and locked it in a hotel safe to stop him tweeting overnight. At 3am he ordered hotel security to unlock the safe. Yet however toxic his tweets are for X, which lives off ads, they do not matter much to customers and investors of Tesla and SpaceX. Though his X antics have caused periodic drops in Tesla’s share price, over the years it is up spectacularly. If SpaceX goes public, investors will dive in, even if some hold their noses while doing so. For all his flare-ups, it is mostly thanks to his vision and drive that the company has such a head start in both rocketry and satellite communications.Most troubling is the messiah complex. From Tesla and SpaceX to artificial intelligence (AI), Mr Musk acts as if he is on a mission to save humanity, by preventing climate catastrophe, providing an exit route via interplanetary travel, stopping machines from out-thinking man, or averting nuclear Armageddon (last year he stymied Ukraine’s efforts to strike back against Russia by refusing to extend its access to his Starlink satellites to Russian-occupied territory, on the grounds that such an attack might lead Vladimir Putin to retaliate with nukes). At times he sounds like a capricious Greek god who believes he holds the future in his hands. “Finally the future will look like the future,” he bragged when launching Tesla’s Cybertruck pickup on November 30th.Saving humanity is in vogue right now. It is a dangerous fetish. Last month a charter to protect the world from the dangers of rogue AI almost destroyed OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT. A year ago Sam Bankman-Fried, now a convicted fraudster, claimed that the disastrous risks he took with his FTX crypto-exchange were in service of humanity. Such missionary zeal is not new in business. It pushed Henry Ford, inventor of the Model T, to raise workers’ living standards. But his saviour complex got the better of him and he ended up spewing antisemitic bile.X postMr Musk’s hubris, too, may end badly. For all the futuristic twaddle about the Cybertruck, drivers struggled to find its door handles. Yet in the grand scheme of things, his technical accomplishments will probably outweigh his all-too-human imperfections. For pioneering electric cars and reusable rockets, he has earned his place in history. Future generations will probably judge him the way today’s judges Ford: a handful will decry his flawed character; most will remember the majesty of his creations. ■ More

Charter shares plunged Tuesday after Chief Financial Officer Jessica Fischer said the company could lose broadband subscribers in the fourth quarter.
Comcast shares also slid following the comments.
The effects of higher interest rates and the Disney-Charter dispute are contributing to the company’s issues, Fischer added.

Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Charter shares closed down by more than 8% Tuesday after its Chief Financial Officer Jessica Fischer said the company could lose broadband subscribers in the fourth quarter.
Charter competitor Comcast’s stock also closed down by more than 3%.

“I can certainly see that it’s likely that we could end up with negative internet net adds inside of Q4,” Fischer said at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference. The company saw subscribers drop in October due in part to the effects of its dispute with Disney and higher interest rates, and November was “similarly soft,” Fischer said.
Charter added more than 60,000 broadband customers in its third quarter this year. Comcast reported it lost 18,000 broadband subscribers in the third quarter.
Charter has invested billions in efforts to expand its broadband coverage to rural and underserved communities. The company spent $1.1 billion on line extensions in the third quarter, driven by rural expansion efforts.
But line expansions add little value when people aren’t buying homes. The housing market has suffered in recent months as buyers and sellers contend with rising interest rates and tight supply. Mortgage demand is also at its lowest point in nearly 30 years.
Even so, Fischer believes Charter will return to subscriber growth, citing a potential rebound in the housing market. Adding “value back into video,” referring to Disney and Charter’s deal to include Disney+ in some Spectrum plans, will also drive competitiveness for Charter, Fischer added.

Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC.Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

SpaceX could attempt a key demonstration for NASA during the third test flight of its towering Starship rocket, according to the federal agency.
A propellant transfer demonstration would require that the rocket reach orbit as one of the demo’s goals.
A successful attempt would push Starship beyond its benchmarks reached thus far.

SpaceX’s next-generation Starship spacecraft atop its powerful Super Heavy rocket is prepared for launch from the company’s Boca Chica launchpad on an uncrewed test flight, near Brownsville, Texas, U.S. November 15, 2023. 
Joe Skipper | Reuters

SpaceX could attempt a key demonstration for NASA during the third test flight of its towering Starship rocket, according to the federal agency.
A NASA official revealed on Monday that the next Starship flight is expected to include “a propellant transfer demonstration,” though an agency spokesperson noted Tuesday the plan is subject to change, as is often the case in the space industry.

SpaceX last month launched its second Starship flight, a test which saw the company make progress in development of the monster rocket yet fall short of completing the full mission. The propellant transfer demonstration would require that the rocket reach orbit as one of the demo’s goals.
A successful attempt would push Starship beyond its benchmarks reached thus far.
“NASA and SpaceX are reviewing options for the demonstration to take place during an integrated flight test of Starship and the Super Heavy rocket. However, no final decisions on timing have been made,” NASA spokesperson Jimi Russell said in a statement to CNBC.
SpaceX did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the plans.

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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said shortly after November’s flight test that hardware for a third Starship launch “should be ready to fly in 3 to 4 weeks.” But that timeline depends on SpaceX’s review of the second flight’s data, preparations on the ground, as well as regulatory sign-off – the Federal Aviation Administration is overseeing a mishap investigation that must be complete before the company launches Starship again.

A key demonstration

The “propellant transfer demonstration” falls under a NASA “Tipping Point” contract that the agency awarded SpaceX in 2020 for $53.2 million. As part of the contract, NASA wants SpaceX to develop and test “Cryogenic Fluid Management” (CFM) technology, which the agency notes is essential for future missions to the moon and Mars.
Lockheed Martin and and United Launch Alliance were awarded with similar contracts, worth varying amounts.
Starship’s engines are powered by a combination of two propellants – liquid oxygen and liquid methane – that are kept at cryogenic temperatures.
Reaching orbit around the Earth requires using much of the propellant that was already loaded on the rocket, meaning SpaceX needs to refill Starship with more cryogenic propellant in order to deliver cargo to other planetary bodies.
That requires launching “Starship tankers” to deliver more propellant to orbit and transfer that propellant to the main Starship rocket. The process is similar to aerial refueling, a practice often used by the military to extend the range of jets.
Under the NASA contract, SpaceX’s first demo will involve transferring 10 metric tons of liquid oxygen between tanks within the Starship rocket. While Starship won’t be rendezvousing with another tanker rocket for this demo, NASA considers the test progress in maturing the tech.
“The goal is to advance cryogenic fluid transfer and fill level gauging technology through technology risk assessment, design and prototype testing, and in-orbit demonstration. The demonstration will decrease key risks for large-scale propellant transfer in the lead-up to future human spaceflight missions,” NASA says.
NASA has a major stake in the success of the Starship program, as SpaceX has a contract worth up to $4.2 billion to deliver astronauts to the moon with the rocket under the agency’s Artemis program. More

Eli Lilly said its recently approved weight loss treatment Zepbound is now available at pharmacies across the U.S.
The drug serves as an alternative to rival obesity drugs such as Wegovy that are still facing supply issues. 
Zepbound is the latest entrant to the budding weight loss drug market, which Wall Street expects to grow to about $100 billion by the end of the decade.

The FDA approves Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, a weight loss drug similar to Ozempic and Wegovy.
Courtesy: Eli Lilly

Eli Lilly on Tuesday said its recently approved weight loss treatment Zepbound is now available at pharmacies across the U.S., serving as an alternative to rival obesity drugs such as Wegovy that are facing supply issues. 
Zepbound is the latest entrant to the budding weight loss drug market, which Wall Street expects to grow to about $100 billion by the end of the decade.

High demand for the treatments has resulted in widespread shortages of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and diabetes drug Ozempic as well as Eli Lilly’s diabetes treatment Mounjaro, pushing companies to ramp up production. Those ongoing supply issues give Zepbound, which contains the same active ingredient as Mounjaro, an opportunity to capture market share.
Eli Lilly also said in a release that its commercial savings card program, which aims to expand access to Zepbound, is now available to patients with a prescription.
Under the program, patients whose health insurance covers Zepbound may pay as low as $25 for a one- or three-month prescription of the weekly injection. Those whose insurance does not cover Zepbound may pay as low as $550 for a one-month prescription — about half the drug’s list price. 
Also on Tuesday, Eli Lilly said Zepbound was added to the preferred formulary, or list of covered drugs, of a major drug benefits company, Cigna.
Zepbound will be added to the commercial formularies of Cigna’s health-care business on Dec. 15, according to Eli Lilly. 

“The availability of Zepbound in U.S. pharmacies is the first step, but we have to work hand-in-hand with employers, government and healthcare industry partners to remove barriers and make Zepbound available to those who need it,” said Rhonda Pacheco, Eli Lilly’s group vice president for diabetes and obesity, in a statement.
Zepbound is an injection administered once weekly. The dosage must be increased over a period of four to 20 weeks to achieve the target dose sizes of 5, 10 or 15 milligrams per week.
The drug works by activating two naturally produced hormones in the body: glucagon-like peptide 1, known as GLP-1, and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide, or GIP.
The combination is said to slow the emptying of the stomach, making people feel full for longer and suppressing appetite by slowing hunger signals in the brain.Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

Stellantis is resurrecting the all-electric Fiat 500e for the U.S. market.
The small city car is expected to first go on sale as a special edition “(500e)RED” model early next year, starting at $34,095.
The 500e will be the first all-electric vehicle offered in the U.S. by Stellantis since the company formed in 2021.

The 2024 Fiat 500e.
Stellantis

DETROIT — Stellantis is resurrecting the all-electric Fiat 500e for the U.S. market, as the automaker begins to release electric vehicles domestically to meet tightening fuel economy regulations.
The small city car is expected to first go on sale as a special edition “(500e)RED” model early next year, starting at $34,095, Stellantis said Tuesday. It’s not immediately clear whether the vehicle will qualify for any federal EV subsidies or tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act outside of leasing.

The 500e will be the first all-electric vehicle offered in the U.S. by Stellantis since the company formed in 2021. The automaker, born out of a merger between Fiat Chrysler and the French PSA Group, currently offers a handful of plug-in hybrid EVs, with several additional all-electric models planned in the coming years.
At just over 3,000 pounds, Stellantis says the 500e is expected to be the lightest all-electric vehicle in the segment. However, it’s also expected to offer lower range and power compared to many other EVs on sale today.
The vehicle, which will be imported from Italy, features 162 foot pounds of torque, an estimated 149 miles of range and 0 mph to 60 mph time of 8.5 seconds. That performance is better than some EVs but still far lower than the the less-expensive Chevrolet Bolt with 259 miles of range on a single charge and 266 foot pounds of torque, for example.
The electric Fiat 500e as well as gas-powered models of the car were previously built at a factory in Mexico by Fiat Chrysler. Before the vehicle was discontinued in 2019, Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne infamously told customers not to buy the 500e because “every time I sell one, it costs me $14,000.”
The RED model is a collaboration between Stellantis, the company (RED) — a charity cofounded in 2006 by U2 frontman Bono to fight AIDS — and the ONE Campaign, a nonprofit focused on eradicating poverty and preventable diseases.

A Fiat spokesman said additional 500e models will be available at Fiat dealerships in the future.

2024 Fiat 500e
Stellantis

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Lawmakers are ramping up their scrutiny of Chinese-founded fast fashion company Shein after it confidentially filed to go public.
Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer called on the SEC to prevent Shein from going public, and if it doesn’t, he suggested legislation that would bar it from trading.
Lawmakers are concerned that Shein is using forced labor in its supply chain and exploiting U.S. trade laws.

A Shein Group Ltd. pop-up store inside a Forever-21 store in the Times Square neighborhood of New York, US, on Friday, Nov. 10, 2023. 
Yuki Iwamura | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Lawmakers are ramping up their scrutiny of Shein after it confidentially filed to go public last week.
One congressman who sits on a key committee is even threatening to pursue legislation to bar the retailer from trading if the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission doesn’t reject its application.

Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., issued a video address Tuesday saying Shein “warrants extreme caution from regulators, customers and investors” as the fast-fashion powerhouse sets the stage to start trading on U.S. exchanges as soon as next year. 
In an interview with CNBC, he contended the SEC needs to “do their job” and prevent Shein from trading on U.S. exchanges because of allegations the retailer uses forced labor and exploits U.S. trade laws. 
“Urge the SEC to apply maximum scrutiny to Shein’s business and management before letting it anywhere near our capital markets,” Luetkemeyer said in the video, viewed by CNBC. 
“Accessing U.S. markets and capital is a privilege and we rely on the SEC to root out undeserving companies,” he added. “I sincerely hope the officials at the commission will review Shein to ensure American capital does not fund crimes against humanity.”

Luetkemeyer suggested to CNBC that Congress could take a number of other actions to crack down on Shein if the SEC allows its public offering to move forward. They include legislation that would block Shein from trading in the U.S. or bar its shipments from coming into the country. 

“Everything’s on the table, let’s put it that way, and I think we’ll see what action Shein wants to engage in,” said Luetkemeyer. 
Luetkemeyer sits on the newly formed and GOP-controlled House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. A legislative aide told CNBC the committee’s chairman, Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., “share’s Rep. Luetkemeyer’s concerns about companies gaining the benefits of America’s capital markets despite clear and present concerns about human rights abuses and national security risks.” Gallagher is also interested in pursuing reforms to the trade loophole known as the de minimis provision and expanding enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, the aide said.
The committee is investigating Shein over its use of forced labor and de minimis — probes that are ongoing, Luetkemeyer said.
Under the de minimis provision, packages valued under $800 are not charged import duties and aren’t subject to the same oversight from U.S. customs, which is tasked with screening packages to ensure items from banned regions don’t come into the country.
Shein often ships its products directly to American consumers through its network of Chinese suppliers, which allows it to typically avoid that oversight. The company has said it supports de minimis reform but has not detailed what those changes should look like.
“We want to make sure that we get to the bottom of this and expose what’s going on, and document it in a way that the SEC can’t ignore,” said Luetkemeyer. 
The SEC told CNBC it doesn’t comment on individual entities. 
The Republican’s push to bar Shein from trading in the U.S. comes as lawmakers from both parties ramp up their criticism of the Chinese-founded retailer. Rep. Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., also called for more scrutiny of Shein. She said in a statement last week that lawmakers “must take action to hold Shein accountable” because products made from forced labor “have no place in the American marketplace.”
While the IPO filing has sparked more scrutiny of Shein, it is unclear whether the full Republican-controlled House, or the Democratic-held Senate, would have enough support to pass a bill restricting the company’s ability to trade or do business in the U.S. Luetkemeyer said the concerns around Shein are “not partisan” issues, and he expects legislative action against the company would have wide support.
Last week, people familiar with the matter said Shein has confidentially filed to go public in the U.S. and could be ready to start trading next year. 
The company, last valued at $66 billion, has enjoyed a meteoric rise in recent years, but it’s facing increasing scrutiny from lawmakers who suspect the company is able to offer its low prices because it uses forced labor and exploits de minimis. It has spent the better part of a year on a charm offensive in an effort to reverse those narratives and win over regulators and Wall Street.
Shein has said in the past that its inventory-light business model and its ability to spot burgeoning trends drive its low prices. But it has acknowledged that some of its raw materials have come from banned regions known for forced labor.  
“SHEIN has a zero-tolerance policy for forced labor. We take visibility across our entire supply chain seriously, and we are committed to respecting human rights. To comply with U.S. law, we require our contract manufacturers to only source cotton from approved regions. As of November 2023, only 1.7% of our cotton tested positive for unapproved cotton,” a Shein spokesperson told CNBC.
“According to global supply chain tracing firm Oritain, these amounts are much lower than the industry average of 14%,” the spokesperson added. “In infrequent cases when cotton from unapproved regions is detected, we take immediate action such as suspending production, halting shipments to the United States and removing U.S. product listings.” 
When asked if those shipments are also halted and removed from product listings in other parts of the world, a Shein spokesperson said “our policy is to comply with the customs and import laws of the countries in which we operate.”
The U.S. has banned the import of cotton and other products made in Xinjiang, China, since 2021 because of evidence of genocide, torture and forced labor against the Uyghur ethnic group in the region. Other countries have not yet implemented the same kind of regulations. 
— CNBC’s Chelsey Cox contributed to this report. More

McDonald’s is holding an investor meeting on Wednesday.
The fast-food giant is expected to discuss its recent corporate restructuring, accelerated expansion plans and digital strategy.
Shares of McDonald’s have risen just 8% this year, trailing the S&P 500’s 19% gains.

French fries arranged at a McDonald’s Corp. fast food restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky, U.S., on Friday, Oct. 22, 2021.
Luke Sharrett | Bloomberg | Getty Images

McDonald’s is expected to share new details about its accelerated expansion plans, a new spinoff brand called CosMc’s and digital strategy at its investor day on Wednesday.
At its last investor presentation three years ago, McDonald’s rolled out a strategy that planned to grow sales by improving and marketing its core menu items, launching a loyalty program, and leaning into chicken and coffee. The company also projected mid-single-digit sales growth in 2021 and 2022.

Wall Street analysts aren’t expecting any major shifts in strategy, but they are predicting that McDonald’s will release another near-term forecast for sales growth and new unit development during Wednesday’s presentation.
However, the company’s predictions may be conservative, given business leaders’ and experts’ worries about the economy. Although inflation has cooled, consumers are still watching their wallets. Fast-food chains like McDonald’s typically outperform the broader restaurant industry during economic downturns.
McDonald’s stock has risen about 8% this year, trailing the S&P 500’s 19% gains. Shares of the company, which has a market value of about $207 billion, have struggled as investors worry about sales potentially weakening because of the economy and weight loss drugs.
Here’s what McDonald’s will likely address during its investor day:

Corporate restructuring

Earlier this year, the company announced it would be refocusing its priorities and accelerating restaurant expansion. Tied to that announcement, McDonald’s reorganized its corporate structure and laid off hundreds of workers.

CEO Chris Kempczinski said the restructuring was needed to streamline the organization and avoid silos. But since then, the company has shared relatively little information about how the restructuring will affect its decision-making and broader business.

Plans for its U.S. footprint

An illuminated lofo of McDonald’s corporation in front of an American flag in the storefront at Broadway avenue in New York City, USA. McDonalds is a multinational fast food chain with thousands or restaurants over the world with headquarters in Chicago Illinois. It is the world’s largest fast food restaurant chain famous for the burgers and fries. Manhattan, New York, USA on May 10, 2023 (Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Before the Covid pandemic, McDonald’s priorities for its U.S. stores dealt with remodels and store upgrades, like self-order kiosks. Then came lockdowns and a massive shift in how diners bought and ate their food. While some customers have returned to McDonald’s dining rooms, many others have maintained their new habits, like ordering on the McDonald’s app.  
The chain has already announced some small tweaks coming to U.S. restaurants. For example, it’s phasing out self-serve soda stations, which allowed customers to refill their soft drinks.
But McDonald’s also seems to have bigger plans in mind. The chain has already said it wants to accelerate its restaurant development in the U.S. to meet today’s higher demand for its Big Macs and McNuggets.
While the U.S. may seem saturated with McDonald’s locations, executives have said that its current footprint doesn’t reflect where consumers currently live, including the shift to the South and Southeast.
“Our footprint reflects what the population looked like probably 20 or 30 years ago,” Kempczinski said on the company’s conference call in July.
The chain is now also ready to experiment with fresh restaurant formats and features for those new locations. It opened a location in Texas that’s mostly automated. Executives have teased the launch of CosMc’s, a spinoff brand of small-format locations inspired by an old McDonaldland character. Some McDonald’s locations have also tested using artificial intelligence to take drive-thru orders.

Expansion abroad

McDonald’s plans to accelerate growth also include building more locations in its international operated markets, a segment that includes Canada, Germany, Australia and France. Kempczinski said in July that the growth in those markets has been “pretty anemic” compared with the opportunity available.  
McDonald’s also recently bought back a minority stake in its China business for a reported $1.8 billion. China is now the company’s second-largest market by number of locations, but investors will be looking for more on why McDonald’s did the deal and management’s long-term hopes for the market.

Technology

McDonald’s operates roughly 5% of its U.S. restaurants, giving the company little insight about who its customers are and what they want. But its growing digital business, from self-order kiosks to its mobile app, has given the company more access to its franchisees’ customer bases.
Take its loyalty program, for example. McDonald’s hadn’t launched its loyalty program nationwide at the time of its last investor day. Since then, the chain has shared some comments on the program, including that it drives a 15% increase in visits from members. But investors are eager to hear more about what McDonald’s has learned about its customers, how it plans to implement those takeaways and what other digital innovations could unlock.
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