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Amazon bought three rocket launches from SpaceX for its Project Kuiper internet satellites, the tech giant announced on Friday.
The move is a surprise from Amazon, given the company’s Kuiper system aims to compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink in the satellite broadband market.
SpaceX, the most active rocket operator in the world, has been adamant that it will launch Starlink competitors on its rockets.

A Falcon 9 rocket launches a Starlink mission on January 31, 2023 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Amazon bought three rocket launches from SpaceX for its Project Kuiper internet satellites, the tech giant announced on Friday.
The move is a surprise from Amazon, given the company’s Kuiper system aims to compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink in the satellite broadband market. Both Starlink and Kuiper represent multibillion-dollar efforts to create networks with thousands of satellites in orbit to serve customers ranging from consumers to governments.

Amazon previously made a blockbuster order for launches from three of SpaceX’s top rocket rivals, including Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin — a decision which came under scrutiny in a shareholder lawsuit against Amazon earlier this year that alleged Bezos’ rivalry with fellow billionaire Musk led to snubbing SpaceX.
While Bezos founded both Amazon and Blue Origin, the companies are separate entities.

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SpaceX, the most active rocket operator in the world, has been adamant that it will continue launching Starlink competitors on its rockets. The company previously launched a number of other companies’ broadband satellites to orbit and signed deals for future launches as well.
In Friday’s announcement, Amazon said it signed with SpaceX for three Falcon 9 launches in mid-2025. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The SpaceX deal marks the latest shift in Amazon’s strategy as the company pushes to get Kuiper to space in time to meet federal regulations. Federal Communications Commission rules require that Amazon deploy half of its planned 3,236 satellites in orbit by July 2026.

Amazon has orders for more than 77 launches from Blue Origin, United Launch Alliance, Arianespace and ABL. But delays in the development of those rockets have led Amazon to change launch plans before: The company twice switched the rocket that its first pair of Kuiper prototypes would fly on, in an effort to expedite development, before the mission launched in October.
The Kuiper prototypes completed testing successfully, Amazon announced last month, with the company pushing to begin manufacturing commercial satellites for launches next year.
Amazon expects to invest upwards of $10 billion to build Kuiper. Earlier this year the company broke ground on a $120 million pre-launch processing facility in Florida. More

Southwest and its pilots union are closing in on a labor deal that would end months of contentious negotiations.
The new contract will likely include significant pay raises as well as improvements to retirement benefits and scheduling.
If a preliminary agreement is approved by Southwest pilots union board in the coming weeks, it would then go to the pilots for a ratification vote.

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 aircraft lands at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, May 7, 2023.
Nicolas Economou | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Southwest Airlines and its pilots union are closing in on a new contract that would raise pay for the carrier’s more than 11,000 aviators and end months of contentious negotiations, weeks ahead of the crucial holiday travel season.
The company and the union have agreed on pay, retirement and other items but are working on an implementation schedule, the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association said in a message to its members on Thursday.

Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines have already finalized multibillion-dollar labor agreements with pilots this year as unions pushed for pay hikes, better scheduling and other improvements after the Covid pandemic derailed contract talks.
If a preliminary agreement is approved by the Southwest pilots union board in the coming weeks, it would then go to the pilots for a ratification vote.
The union and the airline declined to provide specifics of the deal.
Southwest and the union “are working hard to close out the few remaining items,” an airline spokesman told CNBC. “Southwest remains committed to reaching an agreement that rewards our Pilots and places them competitively in the industry.”
Southwest reached a preliminary agreement with its flight attendants union earlier this fall that includes 36% pay increases for cabin crew members.

A labor deal between the company and its pilots would end a period of tense negotiations, which recently included laying groundwork for a potential strike, though strikes are extremely rare in the airline industry.
It would also become the latest in a string of big labor deals this year, including agreements between Hollywood studios and actors, and the studios and writers, as well as between automakers and the United Auto Workers union, following strikes. More

Pfizer said it would stop developing the twice-daily version of its experimental weight loss pill after obese patients taking the drug lost weight but had trouble tolerating the drug in a mid-stage clinical study. 
But the pharmaceutical giant said it still plans to release phase two trial data on a once-a-day version of the drug, known as danuglipron, in the first half of 2024.
The new data is a blow to Pfizer and its hopes to win a $10 billion slice of the booming weight loss drug market, which CEO Albert Bourla previously said could eventually grow to $90 billion.

Pfizer on Friday said it would stop developing the twice-daily version of its experimental weight loss pill after obese patients taking the drug lost significant weight but had trouble tolerating the drug in a mid-stage clinical study. 
The drugmaker observed high rates of adverse side effects, which were mostly mild and gastrointestinal, among patients. A significant share of patients also stopped taking the drug.

“At this time, twice-daily danuglipron formulation will not advance into Phase 3 studies,” the company said.
But Pfizer said it still plans to release phase two trial data on a once-a-day version of the drug in the first half of 2024, which will “inform a path forward.” The pharmaceutical giant will wait to see that data before deciding whether to start a phase three study on the once-daily pill, which Wall Street views as the more competitive form of the treatment.
Shares of Pfizer fell 4% in premarket trading Friday after it announced the trial results.
Still, the data on the twice-daily drug is a blow to Pfizer’s hopes to win a $10 billion slice of the booming weight loss drug market, which CEO Albert Bourla has said could grow to $90 billion. The company is betting on a successful weight loss pill to help it rebound from plummeting demand for its Covid products and a roughly 40% share price drop this year. 
But investors have been pessimistic about Pfizer’s potential in the weight loss drug space since the company scrapped a different once-daily pill in June and proceeded with the less attractive danuglipron. Now, Friday’s data puts Pfizer even further behind the dominant players in the weight loss drug market, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, which are racing to develop more convenient pill versions of their blockbuster weight loss and diabetes injections. 

Pfizer’s phase two trial on its twice-daily pill followed around 600 obese adults who did not have Type 2 diabetes. The trial examined the drug’s effect on weight loss after 26 or 32 weeks, at different dosage amounts ranging from 40 milligrams to 200 milligrams.
Like Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic, Pfizer’s pill works by mimicking a hormone produced in the gut called GLP-1, which signals to the brain when a person is full.
Pfizer said the trial on danuglipron met the primary goal of demonstrating “statistically significant” reductions in body weight.
Patients who took the pill twice a day lost 6.9% to 11.7% of their body weight on average at 32 weeks, and from 4.8% to 9.4% at 26 weeks.
Meanwhile, patients on a placebo gained 1.4% of their body weight at 32 weeks and 0.17% at 26 weeks.
When adjusting for the difference between the weight gain observed in patients who took the placebo, Pfizer’s twice-daily pill caused 8% to 13% weight loss on average at 32 weeks and 5% to 9.5% at 26 weeks.
The company said high rates of adverse events were observed among patients in the study, with up to 73% experiencing nausea, up to 47% vomiting and up to 25% experiencing diarrhea. More than 50% of patients across all dose sizes stopped taking the pill, compared to roughly 40% among those on the placebo, according to Pfizer.
No new safety issues were observed, and danuglipron was not associated with increased liver enzymes like Pfizer’s other discontinued weight loss pill.
Data from the phase two trial will be presented at a future scientific conference or published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Wall Street’s expectations

The tolerability issues align with some analysts’ predictions ahead of the data release. 
Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger wrote in a Monday note that the proportion of patients who discontinue treatment with Pfizer’s twice-daily danuglipron in the phase two trial would likely be higher than those who stopped taking a once-daily pill from Eli Lilly.
By comparison, 10% to 21% of patients who took Eli Lilly’s pill, orforglipron, in a mid-stage trial discontinued the treatment at 32 weeks due to adverse side effects, he noted.
Risinger said that’s likely because danuglipron’s total daily dose is far higher, which may cause more adverse effects. Patients on the highest dose size of Pfizer’s pill took 400 milligrams each day, while those on the highest dosage of Eli Lilly’s drug took 45 milligrams a day.
Pfizer’s phase-two trial also didn’t allow downtitration, or decreasing the dose of a drug over time once a specific response has been achieved. Eli Lilly’s mid-stage trial on its pill did. 
There is hope that patients will better tolerate the once-daily version of danuglipron compared to the twice-daily form. Pfizer appears to believe a once-daily version of the drug could lessen gastrointestinal side effects, according to some analysts.
They pointed to Pfizer’s second-quarter earnings call, when the company’s chief scientific officer, Mikael Dolsten, suggested that a once-daily version may improve a patient’s tolerability of the drug, which could lessen the gastrointestinal side effects “that have been seen as limiting” danuglipron.
But the effects will be unclear until the mid-stage trial data is released next year.
Notably, the weight loss caused by twice-daily danuglipron appeared to fall short of analysts’ expectations. 
Ahead of the data release, several analysts said Pfizer’s twice-daily pill has to be about as effective as Eli Lilly’s once-a-day pill to be competitive. That means at least a 14% to 15% weight loss, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Louise Chen told CNBC earlier this month.
Risinger also wrote in October that Pfizer’s danuglipron needs to show weight reduction in the “mid-teens” percentages to be considered competitive with Eli Lilly’s pill. 
Obese or overweight patients who took 45 milligrams of Eli Lilly’s pill once a day lost up to 14.7% of their body weight, or 34 pounds, after 36 weeks, according to the company’s phase-two trial results.
Eli Lilly’s results appear consistent with the weight reduction caused by a high-dose oral version of Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide – the active ingredient used in the diabetes drug Ozempic and weight loss treatment Wegovy – but came over a shorter trial period.
More than 2 in 5 adults have obesity, according to the National Institutes of Health. About 1 in 11 adults have severe obesity.
Clarification: This story was updated to reflect that some weight-loss data was adjusted to include results from the placebo group. More

Ulta Beauty said revenue climbed 6% year over year during the third quarter.
Shares rose as much as 10% in extended trading.
The company also said its chief financial officer would retire in April.

Shoppers arrive at an Ulta Beauty store in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 22, 2023.
Bridget Bennett | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Shares of Ulta Beauty rose in after-hours trading Thursday, as the company said its third-quarter sales rose while shoppers showed once again they’re willing to spend on fragrances, skin care and more even when the budget is tight.
The specialty beauty retailer raised the bottom end of its range for full-year sales and earnings expectations. It said it expects net sales for the fiscal year to be between $11.10 billion and $11.15 billion, and comparable sales to range from 5.0% to 5.5%. It said adjusted earnings per share for the year will range from $25.20 to $25.60.

On an earnings call with investors, CEO Dave Kimbell said the retailer saw healthy traffic at its stores and on its website. He said the company expects a more promotional holiday season in the beauty category this year, but the season is “off to a good start” and stores are stocked with “both value-first and splurge-worthy items.”
“Our insights suggest that consumers are ready to celebrate even as they navigate in an uncertain economic environment,” he said.
Here’s what Ulta reported for the three-month period that ended Oct. 28:

Earnings per share: $5.07
Revenue: $2.49 billion

It was not clear if those numbers were comparable to consensus estimates from LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv.
The company’s shares rose as much as 10% in extended trading.

Ulta also announced a leadership change Thursday. Chief Financial Officer Scott Settersten is retiring in April after nearly two decades at the beauty retailer. The company said he will be replaced by Paula Oyibo, Ulta’s senior vice president of finance.
In the fiscal third quarter, net income rose to $249.5 million, or $5.07 per share, from $274.6 million, or $5.34 per share, in the year-ago period. Revenue increased from $2.34 billion in the year-ago period.
Comparable sales, a metric that tracks Ulta stores open at least 14 months along with online sales, increased 4.5% year over year.
During the quarter, customers made more trips to Ulta’s stores and website, but spent slightly less. Transactions went up by nearly 6% and average ticket declined by 1.4% compared with the year-ago period.
Beauty has been one of the hottest categories for retailers over the past year. Even as consumers pull back on other types of discretionary purchases, they have continued to spend on makeup, face masks, fragrances and more.
That’s inspired retailers, including Macy’s, Target and Kohl’s to lean into the category by adding new brands, products and square footage. Target, for example, has a growing number of Ulta shops in its stores.
In Ulta’s third quarter, nearly every category saw growth. Skin care was Ulta’s fastest-growing segment during the period, posting double-digit growth year over year, Kimbell said on an earnings call with investors Thursday. The fragrance and bath category grew by low double digits.
Sales in the makeup category were flat, as mid-single-digit growth in mass brands of makeup offset a decline in prestige makeup, he said. Sales in the hair segment decreased in the low single-digit range, as customers bought fewer hair tools.
Kimbell noted the resilience of the beauty category in nearly every economic environment. On the earnings call, he referred to data from Euromonitor that showed that the U.S. beauty category has grown in the low- to mid-single-digit range every year for more than a decade, except during the Great Recession and in 2020 during the Covid pandemic.
“While we expect growth will continue to normalize to historic ranges, we remain confident the category will continue to grow, barring a macroeconomic event,” he said.
He said customers are not only coming to Ulta’s stores and website to seek new brands and products but also seeing beauty as part of their wellness routine.
As of Thursday’s close, Ulta shares had fallen about 9% so far this year. That compares with the S&P 500, which is up about 19% year to date.
Shares of the company closed at $425.99 on Thursday, bringing the company’s market value to about $20.97 billion. More

Novo Nordisk sued two compounding pharmacies in Florida for allegedly selling impure and “potentially unsafe” drugs claiming to contain semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic. 
The actions come as Novo Nordisk grapples with shortages of Wegovy and Ozempic in the U.S. due to skyrocketing demand. 
The Danish drugmaker is not seeking monetary damages but is asking the court to prevent the Wells Pharmacy Network and Brooksville Pharmaceuticals from selling its products.

A 0.25 mg injection pen of Novo Nordisk’s weight loss drug Wegovy is shown in this photo in Oslo, Norway, on Aug. 31, 2023.
Victoria Klesty | Reuters

Novo Nordisk on Thursday said it sued two compounding pharmacies in Florida for allegedly selling impure and “potentially unsafe” drugs claiming to contain semaglutide, the active ingredient in the drugmaker’s blockbuster weight loss treatment Wegovy and diabetes medication Ozempic. 
The actions come as Novo Nordisk grapples with shortages of Wegovy and Ozempic in the U.S. as demand skyrockets for the drugs, which are known for their ability to cause significant weight loss. 

That has left patients scrambling to find alternative, but sometimes dangerous and unproven, methods for shedding unwanted pounds.
Novo Nordisk is the sole patent holder of semaglutide and does not sell that ingredient to outside entities, which raises questions about what compounding pharmacies, clinics and other companies sell to patients. Compounding pharmacies prepare custom-made versions of commercially available treatments to meet the specific needs of a patient. 
The Danish drugmaker found that all the products tested from Wells Pharmacy Network and Brooksville Pharmaceuticals were impure, meaning that they contained unknown and unauthorized substances other than semaglutide, according to the two lawsuits filed in federal court in Florida. One product’s level of unknown impurities was 33%.
The unknown impurities in the products “potentially pose safety risks” to consumers, including “possibly serious and life-threatening reactions,” Novo Nordisk said in the suits.
The Danish drugmaker is not seeking monetary damages but is asking the court to bar the pharmacies from selling their products.

Wells Pharmacy Network and Brooksville Pharmaceuticals did not immediately respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.
Novo Nordisk first sued Brooksville Pharmaceuticals over copycat versions of Wegovy and Ozempic in July. A federal judge in Florida dismissed the suit in October and later gave the drugmaker time to refile its complaint against the pharmacy.
Including the newest lawsuits, Novo Nordisk has filed 12 legal actions against compounding pharmacies, medical spas and weight loss clinics allegedly selling dupes of Wegovy and Ozempic. The company said it has received preliminary injunctions in six of those cases.
Rival Eli Lilly has taken similar action against businesses selling knockoffs of its popular diabetes drug Mounjaro, including its own lawsuit against Wells Pharmacy Network. 
Novo Nordisk’s new suit against Wells Pharmacy Network claims that its products contained a substance called BPC-157, which was banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in September. The FDA said it did not have enough data to know whether the substance was harmful to humans but noted it could cause dangerous immune system reactions.
Novo Nordisk added in the lawsuit that products from Brooksville Pharmaceuticals had lower levels of semaglutide than advertised. That puts patients “at risk of taking drug products that are less effective than expected based on their labeling,” according to Novo Nordisk. 
“Compounded products do not have the same safety, quality and effectiveness assurances as FDA-approved drugs, and adulterated and misbranded injectable compounded drugs may expose patients to significant health risks,” Jason Brett, Novo Nordisk’s executive director of medical affairs, said in a statement. 
The FDA in May warned about the safety risks of unauthorized versions of Ozempic and Wegovy after reports emerged of adverse health reactions to compounded versions of the drugs. 
Several states have also threatened to take legal action against compounding pharmacies that make or distribute unapproved variations of Novo Nordisk’s weight loss treatments.Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

Activist investor Nelson Peltz and his firm, Trian, are seeking seats on Disney’s board.
The news follows Disney’s appointment of Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman and former Sky TV boss Jeremy Darroch to its board Wednesday.
Disney suggested the proxy fight stems from Peltz ally and former Marvel boss Ike Perlmutter’s grudge against Disney CEO Bob Iger.
Later Thursday, Disney reinstated its dividend at 30 cents a share.

Nelson Peltz, founder and chief executive officer of Trian Fund Management, during the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute Priority Summit in Miami, Florida, US, on Thursday, March 30, 2023.
Marco Bello | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Activist investor Nelson Peltz and his firm are seeking more than two seats on Disney’s board, according to a person familiar with the matter, setting the stage for a proxy fight.
Trian Fund Management, which Peltz co-founded, said Thursday morning that it “intends to take our case for change directly to shareholders.”

Disney, for its part, suggested the proxy fight stemmed from a personal grudge held by one of Peltz’s allies, former Marvel boss Ike Perlmutter.
Trian said Disney earlier in the day offered to set up a meeting with the entertainment giant’s board, but rejected Trian’s bid to join the board, including the addition of Peltz. Trian did not note in a statement how many seats it plans to seek.
Trian declined to comment beyond its statement.
The news came the morning after Disney added Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman and former Sky TV boss Jeremy Darroch to its board, a move widely seen as a bid to fend off a potential challenge from Peltz. Former Illumina CEO Francis deSouza will not seek reelection to the board.
“While James Gorman and Sir Jeremy Darroch represent an improvement from the status quo, the addition of these directors will not, in our view, restore investor confidence or address the root cause behind the significant value destruction and missteps that this Board has overseen,” Trian said in a statement.

Disney shares are up about 6% this year, far underperforming the S&P 500. The stock was flat Thursday. Later in the day, the company said it would reinstate its dividend at 30 cents a share for shareholders of record as of Dec. 11, payable Jan. 10. Iger had said earlier this year Disney would bring back the dividend, which it suspended in early 2020 during the first days of the pandemic.
Trian said it owns about $3 billion in Disney stock. The firm has oversight of shares owned by former executive Perlmutter, a critic of Disney chief Bob Iger whom the company fired earlier this year.
Disney fired back Thursday, saying Perlmutter has an ax to grind against Iger. Perlmutter has long complained that Disney had spent too much.
“Mr. Peltz, in partnership with Isaac Perlmutter, a former Disney executive, intends to take its case to shareholders. Mr. Perlmutter owns 78% of the shares that Mr. Peltz claims beneficial ownership of, or more than 25 million of the 33 million shares,” Disney said in a statement.
“This dynamic is relevant to assessing Mr. Peltz and any other nominees he may put forth as directors, as Mr. Perlmutter was terminated from his employment by Disney earlier this year and has voiced his longstanding personal agenda against Disney’s CEO, Robert A. Iger, which may be different than that of all other shareholders,” the company added.
Peltz had earlier pushed for a seat on Disney’s board after Trian took an approximately $800 million stake in Disney. After Iger unveiled a broad restructuring of the company in February, enacting layoffs and cost cuts, Peltz backed off a proxy fight.
But Peltz reignited his push in the lead-up to Disney’s quarterly earnings report earlier this month. The activist investor had been waiting to see what happened with the report to decide whether to make a move, CNBC previously reported.
Iger on Tuesday said he was focused on “building again” and intends to focus efforts on theme parks, ESPN’s upcoming streaming service and improving the studio business.
– CNBC’s Alex Sherman contributed to this report.
Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

Biotech stocks rose as AbbVie announced plans to buy cancer drug developer ImmunoGen for $10 billion. 
Shares of ImmunoGen, which develops cancer treatments called antibody-drug conjugates, closed nearly 83% higher.
Other biotech companies developing ADCs jumped on the news of the buyout. 

Test tubes are seen in front of a displayed AbbVie logo in this illustration taken on May 21, 2021.
Dado Ruvic | Reuters

Biotech stocks rose Thursday as AbbVie announced plans to buy cancer drug developer ImmunoGen for $10.1 billion. 
Shares of ImmunoGen closed nearly 83% higher Thursday, while AbbVie’s stock closed almost 3% higher.

ImmunoGen develops cancer drugs called antibody-drug conjugates, or ADCs, which are designed to directly kill cancer cells and spare healthy ones. Shares of other biotech companies developing ADCs, which are among the hottest areas in the pharmaceutical industry, jumped on the news of the buyout. 
That includes Sutro Biopharma’s stock, which closed nearly 13% higher Thursday and shares of Mersana Therapeutics, which closed up more than 3%. Shares of ADC Therapeutics also closed 6% higher Thursday.
The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF, which focuses on small and midsize biotech companies, closed up 2% Thursday. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index closed more than 1% higher.
Under the terms of the deal, AbbVie will pay $31.26 a share in cash for ImmunoGen, a roughly 95% premium to Wednesday’s closing price. AbbVie said it expects to complete the acquisition, which aims to strengthen its oncology pipeline, in the middle of 2024.
Guggenheim analyst Michael Schmidt said the price of the deal reflects the “increasing interest we have seen from large biopharma companies wanting to increase their exposure” in ADCs, which he called an “attractive area.”

For example, Pfizer agreed to acquire Seagen, a pioneer in ADCs, for $43 billion earlier this year. Merck and Daiichi Sankyo also recently agreed to jointly develop and commercialize three potential ADCs in a deal worth up to $22 billion.Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

Disney CEO Bob Iger acknowledged his company has focused too much on movie messaging and not enough on quality storytelling.
Disney named two new board members Wednesday as it prepares for a proxy fight from Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management.
Disney has drawn ire from Republican politicians for being “too woke” in its storytelling.

New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin, left, and Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, speak during the Times’ annual DealBook Summit in New York City, Nov. 29, 2023.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images

Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger said Wednesday he will no longer tolerate his company’s partners and creative team prioritizing messaging over storytelling.
“Creators lost sight of what their No. 1 objective needed to be,” Iger said at the DealBook Summit in New York on Wednesday. “We have to entertain first. It’s not about messages.”

Iger has recently pushed to improve the quality of Disney films in 2024 and beyond. He is cutting back the number of movies Disney makes to focus on making better films. Earlier this week, he told Disney employees at a town hall that creating hit movies is the best way the company can change perception for investors and employees.
Iger said Disney’s prioritization of messaging over storytelling peaked “while [he] was gone” in 2022, alluding to the 11 months he left his job as Disney’s executive chairman. Iger had been in charge of “creative endeavors” in 2020 and 2021, even while Bob Chapek ran the company as CEO.
“We have entertained with values and with having a positive impact on the world in many different ways. ‘Black Panther’ is a great example of that,” Iger said. “I like being able to entertain if you can infuse it with positive messages and have a good impact on the world. Fantastic. But that should not be the objective. When I came back, what I have really tried to do is to return to our roots.”
Disney has dealt with blowback from Republican politicians, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, and critics on social media for including a same-sex kiss in 2022’s “Lightyear” and an openly gay character in 2022’s “Strange World.” 2023’s “Elemental” also includes a nonbinary character.
While Disney has a long history of infusing storytelling with positive morals, Iger acknowledged during Disney’s earnings conference call earlier this month that he believes the company’s storytelling has suffered as the company has increased the number of movies it’s made for both Disney+ and theatrical release. Iger reiterated that he has emphasized to his creative executives and production partners that making engaging stories has to be Disney’s first priority.

“I’ve worked hard since I’ve been back to reminding the creative community who are our partners and our employees that that’s the objective,” Iger said. “And I don’t really want to tolerate the opposite.”
Iger’s comments come as Disney faces pressure to turn around its business and boost its share price. Sustained box-office troubles, including the recent disappointing showings of “The Marvels” and the animated film “Wish,” have weighed on the company’s performance.
Activist investor Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management said in a statement Thursday it will move forward with an effort to nominate new directors to the Disney board, concluding that “investor confidence is low, key strategic questions loom, and even Disney’s CEO is acknowledging that the Company’s challenges are greater than previously believed.” Trian will seek multiple board seats, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Disney named two new board members on Wednesday — former Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman and former Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch — as it gears up for a potential proxy fight. Current Disney board member Francis A. deSouza won’t run for reelection at the annual meeting.
WATCH: Iger speaks at DealBook Summit More