Business

Children in Ghana are harvesting cocoa used in Mars’ M&M’s and Snickers, according to a CBS News report.
Mars said in a statement to CNBC that it condemns the use of child labor and is “fully committed” to ending the practice in its supply chain.
The world’s largest chocolate makers have been pledging to eliminate child labor for more than two decades, but the practice still persists.

Detail of a recently opened cocoa pod in Asikasu on Dec. 19, 2020.
Cristina Aldehuela | Afp | Getty Images

Candy giant Mars said it aims to end the use of child labor in its supply chain after CBS News reported that children in Ghana are harvesting the cocoa that finds its way into the company’s M&M’s and Snickers.
For more than two decades, the world’s largest chocolate makers have been pledging to eliminate — or at least reduce their reliance on — child labor. But those same companies have blown past industry-imposed deadlines to clean up their supply chains.

For its part, Mars’ latest deadline to end child labor in its supply chain is 2025. The company said more than 65% of its West African cocoa supply chain has already achieved compliance.
However, CBS News reported that Mars is further away from reaching that goal than it publicly projects. The news outlet said field supervisors from small subsistence farms regularly lied on their paperwork, saying children were attending school rather than working in cocoa fields, and alleged the companies never tried to verify that information.
“Mars unequivocally condemns the use of child labor. It has no place in our supply chain, and we are fully committed to helping to eradicate it,” the candy maker said in a statement to CNBC.
The company also said it is “urgently investigating” the claims made by CBS and is prepared to take “appropriate action” against any supplier not in compliance with its code of conduct.
The report compounds the issues Mars faces related to child labor. A lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of the District of Washington on Wednesday targets Mars, agricultural giant Cargill and Toblerone maker Mondelez, accusing the companies and their leaders of negligent supervision and consumer fraud tied to child labor in their supply chains.

The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a similar lawsuit in 2021 that aimed to hold Nestle USA and Cargill responsible for child slavery on African farms that supplied their cocoa.
Read the full statement from Mars below:

Mars unequivocally condemns the use of child labor. It has no place in our supply chain, and we are fully committed to helping to eradicate it.
Despite our repeated requests, CBS did not provide specific details of their investigation to Mars ahead of their broadcast, which meant that we were unable to look into the allegations raised in their program. We are now urgently investigating the claims made in the broadcast and are ready to take appropriate action against any supplier found not to have met our expectations laid out in our Supplier Code of Conduct.
Our cocoa suppliers in Ghana have agreed to adhere to our robust Supplier Code of Conduct and we have also been clear that they must have a Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS) in place by 2025 that complies with the industry leading International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) standard. Over 65% of our cocoa supply in West Africa is already covered by CLMRS which is implemented by our suppliers on the ground, with audits conducted by certification bodies as part of Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade certification requirements. We have a robust Protecting Children Action Plan in place that is backed by a significant financial investment totaling hundreds of millions of dollars over the coming years. We are also transparent in saying that we know that more needs to be done and we continue to work diligently with parties across the cocoa sector to further help advance respect for human rights in the cocoa supply chain.

Read the full CBS News report here.Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

Cities of Success

“Cities of Success” special featuring Nashville will air on CNBC on December 6 at 10pm ET

The vinyl record business has undergone a remarkable multibillion-dollar resurgence in the past decade.
The revival was fueled by artists such as Taylor Swift and retailers including Target and Walmart, along with consumers rekindling their love for the nostalgic format during the Covid pandemic.
United Record Pressing has become a major player in the vinyl market, producing approximately 40,000 records daily at its Nashville, Tennessee, facility.

A stack of freshly pressed gold vinyl records at United Record Pressing.

This story is part of CNBC’s new quarterly Cities of Success series, which explores cities that have been transformed into business hubs with an entrepreneurial spirit that has attracted capital, companies and workers.
Once considered a dying industry, the vinyl record business has undergone a remarkable multibillion-dollar resurgence in the past decade. It has been fueled by popular artists such as Taylor Swift and major retailers including Target and Walmart, along with a growing wave of consumers rekindling their love for the nostalgic format during the Covid pandemic.

“Never in a million years did I think it would, as a market and as an industry, become what it’s become today,” Mark Michaels, CEO and chairman of United Record Pressing, the largest vinyl recording pressing plant in North America, told CNBC’s Andrea Day in the upcoming primetime special “Cities of Success,” which airs Dec. 6 at 10 p.m. ET.

United Record Pressing CEO Mark Michaels inspecting a vinyl record.

The global vinyl record market was valued at $1.98 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach $4.12 billion by 2030, according to Verified Market Research. More than 41 million vinyl albums were sold in the U.S. last year — the highest number since 1988, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.
United Record Pressing has become a major player in the vinyl market, producing approximately 40,000 records daily at its Nashville, Tennessee, facility. Founded in 1949 as Southern Plastics, the company has a rich history of producing vinyl records for iconic artists, including The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Adele and Jack White.
But the company was facing an uncertain future 16 years ago when Michaels acquired it.

Second wind

The vinyl record industry had been in decline for several decades due to the emergence of more convenient physical formats such as cassette tapes and CDs, a decrease in the quality of vinyl records due to lower-quality materials and processes, and the rise of digital music, such as MP3s and online streaming.

Vinyl record sales plummeted in the 1980s and 1990s. And by the early 2000s, the industry was on the verge of extinction: In 2006, only 1 million vinyl records were sold in the U.S., according to RIAA.
“I questioned what I did all the time,” Michaels recounted after acquiring the company. “I had many sleepless nights. [Even] my family questioned what I had done.”
But in the years that followed, Michaels said, he noticed a promising trend: Indie artists displayed a growing interest in vinyl.
Hoping to position United Record Pressing as the go-to pressing plant for those artists and music producers who valued the tangible vinyl experience, Michaels purchased old record presses from closed plants to accommodate potential growth.
“Prior to 2016, you had to be able to find and restore an old record press, and that was a real tough, tough search,” Michaels said.
The demand for vinyl from both indie and mainstream artists soon led to reissues and colored variants, marking a turning point, according to Michaels. That growth gained further momentum with the entry of major retailers such as Target and Walmart into the vinyl market in the early 2010s.

Mainstream lift

When Target and Walmart, two of the largest retailers in North America, decided to stock vinyl the entire supply chain was significantly affected, according to Michaels.
Vinyl began reaching a wider market segment: consumers who may not have traditionally shopped in independent record stores but were keen on acquiring mainstream vinyl titles.
“We recognized that with all the old presses that we had acquired, and we built the company around, that was inadequate to be able to service the needs of where the market was going,” Michaels said. “Conveniently, in sort of 2016, a couple of companies started manufacturing new record presses.”

Read more about Nashville and CNBC’s Cities of Success

Soon after, United Record Pressing implemented a growth strategy, relocating to a larger facility in 2017. The company established a creative marketing team that engaged with artists and labels, conceptualizing unique vinyl ideas such as liquid-filled, split-colored and scented records.
The company also included a digital download coupon with each record and initiated a record label, recording artists on tape and pressing directly to vinyl.
Michaels said the company also orchestrated a grassroots public relations campaign to highlight its 60-year history as the premier vinyl pressing plant in North America.

United Record Pressing’s expansion space.

The new space, spanning 155,000 square feet in Nashville, not only met present requirements but also positioned the company for future growth — which would come just a few years later when the Covid pandemic provided an additional boost to the industry as people reengaged with the nostalgic format.
Today, the medium reigns as the most popular physical music format in the U.S., representing 72% of all physical music sales, ahead of CDs and cassettes, according to mid-2023 data — the most recent information available from the RIAA.
According to Billboard, the average price of a vinyl record increased from $26.12 in 2021 to $29.65 in 2022, reflecting heightened production costs and the impact of inflation.
In addition, the landscape of vinyl retailers has evolved over time. Indie record stores led the market in 2015 with 45.4% of sales, Billboard reported, followed by internet or mail-order sellers such as Amazon at 32.9%, and chain stores such as Best Buy at 15%.
By 2018, Amazon had eaten into indie stores’ dominance, with both categories representing 41% of market share, while Best Buy’s share had decreased to just over 10%. And by 2019, major retailers such as Walmart and Target were registering on the scene.
Where big-box retailers made up only 1% of vinyl record market share in 2015, they accounted for 14.6% of sales in 2021, according to Billboard.

Artist-driven

Michaels told CNBC he is confident that the market’s continued growth will be artist-driven. That plus a general shift in interest, as younger listeners discover vinyl, suggest the medium is here to stay, he said.
Artists such as Taylor Swift offer collectible versions of their albums, called “variants,” which are multicolored vinyl records.

Recording artist Taylor Swift’s entire music catalog, including her album “Red,” has been pressed at United Record Pressing.

“When Taylor releases a new record, there may be eight, nine, 10, different variants of that same record — different colors, different combinations, maybe there’s some unique tracks that weren’t included on the digital release, or the CD, but you get it on the vinyl,” Michaels explained. “There’s a lot of fans that say, ‘There are eight different variants. I want one of each, please.’ They’re very supportive.”
The CEO attributes a portion of his company’s success to the city of Nashville, too, praising its deep-rooted connection to music and the creative industry, which has provided a dedicated and skilled workforce.
“You have the whole musical ecosystem here,” he said. “You have artists, producers, studios — it all works together in a highly symbiotic way. It’s the perfect place, and we’re very fortunate to be here.”
TUNE IN: The “Cities of Success” special featuring Nashville will air on CNBC on Dec. 6 at 10 p.m. ET/PT. More

Cities of Success

“Cities of Success” special featuring Nashville will air on CNBC on December 6 at 10pm ET

The Nashville building boom is in full effect.
Housing has become less and less affordable in the area.
While the music industry has always called Nashville home, other sectors are moving in and buying up commercial space.

Detached houses on a large housing development on the western side of Nashville, Tennessee.
Georgeclerk | Istock | Getty Images

This story is part of CNBC’s new quarterly Cities of Success series, which explores cities that have been transformed into business hubs with an entrepreneurial spirit that has attracted capital, companies and workers.
Nashville natives say they barely recognize the city’s skyline anymore, and they probably won’t anytime soon, as cranes still litter the picture.

The Nashville building boom is in full effect despite higher interest rates, higher home prices and a weaker national economy.
It began well before the pandemic-induced mass migration from big cities to smaller, more affordable ones. During the Great Recession after the 2008 financial crisis, workers were looking for an urban vibe but with cheaper housing. At the time, that was Nashville.
“We’ve had a big, big change coming out of 2008, 2009. We had this huge boom that kind of went through in Nashville that kind of phased in and maintained a steady momentum up to really the last three years,” said John Eldridge, CEO of E3 Construction Services, a homebuilding company that operates in the area.
Eldridge began building in Nashville in 2008, just as most national builders had gone underground, smarting from one of the worst housing crashes in history. In just a few years, the Nashville market suddenly took off due to an influx of buyers from the coasts looking for cheaper housing.
Single-family home construction permits jumped nearly 25% in 2015 from the year before, three times the growth rate nationally, according to John Burns Research and Consulting. Eldridge told CNBC he’s still just trying to keep up.

“We don’t currently have any houses that are built, completed, that are for sale, that haven’t been sold,” Eldridge said.

High-rises and high prices

Housing demand in Nashville pulled back some during the first years of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the city ranked in the top 10 for homebuyers looking to relocate to a new metro area in October, with people most commonly moving in from Los Angeles, according to a recent report from Redfin, a national real estate brokerage.
“It’s not just economics. It’s our climate here, it’s our four distinct seasons, it’s our culture here, it’s our location. I mean, we’re within 500 miles of about two-thirds of the population of the United States,” said Eldridge.

Read more about Nashville and CNBC’s Cities of Success

But growth has come with growing pains. After the gold rush, housing has become less and less affordable.
Special education teacher Madison Cartularo, a native New Yorker, moved to Nashville after graduating from college a few years ago.
“Even in the last two years, since I’ve moved here, rent is going up,” she said.
Cartularo was enticed by the strong public school system and the small city feel.
“I knew that after graduating that I wanted something bigger and something more livelier, especially being in my early 20s. I knew that I would want something with a lot of other younger people and a livelier nightlife scene, and I knew that Nashville would offer that to me,” she said.
On a teacher’s budget, she was also looking for something more affordable. That didn’t exactly happen.
After first living with a roommate, Cartularo then moved to a downtown studio apartment and is paying about $1,600 a month in rent.
“I think it’s a lot. I think it’s ridiculous. No one should have to pay that much money. That’s like half of my paycheck,” Cartularo said, adding she wouldn’t be able to afford to live in Nashville without a second job.
If renting is ridiculous, so too is homebuying.
While home prices nationally are up 47% from the start of the pandemic, Nashville prices are up 55%, according to ICE Mortgage Technology. It now takes 44% of the median household income in Nashville to afford the median-priced home, well above the long-time Nashville average of just 23%.
Of the nation’s top 50 housing markets, Nashville ranks 41st for affordability, according to ICE.
“What we’re seeing housing prices and rents go to is very foreign to what they would call affordable,” said Eldridge. “And we also are seeing a cost change, the difference in what it costs us to develop and build things as Nashville has grown, anything from just our land acquisitions, to the actual sticks and bricks, hasn’t done anything except for be a straight line up for the last decade.”

Business is booming

Higher interest rates have made homebuilding harder, and the pace has slowed because of it, but commercial construction downtown is still prolific.
“I think the reason Nashville has done so well recently and why it will continue to do well is it’s a place that employers and employees want to be,” said Janelle Gallagher, first vice president for CBRE in Nashville.
Gallagher has been working in Nashville’s commercial real estate sector since moving to the city over a decade ago. In just the past four years, she has watched the office supply jump 15% despite a slow return to offices nationwide.
“People are coming to the office here. We’re seeing a lot of corporations make big announcements that ‘Our staff needs to come back to office,'” she said.
It’s not just back to office, it’s the influx of new tenant types.
“We’ve got music and entertainment, and that’s certainly part of our history and kind of our culture, but we’re seeing a lot of professional services: law firms, banks, tech, automotive, health care,” Gallagher added.
That has developers putting in more apartment towers downtown as well as retail stores and restaurants to serve them all.
Nashville’s economy may be booming but some say the growth came too quickly, and the city is now paying a price.
“I think for most of us that have been longtime Nashvillians, the congestion and traffic count is infinitely more than it’s ever been,” said Eldridge.
Developers like Eldridge are adding water and sewer lines, but the city is lagging on transportation. Last April, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee signed the Transportation Modernization Act, a $3.3 billion investment to accommodate the state’s record growth.
TUNE IN: The “Cities of Success” special featuring Nashville will air on CNBC on Dec. 6 at 10 p.m. ET.

Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

A relative newcomer to Hollywood, Angel Studios is breaking the mold.
Turning to a Kickstarter-style method of generating funds, the studio gives its investors an opportunity to purchase shares in the company and its titles.
Its latest film, “The Shift,” was funded by 6,000 investors and arrives in theaters Friday.
Angel Studios famously released the sleeper box office hit “Sound of Freedom” and the popular biblical drama series “The Chosen.”

Neal McDonough stars as a mysterious man known as “the benefactor” in Angel Studio’s “The Shift.”
Angel Studios

“Sound of Freedom” broke the Hollywood mold this summer. Now, the studio behind the surprising smash is looking to follow-up that success with a science fiction thriller based on the Bible’s Book of Job.
Angel Studios is set to release “The Shift” this Friday. The film was crowdfunded by 6,000 investors through the company’s “Angel Guild,” which contributes money to film and television projects its members want to see made or widely distributed.

“It’s a blessing. It really is,” said Brock Heasley, who wrote and directed “The Shift.” “To know that there were 6,000 people out there praying for us, 6,000 people out there who would put, in some cases, what little money they had into this film, because they believed in it that much.”
It took five years and four crowdfunding campaigns to raise $3 million to produce the film. Additional funding was collected from private investors, bringing “The Shift’s” budget to $6.4 million, a small sum by Hollywood standards.
A relative newcomer to Hollywood, Angel Studios uses a Kickstarter-style method of generating funds. It also allows its investors to select which projects they want to fund and gives them the opportunity to purchase shares in the company and its titles. It rose to prominence in 2019, when, under the name VidAngel, it crowdfunded and released hit biblical series “The Chosen.”
“Where else in the world can you have 6,000 people put money into a film that amplifies light?” said Neal McDonough, the prolific character actor (“Captain America: The First Avenger,” “Justified,” “Yellowstone”) who plays the main antagonist in “The Shift.” “Only through Angel Studios. It is just remarkable that that is allowed to happen.”
This community-funding approach has enabled Angel to ensure it is making projects that audiences want to see, guaranteeing viewership on its in-house streaming platform and ticket sales for cinematic releases.

The July release of “Sound of Freedom” raised the studio’s profile even further. The Jim Caviezel-led thriller shook up norms in an industry still trying to find its footing after Covid lockdowns. It snared more than $180 million at the domestic box office during its run, outpacing big studio films such as Warner Bros.’ “The Flash,” on a budget of just $14.5 million. It made nearly $250 million worldwide.
“Movie theaters are always looking for ways to draw additional moviegoers to their big screens and having Angel Studios in the mix is good for the bottom line,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “Innovation and outside the box thinking has put Angel Studios on the map. And with ‘Sound of Freedom’ the company found massive mainstream success while shaking up the status quo, competing head-to-head with the major studios in the hardscrabble summer movie marketplace and came out a winner.”
“Sound of Freedom” isn’t the only Angel Studios title to exponentially overperform its budget. “His Only Son,” a biblical drama released in early 2023, cost $250,000 to make and generated $12.4 million at the box office. A crowdfunding campaign in partnership with Angel Studios raised more than $1.2 million for prints and advertising costs. The small budget, big returns formula is reminiscent of what Blumhouse is doing for the horror genre.

The Devil’s in the details

Kristoffer Polaha and Neal McDonough star in Angel Studios’ “The Shift.”
Angel Studios

“The Shift,” which is loosely based on the “Book of Job,” centers on Kevin (Kristoffer Polaha), a man who recently lost his job and is having marital troubles after the disappearance of his young son. He crosses paths with a mysterious man known only as “the benefactor” (McDonough), who tempts Kevin with wealth and power.
The benefactor, aka the Devil himself, has the ability to “shift” people from one reality to another and promises to reunite Kevin with another version of his wife, if he agrees to work for him. Kevin grapples with whether or not to accept this enticing, yet immoral offer.
“Years ago, faith-based films were all just kind of just one-dimensional,” McDonough said. “[Brock has] created a film that has sci-fi, action, a love story, and talks about how you can be a better human being for God. And whether you’re religious or not, it’s how you can just be a better human being, period. And there aren’t enough films out there in the landscape these days to actually talk about those things.”
“The Shift” is currently seeing “healthy” ticket sales comparable to Angel Studios’ October release “After Death,” which generated $5 million during its opening weekend on its way to a $23.4 million domestic run.
“I do think that there is an audience out there who is looking for something different,” Heasley said. “It’s something that expresses their faith and their values, but that is doing it in a different way. And I think there’s room for it.”

Step into the light

Jim Caviezel stars in Angel Studio’s “Sound of Freedom.”
Angel Studios

Although Angel Studios does not bill itself as a faith-based studio — it says that its content is meant to “amplify light” — much of its content has centered on biblical storytelling. “The Chosen,” a Christian historical drama television series available on Angel’s in-house streaming service as well as on Netflix and NBCUniversal’s Peacock, has become popular and profitable for Angel and has even made the leap to the big screen through Fathom Events.
“The Chosen” has had nearly one billion views and generated more than $100 million, according to the company. Season four is set for release in February.
Soon after, “Cabrini,” a film about the Roman Catholic missionary and future Saint Francesca Cabrini, will hit theaters in March. Then there’s “Bonhoeffer,” which tells the true story of German theologian and pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who stood up to the Nazis during the Third Reich, later in 2024.
Angel has utilized its audience to reach more moviegoers. The studio has a model it calls “pay it forward,” which allows people buy tickets that can be claimed online for future screenings by those who may not be able to afford them. “Sound of Freedom” saw a significant number of tickets bought through this method. The tickets don’t count towards the film’s box office total until they are claimed.
“Angel Studios has pinpointed a greatly underserved market predominately in faith-based communities, curating and marketing content with them specifically in mind,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com. “It’s always been a bit of a blind spot for the industry, but Angel has honed in on it.”
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of Peacock and CNBC. More

Cities of Success

“Cities of Success” special featuring Nashville will air on CNBC on December 6 at 10pm ET

This story is part of CNBC’s new quarterly Cities of Success series, which explores cities that have transformed into business hubs with an entrepreneurial spirit that has attracted capital, companies and employees.
Twin Rivers Farm could break records as Tennessee’s priciest home if it fetches its $65 million asking price. 

The property is located just 30 miles southwest of Nashville in the suburb of Leipers Fork, known for attracting high-net-worth individuals and celebrities such as Justin Timberlake and Nicole Kidman.
“It’s one of the most significant real estate holdings in the Southeast,” listing agent Dan McEwen with the McEwen Group told CNBC for the upcoming “Cities of Success” primetime special, airing Dec. 6 at 10 p.m. ET.
According to McEwen, the estate’s sheer size, unfolding over 383 acres, and its unique amenities such as a man-made private fishing lake, help it command the eight-figure asking price.

Apart from the 10,626 square foot main residence, the estate features a barn, guesthouse and a man-made lake, stocked with trout for fishing and swimming.
McEwen Group

The previous record for the most expensive home sold in the state, set in 2010, stood at $28 million.
“Over the last 20 years, the real estate market here has changed drastically. It’s been mostly because of out-of-state buyers, out-of-state families that have settled here in Middle Tennessee and invested in Middle Tennessee,” McEwen told CNBC.

The number of millionaires in the Nashville area increased more than 70% since 2019 to north of 116,000, according to research firm Wealth-X, an Altrata company. There are now more than 1,000 people in the Nashville area with a net worth over $30 million.

Read more about Nashville and CNBC’s Cities of Success

The migration wave has seen residents relocating from New York, Illinois and California. McEwen credits the region’s low costs, lack of income tax, moderate climate, low crime and culture with drawing new families.

The main residence of Twin Rivers Farm is 10,626 square feet.
McEwen Group

Larry Keele, a retired co-founder of Oaktree Capital, moved to the Twin Rivers Farm property from California in 2015, acquiring two contiguous plots of land for approximately $7.2 million.
He demolished existing structures and invested millions in constructing a resort-like estate just outside Nashville. 
“Larry spent a lot of time in [Los Angeles]. His career was in LA. I think home always called to Larry,” McEwen said. “He’s from Tennessee. And I think the quality of life here called to Larry and ultimately brought him home.”

The walls of this room are adorned with blue leather.
McEwen Group

The main residence stretches an impressive 10,626 square feet and features five bedrooms, seven bathrooms and hardwood floors imported from France. In addition, the walls are clad in rich blue leather and Italian cashmere worth $100,000, according to the broker.
“When the sellers built this home, they did not spare any expense. The quality here is what sets it apart,” McEwen said. 

The kitchen has marble countertops and the cabinets also serve as windows that offer views of the trees and landscape.
McEwen Group

The estate has multiple hidden passages leading to a game room, a safe room and a wine cellar. Additional features include a pool house with a retractable glass roof, a putting green, a jumbo-size chessboard and a tennis court.

The pool house has a retractable glass roof for year-round usability.
McEwen Group

There are also miles of scenic trails and even a man-made lake the Keeles constructed and filled with trout for fishing and swimming. 
“Everywhere you look, you see grass and trees and hills. And so the vision was to do something that fit here,” said McEwen.  

Twin Rivers Farm spans 383 acres and features a barn alongside a man-made lake.
McEwen Group

The property’s barn houses the Keeles’ chickens and sheep. It also includes an area for human guests, complete with a dining room beneath a rooftop cupola that effortlessly slides away at the touch of a button, unveiling the sky above.

The barn’s dining area features a glass-windowed door with a view overlooking the man-made lake.
McEwen Group

The main residence, barn, cabin, stable and pool house combined amount to 28,583 built square footage, according to the broker. Priced at $65 million, it translates to $2,278 per square foot.
In the Greater Nashville Area, a luxury home price is typically defined at the 95th percentile, and the most recent data indicates it to be $471 per square foot, as reported by Hannah Jones, senior economic research analyst at Realtor.com.
The square footage the Keeles are asking for is almost five times that threshold.
According to McEwen, trophy properties like Twin Rivers Farm are in increasing demand in the area as wealthy buyers look for the large acreage and rural lifestyle of a farm, combined with high-end amenities such as pools and guest houses.
Celebrities also like the area because they can entertain their friends and enjoy nature outside the prying eyes of the public.
So why are the Keeles selling the trophy estate they spent tens of millions to customize? McEwen says the decision is driven by a desire to downsize and relocate closer to Nashville.
The 2022 real estate tax for the property amounted to $22,474.46.
TUNE IN: The “Cities of Success” special featuring Nashville will air on CNBC on Dec. 6 at 10 p.m. ET. More

In recent months, new billionaires made more of their fortunes from inheritance than from entrepreneurship, according to the UBS Billionaire Ambitions Report.
More than 1,000 billionaires are expected to pass $5.2 trillion to their children over the next 20 or 30 years.
“The great wealth transfer, which we’ve all been talking about for the last 10 years, is underway,” said John Mathews, head of UBS’ Private Wealth Management division.

Vm | E+ | Getty Images

In recent months, the world’s new billionaires made more of their fortunes from inheritance than from entrepreneurship, according to the UBS Billionaire Ambitions Report.
It marked the first time in the nine-year history of the report that newly minted billionaires accumulated more wealth from inheritance than starting a business.

Fifty-three heirs inherited a total of $150.8 billion in the 12 months ending in April, exceeding the total of $140.7 billion accumulated by 84 new self-made billionaires, according to the Swiss bank’s report. The shift is likely to continue: The report said more than 1,000 billionaires are expected to pass $5.2 trillion to their children over the next 20 or 30 years.
“The great wealth transfer, which we’ve all been talking about for the last 10 years, is underway,” said John Mathews, head of UBS’ Private Wealth Management division. “The average age of the world’s billionaires is almost 69 right now. So this whole transition or wealth handover will start to accelerate.”
Many billionaires will leave the bulk of their wealth to charity. And some, like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, continue spending their fortunes on real estate, yachts and flights to space.
Yet today’s billionaires will still have plenty to leave to their families. According to the report, the number of billionaires rose by 7% globally over the 12 months ending in April. The population of billionaires in the world increased to 2,544 from 2,376. Their total wealth great by 9% — from $11 trillion to $12 trillion.
The great wealth transfer from billionaires and multi-millionaires will likely change the landscape in investing and wealth management, as well as spending and philanthropy. More than two thirds of the billionaires with inherited wealth in the UBS survey said that they plan to continue and grow what their parents or grandparents achieved – whether it’s in a business, a brand or assets.

Yet their values and priorities may be different. The next generation of billionaire investors tend to be highly focused on climate change, technology and impact investing than older generations, according to studies.
Mathews said most of today’s older billionaires made their money through starting and operating a business and invest conservatively. He said the next generation is “looking to the future,” with more aggressive investing targets and a focus on AI, clean energy and the electric-vehicle transition.
“The wealth management industry needs to focus on those industries that can help accelerate the ability to invest in these areas,” Mathews said. “A lot of that falls in the area of private equity, direct private deals, and private placements as opposed to the traditional mix of fixed income and public markets.” More

Pending home sales in October dropped to the lowest level since the National Association of Realtors began tracking them in 2001.
Mortgage rates in October rose sharply, with the average on the 30-year fixed loan briefly soaring over 8%.
Rates have since pulled back but are still above 7%, and supply is still tight.

Pending home sales, a measure of signed contracts on existing homes, dropped 1.5% in October from September.
They hit the lowest level since the National Association of Realtors began tracking this metric in 2001, meaning it’s even worse than readings during the financial crisis more than a decade ago. Sales were down 8.5% from October of last year.

Because the index measures signed contracts, it is the most recent indicator of housing demand. It reflects the buyers who were out shopping in October, which was when the popular 30-year fixed mortgage rate briefly shot higher than 8%.
Rates have since pulled back to around 7.3%, according to Mortgage News Daily. The realtors continue to say it’s not just high rates but still very low supply of homes for sale that is deflating activity.
“Recent weeks’ successive declines in mortgage rates will help qualify more home buyers, but limited housing inventory is significantly preventing housing demand from fully being satisfied,” Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the NAR, said in a release. “Multiple offers, of course, yield only one winner, with the rest left to continue their search.”
Pending sales fell in all regions month to month except in the Northeast. They fell most steeply in the West, which is where homes are most expensive. Sales were down everywhere compared with a year ago.
Tight supply and still-strong demand have kept pressure on home prices, which not only continue to hit new highs but appear to be accelerating in their gains.

The Realtors noted that sales of homes priced above $750,000 have been increasing simply because there is more supply on the high end of the market.
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Covid shot uptake is slumping, and vaccine makers and health experts believe vaccination rates in 2024 and beyond will likely look similar to the uptake of the latest round of shots this year.
The bigger uncertainty appears to be whether rates could increase down the line — and what would cause more people to roll up their sleeves.
What experts and vaccine makers can agree on is that low vaccination rates put more people at risk of getting severe Covid infections.

A sign advertises Covid vaccine shots at a Walgreens Pharmacy in Somerville, Massachusetts, on Aug. 14, 2023.
Brian Snyder | Reuters

Three years into the Covid-19 pandemic, few Americans are rolling up their sleeves to get a Covid vaccine. 
Only 15.7% of U.S. adults had received the newest Covid shots from Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax as of Nov. 18, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those jabs, some of which won approval in mid-September, are designed to target the omicron subvariant XBB.1.5.  

“Here’s the bottom line: COVID-19 vaccine uptake is lower than we’d like to see, and most people will be without the added protection that can reduce the severity of COVID-19,” the CDC wrote in an update on its website last week. 
Some vaccine makers and health experts believe U.S. Covid vaccination rates in 2024 and beyond will likely look similar to the meager uptake of the latest round of shots this fall and winter.
The bigger uncertainty appears to be whether rates could increase down the line — and what would cause more people to roll up their sleeves.
Some experts hope a new, more convenient slate of shots targeting more than one respiratory virus could boost Covid vaccinations. But others are more skeptical about whether those combination jabs will make a difference. 
Experts and vaccine makers can agree that low Covid vaccination rates are concerning, even as cases of the virus dwindle from their pandemic highs. 

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Vaccines remain a critical tool to protect people from death or hospitalization from Covid, which is still killing Americans every day. Fewer jabs could leave many people — especially older adults and those with underlying medical conditions — vulnerable to severe infections. 
Lower vaccination rates also make the U.S. less prepared if a new, more concerning variant of the virus emerges and fuels another surge in cases and hospitalizations, added Dr. Ali Mokdad, an epidemiologist and chief strategy officer for population health at the University of Washington. 

Why are some people not taking Covid vaccines?

Covid shot uptake has dwindled since the first vaccines against the virus rolled out in late 2020, when Americans felt more urgency to protect themselves as cases soared. 
This year, roughly half of adults who were previously vaccinated said a lack of worry about Covid is a reason why they haven’t gotten a new vaccine, including a quarter who called it a “major reason,” according to a poll released earlier this month by health policy research organization KFF. 
That reasoning reflects multiple factors. First, Covid infections haven’t spiked significantly in the U.S. this year, especially compared to prior years of the pandemic, according to Mokdad. 
He added that people have more immunity from previous vaccinations or infections, which protects them from getting severely ill from the virus. Data also suggests that omicron variants, which are the dominant Covid strains circulating in the U.S., tend to be less severe than some previous variants, Mokdad added.
“People are like, ‘I got that, it didn’t really hurt me. So why do I need to go and get a vaccine?'” Mokdad said.

The new vaccine COMIRNATY® (Covid-19 vaccine, mRNA) by Pfizer, available at CVS Pharmacy in Eagle Rock, California.
Irfan Khan | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

Nearly 4 in 10 adults also said they have been too busy to get the new Covid shot, according to the KFF poll. 
Some Americans may not be used to treating their Covid vaccination as a “routine activity” for their health every year, according to Jennifer Kates, senior vice president of KFF.
Others may not be prioritizing Covid shots because they are confused about their risk levels and the benefits they will personally see from another booster, added Dr. Brad Pollock, chair of UC Davis Health’s department of public health sciences.
What’s more, a group of Americans may never get Covid vaccines because they remain skeptical about their safety and efficacy.
Political polarization has exacerbated that effect: Republicans have grown increasingly hostile toward the shots, and some have even fueled conspiracy theories and disinformation about getting vaccinated.
Only 23% of Republican respondents to KFF’s poll said they had or would get the latest Covid shot this fall or winter, compared to 40% of independents and 74% of Democrats. 

What could uptake look like next year and beyond?

The lack of urgency around Covid could weigh on uptake in the coming years, said Dr. Nicole Iovine, chief hospital epidemiologist and an infectious disease physician at the University of Florida.
But she noted that the people who receive the new Covid vaccine this fall will likely get future iterations. “There’s definitely a core of people who are going to always get their vaccine,” said Iovine.
Jefferies analyst Michael Yee specifically noted that patients who are at high risk of severe Covid and are open to vaccination “would be reasonable” to take it each year. 
Most Covid vaccine makers themselves assume that uptake in 2024 and beyond could look similar to what the U.S. sees this fall and winter. 
“So, we are assuming that things will be the same in the years to come, Covid fatigue, anti-vaccination rates, so the people that did it this year will continue doing it next year,” Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said during a call with investors in mid-October. “I think it is a quite safe assumption.”
Similarly, Moderna assumes that everyone who got their Covid booster in 2023 will “at least” get a Covid shot in 2024 and beyond, Moderna Chief Commercial Officer Arpa Garay said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call last month. Garay also said the company expects about 50 million Americans to get a new vaccine between September and December this year.
Novavax Chief Operating Officer John Trizzino told CNBC that there’s “a logic and reality” to Pfizer and Moderna’s outlooks. But he said 2023 won’t be “100% indicative” of what vaccination rates in the future could be, especially since the rollout this year was an “adjustment period” to the commercial market with delays in distribution.
Trizzino also said combination shots targeting Covid and other viruses, including one from Novavax, will likely enter the market in a few years, which could increase Covid vaccinations in the U.S. 

Could combination shots boost uptake?

Pfizer, Moderna and some experts agree that combination shots could increase Covid vaccination rates by offering more convenience to patients and health-care workers.
“I think that it actually will help. More Americans get a combined flu and Covid shot, which should increase the number of people that get a Covid vaccine over time because it’s much more easy from a convenience perspective for anybody, as well as the technician to administer,” Moderna CFO Jamey Mock said in an interview earlier this month.
But other experts are more skeptical about whether those jabs will have a notable effect.
All three companies are developing vaccines targeting different combinations of Covid, flu and respiratory syncytial virus, which collectively strained the U.S. health-care system last winter and could continue to peak around the same time each year. 
The companies have released positive midstage trial data on some of their combination shots this year and expect their jabs to win approval from U.S. regulators in 2025 and 2026. 

Bottles of vaccines in a medical clinic.
Angelp | Istock | Getty Images

Combination jabs are nothing new: Childhood vaccines have long been combined to eliminate additional trips to the doctor’s office and reduce the number of injections a patient needs to get during their visit. That approach can lead to fewer missed shots and higher vaccination rates for diseases they target, according to Andrew Pekosz, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 
Other studies also argue that a combination jab targeting Covid and the flu in particular could boost Covid vaccination rates, which lag behind flu shot uptake this year. 
More people are used to receiving flu vaccines annually, so they may “find it easier to replicate such health action in the case of a combination shot” targeting Covid and the flu, according to a 2023 study that analyzed 30 different papers on the vaccine approach. 
However, Iovine of the University of Florida doesn’t believe combination shots will have a significant effect on Covid vaccination rates.
While the jabs may be attractive for people who already get their shots or those who are looking for more convenient vaccination options, they may do little to change the minds of people who are avoiding a Covid vaccine for reasons such as skepticism or concerns about safety and efficacy.
Jefferies analyst Yee similarly said he doesn’t believe the “advantage of convenience would be the differentiating factor” determining whether someone gets a Covid vaccine, which is why combination shots may not “materially change uptake.”
He added that some people are still worried about whether combination vaccines cause more side effects than stand-alone shots do. Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax haven’t flagged notable differences between the side effects of their combination vaccines and existing shots, but more data is needed.

What else could increase vaccination rates?

If combination shots don’t do the trick, it’s unclear what else could boost Covid vaccination rates down the line.
Iovine said people may feel more urgency to get vaccinated if a new, more concerning Covid variant emerges and fuels another wave of cases. But even during past Covid surges, the country “didn’t see tremendous vaccine uptake,” according to Iovine.

Pharmacist Aaron Sun administers the new vaccine COMIRNATY® (Covid-19 vaccine, mRNA) by Pfizer, to John Vuich at CVS Pharmacy in Eagle Rock, California.
Irfan Khan | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

Meanwhile, KFF’s Kates said public health officials and providers may increase uptake if they clearly communicate that Covid shots will likely be a “routine part of health care” moving forward.
The FDA and CDC are hoping to transition toward a flu shot-like model for Covid vaccines, meaning people will get a single jab every year that is updated annually to target the latest variant expected to circulate in the fall and winter. 
But advisors to the FDA have raised concerns about shifting to yearly Covid vaccines, noting that it’s unclear if the virus is seasonal like the flu. Kates added that establishing a more annualized approach to Covid vaccination in the minds of Americans “will take time.”
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