Business

Popeyes is adding five chicken wing offerings to its menu permanently.
The wing flavors include Honey BBQ, Roasted Garlic Parmesan, Signature Hot, Ghost Pepper and Sweet ‘N Spicy.
The wings build upon the chain’s success with its popular chicken sandwich.

Popeyes wings.
Courtesy: Popeyes

Popeyes is expanding its menu beyond chicken sandwiches — and it’s a permanent change this time.
The fast-food chain announced Wednesday it’s adding five chicken wing flavors to its menu nationwide, with three debuting at Popeyes for the first time, beginning Wednesday. The flavors include Honey BBQ, Roasted Garlic Parmesan, Signature Hot, Ghost Pepper and Sweet ‘N Spicy.

“At Popeyes, we like to challenge the status quo and are consistently redefining what’s expected from fast food brands,” said Sami Siddiqui, president of Popeyes North America, in a statement. “We know our guests want even more bold Louisiana-inspired wing flavors to choose from and are excited to see our new wings line-up take flight.”
Siddiqui added that the Ghost Pepper wings were an “overnight success” when tested at locations earlier this year, and the Sweet ‘N Spicy wings have been the chain’s best-performing product since its chicken sandwich.
Popeyes said it has been working on perfecting the wings recipes for three years. The new wings will be available starting at $5.99 for a six piece.
Last month, Popeyes overtook KFC to secure its spot as the No. 2 chicken chain in the U.S., behind Chick-fil-A.Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

“Wish,” which arrives in theaters the day before Thanksgiving, has two goals: Pull Disney out of its animation rut and kickstart the holiday weekend.
Early ticket sales suggest the film could secure $55 million for the Wednesday-to-Sunday period including Thanksgiving.
Before Covid, the five-day Thanksgiving spread tended to result in more than $250 million in ticket sales. In the last two years, it has yet to reach $150 million.

Ariana DeBose stars as Asha in Disney’s new animated film “Wish.”

Disney is wishing on a shooting star this week, hoping that its celebratory 100th anniversary film “Wish” will mark a turning point for its beleaguered animation division and jumpstart the Thanksgiving box office.
The House of Mouse posted its biggest year ever theatrically in 2019 — with a whopping seven films surpassing $1 billion in global ticket sales — but has yet to recapture that magic even after relaxed Covid restrictions brought moviegoers back to cinemas.

Its Marvel Cinematic Universe films have been hit-or-miss with audiences, with “The Marvels” most recently opening to an all-time franchise low. But Disney’s animation arm, which has ruled the box office for decades, has had more rotten eggs than golden ones in the last three years.
Much of Disney’s troubles have stemmed from executive decisions to pad its fledgling streaming service Disney+ with content, stretching its creative teams thin, and sending theatrical movies during the pandemic straight to digital.
This has been particularly apparent with Disney’s animated features, both from its Walt Disney Animation studio and from Pixar. Parents, confused about when and where animated films from the studio were being released, didn’t show up to theaters. And the films that were released weren’t all well-received by critics or audiences.
This has had a direct impact on the key Thanksgiving holiday, which Disney has long dominated at the box office.
Disney declined to comment for this story.

Feast or famine

The week of Thanksgiving is typically a robust time at the box office, a tradition for many families who gather during extended time off from school and work.
In the last decade, not counting 2020, 2021 and 2022, the five-day Thanksgiving spread — from the Wednesday before Thanksgiving through Sunday — has resulted in more than $250 million in ticket sales each year.
Many of those weekends were fueled by Disney animation hits as well as Lionsgate’s Hunger Games films.
However, in the wake of the Covid pandemic, the box office has struggled to regain its foothold on the Thanksgiving holiday.

“Thanksgiving as a holiday moviegoing corridor has diminished in its revenue-generating horsepower in the post-Pandemic era and this means that at least for now, the odds are against any film becoming a massive breakout hit over the five-day frame,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “Thanksgiving films in this movie marketplace must rely more heavily on December moviegoing to determine their ultimate box office fate.”
Box office analysts often disregard 2020’s $21.4 million Thanksgiving haul, as few theaters were open and there were few films to watch. But, 2021 and 2022 had more titles available and neither reached $150 million in domestic ticket sales for the five-day period.
Early ticket sales suggest “Wish” could secure up to $55 million for the Wednesday-to-Sunday period including Thanksgiving. That trails previous Thanksgiving openers from Disney including “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” “Coco,” “The Good Dinosaur” and “Tangled” but is higher than the $18.9 million brought in by “Strange World” last year and the $40.6 million from “Encanto” in 2021, according to data from Comscore.

Yet, if “Wish” does reach that $55 million mark, it would be the seventh-biggest Thanksgiving opening of all time.
Add in second-week sales from Universal’s “Trolls Band Together,” Lionsgate’s “Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” and TriStar’s Eli Roth slasher flick “Thanksgiving,” as well as new entrants such as Apple’s “Napoleon,” and box office analysts foresee a haul of between $150 million and $160 million for the five-day spread.
“This is shaping up to be a very crowded Thanksgiving at the multiplex,” said Dergarabedian. “And ‘Wish’ will have to hope that the other new PG-rated animated family films on screens, like ‘Trolls Band Together,’ will not siphon off a larger-than-expected share of the target audience.”
Not to mention, box office expectations have not been particularly accurate this year. Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert film, Disney’s “The Marvels” and “Ballad” all delivered opening weekends that were shy of expectations.

Trouble in the Magic Kingdom

“Wish” has a lot riding on its opening weekend, as Disney looks to rebound from a slew of box office letdowns.
“After the misfire of ‘Strange World’ last year and the lingering impact of short-lived streaming strategies, it’s important for ‘Wish’ to bring back a bigger portion of their core audience now that other studios and animated franchises have performed so well over the last 18 months,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com.
Universal’s animated films, in particular, have excelled. In 2022, “Minions: The Rise of Gru” snared $942.5 million at the global box office, and earlier this year “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” tallied more than $1.35 billion globally. Similarly, Sony saw great success with “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” generating $684.9 million globally.
Meanwhile, Disney has yet to secure more than $500 million worldwide from an animated feature since 2019.

“Elemental,” released over the summer, managed to collect $479.8 million. The last time a Pixar film grossed less than $500 million was 2017’s “Cars 3,” which drew $383.5 million in ticket sales. On the Walt Disney Animation side, the last film to fall short of the $500 million mark before 2020 was 2014’s “Planes: Fire and Rescue,” which racked up $151.4 million globally.
Whether “Wish” wins over audiences is up in the air. It hasn’t inspired critics. The day before its opening, the film was hovering under 60% on Rotten Tomatoes, which translates to a “rotten” rating. Still, other Disney films such as “Pocahontas,” “Robin Hood,” “Oliver and Company,” “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” and “Brother Bear” all hold a rating under 60% on the review aggregator but are fan-favorite films for many.
So, even if “Wish” doesn’t have an immediately strong box office, it could find life on Disney+. After all, that’s what happened for Disney’s “Encanto.”
Released in 2021 for the Thanksgiving holiday, “Encanto” generated $40.6 million from the five-day Thanksgiving weekend domestically and went on to tally $257.5 million globally during its run. In the home market, the film continued to capture the attention of kids and adults alike with catchy tunes such as “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” and “Surface Pressure.”
“‘Wish’ comes at an opportune time because the market has been starved for family content since summer ended,” said Robbins.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal is the distributor of “Trolls Band Together,” “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and “Minions: The Rise of Gru.” NBCUniversal also owns Rotten Tomatoes.
– CNBC’s Gabriel Cortés contributed to this article. More

Nordstrom’s sales declined year over year and it missed Wall Street’s quarterly revenue expectations.
The department store operator has chased growth after years of stagnant sales.
Yet the retailer’s leaders stressed progress with improving Nordstrom Rack’s performance and getting its inventory in better shape.

Shoppers exit Nordstrom at the King of Prussia Mall on December 11, 2022 in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
Mark Makela | Getty Images

Nordstrom on Tuesday said sales slid by nearly 7% year over year, echoing other retailers’ comments about weaker demand and budget-pressured consumers.
Yet the department store operator reiterated its full-year sales outlook, saying it expects revenue to decline by between 4% and 6% versus a year ago, including retail sales and credit card revenues.

It narrowed its adjusted earnings per share forecast, saying it anticipates $1.90 to $2.10, excluding the impact of winding down its stores and online business in Canada and any potential share buybacks.
Here’s how the retailer did in the fiscal third quarter compared with what analysts were anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv:

Earnings per share: 25 cents, adjusted vs. 13 cents expected
Revenue: $3.32 billion vs. $3.40 billion expected

In the three-month period that ended Oct. 28, Nordstrom’s net income rose to $67 million, or 41 cents per share, compared to a loss of $20 million, or 13 cents, in the year-ago quarter. The company had an impairment charge related to supply chain technology and related assets in the year-ago quarter.
Nordstrom is looking for growth after three straight years of sales that have been at or below pre-pandemic levels. The higher-end department store missed out on the dramatic sales gains that other retailers experienced during the Covid pandemic when consumers had extra cash and fewer ways to spend it during the pandemic.
As part of that push, the retailer has opened more of its off-price stores, Nordstrom Rack, and revamped merchandise in those stores to emphasize best-selling brands.

Arrows pointing outwards

Yet Nordstrom’s efforts have been tougher in an environment where shoppers aren’t buying as many discretionary goods, such as clothing, and in some cases, prioritizing experiences, such as concert tickets.
Other retailers have also reported softer sales and signaled caution about the holiday season. On Tuesday, weak retail earnings dragged down the stock market. Best Buy and Lowe’s cut their fiscal fourth-quarter sales forecasts, and American Eagle Outfitters and Abercrombie & Fitch also disappointed investors with their holiday outlooks.
Nordstrom’s quarterly results reflected that, too. The company’s total revenue declined to $3.32 billion from $3.55 billion in the year-ago period. At Nordstrom’s namesake banner, net sales dropped 9.4% and at its off-price banner, Nordstrom Rack, net sales decreased 1.8%.
CEO Erik Nordstrom said on an earnings call that customer traffic has been soft, even as the company’s average order size goes up. He said the company has tried to drum up more store and website visits by offering extra rewards on beauty purchases and expanding free two-day delivery to more markets.
Digital sales decreased by 11.3% compared with the year-ago period, as the company was hurt by eliminating store fulfillment for Nordstrom Rack digital orders but helped by one week of the company’s Anniversary Sale moving into the fiscal third quarter.
During the quarter, online sales drove roughly a third of Nordstrom’s total sales.
Yet on the earnings call with investors, Nordstrom stressed progress it’s made and some improving trends that it has seen.
Most of the retailers’ categories were stronger in the third quarter than the second quarter in terms of year-over-year trends, according to Chief Brand Officer Pete Nordstrom. He said beauty continues to be Nordstrom’s “top trip driver,” but accessories and activewear-related merchandise were also strong as shoppers sprang for new footwear from brands like New Balance and Hoka.
The company had lower markdowns in the three-month period than a year ago and its inventory was down nearly 9% compared with the same period in 2022.
Nordstrom Rack, while still reporting a decline in sales, showed improvement in the quarter. The company opened 11 new Rack stores during the third quarter and one early in the fourth quarter, bringing the full year total to 19 new stores, CEO Erik Nordstrom said.
Nordstrom is chipping away at its goals of driving higher sales, improving profitability and managing inflated costs, Chief Financial Officer Cathy Smith said on the call. But she also referred to a complex economic backdrop.
“We continue to see a cautious consumer and it remains to be seen how changes in inflation, higher interest rates, and the resumption of student loan repayments will affect discretionary consumer spending during the holiday season,” she said.
As of Tuesday’s close, shares of Nordstrom have fallen 8% so far this year. That underperformed the S&P 500, which has posted gains of about 18% during the period. More

Shares of American Eagle plummeted.
The retailer beat estimates on the top and bottom lines but issued a holiday forecast that failed to impress.
Retailers have been concerned that demand will be tepid over the holidays and have issued a string of muted forecasts.

American clothing and accessories retailer American Eagle store seen in Hong Kong. (Photo by Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Budrul Chukrut | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Shares of American Eagle plummeted nearly 16% on Tuesday after the company issued a holiday forecast that failed to impress. 
For its holiday quarter, American Eagle expects sales to be up high single digits, ahead of the 3.4% sales growth analysts had expected, according to LSEG. However, it’s expecting its operating income to be between $105 million and $115 million, which is mostly below expectations of $114 million, according to StreetAccount.

The forecast was dampened by an expected 20% uptick in selling and general administrative expenses, the company said.  
The apparel retailer outperformed in its fiscal third quarter, however. Here’s how the company did compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv:

Earnings per share: 49 cents vs. 48 cents expected
Revenue: $1.3 billion vs. $1.28 billion expected

The company’s reported net income for the three-month period that ended Oct. 28 was $96.7 million, or 49 cents per share, compared with $81.3 million, or 42 cents per share, a year earlier. 
Sales rose to $1.3 billion, up about 5% from $1.24 billion a year earlier. 
During the quarter, American Eagle’s gross margin came in at 41.8%, below the 42.1% that analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount. 

American Eagle managed to eke out a 5% uptick in sales despite an overall slowdown in the apparel industry but its performance still failed to impress Wall Street.
A similar dynamic emerged at rival Abercrombie & Fitch, which also reported earnings on Tuesday and a forecast that fell flat against soaring sales growth. 
For the full year, American Eagle is projecting revenue to be up mid single digits, compared with previous guidance of up low single digits. Analysts had expected full-year sales growth to be around 2.6%, according to LSEG.
The retailer tightened its forecast for full-year operating income and expects it to be in the range of $340 million to $350 million, compared with prior guidance of $325 million to $350 million, which is what analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount. SG&A expenses are also expected to be up in the low double digits for the full year. 
Retailers have been on pins and needles ahead of the crucial holiday shopping season over concerns that demand will be tepid and muted commentary from American Eagle and Abercrombie & Fitch follow similar remarks from other retailers that recently reported earnings. 
Also on Tuesday, both Best Buy and Lowe’s cut their forecasts, citing an unpredictable consumer and a continued slowdown in big-ticket purchases.
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Abercrombie & Fitch’s comeback continues.
The company raised its full-year guidance again after another quarter of sales growth.
The longtime mall retailer is defying an overall slowdown in apparel.

Abercrombie & Fitch.
Courtesy: Abercrombie & Fitch

Abercrombie & Fitch on Tuesday blew past estimates as it posted a 20% jump in sales thanks to a strong back-to-school shopping season and growth at both its namesake brand and Hollister. 
The longtime mall retailer, which has bounced back after years of stagnation, also raised its outlook again as it continues to defy an overall slowdown across the apparel industry. 

Shares of the company climbed more than 2% on Tuesday. The stock is up 223% on the year.
Here’s how Abercrombie did in its fiscal third quarter compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv:

Earnings per share: $1.83 vs. $1.18 expected
Revenue: $1.06 billion vs. $981 million expected

The company’s reported net income for the three-month period that ended Oct. 28 was $96.2 million, or $1.83 per share, compared with a loss of $2.21 million, or 4 cents per share, a year earlier. 
Sales rose to $1.06 billion from $880 million a year earlier. 
For its fourth quarter, Abercrombie expects net sales growth to be up low double digits compared with the prior year, which is in line with the 11.6% growth analysts had expected, according to LSEG. 

It expects its operating margin to be in the range of 12% to 14%, compared with 7.7% in the year ago period and ahead of expectations of 11.3%, according to StreetAccount. The expected uptick is driven by a higher gross profit rate, lower freight costs and higher sales prices. 
For the full year, the company expects net sales to grow between 12% to 14%, up from a previous outlook of around 10% and ahead of the 10.8% uptick that analysts had expected, according to LSEG. It’s forecasting an operating margin of around 10%, up from its previous range of 8% to 9%, which is what analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount. The expected increase is driven by lower freight and raw material costs. 
Abercrombie CEO Fran Horowitz told analysts the company has seen an “encouraging” start to the holiday shopping season. But its forecast for the quarter failed to impress Wall Street, and was only in-line with consensus estimates despite the strong quarter.
“Our teams have worked hard to align our product and promotional messaging to set us up for a successful holiday across brands,” Horowitz said on the call with analysts. “We’re confident our customers will love what we have for them this holiday season.
Horowitz added: “While the macro environment remains challenging and uncertain, we’ve proven that we can deliver growth across brands and regions if we stay focused on our customer and execute our playbook.”
A similar dynamic was seen at rival American Eagle, which also reported earnings Tuesday morning. While the fellow mall retailer also performed ahead of expectations and raised its guidance, American Eagle’s holiday forecast failed to wow Wall Street, sending its stock plummeting.
During the quarter, Abercrombie saw sales at its namesake brand grow by 30% to $548 million and revenue at Hollister grow by 11% to $509 million. Same store sales were up 16% across both brands.
Abercrombie’s stock has soared this year as the company’s transformation continues to bear fruit. For years, Abercrombie was known for its branded t-shirts and jeans and shirtless male models, which in turn prompted critics to accuse the company of racism and exclusivity.
In the years since Horowitz took over as the brand’s CEO, Abercrombie has transformed itself into an inclusive retailer with a product assortment that continues to resonate with consumers.
Read the full earnings release here.
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Urban Outfitters’ clothing rental service Nuuly has eked out its first profit, rivaling the performance of competitor Rent the Runway, which has yet to reach profitability nearly 15 years into its history.
Nuuly posted an operating income of $300,000 off of $65.5 million in revenue in the three months ended Oct. 31.
Urban’s wider business performed better than expected during the quarter.

Nuuly warehouse
Natalie Rice

Urban Outfitters’ clothing rental service Nuuly has eked out its first profit thanks to a steady stream of new subscribers and a whopping 86% jump in revenue, hitting the benchmark before competitor Rent the Runway, which has yet to turn a profit nearly 15 years into its history. 
The brand, which offers a $98 monthly subscription service for six items of clothing, saw $65.5 million in revenue and an operating profit of $300,000 during its fiscal third quarter ended Oct. 31. In the year-ago period, Nuuly posted $35.3 million in revenue and an operating loss of $3 million. 

The milestone marks the first time Nuuly has earned money since its launch in 2019, a goal for the company from the beginning as it looked to prove it could run a clothing rental business profitably. While there is wide demand for clothing rental services, particularly among younger consumers, the logistics of rental have made it difficult to make money, threatening the platforms’ viability.
“We set out with a plan to build a business that we thought could be quite big and we set out with a plan to build a business that had the potential to be profitable,” David Hayne, Nuuly’s president and Urban’s chief technology officer, told CNBC in an interview. “And that’s what we’ve been able to accomplish.” 

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The brand’s meteoric rise as one of the go-to clothing rental services among Gen Z and Millennial consumers comes as competitor Rent the Runway struggles to turn a profit nearly 15 years into its history. 
Nuuly’s active subscriber count, which reached 198,000 during the quarter, also eclipses Rent the Runway’s, which stood at 137,566 as of July 31. In April, CEO Jenn Hyman told CNBC the company needs to reach 185,000 subscribers to have enough free cash flow to cover all of its fixed costs, variable costs and the cost of its inventory. She said Rent is a “stone’s throw away” from profitability. The company is due to report third-quarter earnings on Dec. 5.
Nuuly turned an operating profit in part because it is buoyed by the larger Urban business, which supplies many of the clothes that are available to renters and covers some of its costs. Given the size of Urban and its inventories, Nuuly can be efficient in ways that Rent cannot.

In response, Rent told CNBC its definition of profitability differs from Nuuly’s and isn’t comparable. The company added that it has stronger unit economics than Nuuly and its sales routinely exceed the newcomer’s. Further, Rent said its gross margins are double Nuuly’s.

Nuuly and Rent’s services are similar in that they both offer clothing for rent on a monthly basis for all sorts of occasions. Rent has long differentiated itself by focusing on designer brands and consumers seeking a higher-end products, while Nuuly started out by offering a more casual selection of clothing for everyday wear. These days, both companies offer a range of casual and formal options, although Rent still focuses more on designer brands.
The clothing rental market is still a budding industry. As brands look to convince consumers to rent instead of buy, offering a wide-ranging assortment has proven critical. 
“We wanted to give her, the subscriber, a chance to rent for something she could wear to the office, something she could just wear when she’s lounging around at home, or that dress that she wants to wear to a wedding,” said Hayne, the son of Urban’s founder and CEO Richard Hayne. “We wanted to build an assortment that was expansive enough and varied enough that she could have options for whatever her next month’s need was, whether or not she’s going to a wedding or has an event, whatever it may be.” 

Urban beats on top and bottom lines

Across the Urban business, the retailer performed better than expected on both the top and bottom lines. 
It posted earnings per share of 88 cents, compared with expectations of 82 cents, according to LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv. 
Sales came in at $1.28 billion, compared with expectations of $1.26 billion, according to LSEG. 
Same store sales rose 5.6% in the quarter, higher than the 4.9% uptick analyst had expected, according to StreetAccount. 
Anthropologie, which sells hip, higher-end clothes and home goods, drove the quarter with $550 million in revenue. Comparable sales were up 13.2% during the quarter, well ahead of the 9.5% increase that analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount. 
However, Urban’s namesake brand, known for its quirky assortment and sprawling mall stores, saw sales drop by about 12% to $324 million. Comparable sales also fell by 14.2%, which is worse than the 12% decline that analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount.
Frank Conforti, the co-president and chief operating officer of Urban, said in a statement to CNBC that the company has “more work to do” at its namesake brand and is “laser focused on that opportunity.”
In its release, Urban didn’t share any guidance on what it expects for its holiday quarter and the overall fiscal year. More

Existing home sales in October were 14.6% lower than they were a year earlier.
The median price of an existing home sold in October was $391,800, an increase of 3.4% from October 2022.

Sales of previously owned homes were 4.1% lower in October compared with September, running at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 3.79 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors.
It was the slowest sales pace since August 2010. Analysts were expecting a smaller drop, to 3.9 million units. Sales were down 14.6% year over year.

The October sales count is based on closings from contracts likely signed in August and September. The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage had dropped to near 7% at the end of August, but then began rising sharply, jumping over 8% by mid-October. Rates have since retreated somewhat.
“Prospective home buyers experienced another difficult month due to the persistent lack of housing inventory and the highest mortgage rates in a generation,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “Multiple offers, however, are still occurring, especially on starter and mid-priced homes, even as price concessions are happening in the upper end of the market.”
At the end of October there were 1.15 million homes for sale, down 5.7% from a year earlier. This is about half as many homes as were available for sale pre-Covid. At the current sales pace, that represents a 3.6-month supply. a six-month supply is considered a balanced market between buyer and seller.
Tight supply kept pressure under prices. The median price of an existing home sold in October was $391,800, an increase of 3.4% from a year ago ($378,800). Prices rose in all regions of the country. These annual price increases have been getting larger for four straight months. Roughly 28% of homes sold above list price.
“While circumstances for buyers remain tight, home sellers have done well as prices continue to rise year-over-year, including a new all-time high for the month of October,” Yun said. “In fact, a typical homeowner has accumulated more than $100,000 in housing wealth over the past three years.”

Sales fell in all price categories up to $750,000, but there was an increase in sales of higher-end homes. Homes priced above $1 million were up just over 9% from a year ago. Wealthier buyers either tend not to use mortgages or are less sensitive to monthly rate changes. Yun also noted that there are more homes available for sale on the higher end of the market.
First-time buyers represented 28% of October sales, unchanged from a year ago and still significantly lower than the 40% share they have represented historically. Individual investors bought 15% of the homes, down from 18% in September and 16% from a year ago. All-cash deals made up 29% of sales, up from 26% in October 2022.
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NFL is sticking with X, formerly Twitter, NFL Chief Media and Business Officer Brian Rolapp told CNBC.
Advertisers such as Disney and Apple have paused advertising on X over concerns about hate speech on the platform.
Elon Musk, who bought the social media site last year, recently endorsed an antisemitic tweet.

The National Football League is sticking with X, formerly known as Twitter, as Elon Musk’s site faces an advertiser revolt over hate speech and antisemitism on the platform.
“I think X is in a very difficult business because of the content moderation that they have to deal with,” Brian Rolapp, the NFL’s media and business chief, told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin. “We continue to work with them because our fans are clearly there.”

The league did not provide further comment on the matter.
The NFL has partnered with the platform since 2013 as part of an effort to bring fans exclusive content.
Since Musk took over last fall, the platform has been caught up in several controversies, including those surrounding X’s policy for moderating harmful content.
In the latest wave of pushback, companies such as Apple and Disney have suspended advertising on the platform.
Last week, Musk agreed with a post on the platform accusing “Jewish communities” of pushing “hatred against whites,” CNBC reported earlier this month. Musk has denied that he’s antisemitic.

Earlier this month, left-leaning media watchdog site MediaMatters.org posted instances of Apple, Bravo and Oracle ads appearing next to antisemitic content on Musk’s platform. X on Monday sued Media Matters over the report, coinciding with an investigation launched by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton into the watchdog site for possible fraudulent activity.
Meanwhile, more than two dozen House Democrats on Tuesday alleged that X was profiting off of violent Hamas-related content and called on CEO Linda Yaccarino to explain how the company’s plans to curtail the harmful content on the platform. Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, launched a terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,000 people and seizing more than 200 hostages.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of Bravo and CNBC.
–CNBC’s Julia Boorstin contributed to this article. More