Business

E-commerce platform Fanatics is helping professional athletes transition to life after sports.
This week, 11 WNBA and MLB players took part in a weeklong business immersion program in Los Angeles.
Fanatics has in recent months added sports betting and live events to its growing business.

WNBA and MLB players take part in Fanatics’ weeklong business immersion program.
Source: Fanatics

E-commerce platform Fanatics is helping professional athletes transition to life after the final buzzer — or pitch, or whistle.
The company is expanding a pilot program to offer business education and exposure to players with the WNBA and MLB via a partnership with the University of Southern California. Through the one-week immersion program, players get in-classroom learning combined with hands-on experiences in Fanatics’ different business units.

The company says it is uniquely positioned to help athletes lay the groundwork for the next chapter of their careers with its wide-ranging sports portfolio. Fanatics has in recent months added sports betting and live events to its growing business.
“Having a vehicle to help these athletes is not only the right thing to do, but it’s actually good for our business,” said Orlando Ashford, chief people officer at Fanatics. “These people will be friends of Fanatics, which will help us in a lot of different ways.”
Athletes in the program get a first-hand look at everything from Fanatics’ collectables business to its apparel company to its VIP and loyalty programs. They also get exposure to CEOs and experts in everything from design to marketing.
Fanatics picks up the tab for the week, covering everything from travel and transportation to food and hotel stays, Ashford said.
The pilot program launched about six years ago with a small number of NFL players. Now Fanatics is expanding the offering to more pro sports leagues. Eventually, Ashford said, the company plans to include retired players and offer a longer, six-month co-op-like experience.

One such player taking part is WNBA player Isabelle Harrison, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in May. Harrison joined 10 other professional athletes in Los Angeles this week for the Fanatics program.

Isabelle Harrison with former NBA player Ron Harper at a dinner during Fanatics’ immersion program.
Source: Fanatics

“To have this opportunity, especially as a woman and Black athlete, I just feel like it’s going to make the difference for my next step as a professional,” Harrison said.
The 6-foot-3 former Tennessee Vol said she found the personality and learning assessment results especially interesting. She also enjoyed the direct exposure to Fanatics’ executives and the opportunity to pick their brains.
Harrison said she was particularly looking forward to dinner on the final night of the program with Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin.
“I just don’t know if he knows the impact he’s having on us right now,” she said.
Fanatics, acquired by Rubin in 2011, has seen rapid growth over the past few years. The company is valued at $31 million and has been quietly considering a potential initial public offering.Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO: More

United Airlines plans to make it easier for customers to earn elite status through co-branded Chase credit cards.
The airline isn’t changing overall requirements for elite frequent flyer status next year.
It’s the latest airline to tweak its lucrative frequent flyer program to reward big spenders.

United Airlines planes at Denver International Airport.
Leslie Josephs/CNBC

United Airlines plans to make it easier for customers to earn elite status through co-branded Chase credit cards, the latest airline to tweak its lucrative frequent flyer program to reward big spenders.
The airline isn’t changing overall requirements for elite frequent flyer status next year, a first for the carrier since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead, United said Thursday that in 2024, it will reward customers with 25 qualifying points for every $500 they spend on co-branded cards. Currently, customers get 500 points for every $12,000 spent. The carrier will also lift caps on credit card spending that can qualify toward elite status.

Travelers need 5,000 qualifying points plus four flights to get to silver status, the lowest level, or have a combination of flights and points.
Airlines reward their elites with perks such as free upgrades, when available; earlier boarding; and other perks.
But ranks of elite frequent flyers have surged in recent years as travelers continued to spend during the Covid-19 pandemic and airlines allowed them to hold on to their tier status even if they weren’t flying.
That has challenged airlines to keep their programs both exclusive and reasonably attainable and angered elites who are jostling alongside fellow travelers for upgrades or airport lounge access.
Delta Air Lines in September said elite status would be awarded solely on spend — instead of a combination of flights and spending — though last month it walked back some planned changes to its SkyMiles program and lounge access limits after customer complaints.

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Investors looking to cash in on India’s growth have typically focused their attention either on the sprawling conglomerates run by the country’s tycoons or the buzzy tech firms transforming the way Indians shop, learn or move around. How, then, to explain the excitement over Cello World, a 61-year-old company of middling size that listed its shares on the two local bourses on November 6th? It produces the “tiffin” boxes Indians use to carry their lunch to school or work, along with inexpensive pens and moulded furniture—hardly exciting stuff. Yet on the first day of trading its shares soared by 29%, sending its market value above $2bn. That is nearly 60 times the net profit it made in the last fiscal year. Its initial public offering (IPO) was roughly 40 times oversubscribed.Cello World does not have bold plans for reinvesting the $230m raised in the offering; all of it will go back to the family that controls the firm, which still owns 81% of the equity. Nor is the business unique. At the end of last month another company making pens, Flair Writing Industries, received approval for its IPO. Several furniture companies are lined up to offer shares in the near future, too. Cello World is, in short, rather boring.Few venture capitalists would line up for a stake in such a business. Foreign portfolio managers, many of whom have settled on a strategy of entering India through slivers of holdings in the country’s mightiest conglomerates, would probably pass it over, too. Recent months, however, have shown that one of the most appealing corners of the Indian economy may be the companies like Cello World, which are benefiting from the country’s growth story without trying to write it.Beginning late last year, valuations in India’s private markets collapsed as investors lost patience with loss-making startups such as OYO, a hotel chain, and Byju’s, an online-learning business. Public markets sagged, too. Shares in Delhivery, a logistics startup that listed to much fanfare early in 2022, tumbled. In January this year a report by Hindenburg, a short-seller, into the accounting practices of the business empire of Gautam Adani, an Indian tycoon, rocked the confidence of foreign investors and brought attention to the anaemic profitability of a number of the country’s conglomerates. (The Adani Group denied any wrongdoing.)The first hint of a shift in mood came in April with the listing of Mankind Pharma, a manufacturer of condoms and pregnancy tests. The firm lured investors with its steady revenue growth, from roughly $750m in 2020 to $1bn in 2022, and healthy profits. It quickly became apparent that attractive opportunities abounded in ordinary areas of an economy experiencing extraordinary growth.image: The EconomistA flood of listings followed. As of early November, 194 companies had gone public this year, up from 144 for all of 2022 (see chart). Jefferies, an investment bank, calculates that 72% of recent Indian IPOs have been at least ten times oversubscribed. Alongside consumer-goods companies like Cello World and Mankind Pharma, investors also snapped up the shares of newly listed companies in other usually uninspiring industries, such as construction, steel and electrical components. Though not at the technological frontier, many of these firms are benefiting from the Indian government’s efforts to bolster the domestic manufacturing sector (at China’s expense) and improve the country’s infrastructure. RR Kabel, a maker of cables that listed in September, is one such firm. On November 6th it reported that profits in its quarter from July to September had doubled year on year.The listings boom shows no signs of slowing down. A further 29 applications for public offerings have been approved by India’s securities regulator, and an additional 46 are currently under consideration. Among the companies in the process of offering shares are a producer of sledgehammers and a maker of car parts. All hope to go public before India’s general elections next May. Nipun Goel of IIFL Securities, an investment bank that helped finance many of this year’s listings, notes that the pipeline of IPOs for the next 12 to 24 months is looking strong; he is betting that the boom could continue for five to seven years. Indeed in October, in anticipation of all this, his firm moved to new offices with three times the space. ■To stay on top of the biggest stories in business and technology, sign up to the Bottom Line, our weekly subscriber-only newsletter. More

The Food and Drug Administration approved Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide drug for weight loss, paving the way for even wider use of the blockbuster medication.
The active ingredient in the drug, tirzepatide, has already been approved for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes under the name Mounjaro since May 2022.
But the FDA’s new approval means adults who have obesity or are overweight with at least one weight-related condition can use the drug, which will be marketed as Zepbound, for chronic weight management.

Eli Lilly and Company, Pharmaceutical company headquarters in Alcobendas, Madrid, Spain.
Cristina Arias | Cover | Getty Images

The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved Eli Lilly’s blockbuster drug tirzepatide for weight loss, paving the way for even wider use of the treatment in the U.S. 
The active ingredient in the drug, tirzepatide, has already been approved for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes under the name Mounjaro since May 2022.

But the FDA’s new approval means adults who have obesity or are overweight with at least one weight-related condition can use the drug, which will be marketed as Zepbound, for chronic weight management.
Zepbound should be available in the U.S. by the end of the year, and will carry a list price of about $1,060 for a month’s supply, according to a release from Eli Lilly.
Before Wednesday’s approval, many patients had used tirzepatide off-label for weight loss, adding to a frenzy of demand for treatments that can help patients shed pounds, such as Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic. All three drugs have faced supply constraints for months due to soaring demand. 
The weight loss approval further establishes Eli Lilly as a formidable competitor to Novo Nordisk in the budding obesity drug market, which Wall Street analysts believe could grow to a $100 billion industry by 2030. The increased use of drugs has raised questions about how the changes will affect an array of industries — though it may be too early to tell how many people will use them.
The approval also comes as obesity affects an estimated 650 million adults globally, and roughly 40% of the adult population in the U.S. 

“Obesity and overweight are serious conditions that can be associated with some of the leading causes of death such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes,” said Dr. John Sharretts, director of the division of diabetes, lipid disorders, and obesity in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “In light of increasing rates of both obesity and overweight in the United States, today’s approval addresses an unmet medical need.” 

How well Zepbound works

Zepbound is an injection administered once weekly, and the dosage must be increased over four to 20 weeks to achieve the target dose sizes of 5, 10 or 15 milligrams per week.
The drug works by activating two naturally produced hormones in the body: glucagon-like peptide-1, known as GLP-1, and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide, or GIP.
The combination is said to slow the emptying of the stomach, making people feel full for longer and suppressing appetite by slowing hunger signals in the brain.

The FDA said the approval was based on two of Eli Lilly’s late-stage trials on tirzepatide, which evaluated its effects on weight loss after 72 weeks.
In a late-stage study of more than 2,500 adults with obesity but not diabetes, those taking 5 milligrams of tirzepatide for 72 weeks lost about 16% of their body weight on average. Higher doses of the drug were associated with even more weight loss, with a 15-milligram dose leading to 22.5% weight loss on average.
Another late-stage study found that tirzepatide caused up to 15.7% weight loss among people who are obese or overweight and have Type 2 diabetes.

Pricing, supply constraints

Still, access to tirzepatide and other diabetes and obesity treatments remains a big challenge. 
The list price of tirzepatide for weight loss is $1,059.87 per month for six different dose sizes, which is about 20% lower than that of Wegovy, Eli Lilly said in a press release. The company noted that the amount a patient pays out of pocket will likely be less if they have insurance. 
Eli Lilly also said it is launching a commercial savings card program to expand access to Zepbound, which could allow people with insurance coverage for the drug to pay as low as $25 for a one-month or three-month prescription. Meanwhile, those whose insurance does not cover Zepbound may be able to pay as low as $550 for those prescriptions.
“Broader access to these medicines is critical, which is why Lilly is committed to working with healthcare, government and industry partners to ensure people who may benefit from Zepbound can access it,” said Mike Mason, executive vice president and president of Eli Lilly Diabetes and Obesity, in a statement.

More CNBC health coverage

The bigger issue is that many insurance companies are dropping weight loss drugs from their plans. Those insurers cite the extreme costs of covering those medications, and some say they want to see more data demonstrating the health benefits of the drugs beyond losing weight. 
Preliminary data is already available: A recent late-stage trial found that Novo Nordisk’s weight loss drug Wegovy reduced the risk of cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke by 20%. The results suggest that Wegovy and similar drugs like Mounjaro could have long-lasting heart health benefits. 
It is unclear whether Zepbound will eventually encounter supply issues after the U.S. saw widespread shortages of Mounjaro.
On Wednesday, Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks told reporters that the company is prepared to fully launch Zepbound and has the supply to do so. He also noted that all doses of Mounjaro are now listed as available on the FDA’s drug shortage website.
The company is working to boost production capacity for tirzepatide, Ricks added.
“We’re prepared for a big bold launch here toward the end of the year and we’ll work hard to continue to expand our supply capacity to meet the needs of people with obesity,” Ricks told reporters.

Zepbound side effects

Similar to other weight loss drugs, Zepbound is associated with side effects such as nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, constipation, abdominal discomfort and pain, fatigue and allergic reactions, among others, according to the FDA’s approval label. 
The agency also noted that Zepbound causes thyroid C-cell tumors in rats, but it’s unclear if the drug has that effect in humans.
The FDA advises against the use of Zepbound in patients with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer – a cancer that forms inside your thyroid gland – or in people with a rare condition called Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia syndrome type 2. 
The agency also said that Zepbound should not be used in combination with Mounjaro or another weight loss or diabetes drug targeting GLP-1 because “the safety and effectiveness of coadministration” has not been established. 
The agency’s other warnings about Zepbound include inflammation of the pancreas, gallbladder problems, acute kidney injury and suicidal behavior or thinking.
“Anti-obesity medications in the past have been associated with suicidal ideation, and that’s really something that should be watched for when you’re treating somebody for weight loss,” Dr. Leonard Glass, Eli Lilly’s senior vice president of global medical affairs for diabetes and obesity, said during a call with reporters. “Therefore we encourage people to keep an eye on this and go to their health care provider for any side effects, they can be monitored.” More

Disney broke out ESPN’s quarterly results for the first time on Wednesday.
Both revenue and operating income rose in the quarter.
Disney plans to make ESPN available as a direct-to-consumer service no later than 2025, CEO Bob Iger said.

The worldwide leader in sports still has some juice.
ESPN operating income surged 16% from a year ago to $987 million in Disney’s fiscal fourth quarter — the first time Disney has ever broken out the sports division’s finances. Revenue in the segment grew 1% year-over-year to $3.8 billion.

Disney also revealed ESPN+ was profitable in the quarter, generating $33 million. That compares to Disney+ and Hulu, Disney’s other streaming services, which lost $420 million in the quarter.
While Disney’s other linear network revenue fell 9%, ESPN’s gains in both operating income and revenue suggest the business isn’t foundering — even as sports rights makes up 40% of Disney’s overall content spend. That should come as a giant relief for investors.
Disney CEO Bob Iger said last year that “linear TV and satellite is marching towards a great precipice and it will be pushed off,” declaring that traditional TV will eventually die off completely. The ESPN results suggest the sports network may not be in as dire shape as the rest of the linear universe.
“It’s on a great trajectory,” Iger said about ESPN, in an interview with CNBC’s Julia Boorstin on Wednesday. “And the ratings are actually very strong, too. ESPN had one of the strongest years ratings wise, I think, in the last four or fiveyears in 2023. That’s a great thing. We obviously are planning to take ESPN out on a direct to consumer basis. We feel great about that.”
While Disney is still a year away from breaking even in its streaming business, according to the company’s own estimates, ESPN+ already turns a profit. While linear network advertising fell, ESPN advertising had a “modest increase” in the quarter, Disney said in its earnings statement.

None of this erases ESPN’s existential crisis of surviving in a streaming-first world rather than the cable bundle. But it does suggest that ESPN isn’t as much in crisis mode as some investors have may feared.
Disney has held discussions with the four major U.S. professional sports leagues — the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League and Major League Baseball — about them potentially taking minority equity stakes in ESPN, CNBC reported in July. Disney has also had discussions with other technology companies “that can add either marketing support, technology support or possibly content support,” Iger said in a CNBC interview Wednesday.
Disney wants to transform ESPN into the preeminent digital sports distribution platform in the coming years, said Iger, who told CNBC that ESPN’s direct-to-consumer offering will launch no later than 2025.
“ESPN is the No. 1 brand on TikTok with about 44 million followers, which is an incredible statistic,” Iger said during Disney’s earnings conference call. “We feel leaning into it is the smart thing to do because of its unique quality, how popular it is, and how profitable it’s been.”
WATCH: Watch CNBC’s full interview with Disney CEO Bob Iger after fiscal fourth quarter earnings. More

Swedish electric vehicle maker Polestar on Wednesday cut its longstanding 2025 deliveries target and said that despite cost cuts, it will still need to raise cash to break even that year.
Polestar said it now targeting a gross profit margin “in the high teens” for 2025, with a total annual volume of roughly 155,000 to 165,000 vehicles.
Polestar’s net loss for the third quarter was $155.4 million

A Polestar 4 electric SUV is on display during the 20th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai) on April 18, 2023 in Shanghai, China.
Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images

Swedish electric vehicle maker Polestar on Wednesday cut its longstanding 2025 deliveries target and said that despite cost cuts, it will still need to raise cash to break even that year.
The company also cut its guidance for the current year.

Shares rose about 3% in after-hours trading.
Polestar said it now targeting a gross profit margin “in the high teens” for 2025, with a total annual volume of roughly 155,000 to 165,000 vehicles. At the time of its initial public offering last year, Polestar was targeting annual sales of about 290,000 vehicles by the end of 2025.
For 2023, Polestar now expects to deliver “approximately 60,000” vehicles, at the low end of its previous guidance range, with a positive gross margin of about 2%. The company had previously guided to deliveries of between 60,000 and 70,000 vehicles in 2023, with a gross margin of 4% for the year.
Polestar’s gross margin was 1.1% in the first nine months of 2023 and 4.9% in 2022. It delivered 51,491 vehicles in 2022.
Polestar also said it is taking additional steps to cut costs. It has received $450 million in new loans from its founding investors, Chinese automaker Geely Automobile Holding and Geely subsidiary Volvo Cars. It now expects it will need additional outside funding of about $1.3 billion to get to break-even cash flow in 2025.

“By having taken the necessary steps to re-work our business plan, we are reducing costs and improving efficiencies to create a more resilient and profitable Polestar – and reducing our funding need at the same time,” CEO Thomas Ingenlath said in a statement.
The news came as part of Polestar’s third-quarter earnings report.
Polestar’s net loss for the third quarter was $155.4 million. A year ago, Polestar reported a net profit of $299.4 million, thanks to an accounting credit related to the decline of its stock price at the time.
Revenue for the third quarter increased to $613.2 million from $435.5 million during the same period last year.
Polestar delivered 13,976 vehicles in the third quarter, up 51% from a year ago, and a total of 41,817 vehicles in the first nine months of 2023.
Polestar had $951.1 million in cash and equivalents at the end of the third quarter, down from $1.06 billion as of June 30.
Polestar confirmed that its upcoming Polestar 3, a large electric SUV, is on track to begin production in China in the first quarter of 2024 and in the United States in the summer of next year. The Polestar 3 is based on a new platform developed by (and shared with) Volvo Cars. It was originally expected before the end of 2023, but delays with the platform’s software — developed by Volvo — pushed it into 2024.
Production of the Polestar 4, a smaller crossover SUV, will begin in China next week as planned, the company said. Deliveries are expected to begin in China next month, and in the rest of the world early next year. An additional model, an upscale sedan called Polestar 5, is currently expected to go into production in China by the end of 2024. More

Virgin Galactic plans to pause spaceflight operations next year to focus resources on developing its next-generation Delta-class spacecraft.
It also laid off about 185 employees on Tuesday, or about 18% of its workforce, in order “to decrease its costs and strategically realign its resources.”
The company has been spending heavily to expand its fleet beyond the current sole VSS Unity spacecraft, which has been flying at a monthly rate.

Carrier aircraft VMS Eve releases spacecraft VSS Unity before firing its rocket engine during the Unity 25 spaceflight on May 25, 2023.
Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic plans to pause spaceflight operations next year to focus resources on developing its next-generation Delta-class spacecraft, the company announced Wednesday.
Although Virgin Galactic has been flying commercial missions at a monthly rate since June, the space tourism company will reduce the rate its VSS Unity spacecraft is flying to a quarter rate, before pausing “in mid-2024” to focus resources on final assembly of new Delta ships, the company said in its third-quarter results.

Virgin Galactic laid off about 185 employees on Tuesday, or about 18% of its workforce, in order “to decrease its costs and strategically realign its resources.” The reduction brings Virgin Galactic’s total headcount to 840 employees and is expected to generate about $25 million in annual cost savings.
The space tourism company posted a net loss of $104.6 million, or 28 cents a share, compared with a loss of 43 cents a share expected, according to analysts surveyed by LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv.
Virgin Galactic generated $1.7 million in revenue during the quarter – up from $767,000 a year prior. Earlier this month Virgin Galactic completed its fifth commercial spaceflight.
Virgin Galactic stock rose 8% in after-hours trading from its close at $1.56 a share. The stock is down 55% year-to-date.

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Virgin Galactic had cash and securities totaling $1.1 billion at the end of the quarter.

The company has been spending heavily to expand its fleet beyond the current sole VSS Unity spacecraft. Virgin Galactic is developing its Delta-class spacecraft to fly at an improved weekly rate. The company aims to open a new factory by mid-2024 in Phoenix for Delta production.
“We forecast having sufficient capital to bring our first two Delta ships into service and achieve positive cash flow in 2026,” Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said in a statement. More

Disney reported quarterly earnings after the closing bell.
Profit topped expectations, but revenue came up short.
Ad revenue slumped, but the streaming segment narrowed its loss.

LOS ANGELES — Disney earnings topped expectations thanks in part to profit at ESPN+ and continued growth at theme parks, but a decline in ad revenue weighed on the top line.
Disney also said it plans to continue to “aggressively manage” its cost base, increasing its cost-cutting measures by an additional $2 billion to a target of $7.5 billion.

Shares of the company rose more than 4% after the closing bell Wednesday.
The decrease in ad revenue was primarily from Disney’s ABC Network and other owned TV stations, which saw lower political advertising revenue during the quarter. Over the summer, CEO Bob Iger said the company could be open to selling its TV assets.
Meanwhile, the company added 7 million new core Disney+ subscribers from the previous quarter, bringing its total number of users to 150.2 million, including Hotstar. The streaming business also narrowed its losses compared with a year earlier.
Wall Street had expected Disney to report a total of 148.15 million subs for the quarter. The company touted the addition of theatrical titles such as “Elemental,” “Little Mermaid” and “Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3” as well as the new Star Wars series “Ahsoka” as key streaming content during the last three months.
The company continues to expect that its combined streaming businesses will reach profitability in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2024.

“As we look forward, there are four key building opportunities that will be central to our success: achieving significant and sustained profitability in our streaming business, building ESPN into the preeminent digital sports platform, improving the output and economics of our film studios, and turbocharging growth in our parks and experiences business,” CEO Bob Iger said in a statement Wednesday.
Here are the key numbers from Disney’s report:

EPS: 82 cents per share adjusted vs. 70 cents per share expected, according to LSEG, formerly known as Refinitiv
Revenue: $21.24 billion vs. $21.33 billion expected, according to LSEG
Total Disney+ subscribers: 150.2 million vs. 148.15 million expected, according to StreetAccount.

The company reported net income of $264 million, or 14 cents per share, for the fiscal fourth-quarter ended Sept. 30, up from a net income of $162 million, or 9 cents a share, during the year-ago period.
Excluding impairments, the company earned 82 cents per share, higher than the 70 cents per share Wall Street had expected.
Revenue increased 5% to $21.24 billion, just short of estimates, which called for revenue of $21.33 billion. This is the second consecutive revenue miss for Disney and the first time it has had a consecutive revenue miss since early 2018.
This is also the first quarter that Disney is using its new financial reporting structure, which segmented the company into three divisions — entertainment, sports and experiences. Entertainment contains all of Disney’s streaming and media operations, sports includes ESPN, and experiences includes the company’s theme parks, hotels, cruise line and merchandising efforts.
Disney’s experience division saw revenues jump 13% to $8.16 billion during the quarter as parks saw higher attendance and ticket prices domestically and abroad. The company reported that there are still lower hotel rates at its Florida resort and that area is experiencing higher operating costs. Parks represented around 66% of total revenue for this division. More