Business

The Writers Guild of America has officially ratified its new three-year contract with Hollywood studios.
On Monday, the guild announced that 99% of its membership voted to ratify the new deal.
The terms of the new agreement go from Sept. 25 through May 1, 2026.

Writers Guild of America East members walk a picket line at the Paramount+ Summit outside the Paramount Building in Times Square in New York City on May 17, 2023
Alexi Rosenfeld | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

The Writers Guild of America has officially ratified its new three-year contract with Hollywood studios.
The guild on Monday announced that 99% of its membership voted to ratify the new deal, with 8,435 votes for “yes” and only 90 for “no.” The terms of the new agreement go from Sept. 25 through May 1, 2026.

“Through solidarity and determination, we have ratified a contract with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of our combined membership,” said Meredith Stiehm, president of Writers Guild of America West.
The WGA secured pay increases in each of the next three years, artificial intelligence restrictions and a new residual system for streaming based on viewership. The guild also negotiated higher contribution rates to health benefits and pensions, as well as a guaranteed number of writers in writers’ rooms for television shows.
The first productions to return after the strike ended were late-night heavyweights Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and Stephen Colbert, followed by John Oliver, host of “Last Week Tonight.”
Now it’s the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists’ turn. The actors guild began negotiations with the likes of Disney, Paramount, Netflix, Universal and Warner Bros. Discovery last week.
“Until the studios make a deal that addresses the needs of performers, WGA members will be on the picket lines, walking side-by-side with SAG-AFTRA in solidarity,” said Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, president of Writers Guild of America East.

SAG-AFTRA is looking to improve wages, working conditions and health and pension benefits, as well as establish guardrails for the use of AI in future television and film productions. Additionally, the union is seeking more transparency from streaming services about viewership so that residual payments can be made equitable to linear TV. The guild is also looking to standardize the self-tape process.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal is part of the AMPTP. More

Hispanic inclusion in corporate America lagged last year, according to the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility’s 2023 Corporate Inclusion Index.
While Hispanics make up 18% of the U.S. workforce, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, they are overrepresented in nonexempt positions.
Hispanics make up 7% of corporate board representation and Latinas only held 2% of seats.

Xavierarnau | E+ | Getty Images

Hispanic inclusion in corporate America lagged last year, particularly in three key areas — C-suite representation, talent development and supplier procurement — according to the Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility’s 2023 Corporate Inclusion Index.
While Hispanics make up 18% of the U.S. workforce, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, they are overrepresented in nonexempt positions, which represent 73% of the Hispanic workforce according to HACR’s research.

Nonexempt positions often offer fewer benefits, limited autonomy and fewer advancement opportunities, which can stifle the ability of Hispanic workers to advance within companies.
“There’s no precise way to define success in the case of these things,” said Lisette Garcia, HACR chief research officer. “It’s more about ensuring that people feel engaged and committed and valued and that their voice matters, but that’s where benchmarking and doing these surveys matter.”
The corporate advocacy group’s annual report, which measures Hispanic inclusion in employment, procurement, governance and philanthropy, was provided exclusively to CNBC ahead of its wider release.
It includes data from 92 companies — many within the Fortune 500 — collected between January and April.
A key finding from HACR: The lack of representation typically begins right at the start of the pipeline.

While all companies that participated in the survey reported offering internship programs, only 13% of interns in 2022 identified as Hispanic.
Garcia clarified that number may in reality be higher since demographic data collection around interns isn’t always conducted.
While the vast majority of companies say they prioritize “mentorship” and “succession planning initiatives,” at 91% and 97% of respondents, respectively, almost one-third of companies said they do not have clearly defined goals or metrics to evaluate the success of internal talent development and program success.
“One way of combatting issues related to Hispanic inclusion in corporate America is investments in internship programs as a way of attracting new employees,” HACR noted in its report.
Hispanic representation on corporate boards was even more troubling, according to the findings. Just 7% of board seats at respondent companies were held by Hispanics according to HACR, and only 2% of seats were held by Latinas.
Almost half the companies surveyed had no Hispanic board directors.
As for supplier diversity, HACR found fewer than 1% of companies supplying to survey respondents were Hispanic in 2022, and just slightly more than 1% of total spend was with Hispanic-owned businesses.
Garcia also noted those results amount to best estimates, not perfect numbers, since companies aren’t required to collect demographic information for their supplier pool. She also shared in her research that the companies collecting this data and sharing their results are often those committed to leading the charge.
“Companies who really understand the value of this work for their business bottom line are going to be the ones that keep moving forward,” she said. “The sheer numbers of population growth and buying power tell us that companies aren’t going to really have a choice.”
While Hispanic inclusion lagged, HACR noted survey participation was up 12%, offering hope for future improvement.
“In spite of everything that’s happening in society at large with attacks on DEI work and attacks on marginalized people in the United States, we’re seeing companies be interested in benchmarking,” said Garcia.
“There’s this renewed interest in saying, ‘Hey, where am I? What do I need to do to get better,’ and for me, that’s all I need to hear.”
Disclosure: CNBC’s parent company Comcast is among the companies that participated in HACR’s annual survey. More

Several airlines suspended service to Israel after surprise attacks by Hamas and Israeli retaliation.
United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines each scrubbed service to Tel Aviv.
Israeli airline El Al, Emirates and Turkish Airlines continued to operate.

People wait in departing section at Ben Gurion Airport, Israel’s only international airport, after many flights from abroad are cancelled due to the attacks launched by Palestinian factions in Tel Aviv, Israel on October 8, 2023.
Turgut Alp Boyraz | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Several airlines have suspended service to Israel after surprise attacks by Hamas and Israeli retaliation left hundreds dead and thousands injured.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Monday that nine U.S. citizens were killed. Some U.S. citizens are still unaccounted for “and we are working with our Israeli partners to determine their whereabouts,” he said.

A National Security Council spokesperson said that the U.S. is not “actively” considering an evacuation of U.S. citizens.
Meanwhile the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Saturday sent a notice to pilots stating “operators are advised to exercise extreme caution when operating” in the Tel Aviv area because of the attacks.
United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines each scrubbed service to Tel Aviv.
Delta said Monday that it would suspend its nonstop flights to and from Tel Aviv through at least the end of October and said it will work with customers to get them out of Israel through partner airlines.
United Flight 954, which departed San Francisco Friday night for Israel, turned back near Greenland, according to flight-tracker FlightAware.

“Our Tel Aviv flights will remain suspended until conditions allow them to resume,” United said on Sunday.
American flights scheduled for early this week were also canceled.
Germany-based Lufthansa Group said all of its flights, including those on Swiss International Air Lines and Austrian Airlines, were suspended into Tel Aviv.
Swiss International Air Lines is planning to send an Airbus A321 with seating for 219 passengers to Tel Aviv on Tuesday in coordination with the Swiss government “intended to offer Swiss nationals in Israel the opportunity of a prompt return to their home country.”
All scheduled commercial service on the airline is canceled through at least Saturday.
“We regret having to do so,” the airline said in a statement. “We are monitoring developments closely and remain in close contact with the relevant authorities.”
British Airways also canceled flights this weekend and reduced service early in the week. Air France said its Tel Aviv service was canceled “until further notice,” while European budget airlines Wizz and easyJet canceled flights to Tel Aviv through at least Monday.
Israeli airline El Al said Sunday that its flights were “operated as scheduled” and said it was expanding its schedule to help offset the cancellations. Emirates Airline also continued to operate flights between Tel Aviv to Dubai, and Turkish Airlines flew between Tel Aviv and Istanbul.
El Al and other carriers also offered travel waivers for customers to delay or cancel their trips.
Cruise operator Royal Caribbean said it adjusted several itineraries to bypass the area because of the attacks. “Impacted guests are being notified directly,” the company said in a statement.
Some tour operators worked to get travelers out of the country quickly.
Nadav Peretz, founder of OUTstanding Travel, a Tel Aviv-based tour company that caters to the LGBTQ+ community, said he had more than 30 clients in the country at the time of the attacks and that customers quickly found flights out of the country and were refunded for the rest of their trips.
“Unfortunately, we had to send people back to the airport after two or three days of their trip,” Peretz said by phone.
Intrepid Travel said it “had a small number” of travelers in the country when the attacks began on Saturday and that all guides and customers are accounted for.
Zina Bencheikh, managing director of Intrepid Travel’s Middle East and Africa business, said that the company’s customers who were in the middle of a tour in Israel during the attacks had mostly left the country, with the exception of one who was set to leave on Monday.
The company canceled its tours in Israel through the end of the month. More

“The Exorcist: Believer” topped the box office during its opening weekend, but now it faces competition from pop icon Taylor Swift.
Box office analysts expect the Universal and Blumhouse feature to see a sharper than usual decline in ticket sales for a horror film.
Still, the film could have a solid theatrical run in the weeks to come, if audience word of mouth is strong.

Scene from the upcoming film: The Exorcist: Believer.
Universal Studios

“The Exorcist: Believer” possessed the box office during its opening weekend, but industry experts wonder if it will continue to turn heads in the weeks to come.
The Universal and Blumhouse collaboration, the first of three planned films, tallied $26.5 million during its debut, making it the top-grossing film of the weekend. Yet that haul fell just shy of the $30 million prediction set by box office analysts. With international ticket sales, the film has generated $44 million.

Still, on a production budget of just $30 million, “The Exorcist: Believer” could prove profitable if it continues to lure moviegoers in the coming weeks.
There’s just one complication: Taylor Swift.
“The Exorcist: Believer” fled from its original release date (Oct. 13) because Swift announced her Eras Tour concert film would arrive in cinemas that day. The film quickly snared the coveted, higher priced, premium format screens, leaving little room for “The Exorcist: Believer” to eke out a solid opening.
“Moving from Friday the 13th to the 6th was a good move since the inherently strong marketing hook and advantage of having a horror movie opening on this classic day of superstitious importance would’ve likely been outweighed by the overwhelming dominance of that Swift film,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
Representatives for Universal declined to comment.

There was a brief notion that the two films could have partnered to become “Exorswift,” an opposites attract double feature like the summer’s “Barbenheimer” (“Barbie” and “Oppenheimer”). The potential same-day opening was almost immediately shut down when “The Exorcist: Believer” moved its release date up a week. Even producer Jason Blum, head of Blumhouse, was open to the idea.
Dergarabedian threw cold water on how well the combination would have worked, however.
“The notion that an ‘Exorswift’ mashup could have somehow been comparable to the ‘Barbenheimer’ phenomenon is patently absurd given the unlikelihood that legions of Swifties would have an interest in a very R-rated horror movie like ‘The Exorcist: Believer,'” he said. “Thus going all in on a head-to-head matchup with Swift might have proved disastrous.”

Taylor Swift performs onstage during her The Eras Tour at Lumen Field in Seattle, July 22, 2023.
Mat Hayward/tas23 | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

After all, Swift’s Eras Tour concert film is already a $100 million blockbuster — and that’s just from presales from AMC Entertainment cinemas which doesn’t include dozens of other theater chains’ sales.
In moving the week before Swift’s film opening, “The Exorcist: Believer” was able to control a higher number of premium screens and more audience attention. Around 34% of all theatrical foot traffic over the weekend was for the film, according to data from EntTelligence. Competition for that traffic included a new “Paw Patrol” film and a number of R-rated features like “Saw X,” “The Nun II,” “The Equalizer 3” and “Expend4bles.”
Box office analysts foresee a sharp drop in ticket sales from “The Exorcist: Believer’s” opening weekend to its second week. A decline is typical for horror movies, but Swift’s film will exacerbate it, the predict.
Word of mouth could also be a factor. Horror movies are usually review-proof, often performing well theatrically despite critical panning. As of Monday, “The Exorcist: Believer” holds a 22% score on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and a 59% audience rating. With several more weeks before Halloween, the film could still pull in moviegoers looking for a fright.

Scary stakes

There’s a good reason why Universal couldn’t take the risk on Exorswift. The studio badly needs “The Exorcist: Believer” and its planned sequels to be hits. (The next film, “The Exorcist: Deceiver,” is due April 2025.)
Universal and its streaming partner, Peacock, paid more than $400 million for the rights to The Exorcist brand. Through that investment, the studio has planned a trilogy of films. The company is also able to place previous Exorcist films on Peacock and integrate the IP in other ways, like Halloween Horror Nights at its domestic theme parks.
Still, no movie in the franchise, except for the original, has grossed more than $42 million domestically, according to Comscore. In fact, not counting “Believer,” all of the five sequels and prequels since the first movie have grossed under $150 million combined.

A scary track record

How “Exorcist” films have fared at the domestic box office:

“The Exorcist” (1973): $193.2 million
“The Exorcist: The Beginning” (2004): $41.8 million
“The Exorcist: The Version You’ve Never Seen” (2000)*: $40.1 million
“Exorcist II: The Heretic” (1977): $30.7 million
“The Exorcist III” (1990): $26.1 million
“Dominion: A Prequel to The Exorcist” (2005): $251,495

Source: Comscore
*Special edition re-release of the original

“The Exorcist is not a brand or series that’s been prevalent in the pop culture consciousness for decades now, and its few sequels beforehand never lived up to the iconic box office run of the 1973 original,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com. “The industry may have gotten a little carried away in expecting a bigger run just because this Exorcist sequel has the Blumhouse name on it.”
“The Exorcist,” released on the day after Christmas in 1973, grossed $193 million domestically, and the “Version You’ve Never Seen” re-release, which featured additional scenes, scored $40 million in 2000.
Otherwise, the franchise is cursed at the box office. “Exorcist II,” which was made in 1977 without creator William Peter Blatty’s involvement, is widely considered one of the worst sequels ever made. Blatty, who died in 2017, wrote and directed 1990’s “The Exorcist III,” but he said the movie’s production company, Morgan Creek, forced him to severely compromise his vision. (The movie has since grown in stature among fans and critics.)
Then there was an ill-fated attempt to produce a prequel film in the 2000s that resulted in two wildly different movies. A generally well-regarded TV series ran on Fox for two seasons in 2016 and 2017, but it was canceled after a significant decline in ratings.
“Will the franchise have a higher ceiling in the years to come? That remains to be seen,” Robbins said. “It will largely come down to creative decisions and how the studios make an effort to attract modern horror audiences rather than leaning on a brand that a big portion of today’s moviegoers haven’t been regularly exposed to.”
Disclosure: NBCUniversal, which distributes “The Exorcist: Believer,” is the parent company of CNBC and Peacock. NBCUniversal owns Rotten Tomatoes. More

Ticket prices for cruises are surging as operators say they’re meeting higher demand for post-pandemic vacations.
Cruise operators such as Carnival and Royal Caribbean said they’re considering raising prices even more to close the gap between the price of cruise vacations and land-based vacation alternatives.
Some industry watchers say the price surges show no signs of slowing.

Carnival’s Breeze cruise ship leaves the Port of Miami.
Christina Mendenhall | Bloomberg | Getty Images

As vacationers emerge into a post-pandemic travel world, cruises have made a spectacular comeback — and ticket prices are surging.
Cruise operators such as Carnival and Royal Caribbean Cruises are setting some ticket prices higher than pre-pandemic levels and are indicating they may raise them further, even as they post pre-Covid profits.

According to data from Cruise Critic, a cruise review site owned by Tripadvisor, the average price of a five-night cruise in the Caribbean for December of this year is $736, roughly 37% higher than the average price a year earlier. Compared to 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic decimated the cruising industry, December ticket prices are up 43%.
Carnival CEO Josh Weinstein said during a call with Wall Street analysts at the end of September that the company’s third-quarter net revenue per passenger per day reached a record high. The company’s booking volumes likewise hit an all-time high, pushing cruise occupancy and revenue beyond 2019 levels, he said.
Especially as costs of labor, food and fuel continue to rise, Carnival executives noted on the call, the company, which owns multiple major cruise brands, is “well-positioned to drive 2024 pricing higher.”
A Carnival spokesperson declined to comment on the company’s specific future pricing actions but said in a statement to CNBC that the company has been able to deliver a value of 25% to 50% over “comparable land-based vacation alternatives.”
Carnival sees “ample headroom” to close that gap, the spokesperson said.

Royal Caribbean CEO Jason Liberty echoed the sentiment, saying on that company’s post-earnings call in July that his company is also considering increasing prices to meet the surge in demand.

Are high prices here to stay?

Aaron Saunders, a senior editor at Cruise Critic, said part of what’s driving the price surge is the comparison to high airfares.
As inflation surges, airfare tickets have reached sky-high prices, with international airfare up 26% from 2019, according to an August estimate by fare-tracking company Hopper.
With travelers facing higher costs across the broader sector, and considering cruises typically include additional amenities such as meals and entertainment, consumers are likely to gravitate in that direction, Saunders said.
That demand is being driven by both seasoned cruisers and first timers, he said, a dynamic the industry hasn’t historically seen much of. Even so, Saunders said he believes the high prices might be here to stay.
“[The higher prices] are likely subject to fluctuation — but what we’re seeing, generally speaking, is that the higher prices are here today, but those higher prices will ping pong around throughout different sectors,” Saunders said, noting that the Caribbean market is currently one of the most popular sectors. “Cruise lines aren’t being required to drop prices the way they used to … they’re just simply not having to lower fares or to really offer too many incentives because people are just booking.”
Truist Securities analyst Patrick Scholes said while rising oil prices are important to monitor for context for the cruise industry, there’s not enough of a correlation between that increase and the increase in cruise prices to explain the propped-up tickets.
“They’re raising prices naturally — fuel or no fuel, the demand is there for them to be raising prices,” Scholes said.
While in a pre-pandemic world, last-minute bookings meant cheaper deals to secure a cabin, Scholes said, the prices are now so high that they’ll only increase more as the vacation date nears.
For now, the record-high ticket prices show no signs of slowing, according to Ashley Kosciolek, senior cruise writer at The Points Guy. Kosciolek noted that the industry is also seeing higher prices for beverage packages and add-on amenities that used to be included in fares.
“Let’s also not forget that the industry’s three largest parent companies — Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings — are still paying off billions in debt incurred during the pandemic,” she said. More

Activist investor Nelson Peltz and his firm, Trian Fund Management, are reigniting a potential proxy war with Disney less than a year after dropping the initial battle.
Trian has increased its stake to roughly 30 million shares, valued at more than $2.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The firm plans to push for multiple board seats, they added.
Disney’s share price hit a 52-week-low recently as the media and theme park empire has struggled.

Nelson Peltz speaking at the 2019 Delivering Alpha conference in New York on Sept. 19, 2019.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC

A proxy battle between Nelson Peltz and Disney is brewing for the second time this year.
Peltz’s activist firm, Trian Fund Management, has increased its stake in Disney to about 30 million shares, valued at roughly $2.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The stake makes Trian one of the largest shareholders in Disney.

The move comes less than a year after Peltz dropped his initial proxy fight with Disney, and days after the company’s stock reached a 52-week-low.
The firm plans to push for multiple seats on the board this time, including one for Peltz, the people said. Earlier this year, the firm sought only a spot for Peltz.
The nomination window for new board members opens on Dec. 5 and runs until Jan. 4, according to public filings. If Disney rejects Trian’s proposal, the firm could nominate directors during the open window to be voted on at the company’s annual meeting in spring 2024.
A Disney representative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that Peltz increased his Disney stake.

Stock chart icon

Disney’s stock hit a 52-week-low on Oct. 4.

It’s been nearly a year since Bob Iger returned as Disney’s CEO. The company has struggled to make its streaming unit profitable and has announced other initiatives to turn around its business.
Iger has opened the door to selling some of Disney’s assets, particularly its TV networks business. He has also considered looking for an investor in sports channel ESPN.
“After coming back, I realized the company is facing a lot of challenges, some of them self-inflicted,” Iger told CNBC’s David Faber in July.
Iger managed to ward off Peltz in February after the company unveiled a vast restructuring plan that included cost cuts and 7,000 layoffs. Disney said it would slash $5.5 billion in costs, consisting of $3 billion from content, excluding sports, and another $2.5 billion from non-content costs.
When Trian launched its proxy fight in January, the firm had owned about 9.4 million shares valued at roughly $900 million. Peltz had criticized Disney’s $71 billion acquisition of Fox in 2019, its failed succession planning and what he called “weak corporate governance” over the years that has depleted shareholder value.
It’s unclear if Trian has any specific operational ideas for Disney that Iger hasn’t already proposed or has privately rejected. Trian released a slide presentation in January showcasing Disney’s stock underperformance and the activist fund’s own track record of improving corporate valuation.
The fund spent several slides noting how Disney’s acquisition of the majority of 21st Century Fox’s assets has failed to generate a return for shareholders.
Trian also focused on Disney’s inability to find a successor for Iger. The Disney board and Iger have been vetting succession candidates since Iger returned to the CEO job in November, according to people familiar with the matter, and have targeted early 2025 as a logical time to set up that transition.
In July, Disney extended Iger’s contract by another two years to 2026. The succession process has remained a key issue for the company and its leader. Iger returned to Disney following a fallout with Bob Chapek, has handpicked successor. More

About 3,900 UAW members with Mack Trucks will go on strike Monday after a majority of members rejected a tentative deal reached last week by the union and company.
The tentative agreement was voted down by 73% of UAW members who voted, the union announced Sunday night.
The deal fell significantly short of what the union is demanding in negotiations currently being held with the Detroit automakers, leading some workers to vote against the potential contract.

UAW members attend a rally in support of the labor union strike at the UAW Local 551 hall on the South Side on October 7, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. 
Jim Vondruska | Getty Images

DETROIT – About 3,900 United Auto Workers members with Mack Trucks will go on strike Monday after a majority of members rejected a tentative agreement reached last week by the union and company.
The tentative agreement was voted down by 73% of UAW members who voted, the union said Sunday night. Workers at facilities in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Florida will strike starting at 7 a.m. Monday, UAW announced online.

The Mack Trucks workers will add to tens of thousands of other striking UAW members, most notably more than 25,000 employees with General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis. The union launched targeted strikes at select facilities against the Detroit automakers beginning Sept. 15. The union’s since expanded the strikes at each of the automakers.
The Mack Trucks deal was viewed as a potential test of the willingness of workers to ratify a deal that didn’t meet raised expectations set by UAW President Shawn Fain for record contracts for hourly pay increases, equal pay for equal work, inflation protection and shorter work weeks.
The tentative deal with Volvo Group-owned Mack Trucks fell significantly short of what the union is demanding in negotiations currently being held with the Detroit automakers, leading some workers last week to tell CNBC that they would vote against the deal.
One Mack Trucks worker descried the deal as “disgraceful” and an “insult” compared to their expectations and what’s currently being negotiated by UAW international leaders with the Detroit automakers, also known as the Big Three.
“We are low man on totem pole, and we are getting no backing from international,” said a more than 10-year material technician on Friday. “They are just pushing this [tentative agreement] through so they don’t have to deal with us while the Big Three are negotiating.”

While Mack Trucks is a separate company and a different part of the union than the section that covers members with the Detroit automakers, some workers were expecting that they would receive similar increases and benefits as their union brethren at the Detroit automakers.
The Mack Trucks tentative agreement varies by location and job but for many workers, it includes a roughly 19% wage increase over the five-year deal, including 10% upon ratification; $3,500 ratification bonuses; increased 401(k) company payments; and other benefits. It does not include the elimination of wage tiers (it only has a one-year reduction that would bring the steps to five years); re-instatement of traditional pensions; cost-of-living adjustments to battle inflation; or shorter work weeks.
Demands by UAW negotiators with the Detroit automakers have included 40% pay increase, inflation protection in the form of cost-of-living allowances (COLA), work/life balance and other bonuses and benefits.
Fain, who has publicly laid out the demands for Detroit autoworkers, said COLA, job security, wage progression and a host of other topics as outstanding issues in the talks with Mack Trucks.
“The members have spoken, and as the highest authority in our union, they have the final word,” Fain said Sunday in a message released by the union. He said the union “remains committed to exploring all options for reaching an agreement, but clearly we are not there yet.”
Mack Trucks President Stephen Roy said the company is “surprised and disappointed that the UAW has chosen to strike, which we feel is unnecessary.”
“We are committed to the collective bargaining process, and remain confident that we will be able to arrive at an agreement that delivers competitive wages and benefits for our employees and their families, while safeguarding our future as a competitive company and stable long-term employer. We look forward to returning to negotiations as soon as possible,” he said Sunday night in a release. More

U.S. investors have been vying to invest in European soccer clubs, either as majority or minority investors, with the most recent deals for Everton and Liverpool highlighting the trend.
Some middle-market private equity firms, however, are getting creative as competition rises, especially from deep-pocketed investors such as the Saudis.
Many are eyeing the so-called “multi-club” model and investing in smaller teams or lower leagues throughout Europe.

Liverpool’s Curtis Jones celebrates scoring their side’s second goal of the game during the Premier League match at the King Power Stadium, Leicester. Picture date: Monday May 15, 2023.
Tim Goode | Pa Images | Getty Images

For U.S. investors looking to score an investment in a European soccer club, some of the focus is shifting toward the clubs with lower valuations and typically not in the marquee tier of the sport overseas.
Some investors, particularly in the U.S., are shifting toward a so-called multi-club model, or investing in smaller clubs with lower valuations, as they try to take a piece of the international sports market at smaller deal valuations.

This comes as deep-pocketed investors — from top U.S. private equity and venture capital firms to global rivals like sovereign wealth funds — have intensified competition.
“In terms of private equity and high net worth individuals, soccer is more of a global sport than almost any U.S. sport,” said Charles Baker, co-chair of law firm Sidley’s entertainment, sports and media group. “There are huge populations that can be accessed — in both the regions they play in and the world.”
That global nature of soccer fans — and the growing popularity in the U.S. — often translates into higher revenue opportunities from broadcast media rights deals to merchandising.
The owners behind clubs including Manchester United, Chelsea FC and Newcastle have seen revenue multiples step up, and in many cases valuations have doubled, PitchBook noted in a report that concluded most clubs would sell at a premium.
Deal valuations across the top five European soccer leagues have exploded from more than $70 million in 2018 to roughly $5.2 billion in 2022, according PitchBook. Meanwhile, more than one-third of the clubs in the so-called “Big Five” leagues in Europe are backed by U.S. investors, including private equity and venture capital firms.

The spike in 2022 came from a consortium led by U.S. investor Todd Boehly and private equity firm Clearlake Capital acquiring the English Premier League’s Chelsea for more than $5 billion, as well as Redbird Capital Partners and Elliott Management’s takeover of Italy’s AC Milan for nearly $1.3 billion.
“These recent transactions have set a precedent in terms of club valuation but also prompted many owners to consider selling to [private equity],” according to an analyst report from PitchBook.
Some firms, like Sixth Street Partners, have found different outlets into taking a stake in European soccer, particularly in Spain’s LaLiga. The firm acquired a stake in the Spanish broadcast rights of FC Barcelona, the former longtime home of superstar Lionel Messi, and also paid about $380 million for a stake in Real Madrid’s stadium operations.
The shift is happening as soccer clubs have been looking for fresh capital following the distress stemming from the earlier days of the Covid pandemic. Revenue decreased as coronavirus restrictions kept fans out of the stands and costs rose, which led to an opening for more U.S. investors to take a stake in the increasingly popular global sport.
Last month, U.S. investor Fenway Sports Group sold a minority stake in Liverpool FC to Dynasty Equity, in a move to help it pay down debt stemming from the pandemic and costs from upgrading the team’s home field and buying high-profile players.
Various English Premier League clubs have been reportedly open to discussions with buyers, including recently Sheffield United and Manchester United.

Dwight McNeil (L) and Demarai Gray of Everton during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Everton FC at Old Trafford on April 08, 2023 in Manchester, England. The club’s shirts are sponsored by online casino Stake.com.
Tony Mcardle – Everton Fc | Everton Fc | Getty Images

Multi-club moves

This has led some U.S. investors to find creative ways into the European sports market.
Lower tier leagues like England’s Championship League and League One are attractive plays at smaller valuations, and each have teams open to buyers and investors, noted Neil Barlow, an attorney at Clifford Chance.
“One thing to be mindful of is relegation — it’s taken PE firms and other financial buyers a bit of time to get more comfortable with that. At the same time, they understand the upside of promotion,” said Baker. In soccer, teams face relegation to lower leagues if they have a disappointing season.
Irwin Raij, also co-chair of law firm Sidley’s entertainment, sports and media group, said the firm has seen plenty of investors with business plans to take lower tier teams to a higher level through investment. “It sounds easier than it is to implement. We’ve seen interest from a broad variety of investors in that space,” Raij said.
There’s also rising interest in other teams across Europe, letting U.S. middle-market investors snap up multiple teams and move toward a so-called “multi-club” model.
Valuations across these teams are typically in line with each other. It also allows for a model in which players can be transferred throughout the various clubs owned by the same investor, building up their talent and potentially being sold to a higher league — similar to the minor leagues in the U.S.
Through this method, investors “can find synergies between comparable clubs,” either on the same continent or across the globe, while also leveraging governance, technology and data sharing between the clubs, Barlow said.
“It’s a strategy a lot of other U.S.-based investors are circling around deploying,” Barlow said.

Ilkay Gundogan (C) of Manchester City lifts the UEFA Champions League trophy after the team’s victory in the UEFA Champions League 2022/23 final match against Inter at Ataturk Olympic Stadium.
Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

City Football Club is a multi-club outfit that includes Abu Dhabi United Group as its majority investor. It’s also backed by U.S. private equity firm Silver Lake, and Chinese investors hold a small stake.
City Football Club owns the Premier League’s powerhouse and recent champion Manchester City, as well as Major League Soccer’s New York City Football Club and Australia’s Melbourne City.
But as larger private equity firms chase the top teams, middle-market firms are looking to raise funds to chase the multi-club strategy, Barlow noted.
One U.S. firm that has been using this strategy is 777 Partners.
The Florida-based company recently agreed to buy a majority stake in the Premier League’s Everton for a reported $685 million, after building its portfolio with other European soccer clubs in the past few years.
In 2018, the firm took a stake in the Spain’s Sevilla FC, and followed suit with investments in clubs in various countries from Genoa C.F.C. in Italy and Red Star FC in France to clubs in Brazil and Australia. More