Business

Sales of newly built homes plunged in August from July.
Higher mortgage rates weighed on affordability.
Sales were still higher than they were a year earlier.

Sales of newly built homes fell 8.7% in August from July to a seasonally adjusted annualized pace of 675,000 units, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
That is the slowest pace since March. Sales were still 5.8% higher than August 2022.

The Census count is based on signed contracts during the month, and mortgage rates took a sharp jump higher. The average rate on the popular 30-year fixed loan ended July at 7.04%, according to Mortgage News Daily. By Aug. 22, it was at 7.48%.
“Very stretched affordability means demand will be unable to recover in the near term, causing new home sales to fall back from 675,000 annualized in August to 600,000 annualized by the end of the year,” wrote Imogen Pattison, assistant economist at Capital Economics.
The median price of a newly built home sold in August was $430,300, a drop of 2% compared to August of last year. Homebuilders have been lowering prices as well as offering more incentives, such as buying down mortgage rates. They had slowed those incentives last spring, when rates went below 7%, but they are ramping them up again.
One of the nation’s largest homebuilders, Lennar, recently reported strong earnings, but that was for a quarter where mortgage rates hadn’t hit their highest yet. Lennar Chairman Stuart Miller, however, noted buyer incentives in the release.
“Homebuilders continued to use incentives, including buy-downs, to offset rising interest rates and tighter capital, which limit affordability,” said Miller.

Homebuilders continue to benefit from the extremely tight supply of existing homes for sale, but that boost may finally be overcome by higher interest rates. Builder sentiment dropped into negative territory in September for the first time in seven months, according to the National Association of Home Builders’ monthly survey.
In September, 32% of builders said they cut prices, compared to 25% in August. That’s the largest share of builders reducing prices since December 2022, when 35% were doing so.
The average price cut was 6%.
“High mortgage rates are clearly taking a toll on builder confidence and consumer demand, as a growing number of buyers are electing to defer a home purchase until long-term rates move lower,” Robert Dietz, NAHB’s chief economist, said in a release. More

UPS is hiring more than 100,000 seasonal workers to help with the holiday shipping rush, the company announced Tuesday.
As a result of the newly ratified Teamsters agreement, seasonal workers will make between $21 and $23 per hour, depending on the position.

A UPS worker sorts packages in New York on Dec. 18, 2017.
Adam Jeffery | CNBC

UPS plans to hire more than 100,000 seasonal workers again this year to support the holiday shipping rush, the company announced Tuesday in a press release. This year, though, they’ll be starting with a higher pay.
As a result of a contract agreement with the Teamsters union that was ratified in August, seasonal workers’ pay will start between $21 and $23 per hour, depending on the position. 

The Teamsters deal with UPS comes as workers from pilots to aerospace manufacturing employees have pushed for and won higher pay.
Package handlers and driver helpers will make $21 per hour, while delivery and tractor-trailer drivers will make $23 per hour during the holiday season, a UPS spokesperson said. Last year, package handlers’ starting pay was $15.50 per hour and delivery drivers made a minimum of $21 per hour.
The company said it is hiring both full- and part-time positions, primarily drivers and package handlers. Some permanent positions are also available. 
“We’re proud to offer industry-leading pay for UPS part-timers, full-timers and seasonal employees alike,” Nando Cesarone, UPS’ executive vice president, said in the release. “We’re looking forward to delivering yet another leading on-time performance this holiday season and helping thousands of workers kick off their UPS careers in the process.”
Nearly 80% of the company’s seasonal positions do not require an interview, UPS said in the release.
The carrier hired the same number of seasonal workers in 2022. More

The effect of theft on retailers’ bottom lines is largely in line with what it has been in past years, according to a key National Retail Federation study.
The findings come as the industry is increasingly saying crime is cutting into profits.
Many companies said they are most concerned about violence associated with theft.

Locked up toothpaste to prevent shoplifting are seen at a Duane Reade drugstore and pharmacy on August 24, 2023 in New York City.
Angela Weiss | Afp | Getty Images

Retail theft has caught the attention of the masses in recent years, from startling smash-and-grab videos during the depths of the Covid pandemic to corporate earnings calls where retailers like Target and Foot Locker are discussing losses from organized retail crime more than they ever have.
But the effect of theft on retailers’ bottom lines is about the same as it has been for years, according to the latest data released Tuesday in the widely used industry survey conducted by the National Retail Federation.

Total retail shrink grew to more than $112 billion in 2022, up from $93.9 billion the year before, according to the newest National Retail Security Survey. The metric, which accounts for various types of inventory loss including theft, damage and vendor error, generally rises as retail sales climb.
While retailers and the NRF are increasingly saying crime is cutting into profits, losses from internal and external theft last year were largely on par with historical trends. They made up 65% of total shrink, the survey found.
External theft, which includes organized retail crime, was again reported as the largest source of shrink last year at 36.15%, but that was slightly below 37% in 2021. Internal theft, or goods stolen by employees, rose slightly to 28.85% from 28.5% in 2021. Process and control failures and errors made up 27.29% of shrink in 2022, up from 25.7% the year prior.

Sources of retail shrink in 2022

External theft (including organized retail crime): 36.15%Internal/employee theft: 28.85%Process/control errors: 27.29%Unknown: 5.88%Other losses: 1.32%Source: NRF National Retail Security Survey

Retail shrink climbed in absolute dollars, but when reported as a percentage of sales as is commonly done, average annual shrink increased to 1.57%, up from 1.44% in 2021. The share is largely in line with past years. Average annual shrink was 1.62% of sales before the pandemic in 2019, though it was as low as 1.33% in 2017, according to previous surveys.

The NRF conducted the online survey of senior loss prevention and security executives in the retail industry. The results for 2022 include 177 retail brand respondents, which the organization said accounted for 22% of retail sales in 2022.
The NRF report said 78% of the retailers that responded to the survey do not include e-commerce goods in their shrink calculation and 57% don’t include supply chain losses, so “the actual dollar loss associated with shrink (and with theft in particular) is likely heavily underreported.”
It’s not necessarily the amount of theft taking place that most concerns the industry, but rather the increased violence associated with it.
“Far beyond the financial impact of these crimes, the violence and concerns over safety continue to be the priority for all retailers, regardless of size or category,” David Johnston, vice president for asset protection and retail operations at the NRF, said in a press release.

Locked up deodorant to prevent shoplifting are seen at a Duane Reade drugstore and pharmacy on August 24, 2023 in New York City. 
Angela Weiss | Afp | Getty Images

Sixty-seven percent of respondents reported more violence associated with organized retail crime than a year ago. In the last survey, 81% reported an increase in violence.
Meanwhile, 45% of retailers in the survey said they have reduced specific store hours to deal with crime and violence, nearly 30% said they somehow changed store product selection, and 28% reported closing a specific location because of crime.
Companies identified Los Angeles, San Francisco/Oakland, Houston, New York and Seattle as the five cities and metropolitan areas most affected by retail crime.
Unsurprisingly, nearly all respondents, 93%, support some type of federal organized retail crime legislation. Congress passed one law, called the Inform Act, that aims to deter the sale of stolen goods online, and lawmakers have introduced another that calls for stiffer penalties for theft offenses. The NRF supports the bill and previously told CNBC it helped to write it.
Internal, or employee theft, also concerns retailers because “an employee who decides to steal or collude with outsiders to steal often does so at a higher loss per incident than external thieves.” Some companies have identified goods stolen by workers as a major issue and taken steps to address it, even as the industry focuses more on external theft in public, CNBC previously reported.
The NRF study said the average dollar loss reported for an internal theft was $2,180 per investigation in 2022, in line with 2021 and 2020 levels. The average dollar loss for external shoplifting incidents, for comparison, was $1,063 per incident.
It’s not only high-value products that are being stolen, but also consumable items that are easy to resell and often difficult to track. So while luxury items often get the “smash and grab” attention, energy drinks, beauty products, candles and detergent are also among the products thieves target. More

The Professional Pickleball Association and pay-TV network The Tennis Channel are teaming up in a push to further popularize the sport.
Tennis Channel will have the rights to produce and air a vast majority of the matches on its pay-TV and streaming platforms, as well as create a 24/7 free, ad-supported streaming channel dedicated to pickleball.
The joint venture comes as the PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball have agreed to merge.

Carvana PPA Tour
Courtesy: Carvana PPA Tour

Professional Pickleball is getting a dedicated home: The Tennis Channel.
The PPA Tour and Tennis Channel announced on Tuesday they are teaming up via a joint venture in a push to further grow and popularize the sport that has been picking up steam in the U.S.

As part of the partnership, Tennis Channel will produce all PPA Tour events and have the rights to broadcast a vast majority of them on its pay-TV network and streaming platforms.
“It’s going to create so much more access for people,” PPA Tour owner Tom Dundon told CNBC. “I think this makes it way easier to bring to the masses.”
The pair will also create pickleballtv, a 24/7 standalone free, ad-supported streaming channel featuring matches as well as entertainment surrounding the sport.

Studio rendering of pickleballtv
Source: Tennis Channel

For the PPA Tour, the joint venture will allow Tennis Channel to take the reigns on producing all of its content both for its own platforms as well as the Tour’s other media partners, including Disney’s ESPN, Paramount’s CBS and Prime Video.
“A lot of emerging sports sometimes have trouble with production, quality and consistency,” said Dundon. “So when we deliver a program to Fox or ESPN, they know it’s perfect. It makes it a lot easier for them to want to carry us and cover us.”

While terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, the agreement allows Tennis Channel owner Sinclair to retain the option of an equity stake in Pickleball.com, the parent company of the PPA Tour. Dundon added it’s a 50-50 partnership between the two entities, noting the PPA Tour will put the capital in and Tennis Channel will bring its production and media expertise.
Read more: Pickleball is loud. The people behind it say they’re trying to fix it.
“If you look at what Apple did with [Major League Soccer], the MLS does all of the production. So I think we’re just consistent with where the [media] world’s going where we can produce it cheaper, with scale,” Dundon said.
He foresees the joint venture propelling further media rights deals with the help of Tennis Channel executives that are familiar with TV carriage negotiations and building up streaming platforms.
“This partnership is really the seminal moment for what is still in many ways the nation’s sport…And we get to take 20 years of right decisions and mistakes and apply them directly to expand pickleball and the PPA,” Ken Solomon, Tennis Channel president, told CNBC.

Tennis Channel will have the rights to show most PPA Tour matches, and those that air live on other media networks will be shown on a same-day delay and will be available on-demand on Tennis Channel platforms.
Pickleball is not new to the 20-year-old Tennis Channel. The network first aired a PPA Tour event in 2021 and expanded its coverage of pickleball in 2022.
Solomon said pickleball ratings have been strong to date. There are 25 PPA Tour events on the 2023 calendar. The network already produces events for the PPA Tour, Dundon added.
The joint venture will also allow Tennis Channel to use its marketing and advertising prowess to sell pickleball to sponsors and advertisers by combining their offerings.
Solomon said for traditional tennis fans, they don’t have to worry about the paddle sport taking over the bread and butter of their network. The network will not air pickleball in time periods where they have rights to live tennis.
“These things, [tennis and pickleball], go together beautifully. It’s like peas and carrots,” he said.
Solomon said the Tennis Channel is currently looking at broadcast enhancements through cameras, the use of artificial intelligence, and a jib shot at the net that will allow the audience to see the tension of patience versus pulling the trigger with a slam or drive.
It’s been a busy few months for professional pickleball. The PPA Tour, which is a tour-style format pitting the best players in the world against each other, and Major League Pickleball, which features team play, announced earlier this month they are merging. This followed a dramatic few weeks of uncertainty surrounding the future of the professional sport as the leagues engaged in a spending war to compete against each other.
In the last few years, pickleball has seen unprecedented growth as professionals and amateurs turn to the sport in droves. According to the annual Sports & Fitness Industry Association Topline Report, pickleball has seen 159% growth over the past three years. Last year, 36 million people played the sport, leading to the growth of both public and private courts all over the country.
The sport has also attracted big name players like Bill Gates and the Kardashians to celebrity owners like LeBron James, Patrick Mahomes and Kevin Durant. More

Resale platforms at fast-fashion retailers like H&M, Shein and Zara are projected to have a minimal impact on reducing emissions, a new study has found.
The companies can have a greater impact on the environment if they focus on using more sustainable materials or recycling.
Premium apparel companies like Ralph Lauren can meaningfully reduce their emissions with resale, the study found.

A worker makes clothes at a garment factory that supplies Shein, in Guangzhou, China. Shein is set to produce goods in Brazil for the Latin American market, instead of shipping them from China.
Jade Gao | AFP | Getty Images

Fast-fashion retailers like Zara, Shein and H&M are using resale platforms to reduce their carbon footprints, but the programs are projected to do little to reduce emissions, a new study released Tuesday found. 
The brands could more effectively reduce their toll on the environment if they redirected those efforts to their supply chain, such as by using more sustainable materials or investing in recycling innovations, according to the analysis.

The study was conducted by Trove, which helps brands like Lululemon and Canada Goose implement resale programs, and Worldly, a data analytics firm that focuses on ESG, or environmental, social and corporate governance. The study’s methodology was validated with third parties and reviewed by Deloitte, McKinsey and University of California, Berkeley, among others, Trove’s founder and one of the study’s authors Andy Ruben told CNBC.
The study analyzed five brand archetypes, spanning fast fashion to premium apparel, and how reselling previously owned items could affect their overall carbon emissions between 2023 and 2040.
It found that fast-fashion retailers, which create about 11.5 kilograms (25.3 pounds) of carbon dioxide for every item they make, will only reduce their emissions by 0.7% with resale programs.
In comparison, premium apparel brands like Tory Burch and Ralph Lauren create about 16 kilograms of CO2 for every item they make, and could reduce those emissions by 14.8% with resale programs, the analysis said. Outdoor brands, like Patagonia and the North Face, create about 12.5 kilograms of CO2 per item and could reduce emissions by 15.8%, according to the study. 
The projections factor in lower production of new items, which would help to cut emissions. Companies could offset decreased sales of new products with revenue gained from reselling a previously owned item. 

The findings come as a slew of companies – from apparel retailers like Gap to home goods companies like The Container Store – implement resale programs to capture customers who care about sustainability, or might just be looking for a deal. The initiatives allow companies to make money off of items they’ve already sold and show investors and consumers they’re focused on sustainability, especially as they prepare for new ESG reporting requirements from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 
Ruben said it takes a lot of work for fast-fashion retailers to implement resale programs, but “you’re not getting a lot of juice for the squeeze.” 
“It really comes down to how many people want your items after you’ve sold them the first time,” Ruben said in an interview with CNBC. “So if you sold an original T-shirt for $8, and you resell it for 20 cents, you’re not offsetting much revenue and you’re doing a lot of activity that adds to the carbon footprint to move it back around.”

‘It’s misplaced effort’

Fast-fashion retailers have faced broad criticism for the negative impacts they can have on the environment. Some of the largest players in the space – H&M, Zara and Shein – have started resale programs in a bid to be more sustainable. 
Earlier this year, H&M announced it was partnering with ThredUp to debut a resale program that allows customers to shop for pre-owned items. Zara and Shein both announced peer-to-peer resale platforms last fall. 
The programs, which some criticized as insufficient, help the environment in the sense that it’s more sustainable to buy a used item than it is to buy a new product. However, the programs can be difficult for fast-fashion retailers to scale profitably, which could limit investments in the efforts. Further, the study indicates resale platforms aren’t enough to meaningfully increase sustainability at fast-fashion companies.
“It’s misplaced effort,” said Ruben. “What they’re basically doing is moving around items that hold none of their value, which is a marketing program.”
Both Zara and H&M are working to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040 and have disclosed some of the progress they’ve made in reducing their water consumption and using more sustainable materials, among other initiatives. 
In a statement, an H&M spokesperson said the company agrees with Trove’s report, which is why it’s “working with different levers” to reduce its impact on global carbon emissions.
“We are working towards decarbonizing our supply chain and logistics operations by strengthening the availability and usage of renewable energy and funding the innovation and distribution of technology needed,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the company is increasing its use of recycled and more sustainably sourced materials, and aims to increase its use of recycled fibers to 30% by 2025.
Zara didn’t return a request for comment from CNBC.
Shein, for its part, often touts its inventory-light model as a crucial factor that reduces waste on the back end. The company has invested in strategies that reduce water use throughout its production process and launched its “evoluSHEIN” product line, which features garments made with recycled polyester, forest-safe viscose and other materials that are more eco-friendly.
“We continue to scale SHEIN’s on-demand business model, which allows us to achieve average unsold inventory rates in the low single digits, dramatically reducing waste, and invest in building circular systems and accelerating sustainable solutions through sustainably focused materials, technologies and production processes,” a Shein spokesperson told CNBC.
“As a fashion leader, we acknowledge our role in creating a more sustainable and responsible fashion industry, and SHEIN Exchange is just one step we are taking as part of our larger commitment to prioritizing waste reduction and circularity,” the spokesperson said.
To reduce their impact on the environment, fast-fashion retailers are better off redirecting their resale investments into recycling innovations and sustainable materials, among other practices that can reduce emissions, said Gayle Tait, Trove’s CEO. 
“What the research is underpinning is that brands have to demonstrate meaningful investment into shifting their model,” said Tait. “When they’re kind of skirting around the edges, by doing either a branded peer-to-peer site or working closely with a marketplace, they’re not actually shifting their model. They’re continuing to do the things that got their carbon emissions.” More

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will replace CEO Bob Smith with outgoing Amazon exec Dave Limp, CNBC has learned.
Smith is retiring effective Dec. 4 and will remain with the company until Jan. 2 for the CEO transition, according to notes to Blue Origin staff written by Smith and Bezos that were obtained by CNBC.
Limp joins Blue Origin at a key phase of the company’s multiple space projects.

Bob Smith, chief executive officer of Blue Origin LLC, (L), and Dave Limp, senior vice president of devices and services for Amazon.com Inc.
Getty Images

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin will replace CEO Bob Smith with outgoing Amazon executive Dave Limp, CNBC has learned.
Smith is retiring effective Dec. 4 and will remain with the company until Jan. 2 for the CEO transition, according to notes to Blue Origin staff written by Smith and Bezos that were obtained by CNBC.

Limp joins Blue Origin at a key phase of the company’s multiple space projects. Blue needs to ramp production of its BE-4 rocket engines, return its space tourism rocket New Shepard to flight, and launch its next-generation New Glenn rocket for the first time – as well as deliver on a recently-won NASA contract for a crewed lunar lander.

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In a statement to CNBC, a Blue Origin spokesperson praised Limp as “a proven innovator with a customer-first mindset” who has “extensive experience in the high-tech industry and growing highly complex organizations.”
Amazon announced last month that Limp would be stepping down later this year. As Amazon’s devices and services chief, Limp oversaw Amazon’s Alexa, Echo and Ring units, as well as some of its more experimental divisions like Zoox autonomous vehicles, and the Project Kuiper internet satellite business.

Limp’s Amazon success

Dave Limp, Senior Vice President, Devices & Services, speaks at Amazon’s HQ2 in Crystal City, Virginia on September 20, 2023.
Eric Lee | The Washington Post | Getty Images

Limp’s resignation came as a shock, as he spent more than 13 years at Amazon. He became a top lieutenant of CEO Andy Jassy and a member of Amazon’s vaunted S-Team, a tight-knit group of senior executives across almost all of its businesses.
Additionally, Limp and Bezos worked closely together when the Amazon founder was still CEO. Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant and Echo smart speakers were pet projects of Bezos’, and Limp steered both of the high-profile launches.

Amazon has not announced a replacement for Limp yet, but Bloomberg and other outlets have reported that the company is expected to hire Microsoft product chief Panos Panay.

Smith’s few Blue Origin results

Billionaire American businessman Jeff Bezos walks with Blue Origin’s President and CEO Bob Smith after Bezos flew on the company’s inaugural flight to the edge of space, in the nearby town of Van Horn, Texas, U.S. July 20, 2021.
Joe Skipper | Reuters

Smith took the reins at Blue Origin in 2017 after 13 years at aerospace conglomerate Honeywell, with Bezos annually spending billions to transform his space venture into a sector powerhouse.
Under Smith’s leadership, Blue Origin heavily built up infrastructure across the U.S. – adding a key rocket engine manufacturing and testing site in Alabama, expanding its rocket production and launch facilities in Florida, and opening locations in California, Arizona, and Colorado.
The most high-profile success during Smith’s tenure came in July 2021, when Bezos flew with the first crew of Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket to the edge of space and back.
But delays and setbacks marred each of Blue Origin’s major programs under Smith. Both its marquee New Glenn rocket and BE-4 engines – the latter of which is also needed for fellow rocket company United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan vehicle – are years behind schedule. It lost out on a lucrative round of Pentagon launch contracts in 2020, and needs to fly New Glenn to show the U.S. Space Force is can be awarded military missions in the upcoming round of awards.
Earlier this year Blue Origin won a $3.4 billion NASA contract to build a lunar lander for the agency’s astronauts. But the competition was a second-chance contest that NASA organized after Elon Musk’s SpaceX was the sole winner of the first lander contract in 2021 – an award decision that Blue Origin took to federal court and lost.
Those schedule slips were compounded by allegations from current and former employees that the company had a toxic and sexist workplace. Smith addressed those claims by saying Blue Origin had “no tolerance for discrimination or harassment of any kind,” but the company suffered from an elevated turnover rate in 2021. However, Blue Origin has since hired aggressively. Bezos on Monday noting noted the company had grown to more than 10,000 employees, from around 4,000 about two years prior.
Read Bezos’ message to Blue Origin employees on Monday:

I’m excited to share that Dave Limp will join Blue starting December 4th as CEO, replacing Bob, who has elected to step aside on January 2. The overlap is purposeful to ensure a smooth transition.
Before I provide some background on Dave, I’d like to take the time to recognize Bob and the significant growth and transformation we’ve experienced during his tenure. Under Bob’s leadership, Blue has grown to several billion dollars in sales orders, with a substantial backlog for our vehicles and engines. Our team has increased from 850 people when Bob joined to more than 10,000 today. We’ve expanded from one office in Kent to building a launch pad at LC-36 and five million square feet of facilities across seven states.
Our mission has grown too – we’ve flown 31 people above the Kármán Line, almost five percent of all the people who have been to space. Flight-qualified BE-4 engines are ready to boost Vulcan into orbit. New Glenn is nearing launch next year, and, with our recent NASA contract, we will land Americans back on the Moon, this time to stay. We have also engaged and inspired millions of children and educators through our Club for the Future efforts. We’ve made tremendous progress in building a road to space for the benefit of Earth, thanks to each of you and Bob’s leadership.
I’ve worked closely with Dave for many years. He is the right leader at the right time for Blue. Dave joins us after almost 14 years at Amazon, where he most recently served as senior vice president of Amazon Devices and Services, leading Kuiper, Kindle, Alexa, Zoox, and many other businesses. Before Amazon, Dave had roles at other high-tech companies, including Palm and Apple. Dave is a proven innovator with a customer-first mindset and extensive experience leading and scaling large, complex organizations. Dave has an outstanding sense of urgency, brings energy to everything, and helps teams move very fast.
Please join me in welcoming Dave and thanking Bob. Through this transition, I know we’ll remain focused on our customer commitments, production schedules, and executing with speed and operational excellence. I look forward to the many exciting and historic milestones ahead of us!
Jeff

Read Smith’s message to Blue Origin employees:

Team Blue,
It’s been about six years since I joined Blue Origin. During that time, our team, facilities, and sales orders have grown dramatically, and we’ve made significant contributions to the history of spaceflight.With pride and satisfaction in all that we’ve accomplished, I’m announcing that effective December 4, I will be stepping aside as Chief Executive Officer of Blue Origin. I will remain with Blue until January 2 to ensure a smooth transition with the new CEO.
It has been my privilege to be part of this great team, and I am confident that Blue Origin’s greatest achievements are still ahead of us. We’ve rapidly scaled this company from its prototyping and research roots to a large, prominent space business. We have the right strategy. a supremely talented team, a robust customer base, and some of the most technically ambitious and exciting projects in the entire industry. We also have a team that cares deeply about its mission, legacy, and how we contribute to the next generation and bring everyone into a brighter future.
Jeff and I have been discussing my plan for months, and Jeff will announce Blue’s new CEO in a separate note shortly. I’m very excited about the operational excellence and culture of innovation this new leader will bring to Blue. building on the foundation we’ve created over the past few years.
I’m committed to ensuring this transition is flawless, and everyone should know that Ill always be on Team Blue.
Gradatim Ferociter.
Bob Smith

Correction: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized Dave Limp’s status at Amazon. More

USA Pickleball is addressing the noise complaints the sport has produced.
A new “quiet category” aims to help promote and advance quieter equipment.
Pickleball is about twice as loud as tennis.
While the sport was created in the 1960s, it recently gained steam during the Covid-19 pandemic.

People play pickleball at Central Park in New York City on April 8, 2023.
Wang Fan | China News Service | Getty Images

America’s fastest-growing sport is looking to be … quieter?
The governing body of the sport, USA Pickleball, announced on Monday a new initiative to get pickleball to pipe down by investing in changes to the acoustics of the sport. The organization will work with manufacturers and facilities to come up with solutions that will allow the sport to continue its rapid growth.

Pickleball is a paddle sport that combines the elements of tennis, ping pong and badminton. It’s played with a plastic ball with holes in it that resembles a wiffle ball. While the sport was created in the 1960s, it recently gained steam during the Covid-19 pandemic, as people looked for ways to get exercise outdoors and also be social.
As a result, courts are popping up all across the country, including even in people’s backyards and neighborhoods. USA Pickleball says 130 new locations were added per month in 2022 and estimates another 25,000 courts will need to be built to keep up with demand. Last year, 36 million people played pickleball and the sport has grown 158% over the past three years according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association.
Yet not everyone has caught pickleball fever.
The pop-pop-pop sound that the sport produces with its rapid-fire paddle play has led to neighborhood quarrels, lawsuits and 911 calls. The cacophonous controversy has even prompted the closure of some courts.
“It’s a torture technique,” one pickleball antagonist told The New York Times in June.

In the 70 decibel range, sound experts say it’s not a dangerous amount of noise but it’s about twice as loud as tennis.
USA Pickleball is looking to quiet the commotion — and cultivate good will — by announcing a new “quiet category” for pickleball equipment.
“With the sport’s growth, addressing noise concerns is essential to maintain a positive relationship between residential communities and facility operators,” USA Pickleball CEO Mike Nealy said in a statement. “By working together with manufacturers and the entire industry, we can develop quieter options that benefit everyone.”

Pop goes the neighborhood

The small northern New Jersey town of Haworth experienced a pickleball explosion among its residents during the Covid-19 pandemic. Today, in an attempt to keep the peace amid noise complaints, the town decided to move its pickleball courts.
“Residents showed up at council meetings expressing the noise issue,” said Kari Heitzner, co-chair of the town’s pickleball club. “Because it’s such a popular sport with people wanting to play at all hours of the day, we ultimately decided to move the courts to an area surrounded by woods.”
The USA Pickleball initiative aims to help municipalities and homeowners associations seek support navigating the noise and to provide them with remote and on-site evaluations.
It’s also helping to promote products that deliver essentially 50% or less of the acoustic footprint.
The organization said it has spent the past 15 months researching and studying the acoustic output of the sport, including by working with acoustic experts.
“I would say that it’s probably less than 1% [of people complaining about the noise], but it is a very vocal 1% that do have issues with it. So we do feel the need to address it and make sure that there are solutions,” Carl Schmits, USA Pickleball managing director of equipment standards and facilities development, said in an interview.

Paddle racket

The goal is to work with manufacturers during development to prioritize innovation in creating quieter products, in addition to providing resources to municipalities.
Schmits says the organization has tested hundreds of paddles and worked with suppliers on dampening the noise through acoustic fabrics and panels.
Bob Unetich, sound engineer and pickleball player, has been studying this problem for the past eight years.
Unetich, who consults for USA Pickleball, started a company called Pickleball Sound Mitigation to help communities with this growing problem.
He said pickleball paddles vibrate at a high pitch of 1,000 times per second, which is what leads to the pop noise. Humans are sensitive to pop sounds and often annoyed by them, he added.
“I appreciate the problem and frankly wouldn’t want to live next door to numbers like 70 decibels over and over and over every four seconds for eight hours a day,” Unetich said. “And I’m sure you wouldn’t either.” More

AMC, Cinemark and IMAX shares were up Monday following news of a tentative deal between Hollywood writers and studios.
Shares of studio owners, meanwhile, were largely down.
While a potential end to the writers’ strike represents positive momentum for Hollywood, union members still need to ratify the deal and even then, it’s still only half the battle.

The AMC 25 and Regal Cinemas on 42nd Street in Times Square, New York.
Richard Levine | Corbis | Getty Images

Movie theater shares popped Monday following news of a tentative labor deal between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
“The world’s movie theatres can celebrate. Extremely good news that progress is being made,” AMC CEO Adam Aron said Sunday in a post on X, the site formerly known as Twitter.

Shares of AMC were up roughly 7% Monday. The notoriously volatile stock reached as high as $8.50 a share.
Shares of Cinemark and IMAX followed behind, up 2.7% and 1.5%, respectively.
Shares of studio owners, meanwhile, were largely down. Disney and Comcast shares were fractionally lower Monday, while Warner Bros. Discovery fell nearly 4%.
While a potential end to the writers’ strike represents positive momentum for Hollywood, union members still need to ratify the deal and even then, it’s still only half the battle.
The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is still on strike after failure to reach a labor agreement with AMPTP.

An eventual deal between SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP is crucial for the well-being of movie theater companies going forward especially as key films such as Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment’s “Dune: Part Two” as well as Sony’s “Kraven the Hunter” and the sequel to “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” were pushed to 2024 because of the strikes.
Industry experts fear that more films will be forced to move along the calendar if studios cannot solidify contracts with the two guilds this year. Additionally, some films set for 2024 had filming interrupted because of the strikes and will need to restart production sooner rather than later to hit their opening dates.
Still, movie theaters have experienced solid box-office returns this year. The summer season saw a 19% year-over-year increase, due in large part to the success of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer.”
“We would need to see movement on negotiations with SAG-AFTRA to have complete comfort over the near-term slate,” said Eric Wold, an analyst at B. Riley Securities, in a research note published Monday. “However, should the WGA agreement be ratified by its members, it would allow for writing to restart on upcoming productions to prepare for the point when actors can become involved once again.”
SAG-AFTRA released a statement congratulating the WGA for reaching a deal Sunday while also calling for the AMPTP to return to the negotiating table on its own agreements.
Despite ongoing turmoil in the media industry, the lengthy writers’ strikes have presented a unique opportunity for streaming companies such as Netflix and their libraries of content. Shares of Netflix gained roughly 1% Monday.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal is a member of the AMPTP.
— CNBC’s Sarah Whitten contributed to this report. More