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The Powerball jackpot is estimated at $1.8 billion as of Friday.
Jackpocket, DraftKings’ lottery courier, is seeing triple-digit percentage increases in orders for lottery tickets.
Customers purchase lottery tickets on the DraftKings app, and the courier fulfills the order, charging a fee on customer deposits.

Budrul Chukrut | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Powerball fever is spreading as the jackpot hits $1.8 billion, making it the second-largest prize in U.S. lottery history.
The enthusiasm for the gargantuan pot is fueling business on Jackpocket, a lottery courier owned by DraftKings and available in 16 states.

DraftKings said 15 million Powerball tickets have been ordered using Jackpocket during this Powerball run. Powerball ticket sales on the platform increased 130% day over day from Wednesday to Thursday this week. Sales on Wednesday alone increased 200% from the previous week.
Lotto.com and Jackpot.com also offer online lottery sales.
As of the most recent drawing on Sept. 3, no ticket had all five winning numbers. The jackpot rolled over and increased from an estimated $1.4 billion to this week’s estimated $1.8 billion as of Friday, according to Powerball.
That would be an estimated $826.4 million one-lump-sum payout.
Customers purchase lottery tickets on the DraftKings app, and the courier fulfills the order, charging a fee on customer deposits — a model similar to Uber Eats for food delivery, for example.

Many states do not allow for online or courier sales of lottery tickets, however. This year, Texas banned Jackpocket and other couriers from operating after a scandal involving a group of lottery ticket buyers who reportedly spent $25 million on nearly every number combination possible to win a $95 million jackpot.
DraftKings CEO Jason Robins told CNBC back in May the ban was a disappointment because the state of Texas could have contributed meaningfully to the growth of the business.
DraftKings forecasts Jackpocket will contribute between $260 million and $340 million in incremental revenue and between $60 million and $100 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, by fiscal 2026.
Robins has said the biggest return on the 2024 acquisition of Jackpocket is the ability to cross-sell customers to the company’s sports betting and iGaming offerings on the same platform.
As of Thursday, the odds of winning a prize in the Powerball drawing were 1 in 24.9, according to the lottery operator. The odds of winning the jackpot were just 1 in 292.2 million.
— CNBC’s Kate Dore contributed to this report.

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With the box office wins of Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and Warner Bros.’ “A Minecraft Movie,” alongside TV hits like Amazon Prime Video’s “Fallout” and HBO’s “The Last of Us,” Hollywood has doubled down on its investment in content based on video game franchises.
Just this week, Paramount announced it would develop a live-action Call of Duty movie and distribute the latest Street Fighter adaptation.
Ultimately, analysts said video game movies could help act as a replacement for genres that are not drawing in audiences and lure in younger viewers.

Warner Bros. | Universal Studios | Amazon Prime

Hollywood is finally leveling up.
For decades, studios have tried to capitalize on the financial success and cultural relevance of video games, but it’s only been in the past few years that things have clicked.

With the box office achievements of Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and Warner Bros.’ “A Minecraft Movie,” alongside television hits like Amazon Prime Video’s “Fallout” and HBO’s “The Last of Us,” Hollywood has doubled down on its investment in content based on video game franchises and related intellectual property.
“Adaptations of popular games used to be met with a high degree of cynicism and creative misfires, but recent blockbusters and commercial hits have reversed the curse,” said Shawn Robbins, director of analytics at Fandango and founder of Box Office Theory.
Just this week, Paramount announced it would develop a live-action Call of Duty movie and distribute the latest Street Fighter adaptation as part of a three-year distribution deal with Legendary. Also on the development docket are features based on “Elden Ring,” “Helldivers,” “Horizon Zero Dawn” and “The Legend of Zelda.”
On the television side, treatments for Tomb Raider, God of War, Mass Effect and Assassin’s Creed are in the works.
“Video game movies and TV shows are not new, but they’re certainly getting a better volume and they’re getting better,” said Alicia Reese, analyst at Wedbush.

Start screen

The first video game adaptation to hit theaters was 1993’s “Super Mario Brothers.” The live-action feature based on the hit Nintendo property tallied $20.9 million domestically at the time and was widely panned by critics.
For the next two decades, Hollywood managed to make enough back on production budgets that studios kept justifying future adaptations, but there always seemed to be something lost in translation between the game controller and the theater.
Between 1993 and 2018, only three video game-based films generated more than $100 million at the domestic box office — 2001’s “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” 2016’s “The Angry Birds Movie” and 2018’s “Rampage,” according to data from Comscore.

During this same period, not a single video game movie generated a “fresh” rating from review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. The site’s rating has become a benchmark over the past two decades, as moviegoers often consult the website before they decide to go see a film.
Rotten Tomatoes aggregates reviews from major publications and reputable blogs and determines what percentage of those reviews were positive versus negative. If at least 60% of a film’s reviews are positive, it will receive a red tomato, which is considered “fresh.” If it gets less than 60%, it is given a green splat.

Next level

And then something shifted in 2019.
Warner Bro.’s “Pokémon Detective Pikachu” not only hauled in $144 million domestically, it scored a 68% “fresh” rating. The film became the second-highest video game adaptation ever with $433.5 million in global receipts. Universal’s 2016 “Warcraft” was the only film with higher ticket sales at the time, with $433.6 million worldwide; however, only $47.3 million of that came from domestic audiences, Comscore reported.

Ben Schwartz voices Sonic in Paramount Pictures’ “Sonic the Hedgehog.”
Paramount Pictures

A month before pandemic shutdowns, Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog” hit theaters, earning a 64% “fresh” rating and zapping up $144 million domestically and $319 million globally.
Its run was cut short, but audience turnout and enthusiasm brought two more theatrical Sonic films and a spin-off streaming show called “Knuckles.” The franchise has now generated more than $1 billion at the global box office since 2019 and a fourth film is due out in 2027.
The franchise paved the way for “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which debuted in April 2023 and shattered box office records for video game adaptations. It generated $574 million domestically, the most of any video game film ever, and more than $1.3 billion globally, the first and only film of the genre to reach that feat.
Another big hit for the industry was 2025’s “A Minecraft Movie,” which topped $423 million in the U.S. and Canada and $957 million at the global box office.

Jack Black, Jason Momoa, and Sebastian Hansen as seen in Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment’s “A Minecraft Movie.”
Warner Bros.

While critical responses to “Super Mario” and “Minecraft” were lukewarm — 59% and 48%, respectively — audience scores were much stronger at 95% and 85%, respectively.
“If it weren’t for ‘Minecraft,’ 2025 year-to-date would be looking, honestly, pretty dismal,” said Doug Creutz, an analyst at TD Cowen. “‘Minecraft’ really helped at the time of the year, April, when it’s usually a little quieter.”

Fueling fandoms

Video game films have hit their stride as technological advancements in computer-generated imagery made creating the worlds within these digital spaces easier and also more realistic.
Previous video game adaptations focused more on worldbuilding than character development, Toby Ascher, who acquired the rights to Sonic and produced the film franchise, told CNBC back in March when discussing how Paramount handled the production of the first Sonic film.
Now, that worldbuilding is easier, so studio creatives can focus on the story they are bringing to the big screen, said industry analyst David Poland.
“‘Minecraft, like the world of it, almost becomes a background,” Poland said. “Then you’re able to tell these stories where the obsession is not getting the background correct, but getting a story that people actually engage with. So, in some ways, I think the technology has allowed them to get away from the games to a certain extent, and get to things that people connect with while also maintaining the integrity of the games in the first place.”
At the same time, the kids who grew up playing video games have now become adults and are the ones making these films.
“I don’t think anyone in town really thought making a Sonic movie was a good idea,” Ascher said back in March. “But, I think our strategy was that we had grown up with these games. We’ve grown up with these characters, and we wanted to treat them like any other character. We wanted to give them real emotional arcs, and real emotional stories where you could relate to them.”
Paramount’s Chairman and CEO David Ellison also touted his fandom in announcing the company’s partnership with Activision to bring Call of Duty to the big screen.
“As a lifelong fan of Call of Duty this is truly a dream come true,” Ellison said. “From the first Allied campaigns in the original Call of Duty, through Modern Warfare and Black Ops, I’ve spent countless hours playing this franchise that I absolutely love.”

Chris Pratt and Charlie Day voice Mario and Luigi, respectively, in Universal and Illumination’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.”

The Entertainment Software Association estimates that more than 205 million Americans play video games, with the highest concentration of gamers coming from Gen Alpha, Gen Z and Millennials. That is a massive audience of people who have spent a lot of time invested in this kind of IP, Poland noted.
“If movie studios and theater owners want to meet young audiences where they are and have them become a consistent part of the future of moviegoing, the video game world is unsurpassed in untapped potential,” Robbins said.
“The additional upside is that the non-gamer audience could show up for these films and discover them for the first time,” he added. “Quality will always be king, though, so care must be taken and audiences must be heard. Ultimately, engaging Gens Z and Alpha directly through the communities of social influencers and content creators could pay tremendous dividends for the movie business.”
Drawing younger generations to cinemas is key when it comes to keeping the box office booming. Ultimately, analysts don’t see video game movies growing the industry exponentially, but rather acting as a replacement for genres that are not drawing in audiences and luring in a younger demographic and training them to be more avid moviegoers.
“As a genre, the video game adaptation represents a new frontier and studios may be looking to such future projects to fill the void that has been left by some inconsistent performances by films from the superhero category that historically has been heavily relied upon to be a key pillar of the box office,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “A virtual treasure trove of beloved brands, characters, situations, and stories await producers and filmmakers who are hoping to further cash in on video game fever.”
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal owns Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango. More

Economic uncertainty brought on by constantly changing tariff policy and persistently high inflation is taking a greater toll on the previously hot warehouse sector.
Just 27 million square feet of space was absorbed in the first half of this year, with demand falling by 11.3 million in the second quarter alone, the first quarterly drop since 2010, according to a report from NAIOP.
NAIOP predicts absorption will rebound starting in the second quarter of 2026.

Owngarden | Moment | Getty Images

Five years ago, when the pandemic pushed e-commerce to new highs, the industrial warehouse space became the biggest commercial real estate play around. It began to slow in 2022, but now economic uncertainty brought on by constantly changing tariff policy and persistently high inflation is taking a greater toll on this previously hot real estate sector. 
Just 27 million square feet of space was absorbed in the first half of this year, with demand falling by 11.3 million in the second quarter alone, the first quarterly drop since 2010, according to a report from NAIOP, a commercial real estate development association.

Since the uncertainty is likely to continue through the end of this year, NAIOP therefore projects that net absorption will be “nearly flat” over the second half of this year. 
“Demand for industrial space is expected to recover somewhat after occupiers have time to adjust to a new tariff regime,” the report’s authors said. “However, higher tariffs and slowing employment growth will likely result in slower demand growth than that experienced from 2020 to 2022 or in the six years that preceded the pandemic. 

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NAIOP predicts absorption will rebound starting in the second quarter of 2026, with full-year absorption totaling 119.3 million square feet. Another 109.7 million square feet of absorption is expected in the first half of 2027.
As for industrial property sales, this year they are just about matching last year’s pace of $74.3 billion, up 14.7% from 2023, but down from the all-time high of $129.8 billion in 2021, according to a separate report from Yardi. 
Price appreciation has also cooled after huge gains between 2019 and 2022, when the average sale price of an industrial property jumped 54%.

“Capital was cheap, and investors wanted to profit from record rent growth resulting from historically low industrial vacancy rates on top of supply falling behind,” the report noted.
So far this year, the average sale price for completed industrial transactions was just 6% higher than the 2022 average. 
The national industrial vacancy rate in July was 9.1%, up 10 basis points from June and up 270 basis points from July 2024. In-place rents, however, were still up 6.1% year over year. 
“We’ve watched the industrial investment market move from darling to resilient over the past few years, but we anticipate activity and interest to ramp up with the expectation of economic clarity coupled with growing demand for space,” said Peter Kolaczynski, director for Yardi Research, in a release.  More

Starbucks is giving 1,000 of its cafes makeovers by the end of 2026.
The upgraded locations are meant to encourage customers to stay longer.
Tweaks like improved insulation and dimmer lighting are also supposed to make locations more accessible and inclusive.

As Starbucks revamps its U.S. locations, the coffee chain is trying to make its cafes welcoming to all through more inclusive design.
As part of its broader effort to bring back customers, the company has prioritized plans to give makeovers to roughly 1,000 locations by the end of 2026. It will sideline major store renovations and development in the meantime.

While the changes will vary based on the location, expect more seating, dark wood paneling and other tweaks that make its cafes cozier. The renovations will also include changes like less harsh lighting that won’t affect customers with light sensitivity.
“We’re uplifting more than 1,000 coffeehouses over the next year, blending our global heritage with local relevance to create spaces that are immersive, inclusive, and deeply human,” Dawn Clark, Starbucks senior vice president of coffeehouse design and concepts, said in a statement to CNBC.
“Whether it’s the laid-back warmth of the Palisades or the urban energy of Manhattan, intentional design encourages customers to stay longer, connect more, and return often — and translates into meaningful business impact,” Clark said.
Starbucks is planning to spend about $150,000 on each “uplift,” without closing the stores down. The company started with locations in New York, followed by cafes in Southern California.
The makeovers are intended to make the stores more welcoming, returning Starbucks to its prior status as a “third place” for customers to hang out between home and work. In recent years, Starbucks had lost that reputation, fueled by decisions like removing seats as mobile ordering become popular and getting rid of outlets to discourage lingering.

Under CEO Brian Niccol, the chain plans to reverse many of those decisions as it tries to break a sales slump. For example, he previously told employees in June that he plans to add back the 30,000 seats that had been removed from cafes.
But trying to appeal to a wider swath of customers isn’t new for the company. Starbucks first unveiled an accessible store design in early 2024, before Niccol’s tenure. At the time, the company said that the design took about two years and included input from baristas.
Take a look inside a recently renovated New York City cafe near Manhattan’s Union Square.

The Starbucks Union Square East location before the renovation
Source: Starbucks

Before the renovation, the location lacked many decorative touches, besides some large-scale photos of the chain’s Hacienda Alsacia, its coffee and research farm in Costa Rica.
With such sparse seating, the cafe’s concrete floors were more obvious. Harsh lighting didn’t help the store’s appearance either.

A large seating area now has even more seats, plus a gallery wall and lighting with less glare.
Source: Starbucks

The location now features much more seating near the entrance. Leather accents to the wraparound booth make the seats more comfortable. The tables are easily movable and at an accessible height for wheelchair users.
Starbucks also brought back the electrical outlets that disappeared in prior makeovers. Now customers who want to study or work from the location can charge their laptops or phones, encouraging them to stay longer.
Large area rugs bring a cozy touch, in addition to dampening some of the cafe’s ambient noise. Live plants also add to the homey vibe of the space.

Tweaks to the location include adding high-top tables and bar stools for more seating options.
Source: Starbucks

High-top tables, positioned closer to the barista bar, offer a seating option for customers looking to sit down with companions. The makeover adds 16 more seats to the location.
Starbucks also changed out its lightbulbs to soften the store’s lighting and reduce glare, giving it a warmer atmosphere. The improved lighting helps highlight an existing mural, seen on the right of the photo above.

Starbucks added a shelving unit that highlights its coffee beans.
Source: Starbucks

Behind the barista bar, the company added a large shelving unit that highlights bags of its coffee, plus decorative burlap sacks that hold beans. Touches of purple are a nod to the nearby New York University.
Customers waiting to pick up their drinks can sit off to the side. Previously, the area was a standing bar that wasn’t accessible to wheelchair users.
In addition to adding rugs, Starbucks also improved the location’s overall insulation to cut down on the clamor of a busy coffee shop. For baristas, the change means that conversations among customers are less likely to disturb their work, whether that’s hearing an order correctly or focusing on making a latte.

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Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told CNBC Thursday the decision to trade Micah Parsons ultimately came down to simple math.
The Green Bay Packers signed Parsons to a four-year, $186 million contract extension, making him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history, according to ESPN.
Jones said it wasn’t personal, adding he likes the 26-year old defensive end and thinks he’s a great player.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told CNBC Thursday the decision to trade Micah Parsons ultimately came down to simple math.
Jones appeared on CNBC’s “Closing Bell: Overtime” to talk about the Dallas Cowboys’ record $12.5 billion valuation as the team kicks off the 2025-2026 season.

On August 28, the Green Bay Packers signed Parsons to a four-year, $186 million contract extension, $136 million of which is guaranteed, according to Spotrac. The deal came after a months-long feud with the Cowboys over his contract and makes Parsons the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history, according to ESPN.
“If you look at what his numbers are in terms of his compensation over the next five years… and then you look at those draft picks that we got, and you look at what those numbers could pay to other players, you’ll see about five of maybe the very best players as you can get in the NFL, for what one gets in Micah,” Jones told CNBC’s Michael Ozanian Thursday.

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Jones said it wasn’t personal, adding he likes the 26-year old defensive end and thinks he’s a great player.
“You know our game has availability issues. In other words, if you’re hurt, you don’t play. Well the odds of having more for that much compensation, the odds of getting more people playing on the field every game as opposed to having it all on one or two, it’s an opportunity for us,” Jones said. “It fits us right now.”

Micah Parsons #11 of the Dallas Cowboys celebrates after a play against the Washington Commanders during an NFL football game at AT&T Stadium on January 5, 2025 in Arlington, Texas.
Cooper Neill | Getty Images

Parsons, a four-time Pro Bowler, is in the final year of his rookie contract, worth about $24 million, according to Spotrac.

He has established himself as one of the top defensive players in the league, recording more than 12 sacks in each of the past four seasons.
“I’m proud for him, proud for Green Bay,” Jones said. More

Lululemon topped second-quarter earnings estimates but slightly missed revenue expectations.
The company said the effect of tariffs and the removal of the de minimis exception are hitting its sales.
Shares of the company plunged after the earnings announcement.

Lululemon shares plunged in extended trading Thursday after the company gave a much worse than expected full-year outlook.
The company topped second-quarter earnings estimates but slightly missed revenue expectations. It said it expected tariffs to hit its full-year profits by $240 million.

Lululemon said it expects full fiscal-year earnings of $12.77 to $12.97 per share, well below Wall Street estimates of $14.45 per share. It also anticipates full-year revenue of $10.85 billion to $11 billion, compared with Wall Street expectations of $11.18 billion.
“We are facing yet another shift today within the industry related to tariffs and the cost of doing business,” CEO Calvin McDonald said on a call with analysts. “The increased rates and removal of the de minimis provisions have played a large part in our guidance reduction for the year.”
Here’s how the company did for its second quarter compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: $3.10 vs. $2.88 expected
Revenue: $2.53 billion vs. $2.54 billion expected

Shares of the company sank more than 12% after the bell Thursday. The stock is down more than 45% this year.

Programming note: Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald will be interviewed exclusively on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Friday.

The company reported second-quarter net income of $370.9 million, or $3.10 per share, compared to $392.92 million, or $3.15 per share, in the year-ago period. Gross margin decreased 1.1 percentage points to 58.5%, and operating margin decreased 210 basis points to 20.7%.

Chief Financial Officer Meghan Frank said on the call that the removal of the de minimis exemption, which excluded some smaller shipments from tariffs, will significantly affect the company, representing roughly 1.7 percentage points of the 2.2 percentage-point tariff-related decline in profit expected for the year.
Same-store sales in the Americas were down 4%. Overall comparable sales increased just 1% compared to Wall Street estimates of 2.2%. Lululemon said it added 14 net new stores during the second quarter, bringing its total to 784 stores.
“My view is that it’s now time to reset many of our practices related to how we develop and create the range of products that will fuel the next phase of our growth,” McDonald said Thursday. “We have seen that when we get our product right, everything else can follow.”
Lululemon projects third-quarter revenue will come in between $2.47 billion and $2.50 billion compared to Wall Street estimates of $2.57 billion. The company said it expects earnings per share in the next quarter to come in between $2.18 and $2.23 per share, compared to an estimate of $2.93 per share.
McDonald said on the Thursday call that he believes the company has let its product lifecycles “run too long,” particularly in its lounge and social categories.
“We have become too predictable within our casual offerings and missed opportunities to create new trends,” he said, identifying those issues as the “root causes” of the company’s product challenges in the U.S.
“Our lounge and social product offerings have become stale and have not been resonating with guests,” McDonald added.
To regain its U.S. momentum, McDonald said the company plans to increase its new styles from 23% of its overall assortment to 35% next spring, and improve its fast-track design capabilities. He said Lululemon will not make any short-term decisions that “could hurt or damage” the brand in the long term.
“We are not satisfied with the results for the quarter, and we know our brand can and will perform better than these results,” McDonald said.

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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. doubled down on false claims about vaccines during his Senate testimony, as senators grilled him on his sweeping changes to immunization policy and federal health agencies.
Kennedy said he supports a statement made by a newly appointed member of a key government vaccine panel that mRNA vaccines pose a dangerous risk to people.
Kennedy’s comments come after he canceled funding for mRNA shot development and made other changes to U.S. vaccine policy, including gutting the CDC vaccine panel.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., testifies before a Senate Finance Committee hearing on President Donald Trump’s 2026 health care agenda, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 4, 2025.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. doubled down on false claims about vaccines and claimed he isn’t limiting access to Covid shots during his Senate testimony on Thursday, as senators grilled him on his sweeping changes to immunization policy and federal health agencies.
Kennedy said he supports a statement made by a newly appointed member of a key government vaccine panel that mRNA vaccines pose a dangerous risk to people. Numerous studies have demonstrated that shots using mRNA technology, including Covid vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, are safe and effective, and serious side effects have happened in extremely rare cases.

Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., noted that the committee member, Dr. Retsef Levi, has said that evidence is mounting that mRNA vaccines cause “serious harm, including death, especially among young people,” apparently referring to a post pinned on Levi’s X account. Kennedy appointed Levi to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine recommendations and insurance coverage.
Kennedy said he wasn’t aware of Levi’s comments, but added, “I agree with it.”
He also claimed that anyone could get a Covid booster shot, while also acknowledging that access “depends on the state” and that the government no longer recommends the vaccines for healthy people.
The Food and Drug Administration approved a fresh round of Covid shots with new limits, only clearing them for adults aged 65 and older and people with a medical condition that puts them at risk of a severe illness. The CDC and its vaccine panel will decide who to recommend the shots to later this month.
“I’m not taking them away from people,” Kennedy said, referring to the vaccines.

But Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., argued that not everyone can walk into a pharmacy and get a Covid shot now.
The FDA’s new limits have complicated Covid shot access in the U.S., which now depends on a patient’s age and risk level, laws and policies in their state, insurance coverage, and health-care provider. Pending CDC guidance, some pharmacies have added prescription requirements for Covid vaccines in certain states.
“You clearly are taking away vaccines,” she said after a prolonged shouting match with Kennedy.

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Kennedy’s comments before the Senate Finance Committee come after he repeatedly promised the panel in January that he would do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it more difficult or discourages people from taking vaccines. Since then, he has canceled funding for mRNA shot development and made other vaccine policy changes that could limit access to immunizations, including gutting the CDC vaccine panel and dropping Covid shot recommendations for certain groups.
His comments also follow a leadership shake-up at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The White House last week fired CDC Director Susan Monarez, and four senior agency officials resigned shortly after, with some of them citing the politicization of the agency and a threat to public health. In an opinion piece on Thursday, Monarez accused Kennedy of “a deliberate effort to weaken America’s public-health system and vaccine protections.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X in support of Kennedy on Thursday, writing that he “is taking flak because he’s over the target” and saying Democrats were attacking the Trump administration’s “commonsense effort.”
Kennedy touted skepticism around Covid vaccines, despite evidence of their safety and effectiveness. 
“We were told again and again the vaccines would prevent transmission, they prevent infection. It wasn’t true. They knew it from the start,” Kennedy said.  
He also said he does not know how many people died of Covid and whether the vaccines prevented deaths from the virus.
“I would like to see the data and talk about the data,” Kennedy said.
But data is readily available from dozens of studies. One paper in August estimates that Covid vaccines saved more than 2 million lives, mostly among older adults, worldwide between 2020 and October 2024. 
The CDC website also says that Covid vaccines from the 2023 to 2024 season reduced the risk of severe illness from Covid by almost 70% in the first two months after vaccination in adults ages 18 and older, with protection gradually declining over time.
Those shots also decreased the risk of hospitalization due to Covid by around 50% in the first two months of vaccination in that same population. The Covid vaccines showed similar benefits in older adults.
Kennedy also defended his decision to fire all 17 previous members of the CDC vaccine panel, saying he didn’t politicize the committee.
“What we did is we got rid of the conflicts of interest. … We depoliticized and put great scientists on it from a very diverse group,” the HHS secretary said. “They are very, very pro-vaccine.”
But a new analysis published last month from USC researchers found that conflicts of interest on that panel had been at “historic lows for years” before Kennedy restacked it with new members, some of whom are widely known vaccine critics.
Correction: Kennedy testified before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday. An earlier version misstated the day.

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Gap on Thursday announced it is expanding into beauty starting with its Old Navy brand, marking a strategic shift for the apparel retailer.
The stock was trading higher after a brief halt.
Gap said the move will allow it to remain competitive as it enters one of the most resilient segments of retail in recent years.

A sign hangs in a Gap Outlet store window in Chicago on May 29, 2025.
Scott Olson | Getty Images

Gap on Thursday announced it is expanding into beauty starting with its Old Navy brand, a strategic shift by the apparel company.
Its initial test will feature beauty and personal-care products at 150 Old Navy stores, as well as dedicated beauty associates and some shop-in-shops. The company plans to scale the beauty business next year.

It was unclear when the company eventually plans to put beauty products in Gap brand stores. The company said it plans to “launch brand-right expressions across the portfolio” next year.
“Gap Inc. sees a clear and meaningful opportunity to expand into this category with plans for a phased launch, starting with an initial test-and-learn expression at Old Navy later this fall,” the company said in a statement.
The stock closed roughly 5% higher Thursday.
The beauty segment has proven to be one of the most resilient in retail in recent years despite high inflation and worries about tariffs. Gap cited Euromonitor data that said the beauty and personal-care market is one of the fastest-growing categories in the U.S., projected to exceed $100 billion this year.
Even so, the success of beauty products has made it a more competitive space than ever.

The company said it will also expand its accessories business after seeing “strong customer reception” to its present products.
The new move comes as Gap has experienced a resurgence over the past two years.
“This momentum is enabling Gap Inc. to seize exciting opportunities for growth and innovation, helping ensure the company remains competitive and successful in the future,” the statement said.

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