The sprawling port of Tanger Med on Morocco’s north coast looks out onto the busy Strait of Gibraltar. Departing ships carry cars and goods to 180 locations across the globe. In the port itself lorries zip about on roads that shimmer in the heat. Tanger Med is set to become even larger, showing off the country’s ambitions as a manufacturing and trade hub. More
Very premature babies need lots of immediate medical attention. Which is why one neo-natal team in an American hospital texted the acronym “ELBW”, shorthand for “extremely low birth weight”, to relevant clinical staff if they wanted them to get to the unit fast. Unfortunately, some recipients of this message took it to mean that a baby had a problem with its elbow, and did not require an urgent response. This excruciating story is one of many told in a new book, “There’s Got To Be A Better Way”, by Nelson Repenning, a business-school professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Donald Kieffer, a one-time operations executive at Harley-Davidson who also lectures at MIT. More
IN 1997 FRANCES CAIRNCROSS, then of The Economist, memorably proclaimed “the death of distance”. Dame Frances (as she has since become) argued in a book with this title that telecommunications technology was making geography irrelevant to business and personal lives. Some of her claims may have been overblown but, in one crucial respect, the thesis was bang on. With the exception of China, around which the Communist Party erected the cyberspatial ramparts of the Great Firewall, distance was, in all markets that mattered, dead online. More
Spirit Airlines is cutting flights to a slew of cities after it filed for bankruptcy protection last week for the second time in less than a year.
United Airlines said it’s adding flights in case Spirit “suddenly goes out of business.”
Frontier Airlines has also planned to add flights aimed at Spirit’s customers.
A Spirit Airlines jet takes off above two United Airlines airplanes at Newark Liberty Airport on March 23, 2018 in Newark, New Jersey.
Gary Hershorn | Getty Images
Spirit Airlines is ending service in a host of U.S. cities this fall as it fights for survival. Its rivals, meanwhile, are circling its customers, and one is preparing for the possibility the budget travel icon shuts down altogether.
United Airlines on Thursday put on sale a slew of new flights in cities where Spirit operates, like its home base of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Orlando, Florida, as well as Las Vegas, Houston and Chicago.
“If Spirit suddenly goes out of business it will be incredibly disruptive, so we’re adding these flights to give their customers other options if they want or need them,” Patrick Quayle, United’s senior vice president of global network planning and alliances, said in a news release.
The new service starts Jan. 6.
Last week Frontier Airlines, the second-largest budget airline in the U.S. behind Spirit, announced 20 new routes that compete with Spirit.
Meanwhile, in October, Spirit is exiting Albuquerque, New Mexico; Birmingham, Alabama; Boise, Idaho; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Columbia, South Carolina; Portland, Oregon; and Salt Lake City, as well as Oakland, San Diego, Sacramento and San Jose in California, the carrier told CNBC on Wednesday. It is also axing plans to start service in Macon, Georgia, on Oct. 16.
“We apologize to our Guests for any inconvenience this may cause and will reach out to those with affected reservations to notify them of their options, including a refund,” Spirit said in an emailed statement.
Some of United’s additional flights include service between the New York area and Columbia and Chattanooga. United is also adding additional flights between Houston, Chicago and Los Angeles, as well as several additional daily roundtrip options like Los Angeles to Las Vegas, and Chicago to Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, New Orleans and Las Vegas, among others.
Frontier has the most seat overlap with Spirit at 39%, while United has 18%, according to TD Cowen analyst Tom Fitzgerald.
Several analysts have said they expect full-service airlines will benefit from Spirit’s troubles. Many of those carriers have big global networks to serve customers, as well as a basic economy, no-frills product that competes with Spirit and other low-cost airlines.
With larger airlines “improving onboard product (premium, free Wi-Fi, inflight entertainment) and network expansion, consumers are increasingly choosing network airlines like Delta and United over the historical market disruptors,” Melius Research analyst Conor Cunningham wrote in a note on Wednesday.
Back to court
Spirit Airlines filed for its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a less than year last week after it faced weaker-than-expected demand and continued high costs when it exited its earlier bankruptcy in March.
The carrier didn’t make the more painful, deeper cuts that are common in bankruptcies the first time it filed, and it’s now facing those choices now.
Upon filing its second bankruptcy petition, Spirit last week said it would further scale down its network and shrink its fleet, cuts that it said will reduce costs by “hundreds of millions of dollars” a year.
“Since emerging from our previous restructuring, which was targeted exclusively on reducing Spirit’s funded debt and raising equity capital, it has become clear that there is much more work to be done and many more tools are available to best position Spirit for the future,” Spirit CEO Dave Davis said in a news release on Friday.
In a court filing in December, Spirit forecast a net profit of $252 million this year. But in August, it said it instead lost nearly $257 million since March 13, after it exited Chapter 11, through the end of June.
Spirit warned earlier in August that it might not be able to survive a year unless it significantly increased its cash.
It also said its credit card processor was seeking additional collateral. It then borrowed the entire $275 million available under its revolving credit facility and said that the card processor could hold back up to $3 million a day from the airline. Even before bankruptcy, Spirit had planned to furlough hundreds of additional pilots this fall. More
Netflix announced an update Wednesday to its “Moments” feature, which it rolled out last year on mobile.
The new update allows viewers to choose a start and end point to save specific clips.
Once saved, the clips live in the “My Netflix” tab for rewatching and sharing, according to Netflix.
Netflix on Wednesday announced a new update to its “Moments” feature, allowing viewers to choose a start and end point on clips to save and share.
The feature, which is only available on mobile devices, was first rolled out last year, for viewers to save scenes that they love and share them.
The new update coincides with the release of the second part of season 2 of the popular show “Wednesday.”
Netflix’s new update to the “Moments” feature is looking to capitalize on viral moments in shows such as “Wednesday.” The update includes a “clip” option on the screen to adjust the length of a segment. After it’s clipped, the video will save to viewers’ “My Netflix” tab for rewatching or sharing.
“At its heart, this feature is about giving members the ability to celebrate and share their favorite stories while curating an experience that feels uniquely their own,” said Elmar Nubbemeyer, Netflix’s vice president of member product. “This is just the beginning of a more dynamic Netflix experience with features and designs that feel intentionally made for mobile devices.”
During the first season of the series — a spin on the classic TV show “The Addams Family” — a scene of the title character, Wednesday, dancing went viral and became one of the series’ most popular moments. “Wednesday” is the most popular Netflix show to date, with more than 252 million views, according to the company’s website.
The first part of the series debuted in August and has raked in tens of millions of views so far.
The new update comes as Netflix is revamping its brand, with a redesigned homepage and a vertical video feed on mobile that looks similar to TikTok.
The streaming giant has implemented a variety of strategic moves since its brief period of stagnation in 2022, from updating its features to business initiatives such as a cheaper ad-supported subscription plan and a password-sharing crackdown.
Netflix no longer releases subscription data, but the streamer reported it had more than 300 million paid memberships in January.
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American Eagle said its campaign with actress Sydney Sweeney has so far led to positive gains in new customers and sales.
The clothing retailer issued fiscal second-quarter earnings that beat expectations on the top and bottom lines.
It re-issued its full year guidance and is now expecting lower operating income because of tariffs.
An American Eagle advertisement featuring actress Sydney Sweeney on billboards in New York, US, on Monday, Aug. 4, 2025.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
American Eagle said Wednesday its partnership with Sydney Sweeney has been its “best” advertising campaign to date as it announced fiscal second-quarter earnings that beat expectations.
The company’s splashy, yet controversial, campaign with the “Euphoria” star led to some criticism and blowback but the launch, coupled with a recent partnership with Taylor Swift’s new fiancé Travis Kelce, has led to new customer acquisition and positive traffic across channels.
American Eagle stock soared more than 20% in after-hours trading Wednesday.
“The fall season is off to a positive start. Fueled by stronger product offerings and the success of recent marketing campaigns with Sydney Sweeney and Travis Kelce, we have seen an uptick in customer awareness, engagement and comparable sales,” CEO Jay Schottenstein said in a news release. “We look forward to building on our progress and the continued strength of our iconic brands to drive higher profitability, long-term growth and shareholder value.”
The company also re-issued its full-year guidance after withdrawing it earlier this year. It now expects comparable sales to be approximately flat, better than the 0.2% decline analysts had anticipated, according to StreetAccount.
It still expects gross margin to be down for the duration of the year, but it made key changes to its outlook for operating income, which is bearing the brunt of the tariff impact. The company is now expecting its full-year operating income to be between $255 million and $265 million, down from a previous range of between $360 million and $375 million.
Here’s how American Eagle performed during the quarter compared with what Wall Street was anticipating, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:
Earnings per share: 45 cents vs. 21 cents expected
Revenue: $1.28 billion vs. $1.24 billion expected
The company’s reported net income for the three-month period that ended Aug. 2 was $77.6 million, or 45 cents per share, compared with $77.3 million, or 39 cents per share, a year earlier.
Sales fell to $1.28 billion, down slightly from $1.29 billion a year earlier.
For the current quarter, American Eagle is expecting comparable sales to be up in the low single digit range, better than the 0.9% uptick analysts had expected, according to StreetAccount. It’s expecting the same trend during the fourth quarter.
So far this year, American Eagle’s performance has been marred by merchandising missteps, tariffs and an uncertain consumer that’s being more selective when spending money on products like clothes and shoes.
To turn things around, American Eagle launched its campaign with Sweeney ahead of the crucial back-to-school shopping season, but in some ways, that also backfired when it incited outrage from some customers.
The slogan American Eagle chose for the campaign — “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans” — led some far-left critics to say the remark was a double entendre and a nod to eugenics. Meanwhile, those on the right celebrated the campaign, leading President Donald Trump to weigh in and call it the “hottest” ad around.
More widely, the campaign also faced pushback from some who said the ads were overly sexualized and out of touch, leading them to wonder what type of consumer the company was targeting.
The campaign launched on July 23 at the tail end of American Eagle’s fiscal second quarter, but the company said it’s so far been a success, despite the pushback it received. The Sweeney campaign, along with the partnership it launched with Kelce, has led to “meaningful improvement in the business” with comps so far this quarter up in the mid-single digits. American Eagle said it’s gained 700,000 new customers and that traffic across channels has been “consistently positive” throughout August, despite some news reports indicating the contrary.
The Sweeney campaign has led to denim sellouts, double-digit traffic growth and increased awareness and engagement, the company said. The Sydney Jacket sold out in one day and The Sydney Jean, a custom style that donated 100% of proceeds to the Crisis Text Line, which provides mental health support, sold out in one day.
Meanwhile, American Eagle’s launch with Kelce, the Kansas City Chiefs tight end, the day after he announced his engagement to the pop star, drove three times more sales in one day than past collaborations did in a week, the company said. Many of the items, specifically ones worn by Kelce and his fellow athletes, sold out.
American Eagle’s partnerships with Sweeney and Kelce highlight the work the retailer is doing to stay relevant with consumers and cut through the noise as spending remains soft.
It’s also facing stiff competition from peers like Abercrombie & Fitch, Gap and Levi’s. Recently, Gap launched its “Better in Denim” campaign featuring Katseye and Kelis’s 2003 hit “Milkshake.” Meanwhile, Levi’s has had an ongoing campaign featuring Beyoncé while Abercrombie has taken a sports focus and partnered with the NFL.
Compounding American Eagle’s challenges is the uncertain tariff environment. American Eagle has been working to reduce its reliance on China to under 10% this year but it also has a heavy manufacturing presence in Vietnam and India, which have been the subject of reciprocal tariffs. More
Florida plans to end all state vaccine mandates, including for children to attend schools, said state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, a prominent immunization critic.
The move would make Florida the first-ever state in the U.S. to withdraw from requirements credited with increasing vaccination rates in communities and preventing outbreaks of infectious diseases.
The rollback could result in fewer school children getting immunized against deadly viruses such as polio and measles.
Ruth Jones, immunization nurse, holds a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (brand name: Comirnaty) at Borinquen Health Care Center in Miami, Florida, on May 29, 2025.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images
Florida plans to end all state vaccine mandates, including for children to attend schools, state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, a prominent immunization critic, announced Wednesday.
The move would make Florida the first-ever state in the U.S. to withdraw from the requirements that are credited with increasing vaccination rates in communities and preventing outbreaks of infectious diseases. The rollback could result in fewer school children getting immunized against deadly viruses such as polio and measles, and comes as Florida leads the Southeast in nonmedical vaccine exemptions among kindergartners.
“The Florida Department of Health, in partnership with the governor, is going to be working to end all vaccine mandates in Florida law, all of them. All of them. Every last one of them,” Ladapo said during a news conference, adding that the state has “maybe half a dozen” shots mandated in the state.
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo and Gov. Ron DeSantis at a news conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Jan. 6, 2022.
Joe Cavaretta | Tribune News Service | Getty Images
All states currently have vaccine requirements to attend public schools, though exceptions vary by state. Florida is among the states that already allow parents to object to vaccines on religious grounds.
Ladapo said vaccine mandates “drips with disdain and slavery,” even though they are intended to protect public health. Vaccines have saved the lives of more than 1.1 million children in the U.S. and saved Americans $540 billion in direct health-care costs over the past three decades, according to research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released in August.
Ladapo has long stoked fears about vaccines, and his stances on shots and other measures have drawn criticism from the public health community. Last year, he called for a halt to using mRNA Covid-19 shots, citing false claims that the jabs could contaminate a person’s DNA.
The move comes as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. moves to change vaccine policy in the U.S., gutting a key government immunization panel, canceling funding for mRNA shot development and dropping Covid shot recommendations for certain groups.
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NBCUniversal said this NFL season, which kicks off Thursday, will mark its highest grossing in terms of advertising revenue to-date.
The media company has already sold 90% of its ad inventory for “Sunday Night Football” this season, which airs on broadcast network NBC and streaming platform Peacock.
The company also said it sold out of ad spots for the upcoming Super Bowl LX.
Rashee Rice #4 of the Kansas City Chiefs reacts with the NBC Sunday Night Football Player of the Game football following the win against the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on September 22, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Todd Kirkland | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images
The NFL season officially starts on Thursday, and Comcast’s NBCUniversal is already taking a victory lap.
NBCUniversal said the upcoming NFL season marks its highest grossing to-date when it comes to overall advertising and partnerships revenue. The company also said it’s already sold out of ad spots for Super Bowl LX in February.
Live sports — especially professional football — rake in the biggest audiences and therefore the most ad dollars for traditional TV and streaming platforms. Sports were once again a main component of media companies’ Upfront presentations to advertisers earlier this year.
NBCUniversal in particular began touting its upcoming sports slate earlier this year, noting the NFL and Super Bowl and the return of the NBA to NBC, as well as other major events like the Olympics.
“Coming off of the strongest sports Upfront in our company’s history, Super Bowl LX has generated extraordinary interest from brands and allowed us to sell out of our ad inventory earlier than ever,” said Peter Lazarus, executive vice president for NBC Sports & Olympics, advertising and partnerships, in a release.
The company’s broadcast network NBC and streaming platform Peacock air “Sunday Night Football,” and will each also carry Super Bowl LX. This year marks the 20th season of “Sunday Night Football” on NBC.
NBC said it’s already sold 90% of its ad inventory for “Sunday Night Football.”
This season’s kickoff matchup between reigning Super Bowl champions the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys will air Thursday on NBC.
NBC Sunday Night Football host Jac Collinsworth and Tony Dungy go over stats after the game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on December 22, 2024 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
Icon Sportswire | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images
NBCUniversal said it has inked more than 150 partnerships for “Sunday Night Football” programming for 2025-2026, adding nearly 40 of those partners are new. Top spenders included brands across the automotive, insurance, retail, technology and quick-service restaurant categories. NBCUniversal said it sold out of all key sponsorships for its NFL lineup, and that Toyota is sponsoring Halftime.
The Super Bowl has been breaking records on the advertising front for media companies across the board. Commercial spots for the upcoming championship game are reportedly going for $8 million per 30-second spot.
NBCUniversal said it saw high demand for Super Bowl ads in particular from consumer products, entertainment, finance and alcohol brands. The company added that there was an increase in spending on digital platforms by 20% since the last Super Bowl on NBC in 2022.
The Super Bowl that aired on Fox Corp.’s broadcast network earlier this year provided a record windfall for the company. More than 10 of its commercials sold for $8 million apiece.
Pricing for Super Bowl commercials — the top tier of advertising across TV and streaming — can often escalate by about $100,000 as remaining inventory lessens and the big game approaches. For the Super Bowl on Fox in February, the jump in price had been closer to $500,000 per spot, CNBC previously reported.
Disclosure: Comcast’s NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC. More
