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Boeing has been on an upswing since CEO Kelly Ortberg took over the top job a year ago.
Wall Street analysts expect the aircraft manufacturer to halve its second-quarter losses from a year ago when it reports earnings this week.
But Ortberg still has challenges ahead of him, including with ramping up production of jets, which will require FAA approval, and in company’s defense unit.

FAA chief Steve Dickson flies a Boeing 737 MAX, from Boeing Field on September 30, 2020 in Seattle, Washington.
Mike Siegel | Getty Images

After spiraling from crisis to crisis over much of the past seven years, Boeing is stabilizing under CEO Kelly Ortberg’s leadership.
Ortberg, a longtime aerospace executive and an engineer whom the manufacturer plucked from retirement to fix the problem-addled company last year, is set this week to outline significant progress since he took the helm a year ago. Boeing reports quarterly results and gives its outlook on Tuesday.

So far, investors are liking what they’ve been seeing. Shares of the company are up more than 30% so far this year.
Wall Street analysts expect the aircraft manufacturer to halve its second-quarter losses from a year ago when it reports. Ortberg told investors in May that the manufacturer expects to generate cash in the second half of the year. Boeing’s aircraft production has increased, and its airplane deliveries just hit the highest level in 18 months.

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Boeing’s stock price.

It’s a shift for Boeing, whose successive leaders missed targets on aircraft delivery schedules, certifications, financial goals and culture changes that frustrated investors and customers alike, while rival Airbus pulled ahead.
“The general agreement is that the culture is changing after decades of self-inflicted knife wounds,” said Richard Aboulafia, managing director at AeroDynamic Advisory, an aerospace consulting firm.
Analysts expect the company to post its first annual profit since 2018 next year.

“When he got the job, I was not anywhere as near as optimistic as today,” said Douglas Harned, senior aerospace and defense analyst at Bernstein.

Kelly Ortberg speaks at the 14th annual U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Foundation Aviation Summit in downtown Washington, D.C.
Kris Tripplaar | SIPPL Sipa USA | AP

Ortberg’s work was already cut out for him, but the challenges multiplied when he arrived.
As the company hemorrhaged cash, Ortberg announced massive cost cuts, including laying off 10% of the company. Its machinists who make the majority of its airplanes went on strike for seven weeks until the company and the workers’ union signed a new labor deal. Ortberg also oversaw a more than $20 billion capital raise last fall, replaced the head of the defense unit and sold off its Jeppesen navigation business.
Ortberg bought a house in the Seattle area, where Boeing makes most of its planes, shortly after taking the job last August, and his presence has been positive, aerospace analysts have said.
“He’s showing up,” Aboulafia said. “You show up, you talk to people.”
Boeing declined to make Ortberg available for an interview.

Another turnaround

The Boeing Co. pavilion at the Paris Air Show in Paris, France, on Wednesday, June 18, 2025.
Nathan Laine | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Boeing’s leaders hoped for a turnaround year in 2024. But five days in, a door-plug blew out of a nearly new Boeing 737 Max 9 as it climbed out of Portland. The almost-catastrophe brought Boeing a production slowdown, renewed Federal Aviation Administration scrutiny and billions in cash burn.
Key bolts were left off the plane before it was delivered to Alaska Airlines. It was the latest in a series of quality problems at Boeing, where other defects have required time-consuming reworking.
Boeing had already been reeling from two deadly Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 that sullied the reputation of America’s largest exporter. The company in May reached an agreement with the Justice Department to avoid prosecution stemming from a battle over a previous criminal conspiracy charge tied to the crashes. Victims’ family members slammed the deal when it was announced.
For years, executives at top Boeing airline customers complained publicly about the manufacturer and its leadership as they grappled with delays. Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary told investors in May 2022 that management needed a “reboot or boot up the arse.”
Last week, O’Leary had a different tune.
“I continue to believe Kelly Ortberg, [and Boeing Commercial Airplane unit CEO] Stephanie Pope are doing a great job,” he said on an earnings call. “I mean, there is no doubt that the quality of what is being produced, the hulls in Wichita and the aircraft in Seattle has dramatically improved.”

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United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby cast doubt over the Boeing 737 Max 10 after the January 2024 door-plug accident, as the carrier prepared not to have that aircraft in its fleet plan. The plane is still not certified, but Kirby has said Boeing has been more predictability on airplane deliveries.
Still, delays for the Max 10, the largest of the Max family, and the yet-to-be certified Max 7, the smallest, are a headache for customers, especially since having too few or too many seats on a flight can determine profitability for airlines.
“They’re working the right problems. The consistency of deliveries is much better,” Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan said in an interview last month. “But there’s no update on the Max 7. We’re assuming we are not flying it in 2026.”

Not out of the woods

Airplane fuselages bound for Boeing’s 737 Max production facility await shipment at Spirit AeroSystems headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, U.S. December 10, 2024. 
Nick Oxford | Reuters

Boeing under Ortberg still has much to fix.
The FAA capped Boeing’s production at 38 Maxes a month, a rate that it has reached. To go beyond that, to a target of 42, Boeing will need the FAA’s blessing.
Ortberg said this year that the company is stabilizing to go beyond that rate. Manufacturers get paid when aircraft are delivered, so higher production is key.

“I would suspect they would be having those discussions very soon,” Harned said. “It’s 47 [a month] that I think is the challenging break.”
He added that Boeing has a lot of inventory on hand to help increase production.
Its defense unit has also suffered. The defense unit encompasses programs like the KC-46 tanker program and Air Force One, which has drawn public ire from President Donald Trump. Trump, frustrated with delays on the two new jets meant to serve the president, turned to a used Qatari Boeing 747 to potentially use as a presidential aircraft, though insiders say that used plane could require months of reoutfitting.
Ortberg replaced the head of that unit last fall.
“They’re not totally out of the woods,” Harned said.
Boeing and Ortberg also need to start thinking about a new jet, some industry members said. Its best-selling 737 first debuted in 1967, and the company was looking at a midsize jetliner before the two crashes sent its attention elsewhere.
“Already there’s been a reversal from ‘read my lips, no new jet.’ I would like to see that accelerate,” Aboulafia said. “He is the guy to make that happen.” More

Louis Vuitton’s new 17,000-square-foot development in Shanghai is, quite literally, the luxury brand’s Chinese flagship. The structure, which serves as a store, restaurant, museum and billboard, is shaped like a giant boat, its hull emblazoned with Louis Vuitton’s unmistakable monogram print. To some, it is also a metaphor for Louis Vuitton’s parent company, LVMH, which is floundering in China and beyond. Is it a superyacht headed for promising new waters, asks Flavio Cereda-Parin of GAM, an asset manager, or “Titanic 2.0”? More

The end of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” is calling attention to the mounting pressures on traditional TV and raising questions about the whether the time slot can survive the evolving viewing landscape.
The cost of producing late night programs has risen as the media industry has been upended by streaming and shifting consumer habits.
Jimmy Kimmel’s contract with Disney is set to lapse in 2026.

A marquee featuring “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” is seen outside the Ed Sullivan Theater, where Colbert’s show is produced, in New York City on July 18, 2025.
Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images

There are two schools of thought around CBS’ decision to end “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
The first says the cancellation is a one-off exit from the storied time slot — that Paramount was trying to push through the red tape to finally merge with Skydance Media, a deal that was approved by the Federal Communications Commission Thursday after more than a year in limbo.

The other says it signals the beginning of the end of late night TV.
The entertainment industry will have a better sense of where the truth lies next year when Disney decides the fate of Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show, “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”
While NBC recently extended the contracts of its two late night hosts, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers, into 2028, Kimmel’s contract is set to lapse in 2026.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live” has been a late night staple since 2003, acting not only as a typical talk show on the circuit, but as a valuable marketing hub for Disney’s slate of theatrical and television content. In addition to traditional one-on-one interviews, Kimmel will also frequently host several stars from the same project, often for blockbuster titles from Marvel, Star Wars and the company’s animated franchises.
Clips from these chats are fed onto Kimmel’s YouTube channel, which has more than 20 million subscribers, and across social media, helping to generate buzz for upcoming Disney projects.

For comparison, Fallon’s show account has around 32 million subscribers, while Colbert’s stands at 10 million and Meyers’ at just over 5 million.
Kimmel is also a frequent host of the Academy Awards, which airs on Disney’s ABC, and is currently the host of ABC’s celebrity edition of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” These ancillary assignments, as well as his annual job closing out Disney’s Upfronts presentation for advertisers, may make Kimmel more important to Disney’s long-term future than Colbert was for Paramount or CBS.
Still, while the next test of media’s commitment to late night is months off, the end of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” is calling attention to the mounting pressures on traditional TV and raising questions about the whether the time slot can survive the evolving viewing landscape.

Finances in focus

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert during Thursday’s July 17, 2025 show.
Scott Kowalchyk | CBS | Getty Images

The cost of producing late night programs has risen as the media industry has been upended by streaming and shifting consumer habits. The traditional pay TV bundle has lost millions of customers in recent years, and as they’ve disappeared, so too have advertising dollars.
The shifting equation has forced media companies to rebalance.
At a large scale, companies like Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery have opted to split off their cable TV networks into separate corporate entities.
At the programming level, big shows are increasingly greenlit for release on streaming services rather than traditional networks. Salaries of highly paid news anchors have moderated, with some stepping away from traditional networks entirely and starting out their own ventures. And much of the money spent on bulking up both linear TV networks and streaming services is earmarked for live sports.
That leaves familiar titles in flux.
“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” employed around 200 people and recorded annual losses of around $40 million, according to a person familiar with the matter, who declined to be named speaking about nonpublic matters. “Jimmy Kimmel Live” employs around 250 people and loses roughly the same amount, according to a person familiar with that show’s finances.
While the pay-TV bundle still rakes in the highest share of profits for legacy media companies – much of which stems from the fees that pay-TV distributors hand over to the networks to be included in the bundle – that figure is in decline.
Linear TV advertising revenue has also been on a steady downward slope. Industry analysts and experts expected the ad market to stabilize in 2025 after tumultuous streaming-centric years, but macroeconomic uncertainty has hampered the recovery.
In quarterly earnings that were reported in May, Paramount, NBCUniversal and Disney each reported lower ad sales on a year-over-year basis.
Paramount reported in May that its first-quarter TV advertising revenue was down 21% to $2.04 billion, mainly due to comparisons to the prior-year period when the company had the Super Bowl. That championship beckons the most ad dollars of any live event on TV. Without the Super Bowl, ad revenue would have been flat, the company said. Overall revenue for Paramount’s TV segment was down 13%.
Of the traditional TV ad spend that does remain, the biggest share has gravitated to live sports, which draw the biggest audiences. NBCUniversal recently touted its record ad sales volume during the most recent Upfront cycle due to an upcoming slate of NBA, the Super Bowl, Winter Olympics and other sports.
Disney reported in May that quarterly revenue for its domestic linear networks was down 3% to $2.2 billion, attributing the decline to lower ad revenue. Still, Disney noted ad revenue for ESPN and sports in general saw an increase in ad revenue.

The late night landscape

On Tuesday, May 13, 2025 at North Javits in New York City, an incredible roster of all-star talent will tout their connections to storytelling, Disney, and each other while showcasing their latest projects for the upcoming year.
Michael Le Brecht | Disney General Entertainment Content | Getty Images

These headwinds help legitimize Paramount’s decision to cancel “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” but the timing of the program’s end has raised suspicions.
The announcement that Colbert’s show would take its final bow in May 2026 came just days after the tenured host publicly called out Paramount for its $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump over the editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Colbert called the settlement a “big fat bribe” during one of his show-opening monologues, referencing the then-pending merger between Paramount and Skydance Media, which required the approval of the Trump administration to proceed.
Paramount and CBS executives released a statement last week saying the cancellation was “purely a financial decision against the challenging backdrop in late night.”
“It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount,” the company continued.
While ratings for Colbert’s show have declined over the last decade, the program has consistently achieved the highest views of any show in the 11:35 p.m. hour, outdrawing ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” according to Nielsen.
Still, Colbert’s ratings have been declining each season. For the most recent September-to-May time period, Colbert averaged roughly 1.9 million viewers, with the majority of viewership coming in the age demographic of over 65, according to Nielsen — a telling data point about the state of TV viewership.
Kimmel’s viewership paints a similar picture, with viewership dropping from the September-to-May time period in 2019-2020 to the most recent in 2024-2025, when the average was nearly 1.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen.
When Paramount listed its slate of highly rated TV shows during its last earnings report, including “Tracker,” the top rated series and “Matlock,” the highest rated new series, it also listed Colbert’s “The Late Show” as the highest rated broadcast late night show. “The Daily Show,” also from Paramount, was the top late night show on cable TV.
Some industry experts have questioned whether CBS could have explored other ways to save money — or save late night — besides outright canceling “The Late Show.” NBC cut costs by eliminating the band on Meyers’ late night show and shifting Fallon to four nights a week instead of five.
CBS tried to bring a younger demographic into the hour with “After Midnight,” a late night show that ran after Colbert. The show was hosted by comedian Taylor Tomlinson and was centered on viral internet phenomena.
Though CBS intended to renew the show after its first two seasons, Tomlinson decided not to extend her contract, and the show was canceled.
Disclosure: Comcast owns NBCUniversal, the parent company of CNBC. More

The NFL plans to fine more than 100 players and roughly two dozen club employees who were found to be in violation of the NFL’s Ticket Resale policy.
Violators will be fined up to 2 times the face value of the tickets they resold.
The league is also taking steps to enhance compliance training ahead of Super Bowl 60 and said it will increase penalties for future offenses.

A detail shot of the Lombardi Trophy next to Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles helmets prior to a news conference on February 03, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana ahead of the NFL Super Bowl LIX football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Kevin Sabitus | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images

The NFL is cracking down on the resale of Super Bowl tickets by players, coaches and club employees.
The league plans to fine more than 100 players and roughly two dozen club employees who were found to be in violation of the NFL’s Ticket Resale policy in connection with Super Bowl 59 tickets, according to an internal memo from the league’s chief compliance officer, Sabrina Perel, that was viewed by CNBC.

An investigation found that those players and personnel were selling these tickets to resale “bundlers” at a profit, according to the memo.
Players will be fined 1.5-times the face value of the tickets they sold, and employees will be fined twice the face value, according to a person familiar with the matter who declined to be named speaking about nonpublic details.
Non-player personnel found in violation of the policy will also lose the ability to purchase future NFL tickets, according to the memo.
The league prohibits employees and players from selling NFL game tickets acquired from their employer for more than the ticket’s face value or more than the employee originally paid — whichever is less.
The league is also taking steps to enhance compliance training ahead of Super Bowl 60 and said it will increase penalties for future offenses.
“No one should profit personally from their NFL affiliation at the expense of our fans,” Perel wrote in the memo. More

Auction sales have been declining for the third year in a row and are down 44% — or more than $3 billion — from the first six months of 2022.
But the prosperity of the wealthy is at record levels, raising questions about a bigger shift in the art market.
Auction houses are working to attract younger clients with more online sales, luxury items and lower-priced offerings.

Ups and Downs by KAWS, estimated£30000-£50000, on display during a preview at the Phillips showroom in central London, ahead of their forthcoming Evening and Day Editions auction. Picture date: Friday January 17, 2025. (Photo by Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images)
Ian West – Pa Images | Pa Images | Getty Images

A version of this article first appeared in CNBC’s Inside Wealth newsletter with Robert Frank, a weekly guide to the high-net-worth investor and consumer. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox.
Auction sales have been declining for the third year in a row, as dealers, auctioneers and collectors ponder a deeper crisis in the art market.

Auction sales for the first half of the year at Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips fell to $3.98 billion, a drop of 6% compared with the same period in 2024, according to ArtTactic. The auction total is the lowest in at least a decade (setting aside the 2020 pandemic) and is now down 44% — or more than $3 billion — from 2022. The declines follow a 19% drop in 2023 and 26% decline in 2024.

Postwar and contemporary art, which has been the main engine of growth for art auctions in recent decades, fell by an even greater 19% in the first half, according to ArtTactic.
“Lingering concerns over global economic growth, ongoing inflation, and rising geopolitical tensions are weighing on confidence and creating a more cautious investment climate,” ArtTactic said. “These factors are likely to challenge the market’s momentum in the second half of the year, as the industry adapts to a still-uncertain global landscape.”
Those lingering concerns, however, aren’t showing up in other areas of the wealth economy. The prosperity of the wealthy is at record levels, with the top 10% of Americans adding $37 trillion to their wealth since Covid, marking a 45% increase. Stock markets were up more than 20% in both 2023 and 2024 and are up again so far in 2025. Housing values and business valuations have also soared, adding to personal wealth.
Yale professor William Goetzmann has studied the relationship between art prices and financial wealth going back over 300 years and found they are “highly correlated.”

“Demand for art increases with the wealth of art collectors,” he wrote in his famous paper “Accounting for Taste, Art and the Financial Markets over Three Centuries.”
With personal wealth at all-time highs, however, Goetzmann said the 300-year correlation is broken. He said there are one of two explanations for the divergence: Either the dip in the art market is a temporary aberration and will bounce back this year or next, or the art market is going through a more structural change.
“The question is, is there some kind of fundamental deviation from the social norm of the very wealthy being highly involved in collecting art at the highest prices and levels,” he said. “We don’t know yet.”

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That fundamental deviation, if it’s happening, may be rooted in the generational shift in wealth. For decades, the art market has been driven largely by baby boomers who built large art collections as their wealth grew throughout the 1980s, ’90s and 2000s. Many of those baby boomer collectors are now buying less or downsizing. And a growing number are leaving estates with large collections to sell, since their kids often don’t want the art.
At the same time, the new generation of wealthy — millennials and Gen Z — grew up in a more digital world and may not have the same tastes or interest in the paintings of 20th century artists. With over $100 trillion in wealth expected to pass mainly from baby boomers to the next generation, some experts say the art market may be showing signs of structural change and a more existential crisis.
The auction houses are racing to adapt with more online sales, luxury items and lower-priced offerings. Auction sales in the luxury category — including jewelry, handbags, wine, watches and sports memorabilia — grew 1% in the first half even as art sales declined, according to ArtTactic.
Jewelry is shining especially bright among young, female collectors as more wealth shifts to women. Jewel and jewelry sales jumped 68% in the first half compared to a year ago. Online auctions are also rapidly gaining share over physical auctions as younger collectors prefer to bid from their phones.
Total auction sales at Christie’s were stable in the first half, thanks in large part to online sales and luxury. Its luxury sales, which also included classic cars, surged 29% to $468 million. Among the highlights: the Marie-Therese Pink Diamond, said to have belonged to Marie Antoinette, which sold for $14 million, and the “Blue Belle” fancy vivid blue diamond went for $11 million.
The shine from jewelry and luxury goods is also helping Sotheby’s, which sold its own blue diamond, the famed “Mediterranean Blue,” for $21.5 million in May after a fierce bidding war.
Younger collectors are driving strong demand for collectibles priced under $100,000, with the most competitive bidding for works under $50,000.  The top end of the art market, with lots priced at over $10 million, plunged 39% last year, while sales of works for less than $5,000 jumped 13%, according to the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report.
Bonnie Brennan, CEO of Christie’s, told reporters that the auction’s house’s chief mission is to offer the objects that its clients want today, and offer them at the right price — especially for the new generation of collectors. Fully 80% of its bids this year have been online and nearly a third of winning bids came from millennial or Gen Z buyers.
“We are showing great relevance to the younger generation, to millennials, to Gen Z,” Brennan said. “It’s something that’s really critical to sustain our business going forward.” More

The FCC cleared the way for a merger between Paramount and Skydance.
The $8 billion deal includes Paramount Pictures, the CBS broadcast network and the Nickelodeon channel.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said there would be “significant changes” at CBS and noted that Skydance had agreed not to establish any DEI initiatives.

The Paramount Global headquarters in New York, US, on Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024. 
Yuki Iwamura | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The Federal Communications Commission cleared the way Thursday for an $8 billion merger between Paramount and Skydance Media.
The deal, which was announced more than a year ago, includes the CBS broadcast television network, Paramount Pictures and the Nickelodeon channel.

“Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media to report fully, accurately, and fairly,” Brendan Carr, chairman of the FCC, wrote in a statement Thursday. “It is time for a change. That is why I welcome Skydance’s commitment to make significant changes at the once storied CBS broadcast network.”
Carr said Skydance had made written commitments to ensure the new company’s programing would have a diversity of viewpoints across the political and ideological spectrum. Skydance also said it would hire a third-party impartial outsider to report to the president of the new company to evaluate complaints of bias.
The FCC chairman noted that Skydance does not have any DEI programs in place and has agreed not to establish any such initiatives at the new company.
Paramount chair Shari Redstone is set to depart the company’s board once the Skydance merger is complete. Her family’s company National Amusements is selling its controlling stake in Paramount to Skydance.
Skydance is owned by David Ellison, the soun of Oracle founder and billionaire Larry Ellison.

The decision by the FCC to greenlight the merger was not unanimous. Commissioner Anna Gomez, the lone Democrat on the three-person commission, opposed the move, saying she was troubled by Paramount’s recent payment to settle a suit brought by President Donald Trump against CBS’s “60 Minutes.”
“The Paramount payout and this reckless approval have emboldened those who believe the government can — and should-abuse its power to extract financial and ideological concessions, demand favored treatment, and secure positive media coverage,” she wrote in a dissent statement.
The FCC’s ruling comes less than a month after Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to Trump after he sued the company over the editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. It also occurred a week after CBS announced it was canceling “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
Colbert had called the settlement a “big fat bribe” during one of his monologues last week, referencing the $8.4 billion pending merger between Paramount and Skydance Media, which required the approval of the Trump administration to proceed.
At the time, Paramount and CBS executives released a statement saying the cancellation was “purely a financial decision against the challenging backdrop in late night.”
However, the timing of its decision has been called into question by a number of political figures and Hollywood trade groups.
The Writer’s Guild of America asked New York State Attorney Letitia James to join California and launch an investigation into potential wrongdoing at Paramount.
“Cancelations are part of the business, but a corporation terminating a show in bad faith due to explicit or implicit political pressure is dangerous and unacceptable in a democratic society,” the WGA wrote in a statement last week. “Paramount’s decision comes against a backdrop of relentless attacks on a free press by President Trump, through lawsuits against CBS and ABC, threatened litigation of media organizations with critical coverage, and the unconscionable defunding of PBS and NPR.”
Democratic Senators Adam Schiff, of California, and Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts, also questioned the deal.
“Was it a coincidence that CBS canceled Colbert just three days after he spoke out?” Warren wrote in an op-ed for Variety published Wednesday. “Are we sure that this wasn’t part of a wink-wink deal between the president and a giant corporation that needed something from his administration?” More

Comcast on Thursday announced the expected board members of its cable networks spinout, Versant.
They come from backgrounds in media, technology, finance and other industries, according to Versant.
The spinoff is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Versant signage on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on July 21, 2025.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Comcast on Thursday announced the expected board members of its cable networks spinout, Versant.
They come from backgrounds in media, technology, finance and other industries, according to Versant.

Versant will be the parent company of what are now NBCUniversal’s cable networks, including USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel. On the digital front, it is also set to house Fandango, Rotten Tomatoes, GolfNow, GolfPass and SportsEngine.
The spinoff is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Here is the slate of board members:
Mark Lazarus
Mark Lazarus is the CEO of Versant. Previously, he was chairman of NBCUniversal Media Group.

Mark Lazarus, CEO of Versant, visits the floor at the New York Stock Exchange on July 21, 2025.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters

“The announcement of the future Board marks a critical milestone as we define our long-term strategy and advance the value of our iconic media portfolio,” Lazarus said in a statement. “I look forward to collaborating with this distinguished group as we establish a leading independent media company.”

David Novak
David Novak is the prospective chairman of Versant.
He is a longtime board member of Comcast and the former CEO of Yum Brands. He will resign from his position on Comcast’s board at the time of the spinoff, according to Versant.
Rebecca Campbell
Rebecca Campbell is the former chairman of international content and operations at The Walt Disney Company. She is also the interim CEO of Meow Wolf, an arts and entertainment company.
Creighton Condon
Creighton Condon is counsel at global law firm A&O Shearman, advising clients on mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and joint ventures. He also counsels boards of directors and special committees.
Michael Conway
Michael Conway is the former CEO of Starbucks North America. Prior to Starbucks, he worked at Johnson & Johnson and Campbell Soup Company. He has also served as a McCormick board director for the past 10 years.
David Eun
David Eun is a founding advisor to generative artificial intelligence firm Kanza AI, which is focused on health, wellness and medicine. He is also co-founder of investment firm Alakai Group. Previously, he was president and chief innovation officer of Samsung Electronics.
Gerald Hassell
Gerald Hassell is the former chairman and CEO of the Bank of New York Mellon. He is also a former director of Comcast and MetLife.
Scott Mahoney
Scott Mahoney is the chairman and CEO of Peter Millar, a golf apparel company. He previously worked at Polo Ralph Lauren. He is also on the board of directors of Fleet Feet, a running shoe and apparel company.
Maritza Montiel
Maritza Montiel is the former deputy CEO and vice chairman of Deloitte & Touche LLP’s U.S. business.
Montiel has served on the board of directors at McCormick for the past 10 years and is currently on the board of directors for cruise company Royal Caribbean. She is a former director of Comcast and Aptar.
Len Potter
Len Potter founded Wildcat Capital Management, a registered investment advisor, and has served as its president and CEO since its start. He is also a founder and senior managing director of Vida Ventures, a biotech venture fund.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC under the proposed spinoff.

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McDonald’s shuttered CosMc’s, but the burger chain is planning to test new coffee drinks, refreshers and flavored sodas inspired by the spinoff brand.
The initial test will include more than 500 restaurants in Wisconsin, Colorado and the surrounding areas.
Fast-food chains have been leaning into fun, colorful drinks to win over younger consumers.

Something Bold (and Delicious) is Brewing at McDonald’s: A First Sip into the Future of Beverages
Courtesy: McDonald’s

McDonald’s said Thursday it is planning to test new coffee drinks, refreshers and flavored sodas at more than 500 restaurants later this summer, hoping to cash in on younger consumers’ love for fun, colorful drinks.
“We’re seeing real momentum in beverages, with more people – especially our Gen Z fans – turning to cold, flavorful drinks as a go-to treat,” Alyssa Buetikofer, chief customer experience and marketing officer of McDonald’s USA, said in a statement. “It’s a great opportunity for us to meet our US customers’ evolving tastes and show up in new moments, like afternoon refreshment or snack breaks.”

The test lineup includes Creamy Vanilla Cold Brew, Strawberry Watermelon Refresher, Toasted Vanilla Frappe, Sprite Lunar Splash and Popping Tropic Refresher, as well as others not yet shared by McDonald’s.
The initial stage of the test will only include locations in Wisconsin, Colorado and the surrounding areas, according to McDonald’s. The chain is hoping to learn more about what customers like best, plus how to make an expanded drink lineup work for its restaurants and franchisees.
McDonald’s announcement on Thursday comes after the chain began shuttering its stand-alone locations of its once-buzzy CosMc’s brand last month. The spinoff, which focused on snacks and customizable drinks, initially inspired hourslong lines from customers eager to try something new. But after 18 months, McDonald’s chose to wind down the brand and instead bring beverages influenced by CosMc’s to its own restaurants.
Expanding the burger chain’s drinks lineup could help McDonald’s compete better with fast-growing beverage chains like Dutch Bros., 7 Brew Drive Thru Coffee and Swig, which have all leaned into consumers’ desire to customize their drinks.
New drinks could also drive more customers to McDonald’s restaurants. In recent quarters, the burger chain has reported lackluster sales as consumers spend less money on its french fries and Big Macs. McDonald’s U.S. same-store sales fell 3.6% in the first three months of the year; the company is expected to report its second-quarter results on Aug. 6.
Fast-food rivals have also recently been looking beyond the soda fountain for drink options that will appeal to diners. Earlier this month, Yum Brands’ Taco Bell unveiled a new Refrescas lineup; the chain also plans to expand its in-restaurant drinks concept called the Live Mas Cafe later this year. Wendy’s added three new sour Powerade options to its drinks lineup in June. And earlier this summer, KFC collaborated with PepsiCo’s Mountain Dew on a “dirty” soda, made with sweet vanilla cream.

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