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    The sportswear giants are running into hurdles

    Following a series of anti-Semitic outbursts in October, Kanye West, a rapper and fashion entrepreneur (who insists on being called Ye), bragged that Adidas would never get rid of him. Within days, the German sportswear giant proved him wrong, ending a lucrative seven-year relship. Mr West’s line of Yeezy sneakers added €1.5bn ($1.5bn) to Adidas’s revenues in 2021, or 12% of its entire shoe business. After the announcement, the company’s share price fell to lows unseen since 2016. On November 9th Adidas cut its profit forecast for the fourth time this year. The previous day it had named a new chief executive, Bjorn Gulden, to clean up the mess.Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

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    As tech lay-offs spread, Meta sacks 11,000 workers

    On November 9th Meta said it would fire 11,000 people, or 13% of its workforce. It is not the only tech firm to give its workers the boot, as the sector goes through a harsh downturn. A week earlier Stripe, a fintech firm, announced it would cut 14% of its staff; Twitter’s new owner, Elon Musk, fired half its personnel. According to Crunchbase, a data provider, more than 60,000 American techies have been shown the door this year.To stay on top of the biggest stories in business and technology, sign up to the Bottom Line, our weekly subscriber-only newsletter. More

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    A series of shortages threatens EU supply chains

    “Lorries are vital for the transport of almost everything in Europe,” says Raluca Marian of the International Road Transport Union (IRU) in Brussels. Three-quarters of all goods in the EU travel by lorry. If half the bloc’s 6.2m heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) cannot function, supermarket shelves will be empty within days and essential services reliant on ambulances and fire engines will break down. That could happen if stocks of AdBlue, a mix of urea and deionised water that neutralises nitric-oxide emissions from diesel engines, are depleted. As many as 4m European lorries are programmed to stop after a few kilometres without AdBlue. Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

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    T20 World Cup: England thrash India by 10 wickets to book place in final against Pakistan

    Jos Buttler (80no) and Alex Hales (86no) share superb opening stand to see England reach target of 169 with four overs to spare.
    Chris Jordan (3-43) pick of bowlers on return to the side. 
    England to play Pakistan in Sunday’s final.

    Jos Buttler and Alex Hales of England share a laugh as they celebrate victory during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Semi Final match between India and England at Adelaide Oval on November 10, 2022 in Adelaide, Australia.
    Mark Kolbe | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images

    An incredible unbroken opening stand between Jos Buttler and Alex Hales saw England book their place in the T20 World Cup final with a stunning 10-wicket victory over India in Adelaide.
    Hardik Pandya fired five sixes in an excellent 63 from just 33 deliveries and Virat Kohli also made a half-century before being dismissed by Chris Jordan (3-43), brought in to replace the injured Mark Wood, as India finished strongly to post 168-6 after being put into bat.

    England made a blistering start in reply, with Hales bringing up 50 from 28 balls and Buttler reaching his half-century from 36 deliveries, with the opening pair annihilating the Indian bowling attack as they raced towards their victory target.
    Hales blasted seven sixes in his unbeaten 86 from 47 balls and put on an unbeaten 170-run stand with Buttler (80no), who signed off with a maximum to see England home with four overs to spare.

    How England booked their place in the final

    England made two changes from the side that defeated Sri Lanka in the final Super 12s match, with Wood undergoing a scan on a right hip problem and a groin injury seeing Dawid Malan replaced by Phil Salt, while India stuck with the same team that played Zimbabwe.

    Electing to bowl first, England made an early breakthrough when Chris Woakes found the edge of KL Rahul (5) which presented a simple catch for Buttler, before captain Rohit Sharma (27) put on a 47-run stand with Kohli until he was removed by a smart catch from Sam Curran in Jordan’s first over.
    Adil Rashid (1-20) claimed the key wicket of Suryakumar Yadav (14) and India only reached 100 with the final delivery of the 15th over, before a sparkling innings from Pandya and key partnership with Kohli pushed them towards a competitive total.

    The pair put on 61 for the third wicket until Kohli was dismissed the ball after reaching his 50, with Rishabh Pant (6) falling in the final over and top-scorer Pandya out when he trod on his stumps from the last ball of the innings.
    Buttler made three boundaries inside the opening over of England’s reply as they immediately pulled clear of the required run rate, reaching 63 inside the power play as India’s bowlers failed to control the power hitting of the opening pair.
    Hales brought up his 50 in the eighth over and continued his aggressive play, while Buttler reached his half-century by pulling Pandya (0-34) for a six in the 13th over as England moved closer to a big victory.
    India’s best chance to break the stand came when Yadav dropped a sliced shot from Buttler and saw the ball trickle for another boundary off Mohammed Shami’s (0-39) bowling, with Buttler then blasting Shami over his head two overs later to seal victory in style.
    Sharma: India ‘did not turn up’
    England captain Jos Buttler: “The character we have shown ever since [the loss to Ireland] has been [excellent] and we put in our best performance so far, against top-quality opposition as well. We came here very excited, there was a really good feel around the group, and I felt everyone from one to 11 stood up today.”
    India captain Rohit Sharma: “It’s disappointing how we turned up today. We batted pretty well at the backend but we were not good enough with the ball. It was definitely not a wicket where a team should chase that down in 16 overs.
    “With the ball we did not turn up. Knockout stages are about keeping calm and handling pressure and the way we started with the ball was not ideal. It shows we were a little nervy but you have to give credit to England.”
    What’s next?
    Watch the T20 World Cup final between England and Pakistan, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, live on Sky Sports Cricket and Main Event on Sunday. The game will start at 8am UK time.

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    Nio reports strong third-quarter revenue as it gears up for a big year-end production push

    Nio reported a third-quarter loss that was much greater than a year ago, but revenue surged.
    Nio’s gross margins have been squeezed by rising costs and lower sales of regulatory credits.
    Demand has been strong for its new ET5 sedan, and the company expects a record fourth quarter.

    Employees stand next to a ET7 sedan at a NIO Inc. dealership in Shanghai, China, on Wednesday, June 8, 2022.
    Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio on Thursday reported a loss of $577.9 million for the third quarter, significantly wider than a year ago, despite strong revenue following a 29% increase in vehicle sales.
    Here are the key numbers from Nio’s third-quarter earnings report.

    Revenue: $1.83 billion, up 32.6% from the third quarter of 2021.
    Adjusted loss per share: 30 cents, versus 6 cents per share in the year-ago period.
    Cash at quarter end: $7.2 billion, down from $8.1 billion as of June 30.

    Shares of the company rose about 5% in premarket trading Thursday.
    Nio said on Oct. 1 that it delivered 31,607 vehicles in the third quarter, up 29% from the third quarter of 2021 and a record for the company.
    Nio’s gross margin was 13.3%, slightly improved versus the 13% margin it reported in the second quarter, but down from 20.3% a year ago. Nio said the year-over-year margin decline was due to lower sales of regulatory credits, higher costs that have squeezed margins on its vehicles, and higher spending on its charging and service networks.
    CEO William Bin Li said in a statement that the company has seen strong interest in its new ET5 sedan, which he expects “will support a substantial acceleration of our overall revenue growth in the fourth quarter of 2022.” The ET5, the company’s second sedan, began shipping in September.
    With the ET5 now available, Nio is working to increase production and shorten customer waiting times, Li said. Nio said that investors should expect it to deliver 43,000 and 48,000 vehicles in the fourth quarter, generating total revenue between RMB17,368 million ($2.4 billion) and RMB19,225 million ($2.7 billion).

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    ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ aims to break box office records this weekend

    Ryan Coogler’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is on pace for a stellar theatrical debut, with box office analysts suggesting it could top $200 million in domestic ticket sales.
    The Marvel Studios film is expected to be a tribute to the late Chadwick Boseman, who played T’Challa in the first movie.
    Box office analysts and theater operators are expecting Black and Hispanic moviegoers to flock to cinemas this weekend.

    Angela Bassett stars as Queen Ramonda in Marvel’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

    Long live the king.
    Disney’s latest entrant in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” is on pace for a stellar theatrical debut this weekend, with box office analysts suggesting it could outpace the $185 million average forecast and top $200 million in domestic ticket sales.

    The long-awaited sequel to 2018’s smash hit “Black Panther” isn’t just another Marvel film. It is a memorial to the late actor Chadwick Boseman, who starred in the first film, and a celebration of diversity, which could amplify ticket sales.
    The release could be a boon for theater operators, which have struggled with a thin slate of releases this year. AMC Entertainment, the world’s largest movie theater operator, this week reported another quarterly loss as expenses for film exhibition and rent outweighed ticket and concession sales.
    “‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ is opening under extraordinary circumstances amidst a wave of goodwill and an outpouring of support for the work and legacy of Chadwick Boseman and the indelible mark he made in the title role in the original film that was a billion-dollar global hit,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. He called it “one of the most important movie releases” since Covid shut down theaters in March 2020.
    Anticipation for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is so intense that it could end up with both the opening weekend success of Marvel’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” and the box office staying power of Paramount and Skydance’s “Top Gun: Maverick.”
    At present, “Multiverse of Madness” holds the top opening of the year, having generated $187 million during its domestic debut in May. Other top openers include Universal’s “Jurassic World: Dominion” ($145 million), “Thor: Love and Thunder” ($144 million), “The Batman” ($134 million) and “Top Gun: Maverick” ($126 million).

    “Wakanda Forever” has a chance to not only be the biggest opener in 2022, but also the highest ever opener of the month of November. “Hunger Games: Catching Fire” holds the title after it garnered $158 million when it opened in 2013.
    Paying tribute to Boseman is important to ticket buyers, according to a Fandango survey of 1,000 people who bought tickets for “Wakanda Forever.” The ticket seller reported that 96% of those moviegoers hope the new film finds a special way to honor the late actor.
    Fueling ticket sales won’t just be fans of the superhero genre. Box office analysts and theater operators are expecting African American and Hispanic moviegoers to flock to cinemas this weekend.
    Like “Black Panther,” “Wakanda Forever” features a predominately Black cast, but it also has several Hispanic actors. These two demographics were immensely important to the box office success of the first film and could fuel big ticket sales five years later.
    According to Comscore, 37% of the opening weekend audience for “Black Panther” was Black, accounting for more than double what the demographic usually represents for other Marvel films. The Hispanic audience accounted for 18% of ticket sales.
    “Black Panther” made more than $202 million during its domestic opening in 2018.

    Disney Marvel Studios blockbuster success ‘Black Panther,’ the No. 1 film at the 2018 box office, is aiming for the Oscars Best Picture critical acclaim that has long been denied to superhero films.
    Source: Marvel

    “I think that what we’re going to see out of this film is that well over indexing of the African American representation of consumers, and then over indexing of Hispanic consumers into this,” said Rolando Rodriguez, chairman of the National Association of Theatre Owners.
    That’s in addition to the typical universe of Marvel consumers, he said.
    Also amplifying the opening of “Wakanda Forever” is the trend of moviegoers opting for premium formats such as IMAX, Dolby Cinema and large format cinema screens for big budget film releases. For major superhero and action films, premium formats, which cost more per ticket, represents around 40% of pre-sales and translates to around 33% of box office sales, according to data from EntTelligence.
    The average ticket sold for a standard format film showing this year is around $11.19. For premium formats, the average is $15.64 per ticket.
    Beyond its opening weekend, “Wakanda Forever” will also benefit from a light theatrical calendar. The film has no direct competition until the release of Disney’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” on Dec. 16.
    “That’s an automatic advantage,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com.
    Box office analysts expect word of mouth will be a big factor for the film’s sustained ticket sales in theaters. That appeared to be a factor for the first “Black Panther” film, which had exceptional weekend holds throughout its run. Ticket sales only dropped 45% between its first and second weekend, compared to the 60% to 70% drop that is typically expected for blockbuster films.
    In fact, the weekend declines for “Black Panther” remained under 50% for 12 consecutive weeks, according to Comscore data.
    Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. Universal was the distributor of “Jurassic World Dominion” and owns Fandango.

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    Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s art collection smashes record with $1.5 billion auction

    The collection of Paul Allen, the late co-founder of Microsoft, was a treasure trove of masterpieces spanning 500 years.
    Several works sold for three or four times their estimates, with several artists setting new records at auction, including Vincent van Gogh, Edward Steichen and Gustav Klimt.
    The sales total for the Allen collection will soar even higher Thursday morning, when another 95 lots head to auction.

    Art handlers hold a painting titled “La montagne Sainte-Victoire” by Paul Cezanne (estimate on request: in excess of $120,000,000) during a photo call to present the highlights from the estate of the philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft, Paul G. Allen in London on Oct. 14, 2022.
    Wiktor Szymanowicz | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

    Christie’s sold 60 works from the Paul G. Allen Collection for over $1.5 billion Wednesday night, as wealthy collectors around the world shrugged off economic and crypto worries to invest in trophy artworks.
    Five paintings broke the $100 million mark, including the night’s top seller — Georges Seurat’s “Les Poseuses, Ensemble,” which sold for $149.2 million. Several works sold for three or four times their estimates, with several artists setting new records at auction, including Vincent van Gogh, Edward Steichen and Gustav Klimt.

    The sales total of $1.506 billion shattered the previous record for the most expensive collection ever auctioned, set by the Harry and Linda Macklowe collection auctioned at Sotheby’s for $922 million. The sales total for the Allen collection will soar even higher Thursday morning, when another 95 lots head to auction.
    The flurry of eight- and nine-figure sales suggested that the global rich still view masterpiece art as a hedge against inflation and perhaps a safer store of value than increasingly volatile stocks and crypto currencies. The sale came the same day that the Dow fell over 600 points and bitcoin plunged to its lowest levels since November 2020.
    The collection of Paul Allen, the late co-founder of Microsoft, was a treasure trove of masterpieces spanning 500 years. All of the proceeds will go to charity, since Allen signed the Giving Pledge promising to leave at least half of his fortune to charity.
    Allen’s keen eye for great art also made for great investments. He purchased Gustav Klimt’s “Birch Forest” for $40 million in 2006, and it sold Wednesday for $104 million.

    Paul Cezanne’s “La Montagne Sainte-Victoire” is auctioned from Paul Allen’s collection at Christie’s in New York on Nov. 9, 2022.
    Robert Frank | CNBC

    Paul Cezanne’s “La Montagne Sainte-Victoire” sold for $137.8 million. Vincent van Gogh’s “Verger avec Cypres,” sold for $117 million and set a new record for van Gogh at auction, last set in 1990. Paul Gaugin’s “Maternite II” sold for $105.7 million.

    Lucian Freud’s “Large Interior, W11 (after Watteau),” considered one of his largest masterpieces, sold for $86.3 million. One of Claude Monet’s “Waterloo Bridge” paintings went for $64.5 million.
    Bidding was strong across the globe, with Christie’s specialists bidding on the phone on behalf of clients in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the U.S. Several works sold for multiples of their estimates. A famous photo by Edward Steichen of New York’s Flatiron building sold for $11.8 million, making it the second-most expensive photograph ever sold and smashing the $2 million to $3 million estimate.
    An Andrew Wyeth painting, called “Day Dream” became the subject of a heated bidding war, selling for $23.3 million, far above its estimate of $2 million to $3 million. Despite the current collector obsession with contemporary art, several of Allen’s Old Masters hit eight figures. A Botticelli work called “Madonna of the Magnificat” went for $48 million.

    Visitors look at a painting titled “Madonna of the Magnificat” by Alessandro Filipepi, called Sandro Botticelli (estimate on request: in excess of $40,000,000) during a photo call to present the highlights from the estate of the philanthropist and co-founder of Microsoft, Paul G. Allen in London on Oct. 14, 2022.
    Wiktor Szymanowicz | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

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    Covid outbreak worsens in southern Chinese city of Guangzhou

    Schools in eight of 11 districts in the city of Guangzhou moved classes online for most students as of Thursday.
    It was not immediately clear to what extent the latest business restrictions affected the ability of factories to operate.
    For businesses traveling to and from China’s capital city, getting a “pop-up window” on Beijing’s health code app is their greater source of worry.

    Guangzhou city in the southern province of Guangdong is the hardest hit in the latest Covid outbreak. Pictured here are closed stores in part of the city on Oct. 31, 2022.
    Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images

    BEIJING — Covid infections are surging in the capital of China’s export-heavy Guangdong province, raising concerns of another drag on the national economy.
    Schools in eight of 11 districts in the city of Guangzhou moved classes online for most students as of Thursday. In the last few days, more parts of the city have ordered people to stay home, and non-essential businesses to close.

    “As things stand, it is hard to tell whether Guangzhou will repeat the experience of Shanghai in spring this year,” Nomura’s chief China economist Ting Lu and a team said in a note late Wednesday. “If Guangzhou repeats what Shanghai did in spring, it will lead to a new round of pessimism on China.”
    Earlier this year, the metropolis of Shanghai locked down for about two months and broader Covid controls resulted in a second-quarter national GDP that grew by only 0.4%, according to official figures. GDP bounced back in the third quarter with 3.9% growth, but then exports unexpectedly dropped in October.
    It was not immediately clear to what extent Guangzhou’s latest business restrictions affected the ability of factories to operate. Many manufacturers are located outside the city but in the same province.
    State-owned automaker GAC Group said its manufacturers in Guangzhou were operating normally as of Thursday morning. “The epidemic has not caused substantial impact,” the company said in a statement.

    In just a week, the number of Covid infections with symptoms in Guangdong has multiplied five times to 500 as of Wednesday. During that time, infections without symptoms surged seven times to about 2,500 cases.

    The latest outbreak prompted the American Chamber of Commerce in China to postpone an event in Guangzhou, which was already delayed from September, Michael Hart, president of the chamber, said Thursday. He expects two more of the chamber’s events in the city this year will be postponed.
    “These travel impacts are hurting the abilities of local governments to pitch for investments,” Hart said, noting such investments were not lost but delayed.
    “I’ve canceled more travel than I’ve actually been able to do,” he said.
    Late fall is a popular time for conferences and business travel in China.
    Notably, Guangzhou has indefinitely delayed its auto show that was set to kick off next week. The country’s biggest auto show that Beijing was supposed to host earlier this year was never rescheduled.

    More travel restrictions

    “Probably a bigger concern [than getting sick] is what does [travel] do to your Beijing health code and can you get back?” Hart said, referring to a government smartphone app for tracking Covid exposure.
    The city requires anyone entering a shopping mall, taxi or public space to use the app. The venue can deny entry if the app shows the individual does not have a negative Covid test result from within the last three days — or bears a “pop-up window” that’s supposed to indicate suspected contact with a Covid infection.
    The pop-up window prevents people from entering Beijing.
    Its appearance has become so frequent and somewhat unpredictable that a Chinese commentator said in a widely shared video that every business trip outside of Beijing was a choice between family and work. The video was removed from public view by Thursday morning.

    Read more about China from CNBC Pro

    The Beijing health code app’s pop-up window also affects the mobility of people within the capital city, which has reported a growing number of infections over the last several days.
    “In Beijing, you just assume a certain percentage of the workforce is going to have pop-up window issues,” Hart said, noting virus testing requirements for some office buildings has increased to once every 24 hours. “Instead of getting looser it’s getting tighter in some areas.”

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