Business

Camden, a small town in the backwoods of southern Arkansas, is having an unusual brush with the outside world. It is a quiet place. At this time of year there are more Halloween dolls tied to its lampposts than there are people in the streets. It also has a reason to keep its head down. The nearby Highland Industrial Park, which has a few manicured lawns amid thousands of acres of thick forestry, is home to the factories of some of America’s biggest weapons manufacturers, such as Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Technologies. “It’s been kind of a hidden secret,” says Michael Preston, Arkansas’s secretary of commerce. Or as a local businessman whispers, “it’s a fear thing: ‘shhhh’.” Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

Any manager worth their salt knows the value of spending time “walking in their customers’ shoes”. There are many ways to do it. You can observe customers in their natural habitat. Pernod Ricard’s boss recently told Bloomberg, a news service, about his habit of bar-hopping in order to see what people want to drink. Such research is a lot less fun if your company makes soap dispensers for public toilets but the same principle applies. Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

Grocery is a boring business. Peddling bread-and-butter products (literally) at wafer-thin margins hardly sets pulses racing. Unless, that is, you are an American politician. On October 18th Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee, two senators, called a hearing to discuss the proposed acquisition by Kroger, America’s second-biggest grocer by revenues, of Albertsons, the fourth-largest. The top Democrat and Republican, respectively, on the Senate antitrust subcommittee also sent a letter urging the Federal Trade Commission (ftc) to size up the $25bn deal, which they say “raises considerable antitrust concerns”. Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

Harsh lockdowns are a fact of life in “zero-covid” China. One in September in Chengdu, a south-western city of 20m, stopped locals from visiting tea houses, a favourite pastime. In Sanya, an island-resort town, tens of thousands of tourists were kept off the white-sand beaches in August. In Guiyang, another large south-western provincial capital, it was the boozing that suffered. Apart from forcibly confining almost 6m residents to their homes for most of last month, the authorities shut more than 50 shops owned by Kweichow Moutai, a distiller of a fiery, sorghum-based liquor. And it happened right in the middle of the year’s busiest shopping season, when tourists flock to the cool, mountainous region to sample local varieties of the firewater.Listen to this story. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on More

American’s revenue rose to a record $13.46 billion in the three months ended Sept. 30, up 13% from 2019 despite flying nearly 10% less.
The airline said it expects the strength to continue through the end of the holiday season.
American’s fuel bill nearly doubled from a year ago to more than $3.8 billion, while labor costs rose 12% to $3.4 billion.

An American Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner approaches for a landing at the Miami International Airport on December 10, 2021 in Miami, Florida.
Joe Raedle | Getty Images

American Airlines reported a $483 million profit for the third quarter and joined rivals in forecasting resilient travel demand, as the airline industry continues to shrug off concerns about an economic slowdown.
American’s revenue rose to a record $13.46 billion in the three months ended Sept. 30, up 13% from 2019 despite flying nearly 10% less, a sign passengers are still traveling despite higher fares. Its quarterly sales came in slightly ahead of analysts’ estimates.

“Demand remains strong, and it’s clear that customers continue to value air travel and the ability to reconnect post-pandemic,” CEO Robert Isom said in an employee note Thursday after the company reported results.
Isom said on an earnings call that the airline will likely get back to 95% to 100% of its 2019 capacity next year, an expansion he said is limited by slower aircraft deliveries and a pilot shortage on regional airlines.
American said it expects the strength to continue through the end of the holiday season. For the fourth quarter it’s expecting total revenue to be up as much as 13% over three years ago, before the Covid pandemic. It forecast its capacity during the quarter to be down 5% to 7% from 2019 and is projecting adjusted per-share earnings of between 50 cents and 70 cents.
The company’s shares were effectively flat in premarket trading, giving up earlier gains.
Here’s how American performed in the third quarter, compared with Wall Street expectations according to Refinitiv consensus estimates:

Adjusted earnings per share: 69 cents vs. an expected 56 cents.
Total revenue: $13.46 billion vs. an expected $13.42 billion.

American had raised its forecast for third-quarter revenue last week, sending shares higher.
Rivals United Airlines and Delta Air Lines also predicted that they would be profitable through the end of the year thanks to strong bookings and fares.
The industry has seen strong travel demand, well into the off-peak fall season, as consumers continue to fly and, in many cases, pay more than they were in 2019. All three major airlines have touted stronger unit revenues compared with three years ago, before the pandemic, a trend that’s helping them more than offset a rise in costs.
American’s fuel bill nearly doubled from a year ago to more than $3.8 billion, while labor costs rose 12% to $3.4 billion.
The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline said its costs per available seat mile will likely rise 8% to 10% in the last three months of the year over the same quarter in 2019 and, for the full year, as much as 13% over three years ago.

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP More

The NBA All-Star joins Drew Brees, LeBron James and Tom Brady as pickleball team owners.
Athletes and entrepreneurs have been jumping into the sport, which soared in popularity during the pandemic.

Kevin Durant #7 of the Brooklyn Nets dribbles during the first half against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Barclays Center on May 16, 2021 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.
Sarah Stier | Getty Images

Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant is the latest celebrity athlete taking his love of pickleball big league.
The NBA All-Star and his business partner Rich Kleiman announced Thursday that their firm, Thirty Five Ventures (35V), has purchased Major League Pickleball’s newest expansion team.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In recent weeks, Major League Pickleball has signed on a number of big-name athlete owners, including basketball legend LeBron James and NFL stars Tom Brady and Drew Brees. Pickleball has exploded in popularity during the pandemic and an increasing number of athletes and entrepreneurs are looking to get in on the action.
In September, a viral video showed Durant playing pickleball at a local recreation center, declaring that he’s “getting the hang of it.” As avid pickleball players and fans, Kleiman said their interest in the sport was a natural fit.
“We can’t wait to build this team from the ground up, as well as work to elevate the sport and the league to unprecedented heights,” he said.
Kleiman told CNBC that by acquiring a team, owners also get equity in the league. “You get a blank canvas for opportunity because this is a sport that is growing every day,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Thursday.

Thirty Five Ventures has investments in more than 75 companies, including many in sports and media. The company said it plans to handle everything from player relations, marketing, sponsorships and merchandise. It will also use its media network, The Boardroom, to talk about the team and league.
The new partnership also will have a community component. Similar to his work with 35V’s “Build It and They Will Ball” initiative, which has refurbished basketball courts globally, Durant plans to bring pickleball to underserved communities.
“To me, the community around this sport is what I love the most. It truly is the most democratizing sport I’ve ever seen,” Kleiman said. “Everyone is kind of welcoming everyone into the community.”
As part of MLP’s expansion plans for next year, the league will add four teams to 16, double the number of its tournaments to six and offer $2 million in prize money.
Pickleball has seen investment on and off the court as its popularity has surged.
It can cost millions, even billions to own a pro team, so investors see an opportunity to get in early and get a deal as pickleball takes off.
“The money is not crazy.  It’s changed. It’s more now than a year ago.  If you can get in early, the economics are pretty good,” Kleiman said.
Anne Worcester, a strategic adviser for MLP, told CNBC team values have grown exponentially since 2021, when the league launched, and are in the seven figures. Since the announcement that LeBron James was joining as an owner, MLP says they has received hundreds of inquires for teams.
In 2021, 4.8 million people played the sport in the U.S., according to a 2022 report by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association.

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP More

San Francisco startup TeraWatt Infrastructure on Thursday announced it’s developing the first network of electric vehicle-charging centers for heavy-duty and medium-duty trucks along the Interstate 10 highway.
The charging facilities will be located about 150 miles apart and less than one mile from the nearest highway exits across California, Arizona and New Mexico.
The announcement comes after the Biden administration this year rolled out a plan to allocate $5 billion to states to fund EV chargers along interstate highways as part of the bipartisan infrastructure package.

TeraWatt site
Courtesy: TeraWatt

San Francisco startup TeraWatt Infrastructure on Thursday announced it’s developing the first network of electric vehicle-charging centers for heavy-duty and medium-duty trucks along the Interstate 10 highway, stretching from Long Beach, California, to the El Paso, Texas, area.
The company, which raised more than $1 billion this year to build charging infrastructure, said the facilities will be located about 150 miles apart and less than one mile from the nearest highway exits across California, Arizona and New Mexico.

Medium and heavy trucks make up only about 4% of vehicles in the U.S., but because of their larger size and greater travel distances the vehicles consume more than 25% of total highway fuel and represent nearly 30% of highway carbon emissions, according to the Department of Energy.
“While there is a limited number of electric long-haul trucks on the road today, these vehicles are coming sooner than we think and we need the charging infrastructure to be ready,” TeraWatt CEO Neha Palmer told CNBC.

More from CNBC Climate:

TeraWatt’s charging centers will feature dozens of direct current fast chargers, pull-through charging stalls and on-site driver amenities for long-haul and local electric-trucking operations, the company said. The first sites are set to come online in 2023.
The announcement comes after the Biden administration this year rolled out a plan to allocate $5 billion to states to fund EV chargers along interstate highways as part of the bipartisan infrastructure package.
In September, the Department of Transportation approved EV-charging station plans for all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico covering about 75,000 miles of highways. States also have access to more than $1.5 billion to help construct the chargers.
The Biden administration has set a target for EVs to make up half of all new vehicle sales by 2030 and has pledged to replace its federal fleet with electric power by 2035.

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP More

For the ultra-rich, fly fishing is one of the most popular ways to spend time, a new report says.
GROGL via Getty Images

Spending time on yachts, golf courses and the slopes of exclusive ski resorts might be what first comes to mind when thinking about how the ultra-rich like to spend their time.
And while those are all in the top ten pastimes of so-called centi-millionaires — anyone who has assets worth over $100 million – other activities on the list might be more surprising.

Fishing and cycling are among the ultra-rich’s top ten favorite ways to spend their time, according to new research by wealth intelligence firm New World Wealth and investment migration consultancy Henley & Partners.
Cycling and mountain biking beat skiing to third place, with only golf and art collecting being more popular. Horse riding rounds out the top 5, followed by fishing in sixth place — ahead of classic car collecting, hunting, yachting and watch collecting.
It might be hard to imagine the same people who spend their time buying vintage cars priced as high as $40 million (for a Ferrari 250 GTO from the 1960s) standing in a river waiting for fish to bite or hurtling down mountain biking trails, but the activities have soared in popularity.
Back in 2000, both cycling and fishing were much lower on the list, ranking seventh and tenth respectively, New World Wealth told CNBC’s Make It.
Among anglers, fly fishing was especially popular. Fly fishers’ favorite rivers are scattered around the world, from the U.S. and Scotland to New Zealand, but tropical holiday destinations are also gaining fans, according to the report.

“Ocean fly-fishing is also rising in popularity. Top spots for this include Australia, the Caribbean, the Mozambique Channel, the Seychelles, and the South Pacific,” it said.
Watch collecting is also a new addition to the list since 2000, pushing wine collecting out of the top ten. For some of the ultra-rich, this means spending as much as $1 million on a single watch, such as those by luxury brand Patek Philippe, Henley & Partners says in an article accompanying the report on their website.

Who are centi-millionaires and where do they live?

These individuals “are typically the founders of successful companies or the CEOs of large multinational organizations,” the report said.
“Many centi-millionaires have their own private jets and super-yachts. Their assets and finances are normally managed by private family offices, and they traditionally have three or more homes that they move between throughout the year,” it added.
The report registered 25,490 centi-millionaires globally as of June 2022, with close to 9,700, or 38%, of them living in the U.S., where five of the top 10 wealthiest cities in the world are located. China, India, the U.K., and Germany round out the top five.
The population of this group of ultra-rich people is soaring, the report says.
“Their numbers have more than doubled over the past 20 years,” it explains. The biggest centi-millionaire boom is set to take place in emerging regions like India, where their numbers are expected to surge by up to 80% in the coming decade.
“At around 57%, the growth of centi-millionaires in Asia will be twice that of Europe and the USA over the next 10-year period,” Henley & Partners wrote on their website. More