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Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest is dipping back into a space SPAC, with two of the firm’s funds buying up stock in Rocket Lab the past two days.
Ark’s exchange traded funds ARKQ and ARKX bought about 729,000 shares of Rocket Lab.
The purchases mark the first recent space SPAC stock the firm has owned since selling its position in Virgin Galactic in May 2021

A look at the company’s production floor shows a series of Electron boosters, with the typical black carbon fiber rockets in the foreground and a metallic-looking reusable booster in the center.
Rocket Lab

Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest is dipping back into a space SPAC, with two of the firm’s funds buying up stock in Rocket Lab the past two days.
Ark’s exchange-traded funds ARKQ and ARKX – which focus on autonomous technology and space exploration, respectively – bought about 729,000 shares of Rocket Lab in trades on Monday and Tuesday, the firm disclosed.

While Ark’s Rocket Lab position is relatively small, worth about $3 million total, the purchases mark the first recent space SPAC stock the firm has owned since selling its position in Virgin Galactic in May 2021.
Both ETFs also have significant positions in Iridium, a satellite communications company that went public via a SPAC deal in September 2009 – over a decade before the frenzy of space SPACs.
The purchases by Wood’s firm also follow Rocket Lab hosting an investor day in New York, where it gave updates on the progress of its Electron and Neutron rockets, as well as its space systems business
Rocket Lab stock was up 3% in trading on Wednesday from its previous close of $4.19 a share. Like many of its space SPAC peers, Rocket Lab shares have been hit hard of late, falling about 72% over the past 12 months.

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The roughly five-hour flight from Moscow to Dubai cost around $350 one week before Putin’s mobilization announcement on Sept. 21.
The UAE, and Dubai in particular, is a favorite of Russian travelers and expats, especially those fleeing sanctions.
“Everyone is leaving. So many people I know,” one Russian national living in Dubai told CNBC.

The airline industry has been hamstrung by a perfect storm of challenges over recent weeks, from labor shortages and supply disruptions to rising fuel prices.
Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — One-way economy flights from Moscow to Dubai are going for as much as $5,000 and many have completely sold out in the days following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s declaration of a “partial” mobilization of 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine.
The roughly five-hour flight cost around $350 one week before the announcement that was delivered on Sept. 21.

Current prices on UAE airlines Emirates and FlyDubai for the month between Sept. 28 and Oct. 26 are going for between $2,577 and $4,773 for a one-way economy ticket, according to those airlines’ websites. The cheaper of those prices is more than 2½ times the average monthly Russian salary of $965, according to Statista.com. Direct flights to Dubai from St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, were priced at around $2,600.
One-way economy flights to Abu Dhabi from Moscow are around $3,000 on Etihad Airways.
Flights with connections are available for lower rates, but still substantially higher than average, according to Google Travel. An economy ticket to Dubai on Azerbaijan Airlines with a layover in Baku ran for between $988 and $1,040 in the week between Sept. 28 and Oct. 6, about triple its price before the mobilization announcement.
“Russians gettin’ outta dodge,” Ian Bremmer, CEO of risk consultancy Eurasia Group, wrote on Twitter, along with a video from flight-tracking site Flightradar24.com showing masses of planes leaving Russia over the course of a few days.
For those with more money to spend, seats on private jets are an option, but their price tags have ballooned as well. Russians “are paying between £20,000 and £25,000 [$21,300 and $26,600] for a seat on a private plane,” The Guardian wrote in a report Tuesday, several times more than normal prices, citing the head of a private flying company who said demand has increase by 50 times.

Flights out of Russia in general surged in price and many sold out entirely in the days after the news, and satellite imagery as well as footage published on news outlets and social media show long lines of cars backed up for miles on Russia’s borders with Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan and several other countries. Kazakhstan’s government reported taking in nearly 100,000 Russians in the last week.

A general view of the downtown area in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, December 08, 2021.
Satish Kumar | Reuters

But the UAE, and Dubai in particular, is a favorite of Russian travelers and expats. Already since Western countries imposed a wave of sanctions on Russia after Putin directed his forces to invade Ukraine on Feb. 24, high volumes of Russians have moved to the sunny desert emirate where they can live sanctions-free.
They are also credited with boosting Dubai’s luxury property sector, as oligarchs and other wealthy business people snap up multimillion-dollar seaside villas, some to live in and some as a place to park their cash.
Before Russia launched its war with Ukraine, the population of Russians living in the UAE was roughly 40,000. It is all but certain to be more now.
“Everyone is leaving. So many people I know,” one Russian national living in Dubai, who spoke anonymously due to concerns for her safety, told CNBC.
“Flights [from Russia] to Dubai are fully booked for the next 3-4 days and the prices are crazy. Flights to Istanbul are full as well, flights to [Armenian capital] Yerevan are crazy expensive. I know five, six people who arrived in Dubai just a few days ago. They paid insane prices.”
“The problem,” she added, “is that until you receive the document that calls you for military service, you can be allowed to exit the country. However, you can’t just stay outside the country because you don’t have residency anywhere else.”
She said that many Russians arriving in Dubai to flee military deployment are staying in the houses of friends and family members. But after the UAE’s tourist visa period of 60 days passes, the plan is unknown.

One Dubai-based pilot from the U.K. described Russian friends and colleagues seeking ways to get themselves or their relatives to other countries.
“People are saying their friends have already gotten draft letters” despite having no military experience, the pilot said, “so this story that Russia is only mobilizing people with military experience is bulls—.” The Kremlin has tried to dispel Russians’ fears about deployment by insisting that only people with prior training would be called up.
The pilot, who spoke anonymously due to professional restrictions, added he had also received a request from a Russian acquaintance asking to live in his Dubai apartment.
It’s not clear what many of these individuals plan to do once their visitor visas run out, and those who are residents of Dubai now fear going back to Russia. The scenario they dread the most, many of them say, is that Putin closes the borders to prevent military-aged men from leaving before they or their families can get out.

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Lionsgate is now leaning toward spinning off its studio division and selling a minority stake in it, rather than spinning Starz, according to sources.
Lionsgate hasn’t given up on also selling a minority stake in Starz, but there’s more investor interest in the studio business, they added.
Longer term, Lionsgate executives have interest in selling both the studio and Starz, sources said.
The studio business produces films and TV series, and includes a library of more than 17,000 titles, such as “The Hunger Games” and “Mad Men.”

Michael Burns
Michael Newberg | CNBC

Lionsgate is leaning toward spinning off its studio division rather than its Starz cable and streaming unit, according to people familiar with the matter.
Shares of the company jumped about 4% in premarket trading.

This would be a change in strategy for the media and entertainment company, which said in May it expected to finalize a spin or sale of Starz by the end of summer. In recent months, Lionsgate has held talks to sell a 20% stake in Starz to a number of potential buyers, including most recently Vivendi-owned Canal+, the people said, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. Those talks haven’t ended, but no deal is imminent, said the people.
Lionsgate is engaged in talks with multiple potential partners about selling a stake in the studio business, said the people. Those talks are likely to more quickly reach a deal Lionsgate is comfortable with than for Starz since there’s more robust interest, the people said. The studio business produces films and TV series, and includes a library of more than 17,000 titles, such as “The Hunger Games,” “The Expendables,” and “Mad Men.”
Lionsgate is expected to make a formal announcement on its new plans as early as Wednesday. A Lionsgate spokesperson declined to comment.
In a securities filing Wednesday morning, the company said it “remains on a path” toward separating Starz and the studio business. “As negotiations progress, we have increased our focus on the possibility of spinning our studio business, creating a number of financial and strategic benefits. In that regard, we are continuing productive negotiations with prospective strategic and financial partners on both sides of our business,” the filing said.
Selling a stake in the studio to a private-equity firm or strategic company will set a valuation floor for the business to trade on its own. It would also bring an immediate jolt of capital to Lionsgate, whose shares have plummeted in recent years. Lionsgate’s market valuation is about $1.8 billion, down from nearly $7 billion in early 2018.

Longer term, Lionsgate is interested in selling both the studio and Starz, said the people. The company competes against much larger entities – including Netflix, Disney, Amazon, Apple and Comcast’s NBCUniversal – in TV and movie production. Lionsgate executives hope a spin off of the studio and separation of Starz would be first steps toward facilitating a sale of both units to maximize value for shareholders, said the people.
“We’re not going to make a dumb deal on one or both sides of the business,” Lionsgate vice chairman Michael Burns said during a Bank of America media and entertainment conference last month. “I think our shareholders will be very happy with the outcome.”

Starzplay rebrand

Lionsgate also plans to rebrand its international streaming service, Starzplay, to Lionsgate+, said the people. The rebrand will take place in 35 countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific, including the U.K., France, Germany, Australia and Japan, one of the people said. The company confirmed the change later Wednesday morning.
Starz’s streaming service will keep the Starz brand in the U.S. and Canada, the person said. Starz is in 63 countries and ended last quarter with 26.3 million global streaming subscribers.
Rebranding Starz to Lionsgate+ also keeps a link between Lionsgate and Starz even as the businesses separate.
Disclosure: Comcast’s NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC.
 

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The benefits of working with FIFA to create more jobs in Africa offsets the ongoing controversies surrounding Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup this year, the head of the World Trade Organization said.
Qatar has increasingly been put under the microscope for its treatment of migrant workers engaged in construction projects ahead of the November tournament.
WTO director-general added that “no one has shut down the World Cup,” and that it will not take place.

The benefits of working with FIFA to create more jobs in Africa offsets the ongoing controversies surrounding Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup this year, the head of the World Trade Organization told CNBC.
The WTO and FIFA signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Tuesday aimed at building up the participation of cotton-producing countries in the global soccer industry.

“Maybe there have been controversies and we are not shying away from that,” WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told CNBC’s JuIianna Tatelbaum in Geneva.
Okonjo-Iweala’s comments come as Qatar has increasingly been put under the microscope for its treatment of migrant workers engaged in construction projects ahead of the November FIFA World Cup tournament.
Okonjo-Iweala added that “no one has shut down the World Cup,” and that it will not take place.
Speaking on the same panel in Geneva, FIFA President Gianni Infantino told CNBC: “Thanks to the spotlight of football, as well, many things have changed in Qatar,”
“I am happy to take all the criticism of everyone for everything, doesn’t matter, as long we can have a little, little concrete and real positive impact.”

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO), speaks during the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) annual meeting in New York, on Monday, Sept. 19, 2022.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The MoU, which will be in place until December 2027, stipulates that FIFA and WTO will share information and expertise on the economic dimensions of soccer, as well as explore using soccer as a tool for women’s empowerment in less developed countries.
Infantino and Okonjo-Iweala placed soccer’s annual economic value at $268 million.
“I think that the balance of thinking is if we are going to have the whole world going to this place for this World Cup, no matter the controversies, and we have a chance to make this whole thing benefit poor countries through trade, we will take it,” Okonjo-Iweala said. “So it’s a considered decision.”
She believed that the “Cotton Four” nations (Burkina Faso, Benin, Chad and Mali) could benefit from the partnership.
Infantino, meanwhile, said he believed in the transformation that soccer can bring. “In Qatar, for example, in terms of, of workers’ rights, of human rights. Things have still to change. But a process has started and people are much better now than how they were before,” he said.

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Over the past 25 years, Netflix has changed the film and television landscape. The company has amassed nearly 221 million subscribers across 190 countries, billions of hours watched for popular series like “Stranger Things,” and along the way has racked up 226 awards.
Since going public in 2002, the company and its subscription-based business model have been an immediate hit with customers from its humble beginnings as a DVD-mail rental service to the streaming juggernaut it became.

Fast forward 20 years and things are looking different for the storied streamer. Though Netflix is still dominating the streamers in terms of overall subscriber base, with nearly 220.7 million subscribers, Disney+ is catching up, with 152.2 million since launching in 2019.
On July 19, 2022, Netflix announced its second-quarter earnings. The company beat expectations, but in the critical area of subscriber growth it lost an estimated 970,000 subscribers. That was better than than the 2 million projected loss but compared unfavorably to rival Disney+, which gained 14.4 million new subscribers in its last quarter.
As Netflix suffers losses in its massive subscriber base, it is looking to generate revenue by changing its long-standing business model by including advertisements and cracking down on password sharing.
Watch the video above to learn more about how Netflix has found itself on the losing end of the streaming war.

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Major League Pickleball announced Lebron James, Maverick Carter, Draymond Green and Kevin Love are among its latest group of investors.
Pickleball is growing in popularity and has recently attracted big business.
With new funding, MLP will be expanding from 12 to 16 teams in 2023, playing in six cities nationwide.

Ronald Martinez | Getty

LeBron James, the king of basketball courts, is one of the newest owners of a professional pickleball team.
Major League Pickleball announced Wednesday that James and his business partner, Maverick Carter, will join its ownership ranks, along with NBA champions Draymond Green and Kevin Love and others. In recent months, the sport’s popularity has attracted several celebrity investors and become a big business.

The all-star ownership group’s interest in the sport came from playing it together over the past couple of years, according to MLP.
“When I started playing pickleball, I immediately connected with the sport’s community and its capacity to be both fun and competitive,” Carter told CNBC in an interview. “To see the sport growing in communities all over is really exciting, and we’re looking forward to bringing our expertise together to try and build a championship team.”
James and Carter will own the team through their family office, LRMR Ventures. Other investors include investment firm SC Holdings; Paul Rivera, chief marketing officer of the SpringHill Co.; and Relevent Sports Group co-owner and CEO Daniel Sillman.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Anne Worcester, MLP’s strategic advisor, told CNBC that negotiations began with the new ownership group in July and culminated with a meeting at the U.S. Open tennis tournament in August.

“We had this immediate connection over their passion for playing pickleball, their passion for growing pro pickleball grassroots. … They bring so much experience across sports marketing, media, branding,” she said.
Worcester said the demand for owning a pickleball team is high with more than 60 different groups expressing interest. She said team values have grown exponentially since 2021 when the league launched, and are in the seven figures.
The name of James and Carter’s team and where it will play aren’t yet known. MLP teams are not currently connected to geographic locations, but Worcester said the league is working with owners to determine the feasibility of changing that in 2023.
James has already been helping drive economic development in his hometown of Akron, Ohio. Students at the I Promise School, a public school he founded, will be attending the upcoming MLP season finale in Columbus, Ohio, from Oct. 14-16. The season-ending tournament features a $319,000 purse, the largest in the sport’s history.
Pickleball, which is described as a mix of tennis, Ping-Pong and badminton, has become a recreational hit and attracted major investments as entrepreneurs look to cash in on the game.
In July, MLP announced another round of investments by Super Bowl champion Drew Brees, entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry, former World No.4 tennis player James Blake and Ryan Serhant of Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing.”
With the new investments, MLP will be expanding from 12 to 16 teams in 2023, with players competing in six tournaments across six U.S. cities for more than $2 million in prizes.
The sport is attracting funding outside the league as well. In Sarasota, Florida, commercial real estate entrepreneurs Brian and Valerie McCarthy, have invested $180 million to build at least 15 indoor private pickleball clubs.
Others are investing in the chain model, mixing food, entertainment and pickleball. “Camp Pickle,” which will feature a restaurant, bar, and indoor and outdoor pickleball courts, plans to open in 10 locations across the country by 2026. Similar concepts include Chicken N Pickle, Smash Park and Electric Pickle.
Among the game’s fans are Bill Gates, Kevin Durant and the Kardashians, with the sport growing to 4.8 million players in the U.S. in 2021, according to the 2022 Sports & Fitness Industry Association Single Sport Report on Pickleball.
“Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in the country, building communities in cities and towns all over the world,” Steve Kuhn, MLP’s founder, said in a statement.
He said the league’s newest investors and the exposure they provide will help the sport reach its goal of 40 million pickleball players by 2030.
There is no rule that would prevent James from playing in the league, according to the MLP. The league notes that Travis Rettenmaier, a retired professional tennis player, is one of the owners of the Florida Smash pickleball team and was drafted by his own team.
“Yes, we would welcome LeBron or Draymond or Kevin Love to think about playing,” Worcester said laughing.

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The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($647,200 or less) increased to 6.52% from 6.25%
Applications to refinance a home loan dropped 11% for the week and were 84% lower than the same week one year ago.
Mortgage applications to purchase a home decreased 0.4% for the week and were 29% lower than the same week one year ago.

Mortgage rates drove even higher last week after the Federal Reserve signaled it would continue its aggressive action to cool inflation. That, and rising uncertainty in the overall housing market, caused mortgage application volume to drop 3.7% last week compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index.
After a strange rebound the week before, applications to refinance a home loan declined 11% for the week and were 84% lower than the same week one year ago. They are now at a 22-year low because there are very few borrowers who can benefit from a refinance at today’s higher rates.

The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances ($647,200 or less) increased to 6.52% from 6.25%, with points rising to 1.15 from 0.71 (including the origination fee) for loans with a 20% down payment. That is the highest level since mid-2008.
“After a brief pause in July, mortgage rates have increased more than a percentage point over the past six weeks,” said Joel Kan, MBA’s associate vice president of economic and industry forecasting. “Ongoing uncertainty about the impact of the Fed’s reduction of its MBS and Treasury holdings is adding to the volatility in mortgage rates.”
Mortgage applications to purchase a home decreased 0.4% for the week and were 29% lower than the same week one year ago. Potential buyers today are still contending with high prices, although the annual price gains are now shrinking at a record pace.
Due to the recent jump in rates, the adjustable-rate mortgage share reached 10% of applications and almost 20% of dollar volume because ARMs offer lower interest rates and can be fixed for up to 10 years.
Mortgage rates continued to surge higher this week, crossing 7% on the 30-year fixed to 7.08%, according to a separate survey by Mortgage News Daily. That is the highest rate in just under 20 years.

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Lego revenue jumped 17% during the first six months of 2022, reaching $27 billion Danish krone, or about $3.5 billion.
Top building sets included models from Lego Star Wars and Lego Harry Potter, as well as its homegrown Lego Technic and Lego City.
During the first half of the year, the company opened 66 shops worldwide, including 46 in China.

Lego Star Wars toys sit on display inside a Toys “R” Us Inc. store in Paramus, New Jersey, U.S., on Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2019.
Bloomberg | Getty Images

Lego sales are building on pandemic-era growth, boosted by popular sets from Lego Star Wars and Lego Harry Potter.
On Wednesday, the privately held Danish toymaker said revenue during the first six months of the year jumped 17%, reaching $27 billion Danish krone, or about $3.5 billion.

Lego was among the toy companies that saw massive gains during the pandemic, as consumers of all ages gravitated toward its building sets for entertainment.
CEO Niels Christiansen touted the company’s diverse selection of toys and their appeal across generations for the continued sales surge.
“It is the broadest one we ever had,” Christiansen said of Lego’s current portfolio. “It’s preschool, it’s kids, it’s girls and boys, it’s teens, it’s adults — it’s actually across the board that the portfolio is super strong.”
In addition to top-selling Star Wars and Harry Potter models, Lego has seen strong performance in its homegrown Lego Technic and Lego City.
“I think that we make sure we tap into different passion points,” Christiansen said. “You can buy a Formula One car or a Ferrari, or you can have a Duplo set that fits in your bathtub.”

Lego’s strong earnings results come despite a series of global headwinds including war in Ukraine, store and factory shutdowns in China due to the Covid-19 pandemic and rising inflation associated with costs of raw materials, energy and freight.
Christiansen said strong sales have allowed the company to come out ahead of these financial difficulties. Net profit between January and June 30 reached $6.2 billion Danish krone, or about $802 million, essentially in line with year-earlier levels. During the same period last year, Lego generated net profit of $6.3 billion Danish krone, or about $812 million.
The company also has been reaping the benefits of opening stores in new markets, particularly in China. During the first half of the year, the company opened 66 shops worldwide, including 46 in that region.
“We’re making quite significant investments in our factory in China, as well,” Christiansen said. “Right now, we’re expanding molding and packing and warehousing capacity there to also sustain growth coming forward.”

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