Who doesn’t want to be Sir Richard Branson? Today, though, he may have bitten of more than his beknighted mouth can chew. I wish him well in starting a new airline based in San Francisco, Virgin America. He will need luck. Folks, if you’ve ever flown in or out of San Francisco, you know what I'm talking about—the bitter resentment growing in your belly as the fog settles in once more and delays your flight for two hours.
McDonald's said Wednesday sales at restaurants open at least a year rose more than expected in July, thanks to popularity in its breakfast menu, new offerings and later opening hours.
Warner Music Group--as one of the world's largest recording companies--is a pretty good leading indicator for the embattled music industry. With its fiscal third quarter loss growing to 17 million from 14 million last year, let's just say, there's not much hope for the CD business-- new releases aren't selling as well as they used to, and sales are dropping off much faster in following weeks than they ever did before.
Yesterday, I wrote about how a company called Plan B. found out that 71 percent fewer fans showed up on discounted beer night. This surprised me a little bit, but not some readers. From Larry Rascak:Personally I would avoid discount beer night like the plague, simply because I would not want to be at a ballgame (or in the parking lot, or driving home) with the sort of people who would go to a game just to drink a lot of cheap beer. Is this really that big a surprise?
It's the tenth or 11th phone call to the gate agent at O'Hare's United terminal in Chicago. The flight to Syracuse, New York is overbooked by ten, ten, seats. How is that possible? That's what Dave wants to know, as he basically begs anyone to come forward and take the free tickets and hotel room that will go to any volunteers to take a different flight.
Where do you think you find magic? I found it in Rapelje, Montana. Rapelje is an hour or so northwest of Billings. The population is 73 at last count, and that's an increase of six or so in the last year. It has from the beginning been a farming community, and like so many others in the U.S. it has been on the decline. One farm family at a time giving up, moving away, or being bought out by the bigger operators.
Billionaire investor Nelson Peltz, who earlier this week said he was prepared to offer $37 to $41 a share for Wendy's International , told CNBC that he hopes to negotiate "a fair confidentiality agreement" with the fast-food chain.
Think of the best teacher you ever had. What made him or her great? It likely wasn't their knowledge or diction or their wardrobe. It was very likely the passion they brought to the art of teaching. Shelby Futch is THAT kind of teacher. Futch is the CEO and founder of the Scottsdale Golf Group, which includes the John Jacobs Golf Schools. Jacobs, who is English, was an early partner of Futch's. A renowned golfer in his own right in his time, Jacobs is in his 80's now and lives in England.
In an earlier post, I mentioned how one Pittsburgh hospital is banning its staff from wearing Crocs shoes. Well, it appears Crocs are just what the doctor ordered for some members of the Jewish faith. Here's how. Last week was Tisha B'av, considered "the saddest day in Jewish history," marking several awful events that happened on that day over the centuries, including the destruction of Temple in Jerusalem not once, but twice--more than 600 years apart.
One of the most surprising things about being here in Beijing is the absence of Yao Ming. I thought he'd be everywhere. Sure, he made his name in Shanghai, but I thought he was the pride of China. Well, apparently not. Aside from a Coca Cola ad on an occasional billboard and a wildlife poster, Yao isn't a force here.
This is a process item today. 'Mike On America' is exactly that. Mike traveling across America. 200,000 miles on one airline alone last year. Wouldn't all those frequent flier miles be great, IF you really wanted to travel after all that travel.
Living near New York City my entire life has really warped me. I know that nice dinners usually cost $75 a person and that a 20-minute cab ride from the city to Hoboken, New Jersey, costs $45 if you're lucky. I'm in China now for my coverage of the year-away to the 2008 Olympic Games (shameless promotion: you'll see it all next week on CNBC) and I can't get over how cheap things seem--not factoring my multiple thousand dollar plane flight to get here.
So Star Jones finally admits she had gastric bypass surgery. Really? People, it's like denying you had a facelift, collagen, or breast augmentation. WE KNOW. 177,000 people had gastric bypass last year, nearly double from 2003, making it one of the fastest growing plastic surgery procedures. So is PhotoShop. Check out Kelly Osbourne--I'll have what she's having.
What do you do when you play golf, you talk business. CNBC's Bill Griffeth will be talking to hedge fund managers, investment bankers and corporate CEOs about today's roaring markets, the M&A landscape and the state of U.S. business. This all takes place on Rockefeller Plaza, which has been transformed into a quarter-scale version of the most infamous hole in pro golf, the signature 17th hole of the TPC Sawgrass golf course, home to this year's THE PLAYERS Championship Tournament.
The CTIA Wireless Show is the largest of its kind in the U.S. Our Silicon Valley bureau chief Jim Goldman traveled to Orlando, Florida to take the pulse of the industry.
This job really does beat working for a living. I've just had the opportunity to drive a car worth, gulp, $435,000. That's about twice the price of your average home in the U.S. these days. The car is a new Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe (pronounced coup-AY). Drophead is a fancy name for convertible. The car will start selling in September, and the first year is pretty much sold out. Yeah. Sold out.
I'm here thanks to a long plane ride, during which I watched "Blades of Glory" twice and read two books on the history of China. You thought the Boston Celtics were a dynasty? Imagine being dominant for 300 years! Anyway, I've come all this way so that I can bring you all the important business stories of the '08 games on the year-out anniversary on Wednesday, August 8 and actually throughout next week on CNBC.
It's not a word I think of often or use much: impresario. But it is the word that came to mind about 1 minute into my conversation with Bob Sillerman. Sillerman is the CEO and Chairman of CKX, the NASDAQ-traded--for now--company that owns "American Idol." Next time you watch it, even if you say you don't, hang around to the very end. You'll see the little logo 'CKX'. Of course you also saw it, if you were able to make it to the end, on the Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice) 'special' on NBC recently.
The buzz about Fox's "The Simpsons Movie" has been so hot--and tracking of knowledge of the film so broad--that Fox is expanding the film's debut to 3,922 theaters and about 5,700 screens. Fox is cautiously expecting to hit the mid $30 million dollar range, but the average prediction for the $70 million budget film's opening weekend is over $57 million dollars, and it's sure to take the top spot.
While Wall Street weathers the market drop, Comic Con--the annual comic convention--is at a full roar in San Diego California. And the highlight to any true fanboy is the bit of information producer J.J. Abrams is releasing about his mysterious Paramount Pictures' movie. The trailer premiered right before "Transformers," a guaranteed blockbuster, with that obsessive young male audience, primed to get psyched for a big new idea--perhaps a big new monster. In a summer of sequels, this new movie looked fresh, and there was no title.
No reason has been given yet for the departure of founder and executive chairman George Zimmer, reports CNBC's Courtney Reagan. Zimmer has long been the face of the company.
Wednesday, 19 Jun 2013 | 10:52 AM ETCNBC's Rick Santelli, explains why he hears 'crickets" when he asks questions about Fed Chairman Bernanke's policies. "Enough is enough," he rants.
Wednesday, 19 Jun 2013 | 11:36 AM ETAre reporters lobbing "softball" questions at the Fed chairman? CNBC's Rick Santelli and the Wall Street Journal's Jon Hilsenrath, debate whether the economy continues to need quantitative easing. I'm trying to inform the public about what the Fed is up to, says Hilsenrath.