Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: American Airlines, AutoZone, GlaxoSmithKline and others - CNBC

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Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:

American Airlines (AAL) – Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker announced he would step down from that job on March 31 and remain as chairman. He'll be replaced as CEO by current American Airlines President Robert Isom. American rose 3% in the premarket.

AutoZone (AZO) – The auto parts retailer reported a quarterly profit of $25.69 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $20.87. Revenue also beat estimates, with comparable store sales jumping 13.6%. Analysts surveyed by StreetAccount had predicted a comp-store sales rise of 5%.

Designer Brands (DBI) – The footwear retailer beat estimates by 30 cents with adjusted quarterly earnings of 86 cents per share, but revenue fell short of Wall Street forecasts. Comparable store sales did surge by 40.8%, but that was less than the 44.5% analysts had anticipated. Nonetheless, shares rallied 3.7% in premarket trading.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) – Glaxo said early-stage studies showed its antibody therapy for Covid-19 – developed in partnership with U.S.-based Vir Biotechnology (VIR) – is effective against the omicron variant. Vir jumped 7.4% in premarket trading, while Glaxo added 0.6%.

Tesla (TSLA) – Tesla is replacing faulty cameras on some of its models, according to internal documents seen by CNBC. The cameras can cause a driver to see a blank or choppy video on a car's primary display. Separately, UBS issued a report that said no rival would come close to Tesla in 2022, although it maintained a "neutral" rating on the stock. Tesla gained 3.5% in premarket action.

Constellation Brands (STZ) – The brewer of Corona beer agreed to build a new brewery in southeastern Mexico, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The agreement – set to be announced as early as this week – comes two years after the government forced Constellation to close a nearly completed plant near the U.S.-Mexican border.

Coupa Software (COUP) – The business software company earned an adjusted 31 cents per share for its latest quarter, well above the 2-cent consensus estimate, with revenue also topping forecasts. However, its loss widened from a year ago with a surge in operating expenses, and shares tumbled 11% in premarket trading.

Mimecast (MIME) – The cybersecurity company agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Permira for $80 per share in cash, or about $5.8 billion. Mimecast jumped 6% in the premarket.

MongoDB (MDB) – MongoDB surged 20.3% in premarket action after the database platform company reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss and beat Street revenue forecasts. MongoDB also raised its financial outlook for the year on increased demand from businesses for online connectivity.

Intel (INTC) – The chip maker's shares surged 8.8% in premarket trading after it said it would take its Mobileye self-driving car unit public, planning a mid-2022 initial public offering. The Wall Street Journal had earlier reported those plans, saying an IPO could value Mobileye at more than $50 billion.

Acadia Pharmaceuticals (ACAD) – Acadia soared 15.5% in the premarket after announcing positive results in a late-stage trial of its experimental treatment for Rett Syndrome, a genetic disorder that primarily affects brain development in girls.

Jack In The Box (JACK) – Jack In The Box was upgraded to "buy" from "hold" at Deutsche Bank, which said the restaurant operator's acquisition of Mexican food chain Del Taco (TACO) makes sense. Jack In The Box shares had fallen more than 4% Monday after the deal was announced. Jack In The Box gained 1.6% in premarket trading.

Bumble (BMBL) – The dating service operator's shares rallied 7.1% in the premarket after J.P. Morgan Securities upgraded the stock to "overweight" from "neutral" following a meeting with management. The firm said it was now more confident in the growth trajectory and prospects for user engagement with the Bumble app.

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Instagram will now tell users when to take a break from using the app - CNN

(CNN Business)Just a day before the head of Instagram will face questions from lawmakers over its child safety practices, the company is rolling out a handful of new features aimed at making it harder for users, particularly teenagers, to fall down rabbit holes that could be harmful to their mental health.

On Tuesday, the company launched its Take a Break tool, which will encourage users to spend some time away from the platform after they've been scrolling for a certain period. The feature, announced in September, will first come to users in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, and to all users in the months ahead.

Users can turn on the feature in "Settings" and select if they want to be alerted after using the platform for 10 minutes, 20 minutes or 30 minutes. They'll then get a full-screen alert telling them to close out of the app, suggesting they take a deep breath, write something down, check a to-do list or listen to a song.

Instagram's new Take a Break feature

CNN Business tested the feature ahead of launch; while it's a step in the right direction, there's still room for improvement. For example, users have to stay on the platform for one continuous session. If the app closes while you run to the bathroom or the screen turns off while you briefly browse Netflix, the timer resets. After the prompt encourages a break, the onus is on the user to resist hitting the big "done" at the bottom of the message to return to the app.

Vaishnavi J, Instagram's head of safety and well-being, said the feature is still in its early stages and will expand its functionality in 2022.

Instagram also said it will take a "stricter approach" to what content it recommends to teenagers and actively nudge them toward different topics if they've been dwelling on something — any type of content — for too long. While the company said it'll share more about the feature soon, a screenshot shared with CNN Business ahead of the announcement revealed that topics such as travel destinations, architecture and nature photography will be used to divert attention. The feature will launch next year.

The features build on Instagram's existing time management tools, such asm one that lets people know when they've reached the total amount of time they want to spend on Instagram each day. The company said it is also testing a new way for people to manage their Instagram activity in one place, allowing them to bulk delete photos and videos they've posted, and previous likes and comments.

"While available to everyone, I think this tool is particularly important for teens to more fully understand what information they've shared on Instagram, what is visible to others, and to have an easier way to manage their digital footprint," Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, wrote in Tuesday's blog post.

The company is also working on an educational hub for parents with tips from experts to help them discuss social media use with their teens, as well as the ability for them to see how much time their kids spend on Instagram and set time limits.

The issue of social media's impact on teens gained renewed attention this fall after Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen leaked hundreds of internal documents, some of which showed the company knew how Instagram can damage mental health and body image, especially among teenage girls.

Facebook has repeatedly tried to discredit Haugen and said her testimony in Congress and reports on the documents mischaracterize the company's actions. But the outcry from Haugen's disclosures pressured the company to rethink the launch of an Instagram app for children under 13.

The disclosures also helped spur a series of congressional hearings about how tech products impact kids, featuring execs from Facebook, TikTok and Snapchat's parent company, Snap. On Wednesday, Mosseri will appear before a Senate subcommittee as lawmakers question the app's impact on young users' mental health.

Members of Congress have shown rare bipartisanship in criticizing tech companies on the issue. Some lawmakers are now pushing for legislation intended to increase children's privacy online and reduce the apparent addictiveness of various platforms — though it remains unclear when or if such legislation will pass.

Early last year, TikTok introduced new features to let users keep tabs on their screen time, such as videos from top creators that appear in feeds to encourage users to take a break and do something in real life.

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BuzzFeed’s First Day as a Public Company Is a Big Test - The New York Times

BuzzFeed was once on the vanguard of digital media companies that were going to leapfrog traditional publishers and change how people watched and read news and entertainment — an ambition that it struggled to fulfill.

The company hoped to regain some of its momentum this year by listing its shares on the stock exchange. But that debut, on Monday, was disappointing, underlining how hard it will be for digital media companies to become the giants that they aimed to be.

Not only did BuzzFeed’s stock, which trades under the ticker BZFD, close down 11 percent at $8.56 on its first day of trading after a brief early surge, the company also raised a lot less money than it had expected from the deal that put it on the stock market.

BuzzFeed’s management had placed a high priority on listing the company’s shares on a stock exchange. Executives argued that having publicly traded stock would allow the company to snap up other digital publishing businesses, attracting more readers and advertising revenue.

BuzzFeed’s business grew as it pioneered catchy ways — including listicles and quizzes — of attracting readers, and its news division won its first Pulitzer Prize this year. But it and other digital media businesses, which venture capital firms funded over the past decade, faced an increasingly tough advertising climate. At the same time, many of their early investors have been growing impatient and seeking to sell some or all of their stakes.

Going public could help address some of those pains, but it can also heap pressure on companies if they don’t meet the expectations of investors and analysts. And a stagnant or falling share price could make it next to impossible to go on a buying spree.

To go public, BuzzFeed merged with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, a transaction that could have raised over $250 million to help finance acquisitions. But last week, the company revealed it had garnered only $16 million after a large number of shareholders in the acquisition company, 890 5th Avenue Partners, declined to participate in the merger and opted to recoup money they had invested. The company was able to borrow $150 million by selling convertible bonds — corporate bonds that can be exchanged for stock in the future at a certain price.

At Monday’s closing share price, BuzzFeed is worth just over $1.13 billion based on the number of shares the company estimates it has outstanding. That is about 50 percent more than Gannett, the publishing company that owns USA Today.

Many of the company’s shares are not available to trade because their owners are restricted from selling them or do not intend to sell them. That could make its share price volatile and move up or down a lot. Early on Monday, BuzzFeed’s stock was up around 50 percent before dropping sharply.

Executives at other digital media companies were closely watching BuzzFeed’s move onto the public market and will surely keep track of how it fares now that it has to reveal its financial results to the world every quarter.

Vice Media, the youth culture and news publisher, was in talks this year with an acquisition company, 7GC, to merge and go public, The New York Times reported. Vice had been on the hook for payments to the private equity giant TPG, one of its investors. But Vice put its plans to go public on hold, announcing in September that it had raised $135 million in investor funding, which would be used for “its growth initiatives” and for mergers and acquisitions.

A person familiar with the plans said Vice had decided against a deal with an acquisition company because many investors were much more skeptical about such transactions after regulators and financial experts raised questions about the credibility of companies that had gone public with a SPAC’s help.

Vox Media, which bought New York magazine and its websites in 2019, is still considering a possible SPAC merger, The Information reported last month. The company recently bought Punch, a cocktail website.

Bustle Digital Group plans to go public next year, Bryan Goldberg, its chief executive, said in an interview on Monday. The company, which publishes the women’s website Bustle, has been acquiring other outlets in recent years, including Gawker and Mic.

“Just the fact that BuzzFeed is out in the public markets is a milestone for the industry,” Mr. Goldberg said, speaking before share price dropped. “But the first hour of trading wasn’t just a positive surprise, it was a spit-out-your-coffee type of surprise.”

“BuzzFeed and all the other digital media companies have spent the last three years really improving our businesses and really figuring out how to create value for clients and for users,” Mr. Goldberg added. “And I think a lot of us feel that with renewed optimism and hopefully greater access to capital we can continue to grow without so much uphill opposition.”

Group Nine Media, which publishes PopSugar and Thrillist, formed its own SPAC last December, saying in a securities filing at the time that it intended to merge with similar companies.

BuzzFeed has already made some notable acquisitions. As part of its deal with 890 5th Avenue, it announced it was buying the sports and entertainment publisher Complex, adding to its purchase of HuffPost last year.

“I don’t care how we go public,” Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed’s chief executive, said in an interview on Friday. “Once we saw that we had our path through that market — even though the market was cold — it was just a means to an end to get public.”

And some analysts said BuzzFeed’s acquisition strategy had appeal. By grouping several publications together, BuzzFeed would be able to offer advertisers access to larger audiences.

“There’s definitely something to the idea of consolidation,” said Brian Wieser, global president of business intelligence at GroupM, the media investing arm of the ad company WPP. “It’s the reason why, going back to the old days, Time Inc. was a house of brands.”

In the first half of 2021, BuzzFeed had revenue of $162 million, up from $123 million a year earlier. In the same period, it had a loss of $12 million, a slight improvement on the $19 million it lost a year earlier.

For BuzzFeed’s former and current employees who have shares in the company, the trading debut offers some promise of financial gain, though many were confused about exactly how much they would benefit, one current staff member said. (Ben Smith, the former editor in chief of BuzzFeed News and now The Times’s media columnist, also holds stock options in BuzzFeed.)

And not all employees are happy. On Thursday, the day shareholders voted to take the company public, all 61 members of the BuzzFeed News union walked off the job to protest stalled contract negotiations.

On Monday, champagne was passed around BuzzFeed’s office, which has sat largely empty for nearly two years because of the pandemic. Employees were shown a video that presented different parts of the company as ingredients for a cake. It was filmed in the style of BuzzFeed’s popular Tasty food videos, with Tasty represented by flour, BuzzFeed as the sugar, BuzzFeed News as eggs, HuffPost as butter and Complex as hot sauce.

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Intel to List Shares in Mobileye Unit - The Wall Street Journal

A self-driving vehicle from Mobileye's autonomous fleet.

Photo: Mobileye/Intel

Intel Corp. is planning to publicly list shares in its Mobileye self-driving-car unit, the latest move by Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger to revive the semiconductor giant’s fortunes.

Intel said it would take the unit public in the U.S. in mid-2022 through an initial public offering of new Mobileye stock. The move, earlier reported by The Wall Street Journal, could value Mobileye at north of $50 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

There...

Intel Corp. is planning to publicly list shares in its Mobileye self-driving-car unit, the latest move by Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger to revive the semiconductor giant’s fortunes.

Intel said it would take the unit public in the U.S. in mid-2022 through an initial public offering of new Mobileye stock. The move, earlier reported by The Wall Street Journal, could value Mobileye at north of $50 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.

There are no guarantees Intel, which would maintain majority ownership, will ultimately follow through with an offering.

Mobileye, an Israeli company Intel acquired in 2017 for around $15 billion, specializes in chip-based camera systems that power automated driving features in cars. It originally went public in 2014.

Mobileye’s revenues have roughly tripled since Intel bought it. It had $326 million of revenue in the third quarter, a 39% year-over-year increase. Intel had over $19 billion in revenue in the period.

By relisting shares of Mobileye, Intel could tap into surging investor demand for companies betting on the future of transportation. The initial public offering market has also been on a tear, with investors clamoring for new technology issues.

Mr. Gelsinger said in an interview that the move was prompted by the burgeoning investor interest in autonomous vehicles.

“We didn’t see we were getting the full value of the asset, and taking it public will help unlock it,” he said.

Mobileye was created by Amnon Shashua and Ziv Aviram

when most cars still relied principally on seat belts, anti-lock brakes and air bags to keep occupants safe. They set out to create vision-based systems that help cars see the road and communicate with critical systems—including steering and braking—to respond to situations that could lead to a crash.

Mr. Gelsinger, who took over at Intel in February and set about reviewing the company’s operations after several years of missteps, has pledged big investments to revive its engineering prowess and to build a major operation of making chips for others. In recent months, he’s pledged more than $100 billion in chip-plant investments in the U.S. and abroad over the coming years.

Earlier this year, Intel explored what would have been a roughly $30 billion deal for chip-production company GlobalFoundries Inc. in a bid to turbocharge its plans to make more chips for other tech companies, The Wall Street Journal reported. The deal would have been its largest ever, but GlobalFoundries opted to go public instead and now has a market value of around $35 billion.

The chip crisis kicked off by the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted to car makers how dependent they have become on semiconductors. Mr. Gelsinger told car-industry officials at an event Tuesday that their appetite for processors is only making them a more critical customer segment for semiconductor companies. A fifth of the cost of the materials that go into making premium-segment cars would be semiconductors by 2030, up from 4% in 2019, he said.

Mr. Gelsinger joined Intel amid investor pressure. Weeks before he was named to the new role, activist hedge fund Third Point LLC pressed Intel to make sweeping strategic changes. Intel’s shares have done little in the past few years and its market value, at just over $200 billion, is a fraction of that of rival

Nvidia Corp.

Intel shares were up nearly 8% in after-hours trading Monday after the Journal reported on the Mobileye plan.

Write to Cara Lombardo at cara.lombardo@wsj.com and Corrie Driebusch at corrie.driebusch@wsj.com

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DoorDash launches ‘ultra-fast’ delivery in NYC, with couriers who are actual employees - The Verge

Food delivery platform DoorDash has launched its “ultra-fast” DashMart delivery service in New York City because apparently delivery couriers aren’t already frazzled enough and no one can possibly wait more than 15 minutes for anything (not quite what Andy Warhol predicted, but we’re way past that now).

However, there is a key difference between the delivery jobs on the main DoorDash platform and positions with the new DashMart fast delivery service: DashMart workers will be part of what the company calls DashCorps, considered full- and part-time employees — instead of independent contractors — and many will be eligible for benefits. DashCorps workers will have set schedules and be paid $15 per hour, plus tips, the company said.

To start in NYC, the ultra-fast deliveries — which will arrive within 10 to 15 minutes of order times — will come from a DashMart location in Chelsea that’s open from 7AM to 2AM daily, with more locations to follow soon. The Chelsea DashMart has more than 2,000 items including fresh and frozen foods, household goods, and local products, the company says. Customers can order via the DoorDash app or website; those who have its DashPass membership won’t be charged delivery fees. DoorDash will donate excess DashMart produce to a local community food bank.

“Achieving ultra-fast delivery times inherently requires more structure and organization to ensure orders are fulfilled quickly and merchant and customer expectations are met,” the company explained in a blog post. DashCorps workers will use a different app than workers for the standard DoorDash platform, wear uniforms, and in addition to deliveries, will perform other tasks including stocking shelves, customer support, and administrative work. The roles are “fundamentally different from dashing,” Ladd added.

DoorDash first announced the launch of its DashMart stores in eight cities in August 2020. Unlike the Chelsea location, the first DashMarts didn’t have brick-and-mortar locations, functioning kind of like ghost kitchens for convenience stores.

Why would someone want to continue working for the main DoorDash platform when the seemingly more attractive DashCorps jobs are available? Ladd writes that the “binary choice between working as an employee or an independent contractor” is “outdated and doesn’t reflect the needs of the modern workforce.” Its independent contractor “Dashers” prefer the flexibility over their schedules that DoorDash offers, the company claims, and “we’re steadfastly committed to protecting and strengthening this independent workforce.”

The benefits for those DashCorps workers who are eligible would include those that “traditionally come with employment,” including medical, dental, vision, flexible spending accounts, and commuter benefits, the company said.

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EV maker Lucid gets SEC subpoena on $24-bln blank-check deal - Reuters

Dec 6 (Reuters) - The U.S. securities regulator has asked Lucid Group Inc (LCID.O) for documents related to an investigation into its blank-check deal, joining a growing list of companies that have come under scrutiny for their merger with shell entities.

Shares of the luxury electric-car maker fell as much as 19.5% on Monday after it disclosed it had received a subpoena from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Dec. 3.

"The investigation appears to concern the business combination between the Company (Churchill Capital Corp. IV) and Atieva Inc and certain projections and statements," Lucid said in a regulatory filing.

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Lucid's deal with veteran dealmaker Michael Klein's blank-check firm earlier this year gave the combined company a pro-forma equity value of $24 billion, making it one of the biggest deals with Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs).

The SEC declined to comment on its action against Lucid.

Market listing via SPAC route has become popular among electric-vehicle (EV) makers that have a vision but no prototype in an already capital intensive industry.

"The problem is a lot of these companies that have taken this approach are not far enough along to really be considered a viable company," Sam Abuelsamid, auto analyst at Guidehouse Insights, said.

Shares in other EV startups that went public through SPAC deals, including Canoo Inc (GOEV.O) and Faraday Future Inc(FFIE.O) and Fisker Inc (FSR.N), also took a hit on Monday.

Fisker said it was not under investigation for its SPAC merger last year. Canoo, Ree Automotive (REE.O) and Faraday could not be reached for a comment.

As EV makers rush to beef up production and try to catch up with Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), many have come under scrutiny by federal agencies and regulators.

Nikola is working with regulators to pay a penalty and settle a charge against founder Trevor Milton, while Lordstown Motors (RIDE.O) is being investigated for vehicle pre-orders and its SPAC merger.

"Ever since the statements made by Nikola's founder and former CEO resulted in three federal criminal fraud charges, new EV manufacturers were bound to face greater scrutiny," CFRA analyst Garrett Nelson said.

Meanwhile, the SEC has opened an investigation into Tesla following a whistleblower complaint on fire risks associated with solar panel system defects. read more

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Reporting by Nivedita Balu and Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Katanga Johnson in Washington and Ben Klayman in Detroit; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel and Arun Koyyur

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Tesla shares fall into bear market territory after SEC reportedly opens probe into solar panel defects - CNBC

SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk gestures during a conversation at the E3 gaming convention in Los Angeles, June 13, 2019.

Mike Blake | Reuters

Shares of Tesla slumped more than 3% in early trading Monday after Reuters reported the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has opened an investigation into the company.

The SEC launched the probe in response to a whistleblower complaint from a former Tesla employee, which alleged the company failed to properly notify its shareholders and the public of fire risks associated with its solar panel systems, according to Reuters, which cited communications between the agency and the whistleblower dated Sept. 24.

The SEC didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

News of the SEC probe sent Tesla shares more than 20% off their recent 52-week high on Nov. 4, meaning they are in a bear market.

The SEC is proceeding with an investigation after Steven Henkes, a former Tesla employee, filed a whistleblower complaint in 2019. Henkes, who worked as a solar field quality manager, was fired in 2020 and sued Tesla, alleging he was dismissed in retaliation for raising safety concerns.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is also probing the automaker after Henkes filed a complaint with the agency, CNBC previously reported.

WATCH: Tesla CEO Elon Musk sells more shares to pay taxes

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Pfizer and Merck Covid-19 Pills Are Coming Soon in the U.S., But Other Countries Will Have to Wait - The Wall Street Journal

Covid-19 testing at a refugee camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo; drugmakers Pfizer and Merck have licensed new Covid-19 treatment pills to generic manufacturers but there may still be delays in getting them to poor countries.

Photo: alexis huguet/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Promising Covid-19 treatment pills are likely to take longer to reach patients in low- and middle-income countries than in rich ones because of manufacturing and pricing obstacles, despite efforts by drugmakers to make them more available, drug-access advocates and public-health experts say.

The pills promise to keep people who get infected from developing severe disease that requires hospitalization. They are already in use in the U.K. and nearing regulatory clearance in the U.S.

The...

Promising Covid-19 treatment pills are likely to take longer to reach patients in low- and middle-income countries than in rich ones because of manufacturing and pricing obstacles, despite efforts by drugmakers to make them more available, drug-access advocates and public-health experts say.

The pills promise to keep people who get infected from developing severe disease that requires hospitalization. They are already in use in the U.K. and nearing regulatory clearance in the U.S.

The medicines are set to play a central role in the world’s fight against Covid-19 and could become even more important if, as some scientists fear, vaccines turn out to be less effective against the new Omicron variant. Researchers say the pills are likely to be less affected by Omicron’s mutations than most leading Covid-19 vaccines.

Yet drug-access advocates and public-health experts express concern that the pills will arrive months later in poor countries and delay treating people, similar to the way the world’s vaccination campaign has left many in poor countries unvaccinated after wealthy governments bought much of the early supply.

Pfizer Inc., as well as Merck & Co. and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics LP, licensed formulas for their treatments so generic drugmakers can produce them for poor countries. The companies say the deals will provide supply to governments that can’t afford the more-than-$500 for a course of treatment that wealthy countries like the U.S. are paying.

The generic drugmakers, however, need several months to ramp up their manufacturing, and the prices they set may still be too expensive for certain poor countries.

Pfizer’s new pill, Paxlovid, being manufactured in a German lab, is expected to receive Food and Drug Administration clearance in the U.S. as soon as this month.

Photo: Pfizer/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Adding to the challenges, advocates and experts say, most low-income countries lack adequate testing and diagnostic tools to identify patients early enough for the treatments to help.

“There’s lots of logistics and training and community health literacy that has to happen in order for this to work well,” Brook Baker, professor at Northeastern University School of Law who works with the Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator, a World Health Organization-backed effort meant to ease access to Covid-19 vaccines, treatments and diagnostics.

Studies have found subjects needed to begin taking the pills within five or fewer days of developing symptoms, making it critical for doctors to quickly identify patients who will benefit.

Most people in poor countries have little-to-no access to Covid-19 testing and often get access only when they are already hospitalized. Of three billion tests reported world-wide, only 0.4% were done in low-income countries, according to the WHO. The organization estimates that just one in seven Covid-19 infections in Africa ever gets diagnosed.

A Covid-19 testing drive in Nairobi, Kenya, last year; many places in Africa lack access to Covid-19 testing and many cases go undiagnosed.

Photo: Patrick Meinhardt/Bloomberg News

“The testing piece is just huge,” said Rachel Cohen, North America regional executive director for the nonprofit Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative. “There’s no possibility to treat people within the first three-to-five days of symptom onset if we don’t have really dramatically scaled-up access to rapid diagnostics.”

Both the Pfizer and Merck-Ridgeback drugs were found in separate clinical trials to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death for high-risk people with mild or moderate disease.

Scientists and vaccine makers are investigating Omicron, a Covid-19 variant with around 50 mutations, that has been detected in many countries after spreading in southern Africa. Here’s what we know as the U.S. and others implement travel restrictions. Photo: Fazry Ismail/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition

As treatments that can be taken at home, physicians and health experts say, the drugs could fill a big gap, especially for unvaccinated people or individuals who might not respond to shots because of compromised immune systems.

In contrast, antibody treatments cleared for use need to be administered by infusion or injection at a hospital or doctor’s office and are largely unavailable in many poor countries.

Antibody treatments cleared for use in the U.S. are administered by injection or IV infusion, as at a treatment site in Pembroke Pines, Fla.

Photo: chandan khanna/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Pfizer has said it can make about 80 million courses of its treatment, Paxlovid, by the end of next year. Merck says it can produce at least 30 million courses of its drug, molnupiravir, over the same period.

Most of the supply deals publicly announced have been for rich countries, including the U.K., which cleared molnupiravir for use in November. The U.S. has secured 10 million courses of Pfizer’s drug and 3.1 million of the Merck-Ridgeback therapy.

Courses are expected to become available in the U.S. shortly after clearance by the Food and Drug Administration, as early as this month.

Generic versions of Pfizer’s pill won’t come to low- and lower-middle income countries until at least mid-2022, said Charles Gore, executive director of the Medicines Patent Pool, the United Nations-backed nonprofit that is coordinating manufacturing of the two antivirals with generic companies. That is because manufacturers still have to set up or repurpose production lines and governments have to approve the pills, Mr. Gore said.

The molnupiravir Covid-19 treatment pill from Merck & Co. and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics is licensed to eight generic drugmakers in India.

Photo: Merck

Merck has also licensed production of molnupiravir to eight generic drugmakers in India, whose versions could become available earlier.

One such maker, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. , will start supplying molnupiravir early next year and produce up to 2.5 million courses of treatment a month by the second quarter, and about 20 million courses for all of 2022, said Marc Kikuchi, the company’s chief executive for North America generics.

Dr. Reddy’s can’t make more supply sooner because it needs six months of manufacturing data to satisfy regulators around the world, he said.

Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. , also based in India, has so far manufactured enough molnupiravir to distribute for about 145,000 people and will have more supplies next year, a company spokesman said.

Industry experts estimate that competition among generic makers could push the cost of Covid-19 antivirals to as little as $10 a person. Drug-access advocates, though, say even that price remains too expensive for many people in poor countries, especially if the cost isn’t covered by the government or donors.

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Dr. Reddy’s said its version of molnupiravir hasn’t been priced yet but will cost a fraction of Merck’s U.S. price of about $700, a spokesman said. Aurobindo will price its generic product according to volume and hasn’t finalized a price yet, the Aurobindo spokesman said.

Complicating access to the drugs is that most upper-middle-income countries, including Brazil and Russia, where large parts of the population live in poverty, are prohibited under Medicines Patent Pool agreements from buying generic versions of the Merck-Ridgeback or Pfizer pills.

There also are efforts to help distribute the antiviral drugs to countries in need by the WHO’S ACT-Accelerator, which hosts the Covax program that has been supplying vaccines to developing countries.

How the distribution will proceed, including whether pills would be provided at no cost to the poorest, are still under discussion, according to Unitaid, an international agency that helps oversee treatment access under the WHO’s ACT-A and has been seeking donations for it.

The WHO said in October that the ACT-A will need $3.5 billion from donors to help supply Covid-19 therapeutics until next September. So far it has received $39 million.

Write to Jared S. Hopkins at jared.hopkins@wsj.com and Gabriele Steinhauser at gabriele.steinhauser@wsj.com

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BitMart CEO Says Stolen Private Key Behind $196M Hack - CoinDesk

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China says market views of monetary policy moves too 'simplistic' - Reuters

The Chinese national flag is seen in Beijing, China April 29, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

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BEIJING, Dec 6 (Reuters) - A Chinese newspaper run by the State Council, or cabinet, warned the market against "simplistic" interpretations of monetary policy moves as easing expectations gathered steam, suggesting China is not about to unleash a huge wave of credit in panic.

Expectations the central bank will ease policy have sharply risen after Premier Li Keqiang said on Friday that the amount of cash that banks must keep as reserves will be reduced "in a timely way", amid growing economic headwinds whipped up by an increasingly troubled property sector. read more

"This is a rather simplistic interpretation of macro policy, which could easily lead to misunderstandings," the Economics Daily said in a commentary on Monday.

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China's monetary policy will be more focused on its continuity and stability while taking into account the government's short-term and long-term goals, according to the commentary.

Severely indebted property behemoth China Evergrande Group (3333.HK) cautioned on Friday that there was no guarantee it would have enough funds to meet debt repayments. read more

The yield on China's 10-year treasury bonds - the most actively traded in the interbank market - fell almost 5 basis points in early trade on Monday on the easing expectations.

Nomura analysts said in a note on Monday that they expect the economy and the property sector in particular to worsen further, and Beijing may have to significantly step up policy easing measures in the spring of 2022 to avert a hard landing.

But the financial daily ruled out the possibility of a flood of stimulus to prop up the economy, saying China would make its policies more targeted to cope with any downward pressure.

It added that coordination between monetary policy, fiscal policy and industrial policies will be stepped up.

After a broad-based cut to the amount of cash banks must hold as reserve in July, the Chinese central bank has since defied market expectations for further policy easing.

Advisers to the government will recommend that authorities set a 2022 economic growth target below the "above 6%" target set for 2021, some of the advisers told Reuters previously. read more

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Reporting by Stella Qiu and Ryan Woo; Editing by Jacqueline Wong

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Alibaba overhauls e-commerce businesses, appoints new CFO - Reuters

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Dec 6 (Reuters) - Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (9988.HK) said on Monday it was reorganising its international and domestic e-commerce businesses and would appoint a new chief financial officer.

The changes come as Alibaba faces headwinds on multiple fronts, including increased competition, a slowing economy and a regulatory crackdown.

Alibaba said it would form two new units to house its main e-commerce businesses - international digital commerce and China digital commerce, in a bid to become more agile and accelerate growth.

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The international digital commerce unit will house Alibaba’s overseas consumer-facing and wholesale businesses, and include AliExpress, Alibaba.com and Lazada. The unit will be headed by Jiang Fan, whose had been president of the Taobao and Tmall marketplaces.

Alibaba will house its domestic commerce businesses in the China digital commerce unit which be led by Trudy Dai, a founding member of Alibaba, it said.

The company's deputy chief financial officer, Toby Xu, will succeed Maggie Wu as the company's chief financial officer from April, it said, describing his appointment as part of the company's leadership succession plan.

Xu joined Alibaba from PWC three years ago and was appointed deputy CFO in July 2019.

Wu, who helped lead three Alibaba-related company public listings as CFO, will continue to serve as an executive director on Alibaba's board.

The e-commerce giant's Hong Kong-listed shares slid 8% in early morning trade, tracking Friday declines made in the United States. U.S.-listed shares of Chinese firms tumbled on concerns about stricter regulatory scrutiny at home in the wake of plans by Didi Global Inc (DIDI.N) to delist from the New York Stock Exchange. read more

Last month the company slashed its forecast for annual revenue growth to its slowest pace since its 2014 stock market debut and saw sales at its banner event, online shopping festival Singles Day, grow at their slowest rate ever. read more

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Reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru and Brenda Goh in Shanghai; Editing by Edwina Gibbs

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Activist firm Engine Capital reportedly pressures Kohl's to consider sale of online biz - CNBC

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People shop at Kohl's department store amid the coronavirus outbreak on September 5, 2020 in San Francisco, California.

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An activist is reportedly pressuring Kohl's to consider either a sale or a separation of its online business, following a similar move by the department store chain Saks Fifth Avenue, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The New York-based hedge fund Engine Capital reportedly wants Kohl's to explore the two alternatives to try to boost its stock price, WSJ said. The activist group sent a letter to Kohl's board on Sunday, the report said. Engine Capital owns a roughly 1% stake in Kohl's.

Kohl's shares closed Friday at $48.45, roughly where they were trading a decade ago, giving Kohl's a market value of about $7.3 billion — less than that of Macy's but more than Nordstrom's. Kohl's stock is up about 19% year to date, underperforming the S&P 500.

According to WSJ, Engine Capital said in its letter that assuming Kohl's brings in online sales revenue of about $6.2 billion, Kohl's digital business alone would be worth $12.4 billion.

Engine Capital also said it believes that there are private equity firms that would pay at least $75 per share, the report said. And the group of investors said that talks with potential buyers suggest they could further monetize Kohl's real estate, WSJ reported.

Representatives from Kohl's and Engine Capital didn't immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

These talks are arising as investors see the appeal of owning a piece of a faster-growing e-commerce division with more tech savvy operations. Saks' digital arm is now reportedly aiming to go public with a valuation of $6 billion, or roughly six-times revenue. It had a $2 billion valuation as recent as March.

Meantime, Macy's has been urged by activist group Jana Partners to spin off its e-commerce operations from its stores, hoping to fetch a greater valuation. Macy's has since hired consulting firm AlixPartners to review its business structure.

"We also recognize the significant value the market is assigning to pure e-commerce businesses," Macy's CEO Jeff Gennette said on a recent earnings call. "And as we look at the landscape today, we are undertaking additional analysis that could help inform our long-term strategy to further unlock value for Macy's."

Kohl's had another recent clash with activist investors who raised doubts about the company's direction and tried to take control of its board. The group — Macellum Advisors, Ancora Holdings, Legion Partners Asset Management and 4010 Capital — came to an agreement with the retailer in April and added a few investor-backed independent directors to its board.

In 2014, Engine Capital pressured Ann, which owned the Ann Taylor and Loft fashion brands, to sell itself. The company did so the following year.

Read the full report from the Wall Street Journal here.

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Alibaba Reshuffles CFO, Commerce Heads as Challenges Grow - Yahoo Finance

(Bloomberg) -- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is replacing its long-standing chief financial officer and reshuffling the leaders of its commerce businesses, the most notable management changes since the Chinese firm survived a bruising antitrust investigation.

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Toby Xu will succeed Maggie Wu as CFO from April 1, the company said in a statement late Sunday. Wu will remain in the Alibaba Partnership and serve as executive director on the internet giant’s board, according to the statement. Separately, Alibaba is creating two Digital Commerce teams, one for international markets, led by Jiang Fan, and another for the domestic market, to be headed up by Trudy Dai, the company said in a blog post.

Alibaba shares tumbled as much as 8.3% in early Hong Kong trading, extending losses for the year to more than 50% after Didi Global Inc.’s plans to delist from the New York Stock Exchange sparked fresh concern about U.S.-traded Chinese internet firms.

The Hangzhou-based firm is shaking up its management just as headwinds mount. After coughing up a record antitrust fine earlier this year, the online retailer has had to navigate closer regulatory scrutiny while fending off increased competition that forced it to cut its revenue outlook last month. In response to the rising challenges, Chief Executive Officer Daniel Zhang is devolving some power to heads of the company’s business units in a bid to make the divisions more agile, Dow Jones reported last month.

“We are focused on the long-term, and succession within our management team on every occasion is always in the service of ensuring Alibaba will be stronger and better positioned for the future,” Zhang said in Sunday’s statement.

Wu has been with the Chinese online shopping firm for nearly 15 years and was instrumental in the company’s listings in New York and Hong Kong. Her retreat is especially notable, given Wu is one of the most prominent female executives in China’s internet sphere. Xu joined Alibaba three years ago from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, where he was a partner, and was appointed deputy CFO in July 2019.

“The markets will always have ups and downs, but Alibaba has ambitious long-term goals,” Wu said in the statement. “We are in a relay race and we must have new generations of talent to take the company forward.”

The International Digital Commerce unit will oversee the AliExpress logistics service, Alibaba.com as well as Southeast Asian platform Lazada, Alibaba said on its website. Jiang, who will be responsible for growing Alibaba’s overseas customer base of 285 million, joined Alibaba in 2013 and had overseen Taobao and Tmall, the company’s main Chinese e-commerce platforms.

But the executive came under pressure last year due to a social media scandal that quickly escalated into Alibaba’s worst public relations debacle at the time. The firm’s handling of the case rankled government officials and raised concern over the growing influence of Jack Ma and Alibaba over public opinion, Bloomberg News has reported.

Now, Jiang will be replaced at the all-important domestic business by Dai, who was previously Alibaba’s chief customer officer and had led units such as its industrial e-commerce businesses and the fast-growing community marketplace Taocaicai.

Dai is taking the helm at the domestic e-commerce business, which accounts for roughly two-thirds of Alibaba’s revenue, at a pivotal time. Alibaba is facing growing competition from rivals such as Pinduoduo Inc., which has overtaken the larger firm in number of domestic consumers, as well as upstarts like ByteDance Inc. in areas like live-streamed e-commerce.

Its annual Singles’ Day shopping bonanza this year posted the slowest-ever growth on record, as the company cut back on promotions and shifted its focus to philanthropy and sustainable initiatives to better align with Beijing’s priorities. Alibaba has also been reinvesting its profits in new businesses and technology, as it seeks new growth drivers.

“Although the transition was described as planned, it will raise eyebrows as Alibaba continues record levels of investment into new initiatives,” said Michael Norris, an analyst with Shanghai-based consultancy AgencyChina.

(Updates with share performance in third paragraph, analyst comment in last paragraph.)

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