ExclusiveTrump Picks Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy as Part of Cabinet

Welcome back. For today's business matters, we have Don Ma here with us. Don, how are you? What's going on in the world of business today? Yeah, doing well. So I have an update in the airline industry to start off. Spirit Airlines may be entering its final descent here. Today, its stock fell the most on record at more than 60 percent. Spirit shared that it is in talks with creditors to restructure debt. And this comes after a merger attempt failed between Spirit and fellow budget airliner Frontier. A report by the Wall Street Journal revealed that the airline could file for bankruptcy within weeks. Despite strong travel demands, Spirit has not reported a profit in the five out of last six quarters. And inflation moved in the wrong direction. Apparently last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the latest consumer price index data today. It shows consumer prices rose 0.2 percent in October. Housing-related inflation accounted for half of the monthly rise. Energy prices were flat. And that's after they dragged down the overall index for four of the past six months. Still, though, inflation has eased considerably since it peaked at 9.1 percent in June of 2022. October's increase was the first time the annual rate bumped higher since March. Underlying inflation appears to be stable. That leaves the Federal Reserve on track to make additional rate cuts in December. Designer trends are staying on the runway and on shelves. That's because personal luxury goods sales are seeing one of the weakest years on record. Consultants Bain and company found that sales are set to fall 2 percent this year. It's said China is dragging down their nearly $390 billion market. Bain estimates that sales dipped up to 22 percent in the world's second largest economy. China's economic woes and weaker consumer confidence, coupled with brands raising prices, have detoured customers, especially younger ones. In a battle to be the best bargain, Amazon is taking on ultra-low-cost Chinese rivals Tmoo and Xi'an with Amazon Hall. The online retail giant announced that it is launching a new low-cost e-commerce service. Everything will be under $20. The majority will be priced under $10. And some items will be as little as $1. The service will be available on the Amazon app when customers update their app next. Shoppers will just have to search Hall. And President-elect Trump continues to quickly fill up cabinet positions in his administration. NTD's Daniel Monaghan has the latest picks, including entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will join the Trump administration to lead the Department of Government Efficiency. The proposed new department will focus on reducing waste and cutting excess regulation. Trump said Musk and Ramaswamy will work from outside the government to offer the White House advice and guidance to drive large-scale structural reform. He suggested the proposed department would create an entrepreneurial approach to government never seen before and would send shockwaves through Washington. Trump said in a statement, Ramaswamy expressed his enthusiasm for the role, writing on X, Musk has publicly advocated for government efficiency. Musk says if the government doesn't become more efficient, America will go bankrupt. The Tesla CEO says all the department's activity will be posted online for maximum transparency, and there will be a leaderboard for what he called the most insanely dumb spending of people's tax dollars. Trump also asked Tuesday South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem to lead the Department of Homeland Security. Trump wrote that Noem was the first governor to send National Guard soldiers to help Texas fight the border crisis. Noem thanked Trump, promising to secure the border and restore safety to American communities. The announcement came on the heels of a flurry of cabinet picks unveiled by Trump on Tuesday. Those include former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe. For Director of the CIA, Ratcliffe served as Director of National Intelligence during the first Trump term. Trump named combat veteran Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary. Hegseth spent eight years as a Fox News host and wrote the bestseller The War on Warriors, a critique of left-wing policies undermining the military. The president-elect also named William McGinley to serve as White House counsel. Trump called McGinley a smart and tenacious lawyer who will fight for election integrity and against the weaponization of law enforcement. Daniel Monaghan, NTD News. And just a bit more here on the two entrepreneurs that have been tasked with streamlining the U.S. government. President-elect, as you heard just now, has chosen Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to head a new panel that will provide outside advice to the government. In a statement, Trump said that the panel would address slimming down the government as well as cutting regulations, reducing spending, and restructuring of federal agencies. Trump and Musk have suggested that the panel will be able to make dramatic cuts, but large budgetary actions are in the hands of Congress, which can choose to take the advice of the efficiency panel or disregard it. Musk has previously set an ambitious goal of cutting two trillion dollars of spending based on the numbers from the Congressional Budget Office. This would be a difficult target to reach. And today, the U.S. dollar reached a near seven-month high against major foreign currencies. The rise was buoyed by President-elect Trump's victory. It was also in response to data showing that U.S. inflation increased in October, in line with expectations, though. This suggests that the Federal Reserve will keep cutting rates. Meanwhile, the euro has fallen to one-year lows. For reviving concerns, it could dip to one dollar. Currently, it's around 1.06. Trump's win also raises the prospect of a hike in tariffs, which could deal a fresh blow to the eurozone economy. Now, a big shakeup at entertainment giant Liberty Media. Liberty Live, partial owner of Live Nation, will become its own firm. And CEO Greg Maffei plans to step down at the same time. Here's the story. Media titan John Malone making major adjustments to his media empire. Entertainment giant Liberty Media will be split up. The owner of multiple assets, most prominently Formula One Racing, will split off Liberty Live. Liberty Media is 30 percent owner of Live Nation Entertainment and 80 percent owner of Liberty Technology Venture Capital, a fund focused on Israeli tech companies. Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei says the split will simplify the firm's capital structure and improve stock price accuracy. At the same time, Maffei himself will be stepping down at the end of the year with no clear reasons given. During Maffei's nearly 19-year tenure, Liberty invested in the Atlanta Braves, DirecTV, Sirius XM, Live Nation Entertainment, Charter Communications and Formula One. Maffei was previously co-president of Oracle and CFO of Microsoft. Replacing him as chairman and media titan John Malone himself to become interim CEO, Malone played a major role in developing cable TV across the U.S. when he was CEO of Telecommunications Inc. Malone founded Liberty Media in 1991. And the race for the Japanese owner of 7-Eleven is heating up. 7 and iHoldings announced today that it has received a buyout proposal from a member of its founding family worth $58 billion. This is while the company weighs a rival offer from Canada's Alimentation Couchetard. Take a look. Japan's 7 and i says it's received a buyout proposal from a member of its founding Ito family. The news on Wednesday follows a report that the 7-Eleven owner was considering a management buyout offer worth up to $58 billion. The proposal from is non-binding and is being reviewed by a special committee set up by 7 and i to look at a rival offer from Canada's Alimentation Couchetard. In a statement, the Japanese retailer said no decision had been made regarding the proposal. But if a deal reaches $58 billion, it would make it the largest management buyout in history. 7 and i's shares surged in afternoon trade, having been suspended earlier in the day. They closed up 12 percent, valuing the company at around $42 billion. The sprawling Japanese retailer has been under pressure to deliver more for shareholders, particularly after Circle K owner Couchetard emerged in August with a takeover bid that sources say it has since sweetened to $47 billion. Going private would allow 7 and i to continue under current management and remove pressure from shareholders to sell off more assets. While the Japanese 7-Eleven convenience stores are a money spinner, the company has been hurt by poor performance at its supermarkets. Paying more for fewer routes? Riders who rely on Philadelphia's mass transit system could soon face a 21 percent fare increase. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, or SEPTA, will hold a public hearing next month before the rate hike would go into effect on the first of the year. SEPTA has repeatedly warned that its financial health is uncertain, and that's why it's considering cutting services starting in the summer. That would include eliminating and shortening routes and reducing the frequency of bus, trolley, subway, and rail services. SEPTA is also facing a potential strike by thousands of its workers. The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded all flights to Haiti for a month, after three jets from US-based airlines were struck by bullets while flying over Haiti's capital amid escalating gang violence. American Airlines says it found a bullet hole in a flight from an international airport in Haiti after it landed in Miami on Monday. A Spirit Airlines plane was also hit by gunfire while attempting to land in Haiti's capital on Monday. It resulted in what the airline described as minor injuries to one crew member. Later, JetBlue said a post-flight inspection in New York found damage from a bullet on one of its planes returning from Haiti. Haitian authorities have already suspended flights in and out of Haiti's capital for a week. The Federal Aviation Administration issued a notice prohibiting US civil aviation operations in Haiti below 10,000 feet for 30 days. And apparently a high number of Netflix subscribers see nothing wrong with watching advertisements. It's the opposite of what the streaming service at one time marketed itself on. And T.D. Shaw-Marshall has more on this story. Netflix's ad-supported tier has reached 70 million monthly active users globally, nearly doubling from about six months earlier as customers seek more affordable options. The planned price tag at $6.99 per month in the US now accounts for more than half of all new Netflix signups in regions where it is available. It reached 40 million global monthly active users in May. Netflix's cheapest plan without commercials costs $15.49 a month. The company once championed itself as an escape from TV with ads. Netflix only introduced commercials when it lost customers in 2022. The Netflix president of advertising stated in a blog on Tuesday that for the NFL live Christmas Day games, Netflix has sold out of all available in-game inventory for the two live games. And Netflix has new partnerships with multiple advertisers including FanDuel and Verizon. The upcoming season of Squid Game has brought in new partnerships too. South Korean automaker Kia has become Netflix's first single title sponsorship in Korea. Netflix does not offer details on the ad-supported plan's financial performance and does not expect it to become a primary driver of growth until 2026. The tier has been priced the same since its launch in late 2022. Sean Marshall, NTD News. All right, and real quick, markets, the Dow and S&P 500 rose slightly today. And this comes after October data showed consumer prices rising in line with expectations. And of course, this is adding support to bets that the US Federal Reserve will in fact cut interest rates in December. That's when their meeting is happening. So after the report, traders' bets reflected a more than 82% chance for about a 25 basis point interest rate reduction at the next meeting. Meanwhile, investors also are hopeful of a pro-business stance and possible tax cuts from the incoming US president. All right, with that, everything on today's business matters. Back to you guys. Thanks for all those stories, Don. Amazon Hall sounds almost like an online dollar store. Yeah, I'm actually sort of looking forward to that. I'm curious to see what kind of products they have because, you know, under $20, under $10, that's not very expensive. So I want to see the quality of these products. They're probably made in China, is my guess. Yeah, I mean, I think there's also the question of ethics behind it, right? Like the big problem that people have now with companies like Timu and Xi'an is those reported instances of forced labor, unfair wages. So I don't know where Amazon's going to be getting these products to be able to, you know, make a profit but sell them at such a low cost. Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised, I mean, if it comes from the same source. I'm just speculating here, but, you know, I wouldn't be surprised. We'll have to wait and see. Thanks for all those stories today, Don. See you back tomorrow.