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Disney sailed into the cruise business in 1998, moving it from “a little bit older clientele” to a family vacation juggernaut and now has six ships on the water with two more set to launch a month apart this fall — the Destiny out of Florida in November, and the Disney Adventure, the company’s biggest vessel yet, out of Singapore in December.

“I’m incredibly excited about the cruise space,” Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney Experiences, said at a MoffettNathanson Media Conference Wednesday, the day after hitting Disney’s Upfront presentation to advertisers in NYC. “They are one of the highest rated experiences we deliver.” He was about to visit two German shipyards where construction of the last two liners are underway.

Parks are the cornerstone of Experiences but cruise ships are having a moment. with an increasingly higher profile in every conversation with Wall Street and big chunk of change...

Monday’s “Today Show” offers a blend of nostalgia and financial insights, with Christie Brinkley reminiscing about the iconic “Uptown Girl” era and Jim Cramer marking two decades of his market-moving show “Mad Money.” From pop culture to Wall Street, it’s a morning designed to both entertain and inform. Brinkley’s appearance will surely have viewers flashing […]

The Today Show: Christie Brinkley, Jim Cramer...

As the U.S. economy continues to reel from Trump’s tariffs, CNBC’s Jim Cramer offered a pretty concise and accurate explanation for how Americans will suffer because of said tariffs — which sent John Oliver into a small spiral on Sunday night.

In the latest episode of “Last Week Tonight,” the HBO host wasted no time before diving into his main story surrounding the president’s recent economic decisions. And though there were many “incredibly stupid” elements of the tariffs, according to Oliver, Cramer managed to explain “the dumbest” part of the calculations quite well.

In a clip from Cramer’s CNBC show “Mad Money,” the host explained that Lesotho was one of the two most highly tariffed nations on Trump’s list because the U.S. imported roughly $240 million worth of goods from them last year (mostly apparel or diamonds). But, Lesotho can’t afford to buy much from the U.

Happy tariffs week, everybody. How’s it impacting you? Jesse Whittock here with you to highlight stories from the White House, CinemaCon and the headquarters of a famous Japanese anime firm. Sign up for the International Insider newsletter here.

Trump’s Tariff Targets

“Liberation Day”: Another week, another Donald Trump bombshell. This time guns were aimed… well, at the entire world (bar a few exceptions including Russia). On Wednesday, the President announced a tariff policy of a baseline 10% on virtually every nation, claiming April 2, 2025, would be remembered as “the day that we began to make America wealthy again,” calling it “Liberation Day.” Those hit included long-time allies in the UK, Europe and Australia, whose Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese responded by saying, “This is not the act of a friend.” Fair to say few countries were happy and stock markets are shellshocked, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing down...

CNBC’s Jim Cramer appeared on Thursday’s (April 3) OutFront on CNN, where he told host Erin Burnett he “feels like a sucker” for believing the Trump administration would do right when it came to international trade. “Well, I’m let down,” Cramer said in response to President Donald Trump‘s new widespread trade tariffs, which will see around 60 countries faced with steep tariffs if they want to export goods to the US. Trump announced a baseline of 10% on all foreign goods but noted some countries will face even higher tariffs. “I’m not a free trader… I’m a fair trader,” Cramer told Burnett. “I always have been from the days when you worked with me at CNBC. And what I was hoping was that a coordinated thing where if you are charging us 20%, we charge you 20%. Instead of a car where we’re only making you pay two...

The world is reeling from Donald Trump’s grand tariff announcement, which was positioned by the U.S. President as “liberation day.”

Virtually no nation (bar notable exceptions including Russia) has escaped the tariffs, which have been mentioned almost daily by Trump since he returned to the White House and are at a 10% baseline, rising above 50% in places like China, according to Trump who revealed the plans Wednesday at a White House press event.

World leaders responded with frustration and anger. China’s Ministry of Commerce slammed “typical unilateral bullying practice,” European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen warned of “dire consequences” for millions of people, and Australian Pm Anthony Albanese said the move is “not the act of a friend.”

Given how much the American film and TV biz has helped supercharge local industries, we have woken up to nervousness around how all of this will impact international, especially...

Streaming service CNBC+ launched Wednesday on major distribution platforms Roku and Apple TV.

Priced at a noteworthy $15 a month (in line with general entertainment services and well above subscription news offerings), the outlet features the same programming available on CNBC’s linear TV channel. The business network is part of the portfolio of cable networks being spun off this year by NBCU parent Comcast.

Cord-cutting has upended the cable sector, which continues to throw off significant cash but is shrinking steadily. Other network parents have also been feeling the squeeze from linear cable’s decline, and Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney are among the other major players starting to make linear programming available outside of the traditional bundle. Pay-tv operators often balk at the “leaking” of programming from linear TV to streaming, and the issue has led to major conflicts in several recent carriage negotiations.

Streaming is just the latest direct-to-consumer frontier for CNBC.

“Speaking as someone who’s not a fan of free trade, I have to be honest here: A 20% across-the-board tariff on almost all imports, that would be horrendous for the economy,” Jim Cramer said on his CNBC show this evening.

Cramer was referring to a Wall Street Journal report that predicted Trump’s promised April 2 tariff package would include “a potential 20% global tariff on virtually all imports.”

The Mad Money host then invoked the ghost of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, widely seen as a major contributing factor to the Great Depression.

“The blanket universal tariff is a disaster for the consumer. Google it,” he said.

Cramer said the train that Trump is trying to lay tracks for already left the station long ago.

“The truth is the jobs that were supposed to be protected by tariffs were automated out of existence a long time ago…We don’t have...

If you’re a devotee of business news, you’re probably extremely interested in the new CNBC streaming service that’s coming down the pipe from Comcast. The company announced in December that it was bringing CNBC+ to market, and we’ll run through all the details we have about the service so far so that you’re prepared when it does become available for sale.

What do we know so far about CNBC+?

What will CNBC+ cost?

What tiers will CNBC+ offer?

What programming will CNBC+ have?

When will CNBC+ launch?

Will CNBC+ merge with other streamers?

Will CNBC+ be bundled with linear cable plans?

What will CNBC+ cost?

Comcast and NBCUniversal will reportedly seek $15 per month, or $100 per year for CNBC+. The annual price works out to $8.33 per month, around 45% less expensive than what viewers will pay to stay month-to-month.

What tiers will CNBC+ offer?

CNBC+ will have...

CNBC will seek $14.99 a month, or $99.99 a year, for access to a new targeted streaming service called CNBC+ that executives see as a way to expand the audience for the business-news outlet that many already watch outside the home.

An email sent Wednesday to people who have signed up for CNBC digital offerings discusses the $99.99 price, which it says is available for approximately two days. The message includes testimonials from CNBC anchors including Andrew Ross Sorkin, Deidre Bosa and Becky Quick. “We want to get the news. We want to get it fast. We want to get it first. We want to get it right,” Quick says. “And we want to deliver it to you so that you understand it.” Variety previously reported CNBC’s streaming intentions in December.

The new CNBC+ isn’t seen as a way to challenge Netflix or Disney+. There will be no new programs on...

CNBC has sketched out an intriguing strategy the network hopes will have it getting bigger by sweating the small stuff.

The business-news outlet, backed by NBCUniversal, plans to launch a new unit devoted to creating content aimed at niches of its audience. The division will be led by Max Meyers, a veteran producer who has supervised programs including “Last Call,” “Squawk Box” and “Fast Money,” and who will take on the role of vice president and senior executive producer of strategic verticals and audience development. Meanwhile, CNBC will launch products aimed at coverage of wealth and women’s leadership, the first built around journalist Robert Frank and the second with senior media and technology correspondent Julia Boorstin. A sports-business vertical launched with Alex Sherman has already gained traction since its debut earlier this year.

Operating in an era when traditional TV viewers are prone to seek news and information from new,...

NBCUniversal News Group wants its viewers to vote, and in an unusual twist for a network news organization, it will help them figure out how to do so.

The NBCUniversal division, which includes NBC News, MSNBC and CNBC, is launching a PSA campaign featuring many of its top anchors, encouraging them to register to vote and take part in the electoral process.

“I think we were a little inspired by the Olympics and the reaction that we saw around the country to the recent Olympic Games in Paris, and just how much attention was drawn there, and how popular the Olympic team and their athletes were, and they really did see this renewed sense of patriotism flowing from that,” Tom Clendenin, the CMO and senior VP of marketing for the NBC News Group, tells The Hollywood Reporter. “And so I just really wanted to lean into that and and celebrate...

Activist investor Nelson Peltz, reflecting on his losing proxy battle with Disney, says he will “watch and wait” to see if the company keeps its promises.

If it doesn’t, he told CNBC in an interview Thursday, “you’ll see me again.”

Asked by host Jim Cramer if reports were true that his firm, Trian Fund Management, had made $300 million on its Disney investment, Peltz called that figure “dramatically wrong.” When Cramer wondered if the gains were actually in the $1 billion range, Peltz replied, “that sounds more like it.”

The wavering performance of Disney’s stock performance, which brought it to multi-year lows last year, was one of the main complaints of Trian, along with the company’s approach to succession, streaming and film production. Since the proxy effort began, shares have rebounded strongly, climbing more than 35% in 2024 to date.

Trian’s months-long quest to install Peltz and former Disney...

Fresh off his bruising loss in the proxy fight against The Walt Disney Co., the activist investor Nelson Peltz appeared on CNBC to discuss the fight in a conversation with Jim Cramer.

“I’m willing to give them the opportunity to prove me wrong; I’m willing to give them the opportunity to do as they say,” Peltz said. “The shareholders have voted. They want to give management and the board a chance. So, so be it. We will watch like we did last time.”

Peltz said he was “very surprised” that after the Institutional Shareholder Services recommendation in his favor, most institutional investors still voted for the Disney board.

“If you look at their comments, their comments were beautiful, they were very complimentary. But at the end of the day, they check the box and you’ll have to ask them why they did it,” Peltz added. “I’ve...

The CEO of the parent company of Sports Illustrated was ousted on Monday.

The firing followed a scandal over the publication’s use of AI-generated stories from fake authors, although it was not immediately clear if that was related to the shakeup.

Ross Levinsohn, CEO of The Arena Group, was terminated and Manoj Bhargava was named interim chief executive officer, the company said. No other information was provided, other than that the board met “and took actions to improve the operational efficiency and revenue of the company.”

Last week, the company fired operations president and COO Andrew Kraft, media president Rob Barrett and corporate counsel Julie Fenster.

Levinsohn had been in his role since 2020. He had previously been a top executive at Yahoo, Fox Interactive and Tribune Publishing.

A recent piece on the web site Futurism alleged that stories on the Sports Illustrated web site “were churned out using AI,...

John Oliver is taking on CNBC’s Jim Cramer, again.

Fresh from signing a new three-year deal with HBO, as revealed by Deadline last week, the Last Week Tonight host dinged the Mad Money host in a segment on trains.

Oliver was discussing Hunter Harrison, the train exec responsible for introducing precision scheduled railroading.

“You know a person is pretty awesome if they get a ringing sound effect-laden endorsements on an esteemed show like Big Bucks Word Puke with Captain Money Clown,” he joked.

It is his latest turn roasting former hedge fund manager Cramer. In July 2022, he took on Cramer for not ringing the bell early enough on inflation and early this year he mocked him for his take on crypto.

Oliver also reminded viewers of the dark tone of the Ringo Starr-narrated “sadistic” kids TV series Thomas The Tank Engine a few times during the episode.

“The...

Earlier today, a lengthy piece on the web site Futurism began causing a stir among journalists at one of America’s most venerated media institutions. The piece alleged that stories on the Sports Illustrated web site “were churned out using AI,” and that the contributor profiles on many of them were also AI-generated, right down to the author photos, which Futurism’s researchers claim they found on sites selling AI-generated images.

The site also alleges it found similar content on The Street.com, which Arena Group bought from co-founder Jim Cramer in 2019. There was also a controversy earlier this year when Men’s Journal, another Arena Group publication, published an Ai-generated medical article reportedly riddled with “inaccuracies and falsehoods.”

Shortly after noon today, the Sports Illustrated Union, which bills itself as a the publication’s “united editorial staff” organized under the New Guild of New York, issued a response on social media.

Who’s doing it better — Kristen Welker or Jake Tapper?

The two journalists, one the new moderator of NBC News’ “Meet The Press,” the other the anchor of the weekday “The Lead” and a co-anchor of “State of the Union” at CNN, aren’t typically pitted against one another. But there they were on a recent Thursday afternoon around 4:30 p.m., duking it out for the future of their medium.

Welker was holding forth on “Meet the Press Now,” a show earmarked for streaming users on the broadband outlet NBC News Now. Tapper was anchoring his regular Thursday broadcast of “The Lead,” a program that is now also streamed to subscribers of Max, the main broadband hub of Warner Bros. Discovery. Both were grilling Republican congressmen about the recent ouster of former U.S. Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, and, while not necessarily realizing it, hoping to appeal...

A lot of the young men who became stock traders in the 1980s saw themselves as rebels: the new swingers of greed. Of course, they weren’t really rebels. But it felt good to them to think of themselves that way. Keith Gill (Paul Dano), the central figure in Craig Gillespie’s smart, light-fingered, brashly entertaining finance-world docudrama “Dumb Money,” is an amateur stock trader who also sees himself as a rebel. Keith, unlike the Wall Street players, actually is trying to fight the system. But he may be nearly as caught up in illusions as they are.

The Wall Street badasses of the ’80s wanted to be cool. Keith, by contrast, is a long-haired Middle American nerd who lives in Brockton, Ma, with his wife (Shailene Woodley) and infant daughter and works for the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company. In his spare time, he posts freewheeling video rambles on wallstreetbets,...

Movies about the financial markets inevitably have the same problem. It simply isn’t that visually compelling watching people stare at their computers or phones and muttering expletives. Adam McKay’s The Big Short managed to avoid the pitfall thanks to its truly memorable characters and such stylistic flourishes as having Margot Robbie explain complicated financial concepts directly to the camera while lounging in a bathtub.

Craig Gillespie’s Dumb Money, about the 2021 GameStop stock phenomenon fueled by individual investors driven by social media, doesn’t prove quite as successful. Nonetheless, the film receiving its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival proves entertaining enough, thanks to its canny screenplay relating the story as a Frank Capra-style battle between the little people and the rich bigwigs hoisted by their own petards, and the fun performances by a terrific ensemble.

Based on Ben Mezrich’s book The Antisocial Network...

There are plenty of great satirical movies like The Big Short that turn the dry procedures of finance and business into riveting cinematic entertainment. The Big Short uses self-aware humor and A-list cameos to explore the mistakes and misdeeds that led to the 2007 housing market crash. The script by Charles Randolph and director Adam McKay, based on financial journalist Michael Lewis’s book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The movie received nominations in four other Oscar categories, including Best Picture and Best Director for McKay. The Big Short won the Producers Guild Award for Best Picture as well.

The Big Short’s hilarious performances and award-winning script tackled a typically tiresome topic in a refreshingly engaging way. With fourth-wall-breaking and celebrity cameos, The Big Short found uniquely entertaining methods to explain complex financial terminologies like synthetic CDOs and subprime mortgages.

In the history of casual comments that sound like they could mark the end of civilization, there’s a staggering contender in “The New Americans: Gaming a Revolution” — all the more so because it comes from an investor who sounds reasonably intelligent. The movie, the latest documentary provocation written and directed by Ondi Timoner, is about the new era of lone stock traders — many, though not all of them, millennials — who grew up playing video games and now experience investing at home as a literal extension of that thrill-a-minute world. The new trading apps, designed as visual candy, are meant to give you the rush that gamers get (and also the high that people seek out from slot machines). Trying to sum up the lizard-brain appeal of it all, an investor named Mitchell Hennessey explains, “Even if you lose on the trade, confetti pops up, and it almost feels like you’re leveling up.

Disney’s Q1 2023 earnings call on February 8 broke a lot of news, but also left a lot of items on Disney’s docket unaccounted for. Among the open questions unaddressed during the call include Disney’s plans for Hulu, which it may buy out from Comcast or sell, and the drama surrounding Trian Management CEO Nelson Peltz’s proxy fight with the company’s board of investors.

While these subjects weren’t covered during the call itself, Disney CEO Bob Iger and Peltz made appearances on CNBC February 9, giving a little more clarity to both subjects. While Iger’s statements made it clear that Hulu’s future is still an open question, Peltz’s appearance seemed to definitively close the door on the proxy fight saga.

Appearing on the channel’s “Squawk on the Street” program, Iger spoke to host David Faber about the company’s plans for streaming, including...

Activist investor Nelson Peltz said Thursday morning that he’s ending his proxy fight against Disney after CEO Bob Iger announced sweeping restructuring and cost-cutting plans yesterday alongside the company’s latest quarterly earnings.

Peltz had amassed a stake of about 1 billion worth of stock and was seeking a seat on Disney’s board at the annual meeting in early April, lobbying heavily in recent weeks to get shareholders’ vote in opposition to the company, which was already running a full slate of directors. He set up a dedicate website, Restore the Magic, that detailed what he saw as the company’s failings. But a string of announcements from Iger yesterday, from slashing billions of dollars in costs to restoring the dividend and creating a new corporate structure all boosted Disney stock and neutralized Peltz, addressing many of his concerns.

Related: Disney Earnings Report & Reorganization – Full Coverage

He acknowleged that...

In a bright, wide-open studio at Fox News’ Manhattan headquarters, where cable-news programs often stick to tried-and-true formats, Dagen McDowell and Sean Duffy are trying something a little unexpected: an experiment.

Larry Kudlow just wrapped his after-market Fox Business program, and the duo are taking advantage of the empty facility to rehearse banter for their new show, “Bottom Line,” slated to debut Monday evening at 6 p.m. Sure, they strike familiar chords, with a segment that examines how President Joe Biden’s White House has grappled with continued revelations of classified documents being found in his offices that eventually segues into a discussion of his son, Hunter Biden. But McDowell, a longtime correspondent, and Duffy, the former Republican Congressman from Wisconsin. are also trying to create new music.

“We definitely think about the world in the same way,” says McDowell, during a recent interview.

Their new “Bottom Line” tests a...

Many Disney employees woke up this morning trying to make sense of a surreal Sunday night that some say felt like a dream.

The Hollywood spectacle couldn’t have been scripted any better. As top Disney executives were filing into the Dodger Stadium hospitality tent for Elton John’s final North American concert, which streamed live on Disney+, news broke of Bob Iger replacing Bob Chapek as Disney CEO. The jaw-dropping move sent Disney shares soaring and industry tongues wagging, but it also raises some thorny questions for the media giant despite the familiar hand taking the controls.

Chapek was expected to be at the Elton John concert, sources said, but canceled his appearance by midday Sunday. His top lieutenant, Kareem Daniel, Chairman of Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, went to the stadium but left before the concert started as people around him were reacting to the bombshell announcement, we hear.

Disney’s Q4 earnings report saw the company take some major wins (like 12.1 million subscribers new to Disney+) but also some major losses — including a 1.5 billion loss of Dtc, a revenue total (20.15 billion with earnings of 37 cents per share) that fell short of Wall Street’s projections, and shares that fell 7, the lowest in two years. In the wake of those earnings, CNBC “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer has a fairly radical suggestion for the corporation — get rid of CEO Bob Chapek.

“Disney, they have ESPN. If we were on ESPN, we would say he’s got to be fired. That’s pretty cut and dry,” Cramer said on CNBC’s business news program “Squawk Box” Wednesday morning. “The losses here are just mind-boggling. When you’re going over the quarter, it’s stunning.”

Cramer joined “Squawk Box” to discuss Disney’s earnings, Meta, and the election with the program’s co-host Andrew Ross Sorkin.

Like many other TV anchors at business-news outlet CNBC, Shepard Smith finds himself facing a closing bell.

The veteran journalist, who arrived at the NBCUniversal venue in the fall of 2020 with a mission to grow the network’s audience in early evening with a non-partisan general-news program, will leave CNBC as it focuses more intently on its core product: information tailored for viewers interested in the markets and personal finance.

Smith’s last show will air later in November, and CNBC intends to replace his program, “The News with Shepard Smith,” with an evening hour devoted to business news in early 2023. The anchors for that program will be named at a later date, and it remains to be seen whether CNBC will select candidates from among its current roster or seek to woon someone from outside its ranks.

The maneuver is an early one for CNBC under its new leader,...

Apple and Amazon’s quarterly financial results are becoming something of a guessing game for Wall Street analysts trying to size up who’s winning the streaming subscription war. Neither tech giant will budge on telling the public exactly how many paying streaming customers they have.

It’s become almost a parody of the old Mad Magazine comic strip “Spy vs. Spy,” pitting two adversaries against the other with enough equal firepower to blow each into smithereens. Amazon dangles that it has 153 million Prime subscribers, but won’t break down how many tap into video (even on average). Apple doesn’t even break out its streaming platform’s financial results, though its music streaming service clocks in at about 100 million subscribers annually.

On Thursday, Amazon reported a profit of 2.9 billion during the third quarter, down from 3.2 billion in the year-ago period. Revenue rose 15 to 127.1 billion during the quarter.

While the...

Don’t feel bad, even highly respected executive editors of business coverage are still a bit confused about the GameStop stock situation and the meme-stock industry in general. It’s all good, Netflix’s three-part docuseries “Eat the Rich: The GameStop Saga” is here to educate — and entertain — all of us. The program accomplishes both of those goals, which it delivers in a bingeable 120-minute package.

The basics of what went down online and in real life (and in the Netflix docuseries) go like this: In 2020, video-game retailer GameStop was the most-shorted company on Wall Street, as hedge-fund managers bet the heavily brick-and-mortar store selling physical media would go bankrupt in an increasingly digital world (and that goes double for the video-game industry itself).

What was originally a wise assumption soon got out of hand. When some savvy number-crunching Redditors realized just how much money was stacked against GameStop’s continued existence,...

Jim Cramer has crowed Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk as the future King of California.

Cramer, speaking Thursday on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” made the proclamation in light of the Golden State’s pending ban in 2035 on gas-powered vehicles — and the electric car company’s streak of dominance.

“It’s going to be a state of Teslas unless Jim Farley can get that F-150 Lighting out,” Cramer said, referring to Ford’s CEO, in the segment you can watch at the top of this post. “He thinks he can do 600,000 run rate by the end of next year.”

But Cramer then reverted back to the main point, perhaps given the fact parking a large pick-up truck is no easy task in many parts of California.

Also Read:

Elon Musk Sells Nearly 7 Billion in Tesla Shares in Preparation for ‘Hopefully Unlikely’ Close of Twitter Deal

“This guy is...

Mark Hoffman is stepping down as the longtime head of CNBC in September, and will be succeeded by NBCU executive Kc Sullivan.

The leadership change, to take place on Sept. 12, will mark the end of Hoffman’s tenure at the network, one of the longest in cable news channel history.

Cesar Conde, chairman of the NBCUniversal News Group, said in a statement, “The growth and success of CNBC over so many years is a testament to Mark’s leadership over a nearly three-decade-long career marked by many wins along the way. During his tenure, CNBC became a world leader and every year it has grown better and stronger. It continues to expand both domestically and internationally through new platforms and plays an essential role in keeping audiences and markets informed in real time about consequential issues and events.”

Hoffman first joined CNBC in 1997, then left three years later to lead...

The closing bell is ringing for Mark Hoffman, the longtime chief of stock-market chronicler CNBC.

Hoffman said in a memo Tuesday that he plans to step down from the role after a 17-year tenure. His last day at the helm would be September 12. He will be replaced by Kc Sullivan, the president and managing director of NBCUniversal’s global advertising and partnerships business.

“Once defined as a moribund domestic cable channel that many thought would never fully recover from the dotcom bubble bursting, CNBC is today a global multimedia powerhouse, punching far above its weight, in the digital age,” Hoffman said in his note.

CNBC may be best known for the market prognostications of Jim Cramer and the wry morning presence of Becky Quick, but behind the stock-and-bonds commentary is a large business that thrives mainly by catering to a broad but niche constituency: people with skin in the game in the world of finance.

Five years after the conclusion of his critically-acclaimed Comedy Central series “Nathan for You,” Nathan Fielder is back in front of the camera with HBO’s “The Rehearsal.” On Wednesday, the pay cabler released the trailer for the new show.

In the series, Fielder visits real people who need to undergo a difficult conversation of some kind, and helps them meticulously “rehearse” the event. Using actors and a construction crew to replicate where and how these talks will be held, “The Rehearsal” explores potential scenarios for each event, with Fielder treating the experience with the utmost seriousness.

“With this show, if your performance isn’t accurate, you could ruin someone’s life,” Fielder tells a group of actors in the trailer.

In addition to hosting the series, Fielder directs, writes and executive produces “The Rehearsal.” Clark Reinking executive produces the first episode, while Dave Paige executive produces the remaining five.

MGM TV head Mark Burnett — the prolific producer behind reality show staples such as “The Apprentice,” “Shark Tank,” and “Survivor” — is teaming with CNBC for a new unscripted prime-time series aimed at anyone who dreams of owning their own business.

“Business Hunters,” set to debut this fall, features aspiring entrepreneurs who leave the comfort and safety of their day jobs to take a chance on themselves by buying a business. The MGM series arrives as American employers have seen unprecedented resignation levels throughout the pandemic as workers wrestle back the power from their bosses.

“I love this format. I’ve lived it! The idea of betting on yourself is the American dream,” said Burnett, who serves as chairman of worldwide television at MGM. “This will be unlike any show I’ve ever done in the business space, because for the first time, the buyers are everyday people, just like the viewer at home.

Jim Cramer, the outspoken stock analyst, has long held down two jobs: one as a columnist for financial-news website TheStreet.com that he founded, and another as a colorful commentator for CNBC. Soon, he will only have one employer.

CNBC, in a rare bit of publicity for the business dealings it has with its correspondents, said it would expand its relationship with Cramer in a new deal that will have him continuing his on-air presence for the NBCUniversal-backed cable-news outlet as well as create subscription products for CNBC die-hards. Cramer will launch CNBC Investor Club, which will give subscribers what is billed as “behind the scenes access” to Cramer and his knowledge of investing and portfolio management. The new pact will reunite Cramer with Margaret de Luna, a former president and chief operating officer of TheStreet, who was recently appointed general manager and senior vice president of CNBC’s direct to consumer operations.

Jim Cramer has signed a new deal with CNBC that includes continuing Mad Money w/Jim Cramer and Squawk on the Street as well as the creation of a new subscription product, CNBC Investor Club.

Cramer also will provide articles and videos each day on CNBC’s digital offerings. The new agreement also will include the creation of conferences with Cramer, tapping into the lucrative events business.

The subscription product will be a venture between CNBC and Cramer Digital in which members will get his “unparalleled knowledge and analysis of portfolio management and investing and give behind-the-scenes access to Cramer and his team,” the network said in announcing the deal. Cramer will work with Margaret de Luna, who was former president and COO of The Street, which Cramer founded. De Luna is general manager and senior vice president of CNBC’s direct-to-consumer business.

Mark Hoffman, the chairman of CNBC, said...

CNBC is locking in one of its star hosts to a new deal.

The business news channel has signed a new deal with Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money and Squawk on the Street regular.

One key new aspect: The deal also includes a multiplatform element, with Cramer set to write articles and create web videos for CNBC’s website. The company will also launch a new subscription product, the CNBC Investor Club with Jim Cramer, and will work with Cramer to create and launch new live events and conferences.

Cramer had previously founded TheStreet.com, which he sold to TheMaven in 2019....

CNBC is locking in one of its star hosts to a new deal.

The business news channel has signed a new deal with Jim Cramer, the host of Mad Money and Squawk on the Street regular.

One key new aspect: The deal also includes a multiplatform element, with Cramer set to write articles and create web videos for CNBC’s website. The company will also launch a new subscription product, the CNBC Investor Club with Jim Cramer, and will work with Cramer to create and launch new live events and conferences.

Cramer had previously founded TheStreet.com, which he sold to TheMaven in 2019....

AT&T continues to take a licking heading into the weekend with mogul Barry Diller describing plans to unload WarnerMedia as “a great escape” and calling its three-year dalliance with showbiz the telco giant’s latest bungle in a string of bad deals.

Never one to mince words, the founder of sprawling digital powerhouse Iac and former head of Fox and Paramount said, “It’s the power of monopoly. I mean, Ma Bell should have been dead and buried by now. I mean, they go into cable, only a few years later to say ‘oh my god we made a mistake’ and sell it. They go into Direct [DirecTV], and go into Time Warner with an idea, but certainly not fully fledged, and then they go about basically, I think, hurting Time Warner assets.”

AT&T acquired John Malone’s cable operator Tci in 1999, later selling the business to Charter and Comcast.

AT&T CEO John Stankey and CFO Pascal Desroches held a 45-minute WebX town hall for WarnerMedia employees this morning, offering additional information about the entertainment unit’s upcoming merger with Discovery.

The $43 billion deal surprised the industry, and while it’s expected to take at least a year to close, it has prompted a flurry of questions about the future for the companies and the media business. Investors reacted poorly to the news on the first full day of trading since the announcement, sending AT&T shares down 6% on the day.

The discussion with the two executives was moderated by Christy Haubegger, WarnerMedia communications chief and top inclusion officer. From those who attended, we hear that for the most part, it was in some ways a recap from yesterday’s hour-long press briefing with Discovery CEO David Zaslav and Stankey about the deal. Stankey reviewed the financials of the combination...

Exclusive: Donny Deutsch, former host of MSNBC’s Saturday Night Politics and USA’s Donny!, has set his eyes on the world of podcasting. He has teamed with Kast Media for his debut audio series On Brand with Donny Deutsch.

Set to debut on all podcast players on May 13, On Brand with Donny Deutsch will feature the branding vet and television personality’s analysis on some of today’s most well-known and successful global brands. On Brand will peel back the layers of the images seen in media, to understand the depths of the people who are changing our world – through art, media, business, politics, activism, or innovation. Deutsch will interview a variety of exciting guests from different backgrounds, including Michael. J Fox, Denis Leary, Jim Cramer and more.

“Decades of experience in advertising and television have created a very specific lens I use to analyze every facet of a brand,...

Hulu debuts the first of many TV and film projects in the works about the saga of GameStop on Monday. The weeks-long financial whirlwind ensnared the video game retailer, Reddit and Wall Street in a “David vs. Goliath” battle that would put most Hollywood scripts to shame.

And according to ABC News’ Rebecca Jarvis, who appears on Hulu’s “GameStopped,” that’s exactly what made it ripe for the Hollywood treatment.

“You have gigantic winners and gigantic losers, you have populism feeling that the system is rigged, you have this David and Goliath setup — you can dig into whether or not that’s an accurate depiction of David versus Goliath — but that certainly is a part of the story,” Jarvis told TheWrap. “And just the frenzy and hysteria surrounding a single stock and really high stakes. I think that’s what drew people to it. But I also think that...

Larry Kudlow spent nearly three years advising former President Donald Trump on economic policy. Now he’s taking to Fox Business Network, where he will get to comment as a new Commander-in-Chief is likely to dismantle much of what his predecessor wrought.

Can he do so in an objective manner?

“I’ve said good and bad things about Democrats and Republicans,” says Kudlow in an interview, noting that business-news viewers probably already know his philosophy. He launches “Kudlow,” a Fox Business hour that will run at 4 p.m. and re-air at 7 p.m., today. Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will be one of his first guests. “I myself am not bashful about my own comments. I have a few opinions. It’s not exactly breaking news that I’m a free-enterprise, free-markets, supply-side guy. That will not be shocking information.”

Stock-market aficionados have had a long relationship with Kudlow, who...

AMC Theatres’ wild run continued on Friday, with the nation’s largest cinema chain seeing its stock price soar 53.7% to close the day at $13.26 per share. The Wall Street surge coincided with Robinhood, the popular stock trading app, reversing its decision to block users from trading AMC and other popular “Reddit stocks” on Thursday, with the app on Friday allowing “limited” AMC purchases.

AMC’s Friday spike capped off a big week for the company. A week ago, AMC was trading below $5 per share and on the verge of running out of cash. Those cash concerns were alleviated on Monday, though, when AMC announced it had raised $917 million to fight off bankruptcy. That cash infusion, coupled with the support of users on Wall Street Bets, a popular Reddit forum, helped propel the company 180% higher by the end of the week.

The Friday spike also stands out considering what had happened a day earlier.

AMC Entertainment bounced back on Friday morning, with the nation’s largest cinema chain seeing its stock price rocket 60% higher to $13.91 per share. The huge jump comes after Robinhood, the popular stock trading app, retreated from its decision to block users from trading AMC’s stock — a move that had sent the company’s share price plunging a day earlier.

At its peak on Thursday morning, AMC touched $16 per share before settling into the $14 range about two hours into trading.

It’d already been a crazy week for AMC heading into Friday. The company’s stock was below $5 per share on Monday when it announced it had raised $917 million to fight off bankruptcy. AMC’s shares darted higher soon after, thanks in large part to the support of Wall Street Bets, a popular Reddit forum that has been targeting companies like AMC that have been heavily shorted, or bet against,...

Larry Kudlow, the former CNBC host turned Trump economic advisor, has found a new media job after his time at the White House — and it’s not with his former employer.

Kudlow, who took on the unenviable job of predicting a quick V-shaped recovery for the nation in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic and also tried to make the case the contagion was contained before it took full root in the U.S,, will launch a new weekday program for Fox Business Network. Starting February 8, he will provide financial analysis on U.S. and global affairs across all Fox News Media properties. Details of his new program will be announced at a later time.

He was named Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council in 2018, where he coordinated the administration’s domestic and economic policy agenda.

“Larry’s vast experience in policy...

Rick Santelli, the veteran CNBC correspondent, recently got into an on-air spat with one of his longtime colleagues. Whether he will be given leeway to spar in similar fashion with new co-workers elsewhere in the company is something executives at NBCUniversal ought to work quickly to decide.

During an early-December panel on the business-news network’s “Squawk Box,” Santelli began to yell at Andrew Ross Sorkin, who pressed him on comments he had made about coronavirus restrictions at restaurants. Sorkin pushed his colleague to exercise greater caution about suggesting viewers should be able to crowd into restaurants the way they do into retail outlets.

“Who is this? Who is this?” asked Santelli, even though Sorkin has been a co-host of the program for almost a decade. As Sorkin prodded Santelli to reconsider what he said, the correspondent went into an on-air huff. “I disagree. I disagree! I disagree!” said Santelli,...

President Donald Trump’s challenges to Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential race have triggered escalating concerns over a turbulent transition process and what it portends for democratic stability, but the most justified fears may be that the electorate has split into alternate information universes.

A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that 52% of Republicans said that Trump “rightfully” won the election, and only 29% said that about Biden.

It’s not hard to imagine a scenario where an ex-president Trump continues his rallies and tweets, all with his false claims that the election was stolen from him, and tries to dominate news cycles by dangling the prospect of a 2024 run. It’s always possible that he will do what his predecessors have done, which is to recede from the limelight, but does that even sound like Donald Trump?

There is incentive for news outlets to try to keep the drama all going,...

Political junkies aren’t the only ones who will have more TV programming than they can possibly watch on Election Night.

Two of the better-known business-news outlets, CNBC and Fox Business Network. plan to keep coverage going well after the market closes Tuesday, the better to explain to viewers the financial ramifications for the 2020 presidential election. CNBC intends to use its regularly-scheduled 7 p.m. program — an hour led by Shepard Smith — to push viewers to election programming that is expected to run through the wee hours of the morning. Fox Business will kick off its coverage at 7 p.m., led by anchor Neil Cavuto, after a two-hour broadcast from Lou Dobbs. Cavuto will be broadcasting from Fox News Media production studios for the first time in months.

Smith, whose new show, “The News With Shepard Smith” represents one of CNBC’s more aggressive programming initiatives in years, will participate in the coverage that follows,...