Extra U.S. employers masking GLP-1s for weight reduction

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The injectable weight loss medication Wegovy at New City Halstead Pharmacy in Chicago on April 24, 2024.

Scott Olson | Getty Images

Good morning! More U.S. employers are covering a buzzy class of medications called GLP-1s for weight loss, a survey found. 

Roughly one-third of employer health plans in the U.S. said they are covering GLP-1 drugs like Novo Nordisk‘s Ozempic and Wegovy for both diabetes and weight loss, up from 26% last year. 

GLP-1 drugs for weight loss also grew as a portion of employers’ overall annual medical claims spending, making up nearly 9% in 2024 compared to roughly 7% the year prior. 

That’s according to the survey released Thursday by a nonprofit organization, the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, which includes more than 33,000 member companies or public institutions. The survey was conducted in May on almost 300 employer health plans in the U.S. 

The increase in coverage is a win for patients, who often struggle to shoulder the hefty $1,000 monthly price tags of these drugs without insurance and other rebates. It’s also good news for the manufacturers of these treatments, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, which are working to increase insurance coverage for the drugs and patient access overall. 

Notably, most employee health plans and other insurers don’t cover drugs for weight loss, including GLP-1s such as Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound. The federal Medicare program also doesn’t pay for weight loss treatments unless they are approved and prescribed for another health condition. 

GLP-1s for diabetes, such as Ozempic and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro, are often covered by plans. 

Both weight loss and diabetes drugs have skyrocketed in popularity in the U.S. — while drawing increasing investor interest — for helping people achieve dramatic weight loss over time. They work by mimicking one or more hormones produced in the gut to suppress a person’s appetite and regulate their blood sugar. 

Some 57% of employer health plans said they only cover the medications for diabetes management, up from 49% in 2023, according to the survey. 

But a substantial share — around 19% — said they are considering whether to cover them for weight loss.

“This new survey data shows that in the last six months, GLP-1 coverage has increased for both weight loss and diabetes,” Julie Stich, the vice president of content at the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, said in a release. 

Stich said new regulatory approvals and clinical trials, along with increasing demand for GLP-1 medications in the U.S., have contributed to broader coverage.

For example, Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy is now cleared in U.S. for slashing the risk of serious heart complications. 

Insurance industry experts previously told CNBC that the approval won’t automatically translate to widespread insurance coverage of the weight loss drug. At the very least, some plans will take notice of Wegovy’s new use and start assessing whether to cover the treatment when they next update their formularies, those experts said. 

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are also conducting a slate of studies on their GLP-1 drugs in different patients. That includes those with chronic kidney disease, sleep apnea and a certain fatty liver disease. 

But there’s no doubt that the medications can put on a strain on any health plan’s budget. 

Around 85% of employers that are covering GLP-1s are relying “heavily” on requirements that aim to control costs, according to the survey. 

That includes certain eligibility rules, such as requiring employees to have a certain BMI, or body mass index, to receive coverage. It also includes “step therapy,” which requires its members to try other lower-cost medications or means of losing weight before using a GLP-1.

Meanwhile, other insurance plans are pulling back coverage of the medications for weight loss. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, the state’s largest insurance company, said it will begin eliminating coverage of different weight loss drugs next year.

There’s also a bigger issue at hand, even as insurance coverage improves among employers: Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have been struggling to make enough supply of their treatments to meet demand. That is another part of the GLP-1 story that we will continue to monitor. 

Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.

Latest in health-care technology

Around 25% of health-care VC dollars are going toward companies using AI, report says

Hands, tablet and doctor with body hologram, overlay and dna research for medical innovation on app. Medic man, nurse and mobile touchscreen for typing on anatomy study or 3d holographic ux in clinic

Jacob Wackerhausen | Istock | Getty Images

Health-care companies that are exploring new uses for artificial intelligence are winning big with venture capital investors. 

One in every four health-care investment dollars is going toward companies that are using AI, and deal activity in AI for health care has grown twice as fast as AI deals in the tech industry as a whole, according to a recent report from Silicon Valley Bank, which is now a division of First Citizens Bank. 

The report said VCs invested $7.2 billion in health-care AI last year, and the figure is on track to reach $11.1 billion this year. 

Administrative applications of AI in health care are drawing around 60% of the funding, the report said. Clerical tasks like paperwork are a major burden for the health-care sector, and they are contributing to physician burnout and staffing shortages.

More than 90% of doctors report feeling burnt out on a regular basis, and 64% of these doctors said overwhelming administrative workloads are a major reason for it, according to a February survey from Athenahealth. Physicians are spending an average of 15 hours per week outside their normal hours keeping up with administrative tasks, the survey said.

In other words, administrative work is a big problem for the health-care sector. VCs are particularly interested in it since it usually faces less regulatory oversight than clinical decision support tools or patient-facing solutions do, SVB’s report said. 

Even though health-care AI companies are expected to raise more funds this year than they did last year, SVB said accessing quality data and sufficient computing power to train models could be barriers to adoption. 

This is particularly true for AI-powered patient diagnostic tools, which make up 52% of total investment in clinical solutions, according to the report. As of now, there is a “significant gap” in access to the necessary computing power and data to train a model that can accurately diagnose a patient. 

“Companies that can access data, partner with clinicians and hospitals to leverage patient data, and partner with big tech companies are better suited to deploy AI at scale,” the report said. 

Feel free to send any tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Ashley at ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.

IRS unveils plan to shut tax loophole for pass-through companies

IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel testifies before the House Appropriations Committee in Washington, D.C., on May 7, 2024.

Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images

The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the IRS on Monday unveiled a plan to “close a major tax loophole” used by large, complex partnerships, which could raise more than an estimated $50 billion in tax revenue over the next 10 years.

The plan targets so-called “related party basis shifting,” where single businesses operating through different legal entities trade original purchase prices on assets to take more deductions or reduce future gains, according to the Treasury.

“These tax shelters allow wealthy taxpayers to avoid paying what they owe,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel told reporters on a press call Friday.  

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After a year of studying the basis-shifting issue, the agencies announced their intent to issue proposed regulations. They also released a revenue ruling on related-party partnership transactions involving basis shifting without “economic substance” for the parties or “substantial business purpose.”    

The plan builds on ongoing IRS efforts to increase audits on the wealthiest taxpayers, large corporations and complex partnerships.

“Treasury and the IRS are focused on addressing high-end tax abuse from all angles, and the proposed rules released today will increase tax fairness and reduce the deficit,” U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen said in a statement.

Pass-through business filings with more than $10 million in assets increased 70% between 2010 and 2019, but the audit rate for these partnerships fell from 3.8% to 0.1% during that period, according to the Treasury. 

This has contributed to an estimated $160 billion a year tax gap — the shortfall between what is owed and collected — attributed to the top 1% of tax filers, the agency said.

The battle over IRS funding

The announcement comes less than one week after President Joe Biden’s top economic advisor unveiled his “key principles” for tax policy, including sustained IRS funding.  

“We should ensure ultra-wealthy taxpayers pay what they owe and play by the same rules by maintaining the President’s investment in the IRS,” White House National Economic Council advisor Lael Brainard told reporters Wednesday during a press call.

IRS funding has been a target for Republicans since Congress approved nearly $80 billion in funding via the Inflation Reduction Act.

Kai Cenat Reacts To Negativity About His Hyperlink-Up W/ North West

Kai Cenat isn’t here for folks talking negatively about him spending time with his fans, especially North West.

Recap Of North West’s Birthday Festivities Featuring Kai Cenat

This past weekend, the streamer linked up with Kim Kardashian and Ye’s eldest child to celebrate her birthday. She turned 11 on June 15. Photos and videos shared by Kimmy show Kai and Northie painting pottery and riding around on motorized animals inside a mall.

RELATED: Streamer Kai Cenat Kicks It With North West For Her 11th Birthday

Kai Reacts To The Negative Comments

As footage of the birthday link-up began circulating, it appeared that not all the feedback was positive. In fact, Cenat took to social media to address critics speaking on his and North West’s age gap and the appropriateness of the link-up.

“To anybody who made yesterday weird, here’s the thing. First things first, bro, I am North’s favorite streamer. So yesterday, all she wanted to do is meet me, bro. That’s it. Literally, all she wanted to do was meet me,” Kai Cenat said in a video statement.

He added that people making the meet-and-greet “weird” are the “weird” ones.

“I literally have a bunch of parents whose daughters and sons would love to meet me, bro. And if I could, I would just meet everybody. We had a great time yesterday.”

Cenat emphasized that the link-up went “great” and that Northie is also “great” with a “good group of friends around her.”

See what he said to the critics below. 

Roomies Weigh In

The Shade Room’s followers aren’t the only ones who put in their two cents on the viral birthday celebrations. However, after TSR reposted Kai Cenat’s clapback, the comment section was loaded with over 10,000 written reactions and more than 326,000 likes.

Serial entrepreneur Supa Cent wrote, “The way y’all was drooling over Bow Wow, Sammie, and Pretty Ricky [laughing emojis].” 

User @neainstars agreed with Kai’s take, writing, “It’s no different from any other celeb kid having their favorite celeb at their party… y’all gotta get y’all minds out the gutter.”

@xotanye went in, adding, “Y’all childhood traumas be eating y’all up! Stop projecting.” 

Meanwhile, @yourfavoritetomboy praised the streamer. “I’m really starting to love this guy more and more. He’s like the little big brother just having fun and living life. That’s it,” she wrote.

@ambere__ and @djm.nails pointed out that the link-up was not unsupervised. “Her mama was there; what’s the problem,” Ambere said.

“Why is everything sexual? Her mom stayed around; she was not alone with him,” DJM Nails said.

While we know Kim Kardashian approved of the birthday festivities, it’s unclear how Daddy Ye felt about it. He’s been radio silent on social media lately, but the rapper—formerly Kanye West—has been very loud in the past about limiting North’s exposure on social media.

There’s also the possibility that Ye might be here for North West, taking advantage of her celebrity kid privileges! You’ll recall that Ms. Westie featured on her daddy’s song ‘Talking’ in April.

The 11-year-old certainly seems to be following in her father’s musical footsteps, as she revealed in March that her debut album, ‘Elementary School Dropout,’ is in the works.

Last month, she went viral after landing a leading role in a musical version of ‘The Lion King.’

RELATED: North West Will Perform In ‘The Lion King’ At The Hollywood Bowl’s Live Concert

What Do You Think Roomies?

A battle of anti-western hardliners

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei leads funeral prayer for the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other officials who died in a helicopter crash at the Tehran University campus in Tehran, Iran on May 22, 2024. 

Iranian Leader Press Office | Anadolu | Getty Images

Iran is holding snap elections on June 28 following the sudden death of former Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash. But the vote is neither free, nor likely to bring about any significant change in the country, analysts say.

The election will take place against the backdrop of a battered Iranian economy, widespread popular discontent and crackdowns on dissent. The county is also dealing with high inflation, heavy Western sanctions, mounting tensions with the U.S., ramped-up Iranian nuclear enrichment, and the Israel-Hamas war.

Iran’s ultra-conservative Guardian Council, which ultimately decides who is allowed on the ballot, has approved a list of six candidates to run for the presidency. Most are hardliners who hold staunch anti-Western positions, with one candidate representing the reformist camp. Women who had registered as candidates were all disqualified by the Council.

“Six out of 80 candidates made it past the Guardian Council’s vetting process. Of these six, five are genuine hardliners and one a token reformist,” Behnam ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told CNBC.

He described Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei⁠ as the country’s “only ‘voter’ of significance.”

He’s “looking for continuity, not change,” ben Taleblu said, adding that half of the approved candidates have been sanctioned by Western governments.

‘Relatively predictable’ outcome

For some Iran watchers, the upcoming election presented an opportunity for the country’s government to “course-correct,” or work to rebuild its relationship with much of the Iranian populace and improve its image.

“That’s especially in the aftermath of the protests, the crackdowns, and just overall increased public dissatisfaction that’s almost become a hallmark of Raisi’s time in office. The leadership here had … an option to create at least a semblance of a competitive election,” said Nader Itayim, Mideast Gulf Editor at Argus Media.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi looks on during a TV interview, in Tehran, Iran May 7, 2024. 

Iran’s Presidency | WANA | Via Reuters

But with Sunday’s announcement of the approved candidates, “those hopes were largely dashed,” he said. “In reality it’s still very much the hardliners’ to lose.”

Elected in the summer of 2021 amid the lowest voter turnout in a presidential election since the Islamic Republic was founded in 1979, Raisi was a hardline right-winger seen as a potential successor to the Islamic Republic’s aging supreme leader Khamenei.

The 63-year-old Raisi was a harsh critic of the West, cracking down heavily on the protest movement that swept the nation following the death of a young Kurdish Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, while she was in the custody of Iran’s morality police in Sept. 2022. Hundreds of people were killed during the crackdown.

Low turnout is once again expected as many Iranians plan to boycott the vote, angry with a system they see as rigged and ineffective in improving their lives amid an economic crisis.

In a statement, the Union for Secular Republic and Human Rights in Iran group called for an “active boycott” of the presidential “show election.”

Iranian administrations have often blamed the country’s hardships on the oppression of U.S.-led sanctions.

It comes after turnout for Iran’s parliamentary election in March was also the lowest for a legislative contest in the Islamic Republic’s history at 41%.

‘Leadership is not that fussed about the turnout’

While Khamenei and other leaders are urging the public to vote, demonstrating its legitimacy through turnout doesn’t appear to be as much of a concern for the Islamic Republic anymore, says Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House.

The Middle East finds itself 'stuck between Israel and Iran,' author says

“The Islamic Republic recognizes that there is a massive gap in expectations and demands between the system and its people, there is a divide on social liberalization, economic trajectory and political opportunities that the system clearly recognizes that it cannot bridge — thereby it is no longer prioritizing its traditional outlet of electoral legitimacy as it did in past election,” she said.

“The government is trying to put forward a competitive election, but has clearly curated the candidate list in favor of an array of conservatives, all to guarantee that the outcome is relatively predictable.”

Mideast Gulf’s Itayim agrees. “If the past few elections show us anything, it’s really that the leadership is not that fussed about the turnout,” he said.

“It would like higher turnout, but if it doesn’t come, no problem. Ultimately it just looks like they are comfortable enough with the way things are going, and they don’t feel any imminent threat to their hold on power from the growing dissatisfaction, protests etc.”

Iranian women cast their ballots at a polling station during elections to select members of parliament and a key clerical body, in Tehran on March 1, 2024.

ATTA KENARE | AFP

Iranians who decide to vote will go to the polls on June 28, with the possibility of a second round of polls if the result is very close.

The 2021 presidential election was seen by many in Iran as having been engineered to ensure that Raisi, Khamenei’s protégé, would win, Itayim said. And the 85-year-old supreme leader now looks more emboldened and secure than ever.

Khamenei “appears headed down this path of consolidation of power, within the hardline camps, the conservative camps, almost no matter what,” Itayim said. 

“From where I’m standing, given who is set to run this time around, the upcoming election looks set to take Iran even further down that same path.”

Sweet makers face steep cocoa costs, get artistic

Dried cocoa beans at the Somos Cacao farm and production facility in Ragonvalia, Norte de Santader department, Colombia, on Friday, March 22, 2024. 

Ferley Ospina | Bloomberg | Getty Images

There’s pricing pressure taking hold of a specific corner of global agriculture — and it’s bittersweet.

Prices of cocoa have more than tripled over the last year, creating a big headache for candy makers and other food companies that use the ingredient to make chocolate.

In recent years, the price of cocoa had hovered at around $2,500 per metric ton. But reports of a weaker-than-expected crop set off concerns about supply, sparking the commodity’s run-up in recent months. Cocoa hit an all-time high of more than $11,000 per metric ton in April. The price surge has since eased off slightly, but the crop is still commanding well above what food companies are used to paying.

For now, many of the largest candy companies — Hershey, M&M’s maker Mars, Kinder owner Ferrero and Cadbury parent Mondelez — are likely protected from higher cocoa costs, thanks to long-term contracts that lock in the prices they pay for key commodities to protect them from events just like this. That gives them some lead time to grapple with the issue. But come 2025, they’ll likely end up paying much more for their cocoa.

“This is absolutely impacting the ways in which these companies are managing their businesses, just because the cost impact is so incredibly significant,” said Steve Rosenstock, the consumer products lead at Clarkston Consulting, which advises clients on how to deal with problems such as the soaring cost of cocoa.

Mars declined to participate for this story. Mondelez, Ferrero and Hershey did not respond to CNBC’s requests for comment.

Costly cocoa

West Africa, which grows the majority of the world’s cocoa supply, has been hit by crop disease and lower prices paid to farmers at the point of sale, called farmgate pricing, that push them to grow more lucrative crops such as rubber instead of cocoa. This season’s cocoa crop is expected to experience the largest deficit in at least six decades, according to a Rabobank report from May.

Reuters reported Wednesday that Ghana, the second-largest cocoa producer, is looking to delay a delivery of up to 350,000 tons of beans to next season, sending prices higher again.

A worker picks cocoa fruit at the Somos Cacao farm in Ragonvalia, Norte de Santader department, Colombia, on Friday, March 22, 2024. 

Ferley Ospina | Bloomberg | Getty Images

On recent earnings calls, executives from Mondelez and Hershey said they believe market speculation is driving at least some of the surge in cocoa. Prices could come down in September, once more information about the new crop is available — but that doesn’t mean that they’ll return to normal.

The commodity’s climbing cost comes at a tough time for many food companies. Over the last two years, many have raised prices to deal with inflation that touched on a broader array of commodities. As a result, shoppers have become choosier about what they buy and more dissatisfied with the prices they see at grocery stores. Consumers’ focus on value leaves candy companies with little leeway when it comes to pricing to cope with cocoa’s higher cost.

And then there’s shrinkflation, a buzz word that has entered the layperson’s lexicon over the last two years. Companies will cut a product’s quantity or weight while the price stays the same.  But consumers have gotten wise to the trick. A YouGov survey conducted in October found that 72% of U.S. respondents had noticed shrinkflation in food products.

Near-term workarounds

As a result, many companies will have to become more creative. 

J&J Snack Foods CEO Daniel Fachner has been keeping an eye on cocoa and chocolate prices. The company owns brands including Dippin’ Dots, SuperPretzel and Hola Churros and manufactures products for other companies, such as Subway’s footlong churro. Chocolate is a common flavor in its portfolio, which includes treats such as a chocolate-filled churro.

“It won’t stop us from using chocolate, but it will cause us to think about and say, ‘Now, if we do this innovation with that new pricing, is it sellable?’ And then when we sell it, ‘Is it at a low enough cost that customer could sell it and still make a good margin?'” Fachner told CNBC in May.

One hypothetical solution, proposed by Fachner, could involve cutting back the number of chocolate chips from 12 to nine in a certain product. He also said J&J is looking for any possible substitutes that could work for some of its recipes.

Chocolates are displayed on a shelf at Celine’s Sweets in Novato, California, March 22, 2024.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

RBC Capital Markets analyst Nik Modi cited Hershey’s new Jumbo Reese’s Cup as one creative workaround.

“This one has extra peanut butter, so it’s a nice way of trying to get innovation into the market at a premium price, let the consumer feel like they’re getting value, but just changing the product itself to lower the reliance on chocolate,” he said.

For food companies that don’t primarily deal in chocolate, they might start avoiding the flavor, especially when it comes to new products.

“I think more or less, people will try to stay away from chocolate at this point,” Modi said.

The long tail of the cocoa crisis

While this year’s spike in cocoa prices has been historic, it likely won’t be the last time food companies find themselves paying more for the commodity. Analysts are already predicting another cocoa shortfall next year, although it would likely be less dramatic than this season’s.

However, systemic issues, such as government-controlled farmgate pricing, and climate change will likely keep hurting the beans’ crop. Plus, the use of child labor and slavery in West African cocoa farms has led to lawsuits and scandal for candy companies.

In the long term, that means many companies will have to look for more permanent solutions. In some cases, that may mean alternatives to cocoa.

“There are examples where companies are increasing the amount of non-cocoa additives, like sugar, more economical things like cocoa butter equivalents, shea butter, palm oil, coconut oil, those types of things,” Rosenstock said.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Recipe reformulation takes about nine months on average, according to a research note published Thursday from Bank of America Securities analyst Antoine Prevot. He said he thinks fast-moving consumer goods companies have been looking at changing their formulas since the beginning of this year, which means the new candy could start trickling out as soon as August.

There are more extreme substitutes, too. Startups such as Voyage Foods and Win-Win have made cocoa-free chocolate using alternatives such as grape seeds and legumes.

At least one candy company isn’t planning any major changes to its formulas.

“We will do some cost tightening, but we’re not going to change recipes or do things that are not necessarily the right thing for the business in the long run,” Mondelez CFO Luca Zaramella said June 4 at a Deutsche Bank conference.

There’s also the potential for diversification with other kinds of snacks. When Kraft spun out Mondelez more than a decade ago, it already had Triscuit, Sour Patch Kids and Wheat Thins snacks in its portfolio, in addition to chocolate products Milka, Oreo, Toblerone and Chips Ahoy.

Other candy companies have followed its lead, adding more salty snacks to their lineups to drive more growth. For example, Hershey bought Amplify Snack Brands in 2017, adding SkinnyPop to its portfolio, and Dot’s Homestyle Pretzels in 2021.

“I don’t think they did it to be less dependent on cocoa — they did it to more easily react to the ups and downs of consumer trends and to be able to really diversify their portfolio,” Rosenstock said. “But the ability to lean on some of the non-chocolate categories, whether it’s salty snacks, jelly beans or gummy products, I think that’s a good way to combat the cocoa crisis.”

Google-backed Tempus AI closes first buying and selling day up 9% in Nasdaq debut

Tempus AI, a health-care diagnostics company that uses AI to interpret medical tests to help physicians provide more accurate treatment for their patients, rose by as much as 15% in its Nasdaq Stock Market debut on Friday, after going public under the ticker symbol “TEM.”

Tempus AI priced 11.1 million shares at $37 apiece on Thursday, at the top of its initial $35 to $37 target range. The company raised $410 million at an implied valuation of just over $6 billion. Its early gains took the company to a valuation as high as $7 billion, but it closed its first day of trading up nearly 9%, for a market cap of roughly $6.65 billion.

Tempus believes that AI can help guide therapy selection and treatment decisions, in conjunction with the patient’s doctor. It generated total revenue of $531.8 million in 2023 and a net loss of $214.1 million.

“We’re on a really good trajectory,” Tempus AI CEO Eric Lefkofsky said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Friday morning before shares started trading. “As revenues have been growing quickly, we’re not investing all that gross profit dollar growth back into the business. We’re generating improved leverage every quarter,” he said, adding that he expects the company to be both cash flow and EBITDA positive within the next year.

More coverage of the 2024 CNBC Disruptor 50

Tempus AI is applying some of the most heavily-funded technology concepts — artificial intelligence and data analysis — to building a better, more informed medical profession. The lack of diagnostic testing early in the Covid-19 outbreak was an example of how a system as mature as our health-care infrastructure can still be unprepared for the future.

The Chicago-based company said in its IPO filing, “we endeavor to unlock the true power of precision medicine by creating Intelligent Diagnostics through the practical application of artificial intelligence, or AI, in healthcare. Intelligent Diagnostics use AI, including generative AI, to make laboratory tests more accurate, tailored, and personal. We make tests intelligent by connecting laboratory results to a patient’s own clinical data, thereby personalizing the results.” 

The two-time CNBC Disruptor 50 company’s at-home testing kit was quickly rolled out during the pandemic, but the problem Tempus is attacking is not Covid-specific. The Tempus idea came to Lefkofsky, also known for co-founding Groupon, during frustration with the health-care system after his wife received a breast cancer diagnosis. Oncology is a primary focus and the company’s genomic tests are designed to understand tumors at the molecular level and tailor treatment to individuals.

Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and Allen & Company were the lead underwriters for Tempus AI’s offering.

Investors include Google, Baillie Gifford, Franklin Templeton, NEA and T. Rowe Price, according to PitchBook data.

— CNBC’s Bob Pisani contributed to this reporting.

Sign up for our weekly, original newsletter that goes beyond the annual Disruptor 50 list, offering a closer look at list-making companies and their innovative founders.

GameStop annual shareholder assembly 2024 servers crash

Traders work at the post where GameStop is traded on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., June 12, 2024. 

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

GameStop’s annual shareholder meeting was disrupted by computer problems Thursday, as servers crashed under overwhelming interest in the stream, a customer service representative for the company hosting the stream told CNBC.

The meeting, slated to begin at 11 a.m. ET, was hosted on ComputerShare, but when people tried to access the event, many received error messages that the page couldn’t load, according to posts made on social media site X and CNBC’s own attempts to access the event. 

According to a YouTube stream from an unaffiliated user purporting to reproduce the feed, the annual meeting was brought to order at 11:48 a.m. ET and was “immediately adjourned … due to technical difficulties that have prevented stockholders from accessing the meeting.” GameStop said it would provide an update “as soon as possible” as to when the event would be rescheduled, according to that feed.

GameStop couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

When reached by phone, a customer service rep for ComputerShare told CNBC that it was seeing a “mass amount” of issues from people trying to access the meeting.

The rep said ComputerShare’s servers appeared to be unable to handle the amount of traffic the meeting had received and weren’t accustomed to the volume of accounts. They added that ComputerShare’s tech team was working to solve the issue and advised interested parties to attempt to log in “every 5 to 10 minutes.” 

The debacle comes amid a new meme stock craze that surged when Keith Gill — known as Roaring Kitty online — resumed posting on his social accounts after going dark for more than three years. Gill gained notoriety in the online trading realm for his big bets on the stock, spurring a frenzy among retail traders.

GameStop surged 14.4% on Thursday in another volatile session.

GameStop announced Tuesday that it raised more than $2 billion in a recent at-the-market equity sale as the video game company took advantage of the revived meme rally. GameStop said it intends to use the money for general corporate purposes, which may include acquisitions and investments.

Traders have been closely monitoring Roaring Kitty’s positioning, as his active selling could knock the price of the stock.

In late afternoon trading Wednesday, a sell-off in GameStop shares intensified suddenly just as the trading volume spiked in the call options that Roaring Kitty owns. Call options give the buyer the right to buy a stock at a specified price within a specific period. They increase in value if the stock rises above the so-called strike price.

GameStop calls with a $20 strike price and expiration on June 21 traded a whopping 93,266 contracts Wednesday, more than nine times its 30-day average volume of 10,233 contracts.

The price of these contracts dropped more than 40% during the session, while the stock plunged 16.5%.

Roaring Kitty owned 120,000 contracts of those calls, according to a screenshot he shared Monday evening.

It is unclear if it was indeed Roaring Kitty behind the large volume, but options traders said he could be involved given he is such a large holder of those contracts.

Open interest on those calls, the total number of contracts for an asset that have not been settled, has declined to 111,818 contracts as of Thursday morning, already below Roaring Kitty’s original 120,000.

More than 47,000 such contracts have changed hands Thursday.

Joe Biden Is Main The Largest US Small Enterprise Growth In 25 Years

The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that 18.1 million new business applications have been filed since Biden took office, the biggest boom in 25 years.

Read: The Republican Presumptive Nominee for President is A Convicted Felon

Small Businesses Are Booming Under Biden

The SBA announced in a press release:

Today, Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice in President Biden’s Cabinet for America’s more than 33 million small businesses, released a statement in response President Biden’s announcement that more than 18 million new business applications have been filed under the Biden-Harris administration.

…

Since the start of the Biden-Harris administration, 18.1 million new business applications have been filed, with an average of 443,000 filed each month—a rate over 90% faster than pre-pandemic averages. Having already achieved the first, second, and third strongest years of new business applications on record, President Biden’s economy remains on track for its fourth consecutive year of historic business filings. The U.S. economy has grown more under President Biden than at this point in any presidential administration in the last quarter century.

There Has Been Historic Growth In Minority-Owned Businesses

Director of the National Economic Council  Lael Brainard told PoliticusUSA during a call with reporters:

Each of the past three years, small businesses have been at the heart of the President’s economic agenda since day one. The small business boom is powering economic comeback stories in towns and cities across America, creating new job opportunities and innovation, and breathing life back into main streets.

Since the President entered office, small businesses have added an average of 650,000 new jobs to our economy each quarter. We’ve also seen a near-historic uptick in business ownership rates for minority-owned business owners. Since 2019, black business ownership has more than doubled, and Latino business ownership has increased by about 40%. Black wealth is up 60% relative to pre-pandemic levels. 

Using Government To Reflect Economic Priorities

Government is a tool, and how that tool is applied and used reflects the priorities of the people working in it. The Biden administration has made expanding economic opportunity one of its main economic goals. As evidenced by this call and many others that PoliticusUSA has participated in with administration officials, the White House is trying to get the message out about their economic accomplishments, but it is up to the free press to inform the American people about the facts.

Biden is leading a small business boom in the United States, but the American people wouldn’t know it if they only watched cable news and read large corporate news outlets.

The economy is booming in many ways, but one of the political obstacles that the President has to confront is a general misperception about his accomplishments.

A Special Message From PoliticusUSA

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We have been honored to be able to put your interests first for 14 years as we only answer to our readers and we will not compromise on that fundamental, core PoliticusUSA value.

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Trump claims credit score for Biden’s insulin value cap

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump 2024.

Kevin Lamarque | Jay Paul | Reuters

Former President Donald Trump on Saturday recognized that the price of insulin is lower under President Joe Biden, but he still wants voters to credit his own administration.

“Low INSULIN PRICING was gotten for millions of Americans by me, and the Trump Administration, not by Crooked Joe Biden. He had NOTHING to do with it,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “It was all done long before he so sadly entered office. All he does is try to take credit for things done by others, in this case, ME!”

The comment comes as Trump lags Biden on the issue of health care, a top voter priority as the November election nears.

For example, a May survey from KFF, a nonpartisan health policy research group, found Biden with an 11-point lead over Trump on the question of ensuring access to affordable health insurance.

Biden led on several other health-care-related topics in the poll, though the candidates were relatively split on addressing high health-care costs. The poll surveyed 1,479 U.S. adults from April 23 to May 1 and the margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points.

The two candidates are expected to have their first face-to-face presidential debate on June 27.

Insulin price caps have become a central piece of evidence for Biden’s broader economic argument on the campaign trail against Trump.

Under the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden issued a host of provisions aimed at bringing down the price of medicine for seniors, including capping the price of insulin at $35 per month for Medicare recipients. The president has continued to push for a more universal insulin cap that would cover younger people as well.

“Instead of paying $400 a month for insulin, seniors with diabetes only have to pay $35 a month!” Biden said at his State of the Union address in March. “And now I want to cap the cost of insulin at $35 a month for every American who needs it!”

The Democratic incumbent is trying to use lower insulin costs as proof that he has helped lower consumer costs despite the stubbornly high levels of inflation that have loomed over the U.S. economy’s post-pandemic recovery.

For Trump’s part, the former president signed an executive order in the last year of his administration to issue his own $35 price cap on insulin. Biden later paused that policy when he took office as part of a larger freeze to allow his administration to review new regulations set to go into effect.

But the memory of Trump-era health-care policies has still dimmed some voters’ views on the track record of the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. A CNBC All-America Economic survey issued in December found that Biden was ahead by 19 points against Trump on health care.

Trump unsuccessfully spent most of his presidential term trying to repeal the Obama-era Affordable Care Act without offering a viable alternative health-care option. The ACA provides roughly 45 million Americans wit health insurance, according to a March estimate from the White House.

Trump has doubled down on the promise to replace Obamacare on the 2024 campaign trail, though he has still not outlined what that replacement would look like.

“I’m not running to terminate the ACA as Crooked Joe Biden says all over the place,” Trump said in a video posted to his Truth Social account in April. “We’re going to make the ACA much better than it is right now and much less expensive for you.”