Delta is giving bonuses to managers whose pay has been lower because of the pandemic

Delta Air Lines Bombardier Boeing 757-200 aircraft as they arrive on final approach to New York’s JFK John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Nicolas Economou | NurPhoto | Getty Images

Delta Air Lines, which received billions of dollars in federal aid last year, is paying managers anywhere from a few thousand dollars to more than $ 100,000 to offset wage cuts at the start of the pandemic last year.

Frontline workers such as flight attendants, pilots and others in non-managerial positions do not receive any bonuses.

Last year, Delta cut managerial salaries and cut the hours of thousands of workers by 25% to weather the pandemic’s drop in travel requirements, a policy criticized by some lawmakers. The Atlanta-based airline avoided involuntary vacations or job cuts, thanks in part to the 18,000 employees, roughly 20% of Delta’s pre-pandemic workforce, who accepted takeovers and early retirement packages last year. The airline posted a record loss of $ 12.4 billion in 2020.

“While all Delta employees were affected by the worst year in our history, after a comprehensive salary review of all levels in our organization below the executive level, we identified levels that were disproportionately affected as a result of last year’s events and created a one . ” -Time adjustment payment, “Delta said in a statement.

Delta received $ 5.6 billion in federal aid last year under a $ 25 billion program passed under the CARES Act in March that banned airlines from downsizing. The airline expects to receive $ 2.9 billion this quarter as part of an expansion of the program passed by Congress late last year, Delta said in a release last month.

Criticized the move, first reported on Sunday by the View from the Wing travel blog, the pilots union said it was against the spirit of the CARES law to support federal payroll that airlines received last year in return for that they had not involuntarily cut workers.

“While we are confident that Delta will recover quickly from the country’s pandemic, paying special bonuses to management while the airline is still burning cash is premature and inappropriate,” said Chris Riggins, spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association. in a statement. “We also believe that paying bonuses that are limited to management is inconsistent with the spirit of the CARES Act. This was an unfortunate and short-sighted decision.”

Delta says it follows provisions of the CARES Act that have limited executive compensation. Managers’ remuneration may vary based on company performance. Delta says it continued to pay rewards to Frontline and other employees for achieving operational goals, but those amounts are lower than the bonuses.

The airline and its U.S. competitors are on track to receive additional federal payroll allowances.

On Friday, the House passed a $ 1.9 billion coronavirus relief package that includes a third round of federal payroll for airlines. If the bill passes the Senate, U.S. airlines will receive $ 14 billion in exchange for paying workers through September 30th. U.S. airlines have already received $ 40 billion in payroll support for two more coronavirus relief packages.

Bye child: Catherine O’Hara on her Schitt’s Creek journey

As the show wrapped up production, O’Hara was offered a few souvenirs, including some from Moira’s wardrobe and wigs. She said she wanted to clear up the idea that she had stolen something: she was offered anything that she took home. The wigs have not yet been on display, however, which does not mean that O’Hara does not appreciate these memorabilia. In 2019, during a particularly stressful evacuation by the Getty Fire in Los Angeles, O’Hara took essential items: passports, documents, baby photos, and some of Moira’s closets.

“I kept running to it and thought, ‘No, I can’t. No, I can’t – yes!’ I took some of it, “she revealed. “We took it to a hotel – luckily we got to a hotel here – and then I realized, ‘Wait a minute, [Moira] was evacuated. The roses have been evacuated from their lives. ‘And it’s strangely appropriate, the aftermath, the show is strangely appropriate right now, because while the roses are glued together in a building, they’re learning to be family. And I think a lot of people, if they are lucky enough to have a home and be together … It’s a test for all families right now. “

Dr. Scott Gottlieb says knowledge exhibits Covid vaccines cut back transmission

Dr. Scott Gottlieb said Monday he saw promising signs that Covid vaccines, in addition to their well-documented ability to protect against serious illness, are effective in reducing the spread of the virus from person to person.

In an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner warned that while the early data looks positive, there are still some uncertainties. “I think there is a reduction in transmission. The question is, how big is that?” said Gottlieb, a member of the Pfizer board of directors.

The company’s vaccine, developed jointly with German drug maker BioNTech, is one of three vaccines that have received FDA approval for emergencies. The other two are made by Moderna and most recently Johnson & Johnson, which received limited approval from U.S. regulators on Saturday.

The FDA granted emergency approval to the trio of vaccines after individually determining that they were safe and effective in preventing recipients from developing symptomatic Covid disease, particularly severe cases and deaths. What has been less clear since the US began administering vaccines against Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna in December is specific data aimed at limiting the spread of the virus. This is one of the reasons doctors have urged even those who have been vaccinated to continue to take precautions.

For example, in its press release announcing that the vaccine had received emergency approval from J&J, the FDA stated that there was no “evidence that the vaccine could transmit SARS-CoV-2 represents person to person “.

However, Gottlieb said there was reason to be optimistic that the vaccines would do just that, even though “the final study” proves it has not yet done so. “The evidence gathered is very convincing that transmission will be reduced,” said Gottlieb, who headed the FDA in the Trump administration from 2017 to 2019.

He pointed to two studies done in Israel, one of the world’s leading countries for vaccinating its population, that suggest the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine reduces virus transmission. Gottlieb also said that J&J in his study found a 74% reduction in participants who developed asymptomatic infection. This finding from J&J, Gottlieb said, “is a pretty good indication that transmission is reduced.”

“I think most people will agree … people who are vaccinated are less likely to transmit the infection if they infect themselves,” said Gottlieb, adding he expects a more definitive answer “within the next one or two two months”.

J&J Chairman and CEO Alex Gorsky said Monday on Squawk Box that the company’s initial findings on preventing asymptomatic infection were encouraging and signaled the possibility of “heavily denting” the Covid pandemic. “But we need to collect more. We would expect to literally collect that in the coming months if we continue to track these patients in the study,” he said.

Disclosure: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC employee and a member of the boards of directors of Pfizer, genetic testing startup Tempus, healthcare technology company Aetion, and Illumina biotech. He is also co-chair of the Healthy Sail Panel for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Royal Caribbean.

Rocket Lab goes public through SPAC with neutron rocket growth

Peter Beck, CEO of Rocket Lab, stands with his company’s electron rocket.

Missile laboratory

Rocket Lab, the leader among companies that build small rockets to launch satellites, is going public through a SPAC merger that valued the company at more than $ 4 billion at the time of the deal.

The company works with Vector Acquisition, a special-purpose acquisition company. Rocket Lab will be listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker RKLB when the deal closes, which is expected in the second quarter.

“This milestone accelerates Rocket Lab’s ability to realize the full potential of space through our launch and spacecraft platforms and catalyzes our drive to create a new multi-billion dollar space application business,” said Peter Beck, CEO of Rocket Lab. in a press release.

Vector’s SPAC is currently traded under the ticker VACQ. The SPAC’s shares were up more than 20% in premarket trading from the previous closing price of $ 10.25 per share.

The SPAC deal values ​​Rocket Lab at an enterprise value of $ 4.1 billion. The company expects cash around $ 750 million after the merger is complete. That money includes up to $ 320 million from the Vector acquisition and a $ 470 million PIPE round led by Vector Capital, BlackRock and Neuberger Berman, among others.

PIPE, or private investment in public equity, enables private investors to buy public shares at below market prices. A SPAC is a special-purpose acquisition company where investors essentially give a company a blank check for the purpose of unspecified acquisitions of other companies.

Beck will continue to lead Rocket Lab as CEO. Alex Slusky, Vector Capital’s Chief Investment Officer, will join the company’s board of directors, alongside Sven Strohband from Khosla Ventures, David Cowan from Bessemer Venture Partner, Matt Ocko from DCVC and independent director Mike Griffin.

Rocket Lab’s announcement comes on the same day that satellite data company Spire Global announced that it will also merge with a SPAC to go public. Both Rocket Lab and Spire Global count Bessemer as investors, with partners Cowan and Tess Hatch being represented on the respective boards of the companies.

Unveiling of the larger neutron rocket

Rocket Lab also revealed plans for a second, larger rocket called the Neutron to lift even more payloads than the current Electron rocket. The company has so far launched 97 satellites on 18 electron missions.

The electron rockets cost about $ 7 million per launch, are about 60 feet high, and can lift up to 300 kilograms into orbit.

Neutron, which is expected to launch for the first time in 2024, will have a height of 30 meters and be able to carry up to 8,000 kilograms into low-earth orbit, the company said. Rocket Lab did not disclose how much Neutron is expected to cost per launch, and noted that the company will need to build a new launchpad at NASA’s Wallops facility in Virginia on initial launch.

Rocket Lab said Neutron will have a reusable first stage, also known as a booster, that will “land on an ocean platform”. The company also determined that Neutron will be able to take astronauts to the International Space Station, adding another role to the company’s repertoire.

Rocket Lab in pole position

Rocket Lab’s electron rocket launches on July 4, 2020.

Missile laboratory

Rocket Lab was founded by Beck in New Zealand in 2006 and is based in Long Beach, California and employs 530 people. The company is starting from a private complex on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula and has built a launchpad for electron launches at Wallops.

Rocket Lab has a strong position in the launch market alongside SpaceX. Currently, the two leading companies regularly launch privately developed rockets into orbit. However, the starting market, which is generally divided into the three sections for small, medium and heavy lifts, is growing steadily. Rocket Lab’s Electron faces increasing competition from rockets being built by Astra and Virgin Orbit, while Neutron will face the medium-lift rockets being developed by Firefly Aerospace, ABL Space, Relativity Space, and others.

Beck’s company recently tested a method of recovering its electron amplifiers – the rocket’s most expensive part – for reuse, a practice SpaceX has made routine. Unlike SpaceX, given the small size of its rockets, Rocket Lab tested a new approach: the company uses the atmosphere to slow the rocket, then parachutes and uses a helicopter to pluck the booster from the sky.

In addition to Electron, last year the company expanded its business into building spacecraft that are combined with its rockets. Rocket Lab is called Photon and is building the spaceship as a new versatile platform for companies and organizations on which technologies in space can be tested and operated.

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By refusing to lift the minimal wage, Republicans are defrauding taxpayers and selling poverty

Last November, the bipartisan Government Accountability Office released a report confirming what was already well known: The American taxpayer is effectively paying the bill for the work that enables many of the country’s largest corporations to generate billions in profits.

Workers in many of America’s richest companies, including Walmart and McDonald’s, are among the primary beneficiaries of federal aid programs like Medicaid and grocery stamps.

In fact, it means that American taxpayers need to supplement so that workers in these companies can feed themselves – enough to eat, have access to medical care to keep themselves physically and mentally functional, to meet their basic needs in order to survive to stay The inadequate wages these companies pay while their profits rise and economic inequality in the US continues to worsen dramatically.

Yet Republicans would lead us to believe that raising the minimum wage will damage the economy by placing undue burden on companies like Walmart, McDonald’s, Kroger, Amazon, and Dollar General – some of the worst offenders when it comes to American taxpayers relieve their employees’ ability to subsidize their lives and work – somehow it is perfectly affordable for the average American to take the bill for these companies and their shareholders, but not receive any part of their profits.

Indeed, it is clear that the Republican opposition to raising the minimum wage to livable standards is part of their long-standing overall strategy to continue to transfer the nation’s wealth to the richest among us and to attack American workers.

Republicans cheat American taxpayers and workers.

And let’s be clear that the lion’s share of federal aid recipients – 70% of the 21 million – work full-time.

The party of so-called personal responsibility means that quite literally. People have to be responsible for themselves, but companies don’t seem to be.

And to be fair, we should acknowledge that part of the Republican opposition to the minimum wage increase is that it would really hurt small businesses.

In many ways this argument, which is a projection rather than a topicality, is refuted by empirical reality. Since 2009, 24 states and the District of Columbia have adopted minimum wage increases, and fears that the prospect of significant job losses is likely to be unfounded have proven unfounded. In some cases, jobs have actually been created because rising wages stimulate the economy; and where there was job loss, it was minimal.

And if they’re that concerned about small businesses, Republicans could suggest what they did in 2007, when the minimum wage was last raised: add small business tax credits.

But even this discussion doesn’t really get to the heart of the matter.

Instead, we need to look at what is really being said when it is argued that legislation that workers earn a living wage would harm small businesses and, consequently, the economy.

Is this really an economy that we want to support? One that depends on people who live in poverty?

Should we really be looking at a successful company whose survival depends on workers living in poverty?

Republicans really say that.

It’s like they’re saying, “Well, we’re going to really hurt these little plantations if we take slave labor away from them.”

Of course, that’s not that far-fetched. Let’s not forget that Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton’s legislative efforts to ban the New York Times 1619 Project from teaching in schools were based on his worldview that the series basically gave slavery a bad name and need a brutal enslavement of people unrecognized to build the richest economy in the world.

This thinking, as I have pointed out elsewhere on the PoliticusUsa pages assessing Cotton’s perspective, is only wrong if one believes we have to choose between a humane and a prosperous economy. History shows that a humane economy is indeed the most efficient and productive economy.

And this historical truth also applies to the increase in the minimum wage.

For example, a study by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute shows how raising the minimum wage would significantly improve the Illinois economy. The study went on to say, “By raising the minimum wage, Illinois can increase workers’ incomes, reduce income inequality, increase consumer spending, boost the economy, generate tax revenue, and reduce tax costs on government aid programs.”

In short, raising the minimum wage to $ 15 would save taxpayers money by reducing the need for public support for the working poor ($ 87 million in food stamp spending, according to the study alone) and revenue for the state increase income and sales taxes ($ 380 million in new state tax revenue, according to study) and $ 19 billion in total economic activity.

With such a scenario, the state could actually cut taxes, put money in the pockets of working taxpayers and still increase state revenues.

While Republicans like to falsely claim that tax cuts for the rich will be amortized by increased economic activity, in fact, if the minimum wage is increased, they will.

From a cultural point of view, doesn’t capitalism pretend to want self-sufficient people and to reduce the scope of the welfare state?

What we see here is that the alignment of resources through public policy, not as with Trump’s tax cuts on the rich, but on workers, is more than likely contributing more to the health of the economy and society as a whole.

Of course, Republicans don’t really want that. Despite their efforts to present themselves as a party of the working class, their real agenda is simply to make the rich richer and the rest of us as poor as possible.

Tim Libretti is a professor of American literature and culture at a Chicago state university. A longtime progressive voice, he has published numerous academic and journalistic articles on culture, class, race, gender, and politics, for which he has received awards from the Working Class Studies Association, the International Labor Communications Association, and the National Federation of Press Women and the Illinois Woman’s Press Association.

China’s R&D spending hits a report $ 378 billion

Workers at Foxconn’s Shenzhen, China factory.

AFP | Getty Images

China’s research and development spending rose 10.3% to 2.44 trillion Chinese yuan ($ 378 billion) in 2020, according to the country’s National Bureau of Statistics.

The office said in a press release on Sunday that R&D spending aimed at developing new services or products represents 2.4% of China’s gross domestic product.

It’s a new record for China, but it’s also the slowest incremental growth in five years, down 12.5% ​​in 2019.

The bureau said that by the end of 2020, China had 522 “national key laboratories” and 350 “national technical research centers” in operation.

It added that around 457,000 projects were funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and 3.6 million patents were granted last year, up from 40% in 2019.

In contrast, the U.S. planned to spend around $ 134 billion on research and development in 2020, according to a report by the Federation of American Scientists last March. Official figures on R&D spending are yet to be released by the US

The UK, home to far fewer people, spent £ 11.4 billion (US $ 15.9 billion) on research and development in 2020 but plans to more than £ 22 billion by 2024 or 2025 double.

Tech sovereignty boost

Washington has introduced several policies in recent years designed to curb China’s rapid growth.

It blacklisted dozens of Chinese companies and last year blocked global shipments of chips to blacklisted telecommunications equipment giant Huawei, citing national security concerns. Huawei has repeatedly denied that its equipment contains backdoors that the Chinese government can use for espionage purposes.

As the world’s supply chains have become more unstable, China and other nations have taken steps to strengthen their “technology sovereignty” and rely more heavily on critical core technologies like 5G and semiconductor chips.

“Growing geopolitical uncertainties and the risk of global trade conflicts call into question the optimism of the past decades with regard to the interdependence of our economies,” said the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research in a report last July.

China’s National People’s Congress is set to announce more new measures this week that will further advance China’s ability to innovate on its own.

Black Excellence was seen on the Golden Globes – when Chadwick Boseman, Daniel Kaluuya, Andra took dwelling Day & Extra Awards!

Chadwick Boseman, Daniel Kaluuya and Andra Day Golden Globes

Roommates, awards ceremonies generally don’t have the best reputation when it comes to awarding Black Excellence – but this year’s Golden Globes were a little different. Actors like the late Chadwick Boseman, Daniel Kaluuya and newcomer Andra Day took home the coveted award for their outstanding achievements this year.

Chadwick Boseman went to the 2021 Golden Globes and was the favorite to be named best actor in a drama – and he did just that. The late actor, who tragically died last year after a secret battle with colon cancer, won for his incredible performance in the Netflix musical “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” alongside Viola Davis. His wife Taylor Simone Ledward gave an emotional acceptance speech full of tears as she thanked his co-stars, mentors, fans and celebrity friends.

Daniel Kaluuya also took home a Golden Globe statue for his appearance in the recently released Judas and the Black Messiah, which was the very first award of the night. For his portrayal as Black Panther Fred Hampton in the biographical film, he won best supporting actor in a drama.

The night’s most surprising win, however, was singer (and now actress) Andra Day, who won over Viola Davis for her dazzling performance as the legendary Billie Holiday in the Lee Daniels film “United States vs. Billie Holiday”. This is Andra’s very first film role and now her very first big prize win.

In addition, John Boyega won Best Supporting Actor in a TV Series for the Amazon show “Small Ax” and the Disney Pixar animated film “Soul” starring Jamie Foxx for Best Animated Film.

Congratulations to all of the 2021 Golden Globe winners!

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GM’s EV plans are taking form with new, cheaper Chevy Bolts

2022 BOLTS EUV

Source: Chevrolet

DETROIT – General Motors’ linchpin is to become a pure electric vehicle company by 2035 The automaker is taking shape as it prepares to launch two Chevrolet Bolt models this summer before launching a $ 113,000 GMC Hummer EV pickup later in the year.

The all-electric studs – a redesigned hatchback and a new crossover – will both start at under $ 34,000. They are the beginning of what GM hopes to be a full line of “affordable” EVs at some point as the company builds economies of scale to bring down the cost of its next-generation EVs like the Hummer with new battery systems and platforms.

“When you look at what the GMC Hummer EV is and what the Bolt EVs can represent in the body,” said Jesse Ortega, GM’s chief engineer of battery electric vehicle architectures, during a press conference. “That really gives us the solid bookends of what we can do.”

It’s a two-pronged approach to targeting the mainstream and luxury markets. The price difference between these “bookends” is largely due to the battery technologies in the vehicles. The Bolt models are on the automaker’s current EV platform and feature batteries that offer less range than GM’s next-generation Ultium platform and batteries featured on the Hummer EV.

All three vehicles are part of the automaker’s plan to bring 30 new or redesigned electric vehicles to market by 2025 as part of a $ 27 billion investment plan for electric and autonomous vehicles.

“You can see the intended strategy that we have here,” said Tony Johnson, director of Chevrolet marketing. “The goal of these two offerings is really to get the main drag and take electric vehicle adoption across the board. Obviously, the other brands within the company each have their own roles to fill our journey here.”

GM currently has no plans to move the bolts to the next-generation platform, Ortega said.

Profitable electric vehicles

GM CEO Mary Barra and President Mark Reuss have stated that unlike the Bolt EV, the company’s next generation vehicles will be profitable. Johnson and other GM officials declined to comment on whether the Bolt models, which hit the market later this year, will be profitable.

After four years in the market, the GM engineering team “got phenomenal quality of work, driving consistency and cost out of the system,” said Johnson. He said the advances had led the company to lower the price of the stud.

The new 2022 Bolt commercial vehicle starts at $ 33,995. This is comparable to the Bolt EV, which will start at $ 31,995 – more than $ 5,000 less than the 2021 model.

Profitable or not, the vehicles offer GM an EV that is below the price of other competitors, like the Ford Mustang Mach-E crossover at $ 43,000 (before a tax credit of up to $ 7,500, the GM and Tesla – buyers can no longer receive) and Tesla Model 3, which starts at around $ 37,000.

The Bolt EV has a range of 259 miles when fully charged, while the Bolt EUV has a range of 250 miles. This is comparable to GM vehicles with Ultium technology, which are expected to reach up to 450 miles per charge.

GMs added additional technology to the Bolt models to make them more competitive. In particular, the Bolt EUV will be the first from Chevrolet to be equipped with GM’s Super Cruise semi-autonomous motorway driving system, which uses facial recognition to determine whether the driver is paying attention so that he or she does not have to touch the steering wheel while the system is in operation.

“Alone”

Offering the cheaper vehicles is part of the company’s new “Everyone In” marketing campaign, which focuses on increasing adoption of electric vehicles. In doing so, the company hopes to attract new buyers to the segment and retain them for years to come. That includes potentially swapping a cheaper vehicle for a next-generation electric vehicle when costs drop.

2022 BOLTS EUV

Source: Chevrolet

“Our vision is to want customers for life,” said Ortega. “As their needs grow and their lifestyle changes, we want to offer them an electric vehicle.”

One of the focal points for this cost reduction is likely to be GM, which manufactures its own battery cells as part of a joint venture with LG Chem in Ohio. The $ 2.3 billion facility is currently under construction. Completion is expected in 2022.

Good Meat sells laboratory-raised rooster in a world first

You would know a chicken nugget if you saw one, right? How about one who grew out of a single cell and didn’t injure any animals in the process?

Josh Tetrick doesn’t bet.

He’s trying to win over consumers with his lab-grown chicken bite after his company’s first ever approval of his company’s cultured chicken was granted in Singapore in late 2020.

“We have the freedom to sell across Singapore, whether it’s retail, hospitality or street vendors,” Tetrick told CNBC Make It.

Starting with an egg

Tetrick is the founder and CEO of Eat Just, the Californian food start-up responsible for bringing the world’s first laboratory-raised chicken to the table.

The landmark approval for human consumption could potentially disrupt industrial animal farms. But when Tetrick started in 2011, that idea was a pipe dream.

The idea was … to start a food company that would take the animal, the living animal, out of the equation of the food system.

Josh Tetrick

Founder and CEO of Eat Just

“I had less than $ 3,000 in my bank account and the idea was, we’re going to start a food company that will take the animal, the live animal, out of the equation of the food system,” he said.

Tetrick, who started his career with nonprofits in sub-Saharan Africa, wanted to fix what he saw as one of the world’s biggest problems: food sustainability.

And for him the egg came first.

“We decided we could find a way to turn a plant into an egg, a hen’s egg,” he said. “All I knew then was that there were 375,000 species of plants in the world, and I bet one of them could crawl like an egg.”

Winning investor support

Investors liked his vision. Shortly after it was founded, billionaire Vinod Khosla and his business partner Samir Kaul were on board and invested $ 500,000 in the idea.

“That was enough to get me off the couch,” said Tetrick. “I’ve started hiring food scientists, biochemists, molecular biologists, analytical chemists, and chefs.”

JUST Egg, a plant-based egg substitute from the Californian food company Eat Just.

Just eat

Years later, the team experimented with mung beans – a protein-rich legume that is widely used in Asian cuisine. And in 2018 Eat Just’s first product, Just Egg, was born.

To date, the company has sold the equivalent of 100 million eggs made from plants at large retailers like Walmart, Whole Food Markets, and Alibaba.

But the egg was just the beginning.

What we wanted to do next was real chicken and beef but not from plants.

Josh Tetrick

Founder and CEO of Eat Just

“What we wanted to do next was real chicken and beef, but not from plants,” said Tetrick.

“Real chicken and real beef that didn’t require an animal to be killed, that didn’t require a single drop of antibiotics. And that’s, by and large, a process known as cellular agriculture.”

How to make cultured meat

The process of making cultured meat begins with a cell. In this case from a chicken.

It can be taken from either a live bird through a biopsy, a fresh piece of meat, a cell bank, or the root of a feather. This cell is then fed nutrients such as those found in soy and corn before they are allowed to mature in a large steel jar.

Cultured meat is made by extracting a single cell from an animal, either through a biopsy, cell bank, piece of meat, or a feather.

CNBC

The process takes about 14 days from start to finish, and the end product is raw ground beef.

Making the cell cultured meat product was the easy part. The harder part was obtaining regulatory approvals, which took two years.

Towards the end of 2020, Singapore became the first country to approve Eat Just’s flagship chicken nuggets for sale nationwide under the Good Meat brand.

The chicken nugget is available now at the 1880 restaurant in Singapore and costs around $ 17 for a set meal. More restaurants in the city-state are expected to come on board in the coming months.

Singapore takes the world’s first bite

Eat Just’s Asia-Pacific headquarters and its first factory in Asia are located in Singapore. The company is also considering making Singapore its global manufacturing base for Good Meat.

While the island nation – which is slightly smaller than New York City – seems like an unlikely location for a global meat production facility, Aileen Supriyadi, senior research analyst at Euromonitor International, said several factors play a role.

As a hub in Asia, Singapore is actually helping these companies export to other countries.

Aileen Supriyadi

Senior Research Analyst at Euromonitor International

“Singapore has the 30 by 30 initiative, so the country wants to have 30% of its food produced locally (by 2030),” she told CNBC Make It.

“Singapore can also use the scientific findings, especially stem cell research. And Singapore, as a hub in Asia, actually helps these companies to export and sell their products to other countries.”

Revolutionizing animal husbandry

Chickens stored indoors in a meat production facility

WOJTEK RADWANSKI | AFP | Getty Images

Meanwhile, an estimated 50 billion chickens are slaughtered for food each year. Broader agriculture is responsible for 10 to 12% of greenhouse gas emissions – a major contributor to climate change.

However, not everyone is behind the cultivated mania for meat. Some are still skeptical of its nutritional value and suitability for human consumption, while the environmental and social effects remain to be seen.

However, Tetrick claims the process is cleaner and more ethical than traditional farming.

Industrialized animal production is probably the strangest and most bizarre thing that happens. They are just not aware of it.

Josh Tetrick

Founder and CEO of Eat Just

Then there are those who just find the concept strange.

“I tell them that industrialized livestock production is probably the strangest and bizarre occurrence. They just don’t realize it. If there is a way we can do better, let’s strive for it,” Tetrick said.

Growing appetite for alternatives

Indeed, the demand for alternative meat products such as cultured or vegetable meat appears to be growing.

One report estimated that the alternative meat market could be worth $ 140 billion, or 10% of the world’s meat industry, within a decade.

The alternative meat industry is expected to be worth $ 140 billion by 2029.

CNBC

“It’s actually pretty big in the Asia-Pacific region,” Supriyadi said of alternative meat. “In 2020 the market size itself has reached about $ 800 million. Potentially with a lower price and higher knowledge, consumers will be more interested in buying alternative meat products. “

Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods are among the names that are making waves in the vegetable meat space, while brands like Memphis Meats use cultural products. Tetrick said he welcomed the competition.

“I want companies to help solve the problem,” he said. “I hope someone … decides I can do better than this guy who had no experience with food technology before he started.”

Preparation for globalization

Disruption of the dominance of the established animal husbandry industry, however, will not happen overnight.

“The limiting steps to ultimately making this ubiquitous are regulatory approval, scope and consumer education,” noted Tetrick. “We can’t just focus on one, we have to focus on all three.”

At some point we will decide to go public. This will not happen without a lot of capital, there is no getting around it.

Josh Tetrick

Founder and CEO of Eat Just

Eat Just has raised over $ 400 million from investors, including Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, Bill Gates’ Gate Ventures, and Singapore-based Temasek, according to Tetrick. The company is now aiming for $ 2 billion in funding.

“We will continue to raise more capital,” he said. “At some point we will decide to go public – we want to achieve operational profitability first. This will not be done without a lot of capital, there is no getting around it.”

However, with Eat Just seeking regulatory approval in more countries, Tetrick is sure the bet will pay off.

“You have to take a leap of faith every day, right?” he said. “We pretend the US will approve it at some point. We pretend Europe will approve it at some point.”

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Diagrams present how vaccines work

Pharmacist Murtaza Abdulkarim (L) administers a dose of the AstraZeneca / Oxford Covid-19 vaccine to a patient at the Al-Abbas Islamic Center in Birmingham, West Midlands on February 4, 2021 at a temporary vaccination center manned by pharmacists and pharmacist assistants.

Oli Scarff | AFP | Getty Images

LONDON – The first real data from the UK vaccination program has given some insight into the effectiveness of vaccines against Covid-19.

Developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, the vaccine was the first vaccine to be approved and launched in the UK in December. Those over 80, health workers and nursing home staff were the first to be vaccinated. This was soon followed by the shot developed by the Briton AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.

Here are five charts summarizing how effective these vaccines are and how they are doing their part in fighting the pandemic:

Falling deaths in those over 85

Since older people were the first to be vaccinated, it is noticeable that deaths from Covid are falling the fastest in these age groups. The graph below shows deaths from Covid in Scotland, with a decline in the over-85 group as the vaccination program gained momentum. Click here for the full details.

An increase in antibodies

A blood test published last week by Imperial College London found that nearly 14% of the UK population now have antibodies to the coronavirus. While this does not necessarily mean immunity, the results of the people vaccinated and the level of their antibody levels were interesting. 18,000 participants in the 155,000-person study were vaccinated and the results are shown in the table below. Click here for the full details.

A separate study in England found that the highest percentage of people who tested positive for antibodies was aged 80 and over, at 41%, which, according to statisticians, “is most likely due to the high vaccination rate in this group”.

The real effectiveness of the Pfizer shot

Public Health England has done a thorough study of how effective the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine has been in protecting against symptomatic disease. The table below shows that a dose is 57% effective against symptomatic Covid-19 disease in people over 80 years of age (from 28 days after the first dose).

The effectiveness of the vaccine is calculated using a mathematical statistic called the odds ratio. Click here for full data and methods.

… and the AstraZeneca vaccine

Public Health Scotland also collected data on the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine for all ages. The graph shows that the Pfizer BioNTech and Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines reduce the risk of Covid-19 hospitalization by up to 85% and 94%, respectively, in the fourth week after receiving a first dose. Click here for the dates and the full methodology.

Since the start of the vaccination rollout, the UK has targeted all four key priority groups. The goal is now to vaccinate all over 50s by mid-April and all adults by the end of July, two months ahead of an earlier goal.

As of Sunday, over 20 million people had received their first vaccine dose and nearly 800,000 had received both doses, government data said.

The UK vaccination program was widely hailed as a triumph amid tragedy. The UK has the fifth highest number of infections in the world after the US, India, Brazil and Russia with over 4.1 million registered infections and 123,083 deaths. This is the fifth highest number of deaths in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University.

—CNBC’s Bryn Bache contributed to this article.