Weight problems and Alzheimer’s medicine pack one-two punch to carry Eli Lilly

Eli Lilly & Co. Mounjaro brand tirzepatide medication arranged at a pharmacy in Provo, Utah, US, on Monday, Nov. 27, 2023. 

George Frey | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Investor optimism for Eli Lilly‘s diabetes and obesity treatments in 2023 lifted the stock to its seventh annual gain in a row. In the new year, it should be the same old story.

Barbie, Oppenheimer, Taylor Swift: 2023’s most necessary movies

Movie posters for “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” are pictured outside the Cinemark Somerdale 16 and XD in Somerdale, New Jersey, in 2023.

Hannah Beier | The Washington Post | Getty Images

Call 2023 an explosive comeback at the box office.

There were blonde bombshells in “Barbie,” actual bombs in “Oppenheimer” and small-budget blockbusters — each of them aiding the theatrical industry in bolstering ticket sales and drawing relapsed customers back to the big screen.

With one week left in the year, the 2023 box office has tallied $8.8 billion in ticket sales, about 20% down from the same period in 2019 but up 21% over last year.

Much of that haul was due to Warner Bros. Discovery’s “Barbie” and Universal’s “Oppenheimer” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” Together, those three films contributed more than $1.5 billion to the domestic box office, according to data from Comscore. Globally, the films have generated more than $3.7 billion in ticket sales.

This year’s box office wasn’t just buoyed by big-budget content. Several lower-budget films sparked public interest, driving moviegoers away from their couches and toward cinemas. These films filled gaps in the calendar created by Hollywood labor strikes and challenged the status quo of how the industry operates.

There’s still room for improvement in 2024, and most industry analysts don’t expect a return to form until 2025 after months of production shutdowns.

But in the meantime, here’s a look at some of the most important theatrical releases of 2023 — and why they worked.

‘Barbenheimer’

The historic box office combination of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” dubbed “Barbenheimer” by the public, arrived at a time when even the most dependable franchise movies had failed to lure in audiences.

Their shared July 21 release date inspired double features, not direct competition. Together, the films generated $244.5 million during their first three days in theaters — $162 million for “Barbie” and $82.5 million for “Oppenheimer.” The two films accounted for nearly 80% of the total haul that weekend, which ended up being the highest grossing of the year with $311.3 million in ticket sales, Comscore reported.

What set “Barbenheimer” weekend apart was fresh storytelling, a fear of missing out on a cultural moment and a desire to experience movies on the biggest screen possible.

“Barbie” director Greta Gerwig recalled lines of audience members in New York dressed in Barbie’s signature pink to celebrate the film’s opening weekend.

“Men, women, kids — everyone dressing up in pink, and no one told them to do that. That was a spontaneous thing,” she told Variety in a taped interview published last week. “It was this overwhelming feeling of like, ‘Oh, it belongs to them. It doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to them. And they wanted to dress up.'”

A scene from “Barbie.”

Courtesy: Warner Bros.

Moviegoers who bought tickets to “Oppenheimer” donned suits and fedoras to see Christopher Nolan’s latest feature. The three-hour biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, was event cinema, boasting specialty screenings of the film in 70mm.

The meme-worthy trend of seeing both in the same day drove hundreds of thousands of people to cinemas over the opening weekend.

Domestically, “Barbie” tallied $636.2 million during its run in theaters and “Oppenheimer” snared $326 million. Globally, “Barbie” secured $1.44 billion, and “Oppenheimer” scored $952 million worldwide.

‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’

Chris Pratt and Charlie Day voice Mario and Luigi, respectively, in Universal and Illumination’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.”

Universal

The success of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which reached $574.9 million domestically, is part of an impressive streak of animated box-office hits for Universal. Last year, “Minions: The Rise of Gru” generated nearly $940 million globally and “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” snared nearly $500 million worldwide.

Meanwhile, Disney has seen its animated content lag at the box office in the wake of the pandemic. Neither Pixar nor Walt Disney Animation has seen a film top $480 million globally since 2019’s “Frozen 2.”

Some analysts have blamed the sluggish ticket sales on confusion in the marketplace over which Disney films were streaming exclusives and which had wider theatrical releases. Others said Disney has done a poor job of marketing its animated films to the public.

Meanwhile, Universal is looking to capitalize on its goodwill with parents and kids as “Migration” continues to play in theaters and ahead of the 2024 debuts of “Kung Fu Panda 4” and “Despicable Me 4.”

The Taylor Swift effect

Taylor Swift changed the music industry — and then she came for cinemas.

In October, the multi-hyphenate pop star debuted her filmed Eras Tour concert in theaters. The nearly three-hour event drove millions to theaters at a time when the actors strike forced many would-be blockbusters to flee the calendar.

The opening broke records for a theatrical concert release and became the second-highest film opening in the month of October.

In the excitement, movie theaters designed specialty popcorn buckets, crafted boutique cocktails and even set up friendship bracelet-making tables for Swift fans, recreating a staple experience of attending the live concerts.

In total, Swift’s film generated nearly $180 million domestically and nearly $250 million worldwide. That global figure is just shy of the record $262.5 million that Michael Jackson’s concert documentary “This Is It” secured back in 2009.

Taylor Swift singing at her The Eras Tour.

Buda Mendes/tas23 | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

Perhaps the most shocking part of Swift’s trip to movie theaters was her distribution partner: cinema chain AMC.

Swift bypassed Hollywood studios, many of which had tried to bid on the rights to release the film under their banner, and inked a rare deal. The singer reportedly split 57% of ticket sales with AMC, while 43% remained with theaters. Still, Swift is expected to have kept a large chunk of that share, according to industry insiders.

The deal is likely what led Beyoncé to work with AMC to distribute the documentary of her “Renaissance” album and tour.

The theater industry is no stranger to alternative content. Cinemas often show taped concerts, plays and musicals, as well as live sports from organizations such as the National Football League and Ultimate Fighting Championship. Then there are showings of classic films, anime screenings and live-broadcast Dungeons and Dragons games.

But none have ever come close to generating the fervor of Swift’s Eras Tour film.

A new Hollywood model

“Sound of Freedom” also broke the Hollywood mold this summer.

The film came from a relative Hollywood newcomer called Angel Studios, which uses a Kickstarter-style method of generating funds. In this case, the studio raised $5 million to distribute the film after 20th Century Fox, which previously held the rights to it, was bought by Disney and shelved its release. “Sound of Freedom” wrapped filming in 2018 and tells the story of Tim Ballard, a character inspired by a real-life government agent who quits his job to rescue a young girl from sex traffickers in Colombia.

The Jim Caviezel-led thriller shook up norms in an industry still trying to find its footing after Covid lockdowns. It snared more than $180 million at the domestic box office during its run, outpacing big studio films such as Warner Bros.’ “The Flash,” on a budget of just $14.5 million. It made nearly $250 million worldwide.

Part of the film’s box-office success was the result of a unique campaign by filmmakers to encourage ticket sales: Moviegoers could pay for and essentially donate tickets to be claimed online by those who may not be able to afford them. Angel Studios calls the model “pay it forward.”

The studio rose to prominence in 2019 when, under the name VidAngel, it crowdfunded and released the hit biblical series “The Chosen.” However, the July release of “Sound of Freedom” raised the studio’s profile even further.

Jim Caviezel stars in Angel Studios’ “Sound of Freedom.”

Angel Studios

“Sound of Freedom” isn’t the only Angel Studios title to exponentially overperform its budget. “His Only Son,” a biblical drama released in early 2023, cost $250,000 to make and generated $12.4 million at the box office. A crowdfunding campaign in partnership with Angel Studios raised more than $1.2 million for prints and advertising costs. The small-budget-big-returns formula is reminiscent of what Blumhouse is doing for the horror genre.

Coming in 2024 from Angel Studios is “Cabrini,” a film about the Roman Catholic missionary and future Saint Francesca Cabrini, and “Bonhoeffer,” which tells the true story of German theologian and pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who stood up to the Nazis during the Third Reich.

Universal-Blumhouse tag team

The combined efforts of horror studio Blumhouse and Universal were in full swing in 2023, starting with the January release of “M3GAN.”

With a modest budget of $12 million, not including marketing costs, the flick about a fashionable, murderous doll powered by artificial intelligence snared $180.7 million at the global box office. It’s the latest success in a string of lucrative theatrical runs for the horror genre.

While Hollywood’s big-budget blockbusters typically get the most attention, the consistently strong performance of scary movies at theaters is good news for the cinema industry.

A lifelike doll programmed to be a child’s greatest companion and a parent’s greatest ally turns murderous in Universal Studios and Blumhouse’s “M3GAN.”

Universal

The horror genre continues to be a major driver of foot traffic for cinemas, as its fans aren’t as preoccupied with the star power behind the films, but rather how scary and bloody — and fun — they are.

The tag-team of Blumhouse and Universal also released a film based on the horror video game “Five Nights at Freddy’s” in late October, just in time for Halloween.

While the film followed the same distribution path as the last two installments in the Halloween franchise and was made available on Comcast-owned streaming platform Peacock the same day it arrived in theaters, it still generated significant buzz and ticket sales.

With a budget of $20 million, not including marketing costs, “Five Nights at Freddy’s” tallied $137.2 million domestically and $289.3 million worldwide.

Both “M3GAN” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s” also had the distinct honor of becoming cultural memes. A particular dance sequence in “M3GAN” was spoofed across social media as well as on “Saturday Night Live.” Meanwhile, “Five Nights at Freddy’s” saw video and audio clips go viral on TikTok.

Blumhouse has four films slated for release in 2024 and three so far for 2025, including sequels to “M3GAN” and 2021’s breakout hit “The Black Phone.”

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.

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Cabbing in Italy could be a gnarly affair. Here is methods to navigate it

I knew something was amiss when the taxi meter read 10.50 euros as we pulled away from the Roma Termini train station.

While negotiating the evening rush hour traffic and typing into a translation app on his cell phone, the cab driver suggested the starting fare included a surcharge for all rides from Rome’s main train station.

That was at most a half-truth and all the confirmation I needed to know that I had become a statistic — one of thousands of tourists who are scammed by taxi drivers in Italy every year.

According to Rome’s tourism authority, the taxi meter should have started at 3 euros as with all rides between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. on weekdays, with one additional euro for the second piece of luggage in the trunk.

Some travel sites suggest there’s an additional 2 euro surcharge for all taxi rides from Roma Termini, although that information is not listed on official sites.

The 5 km ride from Roma Termini to my guesthouse in Trastevere came up to 24 euros — about double the amount that was suggested by a Google search and a local taxi ride hailing app that I frantically downloaded during the ride.

The worry is always about the extent of the overcharges. But what to do — especially as a helpless tourist, locked inside the back of a car in a foreign city?

Here are three things that can help on your next Italy holiday.

Download taxi apps

The strength of the taxi union and lobby in Italy has severely curtailed the growth of ride-hailing apps such as Uber. That means Uber is only available in major cities such as Rome and Milan — but even those have only a limited Uber Black fleet, which also means generally higher prices.

Before arriving in Italy, download taxi hailing apps associated with the major Italian taxi companies, such as ItTaxi, FreeNow and Free Taxi. But not all apps work in all cities, particularly the smaller ones.

Taxi drivers holding a demonstration in Piazza del Campidoglio in response to the decision made by the Mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, and the Councilor for Mobility, Eugenio Patane, to issue new taxi licenses in exchange for payment. The event took place on Nov. 9, 2023, in Rome, Italy.

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Apps allow for cashless payment, but they don’t ensure a set rate. When you book a taxi — via telephone or through an app — fares may still run by the meter, and they can start the moment drivers accept a job. Some fares reflect a range, with the high-end estimate a worst case scenario.

Despite the lack of fixed prices, it’s still prudent to download these apps since hailing a cab off the street isn’t easy.

Plus, you can only board a taxi at designated stands in cities, or if you order one over the phone or via the app.

Do your research

Learn to recognize official white cabs and the various city emblems, and where taxi drivers post their taxi licenses and vehicle registration numbers.

“Inform yourself about tariffs before paying for the service, especially for journeys between airports and the city center. Usually, these journeys have a fixed price,” said Claudia Gualdi, travel intelligence data lead at Riskline.

Taxis parked in front of the Duomo Cathedral in Milan, Italy.

Francesca Volpi | Bloomberg | Getty Images

In Rome, a cab ride to and from Fiumicino Airport from parts of the city within the Aurelian Walls — which covers the the city’s historical core and parts of Trastevere and the Vatican — should cost a flat 50 euros each way.

Base fares also vary from city to city. Meters start at 3 euros in Rome from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays, but are slightly higher (3.30 euros) in Florence.

Surcharge and progressive fare structures also vary between cities — information that is not always available in the taxi itself.

Avoid taxis unless absolutely necessary

As for me, that taxi ride from Roma Termini to my guest house turned out to be the first and last taxi ride I took during my week-long visit to Rome.

I eventually paid the dubious amount on the meter because I was exhausted. I was also relieved that the amount wasn’t higher.

The cab driver took offense at my request for a receipt and my attempts to take a photo of his taxi license and vehicle registration number.

He stopped the vehicle on a busy road, got out and opened the back door, demanding I exit the vehicle.

High-speed trains at the central railway station in Milan in July 2023.

Gabriel Bouys | AFP | Getty Images

I stepped out with all my belongings, thinking he was kicking me out of the cab. But he prevented me from opening the boot to take out my luggage, while telling me over the translation app to “calm down” and not to act rashly.

He eventually nudged me back into the cab and drove me to my intended destination across the Tiber river.

After that, I walked nearly everywhere I went in Rome — including a 45-minute walk to Vatican City. When I got tired, the city’s trams and buses were easy because you can pay for your fares using your credit card. There’s also the city’s underground metro.

The Leonardo Express train to Fiumicino Airport from Roma Termini is a convenient and affordable way to get to the airport.

I decided to take a cab only because I thought handling two pieces of luggage on the bus and tram would be a big hassle. Turns out taking the cab was perhaps worse.

1000’s of Ukrainian POWs are nonetheless lacking months after seize

KYIV, UKRAINE – 2023/12/17: A protester draped in an AZOV flag at Sophia Square to support Ukrainian prisoners of war. ‘Don’t be silent! Captivity kills!’ action is held to remind people about the Ukrainian POWs, particularly the defenders of Mariupol, who have been held captive for more than 1.5 years. According to Ukrainian authorities 4,337 Ukrainians are in Russian captivity as of November 17, 2023: of which 3,574 are servicepersons and 763 are civilians. (Photo by Aleksandr Gusev/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

“Every day, regardless of whether it is an anniversary or not, I feel pain about the captivity of my only son.”

Ukrainian mother Natalya hasn’t seen her son Dmytro, or “Dimka” as she refers to him affectionately, since the summer of 2022.

Dmytro was born into a military family and dreamed of military service from a young age. Since 2018, Dmytro had been serving in the Marine Corps in Mariupol in southern Ukraine.

When Russian forces surged into the east and south of the country during the initial invasion in February 2022, the port city was a key target for Russian forces looking to seize territory in the Donetsk region.

An intense battle for control of the city ensued with Ukrainian forces surrounded and bombarded in what became known as the “Siege of Mariupol.” The bloody siege ended in late May 2022 after several thousand Ukrainian soldiers and civilians who had been holed-up in the city’s Azovstal steelworks for months surrendered and were captured, marking a bitter defeat for Ukraine.

Russian servicemen inspect an underground tunnel under the captured Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, on June 13, 2022.

Yuri Kadobnov | AFP | Getty Images

Dmytro was injured in Mariupol when a tank he was in was struck by heavy shelling, leaving him with injuries to the head and spine. He was captured in another of the city’s major steelworks, the Illich Steel and Iron Works, during an attempt to break out of the factory following its Russian encirclement in April 2022.

Natalya told CNBC she was grateful to know her son was alive after hearing of his capture in October 2022 from a soldier who had been in the same cell as Dmytro before being released. She has not heard of or from Dmytro since, however.

“It is hardest for me on his birthday, when memories of his past happy life reappear, how he grew up, how he was brought up,” Natalya told CNBC in emailed comments.

“It hurts me very much that I am a mother and cannot bring my son home.”

Thousands of POWs

Dmytro is just one of an estimated 4,000 Ukrainians who are still being held as prisoners of war in Russian detention facilities. Around 2,000 of them are known as the “Defenders of Mariupol” in Ukraine, and are seen as heroes for their efforts and sacrifice in trying to defend the city before it fell to Russian forces.

Among those captured in Mariupol were around 700 fighters belonging to the Azov Battalion, who were a significant part of the defending forces making a final stand at the Azovstal steel works. 

They, like other captured soldiers, were taken to Russian prison camps both in occupied parts of Ukraine and in Russia itself.

People walk past and look at an exhibition in Sophia Square of photographs of Azov battalion soldiers killed at the siege of Mariupol on October 19, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Ed Ram | Getty Images

Similarly to the experience of other hostages, Dmytro was first detained in Olenivka prison in the Russian-occupied area of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine but he was later moved to a pre-trial detention facility in the Bryansk region of western Russia. He was then transferred to Tula region, south of Moscow. Since then, Natalya has not heard any word on the health or wellbeing of her son.

Many of the families of Ukrainian POWs have no idea where they are or if they are still alive after one-and-a-half years in captivity.

Iryna’s son Vladyslav was also captured in Mariupol before being taken to Russia. At age 21, he’s likely to be one of the youngest POWs in custody.

Vladyslav had dropped out of high school to join the army at 18, and had worked in air reconnaissance navigating drones before he was captured. He managed to sneak a phone into custody and was able to tell his mother what had happened to him, but they have since lost touch. There has been no new information or any communication for over a year now.

Vladyslav was in Olenivka prison for just four days before he was transferred to the town of Galich in Kostroma, Russia.

“I found out about his captivity from a phone call from my son and later his military base confirmed this fact. We started communicating with the Ukrainian authorities since the opening of the coordination headquarters for the treatment of prisoners of war on August 10, 2022,” she told CNBC.

Since his capture, Iryna has been liaising with Ukraine’s authorities regarding his welfare and efforts to include him in a future prisoner exchange. She said that while the Ukrainian government was doing everything possible to return the prisoners of war, “this is not enough.”

“We need more international publicity and support from all countries of the world in covering this topic. And a reminder that more than 4,000 Ukrainian soldiers are in captivity and waiting to return home,” she added.

Iryna and Natalya preferred to keep their surname anonymous due to safety concerns.

Prisoner exchanges stall

Successful prisoner exchanges have been held between Russia and Ukraine during the war but these have stalled of late with the last one taking place in August 2023.

Oleksandr Didur, a serviceman of the 36th Separate Naval Infantry Brigade, was among the last prisoner exchanges, having been released in a swap in July 2023. Didur had been captured in Mariupol in May 2022 after being severely injured when his unit was shelled at close quarters by a Russian tank.

Service members of the Ukrainian armed forces, who surrendered at the besieged Azovstal steel mill in Mariupol in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict, sit in a bus upon their arrival under escort of the pro-Russian military in the settlement of Olenivka in the Donetsk region, Ukraine May 20, 2022. 

Alexander Ermochenko | Reuters

Suffering numerous shrapnel wounds, Didur also lost his left eye in the attack as well as three fingers on his right hand, while his left hand was smashed by flying debris and his teeth were knocked out in the blast. Heavily-wounded, Didur was rescued by his fellow serviceman, who risked their lives to drag him from the shelled building to get him to safety.

Didur was initially treated by Ukrainian medics who presumed he would die from his injuries. Defying the odds, Didur survived but was soon captured by Russian forces, an experience he remembers little of given his injuries and pain. “It is difficult to talk about the first feelings [I had] as it was difficult for me to realize — because of my injuries — where I was and who was around me,” he told CNBC.

Didur was initially transferred to the Olenivka prison and then was moved to Horlivka, where he said there was physical and psychological abuse.

“Similarly to the others, there was physical and moral abuse. Of course there were guys who were treated even worse than me, but in principle they [the Russians] did not distinguish between the wounded and the more healthy ones,” he said.

During captivity, he said he thought about being freed every day, noting that “as a prisoner of war you wait for the exchange every day,” he said. In July 2023, that day finally came for Didur but thousands remain in captivity.

Prisoners line up alongside a road during a prisoner exchange, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, at a location given as Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, in this handout photo released on June 29, 2022. 

Ukraine’s Military Intelligence | Reuters

A commission set up by Ukraine’s Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine said in November that, according to their analysis, 4,337 people are still prisoners of war (comprised of 3,574 military personnel and 763 civilians). It noted that 1,953 had been released from Russian captivity.

The number of prisoners of war could be higher, human rights groups say, and both Russia and Ukraine are tight-lipped about the exact numbers of prisoners they hold, including those that have surrendered voluntarily.

Abuses

Both sides have also alleged that abuses have taken place in custody, ranging from degrading and humiliating treatment to torture and murder. The U.N.’s Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine expressed concern over the respective treatment of both Russian and Ukrainian POWs. In a report in October it said it had collected testimonies of survivors describing “unimaginable cruelty” in custody.

Unlike Ukraine, however, Russia has not allowed independent observers to have full access to Ukrainian POWs at detention and internment facilities.

LVIV REGION, UKRAINE – AUGUST 3: Russian POWs are seen waiting in line to call home to Russia in a prisoner of war detention camp on August 3, 2023 in the Lviv region, Ukraine. Hundreds of captured Russian POWs including conscripts, mercenaries, Wagner militia and Storm-Z Russian prisoners are being held in up to 50 sites around Ukraine. Storm-Z is a series of penal military units established by Russia since April 2023. (Photo by Paula Bronstein /Getty Images

Paula Bronstein | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Both sides have also seen the capture of prisoners as a bartering tool, with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praising any additions made to Ukraine’s “exchange fund.” He has also said previously that some prisoner exchanges take place on the battlefield, aware from public sight.

Nonetheless, regular protests have been held in Ukraine by families of prisoners of war, urging the Ukrainian government to remember their plight and to continue to work for their release. Organizations such as the “Heart of Azovstal” aim to keep the sensitive issue of prisoners of war high on the public agenda and maintain close relationships with the families of POWs, looking to support them and former prisoners of war like Oleksandr Didur.

Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that the recent slowdown in exchanges with Moscow was due to unspecified “reasons” on the Russian side, Reuters reported. Zelenskyy said he was hopeful the swaps could resume and that Kyiv was working on the exchange of “a good enough number of our boys.”

Ukraine’s human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets said in November that Russian POWs Ukraine had expressed a wish to be exchanged but commented on Telegram “no one from the Russian side wants to take them back.” Russia’s Ministry of Defense has not responded to CNBC’s request for comment.

TOPSHOT – An elderly woman walks past placards set on shop windows depicting Ukrainian servicemen during the Orthodox Christmas Eve, on January 6, 2023. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP) (Photo by SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images)

Sergei Supinsky | Afp | Getty Images

Natalya said Kyiv had to keep trying to bring her son, and others, home, saying the “government should use all means to bring back our defenders, including [the] involvement of international organizations, especially third countries, in this process.”

Didur recognized that the process was difficult. “I have experienced that if Russia does not want to give up prisoners, it is difficult to force them, but I want our government to take an active part, because there are still many of our people there, there are also seriously wounded, sick, women who urgently need help,” he said.

KYIV, UKRAINE – 2023/12/10: Families of Ukrainian prisoners of war hold placards calling for their return from Russian captivity during a peaceful rally on the Independence Square. The activity in support of the Ukrainian prisoners of war took place on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. The rally was attended by families of the Ukrainian border guards whose family members have been in Russian captivity for almost 650 days. The participants appealed to the entire civilized world not to forget about Ukrainian prisoners, and to help in their returning home from captivity. (Photo by Aleksandr Gusev/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

As the war rages on through a second winter, Natalya will see another Christmas without knowing her son’s whereabouts, or fate. Reflecting on the ongoing conflict, Natalya said “war is always grief and death.”

Iryna said she felt both hope and despair at the situation: “My son’s birthday is in January – he will be 22 years old, it will be the second birthday of my son in captivity. There is a complete absence of a festive mood, but there is hope for a New Year’s miracle,” she said.

For soldier Oleksandr Didur, the road to recover continues. He is currently in hospital awaiting further treatment of his eye and several surgeries on his remaining hand to restore its function. Didur is also looking ahead to the eventual reconstruction of Ukraine.

“I hope for a speedy end to the war and the reconstruction of our country in which I also want to participate, and for my children not to be forced to flee but to live in their free Ukraine,” he said.

This story has been updated to remove the last name of a source, who cited safety concerns.

Bristol Myers Squibb to purchase Karuna Therapeutics

Bristol Myers Squibb on Friday announced it agreed to buy biopharmaceutical company Karuna Therapeutics for $14 billion in cash, or $330 per share.

Karuna’s stock closed up more than 47% on the news Friday, hitting $317.85 a share. Bristol Myers Squibb shares closed up 2%.

The deal will help expand Bristol Myers’ drug pipeline after competition from a generic offering caused demand for the company’s blood cancer drug Revlimid to tumble in its third quarter.

The boards of directors at both Bristol Myers and Karuna unanimously approved the acquisition, and it is expected to close in the first half of 2024, according to a release.

Karuna develops medications for patients living with neurological and psychiatric conditions. The company’s lead asset is an antipsychotic called KarXT, which is expected to serve as a treatment for adults with schizophrenia beginning in late 2024, the release said.  

“There are tremendous opportunities in neuroscience, and Karuna strengthens our position and accelerates the expansion and diversification of our portfolio in the space. We expect KarXT to enhance our growth through the late 2020s and into the next decade,” Bristol Myers Squibb CEO Christopher Boerner said in a statement.

KarXT is also being evaluated as a possible treatment for Alzheimer’s disease psychosis and a form of bipolar disorder, according to the release. Karuna CEO Bill Meury said the company’s portfolio “offers advancements in treatment not seen in many years.”

“With Bristol Myers Squibb’s long-standing expertise in developing and commercializing medicines on a global scale and legacy in neuroscience, KarXT and the other assets in our pipeline will be well-positioned to reach those living with schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease psychosis,” he said in a statement. 

Citi and Gordon Dyal & Co. advised Bristol Myers on the deal, while Goldman Sachs served as the exclusive advisor for Karuna.

— CNBC’s Annika Kim Constantino contributed to this report.

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Deaths of Southern Charm Stars’ Siblings

The Southern Charm cast was rocked by, not one, but two tragic deaths in 2023. 

In January, Olivia Flowers‘ brother Conner died from an accidental overdose of fentanyl, years after being prescribed opioids to treat chronic pain stemming from his longtime battle with Lyme disease. 

Five months later, Taylor Ann Green announced her brother Worth had passed away just days after his 36th birthday. 

“Worth left this world on top of the world—he had a beautiful passion for life and cared deeply for those around him,” Taylor revealed in June. “We are going to miss his jovial personality and all of the love and laughter that he brought his family, girlfriend and countless friends. Heartbroken is an understatement, but we are finding so much peace knowing he is in the arms of our Heavenly Father. We kindly ask for privacy at this time.”

IRS unveils worker retention credit score voluntary disclosure program

IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel testifies before the House Small Business Committee on July 17, 2013.

James Lawler Duggan | Reuters

The IRS has unveiled a “voluntary disclosure program” for businesses that claimed a pandemic-era tax credit in error and want to pay the money back.

Worth thousands per employee, the employee retention tax credit, or ERC, was designed to support small businesses affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The lucrative tax break sparked a cottage industry of firms pushing employers to wrongly claim the credit. 

The IRS unveiled a “special withdrawal process” for companies with pending claims in September. The new voluntary disclosure program offers applicants the chance to repay credits received at a 20% discount to cover third-party promoter fees.  

However, it’s a “limited-time offer,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said during a press call Thursday. The deadline to apply to the voluntary disclosure program is March 22, 2024.

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“We urge employee retention credit recipients who think they were misled by promoters to review these special programs, including either the disclosure program or the withdrawal option, depending on their situation,” Werfel said.

The new program comes roughly two weeks after the IRS announced it’s sending more than 20,000 ERC rejection letters to taxpayers as part of its crackdown on “dubious” filings. 

Werfel said the IRS is sending another round of letters to companies that wrongly received the ERC and those taxpayers will not be eligible for the voluntary disclosure program.

“It’s for those that have received the claim, or received their credit, and have not yet heard from the IRS,” he said.

To qualify for the program, companies must provide the IRS with contact information for any advisors or tax preparers who assisted them with the erroneous claim, along with details about the services.  

Companies can apply for the program by filing Form 15435, which can be submitted through the IRS’ document upload tool.

Participants won’t owe interest or penalties if they repay 80% of the credit upon signing the closing agreement. However, interest and penalties will apply for repayment via installment agreements.

Don’t miss these stories from CNBC PRO:

$100 million New Jersey deli inventory fraud case responsible plea

Your Hometown Deli in Paulsboro, N.J.

Google Earth

A North Carolina ex-convict pleaded guilty to securities fraud in connection with conspiring to manipulate the stock of a company that once had a market capitalization of as high as $100 million despite owning just one, small money-losing deli in southern New Jersey.

Disgraced former stockbroker James Patten also admitted on Wednesday in Camden, New Jersey, federal court to conspiring with two other men to manipulate the share price of another related shell company, which had no tangible assets. That company’s market cap was even higher than the Hometown International deli company the men controlled.

Prosecutors said that Patten, 64, and the other two defendants conspired over eight years to increase the stock price of Hometown International and the shell company E-Waste to create a false impression of demand for the firms’ shares, and better position them as candidates for so-called reverse mergers with privately owned companies.

Courtroom sketch of James Patten, left, and attorney Ira Sorkin at N.J. District Court in Camden, N.J., Oct. 11, 2022

Source: Elizabeth Williams

The other defendants, Peter Coker Sr. and son Peter Coker Jr., remain charged in the case, in which they have pleaded not guilty.

The Cokers and Patten also are being sued over the alleged scheme by the Securities and Exchange Commission. That lawsuit in New Jersey federal court has been paused until the resolution of the criminal case.

The scheme relied on a pattern of coordinated stock trading between a relatively small number of accounts nominally held by family members, friends and associates, according to court documents.

As a result, Hometown and E-Waste’s stock prices were artificially inflated by 939% and 19,900%, respectively.

The scheme began in 2014, when Patten suggested the creation of Hometown as an umbrella corporation to a friend, a high school principal and wrestling coach named Paul Morina, to own Your Hometown Deli, which Morina and another person were discussing opening in Paulsboro at the time. Morina and the other deli owner were unaware of Patten’s scheme to manipulate Hometown’s stock, authorities have said.

Hometown Deli, Paulsboro, N.J.

Mike Calia | CNBC

Patten’s guilty plea to securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit securities fraud, could well ratchet up pressure on both Cokers to reach plea deals in the case.

Coker Sr., who lives in North Carolina, remains free on bond, while Coker Jr., a former Hong Kong resident who was arrested as a fugitive in Thailand in January, is being held without bond in a New Jersey jail.

Charges were filed against the trio in September 2022, more than a year after CNBC detailed a series of questionable connections between Hometown and E-Waste, past criminal and civil court issues of Patten and the elder Coker, and eyebrow-raising consulting deals with the companies that benefitted those two men. Your Hometown Deli closed earlier in 2022.

CNBC’s reporting was sparked by a client letter that hedge fund mamager David Einhorn sent clients in April 2021, which highlighted Hometown International’s bizarre stock price given its very meager single asset of the deli.

“The pastrami must be amazing,” Einhorn wrote in that letter.

On the heels of those articles, both Hometown International and E-Waste took the highly unusual step of disavowing their market capitalization, saying there was no basis to support their stock prices. The companies later executed reverse mergers with other firms.

Peter Coker Sr. and his wife Susan Coker at U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey, March 15, 2023.

Dan Mangan | CNBC

Patten, who lives in Winston-Salem, faces a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison and fines of $5.25 million, but he is likely to get much less than that given federal sentencing guidelines.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 23, at which point the other 10 securities fraud charges he faced with the Cokers will be dismissed.

His lawyer Ira Sorkin told CNBC, “He admitted that he had engaged in wrongdoing.”

When asked if Patten had agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in their case against the Cokers, Sorkin said, “I’m not going to get into anything.”

Sorkin, who previously represented the notorious late Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernie Madoff, said that Patten’s case was unusual only because of the media attention paid to it.

“The press has come in and said the pastrami sandwich cost $100 million,” Sorkin quipped.

The attorney said that at sentencing “you will find out” what the pastrami actually cost.

Lawyers for the Cokers have argued that no one actually lost money in the alleged scheme.

But prosecutors have pointed to the hundreds of thousands of dollars Hometown and E-Waste paid out in consulting fees, and to the funding of the companies by other individuals who are not charged.

Patten previously pleaded guilty in 2010 in New Jersey federal court to a mail fraud charge related to sending a client a false financial statement to cover up bad investments he had made using her money. He was sentenced to 27 months in prison in that earlier case.

Four years earlier, Patten was barred by FINRA, the broker-dealer regulator, from acting as a stockbroker for having failed to comply with an arbitration award of more than $753,000, for violating securities laws, unauthorized trading for churning a client’s account. Sorkin had represented him in that regulatory action.

Coker Sr. previously was sued for allegedly hiding money from creditors and alleged business-related fraud. He has denied wrongdoing in those cases.

The Trump Marketing campaign Melts Down And Blames George Soros And Joe Biden For Getting Kicked Off The Poll In Colorado

The Trump campaign reacted to being kicked off of the ballot in Colorado by claiming that the state Supreme Court is doing the bidding of George Soros and President Joe Biden.

Steven Cheung, Trump Campaign Spokesman, reacted to Trump’s Colorado disqualification:

Unsurprisingly, the all-Democrat appointed Colorado Supreme Court has ruled against President Trump, supporting a Soros-funded, left-wing group’s scheme to interfere in an election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden by removing President Trump’s name from the ballot and eliminating the rights of Colorado voters to vote for the candidate of their choice. Democrat Party leaders are in a state of paranoia over the growing, dominant lead President Trump has amassed in the polls.

They have lost faith in the failed Biden presidency and are now doing everything they can to stop the American voters from throwing them out of office next November. The Colorado Supreme Court issued a completely flawed decision tonight and we will swiftly file an appeal to the United States Supreme Court and a concurrent request for a stay of this deeply undemocratic decision. We have full confidence that the U.S. Supreme Court will quickly rule in our favor and finally put an end to these unAmerican lawsuits.

The Trump campaign’s primary tactic, when held accountable in any way for 1/6, is to blame some vast left-wing conspiracy that is out to get Donald Trump. Those 91 felony counts that Trump is facing are all part of the conspiracy. Getting kicked off the ballot in Colorado is also part of the conspiracy.

However, Democrats beat Donald Trump in 2020. Democrats have won or overperformed in every election after Donald Trump’s 2016 victory. Donald Trump is very good for Democratic election results. Democrats don’t need a conspiracy to win, because they have been beating Trump and his party like a drum for years.

Trump got disqualified in Colorado because he participated in an insurrection against the United States government.

The Trump campaign won’t admit the truth, so they melt down into a puddle of conspiracies in a bid to hide the facts.

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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

New information on Eli Lilly’s weight-loss drug exhibits its outlook is vivid

Eli Lilly’s office in La Jolla, California.

Konrad Fiedler | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The launch of Eli Lilly‘s weight-loss drug Zepbound — a key pillar of our investment thesis in the pharmaceuticals giant — is going swimmingly in the U.S., Jefferies said Friday.