Business
Delta and United call on Congress to immediately end government shutdown, pay air traffic controllers
A Delta Airlines plane takes off near the air traffic control tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in Arlington, Virginia, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025.
Samuel Corum | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Delta Air Lines and United Airlines called on Congress Thursday to reopen the U.S. government and pay air traffic controllers, with Delta urging senators to “immediately pass a clean continuing resolution.”
U.S. air traffic controllers missed their first full paychecks on Tuesday as the government shutdown drags on through a fourth week with no end in sight while Republican and Democratic senators remain at an impasse.
“Missed paychecks only increases the stress on these essential workers, many of whom are already working mandatory overtime to keep our skies safe and secure,” Delta said in a statement Thursday.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian had warned earlier this month that the airline could see impacts from a prolonged shutdown.
Vice President JD Vance and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy hosted a roundtable at the White House Thursday afternoon with the lobby group Airlines for America, whose members include Delta, United, American Airlines and others.
United CEO Scott Kirby told reporters outside the White House that Congress should pass a clean continuing resolution, adding that the shutdown is putting stress on the economy.
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby, joined by U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, speaks to reporters outside the White House on Oct. 30, 2025 in Washington, D.C.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration officers are essential employees who are required to work through the shutdown even though they are not receiving regular paychecks.
The missed paychecks come as controllers grapple with a longstanding staffing shortage. There are 3,800 fewer fully certified controllers than the FAA’s target, according to Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.
“These additional distractions will compound the existing risks in an already strained system,” Daniels said in an opinion piece in The Hill on Tuesday.
“Every day the shutdown continues, the National Airspace System becomes less safe than it was the day before, as the controllers’ focus shifts from their critical safety tasks to their financial uncertainty,” he said.
The shutdown began on Oct. 1 after Senate Republicans and Democrats failed to reach an agreement to keep the government open.
Democratic senators are insisting that Republicans agree to extend enhanced Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies before they will vote for funding to reopen the government.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated Wednesday that a four-week shutdown would cost the economy at least $7 billion by the end of 2026. A six-week shutdown would cost the economy $11 billion, and an eight-week shutdown would cost $14 billion, according to CBO estimates.
Flights have been delayed at several U.S. airports over the past month but the severe disruptions that preceded the end of the longest-ever shutdown, between late 2018 and early 2019, have not occurred.
— CNBC’s Leslie Josephs contributed to this report.
Brian Roberts, chairman and CEO of Comcast, attends the annual Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, July 9, 2025.
David A. Grogan | CNBC
Comcast clued investors in to its potential M&A aspirations on Thursday. In short, executives think a deal could get done, despite recent naysaying.
Comcast is among the interested parties in a potential deal for Warner Bros. Discovery. WBD — the owner of TNT Sports, CNN, HBO, Warner Bros. studio and other media assets — officially put itself up for sale after “receiving interest from multiple parties,” WBD CEO David Zaslav said in a statement last week.
Several pundits and analysts have posited that Comcast has little to no chance to do a deal from a regulatory perspective, given President Donald Trump’s pointed words for Comcast CEO and controlling shareholder Brian Roberts. Others say the path forward may not be doomed.
On Thursday, alongside the company’s third-quarter earnings report, soon-to-be co-CEO Mike Cavanagh shed some light on how executives view the situation, without specifically naming Warner Bros. Discovery as a potential tie-up.
“I think more things are viable than maybe some of the public commentary that’s out there,” Cavanagh said Thursday.
Trump in April called Comcast and Roberts “a disgrace to the integrity of Broadcasting” in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social. Trump has also called Roberts a “lowlife” and has referred to Comcast as “Concast.”
Some equity research analysts have predicted that the Trump administration would block a Comcast acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. WBD is still moving toward a planned separation into two publicly traded entities while it expands its strategic review.
Paramount is trying to buy the whole company, before it could split, and WBD has thus far rejected three separate offers from the David Ellison-run company.
“It is almost certain that the Trump DOJ would not allow CMSCA to buy WBD and the result would be decided in court,” New Street Research analyst Blair Levin wrote in a note to clients, citing Trump’s public comments about Roberts.
“We along with our cable colleagues believe [Comcast’s] political standing in this administration is very low and believe CMCSA would think long and hard about whether a deal is worth the long, arduous process of creating enough goodwill to close the deal,” wrote Raymond James analyst Ric Prentiss.
Structuring a spin-merge
Cavanagh reminded investors Thursday that just because the company takes a look at assets that are up for sale in the media industry, it doesn’t necessarily mean a deal, or even an offer, could materialize.
“I think we’ve said repeatedly, and I’ll say it again, that the bar is very high for us to pursue any M&A transactions, given how strongly we feel about the businesses we have, the strategies we’re pursuing and the opportunities we have ahead of us,” Cavanagh told investors.
Comcast’s NBCUniversal is in the process of spinning off its portfolio of cable networks, including CNBC, into a new entity called Versant.
Assuming an offer for WBD or other media assets were to come together, it would have to make strategic sense for the future NBCUniversal, which will be led by the broadcast TV network NBC and streaming service Peacock.
Many of NBCUniversal’s moves to date have been to boost Peacock’s place in the streaming ecosystem. The company reported Thursday that Peacock had 41 million customers as of the end of last month, a subscriber base that has remained flat throughout the year.
Cavanagh noted the company would be looking for media assets that complement its post-spin NBCUniversal business.
“So in this case, it would be streaming assets and studio assets, since there are no other parks assets out there,” he said.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s planned split would separate out exactly those businesses: streaming and studios in one company, which would also house streamer HBO Max, and its global networks into another.
While Paramount’s interest is in the entirety of Warner Bros. Discovery, negating a split, other prospective bidders have considered acquiring just some of the assets, CNBC has reported.
Cavanagh said, “In light of that, what we’d be looking for and what we’re going to look like post-Versant spin,” a deal isn’t as far-fetched as some view it.
In a hypothetical situation in which Comcast were to also spin off NBCUniversal, which is currently slated to remain with the company following the Versant transaction, and merge it with WBD, LightShed analyst Rich Greenfield predicted that deal could get through regulators.
Wolfe Research’s Peter Supino proposed a plan under which NBCUniversal would issue new stock to WBD at an exchange ratio, eliminating Roberts’ voting control over the new company, and appoint a chairman and CEO “not named Roberts.” That combination could lead to a deal, he wrote in a note to clients.
“The primary problems facing a Comcast bid — financing and politics — might be solvable,” Supino wrote.
While Comcast may shy away from pursuing a transaction that could be blocked by the Trump DOJ, even that may not be a dealbreaker.
In the first Trump term, his DOJ blocked AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner, an earlier iteration of Warner Bros. Discovery. In June 2018, a U.S. District Court judge approved the $85.4 billion sale, ruling the government failed to prove the deal would harm consumers.
If it pleases the president
Some Comcast executives think the regulatory concerns are either overblown or, at least, far too early to ascertain, according to people familiar with the matter, who have knowledge of Comcast’s strategy but spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal thinking. There’s some evidence suggesting Comcast’s executives may have a point.
A Comcast spokesperson declined to comment for this article.
Skydance Media received long-awaited Federal Communications Commission approval for its merger with Paramount after the CBS parent agreed to a $16 million settlement with Trump over a “60 Minutes” episode.
While a deal for WBD won’t require FCC review, because Warner Bros. Discovery doesn’t own a broadcaster, a takeover of this size — WBD’s market capitalization is about $53 billion plus another $30 billion in debt — could still draw the scrutiny of Trump’s Department of Justice.
Trump’s reputation as a dealmaker suggests Comcast may be able to avoid any interference by endearing itself to the president.
Comcast is one of 37 companies donating to Trump’s efforts to build a $300 million ballroom for the White House through the Trust for the National Mall.
Trump’s public dislike toward Roberts and Comcast may be bloviation linked to Trump’s assertions that MSNBC, currently owned by NBCUniversal, is left-leaning. It’s unclear if Trump explicitly cares about Comcast or NBCUniversal owning any of the WBD assets other than CNN, which Trump has also routinely criticized.
If his primary issue with Comcast buying WBD is CNN, a divestiture or deal without the network could circumvent those issues. MSNBC will also be spun out into the Versant portfolio.
While Roberts will still be a shareholder of Versant, MSNBC will no longer be a part of Comcast once Versant becomes its own publicly traded company at the start of 2026.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC upon Comcast’s planned spinoff of Versant.
MUMBAI: The Rs 6,632-crore initial public offering for Billionbrains Garage Ventures that runs the digital financial services company Groww, is set to open on November 4 and close on November 7. At the upper end of the Rs 95-100 price band for the IPO, the company is valued at nearly Rs 62,000 crore. The shares are to be listed on NSE and BSE around November 12.Of the total offer size, Rs 1,060 crore will accrue to Groww while a bunch of existing shareholders, mostly private equity players, would get Rs 5,572 crore in total by offloading part of their stakes.Established in 2017, the Bengaluru-based fintech company offers a host of financial and investment products such as stocks, derivatives, mutual funds, IPOs, bonds to retail investors through its digital platform. The company’s aim is to offer all types of financial and investment solutions to its customers.
The FTSE 100 extended its winning run to nine, recouping early hefty falls, despite fresh problems for advertising group WPP.
The FTSE 100 index closed up just 3.92 points at 9,760.06, another record close.
The FTSE 250 ended down 171.99 points, 0.8%, at 22,276.28, and the AIM All-Share closed down 3.09 points, 0.4%, at 769.80.
WPP plunged 17% as it warned performance in the year-to-date was at the “low-end of expectations” as it cut the company’s outlook.
The London-based advertising agency firm said revenue in the third quarter fell 8.4% to £3.26 billion, and was down 3.5% on a like-for-like basis.
Revenue less pass-through costs slumped 11% to £2.46 billion, falling 5.9% like-for-like.
New chief executive Cindy Rose acknowledged that recent performance was “unacceptable” and pledged to take action to address this.
“There is a lot to do,” Ms Rose said, adding, “we are optimistic, energised and confident that we’re building the right plan”.
It is the latest in a series of troubled days for WPP investors with shares down 63% in the last 12 months.
In European equities on Thursday, the CAC 40 in Paris closed down 0.5%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt ended little changed.
Stocks in New York were mixed with a 9.7% fall in Meta Platforms weighing on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.5%, the S&P 500 index was 0.3% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.8%.
Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, forecast increased investment and higher operating costs ahead after a third quarter distorted by a hefty tax provision.
Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg told investors he feels the right strategy is to “aggressively front-load building capacity”.
Investors also weighed hawkish comments from Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell who pushed back against market pricing for another interest rate cut in December.
Mr Powell, speaking after the Fed cut rates by a quarter point at its October meeting, said a reduction in December was not a “foregone conclusion” and a cut should not be assumed.
JPMorgan analyst Michael Feroli said: “By Powell’s standards, these were unusually blunt remarks.”
While Bank of America said Mr Powell pushed back “stridently” against market pricing of a December cut and drove the message home “several times” during the press conference.
The US rate call came ahead of central bank meetings in Japan and Europe.
The Bank of Japan kept interest rates unchanged, decided by a seven to two majority vote.
In a statement released by BoJ following the monetary policy meeting, it said interest rates were held at 0.5%, matching consensus cited by FXStreet.
“High uncertainties still remain regarding the impact of trade and other policies on economic activity and prices at home and abroad,” the BoJ said in a statement following the decision.
While in Europe, the European Central Bank left rates on hold for a third meeting in a row stating its outlook for inflation is broadly unchanged.
The decision by the Frankfurt-based lender leaves the interest rates on the deposit facility, the main refinancing operations and the marginal lending facility unchanged at 2.00%, 2.15% and 2.40% respectively.
The widely expected decision is the third hold in succession by the ECB, following similar outcomes in July and September.
Prior to the hold in July, it had cut for seven meetings in a row.
Deutsche Bank Chief European economist Mark Wall said “despite the US tariffs, despite all the various sources of uncertainty, the European economy continues to eke out some growth”.
“Economic ‘resilience’ is keeping the ECB doves in check, and the policy pause on the rails,” he said.
Mr Powell’s comments put the dollar on the front foot and pushed bond yields upwards.
The pound was quoted at 1.3149 dollars at the time of the London equities close on Thursday, lower compared to 1.3236 dollars on Wednesday.
The euro fell to 1.1565 dollars from 1.1660 dollars.
Against the yen, the dollar was trading at 154.11 yen, higher compared to 152.10 yen.
The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.09%, widening from 4.00% on Wednesday.
The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.64%, stretched from 4.57%.
Back in London, lender Standard Chartered rose 1.9% after stating it expects to reach its return on tangible equity target in 2025 instead of by 2026.
Chief executive officer Bill Winters said progress was broad-based and highlighted strong double-digit growth in Wealth Solutions and Global Banking, alongside good momentum in Global Markets.
On the FTSE 250, Computacenter gained 5.0% as it said it performed strongly in the third quarter with continued momentum in North America, improvements in the UK, and a return to growth in Germany.
Ithaca Energy and Harbour Energy rose 4.6% and 3.3% respectively after a report in the Financial Times said the UK Government could scrap its windfall tax on the oil-and-gas sector one year earlier than planned.
Meanwhile, conditional dealing in lender Shawbrook Group began in London.
Shares closed at 396 pence, well above the 370p offer price, giving it a market value of just over £2 billion.
Unconditional dealing on the London Main Market will begin on Tuesday next week.
TT Electronics was a star performer, soaring 59% after accepting a £287 million takeover approach from Cicor Technologies.
Bronschhofen, Switzerland-based Cicor develops, and manufactures electronic components, devices, and systems.
Woking, England-based TT, which also manufactures electronic components, said the cash and shares offer values each share in TT at 155p.
Brent oil was quoted at 64.92 dollars a barrel at the time of the London equities close on Thursday, up from 64.52 dollars late on Wednesday.
Gold was little changed, trading at 3,998.00 dollars an ounce against 3,997.24 dollars on Wednesday.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Airtel Africa, up 6.4 pence at 274.8p, Auto Trader, up 15.2p at 808.8p, Centrica, up 3.3p at 179.8p, Standard Chartered, up 28.0p at 1,544.0p, and GSK, up 31.0p at 1,783.0p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were WPP, down 61.7p at 298.85p, JD Sports Fashion, down 3.32p at 95.0p, Whitbread, down 80.0p at 2,967.0p, Segro, down 14.4p at 699.7p and Burberry, down 26.0p at 1,280.0p.
Friday’s global economic calendar has Canada GDP data, eurozone inflation figures and the Chicago PMI in the US.
There are no significant events scheduled on Friday’s UK corporate calendar.
– Contributed by Alliance News
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