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2025-01-11   

Lake Macquarie mayor Adam Shultz has outlined his plan to begin laying the foundations to tackle the region's housing crisis. Login or signup to continue reading At Monday night's council meeting, Cr Shultz will use the mayoral minutes to launch the Lake Macquarie Housing Forum, tentatively planned for April next year. A housing forum was a key election promise from Cr Shultz, who was selected by Labor unopposed to replace former mayor Kay Fraser. Cr Shultz won the popular vote for mayor with 35.8 per cent of the vote. Community housing providers, developers, NSW Minister for Planning Paul Scully, NSW Minister for the Hunter Yasmin Catley, and community groups will be invited to discuss how Lake Macquarie can tackle the demand for more dwellings throughout the local government area. "In terms of where we are, there is a housing crisis," Cr Shultz said. "How do we differentiate Lake Macquarie from all the other areas and encourage strategic urban development and densification? "This is about having frank and open conversations." NSW Premier Chris Minns has earmarked Lake Macquarie for 8000 new home completions by 2029, 30 per cent higher than the 2017-2022 period. Much of that growth is centred in the western and north-western parts of Lake Macquarie, which is forecast to expand from a population of 18,093 in 2021 to 32,322 by 2046. The NSW Labor Government has already identified land around train stations at Morisset, Booragul, Teralba, Cockle Creek and Cardiff as being suited for high-density housing as part of the Transport Orientated Development program. It's an initiative, Cr Shultz supports. "In terms of our growth, why wouldn't we leverage the infrastructure we've already got and obviously advocate to the state government for upgrades and getting trains to run along that corridor, which can take people into Newcastle or down to Gosford and gentrify the western side of the lake as well?" he said. "That's not to say it all needs to be centred there. There's obviously other public transport corridors on the eastern side and north. "But a part of this discussion is to flesh out a way forward with ideas and solutions, that at a council level, we can take away and try to implement." Data released on Friday by the National Shelter-SGS Economics and Planning Rental Affordability Index showed no postcodes in the Hunter are considered affordable for rental housing based on the average income of tenants. As a father with three young kids, Cr Shultz said using the levers of council to rezone land to help make housing more affordable and to encourage more investment was essential to future prosperity. "We want investment in Lake Macquarie; we want houses; we want jobs; we want opportunities for people," he said. "It's about working with the state government and getting good outcomes for Lake Macquarie and the people who want to come here to ensure your grand kids, or your children, don't need to relocate out of Lake Macquarie to be all they can be. "We want to have opportunities for people, and part of that is increasing the housing supply strategically." Josh Leeson is a news and features journalist, who focuses on Lake Macquarie, politics and entertainment at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport, including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league. Josh Leeson is a news and features journalist, who focuses on Lake Macquarie, politics and entertainment at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport, including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league. DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team. Also includes evening update. WEEKDAYS Grab a quick bite of today's latest news from around the region and the nation. WEEKLY The latest news, results & expert analysis. WEEKDAYS Catch up on the news of the day and unwind with great reading for your evening. WEEKLY Get the editor's insights: what's happening & why it matters. WEEKLY Love footy? We've got all the action covered. WEEKLY Every Saturday and Tuesday, explore destinations deals, tips & travel writing to transport you around the globe. WEEKLY Get the latest property and development news here. WEEKLY Going out or staying in? Find out what's on. WEEKDAYS Sharp. Close to the ground. Digging deep. Your weekday morning newsletter on national affairs, politics and more. 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[Operator instructions] I will now hand the call over to our host, Chewy CFO, David Reeder, to begin. David, please go ahead. David Reeder -- Chief Financial Officer Thank you for joining us on the call today to discuss our third quarter results for fiscal year 2024. Joining me today is Chewy CEO, Sumit Singh. Our earnings release, which was filed with the SEC earlier today, has been posted to the investor relations section of our website. In addition to the earnings release, a presentation summarizing our results is also available on our website at investor.chewy.com. On our call today, we will be making forward-looking statements, including statements concerning Chewy's financial results and performance, industry trends, strategic initiatives, share repurchase program, and the environment in which we operate. Such statements are considered forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and other factors described in the section titled Risk Factors in our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the first quarter of fiscal year 2024 and in our other filings with the SEC, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by our forward-looking statements. Reported results should not be considered an indication of future performance. Also, note that the forward-looking statements on this call are based on information available to us as of today's date. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements except as required by law. Also, during this call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliation of these non-GAAP items to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are provided on our investor relations website and in our earnings release. These non-GAAP measures are not intended as a substitute for GAAP results. Additionally, unless otherwise stated, all comparisons discussed on today's call will be against the comparable period of fiscal year 2023. Finally, this call in its entirety is being webcast on our investor relations website. A replay of the audio webcast will also be available on our investor relations website shortly. And with that, I'd like to turn the call over to Sumit. Sumit Singh -- Chief Executive Officer and Director Thank you, Dave, and thank you all for joining us on today's call. Our third quarter results continued to build on the positive momentum we observed in Q2. We delivered top-line growth exceeding the high end of our net sales guidance range, a sequential increase in active customers, continued adjusted EBITDA margin expansion, and robust free cash flow generation. These results underscore the durability of our business model and our team's relentless focus on high-quality execution and operational discipline. With that, let's dive into the details. Q3 net sales increased by approximately 5% to $2.88 billion. Both the strength of our flagship Autoship program and our customers' loyalty in nondiscretionary categories, particularly within consumables and health, anchored our Q3 net sales performance. Our Autoship program enables high visibility and predictability in our business and drives customer stickiness for Chewy. Autoship customer sales reached $2.3 billion in the quarter, representing 80% of Q3 net sales and a year-over-year increase of approximately 9%. Nondiscretionary categories, including consumables and healthcare products and services, accounted for 85% of Q3 net sales. Customers appreciate our comprehensive product catalog and our ongoing efforts to refresh assortment across food, treats, and hard goods. Over the last few quarters, we have increased our assortment across popular categories such as pet tech, vet food, and supplements, to name a few, adding several new premium brands, most of which launched exclusively on chewy.com. Additionally, we are continuously rolling out enhancements to our on-site and in-app experiences to ensure we are providing an even more enjoyable and convenient shopping journey for pet parents. Last quarter, I spoke about our efforts to redesign our mobile app and make the overall app experience more convenient for customers. In Q3, both unique customers who placed at least one order on the app and average app monthly active users or app MAU increased in the mid-teens range compared to Q3 of last year. I am excited by the strong engagement we continue to observe through our mobile app and the experience it brings to our customers. Continuing on the topic of customers, I am pleased to share that Q3 marked another quarter of sequential active customer growth, building on the momentum we established coming out of our second quarter. Our efforts to enhance shopping experiences, expand assortment, and various ongoing innovations, combined with our powerful marketing and CRM strategy, continue to drive outperformance, while macro normalization steadily continues in the background. We ended the third quarter with approximately 20.2 million active customers, up 160,000 sequentially. We now expect to end fiscal 2024 with active customers up modestly over last year, a trend which we expect to continue to strengthen in 2025. Turning to profitability. We generated $138 million of adjusted EBITDA in the quarter, representing a 4.8% margin and approximately 180 basis points of margin expansion year over year. Our Q3 adjusted EBITDA results reflect a continuation of our strong gross margin performance, our disciplined approach to cost management, and the ongoing benefits of fixed cost leverage as we scale. Our increasing profitability has enabled us to continue to return meaningful capital to shareholders, as reflected by the incremental $342 million we deployed to shareholders in the third quarter. Now, let me provide an update on some of Chewy's strategic initiatives and innovations. The Sponsored Ads business continues to perform well. And as expected, we remain on track to reach the low end of our previously stated long-term target range of 1% to 3% of net sales in fiscal 2024. We remain on track with our 1P technology migration and look forward to starting the new fiscal year fully converted to our 1P software platform. Moving to Chewy's healthcare offerings. I am proud of the progress our team has made this year across healthcare products and services, especially Chewy Vet Care or CVC. With the launch of Chewy Vet Care Clinics earlier this year, we not only unlocked the $25 billion vet services TAM opportunity, but we are also observing compelling complementarities across the entire Chewy ecosystem. We have six clinics opened today and expect to reach the high end of our previously stated target range of four to eight clinic openings in 2024 later this fiscal year. Performance across our clinic footprint is promising, and I'm happy to share that the early signs of success we spoke about last quarter have continued through Q3. The proportion of new-to-Chewy customers acquired through Chewy Vet Care continues to outperform relative to expectations. Additionally, broader ecosystem benefits, including cross-category shopping and post-clinic visit purchases on chewy.com, have strengthened since last quarter, indicating that our ability to seamlessly connect care with commerce is resonating with pet parents. I would also like to take a moment to talk about Chewy+, our paid membership program. Recall that we launched Chewy+ in summer 2024 to a representative sample of customers. Since launching the program, we have been carefully studying the shopping behavior of Chewy+ members and are tracking several key indicators of success, including the program's potential to accelerate wallet share consolidation and drive stronger cross-category engagement. Based on the data we have analyzed over the last several months, we are seeing that Chewy+ members consistently place more orders, have higher cross-category penetration and greater mobile app engagement relative to non-Chewy+ customers. Furthermore, we are seeing higher Autoship adoption rates from this early cohort of customers, signaling a potentially compelling flywheel effect off the Chewy+ program. While contribution to the overall enterprise remains immaterial, we are encouraged by these early results and look forward to introducing the program to our broader base of customers. Touching on Canada, where we completed a full year of operations in Q3. The Canadian business, while still relatively small and immaterial to the overall scale of Chewy, continues to improve across key metrics, including Autoship penetration, net sales growth, and profitability. Additionally, we remain focused on strengthening brand awareness in Canada and are excited by the brand partnership we recently signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team. We believe Chewy's passion for pets perfectly aligned with Torontonians' passion for the Maple Leafs, and we are bringing this to life with dynamic advertising and interactive fan moments during games at Scotiabank Arena. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge a notable milestone for Chewy with our recent inclusion in the S&P 400 index as of November 6th. We view our inclusion in this index as an endorsement of our performance, our enduring business, and our compelling growth opportunities ahead. In closing, I would like to thank all of our dedicated Chewy team members for their hard work and strong execution in the third quarter. We are now focused on executing through our final quarter of 2024 and are excited about the customer engagement we have seen thus far through this holiday season and look forward to ending fiscal year 2024 on a high note. With that, I will turn the call over to Dave. David Reeder -- Chief Financial Officer Thank you, Sumit. Third quarter net sales grew 4.8% year over year to 2.88 billion, exceeding the high end of the guidance range we provided last quarter. The pricing, promotion, and discount environment remained stable throughout the quarter. As such, year-over-year revenue growth was primarily driven by active customer growth and cross-category product penetration, resulting in continued customer wallet share gain. We ended the quarter with 20.2 million active customers, reflecting a sequential net increase of approximately 160,000 customers. Gross additions exceeded pre-COVID levels, and gross churn improved year over year. Within gross engross additions, both new customers and reactivations grew year over year in the quarter. We are encouraged by the positive momentum in active customers and expect these trends to continue through the balance of the year. Against the backdrop of a modestly improving pet industry and strong Chewy-specific execution, we now expect to end fiscal year 2024 with modest year-over-year active customer growth. Third quarter Autoship customer sales increased by 8.7% to 2.3 billion, outpacing total net sales growth in the quarter by approximately 390 basis points. Autoship customer sales as a percentage of total net sales increased by 290 basis points to 80%, a new company record. Additionally, we continued to grow share of wallet with Q3 net sales per active customer, or NSPAC, reaching $567. Moving to profitability. We reported third quarter gross margin of 29.3%, representing 80 basis points of margin expansion year over year. Our growing Sponsored Ads business was the largest driver of gross margin improvement in the quarter, followed by product mix shift into premium categories, including consumables and pharmacy. Additionally, promotional activity in the third quarter was in line with our expectations, and the promotional environment to date in the fourth quarter remains rational. Shifting to operating expenses. Please note that my discussion of SG&A exclude share-based compensation expense and related taxes. Third quarter SG&A totaled 546 million, or 19% of net sales, representing 90 basis points of improvement on a year-over-year basis. SG&A leverage was primarily driven by continued discipline and efficiency with respect to corporate payroll, fulfillment, and other at scale efficiency benefits. Third quarter advertising and marketing expense was 191.8 million or 6.7% of net sales. I would note that we expect advertising and marketing expenses to come in at the high end of our previously stated range of 6% to 7% of net sales for the full year. This is primarily due to the timing of certain marketing campaigns in Q4. Third quarter adjusted net income was 84.9 million, representing a 34% increase year over year. Net income for the quarter was 3.9 million, which translated into $0.01 earnings per share on both a basic and diluted basis. Finally, we reported adjusted EBITDA of 138.2 million, representing a 4.8% adjusted EBITDA margin and 180 basis points of year-over-year margin expansion, driven by the improvements in gross margin and SG&A described earlier. We reported free cash flow of 151.8 million in the third quarter, reflecting 183.5 million of net cash provided by operating activities and 31.7 million of capital expenditures. Our third quarter trailing 12-month free cash flow was over 360 million and demonstrates our ability to generate increasing levels of free cash flow while continuing to invest in our growth initiatives and returning significant capital to shareholders. I'd now like to provide an update on our share repurchase activity completed in the quarter. In September, concurrently with a 500 million underwritten secondary offering of Class A common stock by BC Partners, we repurchased approximately 10.2 million shares of Class A common stock directly from BC Partners for an aggregate repurchase price of 300 million. This repurchase transaction allowed us to continue to reduce the ownership position of our largest shareholder and was executed separately from our existing $500 million share repurchase program. Additionally, during the quarter, we repurchased approximately 1.6 million shares of Class A common stock, spending approximately 42.4 million under our 500 million share repurchase program. At the end of the quarter, we had approximately 424.8 million of remaining capacity under the program for future repurchases. Collectively, the company has repurchased and retired a total of 30.7 million shares year to date. Our ability to generate increasing levels of profitability and free cash flow will continue to enable us to invest in our business and return meaningful capital to shareholders. We ended the quarter with approximately 508 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities, and we remain debt-free, with an overall liquidity position of approximately 1.3 billion. With that, I'd like to turn to our fourth quarter and updated full year 2024 guidance. We anticipate fourth quarter net sales of between 3.18 billion and 3.20 billion, or approximately 13% year-over-year growth, which reflects the full impact of the 53rd week, and we are narrowing and raising our full year 2024 net sales outlook to be between 11.79 billion and 11.81 billion or approximately 6% year-over-year growth. This range includes the impact of a 53-week 2024 fiscal year. And as previously noted, the 53rd week will be fully reflected in the fourth quarter of 2024. We are raising our full year 2024 adjusted EBITDA margin guidance to a range of 4.6% to 4.8%. The midpoint of our full year adjusted EBITDA margin guidance range indicates approximately 140 basis points of year-over-year margin expansion and implies approximately 3.4% adjusted EBITDA margin for the fourth quarter. Consistent with our comments last quarter pertaining to the quarterly progression of 2024 adjusted EBITDA margin, we expect Q4 adjusted EBITDA margin to decline sequentially due to typical seasonality and the timing of certain investments, primarily pertaining to marketing campaigns. Given the results of our previous three quarters, we anticipate 2024 capital expenditures to come in at the low end of our previously stated range of 1.5% to 2% of net sales, and we expect free cash flow conversion to remain above 80% for the full year. Finally, we expect basic shares outstanding at fiscal 2024 year-end to be approximately 415 million. This incorporates the nearly 31 million shares that we have repurchased and retired year to date and does not incorporate any potential future share repurchases. In closing, our third quarter results reflect another quarter of strong execution. I want to thank our incredible Chewy team members for their collective efforts as we continue to execute against our strategic priorities to deliver long-term profitable growth. With that, I will turn the call over to the operator for questions. Questions & Answers: Operator Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator instructions] Our first question today comes from the line of Nathan Feather with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead. Nathan Feather -- Analyst Thanks for the question and congrats on the strong results. Really encouraging to see the continued momentum. Active customer growth continues to accelerate. Can you double-click on what you're seeing in overall pet ownership trends and how we should think about the relative contribution to customer growth as compared to some of the idiosyncratic initiatives you've been working on? And then given the expectation for customer growth to improve further in '25, how should we think about the key puts and takes you're considering for growth in the year? Thank you. Sumit Singh -- Chief Executive Officer and Director Hey, Nathan. This is Sumit. I'll start and Dave will jump in wherever he sees appropriate. So, in terms of household formation trends, I think you started with that, we continue to see signs of industry normalization. Pricing remains stable. Inflation continues to move toward a more normalized level. In fact, we saw no benefit of pricing, as we mentioned on the earnings call, as we move through Q3. Regarding pet household formation, of course, there's no single truth -- source of truth for this data. Our triangulation, you know, continues to tell us that latest adoption and relinquishment trends are both trending in a better direction. We believe year-over-year adoption growth was in the high single-digit to low double-digit ranges, and relinquishment were down low single digits. So, overall, we observed a return to positive net adoptions in cycle of Q3 from an external point of view. In terms of -- let me see, you had another question here. Double-click and do about expectation for active customer growth in '25 and puts and takes. So, I mean, there's a lot going on. Ultimately, we believe -- you know, as I mentioned last quarter, the active customer growth that we are driving now -- you know, two times now as a trend -- is largely due to our own efforts, and the industry continues to normalize in the background, which is, of course, a stabilizing factor that is very good to see. On our side, you know, enhancing on-site and mobile experiences, expanding assortment, performance on the CRM strategy, and all of that is sort of what's working in conjunction. As we move into '25, what has really started to work for us is our focus on connecting the marketing funnel to expanded audiences, and driving that funnel exposure is enabling our teams to find both the right level of efficiency, as well as the flexibility to move spend up and down the funnel to capture both share of voice and demand. And when we bring them to the site, we are able to convert them effectively with the previous efforts that I've talked about around improvement of site experience, customer choices, assortment, other innovations, etc. So, our '25 strategy is very much in line with, you know, operating the playbook that we've uncovered and strengthened for ourselves in '24. Another data point that I just want to draw your attention to, more of a recall from last quarter, is we said, you know, we have an improved ability to identify and segment customers and target them, you know, to drive improved second purchase rates, Autoship signups, mobile app engagement, etc., etc. And so, on the background, you know, we've now sort of played this playbook for at least two quarters. We're going to rinse and repeat in Q4 and 2025, strengthening our channel and share performance in the market. Nathan Feather -- Analyst Great. Thank you. David Reeder -- Chief Financial Officer Thank you, Nate. Operator The next question comes from Curtis Nagle with Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Curtis, please go ahead. Curtis Nagle -- Analyst Awesome. Thanks very much for taking the question. So, I want to focus a bit on the 4Q guidance and maybe specifically on the comments in terms of the advertising and marketing spend. Just in terms of context, you know, at the high end of the range, you know, around 7% for the year, it implies like a really big dollar increase, right, certainly relative to the other quarters. Like, no relative leverage from the extra week. So, you know, I guess, just kind of digging into that, you know, what does this spend pertain to? Looks to me like implied like $40 million to $50 million year over year. Is that correct? And, you know, are there specific products or customers you're targeting? Is it one-time? Just, you know, kind of dig into that and kind of how we should specifically, you know, think about that increase and whether you're just applying some conservatism or not. David Reeder -- Chief Financial Officer Good morning and thanks for the question. I'll take this one, and then, Sumit, if you want to build upon any of it, you know, let me know. And I'll build upon Sumit's comments about active customers. So, in the third quarter, when you think about the elements that go into gross additions, you've got new customers added, you've got reactivations, and then, of course, you have churn. And we actually saw improvement across all three of those metrics in the third quarter on a year-over-year basis. And so, we're entering the fourth quarter with some momentum on the activities that we're driving across those three elements I mentioned. We're entering the fourth quarter with the continuation of what we believe is a normalizing industry, as we previously referenced with moderating inflation, as well as the shelter data that we've mentioned previously as well, which has continued in the third quarter. So, with that momentum going into the fourth quarter, there's a couple of elements to consider. Number one, you typically have a little bit higher elevated advertising and marketing in the fourth quarter given the holiday season, as well as the timing of certain campaigns. And then building on that, we see an opportunity in the industry in the fourth quarter where we believe that we want to invest and lean in to the fourth quarter such that we can continue to build on what we believe are some improvement in the industry and then continue that, of course, into 2025. So, you know, net-net, you take a step back, you think about what we've told you for the year in terms of our guidance, active customer growth, flat to down in the first half, flat to up in the second half, ending flat. We've moved up that guidance. We've pulled in that guidance. And we see an opportunity to invest in the fourth quarter in advertising and marketing, and we're doing that. For the full year, we'll be at the high end of the 6% to 7% range. And as you mentioned, to get to the high end of that 6% to 7% range for the year, that would imply being above 7% specifically for the fourth quarter. Sumit. Sumit Singh -- Chief Executive Officer and Director Yeah. Curtis, I would just like to add more of a reminder on the conversations that we've had on this call in the past, which is, you know, we spend based on the ROI and the LTV potential that we're seeing in the current cohort of customers that we pick up from market and the existing customer base that we're developing share of wallet on. So, in the past, as you know, we've swung the marketing spend all the way to the left, you know, down 70 basis points, 80 basis points from our average. And now, we're picking that back up. Why didn't we spend in the past and why are we spending now? Well, because we didn't see the ROI in the past and we are now. The cohorts that were acquiring, the efficiencies that we're gaining based on the full funnel audience expansions that I talked about are really compelling and behooves us to be able to invest to continue this trend, as well as solidify growth for year 2025 and beyond. If you kind of see something -- let me share some of the data points that we're seeing. You know, the -- you know, our orientation is three-fourths of the customers that we're picking up had at least one SKU from a repeatable category. And that's an encouraging trend because it promotes Autoship growth and builds the layer cake that then sort of compels and, you know, spins the flywheel in a more efficient manner. We're seeing, you know, these new customers' reorder rates and settlement rates improving, you know, as our engagements with these consumable-type categories. You know, when you look at year-to-date '24 new customer cohorts, in terms of year-over-year reorder rates, in the first few periods of post-acquisition, you know, we're running roughly 300 basis points to 500 basis points higher than the three months averages. So, these are just some data points on the background that allows us to sort of study and, you know, increase or decrease the values of propensity you know, modeling and, therefore, go out and invest if we see the returns. That's what we're doing right now. Curtis Nagle -- Analyst OK. And then just -- that makes total sense. Just a quick follow-up. The points you made in answering Nathan's question on the adoptions were really interesting. I think you said, you know, up on a gross add basis high singles to low double, relinquishment was down low singles. So, you know, net, a pretty good number. What -- how did that compare to 2Q? Just trying to, you know, sort of size it in terms of relative improvement. Sumit Singh -- Chief Executive Officer and Director It's positive by -- I think the margins extended by low to mid-single-digit ranges relative to Q2. Curtis Nagle -- Analyst OK. Awesome. Appreciate it. Thank you. Sumit Singh -- Chief Executive Officer and Director Sure. Operator The next question comes from Doug Anmuth with J.P. Morgan. Please go ahead. Doug Anmuth -- Analyst Great. Thanks for taking the questions. Two, if I could. First, just on vet clinics, looks like you're on track to the eight locations by year-end. Can you talk more about what you've learned this year and how that informs your '25 expansion plans and the investments that may be required then? And then, Sumit, if you could also perhaps give us an update on automation, just kind of how you're tracking relative to the 70% to 80% kind of long-term percentage of volume that you've talked about over time? Thanks. David Reeder -- Chief Financial Officer Yeah. Sumit Singh -- Chief Executive Officer and Director You take the first. I'll take -- David Reeder -- Chief Financial Officer Yeah. So, with respect to the vet clinics, you know, as we talked about, we were planning to roll out four to eight vet clinics this year. We're going to be at the high end of that range. The positive trends that we've seen on vet clinics have continued. Some of those positive metrics has been, you know, the operational utilization of those clinics, it's been high. The customer engagement from those clinics and the corresponding customer service levels have been high. The net promoter kind of score around those clinics and the service level, high. The new customer cross-category penetration, new customers to Chewy that come in through vet clinics and then their propensity to go to chewy.com and then shop online at chewy.com, also high. In fact, more than half of those new customers, consistent with last quarter -- actually an improvement from last quarter, are leaving the vet clinic, new customer to Chewy, and then going online and also shopping at chewy.com. So, all the metrics across the vet clinics are trending positive. I'll leave the 2025 guidance for 2025. But I would just tell you that we've been very encouraged by our engagement with customers. We're encouraged by the size of the TAM, roughly 25 billion, that we've opened up through these vet clinics, and we're excited about continuing to grow our presence in this space. Sumit, anything that you would build on there? Sumit Singh -- Chief Executive Officer and Director On the automation, no, that's perfect. Thank you. On the automation side, Doug, we continue to trend upwards. A little less than half of our volume is now shipping through our 2G fulfillment centers and, you know, touching some sort of automation in the network. And that, combined with the improved, you know, supply chain tooling that we have, you know, is allowing us to execute through a really strong peak. And we continue to gain those efficiencies and flow through the bottom line, as you can see in the opex scaling that Dave talked about in the -- on the script. Happy to dive deeper in any area, if you like. David Reeder -- Chief Financial Officer And just to build on that comment and using some data points from the third quarter, given the efficiencies that you've mentioned, we had an improvement on the variable fulfillment side, we had improvement on the fixed fulfillment side. In other words, we got more fixed cost absorption through those fulfillment centers. And orders every quarter this year, year over year, so Q1, Q2, Q3, on a year-over-year basis, orders are up across all those quarters and in total year to date. In fact, we had our highest order period during this most recent peak -- holiday peak cycle over the last week or so. And so, the team is executing very well, and the automation that's been referenced here is a big contributor to that, both in terms of output, as well as efficiency and productivity. Did you have a follow-up, Doug? Doug Anmuth -- Analyst That's great. Thank you, both. Appreciate it. No. All good. Thank you. David Reeder -- Chief Financial Officer Thanks. Operator The next question comes from David Bellinger with Mizuho. David, please go ahead. David Bellinger -- Analyst Hey. Good morning. Thanks for the questions. First one, I wanted to revisit the app, which I think you mentioned last quarter was around 20% of revenues. Is there any update on how quickly that percentage could ramp up? How fast can we get to 30% or 40%? And then secondly, how should we think about the P&L impact of that? Can you simply bypass marketing spend and sort of get more leverage on the ad expense line by getting more volumes through your app? Sumit Singh -- Chief Executive Officer and Director Hi, David. So, we're -- this is a priority for us, and we are essentially ramping up our efforts very quickly to be able to push this volume. I would, you know, consider this not a few quarters of effort, but perhaps a couple of years of efforts to get to sort of market standard rates of, you know, above 40%, 45% of our -- so doubling kind of the volume that is moving through the app. But the progress that we are making on a quarter-over-quarter basis is something that we like. And of course, yes, we like it for the fact that it's a closed-loop ecosystem. It allows us to collect 1P data, market on a 1P basis, you know, take advantage of the direct traffic, stay in touch with customers, you know, who are really more engaged, and capitalize on the trends that we see in the app, which are highly encouraging from an overall conversion of revenue into profitability point of view. For example, you know, Autoship engagement rates are higher in the app. AOVs are higher in the app. Retention rates in apps are several hundred basis points higher than customers who engage with us over the web or desktop. You know, the cross-category attachment that we see go through the app is higher. So, all in all, it's just not only a more productive experience, it's also a more enjoyable and personalized experience that allows us to build a quality of relationship that we believe will be even stronger, alongside the P&L benefits that come with it. We'll size the benefits side, I think, in 2025, so I'm taking that question to note and we'll come back in 2025 and size it up. David Bellinger -- Analyst All right. Perfect. We'll come back on that one. And then just a follow-up, in your 10-Q filing, it looked like there was some new language around a project on the finance IT side. Not meaningful from a capital investment perspective. But can you elaborate on the SG&A portion, how much will that detract in 2025 and are there any deficiencies within the system that this is correcting? David Reeder -- Chief Financial Officer No, there are no deficiencies in the system that this is correcting. This is a new capability for us. So, I think it's -- you should think about this as, you know, the migration of some of our planning engines to a more comprehensive online suite. And by being able to do that, which at no material impact really to the P&L, by being able to do that, we're able to, you know, get more granularity with respect to all of our operations. And we're also going to be able to apply some AI to those same operations to get some automated intelligence and reporting out of the system in a more comprehensive way. David Bellinger -- Analyst Perfect. Thank you, both. David Reeder -- Chief Financial Officer Thanks, David. Operator The next question comes from Steven Zaccone with Citigroup. Steven, please go ahead. Steve Zaccone -- Analyst Hi. Good morning. Thanks very much for taking my question. First question I had was just on pricing. Sumit, you said there was no benefit from pricing in the third quarter. How do you see that playing out in 4Q, and then any preliminary views on 2025? It seems like the industry overall has been flattish for some time. So, your thoughts on maybe what it looks like next year will be helpful. David Reeder -- Chief Financial Officer Yeah. So, hi, Steve. This is David. I'll take this one, and then, Sumit, if you want to build on it, chime in. With respect to pricing in third quarter, really no material benefit nor detriment in the third quarter with respect to pricing. We had goodness on the gross margin line, largely driven by Sponsored Ads and product mix. And then, of course, that flowed all the way through the P&L, ultimately, to give us a pretty sizable EBITDA beat for the quarter on a year-over-year basis, roughly half driven by gross margin and half driven by leverage through the remainder of the P&L. But really, no impact either way from pricing. With respect to fourth quarter, you know, you typically do have some pricing and discounting in the fourth quarter related to the holiday season. We fully baked that into our guidance for the fourth quarter. But again, no material kind of impact from inflation nor deflation, which the inflation piece is obviously we had seen in prior years and in prior periods, but really no meaningful impact really throughout 2024. We had a little bit in the first quarter. Second quarter, it moderated significantly. Third quarter, relatively nonexistent. Fourth quarter, expecting the same other than the traditional seasonality. And that's how we're kind of expecting rolling into 2025. We're expecting those trends to largely continue. Sumit Singh -- Chief Executive Officer and Director Yeah. The overall environment, Steven, the market remains very rational with, of course, some seasonal spikes that you would expect as we played through the Cyber Week last week, which was a very good week for us. You know, if you remember our comments from the beginning of this year, the composition of revenue has shifted from, you know, part pricing, part unit growth or structural growth coming into Q1 of this year to -- much more weighted toward structural growth as we exit this year. You know, we are not seeing deflation happen in the category. The category that, of course, is more elastic right now as we move to Q4, particularly Cyber, is more on the hard goods and discretionary side, but you would expect that, you know, as the industry normalizes and we push volumes through this seasonal holiday peak season. But outside of that, you should expect '25 -- you know, if you recall our long-term growth algorithm, the revenue is a function of active customer growth in the low to mid-single-digit and NSPAC growth in the mid to high single digit, and there's a benefit of roughly 2% to 2.5% of pricing built in when the industry normalizes. And that long-term growth algorithm, we expect, will come true as the industry continues to normalize and we move out of '24 into '25 and '26. Steve Zaccone -- Analyst OK. That's very helpful. The follow-up I had is just in the context of raising the customer count outlook and then the commentary about that strengthening in 2025, how much of that is driven by the industry data points getting a little bit better, like you mentioned, pet adoptions, versus your own idiosyncratic efforts, you know, talking about marketing and stuff of that nature? Sumit Singh -- Chief Executive Officer and Director Yeah, it's hard to put a ratio on it, but we believe a majority of this change that we have seen is driven by internal efforts. And so, we are bullish, you know, that we should get an incremental tailwind, you know, when the industry fully normalizes. Currently, we are not taking that into account because we'd like to be -- we'd like that to sit on top. And so, present our -- presently, our comments around, you know, us growing active customer is on the back of efforts that we are internally driving and seeing success with. Steve Zaccone -- Analyst Very helpful. Thanks for the questions. Operator The next question comes from Rupesh Parikh with Oppenheimer. Please go ahead. Rupesh Parikh -- Analyst Good morning and thanks for taking my question. Also, congrats on this quarter. So, just going back to the hard goods category, we'd love to get more color in terms of what you saw during the quarter, expectations going forward. And then from a tariff perspective, does any exposure on the tariff front? Thank you. Sumit Singh -- Chief Executive Officer and Director So, I'll take the first part. Dave will chime in on the second one. So, we're -- as you can see -- I mean, you know, hard goods continues to improve, and it did in Q3 as well. And so, on the backdrop, it's really good to kind of recognize the industry normalizing. You know, we are viewing the steady improvement in hard goods performance as a result of both our efforts that I've talked about and indicative of that industry stabilization. Specific to our efforts, it includes expanding assortment across several merch classes. We've been very focused on bringing in, you know, high value-added assortment onto the platform. And our suppliers and vendors are very excited to partner with us there. We're focused on upgrading site experience to improve padding, discovery, and conversion, and we are marrying that up with thoughtful campaign execution. And so, these efforts -- you know, the -- so we believe the work done by our teams is paying off. And I also want to note that we will only fully benefit, you know, from this when we start to see a more fulsome recovery in discretionary purchasing. But we're happy with the results so far. David Reeder -- Chief Financial Officer And building on that, like, we're excited about our goods growing two quarters in a row now on a year-over-year basis. So, both second quarter this year and third quarter of this year have now grown on a year-over-year basis. We're pretty excited about that growth. And we're also excited about the early trends that we've seen here in fourth quarter. So, don't want to, you know, guide by a product category, but certainly we feel good about hard goods, where we stand today in the fourth quarter. With respect to the tariff question that you mentioned, you know, we have a very small reliance and presence on China specifically. We do source some hard goods from China, primarily related to some of our hard goods. But the vast, vast majority of our net sales at Chewy are, you know, pretty much domestic -- domestically sourced. So, our reliance on the region in our -- the impact of any potential tariff is relatively low on Chewy. Rupesh Parikh -- Analyst Great. Thank you. I'll pass it along. Operator The next question comes from Mark Mahaney with Evercore ISI. Please go ahead, Mark. Mark Mahaney -- Analyst Thanks. Two questions, please. This active customer growth, can you tell how much of that is from reactivated customers, customers you've had in the past who churned off for whatever reasons and have come back? And if so, any color on what those reasons are? And then secondly, it sounds like competitive intensity is relatively moderate given your comments on pricing. But other than pricing, is there anything else you're seeing notable in the competitive landscape? Thank you. Sumit Singh -- Chief Executive Officer and Director Hi, Mark. A greater number of customers were from net new customers that we acquired relative to the reactivated customers that we count toward gross adds. The other encouraging factor that we saw this time was, you know, the cohort stabilization that we've been talking about. So, churn stabilized, as we would expect, which was Dave's earlier comment on all three indicators were positive: net new, reactivated, as well as lower churn. But between the gross add, the portion of net new customers on an absolute basis absolutely exceeded reactivations. So, we were happy to see that, of course, and we would want that. And then if you combine that with some of the results that I shared around how these cohorts are engaging in terms of second purchase rates, etc., that is encouraging to see. On the retention side, you know, we're tracking settled orders, which is a metric that we, you know, developed as we came out of the COVID time frame so to be really able to see third order settlement rates so that we're not calling early success or early, you know, wins on these customer cohorts. And we're seeing third order customer settlement rates also improve from cohorts that we've acquired from P5 of this year and before that. So, all encouraging signs. Competitive intensity, you're right. It seems relatively moderate. Pricing environment is rational. And overall, you know, we're playing a pretty strong playbook, continuing to differentiate ourselves, both in terms of the basics of, you know, the category around price and convenience and assortment, but also in bringing new innovations to life. Super excited about Chewy+, super excited about the app initiative. Canada is ramping well. Sponsored Ads are ramping well, too. Nothing else to report. Mark Mahaney -- Analyst OK. Thank you, Sumit. Sumit Singh -- Chief Executive Officer and Director Sure. Operator The next question comes from Shweta Khajuria with Wolfe Research. Please go ahead. Shweta Khajuria -- Analyst Thank you so much for taking my questions. Let me try two, please. One is could you please talk to some of the marketing channels that are working really well for you, were a positive surprise or have been a positive surprise for you over the past couple of quarters as you lean into different channels and seeing better returns? That's one. And then second is could you please talk about trends you saw quarter to date, so through October, November, December, and how the trend did versus your internal expectations? Thanks a lot. Sumit Singh -- Chief Executive Officer and Director Sure. So, I won't fully satisfy your curiosity on specific marketing channels working for us. I would reorient us back to the comment I made at the start of the call, which, if you were trying to draw, hey, what's different, I would focus on, you know, the comment around really connecting the marketing funnel to expanded audiences and driving that full funnel exposure. That has been the most significant change that we've made over the last few quarters. Combine that with our ability to target those customers when they arrive on our platforms and drive to better conversion I believe is a powerful recipe, which we are continuing to perfect. So, more room to go there. But we're excited about what we are seeing so far. So, I would likely just stick with that. Any color on quarter-to-date trends? We're happy with quarter-to-date performance. Our -- we just wrapped up our Cyber Week. And by all measure of the word, I would classify peak holiday event performance to be successful. We had a thoughtful and curated plan, comprised of great assortment, offers, experience, and marketing strategy. And customers, in return, engaged robustly with the visits and spending exceeding our expectations, driving some of the biggest net sales day in Chewy history. So, we're -- and as you heard from Dave in the prepared remarks, we're increasing our net sales guidance range for the year. And while we did not specifically call out the last few weeks that we've played through, this increase is a result of the strength that we are currently seeing in the engine. Anything to add? David Reeder -- Chief Financial Officer Yeah. If I could build on that with a few softer points here that don't necessarily show up in the P&L but they certainly give us a good brand umbrella, number one, Chewy Claus. I'll call that out, especially this time of year. And it's a program where pets submit their Santa wish list. And it's gotten quite a bit of traction in prior years. It's gotten even more traction this year. It's not part of a, you know, paid marketing program, but it is a program that's organic and it's trending. And it's a program that when people associate pets, pet parents, the humanization of pets in an emotive category like this, it is an organic trend that gets a lot of play this time of year, and it's a program that we love to run. And then finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't just point out the wow experience that our customer service provides every day and the brand uplift and emotive attachment to Chewy that that type of program does. Sumit Singh -- Chief Executive Officer and Director Shweta, if the CFO is talking about it, the Chewy Claus program must really be working there. Shweta Khajuria -- Analyst Thank you, Sumit. Thanks, Dave. Sumit Singh -- Chief Executive Officer and Director Thanks. Operator We have time for one more question. And so, our final question today comes from Anna Andreeva with Piper Sandler. Anna, please go ahead. Anna Andreeva -- Analyst Great. Thanks so much. Happy to have made it. And congrats. Nice results. Two questions from us. I wanted to follow up on hard goods. Sumit, just remind us what's the size of your own brands business within that. Are you starting to see growth there, and should that continue into next year? And is own brands still a higher-margin category for Chewy? And secondly, I guess, to date, FC automation has been a pretty big story here, and you quantified that benefit in the 10-Q, to opex. Can you remind us how many FCs are automated now? What's the benefit and opex savings you see per FC? And how many do you still left to automate ahead into '25 or beyond? Thank you so much. David Reeder -- Chief Financial Officer Sure. Let me start perhaps with hard goods. And again, if you go into the 10-Q, you'll see that we report on hard goods, as I mentioned earlier, after several kind of quarters where we had experienced decline in the past. We have had two consecutive quarters now with growth in hard goods year over year. So, the second quarter, we grew year over year. The third quarter, we've grown year over year again. And in fact, we've grown faster than we did in the second quarter. And while we don't guide by, you know, some -- a product line or category, we did -- we have experienced some good trends in hard goods here in the fourth quarter. So, we're quite pleased from that perspective. With regards to our own private brands, either within hard goods or other categories, you know, we don't comment extensively on that. I would say, in general, private brands for us has been stable. We have several initiatives that -- where we are expanding assortment across both consumables, as well as hard goods. Most of those initiatives are future benefits and not really reflected in the P&L that we've produced for third quarter or that were guiding for fourth quarter. So, those benefits are yet to come. But hard goods, in general, up two consecutive quarters, trending well for fourth quarter; and then private brands within hard goods, continuing to improve assortment and selection. Sumit. Sumit Singh -- Chief Executive Officer and Director And I would just say that even though, you know, the relative stability is absolutely right, you know, if you recall, this is an area of opportunity that we recognized as a strategic pillar. We want to get net sales penetration up to mid-teens level. And at that scale, we expect private brands to contribute, you know, up to 500 basis points of higher gross margin to the core business. For hard goods, you know, we've mentioned in the past that penetration for our private brands is in the mid-teens to high-teens level. It fluctuates, you know, in that range across the year, and we are relatively stable in that penetration. In terms of automation, six fulfillment centers are currently automated. What I would recall -- what I would draw your attention to is, you know, at Capital Markets Day, we said we can, you know, continue to automate across our network and reach or touch over 70% of volume in one way, shape, or form to push through these improved processes. And if you look at just the FC itself, you know, we have said it drives improvement to the tune of up to 50% in productivity, 30% in volume per square foot, and up to 60% improvements in ergonomics and safety. And those results are pretty true even now. Operator Those are all the questions we have time for today. [Operator instructions] Duration: 0 minutes Call participants: David Reeder -- Chief Financial Officer Sumit Singh -- Chief Executive Officer and Director Nathan Feather -- Analyst Curtis Nagle -- Analyst Doug Anmuth -- Analyst David Bellinger -- Analyst Steve Zaccone -- Analyst Rupesh Parikh -- Analyst Mark Mahaney -- Analyst Shweta Khajuria -- Analyst Anna Andreeva -- Analyst More CHWY analysis All earnings call transcriptsspinph99 。

French politics was thrown into chaos after far-right leader Marine Le Pen worked with a left-wing coalition to remove Prime Minister Michel Barnier from power. This unexpected move has created significant uncertainty for the country and its economy. The crisis began in June when President Emmanuel Macron called a surprise election, hoping to regain political momentum after losing European elections. Instead, the plan backfired spectacularly. Le Pen’s National Rally became the largest party in parliament, dramatically shifting the political landscape and weakening Macron’s centrist coalition. Le Pen justified the no-confidence vote by telling lawmakers, “To those who think I’m intent on choosing a policy of disaster through a vote of no confidence, I want to tell them that the disastrous policy would be not to censure such a budget. It’s the end of this ephemeral government.” Read Also: South Korean president reverses martial law after lawmakers defy him The political instability has already impacted France’s financial markets. Bond investors have responded by increasing borrowing costs, making France more expensive to borrow money compared to traditionally riskier countries like Spain and Greece. Barnier becomes the first French prime minister in over 60 years to lose a no-confidence vote. The current government will continue in a limited “caretaker” capacity, using emergency laws to collect taxes and maintain basic government functions. The path forward remains unclear. Macron must appoint a new prime minister, but the parliament is deeply divided into three opposing groups: Macron’s weakened centrist bloc, a leftist alliance, and Le Pen’s far-right party. Another parliamentary election can’t happen until July at the earliest. The situation is complicated by France’s challenging economic conditions. The country’s budget deficit is expected to exceed 6% of GDP this year, and voters are resistant to spending cuts or tax increases. When Macron eventually selects a new prime minister, that person will immediately face the difficult task of passing a 2025 budget under the same financial pressures that led to Barnier’s downfall.

White House says at least 8 US telecom firms, dozens of nations impacted by China hacking campaignAP News Summary at 6:44 p.m. EST

AT&T Announces Plan to Phase Out Copper Landline Service by 2029, California Exempted Due to Legal Protections

Come celebrate Christmas at the Codys at Buffalo Bill State Historical Park. Bundle up and enjoy all the sights, sounds and lasting memories made with family and friends. The Christmas at the Codys event is truly a special one that our entire community and people from everywhere can take part in and enjoy. Every year, many area organizations decorate every nook and cranny of the Cody mansion turning the home into a seasonal wonderland. Buffalo Bill will welcome you to his home where carolers and local musicians provide entertainment in the parlor as guests tour the mansion. Take the chill away with hot cider, Christmas cookies and roasted chestnuts in the old storehouse outside the mansion. Horse-drawn hayrack rides will take guests around the grounds of the state historical park and Santa will be listening to Christmas wishes in the Scout’s Rest Ranch barn on Friday and Saturday and Dec. 13 and 14. Join us for an old time Christmas each Friday and Saturday evening from from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Dec. 6-21. Admission is $8 per person, $5 for kids 4-12, and kids 3 and younger are free. All military and first responders receive free entry on Dec. 13 for Military and First Responder Appreciation night. A $6 daily park permit is required and is available at the mansion. Thanks to all the volunteers that help make this event possible. Come one, come all and get your fill of Christmas Cheer at Buffalo Bill SHP. The Christmas Bird Count is a 100-plus year program hosted by the National Audubon Society. The bird count has relied on many dedication volunteers and data collected by participants over the past century have become one of two large accumulations of information that inform ornithologists and conservation biologists of the status of bird populations across North America. Joining the Christmas Bird Count is a fun way to spend the day with your kids, family and friends. Groups of birdwatchers will get together for the day trying to see as many different bird species as possible within a 15-mile diameter circle in our area. You don’t have to be an expert to come enjoy a day of birdwatching; you just need to enjoy the outdoors. Bring binoculars, bird ID books or a camera if you like or keep track of the birds that visit your feeders and call the Game and Parks office with your findings. Groups of birdwatchers will gather for the annual Christmas Bird Count in North Platte on Dec. 17. The day will start at 7 a.m. at the North Platte Nebraska Game and Parks office, 301 East State Farm Road. For more information call the Game and Parks office at 535-8025, pre-registration is preferred. Hunters and landowners are encouraged to offer their feedback on big game information during the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s public meetings this winter. These 21⁄2-hour meetings are scheduled in each Game and Parks district. All in-person meetings, begin at 6:30 p.m. local time. The first 30 minutes will be an open house with time to talk with wildlife biologists, conservation officers and staff. Biologists will make a presentation at 7 p.m. and discuss big game harvest results and season structure. Then they will take questions on topics such as big game management, depredation, permits, antlerless harvest, trophy management and diseases. The schedule is: People who cannot attend a meeting can watch an online big game informational session via Zoom. Two Zoom meetings are scheduled for 7 p.m. Central Time Jan. 12 and Jan. 14. See the calendar event entries at calendar.outdoornebraska.gov for the registration links for each meeting. Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Concerns over the extent of China-backed Salt Typhoon's intrusions into US telecom networks have prompted the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the FBI to issue guidance to the sector on addressing the threat. The detailed recommendations come as officials from the authoring agencies this week described victims of the attack — which include Verizon, AT&T, and Lumen — as still working to eradicate the threat actor from their networks. "We cannot say with certainty that the adversary has been evicted, because we still don't know the scope of what they're doing," Jeff Greene, executive assistant director for cybersecurity at CISA, said in a media call this week. "I have confidence that we are on top of it in terms of tracking them down and seeing what's going on, but we cannot, with confidence, say that we know everything," Greene said, according to a transcript of the media call that CISA made available to Dark Reading. Given where most victims are in their investigations, it is "impossible" to predict a timeframe for when they will complete fully evicting the threat actor, he said. Several security experts consider Salt Typhoon's attacks on US telecom infrastructure as one of the most egregious cyber espionage campaigns ever in size and scope. It's unknown how many companies the threat actor has compromised as part of the campaign so far, but known victims include some of the biggest telecom providers in the country, including AT&T and Verizon. The attacks enabled multiple activities, including theft of a large number of call detail records — such as a caller's and receiver's phone numbers, call duration, call type, and cell tower location — of telecom customers. In a smaller number of instances, Salt Typhoon used its presence on telecom provider networks to intercept calls and messages of targeted individuals, which include government officials and politicians. Separately, the threat actor also collected information on an unknown number of individuals who were the subjects of legal national security and law enforcement intercepts . "The continued investigation into the PRC targeting commercial telecom infrastructure has revealed a broad and significant cyber-espionage campaign," an FBI official said on background during this week's media call. "We have identified that PRC-affiliated cyber actors have compromised networks of multiple telecom companies to enable multiple activities. The new guidance for addressing the threat includes recommendations for quickly detecting Salt Typhoon activity, improving visibility, reducing existing vulnerabilities, eliminating common misconfigurations, and limiting the attack surface. The guidelines include a section devoted to hardening Cisco network gear, which the authoring agencies described as a popular target for the attacker in the ongoing campaign. "Right now, the hardening guidance that we put out specifically would make the activities that we've seen across the victims much harder to continue," Greene said. "In some cases, it might result in limiting their access." He described Salt Typhoon actors as employing a variety of tactics to breach victim networks, so response and mitigation approaches will differ on a case by case basis. "These are not cookie-cutter compromises in terms of how deeply compromised a victim might be, or what the actor has been able to do." Green and the FBI official on the media call recommended that individuals concerned about the privacy of their mobile device communications should consider using encrypted messaging apps — examples of which would include WhatsApp and Signal — and encrypted voice communications. "People looking to further protect their mobile device communications would benefit from considering using a cellphone that automatically receives timely operating system updates, responsibly managed encryption, and phishing resistant MFA for email, social media, and collaboration tools," the FBI official said. Trey Ford, chief information security officer (CISO) at Bugcrowd pointed to phishing-resistant multifactor authentication in the new guidance as something that organizations should consider prioritizing. "Everything we can do to raise the cost and work factor for malicious actors and nation state communities helps," he notes. He also recommends that organizations add encryption to all traffic crossing third-party communications infrastructure and leverage apps like WhatsApp and Signal where it makes sense. "Also, I would recommend adding a second factor of authentication, something stronger than SMS, such as Yubikeys, Apple's Secure Element, or pseudo-random code generators like Google Authenticator, Authy, [and] Duo, to all of your online accounts." Chris Pierson, CEO and founder of Blackcloak, perceives the new hardening advice as useful in helping companies in the telecom sector prioritize their controls, remediation, and ongoing assessment activity. The advice to individual consumers and business executives to protect against Salt Typhoon is useful as well, he notes: "From tips on using security messaging as opposed to text/SMS, reducing the likelihood of SIM swapping by using a SIM PIN, and implementing dual factor authentication on key accounts, the guidance makes it easier for key executives and highly targeted persons to protect themselves." Jai Vijayan is a seasoned technology reporter with over 20 years of experience in IT trade journalism. He was most recently a Senior Editor at Computerworld, where he covered information security and data privacy issues for the publication. Over the course of his 20-year career at Computerworld, Jai also covered a variety of other technology topics, including big data, Hadoop, Internet of Things, e-voting, and data analytics. Prior to Computerworld, Jai covered technology issues for The Economic Times in Bangalore, India. Jai has a Master's degree in Statistics and lives in Naperville, Ill.ALPHARETTA, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 9, 2024-- Jackson Acquisition Company II (the “Company”) announced today that it priced its initial public offering of 20,000,000 units at $10.00 per unit. The units will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) and will trade under the ticker symbol “JACS.U” beginning December 10, 2024. Each unit consists of one Class A ordinary share and one right to receive one-tenth (1/10) of a Class A ordinary share upon the consummation of an initial business combination. Once the securities comprising the units begin separate trading, the Class A ordinary shares and rights are expected to be listed on the NYSE under the symbols “JACS” and “JACS.R,” respectively. The offering is expected to close on December 11, 2024, subject to customary closing conditions. The Company, led by Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer Richard L. Jackson, is a special purpose acquisition company formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. While the Company may pursue an initial business combination in any industry, the Company intends to concentrate its search on businesses with a focus on healthcare services, healthcare technology, or otherwise focused on the healthcare industry. Roth Capital Partners is acting as sole book-running manager for the offering. The Company has granted the underwriter a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 3,000,000 units to cover over-allotments, if any. The offering is being made only by means of a prospectus. When available, copies of the prospectus may be obtained from Roth Capital Partners, LLC, 888 San Clemente Drive, Suite 400, Newport Beach, CA 92660, (800) 678-9147 or by accessing the SEC’s website, www.sec.gov . A registration statement relating to the securities was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 9, 2024. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of, these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains statements that constitute “forward-looking statements,” including with respect to the Company’s proposed initial public offering and the Company’s search for and/or completion of an initial business combination. No assurance can be given that the offering will be completed on the terms described, or at all, or that the Company will complete an initial business combination. Forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks, conditions and other uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the Company, including those set forth in the Risk Factors section of the Company’s registration statement and preliminary prospectus for the Company’s offering filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). Copies of these documents are available on the SEC’s website, www.sec.gov . The Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements for revisions or changes after the date of this release, except as required by law. View source version on businesswire.com : https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241209829813/en/ CONTACT: Richard L. Jackson Jackson Acquisition Company II (678) 690-1079 KEYWORD: GEORGIA UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FINANCE SOURCE: Jackson Acquisition Company II Copyright Business Wire 2024. PUB: 12/09/2024 06:09 PM/DISC: 12/09/2024 06:09 PM http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241209829813/enFed's Powell: US economy is envy of the world, I'm going to do everything to keep it there US November ISM services 52.1 vs 55.5 expected US November ADP employment +146K vs +150K expected ECB's Lagarde: Inflation expected to temporarily rise in Q4 and decline next year Beige Book: Fed districts deport slight growth, rising business optimism for 2025 US October factory orders +0.2% vs +0.2% expected Fed's Musalem: Time may be approaching to slow or pause rate cuts Fed's Barkin: I'm encouraged by where inflation is headed French government loses no-confidence vote French President Macron aims to name new Prime Minister swiftly if government falls ECB's Nagel: I favor a gradual, cautious approach to rate cuts ECB's Makhlouf: Asked about 50 bps cut, says he prefers to move cautiously EIA weekly crude oil inventories -5073K vs -671K expected US November S&P Global final services PMI 56.1 vs 57.0 prelim Canada November S&P Global Services PMI 51.2 vs 50.4 prior Canada Q3 labour productivity -0.4% vs -0.2% prior OPEC+ might extend cuts to six months but cuts won't be deeper - report Markets: Gold up $6 to $2649 US 10-year yields down 4 bps to 4.18% WTI crude down $1.05 to $68.88 GBP leads, AUD lags S&P 500 up 0.6% to fresh record There were a series of crosscurrents in markets today and it was a busy day of news. In terms of data, the ISM services number was softer and it weighed on the US dollar broadly. That helped to boost the euro to a session high of 1.0544 and the pound to 1.2721. Those gains faded in part because Powell struck a more-hawkish tone, while the French political news had little effect. However the dollar bounce ran against the mode in other markets as Treasury yields started the day high and sagged, with 10s falling 10 bps intraday. US stocks were also bid but that didn't lend much support for AUD, which as beaten up in Asian trading. Eyes are on OPEC+ ahead of tomorrow's meeting but the market is clearly worried as crude fell $1 in US trading. Crack spreads have weakened and that was one factor that was cited. USD/JPY rebounded after six days of declines and climbed as high as 151.22 but was mostly tracking down in US trade and fell to 150.00 before bouncing from the big figure to 150.64. Powell may have helped firm up that intraday bottom and the Beige Book was slightly better than the prior edition and highlighted post-election optimism. The crypto market was choppy with some large outperformance in the alt-coins that was later joined by bitcoin as it has another look at $100,000. The nominated SEC commissioner is friendly towards the industry and that likely helped late-day BTC bids.White House says at least 8 US telecom firms, dozens of nations impacted by China hacking campaign

Scottie's common sense, Bob Mac's sunset beer, LIV rumors | Monday FinishWASHINGTON (AFP) – Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson – a right-wing journalist who is a key ally of United States (US) President-elect Donald Trump – announced on Tuesday he had interviewed Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow and would air the conversation “soon”. Carlson went to Moscow in February for an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin – his first with a US journalist since the situation in Ukraine. On Tuesday, in a video published on his social media channels and website, Carlson said he had gone back to Russia. The result was a discussion with Lavrov. “We just walked out of that interview. It’s absolutely fascinating. It’s coming very soon. We hope you’ll watch,” Carlson said, without offering a specific air date. Carlson also accused US President Joe Biden’s administration of preventing him from interviewing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. His hit show on the cable network came to an end in April 2023, days after it paid a massive settlement to end a defamation case over false allegations that ballot-counting company Dominion Voting Systems had helped steal the 2020 election from Trump. Carlson has since broadcast shows on X and now has his own streaming platform, the Tucker Carlson Network.

INSW stock touches 52-week low at $38.11 amid market shiftsNoneThe Indian Premier League ( IPL ) is on a remarkable growth streak, with the top 10 franchises seeing their combined revenue more than double to ₹6,797 crore in FY24 from ₹3,082 crore in the previous year, according to financial data from Tofler. Experts attributed the surge to the league's soaring commercial appeal, powered by smart media partnerships and lucrative sponsorship deals. The primary catalyst for growth was the record ₹48,390 crore media rights deal signed in 2022 between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Disney Star and Viacom18, who have since combined to form JioStar. In addition to broadcasting revenue, the BCCI secured over ₹4,000 crore from multi-year sponsorship agreements with major brands, including Tata Group, My11Circle, Ceat , and Angel One. According to a recent Brand Finance report, IPL's brand value has grown by 13% to reach $12 billion in 2024 compared to 2023, up from its $2 billion valuation in 2009. Notably, four franchises-Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Mumbai Indians (MI), Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)-have crossed the $100 million mark in brand value. Entrepreneurship Startup Fundraising: Essential Tactics for Securing Capital By - Dr. Anu Khanchandani, Startup Coach with more than 25 years of experience View Program Entrepreneurship Building Your Winning Startup Team: Key Strategies for Success By - Dr. Anu Khanchandani, Startup Coach with more than 25 years of experience View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) Learn InVideo AI: Create Videos from Text Easily By - Prince Patni, Software Developer (BI, Data Science) View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) AI for Everyone: Understanding and Applying the Basics on Artificial Intelligence By - Ritesh Vajariya, Generative AI Expert View Program Finance Crypto & NFT Mastery: From Basics to Advanced By - CA Raj K Agrawal, Chartered Accountant View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) Master in Python Language Quickly Using the ChatGPT Open AI By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Office Productivity Mastering Google Sheets: Unleash the Power of Excel and Advance Analysis By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Entrepreneurship Marketing & Sales Strategies for Startups: From Concept to Conversion By - Dr. Anu Khanchandani, Startup Coach with more than 25 years of experience View Program Marketing Digital Marketing Masterclass by Pam Moore By - Pam Moore, Digital Transformation and Social Media Expert View Program Marketing Digital marketing - Wordpress Website Development By - Shraddha Somani, Digital Marketing Trainer, Consultant, Strategiest and Subject Matter expert View Program Astrology Vastu Shastra Course By - Sachenkumar Rai, Vastu Shashtri View Program Web Development Django & PostgreSQL Mastery: Build Professional Web Applications By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Finance Financial Literacy for Non-Finance Executives By - CA Raja, Chartered Accountant | Financial Management Educator | Former AVP - Credit, SBI View Program Entrepreneurship Validating Your Startup Idea: Steps to Ensure Market Fit By - Dr. Anu Khanchandani, Startup Coach with more than 25 years of experience View Program Finance Financial Literacy i.e Lets Crack the Billionaire Code By - CA Rahul Gupta, CA with 10+ years of experience and Accounting Educator View Program Data Science MySQL for Beginners: Learn Data Science and Analytics Skills By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) Java Programming with ChatGPT: Learn using Generative AI By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Strategy Succession Planning Masterclass By - Nigel Penny, Global Strategy Advisor: NSP Strategy Facilitation Ltd. View Program Finance AI and Generative AI for Finance By - Hariom Tatsat, Vice President- Quantitative Analytics at Barclays View Program Finance A2Z Of Finance: Finance Beginner Course By - elearnmarkets, Financial Education by StockEdge View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) Mastering C++ Fundamentals with Generative AI: A Hands-On By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) Basics of Generative AI: Unveiling Tomorrow's Innovations By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Design Microsoft Designer Guide: The Ultimate AI Design Tool By - Prince Patni, Software Developer (BI, Data Science) View Program You Might Also Like: At $12 bn brand value, IPL is star among sports leagues "The three key drivers of growth for IPL teams are the central revenue pool, which includes media rights and sponsorship income, team-specific sponsorships, and gate revenue. In FY24, media rights income reached record levels, providing a substantial boost," said Ajimon Francis, managing director of Brand Finance India. "Similarly, team sponsorships saw significant growth, contributing to increased financial stability. Additionally, gate revenue experienced a positive shift, driven by higher ticket prices and full capacity utilisation at stadiums, further enhancing overall revenue for IPL teams," he added. The financial performance of IPL franchises last fiscal marked a remarkable turnaround, with most teams reporting doubling of revenue and improved profitability. Leading the charge were Gujarat Titans (GT), MI, and CSK, who set new financial benchmarks, while Punjab Kings (PK) emerged as the most profitable franchise. GT, owned by CVC Capital, topped the revenue charts with ₹776 crore, more than doubling from ₹359 crore in FY23. MI followed closely with ₹737 crore, more than doubling from ₹358 crore. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), co-owned by Shah Rukh Khan and Jay Mehta, also more than doubled revenue to ₹698 crore from ₹322 crore. CSK, backed by former BCCI president N Srinivasan, generated ₹676 crore compared to ₹292 crore in FY23. RP Sanjiv Goenka Group's Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) posted a 144% growth, with revenue soaring to ₹695 crore from ₹285 crore. Diageo-owned RCB recorded ₹650 crore in revenue, marking the highest percentage growth at 163%. Other franchises, including Punjab Kings (PK) with ₹664 crore (up 141%) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) with ₹662 crore (up 119%) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) with ₹659 crore (138%), also reported strong gains. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel )

James, Quigley and Hayes combine for 59 points as No. 20 NC State women beat Coastal Carolina 89-68Canada may have to spend millions more before new payment system can be used

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