Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar on Wednesday said the company is aiming to capture around 15 million new patients, at least initially, when Medicare starts covering obesity treatments for the first time later this year.

Around 67 million Americans are covered by Medicare, but “when you take a look at specifically our products and the target group, I think around 15 million people would be a good number to target,” he told CNBC in an interview. 

Medicare is slated to start covering obesity medicines for the first time later this year under the landmark “most-favored-nation” drug pricing deals that Novo and its chief rival, Eli Lilly, struck with President Donald Trump in November.

Health experts say the long-awaited coverage could broaden the market for the medicines and spur more private insurers to cover them. Some experts estimate that 20 million to 30 million Medicare patients are suffering from obesity and related conditions.

Doustdar said Medicare coverage, along with the launch of Novo’s new obesity pill and other factors, should help the company gradually boost prescription volumes and offset lower prices in the U.S. following that agreement with Trump. 

But he said he doesn’t expect Medicare access to obesity treatments to open up overnight. 

“Now, it would be great if we could find a way to get access very, very fast. But I think that would be a bit naive,” Doustdar said, pointing to the slow adoption seen among eligible patients with commercial insurance. 

It’s a slightly more conservative tone on the initial impact of Medicare coverage compared with Lilly, which has cited that coverage as a key tail wind to its guidance this year. Last week, Lilly said it expects Medicare coverage to come online by July. 

Meanwhile, Doustdar said Novo is in the midst of negotiations with the government on “exactly which month, which week that is going to be opening.” 

Dutch brewer Heineken is planning to lay off up to up to 7% of its workforce, as it looks to boost efficiency through productivity savings from AI, following weak beer sales last year.

The world’s second-largest brewer reported lackluster earnings on Wednesday, with total beer volumes declining 2.4% over the course of 2025, while adjusted operating profit was up 4.4%.

The company also said it plans to cut between 5,000 and 6,000 roles over the next two years and is targeting operating profit growth in the range of 2% to 6% this year. Heineken’s shares were last seen up 3.4%, and the stock is up nearly 7% so far this year.

Outgoing CEO Dolf van den Brink told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Wednesday that the results were due to “challenging market circumstances,” but performance was overall well-balanced.

Heineken’s outlook for 2026 comes in below the usual range but “is in line with buyside expectations and consistent with peer Carlsberg, and prudent in light of a new incoming,” UBS analysts said in a note on Wednesday.

Regarding the cuts, Van den Brink said: “Productivity has been a top priority in our evergreen strategy… we committed to 400 to 500 million euros ($476 million to $600 million) of savings on an annual basis, and this is a first operationalization of that debt commitment.”

The job reductions will help the brewer to invest in growth and in its premium brands, he said.

Van den Brink acknowledged that the cuts came “partly also due to AI, or let’s say digitization.”

“That’s a very big part of our EverGreen 2030 strategy, with around 3,000 roles moving to our business services, where technology digitization in general, and AI specifically, will be an important part of ongoing productivity savings,” he said.

The EverGreen 2030 strategy focuses on three core areas, including accelerating growth, increasing productivity, and future-fit.

The company, headquartered in the Netherlands, has 87,000 employees and operates in over 70 countries.

Van den Brink is due to step down from his leadership position in May after six years at the helm. Heineken is currently searching for a successor.

British oil giant BP on Tuesday posted fourth-quarter profit in line with expectations and suspended share buybacks, seeking to shore up its balance sheet as lower crude prices take their toll.

The London-listed energy firm reported underlying replacement cost profit, used as a proxy for net profit, of $1.54 billion for the final three months of 2025. That matched analyst expectations of $1.54 billion, according to an LSEG-compiled consensus.

BP’s full-year 2025 net profit came in at $7.49 billion, missing analyst expectations of $7.58 billion. That’s down from nearly $9 billion in 2024.

BP said the board decided to suspend the share buyback and fully allocate excess cash “to accelerate strengthening” of its balance sheet. The firm’s previous buyback was $750 million and was announced alongside third-quarter results in November.

For the fourth quarter, the company announced a dividend per ordinary share of 8.320 cents.

“2025 was a year of strong underlying financial results, strong operational performance, and meaningful strategic progress,” Carol Howle, BP interim CEO, said in a statement.

“We have made progress against our four primary targets – growing cash flow and returns, reducing costs, and strengthening the balance sheet – but know there is more work to be done, and we are clear on the urgency to deliver,” she added.

Woodside Energy boss Meg O’Neill is scheduled to take the reins at BP on April 1, following Murray Auchincloss’ decision to step down late last year.

Shares of BP fell 5.4% during morning deals, slipping toward the bottom of the pan-European Stoxx 600 index.

Some other earnings highlights included:

• BP’s fourth-quarter net debt came in at $22.18 billion, down from around $23 billion in the same period last year.
• Fourth-quarter operating cash flow came in at $7.6 billion, up from $7.43 billion a year ago.
• BP set its 2026 capital expenditure budget at $13 billion to $13.5 billion, reflecting the lower end of its guidance range.

The results come at a tough time for Europe’s oil and gas sector.

Oil prices notched their biggest annual loss since the Covid-19 pandemic last year, partly due to oversupply concerns, ratcheting up the pressure on Big Oil’s commitment to shareholder returns.

BP’s industry rivals Equinor and Shell both reported weaker quarterly earnings last week, citing lower crude prices, among other factors.

Equinor announced it would reduce share buybacks to $1.5 billion this year, down from $5 billion last year, while also trimming investments in its renewables and low-emission energy projects.

Shell, for its part, kept its buybacks steady at $3.5 billion, a move that marked the firm’s 17th consecutive quarter of $3 billion or more in buybacks.

DETROIT — Automakers are largely sitting on the advertising sidelines during this year’s Super Bowl amid uncertainty in the U.S. automotive industry involving sales, tariffs and regulations.

Carmakers — historically major buyers of ads during the big game — have been inconsistent with advertising during the Super Bowl in recent years, with only a handful putting out spots each year.

“It’s definitely been on the decline,” said Sean Muller, CEO of ad data company iSpot. “Autos are tightening their belts, and they’re probably pulling back on their budgets, and certainly that’s reflected. I think the Super Bowl is a good barometer for all of this.”

Automakers accounted for 40% of Super Bowl ad minutes in 2012, but dropped all the way to 7% by 2025, according to iSpot. Only three automakers are expected to air ads, totaling roughly two minutes, during this year’s game.

Tim Mahoney, a longtime automotive marketing executive, said it’s a balancing act when it comes to Super Bowl advertising. He said a company has to have the right product, ad campaign, and, of course, capital to stand out and get a return on its investment.

“Super Bowl is just a massive platform, but it has gotten so expensive,” Mahoney, who worked for GM, VW, Subaru and Porsche, told CNBC. “There are sometimes interesting ways to navigate around it. … Adjacencies can be smart.”

During Mahoney’s tenure, Subaru became the presenting sponsor of Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl and GM’s Chevrolet brand “blacked out” TV screens just ahead of the Super Bowl for an ad for its in-vehicle Wi-Fi in 2015.

Outside of the Super Bowl, automakers have increased sports advertising and embraced more streaming and regional advertising over national reach, according to iSpot.

“They’re not cutting back in live sports,” Muller said, citing iSpot data that automakers now represent roughly 60% of spend on live sports.

Automotive executives who spoke to CNBC about not advertising during this year’s Super Bowl said they were deterred due to the cost — $8 million on average for a 30-second ad — and felt their ad dollars would be better spent elsewhere.

Stellantis, which is in the midst of a company turnaround plan, will focus this year on the 250th anniversary of the U.S. as its major marketing push in addition to more business-oriented spending and a provocative social media campaign for Jeep featuring a singing fish it launched this week.

Nissan Motor, which last advertised during the Super Bowl in 2022, is also experimenting this year with parallel advertising.

The Japan-based automaker on Friday released a comedic, high-energy “Big Game” social media ad promoting a chips-and-dip holder for its Nissan Rogue SUV. The “Nissan Dip Seat” ad stars chef and “The Bear” actor Matty Matheson promoting the fictional product. It also promotes a sweepstakes to win one of the vehicles.

“One of the key things for us is that we wanted to kind of find a way that was more social in nature. It’s been a part of what our overall strategy has been this year,” Nissan U.S. CMO Allyson Witherspoon told CNBC.

Witherspoon declined to discuss the cost of the spot, but confirmed it was less than it would have spent to air a traditional Super Bowl ad.

Others, such as Honda Motor, will look to the Olympics as their major ad spending. Honda is sponsoring U.S. Olympic and Paralympic teams for the Winter Games in Milan this year as well as at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

“Super Bowl is one moment in time. The Olympics has so many verticals you can dip into and tell these stories,” said Ed Beadle, who leads marketing for American Honda Motor.

The opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics took place on Friday in Milan. It also kicks off a month that Comcast’s NBCUniversal — which will be airing the Olympics, Super Bowl and NBA All-Star weekend — has coined “Legendary February.”

GM remains a wild card for this year’s game, as the only automaker to not prerelease its ad. The Detroit automaker is using the Super Bowl to launch its Cadillac F1 team, including revealing the look of its first livery car to a national audience.

One called “Superhero Belt” shows a grandson and a grandfather switching roles over the years and telling each other to secure their seatbelts. The other features athletes including NFL wide receiver Puka Nacua meeting their younger selves.

Volkswagen’s ad resurrects the automaker’s well-known 1990s campaign for a new generation of customers, as part of a marketing drive called “The Great Invitation: Drivers Wanted.”

The new campaign, including a 30-second Super Bowl spot, features many of the automaker’s vehicles being driven around to House of Pain’s 1992 hit “Jump Around.”

— CNBC’s Lillian Rizzo contributed to this report.

Disclosure: CNBC parent Versant is carrying NBC Sports-produced Olympic coverage on its networks, including USA Network and CNBC.

DETROIT — Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa on Friday said the automaker plans to move forward as one company amid speculation that it would be better off selling brands or splitting up after disappointing results.

“Stellantis is a very strong global company that is very proud to have very deep regional groups,” Filosa, an Italian native, told reporters during a media call. “It makes all of sense to stay together. We want to stay together for many years to come.”

His comments come hours after the company announced 22 billion euros ($26 billion) in charges from a business restructuring that includes pulling back on electrification plans and reintroducing V8 engines to U.S. models. 

Filosa described the actions as an “important strategic reset of our business model, with the only intention to put our customer preferences back at the center of what we do globally and in each regions.” He said the “mission is to grow” after notable declines in market share in recent years.

Stellantis’ stock plunged more than 20% in Milan and New York markets.

Filosa on Friday did not specifically rule out the possibility of regionally refocusing or shrinking the company’s vast portfolio of 14 auto brands that includes U.S. brands Jeep, Ram and Chrysler, as well as Italian nameplates Fiat and Alfa Romeo, which have not performed well domestically.

“We want to really manage our brands in the sense to provide to them the products and the technology that our customers, that are now at the center of our strategic reset, will tell us that they want and they need,” he said. “This is our core mission.”

Filosa said additional information about the company’s plans moving forward will come at a May 21 investor day.

Friday’s announcement comes days after Stellantis executives met with the company’s U.S. franchised dealers at their annual National Automobile Dealers Association conference with a message that the automaker planned to grow sales across its U.S. lineup of brands, according to two dealers who attended the meeting.

The majority of Friday’s announced charges — 14.7 billion euros — are related to realigning product plans with consumer preferences and new emission regulations in the U.S.

Other charges include 2.1 billion euros in resizing the company’s EV supply chain, 4.1 billion euros in warranty costs and 1.3 billion euros in restructuring European operations.

The automaker also canceled its dividend for 2026 and issued a 5 billion euro nonconvertible hybrid bond.

The charges related to EVs follow General Motors and Ford Motor announcing billions of dollars in similar expenses due to pullbacks in plans for all-electric vehicles.

Filosa on Friday called out mistakes by former company leaders more than he has since he succeeded Carlos Tavares as CEO in June.

Stellantis’ global sales under Tavares fell 12.3% from 6.5 million in 2021 — the year the company was formed — to 5.7 million in 2024. That included a roughly 27% collapse in the U.S. in that period to 1.3 million vehicles sold. The automaker dropped from fourth in U.S. sales to sixth, declining from an 11.6% market share to 8% during that time frame.

Stellantis’ global market share has fallen from 8.1% in 2020 to an estimated 6.1% last year, according to S&P Global Mobility.  

Correction: Global market share for Stellantis has fallen from 8.1% in 2020 to an estimated 6.1% last year, according to S&P Global Mobility. An earlier version mischaracterized the percentage.

Shares of automaker Stellantis plunged 27% in European trading on Friday, after the company said it expects to take a 22-billion-euro ($26 billion) hit from a business reset and hinted at a pull-back from its electrification push.

By 12:57 p.m. in Milan, the company’s Italian shares were 27% lower. In premarket trading on Wall Street, the transatlantic firm’s New York-listed stock plummeted 26.5%.

Other French auto stocks also fell Friday morning, with Valeo and Forvia both down more than 1.2% and Renault sliding 2%.

“The charges announced today largely reflect the cost of over-estimating the pace of the energy transition that distanced us from many car buyers’ real-world needs, means and desires,” said Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa in a statement.

“They also reflect the impact of previous poor operational execution, the effects of which are being progressively addressed by our new Team.”

Going forward, Stellantis said it would remain at the forefront of EV development, but said its own electrification journey would continue at “a pace that needs to be governed by demand rather than command.”

Stellantis also pre-released some figures for the fourth quarter on Friday, saying it anticipates a net loss for 2025. In recognition of that net loss, it has suspended its dividend for 2026 and plans to raise up to 5 billion euros by issuing hybrid bonds.

For 2026, the auto giant is targeting a mid-single-digit percentage increase in net revenue and a low-single-digit increase in its adjusted operating income margin.

The company said its dividend pause and bond issuance would help preserve its balance sheet, and outlined the actions it had taken last year as part of its reset strategy.

These included announcing “the largest investment in Stellantis’ U.S. history” — totalling $13 billion over four years — as well as launching 10 new products, canceling products that could not achieve profit at scale, and restructuring its global manufacturing and quality management capabilities.

Under the U.S. investment drive, the transatlantic automaker has said it will add 5,000 jobs to its American workforce.

While these moves had resulted in costs of 22.2 billion euros, the company said they had collectively delivered a return to positive volume growth in 2025.

In the second half of the year, Stellantis’ U.S. market share rose to 7.9%, while the company said it retained its overall second-place market share position in the enlarged Europe.

Stellantis’ writedown follows multibillion-dollar hits at rivals Ford and GM, which recently announced their own hits worth $19.5 billion and $7.1 billion, respectively — both being related to EV pullbacks.

Given the “magnitude of the kitchen sinking” and the soft 2026 guidance, UBS analysts said the negative share-price reaction was expected. They added, however, that new management’s “decisive” clean-up and solid regional market fundamentals leave the stock attractive as a potential U.S. “comeback” play.

Friday’s writedown announcement came alongside news that Stellantis will offload its stake in NextStar Energy, a joint venture with LG Energy Solution that built and operated a Canadian battery manufacturing facility. LG Energy Solution will take over Stellantis’ 49% stake, the firms said on Friday morning.

The joint venture was part of Stellantis’ broader electrification strategy. In 2022, former CEO Carlos Tavares set a goal for 100% of sales in Europe and 50% of sales in the U.S. to be battery electric vehicles by the end of the decade.

The company is set to present an updated long-term strategy at its Capital Markets Day in May.

Stellantis’ stock has been under pressure for some time, with its Italian shares slumping nearly 25% last year and 40.5% the previous year. Shares are currently down more than 13% since the beginning of 2026.

Filosa previously dubbed 2026 the “year of execution” for the embattled automaker, which has been grappling with falling sales, leadership changes and disappointing earnings for several years. In July, the company said it expected to take a tariffs hit of around 1.5 billion euros in 2025, as it reported a first-half net loss of 2.3 billion euros.

Alphabet’s shares closed largely flat on Thursday after the company beat Wall Street’s expectations on earnings and revenue, with artificial intelligence spending projected to increase hugely this year.

The Google parent closed nearly 2% lower on Wednesday. After the bell, Alphabet reported fourth-quarter revenue of $113.83 billion, above the $111.43 billion estimate from analysts polled by LSEG.

Its Google Cloud division had $17.66 billion in revenue versus a forecast of $16.18 billion, according to StreetAccount. YouTube Advertising posted $11.38 billion in revenue versus the estimated $11.84 billion.

The tech giant said it would significantly increase its 2026 capital expenditure to between $175 billion and $185 billion — more than double its 2025 spend. A significant portion of capex spending would go toward investing in AI compute capacity for Google DeepMind.

Shares of Sweden’s Volvo Cars tumbled as much as 19% on Thursday morning, putting the company on track for its worst trading day ever.

The automaker, which is owned by China’s Geely Holding, posted a substantial drop in fourth-quarter operating profit, citing the impact of U.S. tariffs, negative currency effects and weak demand.

Volvo Cars said fourth-quarter operating income excluding items affecting comparability fell by 68% to 1.8 billion Swedish krona ($200.46 million) compared to the same period a year prior.

“We have a very challenging market, especially in China, very tough competition. All of our European colleagues have the same problem,” Volvo Cars CEO Hakan Samuelsson told CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition” on Thursday.

He added the discontinuation of EV incentives in the U.S. and China were also contributing to “a very challenging external environment.”

“But internally we have had very good work done with lowering our costs and securing a positive cash flow, so that I would highlight as the most important positive things that we have reached during the year,” he added.

Shares of Volvo Cars were last seen down 18.1%, having pared some of its earlier losses. A single-session fall of more than 11.2% would reflect the firm’s worst trading day ever.

The U.S. and EU agreed to a framework trade deal in July last year, one which saw the Trump administration impose a blanket tariff of 15% on most EU goods, a significant reduction from Trump’s threat of 30% and almost halving the tariff rate on Europe’s auto sector from 27.5%.