CNBC

Revenue from sales of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses more than tripled year over year, EssilorLuxottica revealed Monday as part of the company's most recent earnings report. EssilorLuxottica said the success of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, built via a partnership with the Facebook parent stemming back to 2019, contributed to its first-half overall sales of 14.02 billion euro (US$16.25 billion), which represents a 7.3% year-over-year jump. "We are leading the transformation of glasses as the next computing platform, one where AI, sensory tech and a data-rich healthcare infrastructure will converge to empower humans and unlock our full potential," EssilorLuxottica CEO Francesco Milleri and deputy CEO Paul du Saillant said in a joint-statement. "The success of Ray-Ban Meta, the launch of Oakley Meta Performance AI glasses and the positive response to Nuance Audio are major milestones for us in this new frontier."

After spiraling from crisis to crisis over much of the past seven years, Boeing is stabilizing under CEO Kelly Ortberg’s leadership. But Ortberg still has challenges ahead of him, including with ramping up production of jets, which will require FAA approval. The FAA capped Boeing’s production at 38 Maxes a month, a rate that it has reached. To go beyond that, to a target of 42, Boeing will need the FAA’s blessing. Ortberg said this year that the company is stabilizing to go beyond that rate. Manufacturers get paid when aircraft are delivered, so higher production is key. Read more: cnb.cx/4fv3aaB

Normani “always knew” that she wanted to be on stage in some form of entertainment, she told CNBC at the Create & Cultivate Festival for women in business. “I didn’t necessarily know how, whether that would be music or television, but I always knew that I wanted to entertain in some form or fashion.”

If you're applying for a job at Chipotle, there's a good chance your first interaction will be with Ava. But Ava (full name 'Ava Cado') is not a a member of Chipotle's HR team or a store manager. Rather it's an conversational AI platform that can speak several languages, answer questions about the job and what working at Chipotle is like, and schedule interviews with (human) general managers. Technology like this is now being used to automate certain processes at thousands of companies like GM, Marriott, 7-Elevent and Ace Hardware, all in an effort to make hiring simpler and faster. That's the case so far at Chipotle, where hiring times have sped up from 12 days to roughly three and a half and the candidate pool is continuing to grow since Ava was rolled out last fall. https://lnkd.in/eYrvSJGd

Labubu is a $30 doll that has gone from a simple collectible to a viral, money-making sensation. See how it brought in the equivalent of $423 million U.S. in revenue for Beijing, China-based toy company Pop Mart in 2024: cnb.cx/474lYuR

The crypto market's bullishness may be tipping into speculative frenzy, if the latest MicroStrategy-style copycat is any indication. On Monday, a little-known Canadian vape company saw its stock surge on plans to enter the crypto treasury game – but this time with Binance Coin (BNB), the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market cap, excluding the dollar-pegged stablecoin Tether (USDT), according to CoinGecko. Shares of CEA Industries, which trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker VAPE, rocketed more than 800% at one point after the company announced its plans. CEA, along with investment firm 10X Capital and YZi Labs, said it would offer a $500 million private placement to raise proceeds to buy Binance Coin for its corporate treasury. Shares ended the session up nearly 550%, giving the company a market cap of about $48 million.

Social Security plays a big role in your retirement years, so fortunately, the number of states that tax the benefit isn't too big. It is important to note that even in these states, a portion of your Social Security benefits may be subject to federal income tax, depending on your income level. Learn more: cnb.cx/4mkr4Yy

The question of whether college students should take out federal or private student loans to pay for their education may have just gotten harder to answer. That's due to a number of changes in President Donald Trump's so-called "big beautiful bill" that will affect many current and future federal student loan borrowers. The bill undoes several of the reforms President Joe Biden made during his time in office, such as protections for defrauded borrowers. It also eliminates repayment options and benefits like economic hardship deferrals that predate the Biden administration.

The Trump Organization is seeking to prevent some online businesses from hawking counterfeit merchandise promoting President Donald Trump. In a lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Florida, the company accused unnamed merchants of selling "inferior imitations" of Trump-branded products on several online marketplaces, including Amazon, Walmart and eBay. The Trump Organization company, which is owned by Trump, sells a variety of branded merchandise through its website, including a gold T1 smartphone. The Trump Organization alleges the online merchants didn't license its trademarks and weren't authorized resellers of genuine merchandise.

Spirit Airlines said Monday that it will furlough 270 pilots this fall as the carrier prepares for a smaller off-season schedule to try to find its financial footing. The airline will also downgrade 140 pilots from captain to first officer, according to a note to aviators from the Air Line Pilots Association, their union. Those downgrades take effect on Oct. 1. Read more: cnb.cx/3IML4o1