5-milligram Mounjaro KwikPen injections (Peter Byrne/Getty Images)

Blockbuster drug sales power Big Pharma’s Q3 earnings as tariff fears fade

Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk and Pfizer are in an escalating bid-off for obesity biotech Metsera.

11/5/25 12:37PM

Drug sales, driven by blockbuster weight-loss and diabetes drugs, continued to impress Wall Street this earnings season as the pharmaceutical industry’s tariff fears start to fade.

Most major drugmakers reported earnings that beat the Street’s estimates, while tariffs seemed to be an afterthought. All the while, a bitter bid-off between two major players escalated as the reports rolled in.

This quarter solidified Eli Lilly’s dominance in the GLP-1 market. The company’s blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss medication, tirzepatide, which is sold under the brand names Mounjaro and Zepbound, was the most sold drug in the world this quarter — by a lot. The company reported earnings and sales that beat estimates.

“Of course, everybody would like to be in our position, but we’re focused on defending it and mostly just executing the play we have,” Lilly CEO David Ricks told analysts last week.

Novo Nordisk, which was first to the GLP-1 game, appears to have lost its thunder. Sales of the company’s diabetes and weight-loss shot — semaglutide, which is sold under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy — were flat quarter over quarter and about $2 billion less than Lilly’s competing shot. Novo reported earnings and sales that missed Wall Street estimates and lowered its guidance.

Meanwhile, pharma’s most lucrative frontier turned into a full-blown corporate drama.

Pfizer launched a legal battle this week against Novo for seeking to intercept its acquisition bid for Metsera, an obesity biotech working on a next-generation GLP-1 drug. Metsera said on Monday that both Novo and Pfizer had sweetened their bids for the company, but Novo’s was still superior to Pfizer’s. Novo’s bid is worth up to $10 billion, while Pfizer’s is worth up to $8.1 billion.

On Pfizer’s Tuesday earnings call, CEO Albert Bourla said Novo’s goal is not to develop Metsera’s products but to prevent them from reaching the market. “What they want is to cut and kill an emerging competitor,” he said. (Pfizer, which tried and failed to make its own obesity drug, reported earnings that beat expectations.)

Tariffs on pharmaceuticals, which have rattled drugmakers’ stocks this year, have now taken a back seat as the administration’s policy stance takes shape.

In September, Pfizer secured a three-year grace period from tariffs by committing to investing in US manufacturing and agreeing to sell its drugs at a discount to the government and through direct-to-consumer channels. Considering most Big Pharma companies have announced US investments this year and offer a DTC option on some drugs, it gave a clear pathway for drugmakers to strike similar deals.

The word “tariff” went largely unmentioned on drug companies’ earnings calls, especially compared to the last two quarters.

Merck, for one, said its 2025 outlook includes less than $100 million in costs related to tariffs. The company reported profits that beat estimates but sales that disappointed, including for its blockbuster cancer treatment, Keytruda.

Gilead — which unlike most of its peers, predominantly manufactures in the US — reported earnings and sales that beat Wall Street estimates, though its stock still took a dip on signs of cracks in the HIV drug business.

“We continue to expect the impact of known tariffs to be manageable in 2025,” Gilead’s chief financial officer, Andrew D. Dickinson, told analysts on October 30.

Tom Jones6/24/26

Prime Day is here again and Amazon’s subscription service has never been more popular

Well, it’s that time of year again: many have made their wish lists, people are scraping together the money they’ve saved to pick out a perfect gift, some are presumably leaving out refreshments for the weary delivery drivers and, more and more, drones.

It’s Amazon Prime Day — meaning that it’s the second day of the four-day promotional event that Amazon still calls Prime Day — of course, and it’s even come early this year, with the company bringing the period into late June from July, when it’s been traditionally held for the last five years.

The Prime Age

Alongside the eyes and endless clicks that the arbitrary stream of listicles on “The Best Prime Day Deals” that almost every media outlet pours into, Amazon will also be cheering the fact that there’s now more Prime users than ever before to devour the retailer and its sellers’ sometimes-contested “discounts.” Indeed, according to the latest annual estimates from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), there were just over 200 million American shoppers using Amazon’s massive subscription service at the end of 2025.

Max Knoblauch6/15/26

Electronic Arts launches a platform to put more ads in its games

Video game publishing giant EA launched a new platform on Monday designed to make the process of selling immersive ad space in its popular games easier.

The company says the platform, called EA Advertising, allows brands to “integrate directly into gameplay through dynamic, real-time placements, from stadium signage to custom in-game content.”

More so than other studios, EA has incorporated advertising into its most popular titles. As Kotaku points out, the company’s ad efforts stretch as far back as 2006. Several of its sports franchises already feature partnerships with brands like Visa, Lowe’s, Red Bull, and PepsiCo.

In-game advertising hasn’t exactly been embraced by fans, but industry experts expect it to ramp up as companies seek more revenue to offset higher games budgets and surging memory costs. EA rival Take-Two has taken a different approach, with CEO Strauss Zelnick recently saying the company was “not at risk of doing brand partnerships” in the forthcoming “Grand Theft Auto VI,” and that ads in full-price games seems “unfair.”

The $55 billion deal to take EA private, led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, is set to close at the end of this month. Being the largest leveraged buyout in history, EA will likely look for more ways to boost revenue to cover interest payments.

Electronic Arts Makes Push for Ad Dollars Tied to Sports

Millie Giles6/11/26

JM Smucker says it sold $1 billion worth of Uncrustables in FY2026

After years of booming sandwich sales, JM Smucker has finally earned a billion-dollar crust.

On Tuesday, the company reported results for fiscal year 2026, highlighting better-than-expected profits driven by higher prices for coffee and sweet baked goods. However, at another point on the earnings call, CEO Mark Smucker pointed to one particularly jammy figure: in line with previous forecasts, the company sold $1 billion worth of its (almost always) crustless sandwiches, Uncrustables, in the last year alone.

Max Knoblauch6/8/26

Paramount reportedly offers concessions to resolve multistate antitrust investigation

Paramount has reportedly offered up some concessions in an effort to prevent an antitrust lawsuit by California and about 10 other states, according to Bloomberg reporting on Monday.

Reuters first reported on the potential suit from a group of unnamed states last week, which could throw a wrench in Paramount’s plans to buy rival Warner Bros. Discovery in a Hollywood megamerger.

The list of concessions is unknown, though Bloomberg previously reported that Paramount is open to divesting some of its kids TV assets to appease EU regulators.

Late last month, reports said US regulators appeared likely to approve the $110 billion merger, following a meeting between Paramount CEO David Ellison and DOJ antitrust staffers.

Paramount Offers Concessions to Head Off State Antitrust Lawsuit

The list of concessions is unknown, though Bloomberg previously reported that Paramount is open to divesting some of its kids TV assets to appease EU regulators.

Late last month, reports said US regulators appeared likely to approve the $110 billion merger, following a meeting between Paramount CEO David Ellison and DOJ antitrust staffers.

$98B ⛽

Max Knoblauch6/8/26

The IATA released its latest financial outlook for the airline industry over the weekend, forecasting a $98 billion jump in the sector’s collective fuel bill. The world’s largest trade group representing airlines expects the oil spike to halve profits by 49% from last year to $23 billion.

The group also expects profit margins to halve year over year, falling from 2025’s 4.2% to 2%. Still, revenue is expected to climb to $1.17 trillion from $1.07 trillion.

A surge in the cost of jet fuel has rocked US and global airlines this year, leading Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, and others to raise fares and ancillary charges like bag fees. Low-cost carriers, which operate on smaller margins, have been squeezed the hardest, resulting in Spirit’s shutdown.

“It’s a tough year for all airlines, especially those whose balance sheets had not yet recovered from COVID. And, of course, for those operating in the Gulf,” said IATA Director General Willie Walsh, who added that demand is holding up and about half of passengers expect to spend more on travel this year. “That bodes well for a strong northern summer peak season. The big unknown is how long travelers and shippers can tolerate the higher costs of connectivity.”