Cracker Barrel tried to reassure customers Monday that its values have remained the same after it received criticism following a new logo reveal and general brand refresh.

The company promised customers in a statement that while its logo may be different, its values — “hard work, family, and scratch-cooked food made with care’ — are not.

“You’ve shown us that we could’ve done a better job sharing who we are and who we’ll always be,” the statement read, adding that Cracker Barrel will remain “a place where everyone feels at home, no matter where you’re from or where you’re headed.”

Last week, the company unveiled a new logo that no longer features a man leaning against a barrel or the words ‘Old Country Store.’ Instead, it featured the company’s name, in a color scheme that it said was inspired by the chain’s scrambled eggs and biscuits.

The change was part of a ‘strategic transformation’ that aimed to update the chain’s visual elements, spaces, food and retail offerings. The company’s shares are down about 8.5% since the reveal ignited criticism, especially from those in conservative circles.

Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, amplified a post Wednesday suggesting that the logo change was intended to erase the American traditions aspect of the branding and make it more general and lean into diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

On Monday, the chain also shared an update on the man in the original logo, Uncle Herschel, who is said is still featured on menus and road signs and in stores.

‘He’s not going anywhere — he’s family,’ the company said in the statement.

Cracker Barrel said its focuses remain country hospitality and generous portions of food at fair prices. The refresh, it said, was to ensure the restaurant will be there for the next generation.

‘That means showing up on new platforms and in new ways, but always with our heritage at the heart,’ it said.

‘We know we won’t always get everything right the first time, but we’ll keep testing, learning, and listening to our guests and employees.’

The U.S. government could take equity stakes in more companies, potentially through an American sovereign wealth fund, according to one of President Donald Trump’s top economic advisers.

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett made the comments Monday, days after the United States took a nearly 10% stake in Intel. The government secured a piece of the semiconductor maker with money intended for grants as part of the CHIPS and Science Act, passed during the Biden administration.

Speaking about the new Intel position, Hassett told CNBC: “It’s like a down payment on a sovereign wealth fund, which many countries have.” Governments throughout Europe, Asia and the Middle East use such funds to invest in companies and other financial assets.

The federal government has taken ownership stakes in private companies before, but only under extraordinary circumstances, such as during the global financial crisis of 2008.

Hassett said the Intel investment was a ‘very, very special circumstance because of the massive amount of CHIPS Act spending that was coming Intel’s way.’

He added: “So I’m sure that at some point there’ll be more transactions, if not in this industry, in other industries.’

The CHIPS Act was established as a way for the government to provide financing and capital to foreign and domestic companies that manufactured semiconductors and related products in the United States.

Americans and the American economy received the benefit of more than $200 billion in private capital investments since the act was signed into law, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Many companies also announced plans to create new U.S. manufacturing and construction jobs.

Hassett has said the money was ‘going out and disappearing into the ether.’

He has also said, ‘We’re absolutely not in the business of picking winners and losers.’ However, the United States is now Intel’s largest single shareholder. The administration has also taken a ‘golden share’ in U.S. Steel as part of approving its merger with Japan’s Nippon Steel. Trump also said he negotiated with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to take a 15% cut of the chipmaker’s revenue from some chips sold in China. He also has a similar deal with rival chipmaker AMD.

Later Monday, Trump said, ‘I want them to do well anyway, but I want them to do well in particular now.’

He added, ‘I hope I’m going to have many more cases like’ the Intel stake. Asked whether taking equity stakes in private companies was the new way of doing business in the United States, Trump responded: ‘So are tariffs.’

After Hassett’s interview, Trump said on Truth Social: ‘I PAID ZERO FOR INTEL, IT IS WORTH APPROXIMATELY 11 BILLION DOLLARS. All goes to the USA.’ He also said he would ‘help those companies that make such lucrative deals with the United States.’

It was unclear why Trump said the United States did not pay anything for the stake. The government purchased 433.3 million Intel shares at $20.47 each, which equates to $8.9 billion.

Trump has also pushed companies to change course on key products, such as when he pre-emptively announced that Coca-Cola would add cane sugar to an American version of its namesake product.

Trump has also threatened firms such as Amazon, Mattel, Hasbro and Walmart with retaliation for hiking prices as a result of his sweeping global tariff regime.

Trump intervention in private industry has sparked widespread criticism, some of it from Republicans. Trump’s former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, a former Boeing board member, said on X: ‘Intel will become a test case of what not to do.’

After the CNBC interview, NBC News asked Hassett about setting up a sovereign wealth fund.

‘As we acquire things like Intel, then there’s sort of a question of where it goes and it’s held by the U.S. Treasury. And if the U.S. Treasury has more of that stuff, that is starting to look like [a] sovereign wealth fund, whether an official sovereign wealth fund is established is another question,’ he said.

‘But it’s not unprecedented for the U.S. to own equity’ in private companies, he added.

The United States took equity stakes in private companies during the global financial meltdown of 2008 and 2009.

Then, it bought troubled assets and took equity stakes in the likes of JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Bank of America, AIG and other systemically important firms to stabilize the global financial system.

Trump has expanded his power over the business world, fueled by his view that the U.S. economy is like ‘a department store, and we set the price.’

‘I meet with the companies, and then I set a fair price, what I consider to be a fair price, and they can pay it, or they don’t have to pay it,’ Trump said in an April interview.

Keurig Dr Pepper said Monday it will buy Peet’s Coffee owner JDE Peet’s in a deal worth about $18 billion (15.7 billion euro).

When the acquisition is complete, the company plans to split into two separate companies, one focused on coffee and the other focused on beverages including Dr Pepper, Canada Dry, 7Up and energy drinks.

The coffee business will have about $16 billion in combined sales and the beverage business about $11 billion.

“Through the complementary combination of Keurig and JDE Peet’s, we are seizing an exceptional opportunity to create a global coffee giant,” said Tim Cofer, Keurig Dr Pepper’s CEO.

In addition to Peet’s, Amsterdam-based JDE Peet’s brands include L’OR, Jacobs, Douwe Egberts, Kenco, Pilao, OldTown, Super and Moccona.

Once the two companies are separated, Cofer will become CEO of the beverage business, which will be based in Frisco, Texas, and Keurig Dr Pepper CFO Sudhanshu Priyadarshi will lead the coffee business, which will be located in Burlington, Mass., with its international headquarters in Amsterdam.

From American Eagle to Swatch, brands appear to be making a lot of blunders lately.

When actress Sydney Sweeney’s jeans campaign came out last month, critics lambasted the wordplay of good “jeans” and “genes” as tone deaf with nefarious undertones.

More recently, an advert from Swiss watchmaker Swatch sparked backlash for featuring an Asian model pulling the corners of his eyes, in an offensive gesture.

Colgate-Palmolive’s ad for Sanex shower gel was banned in the U.K. for problematic suggestions about Black and white skin tones. And consumers derided Cracker Barrel’s decision to ditch its overalls-clad character for a more simplistic text-based logo as “sterile,” “soulless,” and “woke.”

The new Cracker Barrel logo.Wyatte Grantham-Philips / AP

Meanwhile, recent product launches from Adidas and Prada have raised allegations of cultural appropriation.

That has reignited the debate about when an ad campaign is effective and when it’s just plain offensive, as companies confront increased consumer scrutiny.

“Each brand had its own blind spot,” David Brier, brand specialist and author of “Brand intervention” and “Rich brand, poor brand” told CNBC via email.

He noted, however, that too many brands are attempting to respond to consumers with an outdated playbook.

“Modern brands are trying to navigate cultural complexity with corporate simplicity. They’re using 1950s boardroom thinking to solve 2025 human problems,” he continued.

“These aren’t sensitivity failures. They’re empathy failures. They viewed culture as something to navigate around rather than understand deeply.”

Some companies have had success in tapping into the zeitgeist — and, in some cases, seizing on other brands’ shortcomings.

Gap, for instance, this week sought to counter backlash against Sweeney’s advertisement with a campaign in which pop group Katseye lead a diverse group of dancers performing in denim against a white backdrop.

Brier said companies should consider how they can genuinely connect with consumers and be representative, rather than simply trying to avoid offense.

“No brand can afford to fake understanding. No brand can ‘committee its way’ to connection. No brand can focus-group its way to authenticity. In 2025, customers can smell the difference from a mile away,” he added.

Nevertheless, ads are meant to spark conversation, and at a time when grabbing and maintaining consumers’ attention — and share of wallet — is increasingly difficult, brands have a fine balance to tread.

“Brands live and die by standing out and grabbing attention. On top of that, iconic and culturally relevant brands want to stand for something and be recognized for it. Those are tough asks,” Jonathan A.J. Wilson, professor of brand strategy and culture at Regent’s University London.

In an age of social media and with ever more divided public opinions, landing one universal message can be difficult, Wilson noted. For as long as that remains the case, some brands may still see value in taking a calculated risk.

“It’s hard to land one universal message, and even if you try and tailor your message to various groups, others are watching,” he said.

“Controversy grabs attention and puts you at the front of people’s minds. It splits crowds and forces people to have a decision when otherwise they probably wouldn’t care. That can lead to disproportionate publicity, which could be converted into sales.”

Summer camp: It’s for munching on s’mores, seizing victory in tug-of-war and making lifelong friends.

For this group of successful businesswomen, though, it’s also about trading tactical advice about managing boards of directors and selling companies. And fighting to get a piece of an investment world dominated by men.

Welcome to Camp Female Founders Fund, a coastal oasis in Montauk, New York, on eastern Long Island, where female business leaders broaden their networks, share their struggles and triumphs and have some fun.

The Trump administration said Friday that it had taken a 10% stake in Intel, the president’s latest extraordinary move to exert federal government control over private business.

The United States will not seek direct representation on Intel’s board and pledged to vote with the current Board of Directors on matters requiring shareholder approval, ‘with limited exceptions,’ according to a joint release from the Trump administration and Intel. The move also comes as the United States vies with China in the race to dominate the artificial intelligence industry.

President Donald Trump announced the deal on his Truth Social platform Friday, praising the company’s CEO just two weeks after he called on the executive to resign over alleged China ties.

‘It is my Great Honor to report that the United States of America now fully owns and controls 10% of INTEL, a Great American Company that has an even more incredible future,’ he wrote. ‘I negotiated this Deal with Lip-Bu Tan, the Highly Respected Chief Executive Officer of the Company. The United States paid nothing for these Shares, and the Shares are now valued at approximately $11 Billion Dollars. This is a great Deal for America and, also, a great Deal for INTEL. Building leading edge Semiconductors and Chips, which is what INTEL does, is fundamental to the future of our Nation.’

While the U.S. held temporary stakes in firms at the center of the 2008-2009 global financial meltdown as part of a bailout, this move is unusual since the economy is not embroiled in a crisis. Congress published a study in 2003 that examined the impact of the federal government taking direct stakes in public companies, concluding that doing so would “not offer a free lunch” and expose taxpayers to “greater risk” alongside the upside potential.

The stake will be paid for through $5.7 billion in grants previously awarded to Intel under the 2022 U.S. CHIPS and Science Act, plus $3.2 billion awarded to the company as part of a program called Secure Enclave. It’s a formerly classified initiative that Congress appropriated funds for in 2024 after lobbying by Intel, Politico reported in 2024.

Including $2.2 billion in CHIPs grants Intel has received so far, the total investment is $11.1 billion, or 9.9%. Intel is valued at about $108 billion on the stock market.

Trump continues to bulldoze through long-held norms regarding government and business, departing from the free-market ethos that has long prevailed in both major U.S. political parties.

This month, Trump persuaded the chipmakers Nvidia and AMD to pay the U.S. government 15% of their revenues from some sales to China in return for securing export licenses there.

While those firms have seen their fortunes rise amid the larger artificial intelligence boom, a windfall from any of them is no sure thing. In the case of California-based Intel, the company has struggled to keep up with rivals in recent years, with its shares down some 60% from the highs seen during the pandemic.

But amid the ongoing artificial intelligence arms race — and the goal of making computer chips a national security priority — Trump officials zeroed in on Intel as a means of leveling up U.S. control over semiconductor production.

Earlier this week, Japan’s SoftBank also announced it would invest $2 billion in Intel to “deepen their commitment to investing in advanced technology and semiconductor innovation in the United States.’

Some Democrats signaled they were on board with the move.

‘U.S. leadership is critical for both our economy and national security,’ U.S. Senator Mark Warner, D-Virginia, said in a statement Friday evening.

‘Taking an equity stake in Intel may or may not be the right approach, but one thing is clear: allowing cutting-edge chips to flow to China without restraint will erode the value of any investment we make here at home. We need a strategy that protects American innovation, strengthens our workforce, and keeps the technologies of the future firmly in American hands.’

ROCHESTER, Minnesota, Aug 22 (Reuters) – U.S. farmers will harvest a record corn crop in 2025 after ideal weather across much of the Midwest this summer, but the bounty will fall short of the U.S. government’s lofty outlook as pockets of plant disease and heat stress dented yields in spots across the farm belt, crop consultancy Pro Farmer said on Friday.

Growers are also expected to reap a bumper soybean crop, although dry conditions in parts of the eastern Midwest and pockets of disease pressure in Iowa may limit yield potential, Pro Farmer said after its annual four-day tour across seven top-producing states this week.

The United States is the world’s top corn exporter and No. 2 soybean exporter, and favorable weather in most of the main growing states supported crops but pushed futures prices to recent multi-year lows.

The warm and wet conditions that fueled crop growth also fostered fungal diseases such as tar spot, southern rust and northern blight in corn, and sudden death syndrome in soybeans.

“Each day we’ve noted the disease pressure in corn. Tar spot, southern rust more widespread than we’ve ever seen before. Those are going to be some real yield robbers,” said Lane Akre, Pro Farmer economist and one of the leaders of the tour’s eastern leg.

Pro Farmer projected 2025 U.S. corn production at a record 16.204 billion bushels, with an average yield of 182.7 bushels per acre, and soybean production at 4.246 billion bushels, with an average yield of 53.0 bpa.

The outlook is below the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest forecast for corn production at a record 16.742 billion bushels with yields averaging 188.8 bpa, and soybean production at 4.292 billion bushels with record average yields of 53.6 bpa.

Crop scouts on the Pro Farmer tour saw more disease-hit fields than normal across the Midwest farm belt this week, although it is not yet clear whether these diseases will blow up into significant yield loss.

At one stop in northwest Illinois, the corn field appeared healthy and green from the roadside, but 30 to 40 steps in, leaves were streaked with rust, leaving crop scouts covered in color. Overhead, bright yellow crop dusters banked low as they sprayed wide white plumes of fungicide.

Jake Guse, a Minnesota row crop farmer and crop scout on the eastern leg of the tour, said disease levels were the worst and most widespread that many crop scouts had ever seen on the tour.

“As we traveled across Indiana, we started seeing more (disease). In Illinois, started getting bad — and it was all over Iowa,” Guse said of three of the largest producing states.

However, crop scouts also found exceptional yield prospects that could help cushion any disease-related yield decline.

The strong production prospects may not be welcome news to farmers, who are facing a third straight year of declining corn prices due to excess supplies and only a modest improvement in soybean prices, according to USDA data.

Production costs remain high while trade tensions with key markets like China, the top soybean importer, have left demand uncertain.

While the USDA is forecasting that the nation’s farm economy will improve in 2025, that boost will largely come from a massive influx of federal funding the Trump administration plans to send to rural America, according to USDA data.

Corn and soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade firmed this week as reports from the crop tour suggested that recent USDA harvest forecasts may be too high.

The benchmark CBOT December corn contract CZ25 ended the week up 1.5%, its first weekly gain in a week in five weeks, while November soybeans SX25 also rose 1.5% and hit a one-month high.

Shares of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store plummeted roughly 10% on Thursday after the restaurant unveiled its new logo earlier this week as part of a larger brand refresh.

The new logo removes the image of a man leaning against a barrel that was prominently featured in the original, leaving behind just the words Cracker Barrel against a yellow background. The phrase “old country store” has also been removed.

The company said the colors in the logo were inspired by the chain’s scrambled eggs and biscuits.

Cracker Barrel’s new logo.Cracker Barrel

The change is part of a “strategic transformation” to revitalize the brand that started back in May 2024. Under that mission, Cracker Barrel’s brand refresh includes updates to visual elements, restaurant spaces and food and retail offerings.

Cracker Barrel said in March that the refresh will still maintain the brand’s “rich history of country hospitality” and “authentic charm that has made the brand a beloved destination for generations of families.”

“We believe in the goodness of country hospitality, a spirit that has always defined us. Our story hasn’t changed. Our values haven’t changed,” Chief Marketing Officer Sarah Moore said in a media release.

However, many social media users have criticized the new logo, especially those in conservative circles. The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., amplified a post on Wednesday suggesting that the logo change was led by CEO Julie Felss Masino to erase the American tradition aspect of the branding and make it more general, as a way of leaning into diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

Conservative activist Robby Starbuck added his commentary on Thursday, writing in a post on X, “Good morning @CrackerBarrel! You’re about to learn that wokeness really doesn’t pay.”

The company has a relatively small market cap of about $1.2 billion compared with other restaurant chains.

Customers have also complained on social media about the interior redesign of many Cracker Barrel restaurants, saying that the new decor favors a more sterile and modern style over its tried-and-true country feel.

On the restaurant’s latest earnings call in June, Masino said Cracker Barrel had completed 20 remodels and 20 refreshes. She said the company will be sharing more information about the remodeling initiative in September.

“Employees had given us great feedback about working in those newly remodeled and refreshed stores and guests continue to tell us that they’re lighter, brighter, more welcoming and they’re enjoying them,” Masino said on the call.

Cracker Barrel is not the only stock to see large swings based on political social media posts.

Earlier this month, shares of American Eagle soared after Trump posted that an ad featuring Sydney Sweeney, which faced significant social media pushback from the left, was “the ‘HOTTEST’ ad out there.”

Back in 2023, Anheuser-Busch InBev faced heavy criticism from conservatives after a collaboration between Bud Light and social influencer Dylan Mulvaney, who is transgender.

Walmart on Thursday raised its full-year earnings and sales outlook as its online business posted another quarter of double-digit gains, even as the company said costs are rising from higher tariffs.

The big-box retailer topped Wall Street’s quarterly sales estimates but fell short of earnings expectations, the first time it missed on quarterly earnings since May 2022. The company said it felt pressure on profits for the period, including from some one-time expenses, such as restructuring costs, pricier insurance claims and litigation settlements.

Walmart said it now expects net sales to grow 3.75% to 4.75% for the fiscal year, up from its previous expectations of 3% to 4%. It raised its adjusted earnings per share outlook slightly to $2.52 to $2.62, up from a prior range of $2.50 to $2.60 per share.

In an interview with CNBC, Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said the company is working hard to keep prices low — including speeding up imports from overseas and stepping up the number of Rollbacks, or limited-time discounts, in its stores.

“This is managed on an item-by-item and category-by-category basis,” he said. “There are certainly areas where we have fully absorbed the impact of higher tariff costs. There are other areas where we’ve had to pass some of those costs along.”

But he added “tariff-impacted costs are continuing to drift upwards.”

Even so, Rainey said Walmart hasn’t seen a change in customer spending. For example, sales of private label items, which typically cost less than national brands, were roughly flat year over year, he said.

“Everyone is looking to see if there are any creaks in the armor or anything that’s happening with the consumer, but it’s been very consistent,” he said. “They continue to be very resilient.”

Yet on the company’s earnings call, CEO Doug McMillon said middle- and lower-income households have been more sensitive to tariff-related price increases, particularly in discretionary categories.

“We see a corresponding moderation in units at the item level as customers switch to other items, or in some cases, categories,” he said.

Here’s what the big-box reported for the fiscal second quarter compared with what Wall Street expected, according to a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Walmart shares fell about 2% in premarket trading Thursday.

Walmart’s net income jumped to $7.03 billion, or 88 cents per share, in the three-month period that ended July 31, compared with $4.50 billion, or 56 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue rose from $169.34 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Comparable sales for Walmart U.S. climbed 4.6% in the second quarter, excluding fuel, compared with the year-ago period, as both the grocery and health and wellness category saw strong growth. That was higher than the 4% increase that analysts expected. The industry metric, also called same-store sales, includes sales from stores and clubs open for at least a year.

At Sam’s Club, comparable sales jumped 5.9% excluding fuel, higher than the 5.2% that analysts anticipated.

E-commerce sales jumped 25% globally and 26% in the U.S., as both online purchases and advertising grew. In the U.S., Walmart said sales through store-fulfilled delivery of groceries and other items grew nearly 50% year over year, with one-third of those orders expedited. The company charges a fee for some of those faster deliveries, and others are included as a benefit of its subscription-based membership program, Walmart+.

Its global advertising business grew 46% year over year, including Vizio, the smart TV maker it acquired for $2.3 billion last year. Its U.S. advertising business, Walmart Connect, grew by 31%.

As Walmart’s online business drums up more revenue from home deliveries, advertising and commissions from sellers on its third-party marketplace, e-commerce has become a profitable business. The company marked a milestone in May — posting its first profitable quarter for its e-commerce business in the U.S. and globally.

Rainey said on Thursday that Walmart doubled its e-commerce profitability in the fiscal second quarter from the prior quarter.

In the U.S., shoppers both visited Walmart more and spent more on those trips during the quarter. Customer transactions rose 1.5% year over year and average ticket increased 3.1% for Walmart’s U.S. business.

As the largest U.S. retailer, Walmart offers a unique window into the financial health of American households. As higher duties have come in fits and starts — with some getting delayed and others going into effect earlier this month — Wall Street has tried to understand how those costs will ripple through the U.S. economy.

Walmart warned in May that it would have to raise some prices due to higher levies on imports, even with its size and scale. The company’s comments drew the ire of President Donald Trump, who said in a social media post that Walmart should “EAT THE TARIFFS.”

About a third of what Walmart sells in the U.S. comes from other parts of the world, with China, Mexico, Canada, Vietnam and India representing its largest markets for imports, Rainey said in May.

According to an analysis by CNBC of about 50 items sold by the retailer, some of those price changes have already hit shelves. Items that rose in price at Walmart over the summer included a frying pan, a pair of jeans and a car seat.

Rainey on Thursday declined to specify items or categories where Walmart had increased prices, saying the company is “trying to keep prices as low as we can.”

He said one of the company’s strategies has been bringing in inventory early, particularly for Sam’s Club as it gets ready for the second half of the fiscal year and its crucial holiday season. At the end of the quarter, inventory was up about 3.5% at Sam’s Club, Rainey said. It was up 2.2% for Walmart U.S.

On the company’s earnings call, McMillon said the impact of tariffs has been “gradual enough that any behavioral adjustments by the customer have been somewhat muted.”

“But as we replenish inventory at post-tariff price levels, we’ve continued to see our costs increase each week, which we expect will continue into the third and fourth quarters,” he said.

Yet even with higher costs from tariffs, Walmart has fared better than its retail competitors as it has leaned into its reputation for value, competed on faster deliveries to customers’ homes and attracted more business from higher-income households.

The Arkansas-based retailer’s performance has diverged sharply from rival Target, which posted another quarter of sales declines on Wednesday and named the new CEO who will be tasked with trying to turn around the company.

Walmart has gained from Target’s struggles. It has followed the Target playbook by launching more exclusive and trend-driven brands, including grocery brand BetterGoods and activewear brand Love & Sports. It has also expanded its third-party marketplace to include prestige beauty brands and more.

Sales of general merchandise, items outside of the grocery department, were a bright spot for Walmart in the fiscal second quarter, Rainey said. That category struggled during peak inflation in recent years, as consumers spent less on discretionary items because of rising grocery bills.

Comparable sales for general merchandise rose by a low-single-digit percentage and accelerated throughout the quarter, Rainey told CNBC. He added clothing and fashion sales “really shined for us.”

NORTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. — The winged passenger ferry gliding over the surface of Narragansett Bay could be a new method of coastal transportation or a new kind of warship.

Its maker, Regent Craft, is betting on both.

Twelve quietly buzzing propellers line the 65-foot wingspan of Paladin, a sleek ship with an airplane’s nose. It looks nothing like the sailboats and fishing trawlers it speeds past through New England’s largest estuary.

“We had this vision five years ago for a seaglider — something that is as fast as an aircraft and as easy to drive as a boat,” said CEO Billy Thalheimer, jubilant after an hours-long test run of the new vessel.

On a cloudy August morning, Thalheimer sat in the Paladin’s cockpit and, for the first time, took control of his company’s prototype craft to test its hydrofoils. The electric-powered watercraft has three modes — float, foil and fly.

Billy Thalheimer, CEO and co-founder of REGENT, gestures after piloting the Viceroy Seaglider, a winged passenger ferry, following a test run on Narragansett Bay on Aug. 6.Charles Krupa / AP

From the dock, it sets off like any motorized boat. Farther away from land, it rises up on hydrofoils — the same kind used by sailing ships that compete in America’s Cup. The foils enable it to travel more than 50 miles per hour — and about a person’s height — above the bay.

What makes this vessel so unusual is that it’s designed to soar about 30 feet above the water at up to 180 miles per hour — a feat that hasn’t quite happened yet, with the first trial flights off Rhode Island’s seacoast planned for the end of summer or early fall.

If successful, the Paladin will coast on a cushion of air over Rhode Island Sound, lifting with the same “ground effect” that pelicans, cormorants and other birds use to conserve energy as they swiftly glide over the sea. It could zoom to New York City — which takes at least three hours by train and longer on traffic-clogged freeways — in just an hour.

As it works to prove its seaworthiness to the U.S. Coast Guard and other regulators around the world, Regent is already lining up future customers for commercial ferry routes around Florida, Hawaii, Japan and the Persian Gulf.

Regent is also working with the U.S. Marines to repurpose the same vessels for island-hopping troops in the Pacific. Those vessels would likely trade electric battery power for jet fuel to cover longer journeys.

With backing from influential investors including Peter Thiel and Mark Cuban, Thalheimer says he’s trying to use new technology to revive the “comfort and refined nature” of 1930s-era flying boats that were popular in aviation’s golden age before they were eclipsed by commercial airlines.

This time, Thalheimer added, they’re safer, quieter and emission-free.

“I thought they made travel easier in a way that made total sense to me,” Cuban said by email this week. “It’s hard to travel around water for short distances. It’s expensive and a hassle. Regent can solve this problem and make that travel fun, easy and efficient.”

Co-founders and friends Thalheimer, a skilled sailor, and chief technology officer Mike Klinker, who grew up lobster fishing, met while both were freshmen at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later worked together at Boeing. They started Regent in 2020.

They’ve already tested and flown a smaller model. But the much bigger, 12-passenger Paladin — prototype of a product line called Viceroy — began foil testing this summer after years of engineering research and development. A manufacturing facility is under construction nearby, with the vessels set to carry passengers by 2027.

The International Maritime Organization classifies “wing-in-ground-effect” vehicles such as Regent’s as ships, not aircraft. But a database of civilian ships kept by the London-based organization lists only six around the world, all of them built before it issued new safety guidance on such craft in 2018 following revisions sought by China, France and Russia.

The IMO says it treats them as marine vessels because they operate in the vicinity of other watercraft and must use the same rules for avoiding collisions. The Coast Guard takes a similar approach.

“You drive it like a boat,” Thalheimer said. “If there’s any traffic on the harbor, you’ll see it on the screen. If you see a boat, you’d go around it. We’re never flying over boats or anything like that.”

The REGENT Viceroy Seaglider on a test run on Aug. 6.Charles Krupa / AP

One of the biggest technical challenges in Regent’s design is the shift from foiling to flying. Hydrofoils are fast for a seafaring vessel, but far slower than the speeds needed to lift a conventional airplane from a runway.

That’s where air blown by the 12 propellers comes in, effectively tricking the wing into generating high lift at low speeds.

All of this has worked perfectly on the computer simulations at Regent’s headquarters in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. The next step is testing it over the water.

For decades, the only warship known to mimic such a ground-effect design was the Soviet Union’s hulking ekranoplan, which was built to fly under radar detection but never widely used. Recently, however, social media images of an apparent Chinese military ekranoplan have caught the attention of naval experts amid increasingly tense international disputes in the South China Sea.

Regent has capitalized on those concerns, pitching its gliders to the U.S. government as a new method for carrying troops and cargo across island chains in the Indo-Pacific region. It could also do clandestine intelligence collection, anti-submarine warfare and be a “mothership” for small drones, autonomous watercraft or medical evacuations, said Tom Huntley, head of Regent’s government relations and defense division.

They fly below radar and above sonar, which makes them “really hard to see,” Huntley said.

While the U.S. military has shown increasing interest, questions remain about their detectability, as well as their stability in various sea states and wind conditions, and their “cost at scale beyond a few prototypes and maintainability,” said retired U.S. Navy Capt. Paul S. Schmitt, an associate research professor at the Naval War College, across the bay in Newport, Rhode Island.

Schmitt, who has seen Paladin from afar while sailing, said he also has questions about what kind of military mission would fit Regent’s “relatively short range and small transport capacity.”

The possibilities that most excite Cuban and other Regent backers are commercial.

Driving Interstate 95 through all the cities that span Florida’s Atlantic Coast can take the better part of a day, which is one reason why Regent is pitching Miami as a hub for its coastal ferry trips.

The Viceroy seagliders can already carry more passengers than the typical seaplane or helicopter, but a growing number of electric hydrofoil startups, such as Sweden’s Candela and California-based Navier, are trying to stake out ferry routes around the world.

Thalheimer sees his vehicles as more of a complement than a competitor to electric hydrofoils that can’t travel as fast, since they will all use the same docks and charging infrastructure but could specialize in different trip lengths.