ReportWire

Tag: Markets/Marketing

  • Swiss Watch Exports Continue on Downward Trend in U.S. Tariff Fallout

    Exports of Swiss watches remained on a declining trend in October, driven by a sharp decrease in the U.S. as tariffs continue to take a toll.

    Total exports of Swiss timepieces dropped 4.4% in October compared with the same period last year to 2.24 billion Swiss francs ($2.78 billion), according to data published Thursday by the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, or FH.

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

    Andrea Figueras

    Source link

  • U.S. Agrees to Cut Switzerland Tariffs to 15% in Trade Deal

    The U.S. has reached a deal to reduce the crippling 39% import tariffs on Switzerland to 15%, easing a growing burden on the Alpine country’s export-dependent economy and the steepest tariff the Trump administration had imposed on a developed nation.

    “We’ve essentially reached a [trade] deal with Switzerland,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Friday on CNBC. “They are going to send a lot of their manufacturing to the United States—pharmaceuticals, gold smelting, railway equipment.”

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

    Georgi Kantchev

    Source link

  • U.S. to Cut Tariffs on Bananas, Coffee and Other Goods From Four Countries

    The U.S. plans to eliminate tariffs on bananas, coffee, beef and certain apparel and textile products under framework agreements with four Latin American nations, a senior administration official told reporters Thursday.

    The expected move—which would apply to some goods from Ecuador, Argentina, El Salvador and Guatemala—is part of a shift from the Trump administration to water down some of its so-called reciprocal tariffs in the midst of rising prices for consumers, as well as legal uncertainty after a Supreme Court hearing this month.

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

    Gavin Bade

    Source link

  • Chips Held Hostage in Trade War Start Flowing Again to Auto Suppliers

    Nexperia microchips are leaving China again, easing a shortage of simple but ubiquitous parts that threatened to paralyze the auto industry.

    German automotive supplier Aumovio, which was recently spun out of tire giant Continental, said Friday that the Sino-Dutch company’s semiconductors and components containing them were on their way from China to Aumovio’s distribution hub in Hungary.

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

    Stephen Wilmot

    Source link

  • How China’s Chokehold on Drugs, Chips and More Threatens the U.S.

    BEIJING—China has demonstrated it can weaponize its control over global supply chains by constricting the flow of critical rare-earth minerals. President Trump went to the negotiating table when the lack of Chinese materials threatened American production, and he reached a truce last week with Chinese leader Xi Jinping that both sides say will ease the flow of rare earths.

    But Beijing’s tools go beyond these critical minerals. Three other industries where China has a chokehold—lithium-ion batteries, mature chips and pharmaceutical ingredients—give an idea of what the U.S. would need to do to free itself fully from vulnerability. 

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

    Yoko Kubota

    Source link

  • What to Know About Trump’s Latest Tariffs

    President Trump’s tariff policies have taken numerous twists and turns this year.

    He and President Xi Jinping reached a trade agreement that will see the U.S. lowering tariffs on Chinese imports imposed this year to 20%. When added to tariffs imposed on Chinese imports during Trump’s first term, overall U.S. duties on Chinese imports will total around 47%.

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

    Chao Deng

    Source link

  • Trump Says He Will Raise Tariffs on Canada by 10% Over Ontario Ad

    The U.S. will impose an additional 10% tariff on Canada, President Trump said on Saturday, a punitive measure in response to an ad campaign that he said misrepresented comments by former President Ronald Reagan.

    “Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Saturday.

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

    Gavin Bade

    Source link

  • Broadcom Gets a Stock-Target Increase. Analyst Thinks Anthropic Is a Big, New Customer.

    Broadcom Gets a Stock-Target Increase. Analyst Thinks Anthropic Is a Big, New Customer.

    Source link

  • China Tightens Grip on Rare Earths Ahead of Expected Trump-Xi Meeting

    SINGAPORE—China tightened its control over critical minerals used to make high-tech products including electric vehicles and jet fighters, threatening to reignite trade tensions with the U.S. ahead of an expected meeting between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

    China’s Commerce Ministry said Thursday that foreign suppliers must obtain approval from Beijing to export some products with certain rare-earth materials originating from China if they account for 0.1% or more of the good’s total value. Goods produced with certain technologies from China are also subject to the export controls. Both restrictions apply to products manufactured outside of China.

    Copyright ©2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

    Hannah Miao

    Source link

  • Import prices climb 0.8% in January, up 0.7% minus fuel

    Import prices climb 0.8% in January, up 0.7% minus fuel

    Story developing. Stay tuned for updates here.

    …

    Master your money.

    Subscribe to MarketWatch.

    Get this article and all of MarketWatch.

    Access from any device. Anywhere. Anytime.


    Subscribe Now

    Source link

  • What Biden’s decision to pause new U.S. LNG exports means for the energy market

    What Biden’s decision to pause new U.S. LNG exports means for the energy market


    The Biden administration’s announcement Friday that it’s pausing liquefied natural gas export approvals sparked political backlash, drew cheers from climate activists and stoked uncertainty in energy markets, but is unlikely to see the U.S. give up its title as the world’s top LNG exporter.

    The U.S. will delay its decisions on new LNG exports to non-free trade agreement countries, allowing time for the Energy Department to update the underlying analyses for LNG export authorizations, the White House said.

    Those analyses are roughly five years old and “no longer adequately account for considerations” such as potential cost increases for American consumers and manufacturers or the “latest assessment of the impact of greenhouse gas emissions,” it said.

    The Biden administration likely “realizes the role of LNG in foreign policy, but at the same time it needs to show the Democrat base that it is doing something for climate change,” said Anas Alhajji, an independent energy expert and managing partner at Energy Outlook Advisors, pointing out that the announcement comes during a presidential election year.

    “Delaying one project or stopping it may not be a big deal, but it is a problem if it becomes a trend,” he said in emailed commentary.

    Environmental groups, which have pushed for action, cheered the decision.

    The 12 impacted projects in the U.S. “would spew out as much climate-warming pollution as 223 coal plants per year, and they present explosion risks to the communities where they’re located and emit other health-harming chemicals,” the Sierra Club, an environmental group, said in a statement welcoming the decision.

    Top exporter

    The announcement is particularly important for a nation that became the world’s biggest LNG exporter in the span of less than a decade.

    The U.S. became the world’s largest LNG exporter during the first half of 2022 on the back of increases in LNG export capacity, international natural gas and LNG prices, and global demand, particularly in Europe, according to the Energy Information Administration.

    Less than a decade ago, U.S. LNG exports were negligible. The country had only started exporting LNG from the Lower 48 states in 2016, the EIA said.

    The country’s exports of LNG climbed to a fresh record in November 2023, with the EIA reporting domestic exports of 386.2 billion cubic feet, up from 384.4 bcf a month earlier. Exports in December 2016 were at just 41.8 bcf.

    U.S. LNG exports soared after 2016.


    EIA

    With 90% of U.S. LNG going to non-free trade agreement destinations, withholding licensing effectively “halts project development,” John Miller, managing director, ESG and sustainability policy at TD Cowen wrote in a Friday note.

    Equities

    LNG equities with operating facilities likely won’t benefit from the administration’s announcement, at least not immediately, until the impacts of this pause in export approvals to non-FTA countries becomes more clear, Jason Gabelman, director, sustainability & energy transition at TD Cowen said.

    U.S. companies with government approvals that have not been sanctioned, “could have a higher probability of moving forward this year, albeit modestly” as offtakers may be hesitant to sign up to new U.S. projects with LNG development getting “politicized,” he said. Among those, he pointed out approvals for proposed liquefaction units at NextDecade Corp.’s
    NEXT,
    +2.30%
    Rio Grande LNG export facility project in Brownsville, Texas.

    At the same time, it would not be a surprise if U.S. LNG companies pursuing growth that do not yet have non-FTA approval see downside pressure, said Gabelman.

    LNG projects take around 4 years to build and any delays to project sanctions today will take “multiple years to manifest in the market,” he said.

    Still, the U.S. announcement “introduces the risk of more stringent oversight that could limit new U.S. capacity” more than four years out, Gabelman said.

    Companies that supply equipment to LNG liquefaction projects include Baker Hughes Co.
    BKR,
    +0.59%
    and Chart Industries Inc.
    GTLS,
    -7.54%    ,
    said Marc Bianchi, a senior energy analyst at TD Cowen.

    Any slowing of approval would create “overhand on order growth,” he said.

    Climate change

    The White House said Friday that its decision will not impact the ability of the U.S. to continue supplying LNG to its allies in the near term but also acknowledged environmental concerns.

    “I think we’ve got to be clear eyed about the challenges that we face. The climate crisis is an existential crisis, and we’ve got to be, I think, really forward leaning into making sure that we’re taking that head on,” said Ali Zaidi, the White House national climate adviser, told reporters Friday.

    He added that given the number of approvals already completed, the number of projects under construction are set to double existing capacity with approvals beyond that set to double capacity yet again.

    “So there’s a long runway here, and we’re taking a step back and thinking, OK, let’s take a hard look before that runway continues to build out,” he said.

    Rob Thummel, senior portfolio manager at Tortoise, argued that U.S. LNG exports actually reduce global carbon emissions as natural gas typically “displaces coal to generate electricity in countries such as China and India.”

    They also improve global energy security as U.S. natural gas is becoming Europe’s primary energy supplier, replacing Russia, he said.

    In a statement Friday, Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat and chairman of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said that if the Biden administration has facts to prove that additional LNG export capacity would hurt Americans, it needs to make that information public. But if the pause is “another political ploy to pander to keep-it-in-the-ground climate activists,” he said he would “do everything in my power to end this pause immediately.

    Manchin plans to hold a hearing on the decision in the coming weeks.

    Market impact

    The U.S. decision to delay new LNG export permits is unlikely to have an impact on domestic natural-gas supplies or prices, said Energy Outlook Advisors’ Alhajji.

    Still, the EIA noted in its Annual Energy Outlook released in March of last year that it remains uncertain as to how LNG export capacity will affect domestic prices, consumption and supply.

    LNG prices and the rate at which new LNG export terminals can be constructed help determine LNG export volumes, the EIA said, and higher LNG exports can result in upward pressure on U.S. natural-gas prices, while lower U.S. LNG exports can pressure prices.

    On Friday, natural gas for February delivery
    NG00,
    +0.23%

    NGG24,
    +0.26%
    settled at $2.71 per million British thermal units, up 7.7% for the week.

    Meanwhile, the U.S. is likely to keep its position as the world’s top LNG exporter, according to Tortoise’s Thummel.

    The U.S. is the currently the largest LNG exporter at almost 12 bcf per day, with Qatar coming in second, he said.

    Qatar is expanding its LNG export capacity and is expected to have the ability to export almost 20 bcf per day by 2028, he said. The EIA reported recently that Qatar has averaged 10.3 bcf per day in exports during the last 10 years.  

    That would mark sizable growth. But the EIA reported in November that LNG export capacity from North America is likely to more than double from around 11.4 bcf per day to 24.3 bcf per day by the end of 2027.

    The EIA said North America’s LNG export capacity is likely to more than double by 2027.


    EIA

    Given expected growth in U.S. LNG export capacity, the U.S. is likely to “remain the largest exporter of LNG in the world” despite the U.S. announcement, said Thummel.

    —Victor Reklaitis contributed.



    Source link

  • Why Red Sea chaos is driving oil buyers ‘into the arms of U.S. shale producers’

    Why Red Sea chaos is driving oil buyers ‘into the arms of U.S. shale producers’

    Attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels on vessels in the Red Sea have led to transport disruptions for oil and other goods, but international oil shippers may have found a way to deal with the chaos.

    The latest data from the Energy Information Administration offers a hint to that solution.

    The report from the government agency showed surprisingly large weekly increases in gasoline and distillate supplies, contributing to losses for energy futures on Thursday.

    But Robert Yawger, executive director for energy futures at Mizuho Securities USA, also highlighted another key figure in the data — a weekly jump in U.S. petroleum exports.

    Exports climbed by 1.377 million barrels a day to 5.292 million barrels a day for the week ended Dec. 29, according to the EIA.

    “For the first time since Houthi Yemeni rebels started to attack international shipping in the Red Sea, we are seeing a spike in U.S. exports,” said Yawger, in a Thursday afternoon note.

    The Red Sea chokepoints are critical for international oil and natural-gas flows, according to the EIA.


    U.S. Energy Information Administration

    “Apparently, international shippers are worried about being attacked on the open sea, and are getting beat” on the cost of sailing around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa as an alternative to the passage through the Red Sea, he said. Instead, the “safer and cheaper way to procure supply, especially for EU customers, is to sail the boat to the U.S. Gulf Coast and load up on cheap U.S. [oil] barrels.”

    See: Houthis launch sea drone to attack ships in Red Sea, hours after U.S. issues ‘final warning’

    U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate crude
    CL.1,
    +0.66%

    CLG24,
    +0.66%
    trades at a discount to global benchmark Brent crude
    BRN00,
    +0.45%

    BRNH24,
    +0.45%    .
    On Thursday, the February WTI futures contract settled at $72.19 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while March Brent settled at $77.59 on ICE Futures Europe — a difference of $5.40 a barrel.

    That compares with a “cost of carry” for an Amsterdam/Rotterdam/Antwerp refiner of around $4 a barrel, said Yawger. So “forget about the Houthis/Iranian menace in the Red Sea,” he said. “You don’t need a U.S. Navy escort from danger — just a nice, clean two- to- four-week round-trip journey to the U.S.”

    “‘Ironically, the chaos in the Middle East is driving international crude-oil customers into the arms of the U.S. shale producers.’”


    — Robert Yawger, Mizuho

    He expects U.S. petroleum exports to sustain the 5 million plus barrel-per-day level in the coming weeks, with the “geopolitical situation seemingly heating up every day.”

    “Ironically, the chaos in the Middle East is driving international crude-oil customers into the arms of the U.S. shale producers,” said Yawger. “There is a very good chance U.S. exports break the all-time record in coming weeks, just in time for refiners to pull back on the run rate.”

    Weekly U.S. crude-oil exports reached a record 5.629 million barrels a day in the week ended Feb. 24, 2023, based on EIA data going back to February 1991.

    Source link

  • Verizon Mobile Customers Could Split $100 Million Settlement. Here’s How.

    Verizon Mobile Customers Could Split $100 Million Settlement. Here’s How.

    Verizon mobile phone customers could share a proposed $100 million class action settlement over monthly fees that people suing the communications company claim were unfairly charged and improperly disclosed. But those who want to claim their share of that money need to act by April 15.

    Continue reading this article with a Barron’s subscription.

    View Options
    [ad_2]
    Source link

  • Shale Is Keeping the World Awash With Oil as Conflicts Abound

    Shale Is Keeping the World Awash With Oil as Conflicts Abound

    Updated Jan. 1, 2024 12:05 am ET

    A surprise surge in American oil and gas production and exports is helping to keep the world stocked, blunting the impact of widening conflict in the Middle East that has crimped key shipping lanes. 

    When Iranian-backed Houthi militants began launching missiles and drones at ships crossing the Red Sea near Yemen in October, many feared disruption to the vital shipping lane would drive up energy prices. But oil and gas prices this past month have sunk about 5% and 23%, respectively. 

    Copyright ©2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

    Source link

  • Import prices fall for second straight month and as U.S. inflation eases

    Import prices fall for second straight month and as U.S. inflation eases

    Developing story. Check back for updates.

    The numbers: The cost of imported goods fell 0.4% to mark the second decline in a row, contributing to a slowdown in U.S. inflation more broadly.

    Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal had estimated a 0.8% drop.

    Source link

  • What to expect as Netflix, Disney and other big streaming names shift strategy

    What to expect as Netflix, Disney and other big streaming names shift strategy

    Streaming customers are likely to see more familiar faces and less megabudget content in the coming year.

    Shifting consumer tastes and corporate strategies portend changes in programming, with artificial intelligence looming in the background, as major streaming services consider how to use technology and new forms of programming without escalating annual multibillion-dollar content budgets.

    “The big quandary is, how do we make [services] profitable? Things have shifted so dramatically and so quickly in how people consume,” Cole Strain, head of research and development at Samba TV, which tracks viewership of shows, said in an interview. “The streamers that find out what consumers truly want — they win.”

    Streaming services are facing some big choices, noted Jacqueline Corbelli, CEO of software company BrightLine. “The cost of the content and the length of the content war will force them to make some major decisions. They are trying to figure it out,” she said in an interview.

    “Great content has to be paid for, and investors want to see an increasingly efficient and profitable business,” she said, adding: “Right now the economics of these are at odds with one another.”

    This year’s prolonged Hollywood strikes, the prevalence of up-close-and-personal sports documentaries and the increased licensing of older cable-TV shows are the most tangible evidence so far of how content is evolving. Throw in cost-cutting, and customers of services like Netflix Inc.
    NFLX,
    +0.28%    ,
    Walt Disney Co.’s
    DIS,
    -1.33%
    Disney+ and Hulu, and Amazon.com Inc.’s
    AMZN,
    +1.41%
    Prime Video are looking at a vastly different content landscape.

    What’s at stake? Streaming’s big guns continue to spend lavishly in the pursuit of engagement, which is the single most important metric in media. During its third-quarter earnings calls, Netflix said it would spend $17 billion on content in 2024, while Disney pledged $25 billion, including sports rights.

    “‘I think when it comes to creativity, quality is critical, of course, and quantity in many ways can destroy quality.’”


    — Disney CEO Bob Iger

    Complicating matters and raising the urgency is the pressure, particularly at Disney, to cut costs. The very future of blockbuster movies is also in doubt in the wake of box-office misfires such as “Wish,” “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” and the latest Marvel entries, “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “The Marvels.”

    “One of the reasons I believe it’s fallen off a bit is that we were making too much,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said at a recent employee town hall meeting in New York City. “I think when it comes to creativity, quality is critical, of course, and quantity in many ways can destroy quality. Storytelling, obviously, is the core of what we do as a company.”

    Also read: Disney CEO Bob Iger walks back comments about asset sales

    Speaking at the New York Times DealBook Summit last week, Iger acknowledged that “the movie business is changing. Box office is about 75% of what it was pre-COVID.” Noting the $7 monthly fee for a Disney+ subscription, he said the experience of viewing content from home on large TV screens is both more convenient and less expensive than going to the movie theater.

    Iger’s task is significantly more fraught than those faced by his rivals. He is in the midst of a turnaround at Disney aimed at making streaming profitable and is simultaneously fending off yet another proxy fight from activist investor Nelson Peltz.

    Part of Iger’s plan is to slash costs. Of the $7.5 billion Disney intends to save in 2024, $4.5 billion will come out of the content budget. Previously, the company was aiming at a $3 billion content cut out of a total annual reduction of $5.5 billion. Disney plans to spend $25 billion on content in 2024, down from $27.2 billion in 2023 and a record $29.9 billion in 2022.

    Read more: Bob Iger: ‘I was not seeking to return’ as Disney CEO

    What streamers have done so far hews closely to the classic TV model of producing original movies and series, broadcasting live sporting events and throwing in licensed content, or syndication. They’ve also displayed a willingness to place ads on their services after vowing not to (in the case of Netflix) and have managed to mitigate spending on pricey sports rights with behind-the-scenes content.

    Most prominently, Netflix has licensed older shows like USA Networks’ “Suits,” reintroducing the cast, including a then-unknown Meghan Markle, to solid viewership. “As the competitive environment evolves, we may have increased opportunities to license more hit titles to complement our original programming,” Netflix said in its third-quarter earnings statement. 

    During the company’s earnings call in October, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos pointed to the historic streaming success of “Suits.” “This continues to be important for us to add a lot of breadth of storytelling,” he said. “Our consumers have a wide range of tastes, and we can’t make everything, but we can help you find just about anything. That’s really the strength.”

    The success of “Suits” and of original sports programming, among several tweaks, indicates that consumers like what they see so far. Streaming additions at Netflix and Disney were significant — 8.76 million and nearly 7 million, respectively — during the recently completed third calendar quarter.

    Read more: Netflix’s stock jumps more than 10% on huge spike in subscribers, price hikes

    “There exist a lot of popular, good shows that people hadn’t seen before. HBO Max has licensed ‘Band of Brothers.’ ‘Yellowstone’ is on the CBS network after performing well on Paramount Global
    PARA,
    -2.76%
    and Comcast Corp.’s
    CMCSA,
    -3.41%
    Peacock,” Jon Giegengack, founder and principal of Hub Entertainment Research, said in an interview. “Consumers increasingly don’t care if a show is new, if they haven’t seen it before.”

    On the sports front, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have sidestepped expensive rights to live sporting events and instead produced docuseries such as Netflix’s “Quarterback” and “Formula 1: Drive to Survive” and Amazon’s “Coach Prime” and “Redefined: J.R. Smith.” Amazon also continues to air “NFL Thursday Night Football.”

    Competition for eyeballs is tight with so many suitors — from Alphabet Inc.’s
    GOOGL,
    +1.33%

    GOOG,
    +1.35%
    YouTube to TikTok, both of which are developing long-form content — and viewers face “too many streaming options,” said Brittany Slattery, chief marketing officer at OpenAP, an advertising platform founded by the owners of most of the large TV networks.

    “There is a high churn rate, because consumers keep popping in and out of services because they can’t afford all these services,” Slattery said in an interview.

    Also see: Here’s what’s worth streaming in December 2023: Not much new, yet still a lot to watch

    Mark Vena, CEO and principal analyst at SmarTech Research, sums up the typical customer experience: “There are too many services for streaming. I will buy service for a month, watch a movie and then cancel.”

    Using technology for a new experience

    Major streamers are pinning many of their hopes on technology as a way to entice viewers and expand beyond the traditional TV model they’ve adopted. Strategies include mobile gaming (Netflix), gambling (Disney’s ESPN Bet) and shoppable media (Amazon).

    The biggest near-term change would bring ESPN exclusively to streaming, perhaps as early as 2025, although big games would probably be simulcast on network TV to retain older viewers.

    “Technology will be a major impetus for being in the winning circle,” said Hunter Terry, head of connected TV at global data company Lotame, pointing to Amazon’s shoppable-media strategy during Prime Video’s broadcast of an NFL game on Black Friday.

    The NFL game, the first ever on a Friday, featured QR codes of Amazon ads for direct purchases via mobile devices and PCs, contributing greatly to what the e-commerce giant said was its best-ever sales day — 7.5% higher than Black Friday 2022. The game drew between 9.6 million and 10.8 million viewers, according to Nielsen and Amazon, making it the highest-rated show on Black Friday for young adults (18-34) and adults (18-49).

    And what of generative AI, a major flashpoint in the writers and actors strikes that roiled Hollywood for months earlier this year? Creators feared generative AI would be used to produce low- and middle-brow entertainment without the need for writers, actors or production crew.

    The technology is as intriguing to streamers as it is vexing. Full-blown adoption would rankle creators as well as customers. There are also limitations: AI-created content is lacking in humor and original thought, said David Parekh, CEO of SRI International, a leading research and development organization serving government and industry.

    “The pressing question is, who goes first among the streamers and risks getting blowback from studios and consumers?” said Rick Munarriz, a contributing analyst at the Motley Fool who covers streaming-service stocks. “You don’t want to offend people, but there are tools to create ideas” at little cost.

    AI and machine learning are already being used to mine data to find out what resonates with viewers.

    “It is very hard to produce successful content,” said Ron Gutman, CEO of Wurl, which helps streamers and publishers monetize and distribute content, and which was recently acquired by AppLovin Corp.
    APP,
    -0.80%
    for $430 million. “The market is so fragmented. The problem is connecting people to content.”

    Straight to streaming?

    Big-budget busts present another potential source of content, by salvaging unreleased movies, according to experts.

    The so-called dust-bin option is the natural successor to straight-to-video and straight-to-pay-per-view movies. There has been some precedent, with the release of Disney’s superhero hit “Black Widow” simultaneously on streaming and in theaters in May 2021.

    Will streaming services end up as the first stop for movies abruptly canceled before release? Candidates include “Batgirl,” which cost $90 million to make and was in post-production when Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.
    WBD,
    -4.57%
    pulled the plug.

    The same fate could also await two other shelved Warner Bros. movies, “Scoob! Holiday Haunt” and the completed “Coyote vs. Acme.”

    While the $90 million “Batgirl” is a tax write-off, there could be upside to “Coyote” and “Scoob!” if they went to streaming without a costly marketing campaign, said SmarTech Research’s Vena.

    Still, the long-term plans of streaming giants to meld tech to TV remains a ticklish task, said Wurl’s Gutman. “TV is a lean-back experience, not a lean-into technology medium,” he said. “People are looking at their phones while watching TV. It is a passive experience.”

    Tracy Swedlow, founder and co-producer of the TV of Tomorrow Show conference, said: “They’ve been burning a candle at both ends, investing in original content as well as licensing long-tail content such as ‘Suits’ and ‘Breaking Bad.’ Something has to give.”

    Source link

  • Why do people keep suing celebrities like Ronaldo and Tom Brady over crypto losses?

    Why do people keep suing celebrities like Ronaldo and Tom Brady over crypto losses?

    Ever since the collapse of crypto currencies last year, the lawsuits have been flying.

    But a series of class-action suits targeting celebrity endorsers of crypto exchanges like FTX and Binance have been piling up in federal court in Miami, all filed by the same group of south Florida lawyers.

    The latest suit names global soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo for allegedly promoting “the mass solicitation of investments in unregistered securities” sold by Binance, the crypto exchange that was hit with a $4 billion fine last week after pleading guilty to violating the bank secrecy act.

    The suit was filed in federal court in the southern district of Florida this week and centered around Ronaldo’s role in a global marketing campaign launched in 2022 for a series of Binance NFTs — or non-fungible tokens, a form of blockchain-backed art works that were, for a brief time, wildly popular.

    A representative for Ronaldo didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

    The filing against Ronaldo on Monday came alongside similar class action suits naming Major League Baseball, Formula 1 racing, Mercedes Benz and the advertising giants Dentsu and Wasserman, who created much of FTX’s global promotion campaign.

    Messages left with representatives for MLB, Formula 1, Mercedes Benz, Dentsu and Wasserman weren’t immediately returned.

    Those suits are the latest in a series of similar class action suits starting last year against celebrity endorsers of failed crypto exchanges such as Voyager and FTX, in which customers lost billions of dollars in deposits.

    Over the past 18 months, a group of south Florida lawyers led by Adam Moskowitz have brought the suits on behalf of investors who lost money in last year’s crypto collapse, against paid celebrity endorsers including Shaquille O’Neal, Mark Cuban, Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, Shohei Ohtani, Larry David, Steph Curry and Naomi Osaka.

    “All of these celebrities were paid hundreds of millions of dollars taken directly from customer deposits,” Moskowitz said in a statement. “Some of the most famous and wealthiest groups in the world may now be held responsible for the dramatic $20 billion dollar crypto collapse and biggest financial scandals in U.S. history.”    

    Moskowitz, who has been joined in the suits by lawyers with the firms Mark Migdal & Hayden and Boies Schiller and Flexner, headed by famed litigator David Boies, is seeking at least $5 billion in damages from those who helped promote the crypto exchanges. 

    The cases from last year are ongoing and each of the celebrities named have been fighting the suits in court. 

    Moskowitz, who specializes in class-action lawsuits, says issues revolving around crypto first got his attention more than two years ago, before the entire market crashed, when he came to believe that the special tokens each exchange was minting amounted to an unregistered security.

    He first filed a lawsuit against Voyager early last year, before the exchange collapsed and the Securities and Exchange Commission began filing suits against many in the industry accusing them of dealing in unregistered securities.

    “Right then what we were doing started to gain traction,” he said.

    A series of favorable court rulings have allowed his cases to gain steam, he said, and has allowed to him to take the lead in such actions.

    In another class action suit filed earlier this year, Moskowitz and his partners sued a group of YouTube financial influencers for their role in promoting FTX, accusing them of taking cash for uncritically singing the exchange’s praises.

    Moskowitz said several of those suits have been settled but that others have continued. 

    Source link

  • Musk Strategy to Contain Anti-Semitism Fallout Is to Go ‘Thermonuclear’

    Musk Strategy to Contain Anti-Semitism Fallout Is to Go ‘Thermonuclear’

    Elon Musk employed an aggressive strategy—including the threat of a “thermonuclear” lawsuit— to contain the fallout after his endorsement of anti-Semitic rhetoric on X that prompted an advertising backlash at the billionaire’s social media company and some on Wall Street to call for his censure.

    [ad_2]
    Source link

  • Elon Musk’s X apocalyptic moment

    Elon Musk’s X apocalyptic moment

    Is this the beginning of the end for X, the social-media site previously known as Twitter?

    In the last two days, major advertisers, ranging from IBM Corp. IBM, Apple Inc. AAPL, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. LGF.A, Walt Disney Co. DIS, even the European Union, have pulled their ads from X, after Elon Musk appeared to endorse antisemitic conspiracy theories and because these big spenders weren’t thrilled with the algorithm’s product placement nestled alongside pro-Nazi posts.

    Earlier…

    Source link