Microsoft Archives - Boardroom https://boardroom.tv/tag/microsoft/ Sports Business News Sat, 10 Feb 2024 13:03:12 +0000 en-US hourly 1 How Big Tech is Taking Over Super Bowl LVIII https://boardroom.tv/tech-talk-big-tech-taking-over-super-bowl-lviii/ Sun, 11 Feb 2024 16:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=86773 See how Big Tech is taking over the Super Bowl in this week's Tech Talk. Also included are updates on Meta, Disney, and so much more.

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]]> Meta hit two major milestones in recent weeks: Facebook turned 20 years old, and Meta’s stock surged as much as 20% following its recent earnings report, adding $197 billion to its market cap in one day. This is the biggest single-session surge in stock market history.

A peek into today’s edition: 

  • Big Tech is doing it big at Super Bowl LVIII
  • Bluesky opens to the public
  • Disney invests $1.5 billion in Epic Games

How Big Tech is Taking Over Super Bowl LVIII

Technology is showing up in big ways at Super Bowl LVIII, with brands such as Microsoft, Verizon, Apple, and Google snagging multi-million-dollar advertising spots during the year’s biggest sporting event. But commercials aren’t all you’ll see from the tech world, with brands like Snapchat integrating with the NFL to bring its augmented reality tech to Allegiant Stadium, Verizon working overtime to hook up 5G connectivity for the thousands of fans who will be at the game, and the NFL is even partnering with creators to attract new viewers.

Moments like this remind me that tech touches everything. That’s kind of the slogan I say when people ask me what type of work I do and why. This is it, connecting the dots to how all of these tech brands ended up in the same room.

Check out my story, All Things Tech at Super Bowl LVIII, for a full download on what each tech brand has planned for the big game.

Jack Dorsey’s Bluesky Enters the Market Full-time

Bluesky, a decentralized social media network launched by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, is now open for anyone to join. Dorsey officially incorporated Bluesky in 2021 after spinning the project out from Twitter. Since opening the platform’s waitlist in October 2022, the only way to get on Bluesky was through an invite code from a user already on the platform. Bluesky had roughly 3 million sign-ups before it opened to the public earlier this week, and within a few days, it amassed more than 850,000 new users.

The surge in interest for Bluesky might mean it’ll genuinely become a competitor for X and Instagram‘s Threads. Bluesky’s public launch also comes a month and a half after it launched a new logo with a butterfly to symbolize change and transformation. The logo models the sky blue and white colors the Twitter logo used to have.

Google Says Goodbye to Bard & Hello to Gemini

Last weekend, leaked documents detailed Google’s plans to rebrand its generative AI tech, Bard, and launch an app dedicated to it. It turns out the rumors were true since Google confirmed on Thursday that Bard will now be known as Gemini, the Big Tech company’s most powerful and flexible AI model that can run on everything from mobile devices to data centers. Gemini is the name of Google’s flagship AI model and the name of its conversational AI chatbot, which it also confirmed can be accessed via the Gemini App on Pixel and Android devices and through the Google App on iOS devices. Users can communicate with Gemini in over 40 languages.

With this rebrand and app launch, Google also announced Gemini Advanced, the AI model’s premium tier that costs $19.99 a month via a Google One subscription. The new offering comes with 2TB of storage, and interested users can try it out with a two-month free trial.

  • Disney announced that it’s investing $1.5 billion in Epic Games, which comes with an equity stake and an expansive collaboration with the game developer’s Fortnite universe. Disney CEO Bob Iger shared the news during the company’s earnings call earlier this week, marking it as the brand’s biggest entry into the gaming industry.
  • Gaming investments aren’t all that Disney is getting into right now. The entertainment leader is partnering with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery to launch a new streaming app focused on sports programming, a venture that will pull content from ESPN, TNT, and Fox Sports.
  • Apple is reportedly developing two foldable iPhone prototypes, according to The Information, though they aren’t slated to be released anytime soon. The Big Tech giant hasn’t confirmed the new products, but after announcing the Vision Pro from stealth last year, it’s safe to say Apple is always up to something.
  • YouTube TV has hit 8 million subscribers, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan detailed in his annual letter to the community, where he also shared that YouTube has paid over $70 billion in the last three years to creators and media partners. Mohan also said YouTube is making big bets on AI innovations this year and investing more in creators on the platform.
  • Meta is adding AI-generated labels to images created with third-party tools from OpenAI, Microsoft, Adobe, Midjourney, and more. OpenAI will also be adding visible symbols and invisible watermarks to image metadata for content created on its image generator, DALL-E 3, and via ChatGPT.
  • Snapchat is laying off 10% of its global workforce, which is about 550 employees. Snapchat’s parent company is cutting its headcount in an effort “to reduce hierarchy and promote in-person collaboration,” which also means letting go of some senior-level staff members.

Reddit generated $800 million in revenue last year, a 20% increase year-over-year. This comes as the social news aggregator and forum prepares for an IPO, but I’m going to bet that Reddit won’t go public at the reported valuation of $5 billion; it’ll be under that, especially since it’s not profitable yet.

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]]> IN OTHER NEWS (2) IN OTHER NEWS (2) IN OTHER NEWS (2) Believe the Hype: The Apple Vision Pro is Here & It’s a Game Changer https://boardroom.tv/tech-talk-believe-the-hype-apple-vision-pro-is-a-game-changer/ Sun, 04 Feb 2024 20:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=86646 Boardroom's Michelai Grahama gives her official review of the Vision Pro after an exclusive demo with Apple CEO Tim Cook & NBA's Adam Silver.

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]]> I’m spicing it up a bit today in light of the Apple Vision Pro launch this week. I got to partake in some exclusive experiences throughout the week, so I wanted to detail and download everything I learned for you all. Let’s jump right into it.

A peek into today’s edition:

  • My Apple Vision Pro Review (finally!)
  • Big Tech CEOs on Capitol Hill
  • UMG vs TikTok rages on

Believe the Hype: The Apple Vision Pro is Here & It’s a Game Changer

“MVP! MVP! MVP!”

That’s what the staffers at Apple Fifth Avenue were chanting for Apple CEO Tim Cook as he walked up to open the doors of the store to customers eager to get their hands on the Apple Vision Pro on Friday morning. Cook shook hands with early adopters of his company’s newest device, spending about an hour in the store interacting with customers and the media. Every way I turned in the store, there were excited customers unboxing their Vision Pros, doing demos, and spectating the electric scenery.

Entertainment and the freedom to work on multiple screens were the top two things people told me they were most excited about experiencing with the Vision Pro. It was very obvious to me that the majority of the early Vision Pro adopters were tech enthusiasts, coders, legacy Apple supporters, and entertainment fanatics. I was excited to be in the room and on the ground, covering a historic moment. After testing out the Vision Pro myself this week, I have one piece of advice for the skeptical people out there: Believe the hype.

My Review of the Apple Vision Pro

I’ve been covering the Apple Vision Pro‘s rollout since the day the new device was announced last June at WWDC 2023. Ahead of the Vision Pro launch, Boardroom received an exclusive demo of the device on Thursday. I got a one-hour experience and even had to share my eye prescription ahead of it so the headset would be personally calibrated for me. Right off the bat, it was simple and easy to get used to the iris control and finger taps to click and move items around. The Vision Pro is truly a spatial computer, and I was able to control how immersed I wanted to be in the virtual space compared to being able to see the physical space around me.

I mostly interacted with apps native to Vision Pro, which truly leaned into making a spatial computing experience. I was able to select immersive backgrounds, and I was impressed by the device’s ability to handle multiple screens at once. I had screens positioned all around me, though typing is definitely a task I’ll have to get used to.

Watching movies in the Vision Pro exceeded my expectations. I felt like I was at the movie theater with the best seats in the house, and don’t get me started on the video quality. The imagery was top-tier. Aside from getting up close with a dinosaur that made me forget it wasn’t really in front of me and a butterfly landing on the tip of my finger, the NBA League Pass experience was, by far, my favorite thing I got to try.

Honestly, the only thing I was missing out on was interacting with my friends and other users, which I’m sure there will be updates and apps that allow for that down the line.

While I thoroughly enjoyed my experience, I left that demo thinking: Who is this device actually for, and how will Apple market it to the masses? I can’t imagine kids or someone my mom’s age investing in a device like this at this stage.

I got a couple of insights into these questions when I joined Cook and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver at the NBA HQ on Friday afternoon for an exclusive experience with the development team that built the Vision Pro version of NBA League Pass. Chad Evans, NBA SVP Head of Product, along with Senior Software Engineers Lauren Marshall and Matthew Parrott, presented their work on building out NBA League Pass from the Vision Pro. Evans told me that a core team of six engineers, designers, and product managers worked on the NBA League Pass app for the Vision Pro.

“We really wanted to be there for the launch because we think it’s really important for fans to get their hands on the experience,” Evans told Boardroom. “I love statistics and the way stats can help you build a deeper understanding of the game. We actually rebuilt our core stats engine so that we can have real-time stats in sync with all of the videos you’re watching. That experience just makes the app feel alive.”

Following the demo, I asked Cook and Silver one question from all of the learnings I gathered about the Vision Pro: What do you think the future of sports and entertainment is in this new spatial computing universe, and how will you get fans to invest in it?

“I think it’s more immersive than ever before; I think the fan wants to be a part of the game and a part of the action, and there’s nothing like being in Vision Pro and feeling like you’re on the court,” Cook exclusively told me. “It’s not that you have a courtside seat; it’s so much better than that. I’m so excited. I think it really changes everything.”

Silver doubled down on that.

“You often hear, even from casual NBA fans, that the best seat in all of sports is a courtside seat, which virtually no one gets to experience. As Tim said, this is in many ways better than sitting courtside; it can take you anywhere on the floor, it can give you the perspective of a player, and it can give you places you can otherwise never go and absorb it,” Silver told me. “It can give you the perspective of a player; it can give you places you can otherwise never go and absorb it. “These are, of course, early days, but it is transformative. This will, to me, be how people over time experience sports through media.”

I have more insights to share from my experience with the Apple team this week, but one thing is clear to me after my experience this week: Apple is all in on entertainment for the Vision Pro.

Expect more from me on the new device very soon.

  • Big Tech CEOs from Meta, TikTok, Snap, Discord, and X were in the hot seat on Wednesday during a Senate hearing focused on the harm young users face online and policies meant to protect them. Meta‘s Mark Zuckerberg and TikTok’s Shou Zi Chew got most of the heat from Senators looking to pass a bill that would put more liability on social platforms when young users experience harm online.
  • Amazon mutually agreed with iRobot to call off its planned acquisition of the Roomba maker. As a result, iRobot founder and CEO Colin Angle announced he is stepping down, and the company has cut 31% of its workforce, which is 350 people.
  • In other Amazon news, the Bellevue, WA, house where Jeff Bezos founded the Big Tech company has hit the real estate market for $2.3 million.
  • Elon Musk reported on X that the first human has received a Neuralink brain-computer interface, a device that’s implanted into the brain and allows users to control external computers, robotic products, and mobile devices. The patient is a part of Neuralink’s first human trial for its flagship device.
  • Also, a Delaware judge sided with Tesla shareholders who filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk to block his 2018 pay package, which included a whopping $56 billion salary that was previously approved by the company’s board.
  • TikTok has a master plan to boost shopping and in-app sales by opening live studios across major cities like LA that allow creators to come in and livestream products they are pushing to sell. The company is also working on a new feature that would allow users to feature links to products in their videos.
  • OpenAI’s ChatGPT announced a partnership with children’s safety org Common Sense Media to develop AI guidelines, educational materials, and a kid-friendly section in the GPT Store.

Universal Music Group decided to pull its music library from TikTok this week after the parties failed to reach a new agreement on royalties for artists and songwriters. I’m going to bet that UMG will return to the short-form video platform by the end of Q1 since it’s been able to reach deals with every other social network on the market.

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]]> IN OTHER NEWS (2) IN OTHER NEWS (2) IN OTHER NEWS (2) IN OTHER NEWS (2) IN OTHER NEWS (2) IN OTHER NEWS (2) Microsoft, Alphabet Post Big Revenue Numbers but Mixed Market Results https://boardroom.tv/microsoft-alphabet-revenue-up-market-result-mixed/ Wed, 31 Jan 2024 00:28:19 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=86575 Microsoft reported better-than-expected financials, while Alphabet’s stock dropped due to missed ad revenue projections. Let’s dive into recent earnings reports from the pair of tech giants. Alphabet and Microsoft kicked off Big Tech earnings

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]]> Microsoft reported better-than-expected financials, while Alphabet’s stock dropped due to missed ad revenue projections. Let’s dive into recent earnings reports from the pair of tech giants.

Alphabet and Microsoft kicked off Big Tech earnings season after the stock market closed on Tuesday with some wins, and some losses.

Microsoft’s recent earnings report comes after it made history last week by reaching a $3 trillion market cap, the second company to do so behind Apple. Unfortunately, the accolade was tainted by another round of layoffs that included nearly 2,000 cuts across the company’s gaming division. For Alphabet, all eyes are on the tech company’s advertising revenue, YouTube Shorts, and YouTube TV.

Let’s dive into key takeaways from Alphabet and Microsoft‘s recent earnings reports.

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Alphabet

Alphabet’s shares slipped more than 6% in after-hours trading on Tuesday after the company missed advertising revenue projections. Still, Alphabet beat expectations on overall revenue and profit for the fourth quarter of 2023. Alphabet generated $86.31 billion in revenue in its most recent quarter, an increase of 13% year-over-year. As for ad revenue, the company generated $65.52 billion versus the $65 billion analysts projected.

Overall, Alphabet brought in $307.39 billion in revenue for 2023, and despite the disappointing ad revenue numbers, the company is looking to attract a bigger audience at YouTube TV with potential expansion plans beyond the US. This year, the company brought in NFL Sunday Ticket, which DirectTV hosted for 29 years prior to the move. While Alphabet execs did not speak precisely to what this could mean for the future of live sports for the streaming television service, one has to wonder if it will position itself as a contender in the NBA rights conversation.

More insights from Alphabet’s recent earnings report:

  • YouTube ads generated $9.2 billion in revenue, a 15% increase year-over-year.
  • After cutting 6% of its workforce last year, Alphabet spent $2.1 billion on severances and related expenses. Alphabet’s CFO Ruth Porat said the company will spend about $700 million in similar expenses in Q1 of 2024.
  • Google Cloud brought in $9.19 billion, a 26% increase in revenue year-over-year.
  • Alphabet spent $1.8 billion in 2023 to exit some of its Google offices across the globe.
  • Google Search attracted $48.02 billion in Q4, the third highest revenue driver at the company behind Google Services and advertising.

Microsoft

Microsoft reported better-than-expected financials on Tuesday in its earnings report for fiscal second-quarter 2024, yet the company’s stock fell by 2% in extended trading. Overall, Microsoft generated $62.0 billion in revenue for the quarter, an increase of 18% year-over-year. The company reported that revenue from its Azure and other cloud services grew by 30% overall, the biggest driver for its revenue success in its most recent quarter.

Microsoft CEO and chairman Satya Madella said the company is focused on applying AI at scale by infusing the emerging tech into every layer of its offerings. The Big Tech giant will also be investing more in its gaming sector following the biggest acquisition deal it’s ever made.

More insights from Microsoft’s recent earnings report:

  • This was a big quarter for Microsoft since it also encompasses the enterprise software maker’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
  • Net income for the quarter came in at $21.9 billion, an increase of 26% year-over-year.
  • Microsoft Cloud generated $33.7 billion in revenue, up 24% year-over-year.
  • This quarter, Microsoft returned $8.4 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends.
  • Microsoft expects that its fiscal third-quarter revenue will land between $60 billion and $61 billion.

Want More Tech?

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]]> Loading TikTok Microsoft Hits $3T Valuation, Lays off Nearly 2K Workers https://boardroom.tv/tech-talk-microsoft-valuation/ Sun, 28 Jan 2024 20:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=86175 If you read anything crypto-related this week, it better be this story about a Denver pastor charged with crypto fraud after creating a token and pocketing more than $1 million. A peek into today’s edition:  Microsoft

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]]> If you read anything crypto-related this week, it better be this story about a Denver pastor charged with crypto fraud after creating a token and pocketing more than $1 million.

A peek into today’s edition: 

  • Microsoft hits new high with $3T valuation
  • Bitcoin dips under $39K following ETF implementations
  • Amazon Web Services announces $10B investment in Mississippi

Microsoft Hits $3T Valuation and Lays off Nearly 2K Workers

Microsoft made history this week when it became only the second company after Apple to reach a $3 trillion market cap. This is the first time the enterprise software giant has reached the milestone, with new AI services driving revenue and momentum. The Information reports that Microsoft is building a new team focused on developing smaller generative AI platforms, though it’s unclear what this means for the company’s long-term investment in OpenAI.

Sadly, Microsoft’s big win comes with another big loss for its gaming workforce. The company announced this week that it’s laying off 1,900 employees across its Activision Blizzard and Xbox divisions, which amounts to 8% of its gaming sector. The cuts come three months after Activision officially came under Microsoft’s umbrella after much legal resistance. The layoffs impacted the Activision team the most deeply, and Blizzard president Mike Ybarra also announced his departure. Ybarra worked for Microsoft for two decades before taking on the role of Blizzard president to see the acquisition through. Blizzard co-founder and chief design officer Allen Adham is also departing Microsoft.

Bitcoin Briefly Tumbles Below $39K as ETFs Find Their Footing

Bitcoin briefly dipped below $39,000 earlier this week for the first time since early December 2023, prompting investors to liquidate over $100 million in an hour. The token has since rebounded and is trading above $40,000 again, though Bitcoin’s tumbling price is defying expectations that spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were going to boost the digital asset. The Financial Times reports that Bitcoin has lost 15% of its value since spot Bitcoin ETFs launched on Jan. 11. Investors liquidating their funds during the ETF launch period to profit off of the price of the cryptocurrency going up are primarily responsible. Now, mass liquidation is causing Bitcoin’s value to tank.

The first group of Bitcoin ETFs has been coined the “Newborn Nine” and despite the volatile market, these ETFs have purchased 95,000 Bitcoins. That’s almost $4 billion worth of collective assets under management.

Apple Vision Pro Sales Reportedly Top 180K During Pre-Order Weekend

The Apple Vision Pro will hit the mass market in less than a week, and MacRumors reported that somewhere between 160,000 and 180,000 headsets were sold over the pre-order weekend. Now, early users won’t find Netflix, Spotify, or YouTube apps on the device at launch, and there are only a couple hundred exclusive Vision Pro apps currently listed in the new headset’s app store. For comparison, Apple touts that it has 1.8 million apps available worldwide across its other devices.

Still, thousands have already flocked to purchase Apple Vision Pro devices (or should I say spatial computers?), despite delays in shipping dates that span as far as April. And let’s hope everyone buying a headset is ready to dish out $24.99 a month, or $499 for two years, for AppleCare Plus coverage since a cracked cover glass repair will cost $799 without it. Even with coverage, all accidental damages will cost $299.

More news updates from Apple:

  • Apple announced major changes to its App Store in Europe. Starting in March, European iOS users will be able to download apps and make purchases outside of the App Store, but developers will get a new fee.
  • The Vision Pro isn’t the only new tech Apple is working on. The Information’s Wayne Ma reported that the Big Tech giant is testing a new camera button for horizontal photos and videos on the iPhone 16, which is slated to drop this fall.
  • Apple is dishing out extra royalties to artists who upload a spatial audio version of their content on Apple Music.
  • Once again, Apple delayed the launch of its self-driving vehicle to 2028 and dropped some planned tech features.

  • Amazon Web Services announced a $10 billion investment in Mississippi to build two new data center complexes. This partnership marks the largest capital investment Mississipi has ever received, Amazon reports.
  • Web Summit CEO Katherine Maher announced that she’s stepping down from her role to take over the CEO spot at NPR. Maher joined the annual tech conference only three months ago after founder Web Summit removed Paddy Cosgrave after sharing criticisms about the conflict in the Middle East.
  • IBM synced up with the Recording Academy to launch “AI Stories with IBM watsonx,” a generative AI solution that can create GRAMMYs-focused editorial content. The platform will be available before and during the 66th Annual GRAMMY Awards.
  • Hogwarts Legacy topped the sales charts in 2023 with an estimated 22 million copies sold, beating out the Call of Duty franchise, which has held the top spot in sales since 2009, media research firm Circana reported.
  • Voice cloning startup ElevenLabs achieved unicorn status this week after closing an $80 million Series B funding round at a $1 billion valuation. The company is building AI tools that allow users to create and edit synthetic voices.
  • A batch of Google researchers responsible for building DeepMind’s initial AI models has departed the tech company to launch their own AI startup called Uncharted Labs. The new venture has already raised $8.5 million in funding and will focus on AI research and innovations.

I’m going to pull the bet I made here about Apple selling out of the first batch of Apple Vision Pro headsets and double down on it. Despite the price point, the people love Apple.

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]]> IN OTHER NEWS (2) IN OTHER NEWS (2) IN OTHER NEWS (2) IN OTHER NEWS (2) Michelai’s Bet of the Week: A 2023 Rundown of Every Odd https://boardroom.tv/bet-of-the-week-2023-rundown-tech-talk/ Fri, 29 Dec 2023 16:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=85102 Boardroom recaps Michelai's Bet of the Week Presented by FanDuel Sportsbook, a tech hot takes section in our Tech Talk newsletter.

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]]> Boardroom recaps Michelai’s Bet of the Week, presented by FanDuel Sportsbook, in Tech Talk to see how dialed in on the industry our resident tech reporter really is.

This year, I made over 40 bets focused on things I predict will happen across the tech industry.

When Boardroom’s weekly newsletter, Tech Talk, got a makeover in February, I started making bets on happenings across the tech industry. “Michelai’s Bet of the Week Presented by FanDuel Sportsbook” holds space at the bottom of the newsletter, and it easily became my favorite place to share my real and sometimes unhinged tech hot takes.

Now, I wasn’t making any wagers or putting up money for these bets, but some came true, and some didn’t.

Here is a rundown of every bet I made this year on tech, with some small updates on the big ones that have had movements.

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February

  • Feb. 12: Calling it now: Twitter’s verified badge pricing model will fall apart in the next year because people won’t care enough to pay for a blue check.
  • Feb. 19: As the SEC cracks down on crypto, lawmakers will attempt to implement widespread crypto regulations within the next year.
  • Feb. 26: After steady progress with AI-powered chatbots, there will be talks of at least one AI-scripted film at the Tribeca Film Festival this summer.
    • Unfortunately, this didn’t come true.

March

  • March 5: Since Yuga Labs is the top household name in Web3, I predict that TwelveFold NFTs will sell out in four hours max when they drop.
    • TwelveFold NFTs sold out in minutes when the auction concluded on March 6.
  • March 12: Since Meta plans to release three more headsets before 2027, I think the big tech company will knock those Quest prices down again before the year is up to make space in the market for the new products.
    • Meta knocked down the Meta Quest 2 price by $50 to $249, while the Meta Quest Pro is still $999.
  • March 19: Even though lawmakers are scrutinizing President Joe Biden for not banning TikTok by now, I bet a deal will be reached very soon, and a complete barring of the social media won’t be necessary.
  • March 26: If ByteDance puts a real deal on the table to sell TikTok, I’m going to bet that Oracle will arise as an early contender to buy the company.

April

  • April 2: I’m going to go big here and say Twitter removing legacy blue checks will backfire tremendously, causing the platform to move back to a more traditional verification process.
    • After discontinuing the Legacy Blue Check program on April 20, X began reinstalling them on accounts for deceased individuals and many celebrities by April 24.
  • April 9: I’m going to bet that NFT.NYC will look a lot different next year, or not happen at all since it’s really just a week of hundreds of community events that can run throughout the year.
  • April 16: I’m going to bet that Adidas will follow in Nike and RTFKT’s steps and release some exclusive ALTS apparel tied to the blockchain.
  • April 23: I’m going to bet that streaming platforms will not ban AI services from using copyrighted music in favor of imposing some restrictions instead.
  • April 30: This is a big one, but I’m going to bet that Microsoft won’t be able to close its acquisition deal with Activision Blizzard this year.
    • This is probably the biggest bet I lost on this year since Microsoft closed the deal in October.

May

  • May 7: Super hot take alert: I’m going to bet that more tech workers will push to unionize in the coming years as AI continues to disrupt the workforce.
  • May 14: Since Twitter/X Corp is getting a new CEO, I’m going to bet that investors will begin talking about how to buy Musk out to push him out of the company.
  • May 21: I am going to confidently bet that Montana’s TikTok ban will not hold up. I’m sure the ACLU is already drafting a lawsuit to detail how this ban violates freedom of speech.
    • In November, a federal judge blocked Montana’s TikTok ban from going into effect.
  • May 28: Following FaZe Clan’s latest round of layoffs, I’m going to bet that the once-beloved esports brand is going to file for bankruptcy or merge with another company pretty soon.

June

  • June 4: This seems like a no-brainer, but since AI leaders are warning that AI will overtake humans in the future, I’m going to bet that investors, consumers, and maybe even Congress will begin to question what they are actually building.
  • June 11: After watching Meta knock down its Quest Pro price by $500, I’m going to bet that Apple will chip a little off the Vision Pro’s expensive price tag before the device goes to market later this year.
    • Unfortunately, this didn’t come true.
  • June 18: After finally watching Ready Player One for the first time (I know, I’m sorry) following the film’s tech comparisons to Apple’s new AR headset, I’m going to bet that streams of the movie will skyrocket as Apple shares more of its plans.
  • June 25: Since President Joe Biden met with AI experts this week, I’m going to bet that we’ll see some joint AI regulations in the near future before we see any real crypto regulations.
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July

  • July 2: Google seems to be a bit confused about how to build around emerging technologies right now, and after its recent job cuts at Waze, I’m going to bet we will see another big staffing restructure at the company in the next year.
    • Google cut at least 40 jobs in its news division in October, but no big restructuring.
  • July 9: Since there has been fodder about OpenAI getting acquired by Microsoft in its lifetime, I’m going to bet that we’ll see rumors of a deal on the table in the next year after the big tech giant sorts out its Activision Blizzard merger deal.
  • July 16: While everyone is focused on generative AI, I always think about humanoids, aka robots. I’m going to bet that a new robotics and AI company building bots will arise soon.
  • July 23: Since Amazon is bringing its pay-by-palm tech to all Whole Foods stores by the end of the year, I’m going to bet that another company will do the same with iris tech. (Kind of surprised Amazon didn’t try that first!)
  • July 30: I’m going to bet that Xbox will end up selling its Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle-inspired pizza-scented controllers after Aug. 13. For now, fans can only grab one as part of a marketing campaign to promote Paramount’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem film.
    • Unfortunately, this didn’t come true.

August

  • Aug. 6: An unopened, first-generation Apple iPod sold for $29,000 via Rally this week, and I’m going to bet that, unlike cassette and CD players, these devices will continue to hold high value due to extreme scarcity.
  • Aug. 13: Despite the Detroit Police Department’s trouble with facial recognition tech, I’m going to bet that more law enforcement agencies will adopt the tech, leading to more false arrests.
  • Aug. 20: VinFast will go the way of Rivian, facing an extreme challenge (and plummeting stock prices) as it is unable to keep up with the sky-high demand for its EV offerings.
  • Aug. 27: Despite the desirable $130 price point, I’m going to strongly bet that the new Atari 2600+ dropping in November won’t sell even half the units that the Atari 2600 sold, which was about 30 million.
    • The console just released a month ago, so sales numbers haven’t been reported yet.

September

  • Sept. 3: Amazon is pushing forward with its return-to-office policy, requiring employees to report to an office three days a week, just as Meta recently implemented. I’m going to bet that tech workers will begin to push back on Big Tech companies to fight the crackdown on in-office policies in favor of remote work.
  • Sept. 10: Warner Music Central Europe signed a record deal with AI pop singer Noonoouri, and while this is a first for Warner Music, I’m going to bet that we won’t see a deal of this nature in the US anytime soon.
  • Sept. 17: With Hulu and Disney Plus price hikes on the way next month, I’m going to bet that a tech company like Roku, for example, will offer a bundle deal of all the major streaming platforms in the next year. It’s like we’re headed back to the cable era of television all over again.
  • Sept. 24: Snapchat+ hit a new milestone with 5 million paying subscribers, and while this is impressive, I’m going to bet that the subscription program will see a massive dip in interest by next summer.

October

  • Oct. 1: Samsung is targeting content creators through a new sponsorship with MrBeast. I’m going to bet that this deal won’t drive significant sales for the Galaxy Z Flip 5 as the mobile brand expects it to.
  • Oct. 8: Meta is testing a $14-a-month subscription service in the UK for users who want an advertisement-free Instagram or Facebook experience. TikTok is also internationally testing a similar feature for $4.99 a month. Since social networks don’t operate like streaming services, I’m going to bet that this offering won’t thrive in the US.
  • Oct. 15: Joby Aviation Founder JoeBen Bevirt said his company can deliver on launching a commercial air taxi service in 2025. We didn’t get flying cars in 2000 as promised, so I’m going to bet that flying taxis won’t arrive in 2025 or this decade.
  • Oct. 22: After years of delays, Tesla will reportedly start delivering its much-anticipated Cybertruck vehicle to select customers on Nov. 30. I’m going to place a hot bet that we’ll see at least one recall or some sort of design change on the luxury electric SUV before the year is up.
    • Unfortunately, this didn’t happen for the Cybertruck, but Tesla did do a big recall of 2 million of its flagship vehicles recently.
  • Oct. 29: Shazam, the music identification app owned by Apple, announced a new feature called Concerts, which will recommend music events to customers based on their Shazam queries. With this expansion, I’m going to bet that Shazam will add a concert ticket-purchasing feature as well, or maybe Apple will build its own internal ticket sales tech.
Everything You Need to Know About the Tesla Cybertruck
The Tesla Cybertruck has officially entered the automotive market, so Boardroom breaks down what to expect from the new electric-powered vehicle, now and in the future.
Check it out!

November

  • Nov. 5: The Information reported that TikTok users sent over $250 million to livestreamers on the platform by way of tips and digital gifts. With the potential to generate tipping revenue, I’m going to bet that TikTok Live will give other platforms like Twitch a run for their audiences pretty soon.
  • Nov. 12: Despite Epic Games losing in a similar antitrust case with Apple back in 2021, I’m going to bet that the video game developer will prevail with a few wins in its antitrust trial against Google since the Big Tech giant is fighting multiple court battles right now.
  • Nov. 19: Indie studio A24 was granted the rights to make a movie based on Walter Isaacson’s biography of Elon Musk. I can’t pinpoint who I think will play the controversial tech tycoon, but I am going to bet that Musk will put his bid in to play himself in the highly-anticipated film.
  • Nov. 26: Elon Musk confirmed that Grok will be available to all X Premium+ subscribers as soon as next week, but I’m going to bet that he’ll expand the AI chatbot to more consumers by Q1 2024 to compete with other AI chatbots on the market.

December

  • Dec. 3: Lapse, a photo-sharing app that skyrocketed from No. 118 to No. 1 in Apple’s App Store in September, saw downloads drop as much as 70% in recent months. I’m going to bet that we’ll see an uptick in activity once Lapse opens up invites to the masses instead of only allowing users to join by invite codes from friends.
  • Dec. 10: I recently shared some of my crypto predictions for 2024, and while I predicted that Bitcoin would break the $40,000 threshold in the new year, it already did that. I want to up that prediction and bet that Bitcoin will break the $50,000 threshold before May.
  • Dec. 17: Nearly 20% of teens said they are almost constantly visiting or using YouTube and TikTok, a new report by the Pew Research Center found. As more kids get online to learn, play, and create, I’m going to bet that that figure will double by this time next year.

Be sure to subscribe to Tech Talk to stay current on all my Bets of the Week — right and wrong — heading into 2024.

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]]> Loading Loading Reddit TikTok Apple, Google, & Meta Lead the 10 Biggest Tech Moments of 2023 https://boardroom.tv/10-biggest-tech-moments-2023/ Tue, 26 Dec 2023 15:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=85054 From CEO oustings to new market capitalizations, the text-based app war, and much more. Boardroom runs down 10 of the biggest tech moments, announcements, and headlines from 2023. Another year is coming to a

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]]> From CEO oustings to new market capitalizations, the text-based app war, and much more. Boardroom runs down 10 of the biggest tech moments, announcements, and headlines from 2023.

Another year is coming to a close, and now, more than ever, the tech industry is moving and shaking things up. New tech companies are rising to the top, and the Big Tech giants are expanding with new tech and products to stay in the race.

To cap off another eventful year, Boardroom details 10 of the biggest tech moments, announcements, and headlines from 2023. In no particular order, here we go.

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10 of the Biggest Tech Moments of 2023

OpenAI fired Sam Altman, then hired him back in a week.

OpenAI‘s board fired its CEO and co-founder Sam Altman in mid-November in an unexpected coup before rehiring the AI tycoon less than a week later. Altman’s return came with a new board and little to no confirmed explanation from OpenAI as to why he was ousted in the first place. The entire debacle from bizarre, and every day for a week, it seemed like more and more tea was getting spilled.

Microsoft finally got clearance to acquire Activision Blizzard.

In October, Microsoft officially got the green light to acquire video game giant Activision Blizzard for $69 billion. The Big Tech leader first bid to acquire Activision in January 2022, with its biggest hurdle being UK regulators. After negotiating some changes to the costly contract, Microsoft moved closer to pulling off its biggest deal yet. The acquisition deal closed the same day both parties signed the contract.

Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty.

Nearly a year after getting arrested in the Bahamas and extradited to the US, disgraced ex-FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty of multiple charges of fraud and conspiracy at the top of November. SBF spent five weeks in court trying to convince a jury that he didn’t steal billions of dollars and defraud FTX customers. The former crypto leader will be sentenced on March 28, 2024; he’s facing a maximum of 115 years in prison.

Guilty on All Counts
SBF was convicted of stealing billions of dollars from FTX customers in one of the biggest financial frauds in US history.
Read More!

Google launched an AI chatbot called Bard.

In March, Google opened public access to Bard AI, its flagship competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Google’s conversational and generative artificial intelligence-enabled chatbot hasn’t risen to popularity like ChatGPT has, but it’s still in the early days of the AI chatbot race.

Twitter officially became X while legacy users flocked to other apps.

Elon Musk officially rebranded Twitter as X in July, sunsetting the icon blue bird logo we’ve known and loved for over a decade. X has been pushing hard to become the “everything app” this year but has steep competition now. As X continues to make changes, there has been a surge in other text-based apps like Bluesky, Spill, and Meta’s newest app.

Meta launched a new text-based app called Threads.

Meta once again shocked the social media world when it launched a new text-based conversation app called Threads in July.  The primary purpose of Threads is to be an app more focused on text and dialogue, modeled after what Instagram has done for photos and videos. Since its launch, the new app has attracted approximately 100 million monthly active users. Threads came in a “year of efficiency” for Meta, which also saw its stock surge as much as 176% in 2023.

Introducing NBA Threads
Boardroom breaks down the thriving & growing community on the text-based app, where users have been organically fostering conversation around the global sport.
Check it out!

Apple hit a historic milestone with a $3 trillion market cap.

Apple made history in July when it again hit a $3 trillion market capitalization. The Big Tech giant is the first public company to reach that milestone and has done it twice. The accolade came a month after Apple announced that it would release its first virtual reality and augmented reality headset, the Apple Vision Pro. The headset is set to launch in early 2024.

Google loses to Epic Games in court.

A jury unanimously sided with Epic Games over Google in an antitrust case that started three years ago when the Fortnite creator filed a lawsuit against the Big Tech company for charging higher than normal app store fees and restricting payment systems. Epic Games hopes this court decision will force Google to allow app developers to use alternative payment systems within their apps or run their own app stores on Android. Right now, Google gets a 30% cut of in-app purchases. We’ll know more about Google’s app store changes in January.

AI-generated “Heart on My Sleeve” song goes viral.

An AI-generated song featuring vocals from Drake and The Weeknd went viral in April, sparking a larger discussion about the use of AI across the music industry. Drake and The Weeknd didn’t agree to let their voices be featured on the song “Heart on My Sleeve,” anonymously produced by TikToker Ghostwriter977. After a short viral stint, major social media and streaming platforms removed Ghostwriter’s original posts for infringing content creation with generative AI.

Tesla’s Cybertruck finally hit the road.

Tesla began delivering the first round of its much-anticipated Cybertrucks at the end of November, two years after it originally planned to roll them out. The new electric-powered vehicle with a futuristic trapezoid-like design is Tesla’s first new model in three years. The electric automotive maker plans to produce 250,000 Cybertrucks a year once it reaches full production mode.

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]]> Loading Big Tech Earnings From Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, Snap, and Amazon https://boardroom.tv/tech-talk-big-tech-earnings-meta-alphabet-microsoft-snap-amazon/ Sun, 29 Oct 2023 19:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=80073 Google’s federal antitrust trial revealed that it paid $26B to be the default search engine on mobile phones and web browsers in 2021, and it’s likely a big portion of that money went to Apple. Something

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]]> Google’s federal antitrust trial revealed that it paid $26B to be the default search engine on mobile phones and web browsers in 2021, and it’s likely a big portion of that money went to Apple. Something about this doesn’t seem ethical, but I can’t lie: Chrome is superior.

A peek into today’s edition: 

  • Meta, Microsoft, Snap, Alphabet, and Amazon report earnings
  • Apple to host Mac event next week
  • Elon Musk‘s Twitter purchase anniversary is here

Big Tech Earnings From Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, Snap and Amazon

Artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure were the main topics of discussion across Big Tech earnings calls this week. Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, Snap, and Amazon reported earnings and updated financial outlooks this week.

Here are some key revenue highlights, but check out my story on Amazon’s earnings and Boardroom’s latest Big Tech Earnings Roundup for more in-depth details:

  • Amazon generated $143.1 billion in revenue, a 13% increase year-over-year. The big tech firm beat analysts’ projections across the board, and thanks to the holiday season, Amazon expects sales to land in the $160 billion to $167 billion range.
  • Alphabet’s revenue increased to $76.7 billion, up 7% year-over-year. The company’s Google Cloud division produced $8.41 billion, and despite missing projections, revenue for Alphabet’s Google Cloud biz grew 22% year-over-year.
  • Meta generated $34.15 billion in revenue, a 23% increase year-over-year, marking the company’s fastest rate of growth since 2021. Daily active users across Meta’s family of apps topped 3.14 billion, an increase of 7% year-over-year.
  • Microsoft generated $56.5 billion in revenue, an increase of 13% year-over-year. Its biggest revenue win came from its cloud business, which produced $24.26 billion in revenue, up 19%.
  • Snap’s revenue rose 5% year-over-year to $1.19 billion, and its Snapchat+ monthly subscription service surpassed five million subscribers. The company returned to positive growth in the third quarter, boosting its stock by as much as 20% on Tuesday.

Apple Set to Announce New Line of iMacs Ahead of Releasing Q3 Earnings

Apple swiftly announced an unexpected event set for Monday, Oct. 30, at 5 p.m. PT. The Big Tech giant will likely announce a new line of Macs, and the event will be completely streamed virtually. Apple knew what it was doing when it dubbed this keynote its “Scary Fast” event since it usually has an IRL crowd for big product announcements. The company took the play on Halloween words to the next level when it updated its event page with its logo transformed into a spooky Finder face. Apple hasn’t launched a new line of iMac desktop computers since April 2021.

This isn’t the only order of business Apple is getting to before its next earnings report comes out on Nov. 2. The company is also upping the Apple TV+ monthly subscription fee from $6.99 to $9.99 and said it will honor California’s new right to repair initiative nationwide. In the midst of this, Taiwan-based Foxconn, Apple’s biggest product maker and supplier, will cooperate with the Chinese government in potential tax and land-use investigations.

Meta Hit With Lawsuits, Alleging Facebook and Instagram Features Are Addictive to Kids

Meta is facing lawsuits from a bipartisan group of 42 attorney generals, alleging that it knowingly developed addictive features on Instagram and Facebook to keep young users engaged on its platforms longer. The lawsuits span 41 states and DC and even include Meta’s home state of California. One of the filings runs 233 pages long and accuses Meta of altering the psychological and social realities of young users and refusing to implement age verification parameters. CNBC reported that one of the suits accuses Meta of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act by collecting personal data on users under 13 without parental consent.

The Big Tech firm hasn’t responded to the lawsuits yet, but we can expect to see Meta CEO Mark Zuckerburg in many courtrooms across the nation very soon.

Sam Bankman-Fried Trial: What We Learned from Week 4

Something surprising happened this week after the court took a break until Thursday: Sam Bankman-Fried decided to testify in his own trial, where a jury will decide if he’s guilty on 12 counts of financial-related fraud charges. Up until this point, SBF’s defense hadn’t decided if he was going to take the stand or not, but the former FTX leader spent Thursday answering some questions in a mock testimony.  Judge Lewis Kaplan dismissed the jury for the day, so they didn’t get to hear SBF’s testimony while the court ruled on which parts of SBF’s testimony were admissible in court.

Judge Kaplan said SBF had an interesting way of answering questions and even begged him at one point to listen to inquiries before speaking and to answer questions directly. SBF official took the stand on Friday in front of jurors, where he told them he told them he didn’t defraud FTX customers. SBF answered questions about his vision for FTX, the company’s early days in Hong Kong, and his initial plan to sell FTX to Binance before it took off. From the sounds of it, SBF will be back on the stand next week as the defense calls an estimated six witnesses to testify.

While SBF prepped to take the stand, his bankrupt crypto exchange narrowed down its list of bidders interested in reviving the platform, MilkRoad reports. Soon after FTX filed for bankruptcy last November, talks began about restarting the exchange under new management.

  • Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion on Oct. 27, 2022, before rebranding it as X and losing about 13% of the platform’s daily active users. Former employees are calling Musk’s leadership style “ruthless and clumsy” as they fear for X’s future.
  • TikTok is testing out 15-minute uploads, an increase of 5 minutes from its previous video cap. The company also announced its first live music event headlined by Cardi B that will broadcast on its platform with highlights.
  • Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared that Threads is nearing 100 million monthly active users. The Big Tech company is also testing a verified-only feed for paying Meta Verified customers.
  • Bitcoin briefly breached the $35,000 threshold for the first time since May 2022, marking a new 16-month high amid the expected approval of a Bitcoin ETF soon. This ETF would give financial institutions a smoother bridge into crypto investing that mirrors how they typically buy stocks.
  • Spotify‘s monthly active users increased by 26% to 574 million, marking its second-largest Q3 net addition performance in its history. The streaming service posted $3.55 billion in revenue for the quarter.
  • Sony sold 2.5 million copies of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 game in the US in the first 24 hours of its release, making the PlayStation 5 exclusive Sony’s fastest-selling gaming title to date.

Shazam, the music identification app owned by Apple, announced a new feature called Concerts, which will recommend music events to customers based on their Shazam queries. With this expansion, I’m going to bet that Shazam will add a concert ticket-purchasing feature as well, or maybe Apple will build its own internal ticket sales tech.

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]]> IN OTHER NEWS (2) IN OTHER NEWS (2) IN OTHER NEWS (2) IN OTHER NEWS (2) Big Tech Earnings Roundup: Alphabet Wins Q3 Revenue Race With $76B https://boardroom.tv/big-tech-earnings-q3-microsoft-google-meta/ Thu, 26 Oct 2023 19:08:11 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=79973 In today’s roundup, Boardroom breaks down the financial outlooks for Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Snap based on their latest earnings reports. Artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure were the top business sectors that affected revenue

The post Big Tech Earnings Roundup: Alphabet Wins Q3 Revenue Race With $76B appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> In today’s roundup, Boardroom breaks down the financial outlooks for Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Snap based on their latest earnings reports.

Artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure were the top business sectors that affected revenue for Big Tech companies this week.

Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Snap all posted positive revenue growth and were trading in the green after recent earnings reports. Some businesses took a hit as stocks took a downward turn due to an ad spending slowdown related to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Overall, growth and competition across the AI and cloud computing industries affected revenue the most this quarter.

Let’s take a look at some Big Tech earnings highlights from Meta, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Snap.

Amazon and Apple earnings are on deck next — stay tuned.

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Big Tech Earnings: Q3 2023

Alphabet

Google’s parent company won some and lost some after posting its third-quarter earnings report on Tuesday. Alphabet’s revenue increased to $76.7 billion, up 7% year-over-year. While Alphabet’s sales and profit beat analysts’ projections, the company’s stock fell as much as 7% in after-hours trading upon reporting lower-than-expected revenue from its cloud division.

The company’s Google Cloud division produced $8.41 billion compared to the expected $8.64 billion. Google Cloud has steep competition with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, but the biz unit has been a key area that investors want to continue pouring dollars into.

Key takeaways from Alphabet’s recent earnings report:

  • Despite missing projections, revenue for Alphabet’s Google Cloud biz grew 22% year-over-year.
  • Alphabet generated $7.95 billion in YouTube advertising revenue, and overall ad revenue was $59.65 billion.
  • During Q3, Alphabet continued cutting jobs after laying off 45 workers in its news division and several across its self-driving car business, Waymo. These cuts come as part of the company’s larger decrease of 12,000 jobs, first announced in January.
  • YouTube Shorts now boasts 70 billion daily views, up 20 billion from the start of the year.
  • CEO Sundar Pichai said he’s pleased with Alphabet’s Q3 financial results after success integrating AI across search, YouTube, Cloud, and Pixel hardware devices.
What We Learned at Amazon’s “Delivering the Future” Event
From robotics to sustainability to electric vehicles and beyond, here’s what you need to know about what Boardroom saw on the ground in Seattle.
Let’s Go!

Meta

Facebook parent company Meta announced big releases in Q3, including the launch of the Quest 3, new Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, and a consumer-facing AI studio. Meta generated $34.15 billion in revenue, a 23% increase year-over-year. The tech giant’s stock rose more than 4% before dropping more than 3% after Meta CFO Susan Li said ad spending on its platforms had scaled back amid the conflict in the Middle East. Still, Meta met or beat expectations across multiple key areas of its business.

Key takeaways from Meta’s recent earnings report:

  • Meta’s 23% increase in revenue marks the company’s fastest rate of growth since 2021.
  • Daily active users across Meta’s family of apps topped 3.14 billion, an increase of 7% year-over-year. Facebook alone attracted 2.09 billion daily active users on average, up 5% compared to this time last year.
  • Monthly active users across the company’s family of apps hit 3.6 billion, an increase of 7% year-over-year.
  • Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg teased that the company’s newest platform, Threads, is nearing 100 million monthly active users.
  • Meta’s headcount decreased 24% year-over-year to 66,185 employees.
  • Meta expects its Q4 revenue to land between $36.5 and 40 billion, which would be approximately a 2% revenue growth year-over-year.

Microsoft

Microsoft beat estimates and boosted its profit in its most recent quarter, which is the first quarter of fiscal year 2024, after lowering its operational expenses and doubling down on AI. The tech giant’s shares rose as much as 6% after hours on Tuesday, and its biggest revenue win came from its cloud business. Microsoft generated $56.5 billion in revenue, an increase of 13% year-over-year.

The company’s biggest move of the quarter was undoubtedly its $69 billion purchase of gaming giant Activision Blizzard, but it will likely take a couple of quarters to see just how the mega-deal evolves Microsoft’s business.

Key takeaways from Microsoft’s recent earnings report:

  • Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud division produced $24.26 billion in revenue, up 19%, with most of the boost in revenue coming from Azure platform.
  • Revenue from Azure alone rose by 29% this quarter, and the Azure OpenAI Service added more users with 18,000 total customers now.
  • Revenue for Microsoft’s Productivity and Business Processes unit, which includes Microsoft 365 productivity app subscriptions, LinkedIn, and Dynamics enterprise software, increased by 13% to $18.59 billion.
  • Revenue for the Big Tech company’s Personal Computing business, which includes
  • The company estimates that revenue will land in the range of $60.4 billion to $61.4 billion for its next quarter.

Snap

Snapchat‘s parent company returned to positive growth in the third quarter, boosting its stock by as much as 20% on Tuesday. Snap’s revenue rose 5% year-over-year to $1.19 billion, an accomplishment CEO Evan Spiegel said in a statement came from major cost-cutting efforts. Despite posting some positive numbers, Snap’s shares declined after the platform’s CEO also shared that some advertisers halted spending after sharing concerns about the effect the war in the Middle East will have on advertising, a business sector on which Snap is hyperfocused right now.

Key takeaways from Snap’s recent earnings report:

  • Snap’s $3.99-per-month subscription service, Snapchat+, surpassed five million subscribers, which is up one million from the previous quarter.
  • Snap laid off 170 employees and cut its augmented reality enterprise business in September as part of a larger layoff plan first announced last summer. The company will still develop AR-focused tech in other areas of its business.
  • Snap’s COO Jerry Hunter announced his retirement after seven years in the role.
  • The company launched a common stock repurchase program of up to $500 million and will use its existing cash and cash equivalents to fund the buybacks. As of Sept. 30, Snap had $3.6 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities.
  • Snap’s net losses were up 2% to $368 million year-over-year.

More Tech Talk:

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]]> Loading Reddit Microsoft Puts Video Game World on Notice with $69B Activision Blizzard Acquisition https://boardroom.tv/tech-talk-microsoft-activision-blizzard-video-game/ Sun, 15 Oct 2023 19:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=79347 After Microsoft completed its biggest deal by buying Activision, the question is: Can others in the industry keep up?

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]]> The post Microsoft Puts Video Game World on Notice with $69B Activision Blizzard Acquisition appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> Bad Bunny Debuts New Album With 16,000 Fans at Iconic San Juan Venue https://boardroom.tv/headline-to-go/10-14-2023-bad-bunny-new-album/ Sat, 14 Oct 2023 13:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?post_type=headline-to-go&p=79474 Bad Bunny Debuts New Album With 16,000 Fans at Iconic San Juan Venue Bad Bunny kicked off the release of his new album Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana late Thursday with a listening party surrounded

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]]> Bad Bunny Debuts New Album With 16,000 Fans at Iconic San Juan Venue

Bad Bunny kicked off the release of his new album Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana late Thursday with a listening party surrounded by roughly 16,000 of his fans. The event was held at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan, and despite fans not knowing whether Bad Bunny would even show up, it sold out within hours. Sure enough, the global artist made a grand entrance in the passenger seat of a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow that dropped from the ceiling to the center of the arena. Bad Bunny’s new project is out now.

Endeavor CEO Confirms Bid for Stake in PGA Tour

The PGA Tour has been a hot topic this past year, and with reports of the tournament receiving unsolicited interest from outside parties looking to invest, that’s likely to remain the case for the foreseeable future. One of those parties is Endeavor, which recently merged its UFC promotion with WWE to form TKO Group Holdings and officially placed a bid for a stake in the PGA Tour on Oct. 5, CEO Ari Emanuel confirmed earlier this week. Fenway Sports Group and Arctos Sports Partners are also reportedly interested in investing. Endeavor, a publicly traded company, boasts a market cap of $9.35 billion.

Microsoft Acquires Activision Blizzard; Call of Duty Now Under Xbox Umbrella

Microsoft officially acquired Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion after clearing a final regulatory hurdle in the United Kingdom, the companies announced Friday. The deal – the largest consumer tech acquisition since AOL merged with Time Warner in 2000 – has been over a year in the making, with nearly 21 months of deliberation between the sides. Activision, founded in 1979,  boasts video game franchises such as Call of Duty and World of Warcraft under its umbrella. Friday’s deal is the biggest in Microsoft’s 48-year history.

Boardroom’s Ian Stonebrook has all the details on the significant tech deal.

Jordan Brand Announces 4 Rookie Signees Ahead of 2023-24 Campaign

With the 2023-24 NBA season fast approaching, Jordan Brand has announced that it’s signed four rookies to endorsement deals. Jett Howard (11th overall pick), Jaime Jaquez Jr. (18th), Cam Whitmore (20th), and Marcus Sasser (25th) were all first-round selections in June’s NBA Draft and will all rep Jumpman this season. All four rookies either played college or AAU ball with Jordan-sponsored clubs, showing that early ties to the brand continue to pay dividends. They join the brand’s signature athletes — Zion Williamson, Jayson Tatum, and Luka Dončić — on a growing roster of Jordan Brand NBA players.

Boardroom’s Nick DePaula has more details on Jordan Brand’s rookie quartet.

Megan Thee Stallion Confirms She’s Not Signed to a Label

Megan Thee Stallion is not currently signed to a record label and will fund her own music projects going forward, the rapper confirmed on Instagram Live on Thursday. Her announcement comes amid an ongoing lawsuit with her former label, 1501 Certified Entertainment. “It’s really just me this go around until we sign to a new label,” she said. “But I don’t want to sign to a new label right now because I just want to do it myself.” Megan Thee Stallion’s legal battle with 1501 has been going on for more than two years. She’s accused the label of duping her into signing her initial deal in 2018 and says it has since withheld a portion of her royalties.

Haley Cavinder Eyes Potential Return to CBB After Entering Transfer Portal

Remember when the Cavinder Twins were reportedly done with college basketball? Well, Haley Cavinder isn’t quite ready to hang it up. The Miami guard and NIL superstar has entered the transfer portal and will be able to play in 2024-25. Though Cavinder appears to be weighing her options, a return to the Hurricanes is still possible. “As a businesswoman, she’s excited to see what type of opportunities there might be in the portal,” her agent Jeff Hoffman told On3 on Friday. “It comes from a foundation of she misses basketball more than anything in the world.” Haley and her sister Hanna had a slew of NIL deals previously, including Champs Sports, WWE, Boost Mobile, Under Armour, and more. They’re also equity partners in Betr, Jake Paul’s microbetting platform.

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]]> Microsoft Resets Video Game Industry as $69 Billion Activision Blizzard Deal Goes Final https://boardroom.tv/microsoft-activision-blizzard-deal-closed-news/ Fri, 13 Oct 2023 15:55:40 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=79435 The $68.7 billion deal brings franchises like Call of Duty, Overwatch, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, and Candy Crush Saga under the iconic tech giant’s roof. After nearly 21 months of deliberation, Microsoft has officially

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]]> The $68.7 billion deal brings franchises like Call of Duty, Overwatch, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, and Candy Crush Saga under the iconic tech giant’s roof.

After nearly 21 months of deliberation, Microsoft has officially acquired video game holding company Activision Blizzard. On Friday, the global Big Tech powerhouse purchased the gaming giant behind hit franchises like Call of Duty and Overwatch for $68.7 billion after clearing a final regulatory hurdle in the United Kingdom. It’s the single largest consumer tech acquisition since AOL merged with Time Warner in 2000.

Microsoft, presently valued north of $2.4 trillion, brings a literal wealth of experience to the table, operating in the software space since 1975 and launching its first Xbox gaming console in 2001.

“I’ve long admired the work of Activision, Blizzard, and King,” Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, said in an open letter. “Some of my most memorable gaming moments came from experiences their studios have created. It is incredible to welcome such legendary teams to Xbox.”

The key to closing the deal at long last? Microsoft’s decision to disabuse the UK Competition and Markets Authority’s concerns about excessive market share by selling the streaming rights to its Activision games to an industry rival, Ubisoft.

Activision, founded in 1979, came of age in the ’80s via several successful Atari titles. In 1999, the launch of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater laid the foundation for a franchise that has sold over 1.4 billion copies to date. In 2003, Activision released Call of Duty on Microsoft Windows, paving the way for a series understood to have eclipsed $31 billion in revenue.

Blizzard was founded in 1991 as Silicon & Synapse and first linked with Activision in 2008 as part of the latter’s merger with former parent company Vivendi Games.

As The Hollywood Reporter notes, the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal brings both the Xbox platform and Xbox Game Studios even closer to several titanic franchises. The impressive list of best-selling IPs now squarely in the Microsoft fold additionally includes Diablo, Warcraft, and Candy Crush Saga.

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“Today we start the work to bring beloved Activision, Blizzard, and King franchises to Game Pass and other platforms,” said Spencer. “We believe our news today will unlock a world of possibilities for more ways to play. Together, we’ll create new worlds and stories, bring your favorite games to more places so more players can join in.”

Spencer went on to say that new innovations should come in the following months, hinting at more mobile play as well as cloud streaming updates.

Today’s deal is reported to be the largest in Microsoft’s 48-year history. The process may have played out slower than the company desired due to regulatory concerns in both the US and abroad, but the marathon is now over.

For more on this blockbuster acquisition, stay tuned for this weekend’s Tech Talk newsletter from Boardroom’s Michelai Graham.

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]]> Loading Microsoft Announces New Products Following Major Data Leaks https://boardroom.tv/tech-talk-microsoft-new-products-chatgpt-apple-google/ Sun, 24 Sep 2023 19:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=78043 The tech giant recently unveiled the Surface Laptop Studio 2, Surface Laptop Go 3, Surface Go 4, and Surface Hub 3, all hitting the market on Oct. 3.

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]]> Neuralink, the Elon Musk-owned biotech startup building brain implants, opened recruitment for its first human trial, even though an investigation revealed multiple animal deaths due to the company’s implants. If you haven’t looked into Musk’s biotech venture yet, now would be a good time to start learning.

A peek into today’s edition: 

  • Microsoft‘s new products and data leaks
  • Another lawsuit and new crypto token at ChatGPT
  • Apple tops list of most future-proof brands

Microsoft Announces New Products Following Major Data Leaks

Microsoft showcased the next generation of its Surface computers, the new Windows 11 operating system, and shared updates on its Microsoft 365 Copilot AI tool at an event in New York. The tech leader unveiled the Surface Laptop Studio 2, Surface Laptop Go 3, Surface Go 4, and Surface Hub 3, all of which will hit the market on Oct. 3. Microsoft also announced enterprise availability for Microsoft 35 Copilot, its supplemental AI tool that can embed with Word, Excel, and other productivity apps. The new offering will be available to businesses starting Nov. 1 and will cost $30 per person per month on top of the existing Microsoft 365 monthly fee.

Microsoft’s legacy product chief, Panos Panay, was missing from the event, and that’s because he announced his departure from the business on Monday. He is headed to Amazon to run the division that oversees Alexa and Echo devices. Panay was with Microsoft for 20 years and is most known for leading the Microsoft Windows team and helping push the tech firm’s Surface computers to market.

Microsoft is also one step closer to closing in on acquiring Activision Blizzard after Britain’s antitrust regulator signed off on the deal. Amid all these new updates this week, news of two separate data leaks at Microsoft took over top headlines, as well.

First, AI researchers at the Big Tech firm accidentally exposed 38 terabytes of sensitive data, including private keys and passwords, while trying to publish some other data on GitHub. Secondly, leaked court documents detailed Microsoft’s plans for an all-digital Xbox Series X refresh that is expected to hit the market next year. The cylindrical device has a new look, lower power usage, expanded internal storage, and no disc drive. The documents came from Microsoft’s trial with the FTC over the summer, but the commission said Microsoft accidentally uploaded these docs to the court itself, and someone got ahold of them.

OpenAI Hit With Another Lawsuit, Plus More Updates From ChatGPT

OpenAI was hit with another copyright infringement lawsuit filed by 17 authors claiming ChatGPT is using their copyrighted works without permission. Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin, novelist Josh Grisham, and My Sister’s Keeper author Jodi Picoult are some of the top names in the claim organized by the Authors Guild. OpenAI responded to the lawsuit and said it has been working with authors and creators to understand their concerns about AI and misconceptions around the scope of copyrighted works. The lawsuit comes after a string of similar complaints filed against OpenAI earlier this year.

Despite the legal troubles, OpenAI is rolling out new tech after unveiling Dall-E 3 earlier this week. The latest version of OpenAI’s text-to-image tool that leverages ChatGPT comes with more safeguards and an easier process for users to turn their ideas into images. The AI giant will allow creators to decide if they want their work to be a part of this new offering. The possibilities seem endless with ChatGPT, and an anonymous Ethereum developer proved that when he combined his code with ChatGPT’s API to create a real digital coin named AstroPepeX. ChatGPT suggested all aspects of the coin’s creation, down to its name and imagery. AstroPepeX is available for trading on Uniswap’s exchange, and the memecoin generated $12.9 million on its opening day.

Google is Making Strides With AI

It’s been a busy week for Google. The Big Tech firm is inching closer to releasing its enterprise conversational AI system named Gemini, Jon Victor at The Information reported. Gemini is a collection of large language models that can perform various tasks, and it will be available to businesses through Google Cloud. Google has reportedly given a group of companies access to an early version of the platform with select offerings.

Now, Gemini is completely different from Google’s consumer AI chatbot, Bard, which will stay on the market when Gemini launches. To continue expanding Bard, Google is connecting the AI chatbot to its flagship consumer services, including YouTube and Gmail. YouTube Shorts is getting a generative AI feature called Dream Screen, allowing users to create AI-generated videos and image backgrounds using text descriptions. This new feature comes nearly a month after Snapchat launched a generative AI feature called “Dreams” that allows users to turn photos into more imaginative backgrounds. Coincidence or?

X Shares More on Vision For ‘Everything App’ Plans

X CEO Linda Yaccarino and the platforms management team shared an overview of X’s latest developments and plans on its road to becoming the everything app, which is something I’m still trying to wrap my head around understanding. Yaccarino and her team laid out these updates at X‘s newly reformed Client Council earlier this week. Some of these features have already been released, but X highlighted long-form blog posts, video calls, creator subscriptions, and product and job listings. X still has some work to do on the in-app payments system mentioned, and I’ll be the first to tell you the mock-up images were not good.

Elsewhere in X’s sphere, in an interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Elon Musk teased new X Premium (formerly Twitter Blue) tiers to attract more users to the program. While some outlets report that Musk said X will be completely paywalled, the platform’s owner denied that he made such remarks.

  • As Apple rolls out an iPhone 12 software update to address radiation concerns, the Big Tech giant topped the 2023 FutureBrand Index as the most future-proof brand over top tech competitors like Samsung, Microsoft, Intel, and Amazon.
  • Amazon announced a slate of new software and devices at its annual fall event, including the addition of generative AI in its voice assistant Alexa.
  • Airbnb listings will get a verification symbol as the platform launches a process to shake out fake listings in the US, Canada, Australia, the UK, and France to start. Airbnb is also using an AI system to flag users who may be booking a property for a party.
  • As TikTok rolls out its new AI-generated content label, the social network will also use AI to detect AI content to slap a label on. The new update comes as TikTok is working to bring its employees back into the office, and the company is using an app to track attendance.
  • Square CEO Alyssa Henry will depart the Block-owned financial services platform on Oct. 2 following an outage that spanned two days and didn’t allow sellers to process payments. Block Co-founder Jack Dorsey will take over as CEO after Henry’s exit.
  • Run Tech Club Foundation hosted a gala celebrating the impact of sports and projects launched by athletes, entrepreneurs, and creatives. Angel City FC‘s Kara Nortman, Trevor McFedries of Friends With Benefits, and Saysh’s Wes Felix are some honorees awarded at the event.

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]]> IN OTHER NEWS Amazon Introduces New Prime Video Ad Tier for 2024 https://boardroom.tv/headline-to-go/09-23-2023-amazon-prime-video-ad-tier-2024-microsoft-wilson/ Sat, 23 Sep 2023 13:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?post_type=headline-to-go&p=78168 Amazon Introduces New Prime Video Ad Tier for 2024 Following other streaming services that have added different tiers of subscriptions, Amazon confirmed Friday that ads are coming to Prime Video. According to CNBC, shows and movies on the Prime Video service

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]]> Amazon Introduces New Prime Video Ad Tier for 2024

Following other streaming services that have added different tiers of subscriptions, Amazon confirmed Friday that ads are coming to Prime Video. According to CNBC, shows and movies on the Prime Video service will “include limited advertisements.” However, Amazon Prime members in the US can pay a monthly fee of $2.99 to keep their service ad-free. Live events on the platform, like sports, already include advertising. Expect ads in Prime Video programs to start in the US, UK, Germany, and Canada in early 2024, followed by France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia later in the year.

Microsoft, Activision Blizzard Deal Closer than Ever with Promising EU Ruling

Microsoft’s proposed $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard inched closer to completion on Friday as UK regulators said an amended version of the contract is likely to resolve their initial hesitation over the acquisition. The New York Times reports regulators were concerned that Microsoft’s control over well-known Activision titles such as “Call of Duty” and “World of Warcraft” could permit the company to withhold that content from competing gaming platforms. Since news broke of the agreement in January 2022, antitrust authorities covering more than 40 countries have given Microsoft the go-ahead. More importantly, the European Union, notoriously tough on American tech corporations, pledged its support in May. 

Aces Star A’ja Wilson Wins Second Straight DPOY Award

As the Las Vegas Aces aim for a second straight WNBA title, one of their star players is picking up her second consecutive award. A’ja Wilson was recognized as the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, making her the eighth player to win the award multiple times. The reigning league MVP received 32 of 60 votes from a national media panel. Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas finished second with 24. “Winning [a defensive award] in college, I was like, ‘OK, cool.’ But winning at this level feels different because these are pros, world-class elite women. I’m excited to share it with my teammates,” Wilson told ESPN’s Michael Voepel. The WNBA is expected to announce the MVP recipient Tuesday before the Aces play the Dallas Wings in Game 2 of their semifinal series. Wilson has won that award two of the past three years.

Fat Joe, Rick Ross, Other Hip-hop Icons Advocate for Honest Healthcare in PSA

Fat Joe, Rick Ross, Busta Rhymes, Method Man, French Montana, and Public Enemy’s Chuck D have teamed up with the nonprofit Power to the Patients to advocate for a more honest healthcare system. “Today, we confront a health care system that has been rigged against all of us,” the rappers said in the minute-long public service announcement. “Hospitals force patients to sign contracts for services without ever showing us actual prices, stifling competition, overcharging without accountability, and if we can’t pay, these same contracts allow them to take everything we own.” According to People, Fat Joe worked with Power to the Patients earlier this year and participated in healthcare transparency efforts by city council members in New York City.

HEYDUDE Tabs Quinn Ewers, Jalen Milroe to Headline NIL Roster for Licensed Collection

HEYDUDE has launched an officially licensed  Collegiate Collection in partnership with eight universities, headlined by Alabama and Texas.  Per the release, the footwear brand decided on its partners based on geographical areas where HEYDUDE is gaining popularity and resonates with customers fully immersed in the fandom. To further support the capsule launch, HEYDUDE also signed a roster of 12 NIL athletes who will act as brand ambassadors for their respective schools. Those individuals are Clemson‘s Azyah Dailey, LSU‘s Jayden Daniels, TCU‘s Chandler Morris and Trey Sanders, Alabama‘s Chandler Hayden and Jalen Milroe, Florida‘s Trinity Thomas and Graham Mertz, Louisville‘s Jayda Curry, Tennessee‘s Rickea Jackson and Joe Milton, and Texas‘ Quinn Ewers.

New Crime Series Dives Deep Into Nipsey Hussle’s Murder in First Episode

Nipsey Hussle’s untimely murder is the subject of a new series that takes audiences behind the scenes of high-profile criminal trials. Per the series description, Behind the Crime “dives deep into the inner workings of the justice system with gripping cases that give viewers unfiltered access with real case footage.” Airing on Tubi, each episode “examines the crime from the investigation to the trial, and ultimately, the verdict as told from the intimate perspective of those closest to the case – the legal teams, jurors, and law enforcement, as well as the family and friends of the victims and the defendants.” Hussle was gunned down outside his The Marathon clothing store in South Central Los Angeles on March 31, 2019. His assailant, Eric Holder Jr., was found guilty of first-degree murder and was sentenced to 60 years to life in prison in February.

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]]> WWE ‘Smackdown’ Makes $1.4B Return to USA Network https://boardroom.tv/headline-to-go/09-22-2023-wwe-smackdown-usa-network-will-smith-lil-wayne/ Fri, 22 Sep 2023 13:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?post_type=headline-to-go&p=78056 WWE ‘Smackdown’ Makes $1.4B Return to USA Network WWE‘s SmackDown is returning to USA Network in October 2024 in a five-year agreement with NBCUniversal, according to The Wall Street Journal. The deal is estimated at approximately $1.4 billion, a 40% increase

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]]>
WWE ‘Smackdown’ Makes $1.4B Return to USA Network

WWE‘s SmackDown is returning to USA Network in October 2024 in a five-year agreement with NBCUniversal, according to The Wall Street Journal. The deal is estimated at approximately $1.4 billion, a 40% increase from Fox’s deal for the program. Fox has been the home for SmackDown since 2019. Additionally, WWE will produce four yearly primetime specials for NBC’s broadcast network. The specials will air on NBC starting in the 2024-25 season.

Will Smith Throws it Back with ‘Class of 88’ Podcast

Will Smith is hosting a limited podcast, Class of ’88, celebrating one of the most defining years of hip-hop. Produced by Wondery, Audible, Westbrook, and Awfully Nice, the show will feature the likes of Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa, Darryl ‘DMC’ McDaniels, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Rakim, and Chuck D. Guests will pay homage to the music, fashion, and film that left a mark on the genre at the time and are still recognized today. The Oscar-winning actor and DJ Jazzy Jeff enjoyed commercial success in 1988 with their hit single “Parents Just Don’t Understand.” The track made history as the first to win the Grammy for Best Rap Performance at the 1989 awards. All eight episodes of the Class of ’88 will come out on Oct. 26 exclusively on Amazon Music and Audible.

Lil Wayne Announces ‘Tha Fix Before Tha VI’

Tha Carter VI is on the way, but Lil Wayne doesn’t want his fans to wait for the new project to be completed before hitting them with new music. The New Orleans rapper announced that he will drop Tha Fix Before Tha VI via his social media accounts. Weezy has stayed busy recently, leading out Deion Sanders and the Colorado football team last weekend in Boulder and making routine appearances on Skip Bayless’ Undisputed, for which he also recorded a new theme song.

Quavo Visits the White House to Discuss Gun Violence

Quavo is turning the grief he experienced after losing his nephew and fellow Migos member Takeoff to gun violence into activism. The Atlanta-raised emcee was in Washington, DC, on Wednesday for a panel discussion on gun violence prevention. Partnering with the Community Justice Action Fund, the 32-year-old met with members of Congress and, afterward, met privately with Vice President Kamala Harris. Quavo and his family — including his sister, Titania Davenport, Takeoff’s mother — have launched The Rocket Foundation to honor the late rapper’s legacy and support programs that save lives through community-based solutions to prevent gun violence.

Rupert Murdoch is Leaving Fox, Hands the Reins to Son

Billionaire media exec Rupert Murdoch is stepping down as chairman of Fox Corporation and News Corporation, effective mid-November, the 92-year-old announced Thursday. In a memo to staff, Murdoch said, “For my entire professional life, I have been engaged daily with news and ideas, and that will not change. But the time is right for me to take on different roles, knowing that we have truly talented teams.” In the note, Murdoch added that his son Lachlan, who already serves as chief executive of Fox Corporation, will become the sole chairman of both companies.

Microsoft Unveils New Surface Device, AI Software at NYC Event

Microsoft is preparing for its next generation of computing products. The tech giant hosted an event in New York City on Thursday that spotlighted its newest devices and its newest software, Windows 11. The company unveiled the Surface Laptop Studio 2 and the Surface Laptop Go 3. Additionally, Microsoft announced the enterprise availability of Microsoft 365 Copilot, which features AI software to help enhance the Word and Excel experiences. CEO Satya Nadella expressed his excitement at the innovative product, the company’s first in many years. Each model will hit the market on Oct. 3, but preorders are currently open.

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]]> Colorado’s Deion Sanders Files ‘Coach Prime’ Trademark, 3 Others https://boardroom.tv/headline-to-go/09-21-2023-deion-sanders-trademark-apple-luka-trae-sports-illustrated/ Thu, 21 Sep 2023 13:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?post_type=headline-to-go&p=78017 Colorado’s Deion Sanders Files ‘Coach Prime’ Trademark, 3 Others So far, the Deion Sanders experiment at Colorado is working. As his impact in Boulder grows, the Buffaloes head coach filed for several trademarks Monday, including one for his popular nickname

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]]> Colorado’s Deion Sanders Files ‘Coach Prime’ Trademark, 3 Others

So far, the Deion Sanders experiment at Colorado is working. As his impact in Boulder grows, the Buffaloes head coach filed for several trademarks Monday, including one for his popular nickname “Coach Prime.” Through his company Prime Time Enterprises, Sanders also submitted trademarks for “Prime Effect,” “Daddy Buck,” and “It’s Personal,” per trademark attorney Josh Gerben. The filings claim the four trademarks will be associated with everything from a clothing brand to a production company to coaching services. After a double-overtime thriller win against Colorado State on Saturday, Colorado is on the road against No. 10 Oregon before hosting No. 5 USC the following week.

Boardroom’s Shlomo Sprung has more details on Coach Sanders’ recent filings.

Apple Tops Samsung, Microsoft in ‘Future-proof’ Brand Rankings

The FutureBrand Index is in its ninth year of ranking companies by how “future-proof” their brands are, and according to its latest iteration, Apple is at the top of the list over big tech competitors like Samsung and Microsoft. It rose six spots from its 2022 position to claim its third No. 1 ranking, the first two coming in 2016 and 2020, respectively. According to the report, “Apple’s visionary approach towards innovation” is one of the many reasons why the tech company was able to get back on top. Coming in second was Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL), followed by NextEra Energy (No. 1 in 2022) in third and TSMC in fourth. Rounding out the top five was Samsung, with Microsoft coming in sixth.

Tyler Reddick to Drive Car Inspired by Luka Dončić’s New Shoe Colorway

Dallas Mavericks star Luka Dončić has a new colorway for his latest signature sneaker, and it’s become the inspiration for a car racing this weekend in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs at Texas Motor Speedway. The No. 45 car driven by 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick will have a Jordan Luka 2-inspired wrap in the new “Trick Shot” colorway. Design details on the sneakers — most of which will be featured on the car — include a primarily-white upper with neon green accents on the lateral geometry and lacing system tags. The medial midsole and co-branding are black, while an icy translucent outsole completes the look. The new Luka sneaker colorway has a scheduled drop date of Oct. 24 via the SNKRS app at an expected price of $140.

Savage X Fenty Drops Soccer-inspired Lounge Collection

Rihanna‘s Savage X Fenty is expanding its sports-inspired capsule with a new lounge collection for soccer fans worldwide. The limited-edition Savage x League assortment, inspired by The Beautiful Game, arrives in leggings, sports bras, a jacket, a jersey, and bike shorts for women, while men’s looks feature base-layer shorts and a tank. The collection features what the company calls YOUniversal styles (XXS-4X), allowing versatility to mix and match pieces. Ranging in price from $18 to $38, shop the capsule at savagex.com.

Trae Young Joins Kevin Durant, Tom Brady as Pickleball Investor

Trae Young is officially getting into the pickleball game. The Atlanta Hawks star announced Tuesday he is the newest investor in the Anheuser-Busch-owned Major League Pickleball team, the Atlanta Bouncers. Young will serve as the sole investor of the Bouncers as they enter their second season.  The Atlanta Bouncers are the first professional sports team that Young has backed, joining a growing list of celebrity investors such as Kevin Durant, Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Naomi Osaka, Drake, and more. 

Sports Illustrated Resorts to Expand to Tuscaloosa, Other College Towns

Travel + Leisure Co. and Sports Hospitality Ventures (a licensee of the Sports Illustrated magazine brand) are joining forces to launch Sports Illustrated Resorts in select college towns nationwide, ensuring the game-day experience doesn’t end when the final whistle blows. According to the release, fans can expect future resort destinations to boast a full-service hotel, condominiums, vacation ownership club, signature SI Fit Health/Wellness Center, restaurants, and entertainment. While the first Sports Illustrated Resorts property opened in Cap Cana in 2022, the inaugural college town resort will open in Tuscaloosa, home of the Alabama Crimson Tide, in late 2025. Alabama has been on the cover of Sports Illustrated an impressive 41 times, more than any other university.

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]]> Coco Gauff: On the Cusp of Greatness https://boardroom.tv/coco-gauff-us-open-tennis-brand/ Thu, 07 Sep 2023 17:18:59 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=77290 As Coco Gauff takes the court at the US Open, Boardroom examines her growing portfolio. Only Coco Gauff could celebrate her high school graduation in Paris last year, then follow it up by reaching

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]]> As Coco Gauff takes the court at the US Open, Boardroom examines her growing portfolio.

Only Coco Gauff could celebrate her high school graduation in Paris last year, then follow it up by reaching the final of the French Open. At just 19 years old, the 5-foot-9 Florida native is one of the top women’s players on the planet and just two wins away from her first Grand Slam title, which she could capture this weekend at the U.S. Open.

The daughter of two collegiate athletes, Gauff started training in Florida at age 7 and went to Paris to develop her skills under Serena Williams‘ former coach, Patrick Mouratoglou. Coco became a top-ranked junior player, winning the French Open and helping the United States win the 2018 Junior Fed Cup. She turned pro that year at 14, and at 15 years and three months, Gauff not only became the youngest player to ever qualify for the main draw at Wimbledon, but defeated Venus Williams in straight sets and reached the fourth round of the 2019 tournament.

Gauff has been on a meteoric rise ever since, consistently going deep into major tournaments and even reaching two Grand Slam doubles finals to boot. With millions in prize money and a growing list of sponsors, let’s take a closer look at the teenager’s impressive portfolio that includes a signature shoe line with New Balance and more than $2 million in prize money in 2023 going into the Open.

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The Coco Brand

  • Age: 19
  • Nationality: American
  • Height: 5 feet, 9 inches
  • Career prize money: $8,057,463
  • Key endorsements: New Balance, Head, Baker Tilly, Barilla, Bose, Rolex, and U.P.S.
  • Instagram followers: 1 million

A Grand Slam title certainly seems on the horizon for a top-10 player like Gauff, who could, in turn, see her global endorsement reach grow further. She’s already accomplished so much at such a young age, and while carrying the torch passed on by the Williams sisters as the next great American female player seems like a big ask for a teenager, Coco seems up to the challenge.

Career Accomplishments

Professional singles record: 162-79
WTA World Ranking: 6
Career-high ranking: 4

Grand Slams: None

ATP Singles Titles: 5

  • 2023: Cincinnati Open, Washington Open, Auckland Classic
  • 2021: Emilia-Romagna Open
  • 2019: Linz Open

ATP Doubles Titles: 8

  • 2023: Qatar Open, Miami Open
  • 2022: Qatar Open, Canadian Open, San Diego Open
  • 2021: Emilia-Romagna Open
  • 2019: Washington Open, Luxembourg Open

Additional honors: Junior World No. 1, youngest junior girls finalist in U.S. Open history, 2018 French Open junior championship, 2018 Junior Fed Cup champion.

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]]> Loading Chipmaker Nvidia Beats Estimates With $13.5B in Q2 Revenue https://boardroom.tv/tech-talk-nvidia-beat-estimates-q2-revenue/ Sun, 27 Aug 2023 19:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=76402 The strong second quarter for Nvidia comes on the heels of the company hitting a $1 trillion valuation in May.

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Guess who’s back? It’s me, Lady Cyborg, making a swift return during what seems like hell week for OpenSea following their policy update on creator royalties and a former product manager at the company landing a three-month prison sentence for NFT insider trading.

A peek into today’s edition: 

  • Nvidia‘s big earnings wins
  • Threads’ web version has arrived
  • More (bad) updates from the world of X

Chipmaker Nvidia Beat Estimates With $13.5B in Q2 Revenue

AI computing leader Nvidia‘s stock soared as much as 6% earlier this week after the chipmaker beat revenue estimates in its Q2 earnings report. Nvidia generated $13.5 billion in revenue, and $10.32 billion of Nvidia’s Q2 revenue came from action in its data center, which is up 171% year-over-year. The tech company’s gaming sector attracted $2.5 billion of that revenue. Nvidia’s positive revenue track comes from a significant increase in business for chip buyers using its tech for generative AI purposes. Nvidia’s graphics processing units have been pivotal to the AI boom, especially for corporations investing in the tech giant’s supercomputers, which are powered by 256 of its chips.

The company’s success comes after it hit a $1 trillion valuation in May. Nvidia said it expects to attract about $16 billion in revenue for Q3, much higher than the $12.61 billion analysts estimate.

Threads Finally Gets a Web Version

Meta finally launched the web version of Threads this week, letting users access the new microblogging platform from any web browser. Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, shared the news in a Threads post (thread?) and stated that the website was available to everyone. Loads of users flocked under the post to report that they were having trouble logging onto the web version. Users should know some functions aren’t available outside of the mobile app, like editing your profile. Meta is working out the kinks and improving Threads web features.

More Meta news bites:

  • Meta updated its return-to-office mandate, requiring employees to work onsite three days a week.
  • The Big Tech giant agreed to comply with European laws, which require chronological order offerings for content on Facebook and Instagram.

SoftBank-Owned Chipmaker Arm is Going Public

It’s been a slow run for tech IPOs in 2023, but this company is coming in to try to change the narrative with the biggest IPO of the year thus far. Arm, a British computer chip maker and software design company, filed for a Nasdaq listing. Softbank bought the company in 2016 for $32 billion, and it’s expected to retain voting control over Arm after it goes public. Arm reported $2.68 billion in revenue in its most recent earnings report, and the company is expected to go into its IPO with a $60 billion to $70 billion valuation. Arm’s share price will be set in mid-September ahead of its public offering.

The public offering comes after Softbank’s deal to sell Arm to Nvidia early last year fell through due to antitrust concerns.

X is Getting Rid of News Headlines and Snippets

In his latest attempt to oppress journalism on X/Twitter, Fortune reported that Elon Musk has decided to remove headlines and text snippets from news articles when shared via links on the platform. Articles will now only appear with their lead images. Musk confirmed the update to Fortune and said he’s bidding ado with news headlines and subtext “to help reduce the vertical pixel space that articles take,” cut down on clickbait, and improve the social network’s overall aesthetic. This is such a low blow in Musk‘s war on news outlets and gives them the extra work of having to type headlines and subheads out now.

Elsewhere in X’s ecosystem, a temporary glitch on the platform broke all links and images posted before December 2014. X is still working to fix the bug and claims no images or data were lost in the process, but we won’t know that for sure until after the weekend concludes. The platform is also still experiencing backlash after Musk tweeted that X/Twitter is removing the block feature in favor of a mute function only for feeds, though the block button will still be functional for DMs. There is an interesting note under Musk’s tweet now that says X would be in violation of app store policies if the feature is removed, which could result in the app being taken down. Let’s keep an eye on that.

In Other News: PlayStation Get Portable, YouTube Tackles AI Music, & More

  • Sony‘s new remote handheld player, dubbed the PlayStation Portal, will arrive later this year with a $200 price tag and be able to stream PS5 games.
  • Since sharing a set of principles for AI-generated music on its platform, YouTube announced an AI Music Incubator with Universal Music Group to gain input from the record label’s network. Elsewhere, YouTube is also testing a search function that lets users hum to identify songs. Watch out, Shazam.
  • Charles Martinet, the video game voice actor behind Mario since Nintendo’s Super Mario 64, is retiring after 27 years and pivoting to the role of Mario Ambassador to travel and promote the popular character.
  • In an effort to clear its merger forward in the UK, Microsoft cut a 15-year deal with Ubisoft to sell its cloud gaming rights for Activision Blizzard PC and console games. The proposal will only be approved if Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision goes through.
  • Snapchat is expanding with a generative AI feature called “Dreams” that allows users to upload photos to be generated into new images with fanciful or imaginative backgrounds.
  • IBM is selling off its weather unit to tech-focused private equity firm Francisco Partners, which includes The Weather Channel mobile app and websites, Weather.com, Weather Underground, and Storm Radar. As part of the deal, IBM can continue accessing the weather data to power some of its AI models.

Michelai’s Bet of the Week Presented By FanDuel

Despite the desirable $130 price point, I’m going to strongly bet that the new Atari 2600+ dropping in November won’t sell even half the units that the Atari 2600 sold, which was about 30 million.

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]]> WEEK IN TECH (1) IN OTHER NEWS Lauryn Hill Announces Tour for 25th Anniversary of Debut Album https://boardroom.tv/headline-to-go/08-23-2023-lauryn-hill-tour-the-fugees-steve-kerr-amazon-microsoft/ Wed, 23 Aug 2023 13:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?post_type=headline-to-go&p=76429 The post Lauryn Hill Announces Tour for 25th Anniversary of Debut Album appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> The post Lauryn Hill Announces Tour for 25th Anniversary of Debut Album appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> Hackers Tackle AI at the 30th Annual Defcon Event in Las Vegas https://boardroom.tv/tech-talk-hackers-ai-defcon-vegas/ Sun, 20 Aug 2023 19:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=76043 Over 2,000 hackers target the potential downfalls of AI. Plus, Bored Apes head to court and there's a new power player in the EV world.

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]]> This week, Michelai Graham is on a much-deserved vacation. Boardroom’s Bernadette Doykos is stepping in temporarily to dive into a big week of tech news. The Tech Talk queen will return next week.

A peek into today’s edition:

  • Google is looking to get into the life advice business
  • Vinfast is the newest name in the expanding EV market
  • Bored Ape Yacht Club owners are stepping up with a lawsuit

Hackers Assembled in Vegas for a White House-sanctioned Event to Break AI

More than 2,000 hackers gathered in Las Vegas for the 31st annual Defcon conference. This year, amidst the multiple stations, the ones that were dedicated to artificial intelligence drew huge crowds. Many attendees collectively tried to predict all of the darkest, least ethical capacities of and uses for artificial intelligence. As the group gathered, they had the blessing of both the White House and each of the biggest companies leading the AI revolution. By exposing the risks of AI technology, the hackers prepared companies with new questions to solve as they roll out the technology in new and innovative ways, staving off some of the more nefarious capabilities. Judges scored the efforts, and two of the peak performances came from Stanford student Cody Ho, who didn’t realize that he was a winner until contacted by a reporter from the New York Times.

Google is Prepping an AI Tool to Hand Out Life Advice

“Hey Google, what should I do with my life?”

The tech giant is reportedly working on building AI technology that will help users make sense of this crazy, mixed-up world. Google’s DeepMind project is testing technology that would enable artificial intelligence to give users life advice. Up until now, this use of AI has been expressly avoided. The technology fields prompts and hands out potential solutions in return, acting as a modern-day “Dear Abby.” But this is only one aspect of DeepMind’s potential, which spans 21 opportunities, including critical breakdowns of complex topics, fact-checking, and more.

Vinfast Leaps into the Market with $18.5 Billion Valuation

The race for top market share in the electric vehicle world is heating up. Just this week, Tesla announced that it will reduce the price of its X and S models by nearly $10,000. However, it has a new competitor in the global market. Vietnamese company VinFast made its Nasdaq debut on Wednesday. Although the stock plummeted nearly 20% on its first day of trading, its market cap remained above $18.5 billion. This huge number placed it above legacy brands such as Ford and GM. Will the company keep up with the rising demand for EVs across the world? More on that in our Bet of the Week.

Bored Ape Owners Sue Sothebys, Paris Hilton, and More

Remember last year when every day there was a new celebrity scooping up a coveted Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT? From Justin Bieber to Snoop Dogg, anyone who was anyone was getting into the exclusive club. As NFTs have fallen out of favor, the value of the digital collectibles has plummeted. Now, a collective of Bored Ape owners is headed to court, suing Sotheby’s, Paris Hilton, and more for “misleadingly promot[ing]” the NFTs and artificially inflating the prices. Today, the average Bored Ape is valued at just over $50,000, whereas in May 2022 that number was 8x greater. Yuga Labs, the company behind the BAYC, responded to the claim, saying, “We believe that these new allegations, like those in the previous iteration of this opportunistic complaint, are completely without merit or factual basis.”

In Other News: Welcome to “Slivingland,” Reliable Service is Coming to FedEx Field, & More

  • Microsoft and OpenAI execs sat down and reflected on the current moment in AI, equating its potential impact to be as big as when Bill Gates called the internet at “tidal wave” in 1995. Meanwhile, chipmaker Nvidia saw its stock soar this week, as analysts got bullish on its potential role in the industry boom.
  • She may be named in the Bored Ape lawsuit, but she won’t let that bother her. Paris Hilton launched the entertainment hub “Slivingland” on Roblox this week. That’s hot, we guess.
  • There is a new ownership group in town in nation’s capital and sponsors are lining up to collab. Verizon announced a wide-ranging, two-year deal with the Washington Commanders this week. The partnership will focus on increasing connectivity at FedEx Field and improving the overall fan experience.
  • The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup has come to an end after an incredible month. Despite breaking attendance and viewership records, Amazon’s Alexa couldn’t answer the simplest of questions about the competition. The technology encountered a system error when users asked who won the semifinal match between England and Australia, highlighting potential evidence of sexism embedded in the device’s programming and operation.
  • Netflix is bidding farewell to its DVD business by sending some keepsakes to diehard fans. Users will receive up to 10 DVDs when the streaming giant sends them out the final time during the week of Sept. 29. However, you have to wonder if DVDs will have a resurgence similar to records, as Gen Z’ers double down on tangible goods.
  • Bitcoin sank below $26,000 this week, marking its worst week since November 2022. The dip was motivated by a Wall Street Journal report that revealed that Elon Musk sold off a significant amount of SpaceX’s Bitcoin holdings in 2022.
  • TikTok launched its music streaming app in select markets last month; however, things may not be going according to plan. The app was expected to expand into the U.S. next month, but the company implemented layoffs in the music department this week that included both its heads of partnerships and strategy. The move throws the future of the streaming service into question.

VinFast will go the way of Rivian, facing an extreme challenge (and plummeting stock prices) as it is unable to keep up with the sky-high demand for its EV offerings.

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]]> WEEK IN TECH IN OTHER NEWS (1) BET OF THE WEEK Threads is Headed to the Web https://boardroom.tv/tech-talk-threads-web-google-openai-microsoft/ Sun, 13 Aug 2023 19:00:27 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=75417 Boardroom's Michelai Graham breaks down the biggest news in tech and Web3. This week, she breaks down Threads coming move to the web.

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]]> Amazon‘s second Prime Day event of the year is coming in October, and no, we will not call it Prime Big Deal Days as they named it. Still, let’s see if the retailer can surpass the $12.7 billion it brought in during Prime Day in July.

A peek into today’s edition:

  • Threads on the web
  • Google and UMG sync on AI music tool
  • Microsoft is betting on Web3

Threads is Headed to the Web

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Threads that the new microblogging platform is getting a web version and conventional search function in the next few weeks. Meta launched Threads from stealth with a lot of missing features social media users typically expect. Still, millions of users flocked to the platform in the last month, and Meta hopes to retain early adopters with the rollout of some much-anticipated features. Threads is bringing in about 8 million daily active users, which is down from its peak of 44 million daily active users around its launch. Still, Meta is rolling out Threads updates, including the ability to share a post to Instagram DMs directly, a more intuitive mention button, and custom text for photos and videos.

For now, Threads is still only mobile-friendly, and it’s unclear if Meta will release iPad and Mac apps soon, but the Big Tech company has been internally testing more versions of the platform.

Google and UMG in Negotiations For AI Music Tools

Remember that viral AI-generated song featuring Drake and The Weeknd’s vocals that Universal Music Group got pulled from streaming platforms for copyright infringement claims? Well, it seems like UMG had a change of heart following a potential new partnership with Google. UMG and the Big Tech firm are in negotiations on a deal to license artists’ voices and melodies for AI-generated songs. The pair are discussing developing an AI tool for users to generate songs, with the appropriate copyright owners getting compensated. Artists will have a choice to participate in the licensing platform. Warner Music Group is discussing a similar deal with Google.

A deal of this magnitude gestures at how the major labels will look to monetize AI and potentially combat unauthorized deepfakes and other pitfalls. The biggest question now is how many artists will get on board with this new idea.

OpenAI Funds NYU’s New Journalism Ethics Project

ChatGPT‘s parent company OpenAI is dishing out a $395,000 grant to fund a journalism ethics initiative at New York University. The new opportunity will be part of NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute and offer workshops and discussions centered on journalism ethics issues, and produce articles and papers for its own website and other news outlets, Axios reported. Stephen Adler, former editor-in-chief of Reuters and veteran journalist, will lead the new initiative and conduct research about quality journalism in the age of AI.

OpenAI’s investment in NYU comes after the company announced last month that it would invest up to $10 million in the American Journalism Project to bolster local news. OpenAI is also partnering with the Associated Press to explore use cases for AI in newsrooms.

The White House Announces a $20M AI Cyber Challenge

The Biden-Harris Administration announced a two-year hacking challenge with nearly $20 million in prizes up for grabs. Led by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the AI Cyber Challenge is calling on US competitors to create AI-focused tech solutions that fix software vulnerabilities. The initial qualifying event will take place in the spring of 2024, where up to 20 teams will advance to the semifinal competition. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency made a commitment to invest $1 million each into seven small businesses that participate in the challenge. Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI are some of the top companies that will lend their AI tech to competitors who must build open-source systems that could potentially be widely used.

In Other News

  • Microsoft announced a partnership with layer-1 blockchain developer Aptos Labs to build AI tools for blockchain integrations and accelerate mass Web3 adoption.
  • Amazon will meet with the FTC next week to avoid an antitrust lawsuit that’s been brewing for a long time. If filed, the lawsuit could force the e-commerce giant to break up some of its business practices.
  • In its latest push to make crypto payments and transfers the norm, PayPal launched its own stablecoin, PayPal USD, that will be pegged to the US dollar and become its official digital coin.
  • Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is back in custody less than two months ahead of his fraud trail after a judge revoked his bail due to his involvement with media leaks.
  • There’s trouble in the C Suite. Tesla’s longtime CFO Zach Kirkhorn stepped down after 13 years of working in various roles at the company, and Disney’s metaverse lead, Mike White, left his post after only a year and a half in the role.
  • Renowned online streamer Kai Cenat is in the hot seat again and is facing criminal charges after running an electronics giveaway in NYC that incited chaos and resulted in dozens of arrests.
  • Dogecoin founder Billy Markus tweeted that he’s made five times more revenue from posting on X than he did in creating his notable cryptocurrency.

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]]> Apple & Amazon Beat Revenue Projections  https://boardroom.tv/tech-talk-apple-amazon-earnings/ Sun, 06 Aug 2023 19:00:12 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=75154 In today's edition, more Big Tech earnings, Meta’s AI chatbot plans, and Uber bringing AI to its app.

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]]> Logo Woes and More Trouble at Twitter (Or X?) https://boardroom.tv/tech-talk-logo-woes-and-more-trouble-at-twitter-or-x/ Sun, 30 Jul 2023 19:00:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=74883 Boardroom's Michelai Graham breaks down the biggest news in tech and Web3. This week, she unpacks the Twitter logo drama, Worldcoin, & more.

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]]> Big Tech Earnings Roundup: Meta Posts $32 Billion in Revenue for Q2 https://boardroom.tv/big-tech-earnings-q2-2023google-meta-microsoft-snap/ Thu, 27 Jul 2023 20:34:32 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=74838 In today’s roundup, Boardroom also breaks down key financial outlooks for Microsoft, Alphabet, and Snap from their latest earnings reports. Artificial intelligence is the name of the game right now when it comes to

The post Big Tech Earnings Roundup: Meta Posts $32 Billion in Revenue for Q2 appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> In today’s roundup, Boardroom also breaks down key financial outlooks for Microsoft, Alphabet, and Snap from their latest earnings reports.

Artificial intelligence is the name of the game right now when it comes to growth across the tech industry, and recent earnings reports from the Big Tech giants show us precisely that.

Here’s a recap of some of the high-level takeaways laid out in earnings reports from Meta, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Snap. Amazon and Apple are set to report earnings after market close on Aug. 3, so expect a download on those next week.

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Big Tech Earnings: Q2 2023

Meta

Meta’s stock was up 6% and trading at its highest since Jan. 2022 after the tech giant posted a strong earnings report on Tuesday, July 25. Revenues for the operator of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp spiked 11% year-over-year to $31.9 billion, with much of that success coming from a renewed interest in online advertising and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg doubling down on cost-cutting efforts to improve profitability.

Key takeaways from Meta’s recent earnings report:

  • Zuckerberg admitted that Meta was pleasantly overwhelmed by the mass adoption of upstart Twitter rival Threads. Despite Meta’s initial plan to keep the Threads team small, there is a big opportunity to grow it now.
  • Meta’s total costs and expenses hit $22.61 billion, including $780 million in restructuring charges and $1.87 billion in legal fees.
  • Meta spent $7.7 billion on its virtual reality sector in 2023 so far, and it lost $3.74 billion on its Reality Labs’ metaverse-related operations in Q2 alone.
  • As of June 30, Meta’s long-term debt sits at $18.38 billion.
  • Daily active users across Meta’s family of apps – primarily Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp – hit 3.07 billion on average in June, up 7% year-over-year.

Microsoft

Microsoft’s shares slipped as much as 4% on Wednesday, despite surpassing a few revenue projections. The company has had its hands full trying to close its acquisition of gaming giant Activision Blizzard, but the ink hasn’t dried on the contract just yet. Most notably, there has been widespread disappointment regarding Microsoft’s related rollout of its latest AI tech and investments.

Key takeaways from Microsoft’s recent earnings report:

  • Microsoft’s revenue hit $56.2 billion, which is up 8% year-over-year.
  • The tech giant profited $20.1 billion across the quarter, up a whopping 20% compared to the same period last year.
  • Microsoft’s productivity and business processes unit, which encompasses Office productivity software, LinkedIn, and Dynamics, accounted for $18.29 billion in revenue. Linkedin revenue increased by 5% alone.
  • Understandably so, investors are eager to see Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard go through sooner rather than later. The $69 billion deal, which was originally announced in January 2022, is set to close by mid-October at the latest.
  • Microsoft’s research and development costs declined for the first time since 2016, due in part to the company announcing back in May that it would be skipping salary increases for full-timers this year.

Alphabet

After some steadfast growth across its cloud computing sector, Google parent company Alphabet’s shares rose by as much as 7%. The Big Tech titan beat revenue projections across various aspects of its business, bringing in $74.6 billion in revenue — up 7% year-over-year.

Key takeaways from Alphabet’s recent earnings report:

  • Hardware and Google Services like Chrome, Google Maps, Android generated $66.3 billion in revenue. Sales dollars mainly came via advertising.
  • Revenue across Google’s cloud unit increased by 28% to $8.03 billion.
  • Ad revenue rose 3.3% to $58.14 billion, with YouTube ads revenue coming in at $7.67 billion.
  • Alphabet and Google CFO Ruth Porat will take on the new roles of president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google, effective Sept. 1. She’s the company’s longest-serving CFO.
  • Google’s cloud unit reported its second consecutive quarter of operating profit, generating $395 million in income for the quarter.

Snap

Snap’s stock fell as much as 17% after the social media company released its Q2 financial report on July 25. Shares plunged because Snap reported lower-than-expected financial guidance numbers, with CEO Evan Spiegel telling CNBC that this is due to the fact that forecasting anything in the social media industry has recently become more difficult.

Key takeaways from Snap’s recent earnings report:

  • Despite the recent dip, Snap’s shares are up 18% compared to this time last year. Still, Snap’s stock price is not nearly as healthy as the $73-per-share high it hit in November 2021.
  • Daily active users increased 14% year-over-year on Snapchat to 397 million.
  • Revenues hit $1.07 billion in Q2, an increase compared to Q1 but lower than the $1.11 billion the company brought in Q2 last year.
  • Snapchat+, the platform’s $3.99-a-month premium subscription service, reached four million paying subscribers in Q2.
  • Over 150 million users have sent 10 billion messages using Snapchat’s AI-powered chatbot.

Read More:

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]]> Loading Boardroom Tech Talk: Microsoft Pauses Activision Blizzard Merger https://boardroom.tv/boardroom-tech-talk-microsoft-pauses-activision-blizzard-merger/ Sun, 23 Jul 2023 19:00:07 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=74558 In the latest edition of the Boardroom Tech Talk newsletter, Boardroom’s Michelai Graham discusses ChatGPT's latest update, an AI news writer, Meta's impending Norway fines, and more.

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]]> In the latest edition of the Boardroom Tech Talk newsletter, Boardroom’s Michelai Graham discusses ChatGPT’s latest update, an AI news writer, Meta’s impending Norway fines, and more.

Apparently, Google is testing an AI tool that can write news articles and is marketing it as a personal assistant for journalists, but I’m just not convinced that’s the real goal of the new tech. 

A peek into today’s edition: 

Subscribe to Boardroom Tech Talk to get the full tech download from the week in your inbox every Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.

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Microsoft Pauses Activision Blizzard Merger + Other Updates

In a twisted turn of events, Microsoft has decided to delay its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard to get approval from the UK’s antitrust regulators. Microsoft and Activision extended the closing of the deal until Oct. 18, with hopes that they can make it over this last hurdle and change the gaming landscape forever. 

Here are some more news updates from Microsoft’s world: 

  • After months of feuding, Microsoft and Sony inked a deal to keep Call of Duty titles exclusively on PlayStation devices for the next decade. 
  • Microsoft and Meta announced the release of Llama 2, the tech giants’ open-source large language AI model, which is free for research and commercial use. 
  • Microsoft is expanding its Bing AI chatbot with Bing Chat Enterprise for work with commercial data protection. 

THIS WEEK IN TECH

ChatGPT’s New Memoery Feature

OpenAI added a new feature to ChatGPT that enables users to customize prompts and add preferences for all their chats. The custom instructions feature gives the AI system a basic memory function that allows ChatGPT to tailor and influence responses based on what users want. The feature is in beta testing with ChatGPT Plus plan users, and a broader rollout to all users could happen in the next few weeks. 

Also, keep an eye out. There’s a ChatGPT clone called WormGPT that hackers are using to launch email phishing attacks. 

Will Threads Survive the Hype?  

Daily active users on Meta’s Threads fell as much as 50% from 49 million on July 7 to 23.6 million on July 14 following a highly successful launch earlier this month. Despite the dip in usage, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he’s still optimistic about the app’s community growing. 

Threads got its first major iOS app update to reel users in, adding more columns to the activity feed, including a Follows tab, text translation, follower subscriptions, and more. Meta also took away the set of numbers on Instagram pages that signaled a Threads account is attached to that user. Instead, each Threads user now has a logo on their Instagram page that leads to their Threads account. There’s no word on when Android users will get an equivalent update. 

Want More Tech Talk?

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]]> Loading Reddit Kyrie Unveils New Partnership with Chinese Shoe Company Anta https://boardroom.tv/headline-to-go/july-12-2023-kyrie-anta-partnersh/ Wed, 12 Jul 2023 13:00:08 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?post_type=headline-to-go&p=73773 The post Kyrie Unveils New Partnership with Chinese Shoe Company Anta appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> The post Kyrie Unveils New Partnership with Chinese Shoe Company Anta appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> Web3 & Tech VC Roundup: Inflection AI Raises $1.3B from Microsoft and Nvidia https://boardroom.tv/web3-tech-vc-roundup-inflection-ai-typeface/ Sat, 01 Jul 2023 14:00:54 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=73092 Boardroom’s latest Web3 & Tech VC Roundup includes deals from Typeface, Mythical Games, Scriptic, and more.

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]]> Boardroom’s latest rundown on venture capital at the cutting edge includes deals from Typeface, Mythical Games, Scriptic, and more.

California-based Inflection AI recently announced the closed of a $1.3 billion funding round led by Microsoft, Nvidia, Bill Gates, Reid Hoffman, and Eric Schmidt.

Launched in early 2022, Inflection AI has raised $1.525 billion in venture capital to date to make personal AI platforms available to every person in the world. The artificial intelligence studio partners with cloud provider CoreWeave and Nvidia, a longtime leading chipmaker, to develop AI tools and offerings, including Pi, Inflection AI’s flagship personal AI product powered by generative AI that it launched in May.

“Personal AI is going to be the most transformational tool of our lifetimes, Inflection AI Co-founder and CEO Mustafa Suleyman said in a press release. “This is truly an inflection point.”

Inflection AI’s Pi product was designed to be a friendly counterpart for curious users looking for helpful information and advice. The platform operates via text and voice conversations, and people can talk to Pi via the web, mobile, WhatsApp, Instagram, and on Facebook Messenger. Inflection AI plans to use its fresh funding to further build out Pi and more offerings.

Here’s the download on top Web3 and Tech VC deals announced recently.

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Typeface: $100M for Content Creation Powered By Generative AI

Typeface, a generative AI platform for enterprise content creation, closed an oversubscribed $100 million Series B round led by Salesforce Ventures.

The round included additional investments from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Madrona, Google Ventures, Menlo Ventures, and M12, Microsoft’s Venture Fund. Typeface has raised $165 million in VC to date at a $1 billion valuation.

“To make generative AI truly effective in an enterprise environment, it is essential to have a robust solution and a highly experienced team that understands the specific challenges faced by businesses,” John Somorjai, Chief Corporate Development and Investment Officer at Salesforce, said in a statement. “Typeface represents best-in-class enterprise generative AI with its unique focus on brand personalization, IP ownership, and seamless integration into existing workflows. We are thrilled to invest in Typeface’s talented team and their exceptional vision.”

Typeface publicly launched its products in February and plans to extend its reach through new partnerships with Salesforce and Google Cloud. The company’s AI tech can help personalize content at scale across various departments, including HR, sales, and marketing. Typeface recently launched new features, including video-to-text conversation, selective image editing, and an image studio for high-resolution product photography.

Mythical Games: $37M

Gaming studio Mythical Games raised $37 million as part of its Series C1 funding round, with $20 million to $30 million in funding expected to come through later this year to close the round. Scytale Digital led Mythical Games’ new investment round with participation from ARK Invest, Animoca Brands, PROOF, Stanford Athletics, MoonPay, Andreessen Horowitz, Gaingels, Signum Growth, Struck Capital, and WestCap.

The new funding comes after Mythical launched its Web3-powered NFL Rivals game on mobile in April. The game developer will use its new funding to continue building the Mythical platform’s infrastructure, reach profitability, and scale its gaming development.

More Notable Investments

  • Storytelling platform Scriptic secured $5.7 million to expand its phone-first generative AI tools, games, and content.
  • Runway, a developer of generative AI tools for content creators, closed a $141 million Series C extension with investments from Google, Salesforce, Nvidia, and others.
  • Austria-based One Trading closed a $33 million funding round to expand its offerings for retail and institutional investors who use its crypto exchange.
  • CalypsoAI, a developer of AI app testing tools, raised $23 million to extend its offerings to cover generative AI platforms.
  • Startale Labs secured $3.5 million to build a global infrastructure for mass Web3 adoption.
  • AI-powered crypto search engine Kaito closed a $5.3 million seed round led by Dragonfly Capital, with participation from Sequoia Capital China, Alpha Lab Capital, and others.

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]]> Loading Jessica Gelman Boardroom Tech Talk: Twitter’s Latest Scandals https://boardroom.tv/boardroom-tech-talk-twitter-reddit-lvmh-epic-games/ Sun, 18 Jun 2023 20:00:52 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=71928 In the latest edition of the Boardroom Tech Talk newsletter, we also discuss the Reddit blackout, LVMH and Epic Games' expanded partnership, and more.

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]]> In the latest edition of the Boardroom Tech Talk newsletter, we also discuss the Reddit blackout, LVMH and Epic Games’ expanded partnership, and more.

We’re testing something new here by teasing the latest version of our Boardroom Tech Talk newsletter on the website.

Here’s a snippet of this week’s edition.

Twitter’s Latest Scandals 

Twitter is back in the limelight for all the wrong reasons. First, the National Music Publishers’ Association sued Twitter, alleging that the social media platform violated copyright laws when it used songwriters’ music without permission. The NMPA is comprised of members that song write for various music companies,  each of which is seeking $150,000 per piece of work infringed. 

Elsewhere, it seems like Twitter is having trouble keeping up with its bills. After signing a $1 billion contract with Google in 2018 to host its services on Google Cloud servers, Twitter refused to pay its latest bill as its contract renewal looms this month. The social media company also owes three months’ worth of rent on its Boulder, Colo., office, so a judge inked court documents to allow the building owner to evict Twitter from the premises. 

But no fear, new CEO Linda Yaccarino is still excited about building what she calls Twitter 2.0. 

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This Week in Tech

The Rundown on Reddit’s Civil War 

Thousands of popular Subreddit communities went dark earlier this week in protest of the social news network’s updated API pricing for third-party apps. Over 8,000 Subreddits either went offline or private, while others are considering shutting down indefinitely on June 30 when the new API pricing model officially goes into effect. 

Reddit CEO Steve Huffman told staff in a memo that the API blowback will pass and it hasn’t had a real impact on revenue, but the Subreddit blackout caused a brief crash on Reddit’s site on Monday. That feels like some impact to me. 

Puma Expands With Black Station 2

Puma expanded its digital shopping experience with Black Station 2, a metaverse platform that allows users to purchase phygital footwear and goods. The virtual world got a first look at Black Station during New York Fashion Week last year, but the updated digital destination features two explorable worlds called Unkai and Unter. Puma drew inspiration from the Japanese city, Shibuya, and Berlin’s club culture to build its virtual environments. 

This isn’t the entire newsletter, so if you don’t want to miss out on the full letter in your inbox every Sunday at 1 pm ET, then subscribe to Boardroom Tech Talk.

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]]> Loading Loading Kevin Hart is Bringing Jack Harlow, J. Cole, & More to Las Vegas https://boardroom.tv/headline-to-go/apr-27-2023-kevin-hart-vegas-hartbeat-weekend/ Thu, 27 Apr 2023 15:49:10 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?post_type=headline-to-go&p=67999 The post Kevin Hart is Bringing Jack Harlow, J. Cole, & More to Las Vegas appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> The post Kevin Hart is Bringing Jack Harlow, J. Cole, & More to Las Vegas appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> Black Women in Tech Don’t Owe You Anything https://boardroom.tv/black-women-in-tech-2023/ Fri, 31 Mar 2023 21:04:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=65123 Boardroom spoke to three Black women about their entryway into tech, and their experiences working for big tech companies such as Meta, Twitter, Microsoft, and Google. There is no need to sugarcoat the sad

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]]> Boardroom spoke to three Black women about their entryway into tech, and their experiences working for big tech companies such as Meta, Twitter, Microsoft, and Google.

There is no need to sugarcoat the sad reality that Black women make up only 3% of the tech industry workforce.

There are countless industry reports and statistics that illustrate this lack of representation in plain terms — all-too-often accompanied by tone-deaf advice on how to bridge the tech talent gap. Evolving this landscape for the better is going to take more than launching educational programs and inking partnerships with historically Black colleges and universities. It’s going to take intentionality and authentic investment to get more Black women into the tech industry; they can’t be expected to climb to the top again and again on their own without positive structural changes.

Boardroom spoke to three Black women about their experiences working for Big Tech companies like Meta, Twitter, Microsoft, and Google, to get a fuller understanding of what these companies need to do to help more Black women realize their dreams and enter the field.

Alanna Walton, Jamila H. Lindo, and Maya Gold Patterson have worked at the biggest tech brands in the world, building products that consumers from all backgrounds use on a daily. Their resumes speak for themselves, so Boardroom took a deeper dive with them into the state of diversity in the tech industry, and how they continuously push for more visibility for Black women in tech.

Alanna Walton

Alanna Walton will tell you that her tech dreams date back to high school when she took her first coding class, but she’s been a technologist for far longer than that — she got her true start in the tech field when launched a YouTube channel at the age of 12.

Walton became a naturally curly-hair vlogger to review products and earn some money. She reached out to hair product companies and built a full-fledged side hustle where she was shooting and editing videos, uploading them online, and managing partnerships to grow her brand.

Alanna Walton (Courtesy photo)

“My dad bought me a green screen and I learned how to use green screen technology. I was really into that stuff,” Walton told Boardroom of her entrepreneurial origin story. “Being in technology is kind of in my blood. My dad works in tech [and] my grandmother has worked in tech, so I had that influence. I thought I would never want to do it because they both did it, but it kind of just fell upon me.”

Now, Walton is a software engineer at Google, where she works on the big tech company’s responsible AI team with a focus on data pipelining. Ultimately, she said she’s been able to be successful in the tech industry by staying curious and up-to-date on cutting-edge phenomena like artificial intelligence.

Walton said she isn’t coding as much in her current role, however, but is mostly consumed instead with building out strategies.

“My team specifically does work to try to make AI less racist and provide specific context about different identity groups to help make better products at Google,” she said. “It’s very important work that we do every day and it requires a lot of cohesion, so you’re just in meetings all the time.”

Walton secured her current role after interning at Google every summer during her time studying at Howard University, where she earned a degree in computer science. Walton said hackathons helped her land a job at Google, which are 24-hour competitions that call on teams of engineers to code a product or solutions. Walton actually participated in hackathons in college to earn money.

“You get so much experience being able to iterate very quickly, being able to create things, [and] trying out new languages just by testing out technologies using real-world situations,” she said.

While Google has made a lot of strides over the years to grow more diverse, Walton said her employer still has a lot of work to do. One thing she did applaud parent company Alphabet for is its commitment to supporting Black employees and investing in the Black tech talent pipeline. Through a Google-supported program, Walton spent a semester teaching an intro-level computer science course at Xavier University to help expose students to tech roles not typically known for having diverse workforces.

“They paid me my full salary even though I was not doing any engineering work at the time because that was really important for them to close that gap in the pipeline for the amount of people graduating with computer science degrees and the amount of people in the tech industry at the big companies,” she said.

Walton’s nails during her time teaching at Xavier (Courtesy photo)

Walton said the goal of this program was to help get Black students internships at Google, and she’s proud to share that she got a few into the fold with the hope that they continue interning and ultimately secure a job just like she did. During her time teaching with Google, Walton asked her students why they think there’s a gap in the tech talent pipeline. Almost all of them said tech careers aren’t marketed as aggressively to Black students — and if they were, they would have started on such a career path earlier.

“Communities of color don’t get a chance to get the head start on being in this field,” Walton said. “There are disparities there that need to be adjusted. I don’t think that’s something that Google can do by itself, but it’s something it can promote industry-wide and work with elementary schools and middle schools to fuel that pipeline earlier so more people can get these opportunities.”

If Walton wasn’t doing tech, she said she would be a lawyer or a doctor or something of the like, but tech is her honest passion, and she even said it saved her. To get more Black women like herself in the industry, Walton said it’s going to take Big Tech companies creating safer spaces and hosting more unconscious bias training that can resonate with non-Black employees.

Looking ahead, while Walton is helping train AI at Google, she’s also taking entrepreneurship classes at the University of California, Berkeley to build out a potential tech startup focused on customer discovery.

We don’t want to give away too much too early, but we’re invested in championing Walton’s next move.

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Jamila H. Lindo

Jamila H. Lindo is a civil engineer and author who has worked on various tech teams at Meta and Microsoft. She earned a bachelor of science in civil engineering at Manhattan College before acquiring a master’s degree in construction management from Columbia University. During her master’s program, Lindo interned at Microsoft as a program manager in the company’s data center construction division, which exposed her to new roles in tech.

Jamila H. Lindo (courtesy photo)

“I studied civil engineering in college, and that path is rather untraditional for people in tech,” Lindo told Boardroom. “Coming from a civil engineering background, I came from a very unique place. [Microsoft] inspired me to continue my journey in tech and manage numerous projects.”

Lindo said she was motivated to pursue her career after participating in a program in high school that took students on tours of Big Tech company offices. She vividly remembers touring Microsft and Tumblr and meeting employees.

“That really started my dream of being in tech,” she said. “I always would wander websites to see any opportunities I’d be able to contribute to with my diverse background.”

After making the pivot to program management, Lindo spent nearly a year working at Meta as a technical program manager, supporting Instagram’s in-app messaging product called Instagram Direct. She was recently laid off from the company, though she hopes to land another role in program management in the tech industry.

On the flipside, Lindo continues to lead J.H. Lindo, the media company she founded that celebrates STEM exploration. Her company’s signature book, Girls Can Be Engineers, encourages young girls of color to explore careers that men typically dominate. In a different world, Lindo said she’d probably be an author since she loves writing and inspiring people through her words.

Courtesy photo

All told, Lindo said it’s going to take more visibility and recognition for Black women to expand their presence across the tech industry, media, and beyond.

“Keep the highest version of yourself in mind,” Lindo said of aspiring Black women technologists. “You never know what could happen in the end.”

Maya Gold Patterson

Maya Gold Patterson is the VP of design at Riverside, an online recording platform for content creation. Before taking on her current role, she spent three years working at Twitter as a product designer, where she most notably helped build Twitter Spaces.

Maya Gold Patterson (Courtesy photo)

Patterson earned a degree in psychology at Washington University in St. Louis before discovering UX design as her true passion. Before working at Twitter and Riverside, she worked on product design at Meta’s Facebook for two years. Patterson said Dantley Davis, a notable product and design executive who led design teams at Netflix, Meta, Twitter, and now Nike, discovered her work after she began writing about her design experiences. He recruited her from Chicago to go work in Silicon Valley, and her design career skyrocketed from there.

“He brought me to Facebook to bring some of my perspectives of the world and how I use design,” Patterson said. “You gotta go where the players play, and in tech, that was Silicon Valley.”

Patterson calls Twitter Spaces one of the hallmark projects of her career. She was part of the flagship team that built and designed Twitter Spaces from scratch, so she decided to take her design talents to the startup world; she joined Riverside in March.

“Earlier on in my career, Twitter was incredible. There was no one that looked like me in Chicago doing what I was doing,” she said. “Twitter was my liferaft that helped me navigate through the very choppy and scary waters of tech.”

Patterson always envisioned herself working at a big tech company, specifically in social media, because she was fascinated by the way people communicate with each other. During her time at Twitter, Patterson said she met people at the company that had similar backgrounds and experiences as her, and she still considers them friends today.

“I really feel that people need that strong community to learn in a safe manner in order to spread their wings and go after their goals,” Patterson said. “[I feel like] working in big tech would help immerse me amongst the best of the best.”

Courtesy photo

In another life, Patterson would probably be a stylist that went on tour with musicians to help craft their looks for their gigs. Since she lives and breathes styling and music outside of product design, Patterson said this would be an ideal career for her. Still, she’s hyperfocused on dominating the tech industry.

Patterson passionately spoke about how much Black women have already invested in and given to this industry more than it deserves in its current form, and that it’s long past time for Big Tech to do its part and give Black women their flowers and their respect. She feels like Black women consistently prove to be incredibly resourceful, but more support could help unlock entirely new levels of success.

Patterson believes Black women are uniquely valuable and can bring different perspectives to the tech industry. She said now it’s time for the tech industry to realize that and find new ways to attract and retain Black women technologists, and that the resets and self-reflections forced upon us all by COVID can be used to help move the needle.

“Increasing diversity is always an advantage to a company, and remote work is, I believe, one of the keys to doing that,” she said.

In five to 10 years, Patterson said she still sees herself designing and building products. She might not know what those products are just yet, but she looks forward to advancing her career with like-minded individuals.

Black women technologists: If you’re at an earlier stage of your career, here’s what Patterson has to say about kicking doubt to the curb:

“Thinking about how I felt early on, I believed in myself, but I was terrified,” she said. “Don’t worry too much about the fact that you don’t know all of the things…you’re going to learn that. Focus more on your own talents and what you’ll bring to these companies and to yourself.”

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]]> image_6483441 PXL_20220917_154422762 Loading 2-1 IMG_0249-2 Screen-Shot-2023-03-31-at-1.19.12-PM 1q6a0240 Justin Bieber Breaks Generational Records with Catalog Sale https://boardroom.tv/headline-to-go/jan-25-2023-justin-bieber-catalog-sale/ Wed, 25 Jan 2023 14:06:23 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?post_type=headline-to-go&p=57669 The post Justin Bieber Breaks Generational Records with Catalog Sale appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> The post Justin Bieber Breaks Generational Records with Catalog Sale appeared first on Boardroom.

]]> Microsoft Earnings: Shares Up Amid OpenAI Investment, Layoffs https://boardroom.tv/microsoft-earnings-report-q2/ Tue, 24 Jan 2023 23:17:31 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=57641 With Microsoft shares up 4%, Boardroom breaks down the Microsoft earnings report, including where the tech company delivered and fell short of expectations. Microsoft shares are up 4% per its Q2 earnings report, released

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]]> With Microsoft shares up 4%, Boardroom breaks down the Microsoft earnings report, including where the tech company delivered and fell short of expectations.

Microsoft shares are up 4% per its Q2 earnings report, released on Tuesday. The company showed a very slight beat in earnings per share amid a tumultuous time at the legacy tech leader.

Here’s a quick breakdown of what Microsoft announced:

  • Adjusted EPS came out to $2.32 against $2.30 expected, with revenues of $52.7 billion slightly lower than the $52.9 billion expectation, but up 2% year-over-year.
  • Profits fell 12% year-over-year to $16.4 billion.
  • While its Intelligent Cloud business grew 18% in the quarter, including 31% with its Azure cloud computing service, that growth is slower year-over-year. IC and Azure grew 26% and 46% respectively.
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Other segments of the business were also a mixed bag in earnings, with productivity and business process generating $17 billion, versus $16.8 billion expected. Personal computing’s $14.2 billion in revenue missed its $14.7 billion expectations.

The earnings report comes a week after Microsoft announced it would lay off 10,000 workers. It was also a day after the company announced a multi-year, multi-billion dollar investment in ChatGPT creator OpenAI. Microsoft said it’s building on investments made in the company in 2019 and 2021, including in the development of specialized supercomputing systems to improve OpenAI’s research, powering OpenAI workloads via Azure as its exclusive cloud provider, and deploying OpenAI models across consumer and enterprise products.

Additionally, Microsoft’s mammoth $69 billion purchase of embattled video game maker Activision Blizzard is still on hold amid complaints and antitrust investigations from the Federal Trade Commission, the U.K’.s Competition and Markets Authority, and the E.U.’s European Commission. Earlier this week, a U.S. district court in California denied Microsoft’s request to pause an Activision Blizzard lawsuit filed by gamers in December who argued that the Microsoft’s merger with Activision Blizzard would harm competition within the gaming industry.

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]]> Loading Loading Angela Bassett Makes History with First-ever Marvel Oscar Nomination https://boardroom.tv/headline-to-go/jan-24-2023-angela-bassett-oscar-nominations/ Tue, 24 Jan 2023 14:21:56 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?post_type=headline-to-go&p=57529 The post Angela Bassett Makes History with First-ever Marvel Oscar Nomination appeared first on Boardroom.

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]]> Courtside Ventures Launches Star-studded $100 Million Fund https://boardroom.tv/courtside-ventures-fund-launch/ Thu, 19 Jan 2023 14:59:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=56854 Shaquille O’Neal, Larry Fitzgerald, and David Blitzer are among the investors in Courtside Ventures’ new $100 million Fund III. VC firm Courtside Ventures announced a new $100 million Fund III on Thursday, featuring a

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]]> Shaquille O’Neal, Larry Fitzgerald, and David Blitzer are among the investors in Courtside Ventures’ new $100 million Fund III.

VC firm Courtside Ventures announced a new $100 million Fund III on Thursday, featuring a wide array of sports team owners, athletes, and executives.

The early stage firm will accelerate investments in a diverse set of sports, collectibles, wellness, and gaming brands that will surely benefit from an all-star list of funders. The funding team includes:

“Courtside Ventures has a track record of successfully backing and accelerating culture-shaping companies that are driving innovation, and with Fund III we will continue to invest with conviction in great founders and disruptive ideas in our key verticals,” Courtside Ventures partner Deepen Parikh said. “We will also continue to put a strong emphasis on global investment opportunities as our vertical focus and learnings from the U.S. market are applicable to larger and higher growth regions.”

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Launched in 2016, Courtside Ventures has invested in more than 80 different companies, including The Athletic (which it exited when The New York Times acquired the company last year), Beam (before Microsoft acquired it), StockX, 100 Thieves, Religion of Sports, Freeletics, and Paceline. Fund I has returned 1.61x in net distribution to paid-in capital proceeds, with Fund III bringing the company’s total to more than $200 million in committed assets under management.

“From the moment they led our seed round through our exit to The New York Times, Courtside Ventures was an instrumental partner and board member for The Athletic,” Alex Mather, The Athletic’s co-founder and CEO, said. “They took an early bet on our vision to redefine sports journalism when most other VC firms had passed, and continued to support us at every phase of our growth, setting them apart from many others in the industry.”

Early Fund III investments include Hypothetic, Matchday, Mojo, Xpoint, Jackpot.com, Venly, Planet Mojo, Bezel, Fliff, Fermat, and Fello.

“Their hands-on approach ensures companies like ours with bold ambitions together have access to the resources, tools and partners we need to scale, navigate times of market uncertainty, and ultimately advance our respective industries,” Akshay Khanna, Jackpot.com’s co-founder and CEO, said. “We are humbled to call them an early investor, one who believes in our vision with conviction, and we are proud to be included in this new fund, which has so many thought leaders as investors.”

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]]> Loading Loading ChatGPT Creator OpenAI in Talks to Sell Shares at $29 Billion Valuation https://boardroom.tv/openai-chatgpt-tender-offer/ Thu, 05 Jan 2023 21:48:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=55440 The artificial intelligence venture has quickly become attractive to high-profile venture capital investors. It’s likely only a matter of time before the floodgates open. Five weeks after launching the revolutionary ChatGPT— an AI chatbot

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]]> The artificial intelligence venture has quickly become attractive to high-profile venture capital investors. It’s likely only a matter of time before the floodgates open.

Five weeks after launching the revolutionary ChatGPT— an AI chatbot that mimics complex human conversation and language and provides nuanced answers to user-generated questions — research company OpenAI is exploring selling existing shares in its business at a $29 billion valuation, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

Thrive Capital and Founders Fund are reportedly pursuing an investment of at least $300 million in share sales in the form of a tender offer, with the two venture capital companies purchasing existing shares from stakeholders that may include employees. Despite revenues only in the tens of millions of dollars mostly from selling its AI software to developers, this infusion would more than double the startup’s previous tender offer completed in 2021 at a $14 billion valuation.

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Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019 and was previously in advanced talks to put even more money into the company, WSJ said. Earlier this week, reports emerged of Microsoft integrating ChatGPT into a newly launched version of its Bing search engine, which could be released by the end of March.

ChatGPT’s abilities are so advanced that New York City’s public schools blocked access to the chatbot on network devices due to academic integrity concerns regarding both cheating and the accuracy of content provided by the new technology, as it has the ability to present false information as plausibly truthful. Earlier this week, The International Conference on Machine Learning banned ChatGPT and other AI language models due to “unanticipated consequences [and] unanswered questions.” 

No final deal has been reached and terms can change, the Wall Street Journal said, but suffice to say that ChatGPT has generated a ton of interest and commotion in just over a month, potentially making OpenAI the next groundbreaking technology startup as 2023 begins.

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]]> Loading Loading LeBron James Doubles Down on the Community With LIFEWTR https://boardroom.tv/headline-to-go/july-12-2022-lebron-james-lifewtr-community/ Thu, 14 Jul 2022 03:22:48 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?post_type=headline-to-go&p=36037 LeBron James and LIFEWTR are teaming up to champion underrepresented voices and help individuals and communities flourish as part of a multi-year partnership. It signals a new chapter of King James’ deal with PepsiCo,

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]]> LeBron James and LIFEWTR are teaming up to champion underrepresented voices and help individuals and communities flourish as part of a multi-year partnership. It signals a new chapter of King James’ deal with PepsiCo, LIFEWTR’s parent company, which he signed last year. In the announcement, LeBron teased how the partnership will fuel the community empowerment work that he does with his I PROMISE program, which recently expanded to include a comprehensive wellness center.

Netflix Confirms David Beckham Docuseries

Netflix is immortalizing Davin Beckham. After a year of speculation, the streaming platform verified that Beckham would be receiving the documentary treatment. Netflix additionally confirmed the program will feature never-before-seen footage, archived interviews, and testimonials from family and friends. Through the years, Beckham has assembled a massive business portfolio, building his legacy far beyond the pitch.

Patrick Mahomes, Molson Coors Shed Light on Ad Regulation

Did you know that athletes can’t be shown consuming adult beverages in ads? Coors Light leaned into the regulation with Patrick Mahomes in its newest, hilarious campaign. The Molson-Coors beverage tapped the Super Bowl champ to endorse its Coors light, a flashlight that very closely resembles a silver bullet. “The Coors Light” sold out in an hour — with all proceeds going to the QB’s Mahomies Foundation.

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Lil Baby Peels Back the Curtain with New Documentary

Lil Baby has got a story to tell. The Atlanta rapper let cameras inside his life, culminating in the documentary Untrapped: The Story of Lil Baby, and dropped the trailer on Wednesday. The film premiered last month at the Tribeca Festival in New York City, chronicling his life, from his youth to the sweeping success of his musical career. It will air exclusively on Prime Video on August 26.

Drake Unveils Road to OVO Fest Tour Lineup

Get ready to run through The Six with your woes. OVO announced the lineup for its upcoming Road to OVO Fest Tour. The Drake-backed collective will generate some nostalgia in a few weeks, bringing together a Young Money reunion featuring Lil Wayne and Nikki Minaj. The lineup also includes Lil Baby and Chris Brown. In the announcement, Drizzy also revealed his plans to host an “October World Reunion” to mark the 10th anniversary. With the newest iteration, he’ll take the festival worldwide.

NBA to Pay Past ABA Players $25 Million

The NBA is hooking up past ABA players with a recognition plan worth $25 million. The program benefits previous members of the ABA who competed in the league but did not qualify for the NBA’s pension plan. NBA commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged the legacy of the ABA and its contribution to the sport. He released a statement, saying: “These pioneers made meaningful contributions to help grow the game of professional basketball and we all believe it’s appropriate to provide financial recognition to this group for their impact.” The package will impact 115 former players and will be paid out by the NBA and the NBPA.

NWSL Eyes Expansion with Inner Circle Sports

The National Women’s Soccer League has its sights set on expansion. The NWSL tapped Inner Circle Bank to facilitate a two-team expansion by 2024. League commissioner Jessica Berman told ESPN that there are 30 interested groups. The destinations for the two teams are unknown at this time.

Karlie Kloss Hits the Runway in Roblox

You better work. Karlie Kloss and Roblox are taking fashion to the metaverse. The supermodel is launching the Fashion Klossette Designer Showcase to promote Roblox’s digital apparel with five digital pop-up shops taking place between July 12-25. Passionate about the internet and coding, Kloss founded Kode With Klossy to teach girls and gender-nonconforming kids how to code. In an interview with Vogue, Kloss noted how the expansion of fashion into the metaverse will prepare the next generation of designers, saying, “These designers on Roblox are coding, not sewing.”

Microsoft Assists Netflix With Ad-supported Subscriptions

Netflix has had a difficult year. After announcing restrictions on account sharing, the streaming platform hemorrhaged users and watched its stock prices plummet. In an attempt to diversify, Netflix is examing opportunities to expand its membership options to attract new users. To make the transition, the streaming service has announced that it will partner with Microsoft for its ad-supported service.

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]]> Loading Loading BIG3 and Microsoft Renew Partnership https://boardroom.tv/big3-partnership-microsoft/ Tue, 24 May 2022 15:13:56 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=31666 The multi-year deal means BIG3 teams will continue to wear Microsoft jersey patches and be able to use Microsoft technology court-side. The BIG3 basketball league has renewed its partnership with Microsoft as the league’s

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]]> The multi-year deal means BIG3 teams will continue to wear Microsoft jersey patches and be able to use Microsoft technology court-side.

The BIG3 basketball league has renewed its partnership with Microsoft as the league’s official technology partner, it announced on Tuesday. Terms of the multi-year deal were not disclosed.

All 12 BIG3 teams will continue to sport a Microsoft jersey patch while Microsoft provides technological enhancements via Microsoft Surface devices for teams court-side.

As part of the pact, the 2022 BIG3 Draft will also be hosted at the Microsoft Lounge on Wednesday, May 25 at 5 p.m. PT in Los Angeles. The Draft will air live on VYRE Network, BIG3.com, and the BIG3 YouTube Channel, hosted by Ice Cube, Ed Cohen, and Jim Jackson, with special guest appearances from BIG3 players and coaches at the Lounge and via Microsoft Teams.

“The BIG3 continues to push the boundaries and progress the sport of basketball,” said Microsoft General Manager of Strategic Partnerships Jeff Hansen in a release. “We are incredibly pleased to leverage our most innovative technologies to help empower BIG3 coaches, players, and fans.”

Additionally, Microsoft will continue as the presenting sponsor of Young3, the BIG3’s youth program that provides children in local communities the opportunity to enrich their lives through FIREBALL3. Young3 and Microsoft plan to enhance the programming by including STEM-related activities.

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“We could not be more excited to continue our partnership with Microsoft,” BIG3 CEO Chris Hannan said in the release. “Microsoft elevated the BIG3’s technology, coaching capabilities, and fan engagement avenues last season. We are excited to unveil even more innovative enhancements and content this season.”

The BIG3 also announced its official schedule for the 2022 season last week. The season will tip off on June 18 in Chicago before traveling to Dallas, Texas and finishing the season on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.

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]]> BIG3 and Microsoft Renew Partnership - Boardroom After the BIG3 announced its season schedule last week, the league has renewed its pact with Microsoft as its official technology partner. basketball,Big Tech,Big3,Microsoft,Tech,microsoft Loading Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard Deal is Far From a Sure Thing https://boardroom.tv/microsoft-activision-blizzard-acquisition-anti-trust/ Tue, 08 Feb 2022 20:00:07 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=19242 Microsoft’s plans to acquire Activision Blizzard will be subject to government scrutiny over the possibility of anti-trust violations. Microsoft sent shockwaves through the gaming and tech sectors a couple weeks ago when it announced

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]]> Microsoft’s plans to acquire Activision Blizzard will be subject to government scrutiny over the possibility of anti-trust violations.

Microsoft sent shockwaves through the gaming and tech sectors a couple weeks ago when it announced that it had agreed to buy arguably the biggest game publisher in the world, Activision Blizzard, for a record $70 billion.

As the publisher of such popular titles as Call of Duty, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft, the publicly traded Activision Blizzard was already a behemoth in its own right, reporting over $2 billion in revenue in the third quarter last year.

While many look at these headlines and assume that this acquisition is a foregone conclusion, the mechanics of a transaction like this are fairly complex. From an internal standpoint, both Microsoft and Activision Blizzard need to get the approval of their respective boards of directors. In the case of Activision Blizzard specifically, it also needs to get approval from a threshold amount of shareholders in order to be able to proceed with the transaction.

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However, the biggest test the two parties will face will be from the federal regulators.

The Illusion of Choice

When two companies of this size decide to merge, it raises questions about the potential impact on competition in the relevant industry — i.e. whether the combination of these two companies will give the newly merged company too much power over its competitors, ultimately resulting in harm to consumers.

Our free market economy is almost entirely reliant on the notion of competitive markets, as it theoretically drives innovation and forces companies to work harder to earn the business of consumers, which often results in more favorable prices.

The idea, as economist Adam Smith put it, is for the “invisible hand” of the market to find the optimal price where supply meets demand.

Unfortunately, history has shown us that when left to their own devices, certain markets will become more concentrated, which means that there will be fewer providers of goods because of either collusion between suppliers or consolidation (i.e. mergers, acquisitions, etc.).

An easy example: Depending upon where you live, you likely only have one or two cable/internet providers to choose from. That provides more of an “illusion of choice” rather than a true choice, as usually the consumer is forced to choose between sub-par options. This is a classic example of an oligopoly, or a “trust,” where an industry has only a handful of competing businesses that work either explicitly or implicitly with one another to ensure that they are the only competitors in the space and can keep charging prices within a certain range.

Antitrust Factors

U.S. history is littered with examples of markets that have run amok in this way. This is why there is a whole discipline of law known as “antitrust,” which refers to a set of laws passed at the turn of the 20th century to guard against monopolies that effectively gouge consumers while hurting innovation. Those laws worked to a certain extent in the age of the “robber barons,” but in the 100-plus years since, antitrust laws and enforcement have been more a suggestion than anything with actual teeth.

The two federal agencies entrusted with oversight into transactions like the Microsoft – Activision Blizzard transaction are the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, which was created to enforce antitrust law and protect consumers. Both agencies (primarily the FTC) try to review proposed mergers to analyze whether they violate the federal antitrust laws and would ultimately harm consumers through decreased competition.

Generally, there are two kinds of mergers:

Horizontal Merger: where one company buys another company that competes in the same space.

Vertical Merger: in which the company being acquired fits into the “value chain” of the other company, like a video game developer being sold to a company that just makes video game consoles.

If the FTC or DOJ believes that a proposed merger would violate federal antitrust law, it would take the companies to court to have the merger struck down or enter into a deal known as a “consent decree” where the acquirer agrees to divest certain assets or take actions to decrease the likelihood of harm to consumers.

In a perfect world, the FTC and DOJ would be able to scrutinize every merger of consequence to consumers, but they have a finite amount of resources, so they need to pick and choose which deals they take a closer look at. Couple that with an ever-growing flurry of mergers and acquisitions that swelled to over 4,100 last year, and the result is an overwhelmed system with deals being allowed to happen without scrutiny at the peril of consumers. However, as of last week, it was reported that the FTC would launch an investigation into the Microsoft – Activision deal, which shouldn’t come a surprise, because Microsoft has been under scrutiny from the FTC and DOJ since the 90s.

From an antitrust standpoint this is likely to be considered both a horizontal and vertical merger because Microsoft owns a number of game studios that produce titles for various platforms including Halo, Minecraft, and Gears of War; but it is also a hardware manufacturer, vis-a-vis its flagship Xbox console. Whereas, Activision Blizzard is one of the biggest developers of “AAA” (the highest quality and production value) games in the world.

What this Means for Gaming

Perhaps the biggest competitive concern with this deal is its potential impact on consumers of Activision Blizzard’s games. Console manufacturers tend to make certain marquee titles exclusive to their consoles to drive consumers to choose, say an Xbox over a Playstation. There might also be concerns over Microsoft owning so many of the most popular titles, including and especially Call of Duty. It stands to reason that Microsoft might pull the title from other competing platforms, tie its other products to the purchase of the title (i.e. requiring an Xbox Game Pass subscription to buy Call of Duty), or simply have too much pricing power and charge more for games that would otherwise cost less in a more competitive market.

The other (arguably more pressing) concern is that Microsoft will be able to “crowd out” competitors with its size, making the barriers to entry for companies too high. That would make it easier for a start-up game developer to build something to sell to Microsoft rather than to actually compete with them over a longer term. The ability for gaming to continue to consolidate in a virtually unfettered fashion turns big companies like Microsoft or Sony into Kirby-like characters that have a voracious appetite for smaller companies in order to squelch competition.

The real competition is happening between the handful of large companies that control the space, as they are competing against one another to buy up assets (companies). For example, a week after Microsoft announced its deal with Activision, Sony announced a $3.6 billion acquisition of Bungie, the game studio responsible for the popular Destiny title.

Without regulatory intervention or oversight, this culture of consolidation is likely to continue at a steady clip, especially with big tech companies like Microsoft sitting on growing war chests of cash. Perhaps the FTC recognizes this and sees an opportunity to roll back these “mega mergers.” While you shouldn’t expect to see your favorite games impacted anytime soon, chances are you have already felt the effects of consolidation in gaming.

If you wonder how the cost of delivering a game can go down while the price of that game goes up, look no further than consolidation. If allowed to continue indefinitely, gaming companies may start to look more like your internet providers, which nobody wants or needs. How or where this FTC investigation proceeds from here is anybody’s guess, but it doesn’t seem like Microsoft is going to get the government’s blessing anytime soon.

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]]> Loading Loading Sony Brings “Halo” Creator Bungie into the PlayStation Family https://boardroom.tv/sony-playstation-bungie-halo-destiny/ https://boardroom.tv/sony-playstation-bungie-halo-destiny/#respond Mon, 31 Jan 2022 20:49:32 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=19417 On the heels of Microsoft’s swoop for Call of Duty and Overwatch maker Activision Blizzard, Sony and PlayStation are dropping $3.6 billion to strike back with Bungie. Microsoft sent a shot across the bow

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]]> On the heels of Microsoft’s swoop for Call of Duty and Overwatch maker Activision Blizzard, Sony and PlayStation are dropping $3.6 billion to strike back with Bungie.

Microsoft sent a shot across the bow of the world of gaming and esports earlier this month when it dropped $69 billion to acquire Activision Blizzard, the company behind the Call of Duty, Warcraft, Starcraft, and Overwatch franchises.

Not to be outdone, Sony — whose PlayStation console has been locked in a market share battle with Microsoft’s Xbox for over two decades now — has responded in kind with an acquisition of its own. And for their rivals, this one hits close to home.

In a reported $3.6 billion deal, Sony is buying Bungie, the development house behind the Halo and Destiny franchises, bringing the brand under the PlayStation banner.

And it cannot be ignored that Halo is perhaps the one game series most closely associated with Xbox over the course of its existence. Every game in the franchise to date has been exclusive to Xbox consoles and Windows PCs.

“I am absolutely thrilled to announce a new member will be joining the PlayStation family! I’ve been a fan of Bungie for many years,” said Hermen Hulst, Head of PlayStation Studios. “I have admired and enjoyed the games that they create — and have great respect for their skill in building worlds that gamers want to explore again and again. Bungie makes games with outstanding technology that are enormously fun to play. They also have unmatched dedication to the communities that play their games, and everyone at PlayStation and PlayStation Studios will be excited about what we can share and learn from them.”

Compared to the broad portfolio of blockbuster IPs under Activision Blizzard’s umbrella, Bungie is a boutique operation — but one that extends out in several directions. If you watched any football this past weekend, for instance, you saw advertisements for the upcoming Halo television series on Paramount+.

“I have spent a great deal of time with the senior team at Bungie and it is clear their experience and skills are highly complementary to our own,” Hulst said. “We will be ready to welcome and support Bungie as they continue to grow, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for this incredible team.”

As part of the deal, Sony has ensured that Bungie will retain its independence as a studio and a publisher. But the extent to which this is a reorganization of the natural order of the video game world should not be underestimated.

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]]> https://boardroom.tv/sony-playstation-bungie-halo-destiny/feed/ 0 Loading FTX Reaches $8B Valuation Following $400M Series A https://boardroom.tv/headline-to-go/jan-26-2022-ftx-reaches-8b-valuation-following-400m-series-a/ Wed, 26 Jan 2022 14:25:50 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?post_type=headline-to-go&p=18956 Cryptocurrency exchange FTX has had a wild year. With a diversified strategy that includes a major investment in sports and a deep bench of all-star partners that includes Tom Brady, Steph Curry, and David

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]]> Cryptocurrency exchange FTX has had a wild year. With a diversified strategy that includes a major investment in sports and a deep bench of all-star partners that includes Tom Brady, Steph Curry, and David Ortiz, the company announced that it has reached an $8B valuation following the success of a $400 million Series A. With the new funds, FTX plans various areas of expansion including NFT game infrastructure and stock trading. 

Jake Paul Levels up Dana White Feud with Endeavor Investment

It’s no secret that there’s bad blood between Jake Paul and Dana White. Just last week, Paul announced that he would retire from boxing to take on a UFC career if White agreed to a laundry list of conditions, which included higher base pay and benefits for UFC fighters. The YouTube star-turned boxer took his battle one step further on Tuesday as he announced that he has invested in UFC’s parent company, Endeavor. In sharing the news, Paul cited his hopes for UFC’s future to include better fighting conditions for its athletes. 

Trading Card Authentication is eBay’s Next Big Move

The online auction site announced on Tuesday that it is extending its authentication practices for trading cards. The move signals an extension of eBay’s “Authentication Guarantee” program, and will help the company further its position in the trading card marketplace. In the first half of 2021, eBay facilitated $2 billion in trading card sales as the hobby boomed. 

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Microsoft Outpaces Projections in Q2 Earnings Report

With its earnings report in for Q2 of the fiscal year, things are looking up for the tech giant. Microsoft demonstrated earnings and revenues that outpaced projections. Although the stock initially dropped a bit, it surged after a follow-up report indicated a strong forecast for Q3. The report comes in the wake of Microsoft’s massive purchase of Activision Blizzard, which positions it to take over a major stake in the gaming industry. 

Crypto Cannabis Club Launches Own Bud

The Crypto Cannabis Club NFT community launched its own physical cannabis brand and named cannabis industry veteran Ryan Hunter as its new CEO, the company announced Wednesday. Crypto Cannabis Club is partnering with leading direct-to-consumer cannabis platform Camp Nova beginning in March, with CCC NFT holders getting discounts to start for product delivery in California. Each package of premium flower will include custom artwork from the CCC and three packages will include ownership of an “NFToker,” which has a current $800 average value, per NFT-Stats.

Sports Betting Brand Bally’s to Sell to Standard General in $2.07B Deal

The casino company jumped at the opportunity for a full buyout from existing stakeholder Standard General. The hedge fund currently owns 21% of the company and will purchase the remaining shares at a 30% premium, at $38. Bally’s portfolio includes sports betting licenses and properties in 10 states, gaming, and more. While the arrangement is not official, all signs signal that it is everything but a done deal. 

Athletes Unlimited Brokers Official Sponsorships with EY and Baden Sports

Athletes Unlimited tips off its inaugural season tonight in Las Vegas. The new women’s basketball league is just one of AU’s offerings, which also include volleyball and softball. And on Tuesday, it announced that it has two new key sponsors in its quiver, which already includes Nike, Gatorade, and Topps. EY — officially Ernst & Young, one of the “Big Four” global accounting firms — joins as an official sponsor for its basketball and volleyball leagues and Baden Sports will be the official ball partner of AU Basketball.

Meta and Overtime Elite to Bring Dunk Contest to VR

You can now get up close to the action of the dunk contest thanks to a partnership between Meta (formerly known as Facebook) and Overtime. The companies announced on Tuesday that Meta’s Quest 2 VR headset will be the official VR headset of Overtime Elite, and with that partnership will come some jaw-dropping displays. Central to the deal will be Meta Quest’s sponsorship of four of OTE’s dunk shows, two of which will be broadcast live in VR beginning Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET.

Baron Davis Soars into Web3 with Playrs

Turn2 Equity Partners and Baron Davis Enterprises are joining forces with a new holding company and Web3 venture partnership, Playrs Holdings, that will fund content creation, share resources, and maximize operational efficiencies, the companies announced Tuesday. Turn2 was founded by Houston Astros manager Dusty Baker, former New York Mets and Baltimore Orioles general manager Jim Duquette, and others who approach their business as a mix of venture and mergers and acquisitions in the realms of tech, data, media, events, and consumer products. Davis, a two-time NBA All-Star and entrepreneur, will enhance the joint venture’s access to athletes, entertainers, and Web3 and crypto technology.

Skechers Shapes Up the Metaverse

The metaverse will not be short on footwear options. Skechers became the most recent company to indicate that it is making moves towards the metaverse, as it filed eight trademarks that suggest moves into virtual goods and gamified online communities. The filings include Skechers’ name, logos, and other phrases the company uses, including “Twinkle Toes,” “Arch Fit,” “Go Walk,” and “Bobs.” The company has not made an official announcement of its metaverse plans at this time. 

Kentucky Shaedon Sharpe Inks NIL Deal with SoleSavy

The Canadian five-star stud shooting guard has just announced an NIL partnership with community-oriented sneaker startup SoleSavy. By signing the 18-year-old Sharpe, SoleSavy looks to drive a deeper connection with the new era of sneakerhead through person-to-person interaction, storytelling, and appreciation for footwear that goes beyond price tag and hype.

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]]> Loading Loading Microsoft Shakes Up Global Gaming With $69 Billion Buy https://boardroom.tv/microsoft-activision-blizzard-acquisition/ Tue, 18 Jan 2022 15:06:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=18225 Activision Blizzard, the company behind Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Overwatch, joins Microsoft to make it the third-largest video game maker in the world. For nearly $70 billion — $68.7 billion in

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]]> Activision Blizzard, the company behind Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Overwatch, joins Microsoft to make it the third-largest video game maker in the world.

For nearly $70 billion — $68.7 billion in cash, to be exact — Microsoft has agreed to buy Activision Blizzard, the video game company behind Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Candy Crush. 

Microsoft says the deal will make it the third-largest video game maker in the world, trailing only Tencent and Sony. Bobby Kotick will continue to serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard. Once the deal closes, Activision Blizzard business will report to Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming. 

“Players everywhere love Activision Blizzard games, and we believe the creative teams have their best work in front of them,” said Phil Spencer, CEO, Microsoft Gaming in a release. “Together, we will build a future where people can play the games they want, virtually anywhere they want.”

The current plan is to add many of Activision Blizzard’s games into Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass, which currently has 25 million subscribers. Activision Blizzard’s nearly 400 million monthly active players in 190 countries. 

“For more than 30 years our incredibly talented teams have created some of the most successful games,” said Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard in a release. “The combination of Activision Blizzard’s world-class talent and extraordinary franchises with Microsoft’s technology, distribution, access to talent, ambitious vision, and shared commitment to gaming and inclusion will help ensure our continued success in an increasingly competitive industry.”

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and completion of regulatory review and Activision Blizzard’s shareholder approval. The deal is expected to close in fiscal year 2023 and will be accretive to non-GAAP earnings per share upon close. The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both Microsoft and Activision Blizzard.

“Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” said Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chairman and CEO, in a release. “We’re investing deeply in world-class content, community, and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive, and accessible to all.”

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]]> Loading Microsoft to Purchase Activision Blizzard in $68.7B Deal https://boardroom.tv/headline-to-go/jan-18-2022-microsoft-activision-blizzard-call-of-duty-68-billion/ Tue, 18 Jan 2022 14:11:26 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?post_type=headline-to-go&p=18222 Microsoft is positioned to be the third-largest video game company with the announcement of its plans to purchase Activision Blizzard, which is behind hit games including the Call of Duty franchise. Activision Blizzard was founded

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]]> Microsoft is positioned to be the third-largest video game company with the announcement of its plans to purchase Activision Blizzard, which is behind hit games including the Call of Duty franchise. Activision Blizzard was founded in 2008 with the merger of Activision, Inc. and Vivendi Games, but has had a tumultuous year after multiple accusations of workplace harassment surfaced. Early reports indicate that Microsoft will purchase the company at $95 a share, making the deal worth $68.7 billion.

Crypto.com Temporarily Stalls Transactions After Threat

A costly rumor led Crypto.com to freeze wallets on Monday for 14 hours. Officials initially thought that over $16 million worth of cryptocurrency was stolen from wallets after users flagged unauthorized usage. However, further investigation disputed this rumor, according to the company’s CEO Kris Marszalek. In order to further protect users’ wallets, the company has enabled two-factor identification as an enhanced security measure.

Airbnb Co-founder Joe Gebbia Joins Spurs as Strategic Partner

The Airbnb co-founder has always loved the game of basketball. Joe Gebbia told Boardroom‘s Rich Kleiman last month that he founded the basketball team at his alma mater, the RISD Balls. Now he’s looking to level up his game, announcing on Tuesday that he has purchased a minority stake in the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs have experienced a number of ownership moves in the last several months following Peter J. Holt‘s takeover as managing partner in June of last year.  

Listen to the full OOO episode here.

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Patrick Mahomes, Issa Rae Featured in Star Studded Twitter Campaign

Turns out that Twitter can help you manifest your dreams. The social media platform is launching a new ad campaign featuring athletes and celebrities — including Patrick Mahomes, Bubba Wallace, Megan Thee Stallion, Issa Rae, and Demi Lovato — on billboards with past tweets of theirs predicting their future greatness. For Mahomes, it was a 2013 tweet wondering what it felt like to be the quarterback who just won the Super Bowl. Seven years later, he and the Kansas City Chiefs found out after beating the San Francisco 49ers to win it all.

PUMA Makes Metaverse Moves

PUMA is entering the metaverse. The company filed three trademark applications indicating virtual goods – including clothing and footwear – and a PUMA-branded online environment with streaming/live streaming of content and events. The filings are for the PUMA brand & logos. The sportswear brand has a deep bench of young ambassadors that includes LaMelo Ball, Deandre Ayton, and Mikey Williams each of whom is well-positioned to bring its youth consumer base with them to the metaverse.

GMoney and his Signature Cryptopunk Rock the Prada Catwalk in Milan

NFT collector GMoney made his high fashion debut on Monday, walking the catwalk for Prada at Milan Fashion Week. The luxury fashion house flew in a number of Tik Tok influencers and leaned into alternative technologies as it presented its Spring/Summer line. Assets from the show superimposed GMoney’s Cryptopunk over his face, as he does on his social media accounts. GMoney made headlines last year when he paired with Adidas for its metaverse launch. 

Teqball Inks ESPN Deal

What’s Teqball? The sport blends soccer and ping pong and has become a favorite training mechanism for international footballers, including Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. ESPN announced on Monday that it has purchased broadcast rights for the upcoming the 2022 US Teqball Tour, and will feature six highlight shows spotlighting the action. 

Super Bowl Tackles NFTs with Tickets

Heading to LA for the Super Bowl? If so, you’ll receive a digital collectible to commemorate the big game. The NFL will offer each attendee at this year’s big game a personalized non-fungible token ticket customized with their seat number. This isn’t the league’s first foray into ticket NFTs, but it will definitely be the most high profile. The NFL began offering such tokens to fans who purchased their tickets for select games through SeatGeek, StubHub, or Ticketmaster. The league has distributed a total of 250,000 overall to date and anticipates continuing to evolve the functionality of NFT tickets in the future.

Women’s Hockey Gets Historic $25M Investment

The Premier Hockey Federation announced on Tuesday that it had received a game-changing $25 million investment funded by its Board of Governors. The women’s hockey league released a statement revealing the investment, which will support league expansion, facility updates, and expanded compensation and benefits for its players. The league rebranded from the National Women’s Hockey League last year. 

Genius Sports Expands Bet365 Partnership

Genius Sports had a huge 2021, negotiating data deals with a wide range of partners including the NFL and MLB. The data company revealed on Tuesday that it has extended its partnership with the sportsbook bet365. The deal includes live streaming, official data, and fan engagement opportunities.  

Giannis Antetokounmpo Files Suit Over “Greek Freak” Infringement

The 27-year-old two-time NBA MVP filed a suit against Leaf Trading Cards LLC in federal court on Monday in the Southern District of New York for trademark infringement via unauthorized use of his world-famous “Greek Freak” nickname. Giannis has reportedly filed nearly 50 lawsuits over the last two years against individuals or companies who have improperly used his trademark nickname. Just last month, Antetokounmpo won a similar trademark infringement lawsuit against a pair who sold “Greek Freak” and “Greek Fr34k” items on Etsy.

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]]> Loading Loading What Happened to Microsoft’s Stock After Tom Brady Threw a Surface Tablet? https://boardroom.tv/tom-brady-microsoft-tablet/ Thu, 30 Dec 2021 15:29:00 +0000 https://boardroom.tv/?p=16255 On Dec. 21, the GOAT let loose his frustrations on the sideline by chucking a Microsoft tablet. In the days that followed, the tech giant’s stock has put up MVP numbers.

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]]> On Dec. 21, the GOAT let loose his frustrations on the sideline by chucking a Microsoft tablet. In the days that followed, the tech giant’s stock has put up MVP numbers.

Tom Brady can make all the throws. It is known. But in Week 15 against the New Orleans Saints, TB12 put forth his least-productive game of the season by a wide margin, helping his Tampa Bay Buccaneers to exactly zero points in a loss that delayed the defending champs’ plans to clinch the NFC South by an additional, odious week.

But there was one throw in that maddening 9-0 loss on Dec. 21 that proved to have a significant impact — one that extended far beyond the football field.

TB12 tossed a Microsoft tablet in a huff of sideline frustration.

What’s happened since then? Well, the Bucs turned around and thumped the Carolina Panthers to seal another division title, which is pretty cool.

But what’s especially intriguing? What’s happened to the tech giant’s stock since Brady threw that Surface tablet.

Microsoft Stock ($MSFT) and Tom Brady’s Tablet Throw

The day before, Dec. 20: $319.91
The day of, Dec. 21: $327.29
At market close Dec. 23: $334.69
At market close Dec. 28: $341.25
At market open Dec. 30: $342.07

Microsoft ($MSFT) stock price over the past 30 days as of 9:40 a.m. ET Dec. 30

Compared to the $327.29 price on game day — Dec. 21 — that’s a 4.27% increase in Microsoft’s stock price in the week that followed the game, and a 4.52% increase by the time the opening bell rang on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday morning, Dec. 30.

Compared to the $319.29 share price on Dec. 20, the day before the tablet toss, we’re looking at a leap of 6.67% in a week and a half.

Considering that Microsoft’s stock is up barely 3% in the past month on balance and just over 25% over the past six months, this sort of growth in a matter of days is worth appreciating.

Does this mean that Brady’s tablet toss is “the” reason that $MSFT has experienced this nice year-end bump? No. But given TB12’s influential place in the cosmic order of things as far as both sports and industry are concerned, it’s a bit too curious to ignore.

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