Tag Archives: Investment & Company Information

Walmart is buying smart TV maker Vizio for $2.3 billion

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Walmart is buying Smart TV manufacturer Vizio for $2.3 billion, the retail giant announced as part of its latest earnings report. While Walmart has long been one of the major sellers of Vizio TVs, the company says the acquisition "enables a profitable advertising business that is rapidly scaling" via the company's SmartCast OS. The deal is still subject to regulatory approval. 

Vizio sells solid mid-range TVs, most equipped with its SmartCast operating system that supports free ad-supported content. The company recently refreshed its lineup with a more intuitive user interface and faster startups and app switching. 

Walmart, meanwhile, prominently features the brand on its shelves (along with TCL), as anyone who has gone there lately has probably noticed. The retailer already has its own TV house brand, ONN, but those sets are very much on the low end, usually selling for under $500. 

More importantly, the companies plan to combine their respective ad businesses. Walmart already has a $2.7 billion ad business, but Vizio would increase its access to key consumer info like viewership data. It would also effectively give Walmart more eyeballs for its ads — for instance, companies that sell goods at Walmart could also run ads on Vizio TVs, all of which could be tracked by the retailer. 

"We believe the combination of these two businesses would be impactful as we redefine the intersection of retail and entertainment," said Walmart VP Seth Dallaire. "Our technology will help bring a scaled, connected TV advertising platform to Walmart Connect," added Vizio CEO William Wang. 

The acquisition may also be a counter to Amazon's in-house Fire TV business, both in terms of television retailing and advertising, as The Wall Street Journal reported last week. Amazon has one of the largest ad businesses in the US behind Alphabet and Meta, and smart TVs help it gather personalized consumer data for targeted advertising. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/walmart-is-buying-smart-tv-maker-vizio-for-23-billion-130725953.html?src=rss

NVIDIA becomes the third most valuable US company at Alphabet’s expense

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NVIDIA is doing very well for itself, so much so that the chip maker has overtaken Alphabet, Google's parent company, to become the third most valuable company in the United States, Reuters reports. The news comes almost immediately after NVIDIA pushed past Amazon in the rankings, with the company now valued at $1.83 trillion. Worldwide, it sits in fourth, behind American companies Microsoft ($3.04 trillion) and Apple ($2.84 trillion) and the Saudi Arabian state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco ($2.07 trillion).

AI's boom over the last year is largely to thank for NVIDIA's jump in valuation, with about 80 percent of the high-end chip market in its hands. It created the H100 chip, which powers LLMs at OpenAI, Amazon, Meta and more. In January, Mark Zuckerberg said Meta will buy 350,000 of NVIDIA's H100 chips by the end of the year. 

Unlike most companies that are engaged in a competition over which will advance in AI the quickest, NVIDIA has its figurative hands in all baskets. The chip maker is also expanding its business to create custom chips for cloud computing firms. This additional offering can keep NVIDIA in the mix, even as AI manufacturers seek more bespoke options. 

NVIDIA's quarterly report will drop on Wednesday, February 21, and while it's expected to be positive, anything less than excellent could lower the company's valuation and, thus, ranking. Predictions set NVIDIA's quarterly earnings tripling to $20.37 billion and net profits jumping 400 percent to $11.38 billion. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nvidia-becomes-the-third-most-valuable-us-company-at-alphabets-expense-123503967.html?src=rss

NVIDIA becomes the third most valuable US company at Alphabet’s expense

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NVIDIA is doing very well for itself, so much so that the chip maker has overtaken Alphabet, Google's parent company, to become the third most valuable company in the United States, Reuters reports. The news comes almost immediately after NVIDIA pushed past Amazon in the rankings, with the company now valued at $1.83 trillion. Worldwide, it sits in fourth, behind American companies Microsoft ($3.04 trillion) and Apple ($2.84 trillion) and the Saudi Arabian state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco ($2.07 trillion).

AI's boom over the last year is largely to thank for NVIDIA's jump in valuation, with about 80 percent of the high-end chip market in its hands. It created the H100 chip, which powers LLMs at OpenAI, Amazon, Meta and more. In January, Mark Zuckerberg said Meta will buy 350,000 of NVIDIA's H100 chips by the end of the year. 

Unlike most companies that are engaged in a competition over which will advance in AI the quickest, NVIDIA has its figurative hands in all baskets. The chip maker is also expanding its business to create custom chips for cloud computing firms. This additional offering can keep NVIDIA in the mix, even as AI manufacturers seek more bespoke options. 

NVIDIA's quarterly report will drop on Wednesday, February 21, and while it's expected to be positive, anything less than excellent could lower the company's valuation and, thus, ranking. Predictions set NVIDIA's quarterly earnings tripling to $20.37 billion and net profits jumping 400 percent to $11.38 billion. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nvidia-becomes-the-third-most-valuable-us-company-at-alphabets-expense-123503967.html?src=rss

An earnings typo sent Lyft’s stock price into the stratosphere

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In an absolutely bananas turn of events, a typo in an earnings report caused Lyft shares to skyrocket nearly 70 percent after Tuesday’s closing stock market bell, as reported by CBS. There was an extra zero in the report that suggested a five percent margin expansion in 2024, instead of a .5 percent margin. This sent investors into a tizzy, as the company has long struggled to turn a profit.

The mistake was even present in Lyft’s slide deck, which was part of that earnings report, and an accompanying press release. The company quickly corrected the mistake, calling it a clerical error, but the stock surge had already begun. Lyft CFO Erin Brewer addressed the issue in an earnings call yesterday evening which caused the stocks to reverse course. It’s worth noting that the earnings report was still good news for Lyft, even without that mistake, so the stock price experienced a more stable increase of around 35 percent.

Now, onto the blame game. Lyft CEO David Risher appeared on CNBC’s Squawk Box to take responsibility for the mistake, saying “look, it was a bad error, and that’s on me.” Risher went on to note that it was “super frustrating” for everyone on the team and said that he could see a fellow employee’s “jaw drop” when discovering the issue.

The good news? Even with that adjustment, this is Lyft’s best day since the company’s initial IPO offering back in 2019. Yesterday’s earnings report indicated $1.22 billion in revenue for the quarter, an increase of four percent from last year. Bookings increased 17 percent for the quarter, accounting for $3.7 billion. Risher called it a “great quarter.”

A misplaced zero on a spreadsheet isn’t the ridesharing giant’s only concern. Thousands of Lyft and Uber drivers are going on strike today to demand better pay and safer working conditions. The striking workers are primarily clustered around ten major US airports, though it’s only planned to last for a few hours.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/an-earnings-typo-sent-lyfts-stock-price-into-the-stratosphere-193904095.html?src=rss

Instacart cuts 250 jobs after reporting increased revenue

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Another day, another layoff occuring in the tech world. Instacart, the popular grocery delivery and pick-up service has announced the termination of 250 employees — about seven percent of its workforce. The layoffs are primarily individuals in management, as Instacart told Engadget that it was moving towards a flatter organization. The company also said that it was disbanding some teams working on smaller projects in favor of focusing on bigger bets like retail-powered media and off-platform ads. Most of the layoffs will go into effect by March 31 with Instacart estimating that the process will cost the company between $19 million and $24 million due to factors like severance pay and employee benefits.

Instacart released the news along with its fourth-quarter earnings. Despite choosing to layoff employees, the company reported a six percent increase in revenue, jumping from $803 million to $804 million, year-over-year. At the same time, Instacart is seeing the voluntary departure of three of its executives: the chief operating officer, chief technology officer and chief architect.

The layoffs follow only a short time after Instacart's September 2023 IPO. Unlike many companies that barely (or didn't) survive the COVID-19 pandemic, Instacart thrived. It allowed people to stay and still receive their groceries and other necessary items. Now, it exists in 5,500 cities and, like most companies of the past year, is focusing on building its AI capabilities. But, despite its increased revenue, the company's layoffs signal that not everything is going as planned over at Instacart. 

Update, Feb 14 2024, 5:45PM ET: This story has been updated with additional details from Instacart about the parts of the organization affected, and to note that Instacart primarily isn't letting people go who are working on their ads products. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/instacart-cuts-250-jobs-after-reporting-increased-revenue-112503431.html?src=rss

Sony predicts it’ll sell fewer PS5s than first thought

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Sony has lowered its PlayStation 5 sales forecast for fiscal 2023 significantly and now expects to sell 21 million units, down from a previous forecast of 25 million. That's despite posting record quarterly revenue and selling 8.2 million PS5s over the holiday season. So far this fiscal year, Sony has sold 16.4 million consoles, bringing its total to 54.8 million overall. (The company sold 19.1 million PS5s in fiscal 2022.)

Sony announced in December that it had sold 50 million PS5 units over three years, as of December 9, 2023. That's just a week longer than it took the PS4 to achieve the same number, and the latter wasn't bogged down by supply chain issues and a worldwide pandemic. 

Revenue was up 16 percent over the same quarter last year, thanks in part to improved sales of non-first-party titles. However, operating income was down significantly (26 percent), due a drop in first-party sales and losses on hardware due to promotions. In other words, PS5 sales aren't meeting the company's expectations despite discounts. 

Sony has seen higher sales in all three quarters this year compared to last. That might not continue this year though, as it's forecasting sales of just 4.6 million for Q4 2023 (February to April), down from 6.3 million in Q4 2022. 

In terms of new first-part games, Sony noted that Marvel's Spider-Man 2 has sold 10 million units (as of February 4) since its release in October 2023.

Almost all other Sony divisions saw higher revenue, including its Imaging & Sensor Solutions division (Sony makes sensors for iPhones and many other devices), along with Pictures and Music. That resulted in a record 3.75 trillion yen for Q3 ($24.9 billion) compared to 3.08 trillion yen the year before ($20.5 billion). 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sony-predicts-itll-sell-fewer-ps5s-than-first-thought-091816189.html?src=rss

Toyota unveils a three-row electric SUV for the US market

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While Toyota helped lead the hybrid charge with its Prius, the company has been less active in EV production. But that might be in the past, as Toyota has announced another $1.3 billion for its Kentucky facility, with a focus on EVs. In particular, the company is building a new three-row electric SUV that will be available for US customers. 

Toyota's Kentucky operation is its flagship facility, with nearly 9,400 employees. "Today's announcement reflects our commitment to vehicle electrification and further reinvesting in our US operations," Kerry Creech, president of Toyota Kentucky, said in a release. "Generations of our team members helped prepare for this opportunity, and we will continue leading the charge into the future by remaining true to who we are as a company and putting our people first for generations to come."

Little is known so far about the three-row electric SUV, as Toyota only mentions it briefly in relation to the investment. However, it follows the company's prior announcement of its Urban SUV concept slated to launch in Europe this year. 

The $1.3 billion investment will also go towards creating a battery pack assembly line at its Kentucky factory (a separate manufacturing plant in North Carolina produces the batteries). Toyota has big plans for its battery production, previously announcing three battery ranges focused on higher performance and low cost slated for 2026 and onward. The company is also working on its first solid-state batteries, which have the potential to charge an EV from 10 to 80 percent in 10 minutes. Toyota's bZ4X EV currently takes 32 minutes to do so. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/toyota-announces-a-three-row-electric-suv-for-us-customers-092545458.html?src=rss

Nintendo believes it’ll sell more Switch consoles than first thought

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At almost seven years old, the Nintendo Switch still has life left in it — so much so that Nintendo has upped its predicted sales figures for its current fiscal year. In its third-quarter earnings release, the company announced that it was increasing Switch's projected sales from 15 million to 15.5 million. The boost follows overall third-quarter net sales that were 29.9 billion Japanese yen ($201.1 million) higher and net profits of 6.4 billion Japanese yen ($43.1 million) higher than Nintendo's projections. However, it's worth noting that despite better than expected third-quarter net sales, the figure was still six percent lower than in the same period in 2022.

A few long-standing favorites and new games are likely fueling additional Switch sales. Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. Wonder game came out in October and hit 11.96 million units sold. Then there was The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which had an April release in theaters and piqued interest in older titles like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and 2023 launches like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the company reported.

The Switch's improved sales forecast comes as gamers eagerly await the Switch's successor. While Nintendo hasn't released any substantial information yet, the gaming system will reportedly launch sometime this year (and will face a much more crowded market than its predecessor when it does). Developers allegedly got a peek at the Switch 2 (for lack of a concrete name) behind closed doors at Gamescom in August 2023. They were said to view a version of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild with a higher frame rate and resolution than the original Switch offers. The demo also reportedly showcased the Unreal Engine 5 for the upcoming Switch, ray-tracing, NVIDIA's DLSS upscaling tech, and visual quality similar to that of the PS5 and Series X.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nintendo-believes-itll-sell-more-switch-consoles-than-first-thought-095017928.html?src=rss

Snap is laying off 10 percent of its workforce

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Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, is laying off 10 percent of its workforce, according to an SEC filing and confirmed by a company spokesperson. The company reported a total number of 5,367 employees at the end of 2023’s third quarter, so the layoffs should impact around 540 people.

Snap discussed the decision in the SEC filing, saying the layoffs would “best position our business to execute our highest priorities” and ensure it has “the capacity to invest incrementally” over time. The company told us the layoffs were necessary to “reduce hierarchy and promote in-person collaboration.” None of those sentences really mean anything, so let's just go with "corporate restructuring." 

Snap said in the filing that it would be issuing severance packages to the impacted employees, but there's no specific information regarding package details. A Snap spokesperson confirmed to Engadget that it's “focused on supporting our departing team members.”

These layoffs are happening just one day before Snap is scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings for 2023. The company actually did pretty well in Q3, beating out Wall Street expectations by about five percent, according to Variety.

If tomorrow's earnings report is bad, it'll show why these layoffs are necessary. On the other hand, if it's better than expected, Snap may be announcing these layoffs now to avoid doing so after a quarter of financial gains. Nobody likes to see a big company massively reduce its headcount after bragging about earnings. Snap told us the company’s in a “quiet period” until tomorrow’s Q4 financial report drops.

This follows another round of layoffs in November, in which Snap let go of 20 product managers. However, both of these news items pale in comparison to Snap’s massive culling in 2022, which eliminated over 1,300 employees.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/snap-is-laying-off-10-percent-of-its-workforce-161146546.html?src=rss

Meta’s Reality labs had its best quarter, but still lost more than $4 billion

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Reality Labs, Meta’s division for AR, VR and the metaverse, just had its best quarter yet despite continuing its multibillion-dollar losing streak. Reality Labs generated more than $1 billion in revenue during the final quarter of 2023 thanks to its Quest headsets and the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.

While crossing $1 billion in revenue is a new milestone for the company’s metaverse group, it’s still expected to continue racking up massive losses for the foreseeable future. Reality Labs lost $4.6 billion in the quarter, and more than $16 billion in 2023. Meta CFO Susan Li said that these losses are expected to “increase meaningfully year-over-year due to our ongoing product development efforts in augmented reality/virtual reality and our investments to further scale our ecosystem.”

The fourth-quarter, which encompasses the holiday shopping season, has typically been when reality does the best. During a call with analysts, Mark Zuckerberg suggested that the company’s smart glasses had done particularly well, saying that Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica was “planning on making more [smart glasses] than we'd both expected due to high demand.” He added that both Quest 2 and Quest 3 were “performing well,” calling Quest 3 the “most popular mixed reality device.”

Reality Labs aside, Meta had a strong quarter, reporting $40.1 billion to close out 2023, bringing its total revenue for the year to just under $135 billion. Facebook’s user base also grew to 2.1 billion daily active users (DAUs). Meta CFO Susan Li said that the company was “transitioning away” from sharing the metric and would no longer report on Facebook’s daily or monthly active users or its “family monthly active people.”

The company had shared that it would eventually stop reporting user numbers back in 2019 as Facebook’s growth began to slow. But the change shows how Facebook’s position in the company’s “family of apps” has changed in recent years. A report from Pew Research earlier this week found that Instagram is continuing to grow in the US while Facebook use remains flat.

Meta’s newest app, Threads, is still growing, however. Zuckerberg said the service has 130 million monthly users, up from “just under” 100 million last fall. “Threads now has more people actively using it today than it did during its initial launch peak," Zuckerberg said, referring to the app’s initial, but short-lived, surge in growth.

Zuckerberg also talked more about his newly-stated ambition to create artificial general intelligence, or AGI at Meta, saying it would be the “theme” of the company’s product work going forward. “This next generation of services requires building full general intelligence,” he said. “It's clear that we're going to need our models to be able to reason, plan, code, remember and many other cognitive abilities in order to provide the best versions of the services that we envision.”

The Meta CEO also indicated the company would be unlikely to offer any of its apps in alternative app stores in Europe, following Apple's controversial new developer policies. "The way that they've implemented it, I would be very surprised if any developer chose to go into the alternative app stores," he said. "They've made it so onerous, and I think so at odds with the intent of what the EU regulation was, that I think it's just going to be very difficult for anyone, including ourselves, to really seriously entertain."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/metas-reality-labs-had-its-best-quarter-but-still-lost-4-billion-231135719.html?src=rss