Stock Markets Stay Flat as Oracle Makes a TikTok Play, Carnival Gets Cyberattacked - Motley Fool | Canada News Media
Connect with us

Business

Stock Markets Stay Flat as Oracle Makes a TikTok Play, Carnival Gets Cyberattacked – Motley Fool

Published

 on


Tuesday morning once again showed the ambivalence among stock market investors that’s plagued Wall Street for weeks now. Even though investors are enthusiastic about the long-term prospects for some of the best growth stocks in the market, they seem less convinced about the direction of the overall economy and its impact on the average company. That’s why there are continuing disparities across major benchmarks. Just after 11 a.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES:^DJI) was down 92 points to 27,753. However, the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX:^SPX) kept its losses to a single point at 3,381, and the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX:^COMP) rose 36 points to 11,166 and pushed further into record territory.

Among individual stocks, several crosscurrents affected different industries. In the tech sector, Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) is apparently stepping up to go after a highly prized social media asset. Meanwhile Carnival (NYSE:CCL) has had to deal with the full brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic throughout most of 2020, but its latest challenge came from a completely different quarter.

Oracle looks for new direction

Shares of Oracle climbed almost 3% Tuesday morning. Investors tried to integrate new information on the merger and acquisition front into their views of the software company, but the particular deal under consideration makes it tough to do.

Reports have come out that Oracle is talking with Chinese social media company ByteDance, which owns the popular TikTok video service. The news gives front-runner Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) some added competition, potentially throwing a wrench into the process of TikTok trying to find a buyer.

Oracle would take a different approach toward TikTok than Microsoft. Unlike other companies looking at the video service, Oracle would get almost no operational benefit from the acquisition, because its existing business doesn’t really overlap with TikTok’s. Instead, Oracle would look at TikTok purely as an investment, with a set exit strategy rather than the goal of integrating the division into the rest of its offerings.

With the clock running on an executive order that would prevent U.S. companies from doing business with a ByteDance-controlled TikTok, the pressure to get a deal done is mounting. Adding Oracle to the mix makes for an interesting new twist on the tech stock deal.

Image source: Getty Images.

Cybercriminals target the cruise ship business

Shares of Carnival were down more than 1% Tuesday morning. As if the cruise ship operator hadn’t already gone through enough given coronavirus-forced suspensions of its fleet, Carnival got the bad news that it had become the victim of a cyberattack.

Carnival revealed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it had detected a ransomware attack. According to the company, hackers got access to the IT systems of one of its brands. They then encrypted a portion of vital data and downloaded some of Carnival’s data files. Although it sees no material financial impact, Carnival admitted that unauthorized access to personal data of guests and employees could lead to tort claims and regulatory penalties.

Some cruise lines under the Carnival corporate umbrella have already come close to giving up on 2020 entirely. Several countries maintain no-sail orders, while even those that don’t could still require burdensome measures to protect passengers.

A cyberattack was the last thing Carnival needed. Even as it takes steps to secure its data, Carnival desperately wants to start operating cruises again in order to bring in some much-needed revenue.

Let’s block ads! (Why?)



Source link

Business

Netflix’s subscriber growth slows as gains from password-sharing crackdown subside

Published

 on

 

Netflix on Thursday reported that its subscriber growth slowed dramatically during the summer, a sign the huge gains from the video-streaming service’s crackdown on freeloading viewers is tapering off.

The 5.1 million subscribers that Netflix added during the July-September period represented a 42% decline from the total gained during the same time last year. Even so, the company’s revenue and profit rose at a faster pace than analysts had projected, according to FactSet Research.

Netflix ended September with 282.7 million worldwide subscribers — far more than any other streaming service.

The Los Gatos, California, company earned $2.36 billion, or $5.40 per share, a 41% increase from the same time last year. Revenue climbed 15% from a year ago to $9.82 billion. Netflix management predicted the company’s revenue will rise at the same 15% year-over-year pace during the October-December period, slightly than better than analysts have been expecting.

The strong financial performance in the past quarter coupled with the upbeat forecast eclipsed any worries about slowing subscriber growth. Netflix’s stock price surged nearly 4% in extended trading after the numbers came out, building upon a more than 40% increase in the company’s shares so far this year.

The past quarter’s subscriber gains were the lowest posted in any three-month period since the beginning of last year. That drop-off indicates Netflix is shifting to a new phase after reaping the benefits from a ban on the once-rampant practice of sharing account passwords that enabled an estimated 100 million people watch its popular service without paying for it.

The crackdown, triggered by a rare loss of subscribers coming out of the pandemic in 2022, helped Netflix add 57 million subscribers from June 2022 through this June — an average of more than 7 million per quarter, while many of its industry rivals have been struggling as households curbed their discretionary spending.

Netflix’s gains also were propelled by a low-priced version of its service that included commercials for the first time in its history. The company still is only getting a small fraction of its revenue from the 2-year-old advertising push, but Netflix is intensifying its focus on that segment of its business to help boost its profits.

In a letter to shareholder, Netflix reiterated previous cautionary notes about its expansion into advertising, though the low-priced option including commercials has become its fastest growing segment.

“We have much more work to do improving our offering for advertisers, which will be a priority over the next few years,” Netflix management wrote in the letter.

As part of its evolution, Netflix has been increasingly supplementing its lineup of scripted TV series and movies with live programming, such as a Labor Day spectacle featuring renowned glutton Joey Chestnut setting a world record for gorging on hot dogs in a showdown with his longtime nemesis Takeru Kobayashi.

Netflix will be trying to attract more viewer during the current quarter with a Nov. 15 fight pitting former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson against Jake Paul, a YouTube sensation turned boxer, and two National Football League games on Christmas Day.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Source link

Continue Reading

Business

All Magic Spells (TM) : Top Converting Magic Spell eCommerce Store

Published

 on

Product Name: All Magic Spells (TM) : Top Converting Magic Spell eCommerce Store

Click here to get All Magic Spells (TM) : Top Converting Magic Spell eCommerce Store at discounted price while it’s still available…

All orders are protected by SSL encryption – the highest industry standard for online security from trusted vendors.

All Magic Spells (TM) : Top Converting Magic Spell eCommerce Store is backed with a 60 Day No Questions Asked Money Back Guarantee. If within the first 60 days of receipt you are not satisfied with Wake Up Lean™, you can request a refund by sending an email to the address given inside the product and we will immediately refund your entire purchase price, with no questions asked.

(more…)

Continue Reading

Business

Turn Your Wife Into Your Personal Sex Kitten

Published

 on

Product Name: Turn Your Wife Into Your Personal Sex Kitten

Click here to get Turn Your Wife Into Your Personal Sex Kitten at discounted price while it’s still available…

All orders are protected by SSL encryption – the highest industry standard for online security from trusted vendors.

Turn Your Wife Into Your Personal Sex Kitten is backed with a 60 Day No Questions Asked Money Back Guarantee. If within the first 60 days of receipt you are not satisfied with Wake Up Lean™, you can request a refund by sending an email to the address given inside the product and we will immediately refund your entire purchase price, with no questions asked.

(more…)

Continue Reading

Trending

Exit mobile version