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☆ 3 big challenges facing Netflix as the streaming wars enter a brutal new phase
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Hollywood stakeholders and analysts alike have declared Netflix the winner of the streaming wars — but the celebration may be short-lived as streaming enters a new phase. Analysts can't say for sure how much more subscriber growth Netflix can add through its cheaper ad tier and password-sharing crackdown, though. Plus, Netflix is about to face big competition for ad dollars from Amazon, which will launch ads on Prime Video starting January 29. Also, Big Tech's ability to fund their streaming services indefinitely could keep subscription prices depressed for Netflix, along with everyone else, Bernstein noted. But now that the strikes are over, some analysts predict Netflix will face a bigger content bill going forward.

Persons: Scott Stuber, Forrester, Mike Proulx, Brian Wieser, Evercore, Peacock, Oscar, Ted Sarandos, Netflix isn't, Gen, Bernstein, Jason Bazinet Organizations: Netflix, Business, Disney, Macquarie Research, Paramount, Citigroup Locations: Canada, North America

☆ Climate change is hurting Six Flags, SeaWorld and Disney World
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

It’s the latest example of how extreme weather, exacerbated by climate change, impacted major North American attractions this summer. Extreme heat in Florida also disrupted attendance at Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando this summer. Theme parks are building indoor rides and changing ticket policies to respond to brutal weather conditions. Golding has lowered his estimates for the theme park industry because of growing risks from extreme weather. SeaWorld warns in its annual report to investors that extreme weather events could cause it to “incur significant costs.”“The series of extreme weather events experienced in recent years presents an alarming trend,” SeaWorld said.

Persons: ” Paul Golding, Golding, Brian Witherow, Cedar, James Forrester, Hurricane Ian, Gary Mick, Mick Organizations: New, New York CNN, Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, Macquarie Research, Knott’s, SeaWorld, Flags, Wall Street Locations: New York, Nevada, SeaWorld, Southwest, California, Canada, Florida, Ontario, Knott’s Berry, Florida , Texas, Virginia, Northeast

REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis/File PhotoBENGALURU, July 20 (Reuters) - Jio Financial Services (JFS) has been valued at around $20 billion after its stock price was set at a much higher-than-expected 261.85 rupees ($3.19) in its demerger from Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries (RELI.NS). At a $20 billion valuation, Jio Financial would be one of the top 40 Indian companies by market capitalisation, in a list headed by Reliance at $233 billion. The price was determined as 261.85 rupees, or the difference between 2,841.85 rupees, Reliance's closing price on Wednesday, and 2,580 rupees, its price at the end of the special session. JFS's stock price is higher than analysts' estimate of 160 rupees to 190 rupees. Reliance Strategic Investments, the unit to be renamed JFS, late on Wednesday reported a net profit after tax of 1.45 billion rupees ($17.7 million) for April-June based on revenue of 2.15 billion rupees.

Persons: Anushree, Mukesh, Chokkalingam, JFS, Ira Dugal, Savio Shetty, Savio D'Souza, Jamie Freed Organizations: Mobile, REUTERS, Jio Financial, Reliance Industries, Reliance, Macquarie Research, AAA, Reliance Strategic Investments, Thomson Locations: Pragati, New Delhi, India, BENGALURU

☆ Reliance - Jio Financial Services demerger: what you need to know
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Chris Thomas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Five analysts estimate that Reliance's Jio Financial Services will be valued at 160-190 rupees per share. However, Jio Financial Services' stock will be included in the indexes, including the blue-chip Nifty 50 (.NSEI), but will not trade until it is listed. Jio Financial Services' listing date is widely expected to be announced at Reliance's forthcoming annual general meeting. THE DEMERGERReliance announced last October that it would demerge and list its financial services business - Reliance Strategic Investments - which will be renamed Jio Financial Services (JFS). Reliance shareholders would get one share of Jio Financial Services for holding one share of Reliance.

Persons: Mukesh, Hitesh Sethia, Chris Thomas, Anil D'Silva Organizations: Reliance Industries, Jio Financial, Reliance, National Stock Exchange, Bombay, Exchange, Jio Financial Services, NSE, DEMERGER Reliance, Reliance Strategic Investments, Kamath, ICICI Bank, Macquarie Research, AAA, Thomson Locations: BENGALURU, Bengaluru

☆ A $12 phone is opening doors for rural India to get on the internet
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-06 | by ( Charmaine Jacob | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

All that could change with a new $12 phone from Reliance Jio this week. India is already the world's second-largest smartphone market and is likely to add 300 million new internet users, making it the fastest country to provide internet services to those who remain unconnected, Mishra said. "However, screen size can limit the experience a bit, but still good for first-time internet users." Reliance Jio has rolled out 5G services in 406 cities in India. Additionally, Singh highlighted that Reliance Jio hopes first-time internet users who purchase the Jio Bharat will eventually upgrade to more advanced phones down the road.

Persons: Mukherjee, Akash Ambani, Jio Bharat, Varun Mishra, Mishra, Navkendar Singh, Singh, Jio, Bharat, There's, Nikhil Batra, Batra, Research's Mishra Organizations: International Data Corporation, Afp, Getty, Reliance, Reliance Industries, Counterpoint Research, CNBC, Vodafone, Aditya Birla Group, Vodafone Group —, BSNL, IDC, Nurphoto, Macquarie Research, Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel, Macquarie, Jio, Airtel Locations: India, Jio, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bihar, Jammu, Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Foot Locker, Catalent, Occidental Petroleum & more
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Check out the companies making headlines in midday trading Friday. Foot Locker — The footwear retailer tanked 25.7% after it missed both top and bottom lines during the fiscal first-quarter. Disney — The media conglomerate fell nearly 2% in midday trading after Macquarie Research downgraded shares to neutral from outperform. Farfetch — The e-commerce company added 17.6% in midday trading after Farfetch reported a revenue beat for the first quarter. Western Alliance , PacWest — shares of the regional banks dipped more than 4% each, giving back some of their sharp gains from this week.

The shoe retailer missed analysts' expectations on both earnings and revenue in the first quarter. Catalent lowered its full-year earnings and revenue guidance ahead of its business update call. Applied Materials – Shares of the chip maker slipped more than 1% premarket despite the company posting earnings and revenue for the most recent quarter that beat expectations on Wall Street. DXC posted revenue that came in below analysts' expectations from FactSet and earnings that were about in line with expectations. Deere — The tractor maker's shares rose almost 4% after it announced an earnings and revenue beat for its fiscal second-quarter.

☆ India's Mankind Pharma soars 31%, valuing condom maker at almost $7 bln
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Rama Venkat | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BENGALURU, May 9 (Reuters) - Shares of Manforce condom maker Mankind Pharma Ltd (MNKI.NS) surged as much as 31% in debut trading on Tuesday, valuing the company at 566.43 billion rupees ($6.93 billion) in the country's biggest listing so far this year. The company, which also owns India's top at-home pregnancy testing kit Prega News, opened at 1,300 rupees, staying above that mark through the morning session and hitting its highest at 1,414 rupees. It was seeking a valuation of 432.64 billion rupees ($5.29 billion) at the upper end of a price band it set for its initial public offering last month. The strong debut will likely lift the sentiment for the IPO market overall." The company's IPO had an offer for sale of shares worth 43.26 billion rupees from existing shareholders, including its founder Ramesh Juneja, and allocated 12.98 billion rupees worth of shares to 77 anchor investors including Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Government of Singapore, Goldman Sachs and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

[1/4] A combination of photographs shows people using automated teller machines (ATMs) at Australia's "Big Four" banks - Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (bottom R), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (top R), National Australia Bank Ltd (bottom L) and Westpac Banking Corp (top L). REUTERS/StaffSYDNEY, March 17 (Reuters) - An A$300 billion ($201.21 billion) refinancing task for Australia's biggest banks is about to get harder, say analysts, as appetite for new debt shrinks across global markets roiled by concerns about bank stability and liquidity. "Now major banks don't have to hit markets everyday... but ultimately banks can't stay out of the market forever." Refinancing today would add extra 5 to 10 basis points to banks' costs versus a week and a half ago, he added. ($1 = 1.4910 Australian dollars)Reporting by Lewis Jackson and Scott Murdoch; Editing by Simon Cameron-MooreOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Digital video is set to top traditional TV this year. How Wall Street says to play it
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

As of Thursday's close, Netflix shares were up 9% year to date, while Disney , Paramount and Warner Bros. NFLX YTD mountain Netflix shares since the start if 2023 During the pandemic, the streaming industry challenged cable TV as customers cut the cord. Shares of Netflix struggled Thursday following a report from The Wall Street Journal that the company was cutting prices in over 30 countries. Disney represents another clear-cut behemoth in the space, and boasts one of the higher number of buy ratings on Wall Street. The Trade Desk is another advertising stock Wall Street is bullish on, with more than 60% of analysts giving a buy rating on the stock.

☆ India cenbank's new proposal on loan loss provisions to raise bank capital needs - analysts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MUMBAI, Jan 17 (Reuters) - The Indian central bank's discussion paper suggesting banks make provisions on bad loans using an expected credit loss (ECL) method could raise capital requirements for lenders, analysts said. The potential impact of a shift to the ECL mechanism on bank capital could be significant, said the RBI, which is yet to give a timeline for implementing the new rules. The new mechanism will recognise problems ahead of time and make the banking system more resilient in the long run but could raise capital requirements significantly particularly for government owned banks, analysts at Macquarie Research said. "The problem here is that over the last 5-10 years, the probability of default would have been very high for the banking sector and that's why eventual ECL provisions could be higher,” Macquarie said. While the impact on individual banks is difficult to assess at this stage, it could be felt in 2025/26 and banks would have to start preparing in 2024/25 to raise capital, the research house added.

☆ Samsung Q4 earnings guidance preview: Memory prices to weigh on profit
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Samsung has faced pressure from plunging memory prices which has impacted its key profit driving DRAM and NAND business. Samsung's profit could nosedive when it reports fourth-quarter earnings guidance this week as prices for key memory chips continue to plunge amid weak demand. That would be a near 50% fall versus the fourth quarter of 2021. The pessimism stems from a rapid fall in memory prices. NAND and DRAM prices fell sharply in the fourth quarter due to a lack of demand for the products they eventually go into, such a PCs.

Nov 8 (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) said on Tuesday its marquee streaming service, Disney+, gained more subscribers than Wall Street had expected, but investment costs dragged quarterly earnings below analysts' targets. Disney is spending billions to build its streaming options and compete with Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) and others. Disney+ reported 164.2 million subscribers in the fiscal fourth quarter, surpassing Factset estimates of 161 million. Disney has amassed 235 million subscriptions across Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ streaming services, a gain of 14.6 million from the previous quarter. For the fiscal year, Disney reported per-share earnings of $3.53, excluding certain items, on revenues of $82.7 billion.

☆ Sports gambling opportunities for marketers
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Paul Verna | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

And sports gambling, which is now legal in nearly half the US, is emerging as a market opportunity for brands and broadcasters alike. Legalized sports gambling in the US will generate $2.1 billion in revenues this year. It also tallies states with active sports gambling legislation as well as those with no legislation or dead legislation. As of May 2021, sports gambling was legal and active in 21 states plus the District of Columbia. In addition, MGM Resorts International projects that sports gambling will generate $13.5 billion by 2025, with 38 US states participating by that time.

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