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☆ Google's Achilles' heel: The tech giant's struggles in augmented reality highlight a much bigger weakness
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

But the tech giant's struggles in AR highlight a bigger weakness at the company: hardware. The tech giant has struggled to gain momentum in the mixed-reality sector despite numerous efforts, Insider's Hugh Langley reports. AdvertisementAdvertisementFrom Iris to Alius to Betty, Google's code-named AR projects rival a millennial parent's baby-name list. But in the world of AR, hardware is the most critical piece of the puzzle. Of course, the tech giant might argue it has bigger fish to fry.

Persons: It's, Insider's Hugh Langley, Alius, Betty, Hugh, —, Google's, it's Organizations: Google, — Apple, Apple Vision, Samsung, Meta Locations: Google's

☆ Meta Platforms broke below this closely watched level. What chart analysts expect now
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

More trouble could be ahead for shares of Meta Platforms based on one closely watched technical indicator. The Facebook and Instagram parent broke below its 50-day moving average this month for the first time since December. Meta shares have outperformed this year as CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it would focus on efficiency and artificial intelligence, sending the stock up more than 145%. Shares continue to hover below the 50-day moving average, which is now $297.98. Along with falling below its 50-day moving average, Frank Cappelleri notes that Meta has also completed what's known as a double top formation.

Persons: Meta —, Mark Zuckerberg, John Kolovos, Carter Worth, Frank Cappelleri, Meta, Cappelleri, CappThesis Organizations: Meta, Worth Locations: Worth

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves midday: Nvidia, Peloton, Foot Locker, Dick's Sporting Goods and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-23 | by ( Alex Harring | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Nvidia has been one of the biggest winners on the back of the AI boom with shares rising nearly 220% this year. Peloton reported a loss of 68 cents per share, versus the 38-cent loss per share expected by analysts polled by Refinitiv. Foot Locker — The athletic retailer plunged 33% after cutting its outlook again for the year and suspending its quarterly dividend. Advanced Auto Parts — Advance Auto Parts rose 1% after beating analysts' revenue expectations for its second quarter. The auto retail company reported revenue of $2.69 billion, greater than the consensus estimate of $2.66 billion, according to Refinitiv.

Persons: Locker, Fitch, Abercrombie, Charles Schwab —, Schwab, Oppenheimer, Brown, Forman —, Morgan Stanley, Avery Dennison, Davidson, Safehold, Goldman Sachs, Goldman, it's, Shane O'Kelly, — CNBC's Hakyung Kim, Samantha Subin, Yun Li, Sarah Min, Jesse Pound Organizations: Nvidia, Refinitiv . Revenue, Dick's, Goods, Abercrombie, Pharmaceuticals, Nike —, Urban Outfitters, Refinitiv, Revenue, Netflix, Bank of America, UBS, DA, Marvell Technology, Susquehanna Locations: Louisiana, Pacific

☆ Twitter is rebranding to X. Here are 5 more tech companies that controversially changed their names or faced backlash.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Here are five more tech companies which changed their names — some controversially, and others leading to success. From The Facebook to Facebook, then MetaMark Zuckerberg at Harvard University, three months after The Facebook was created. But the business plan was first written for a company called Cadabra, as in a magician's "Abracadabra." Before Twitter became X, X.com became PayPalPeter Thiel, left, and Elon Musk, right, hold VISA credit cards branded with the X.com company logo on October 20, 2000. Paul Sakuma/APElon Musk cofounded the online payment company X.com in 1999 before it merged with Peter Thiel's Confinity a year later.

Persons: Elon Musk, Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Rick Friedman, Sean Parker, Justin Timberlake, Zuckerberg, that's, Frances Haugen, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Martin Magunia, Brin, Sundar Pichai, Mike Krieger, Kevin Systrom, Stephen Chernin Instagram, Andreessen Horowitz, Krieger, Systrom, Instagram, Jeff Bezos, Evan Agostini, —, Bezos, Mackenzie Scott, X.com, PayPal Peter Thiel, Paul Sakuma, AP Elon Musk, Peter Thiel's Confinity, Jimmy Soni's, Thiel, Walter Isaacson Organizations: Twitter, PayPal, Morning, Facebook, Harvard University, Meta, VR, Reality Labs, Google, Getty, Stanford, Microsoft, REUTERS, Baseline Ventures, Stanford University, Inc, Amazon, AP Elon, eBay Locations: Burbn

☆ Twitter users are joking that they're embarrassed by Elon Musk's new 'X' logo, saying it looks like it belongs on a porn site
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Twitter users are not so pleased about Twitter's new logo "X" because it looks like a porn website. Comedy writer Jesse McLaren dissed the new logo in a tweet posting an image of various websites with the "X" logo and wrote: "These are all porn except one. I didn't know about your rebrand idea and was looking for Twitter Verified, and scrolled right past your X logo, thinking it was a porn site. Users have even drawn comparisons with the logo of adult streaming site XVideos, which has been trending on Twitter since Sunday. Police halted workers in the middle of removing the "Twitter" sign from its San Francisco headquarters, leaving behind only the letters "er" at present.

Persons: Elon Musk, Musk, Jesse McLaren dissed, it's, Parker Lyon Organizations: Twitter, Users, PayPal, Police, San, Meta Locations: San Francisco

☆ Elon Musk is the gift that keeps on giving to Mark Zuckerberg
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-08 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

New York CNN —At the start of last year, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was in the hot seat. But then, the attention of lawmakers, media and the tech world writ large abruptly shifted to another tech billionaire: Elon Musk. While Twitter users have lamented what Musk’s ownership has meant for the platform, it may be the best thing that could have happened for Zuckerberg. A billion-user opportunityThe distraction and chaos of Musk’s Twitter takeover could hardly have come at a better time for Zuckerberg and Meta. The Twitter-Threads battle has raised the stakes for another fight: a cage fight that Musk and Zuckerberg have spent the past several weeks planning.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Elon, Twitter, Musk, Zuckerberg, “, ”, Herbert Hovenkamp, —, he’s, Meta, Musk’s, “ Elon, Meta —, Donald Trump, Instagram, Adam Mosseri, Zuckerberg’s Organizations: New, New York CNN, Facebook, Apple, Meta, Twitter, University of Pennsylvania’s Carey Law School, Instagram, SpaceX, YouTube Locations: New York, Cambridge

☆ Stocks making the biggest premarket moves: Levi Strauss, Biogen, Alibaba and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Levi Strauss & Co. label is seen on jeans in a store at the Woodbury Common Premium Outlets in Central Valley, New York, U.S., February 15, 2022. Check out the companies making the biggest moves before the bell:Levi Strauss — The apparel retailer fell 7.7% after slashing its profit outlook for the year postmarket Thursday. Levi now expects adjusted earnings per share of $1.10 to $1.20 for the year, down from $1.30 to $1.40 previously. Alibaba — U.S. listed shares of the Chinese ecommerce retailer gained about 3% before the opening bell. First Solar - Shares added 1.7% after the solar company secured a five-year revolving credit and guarantee facility worth $1 billion.

Persons: Levi Strauss, Levi, Alibaba, Ant, Wanxiang, JPMorgan Chase, Tesla, Twitter, —, Jesse Pound, Sarah Min Organizations: Woodbury, and Drug Administration, Medicare, Reuters, Ant Group, JPMorgan, Bloom, Bloom Energy, RBC Capital Markets, Costco —, Costco, Meta Locations: Central Valley , New York, U.S, Alibaba —, China, Shanghai

☆ Why billionaire Dustin Moskovitz keeps buying up shares of his software company Asana
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-24 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Moskovitz, who is still known by many as a co-founder of Facebook, started Asana in 2008 to make work more collaborative through software. Following the purchase of 480,000 Asana shares in June, Moskovitz's ownership swelled to 111.4 million shares, representing over 51% of outstanding stock. Even after rallying 66% this year, Asana shares are more than 80% below their record high from late 2021. Moskovitz has agreed not to buy all outstanding Asana shares or even acquire ownership of 90% of the common stock. Moskovitz declined to talk about whether he was buying up shares to prevent activist investors from coming in and trying to force change.

Persons: Asana's Dustin Moskovitz, Moskovitz, Asana, It's, Cari, ChatGPT, it's, Mark Zuckerberg, Chris Hughes, Eduardo Saverin, Zuckerberg Organizations: Facebook, CNBC, Meta, Good Ventures, National Science Foundation, University of California, Harvard University, New York Stock Exchange Locations: Berkeley

☆ Goldman Sachs analyzed 1,246 hedge and mutual funds with a combined $4.8 trillion in holdings. Here are the 9 stocks they agree are worth buying.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( Mark Reeth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

But hedge funds and mutual funds have lagged the broader market this year. Although hedge funds and mutual funds may be trailing the market for the moment, don't count them out just yet. Here's what hedge funds and mutual funds are buying, and why investors may want to steal a page from their playbook. Beyond financials and tech, hedge funds and mutual funds moved in tandem across the rest of the market, turning their attention to defensive equities. Among all of those funds, Goldman Sachs found there were nine stocks that they deemed "shared favorites" between two different Goldman Sachs indexes.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, David Kostin, Kostin, Russell, Consumer Staples Organizations: Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tesla, Tech, Mutual, Mastercard, Visa, Services, Consumer, Utilities, Communication Services, Healthcare, Mutual Fund Locations: financials

☆ Mark Zuckerberg's net worth has dropped from $118 billion to $96 billion since he rebranded Facebook as Meta
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Meta stock, which accounts for most of Zuckerberg's wealth, plummeted initially, but has rebounded some. It's been almost two years since Mark Zuckerberg rebranded Facebook as Meta to reflect his company's push into the so-called metaverse. Zuckerberg was worth $118 billion on October 28, 2021 — the day the Meta rebrand was announced — according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His net worth has recovered from a low of about $37 billion in October 2022, around the one-year anniversary of the Meta rebrand. Meanwhile, Zuckerberg's wealth peaked at $142 billion in September 2021, according to the Bloomberg rankings, putting him among the richest people in the world.

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, It's, Meta —, Zuckerberg, that's, Meta, Elon Musk, Bernard Arnault Organizations: Facebook, Meta, Bloomberg, Apple, Vision Locations: Meta's

☆ Mark Zuckerberg praised Elon Musk's push 'to make Twitter a lot leaner'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Will Gendron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

On a recent episode of "The Lex Fridman Podcast," Mark Zuckerberg was asked about Elon Musk. Zuckerberg praised some of Musk's changes to Twitter, calling them "probably good for the industry." Mark Zuckerberg has some good things to say about the way Elon Musk has been running Twitter. "Elon led a push early on to make Twitter a lot leaner," Zuckerberg said, after pausing to consider the question. Like Musk, Zuckerberg has conducted multiple rounds of layoffs over the past eight months.

Persons: Lex Fridman, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Zuckerberg, Musk's, Fridman, —, Musk, Tesla, Elon, He's Organizations: Twitter, Elon, Meta

☆ Mark Zuckerberg reportedly bashes Apple's Vision Pro: 'Every demo that they showed was a person sitting on a couch by themself'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Grace Mayer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Mark Zuckerberg criticized Apple's Vision Pro headset at a companywide meeting, The Verge reported. He said that Meta's vision was "fundamentally social," while Apple's vision is "not the one I want." On paper, and even according to early hands-on impressions, Apple's headset looks far superior to Meta's — even if Apple's headset is exorbitantly more expensive. In the Thursday meeting, Zuckerberg said that Apple's headset design didn't have any innovations that Meta hadn't "already explored and thought of." Zuckerberg highlighted that, in the case of the Quest 3, Apple's headset "costs seven times more."

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Apple's, Zuckerberg, Apple, Meta, it's, Price, Read Organizations: Meta, Apple

☆ Stocks are up big this year. But top Wall Street strategists are warning that trouble is brewing under the surface of the market — threatening to sink it.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( William Edwards | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Six months into 2023, the S&P 500 is having an impressive year, returning more than 11% so far since January. Only 44% of S&P 500 stocks are trading above their 200-day moving averages, according to LPL Financial. Technology and consumer are the only sectors up on the year, and even they are exhibiting narrow breadth," he said. Bank of AmericaOf course, market breadth could improve if the fundamental economic outlook improves along with investor sentiment. If the labor market stays sturdy, a stock market rally could become more sustainable.

Persons: David Rosenberg, Mike Wilson, Here's David Rosenberg, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Marcelli, Morgan Stanley, Adam Turnquist, Jeffrey Buchbinder, LPL, Savita Subramanian Organizations: Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Meta, Bank of America, Rosenberg Research, North, UBS, NYSE, Technology, of America's Locations: North American, China

☆ Nvidia's big break has been a long time coming, Jim Cramer says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Julie Coleman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Wall Street may be shocked by Nvidia 's record-breaking move on Thursday, but not CNBC's Jim Cramer. Cramer said Huang has been ahead on the value of generative artificial intelligence since the jump, buying up a valuable kind of graphics card — the H100 processor — early on. "If you have enough Nvidia cards put together, you can enable all of this incredible artificial intelligence stuff that everybody's so excited about now. Cramer said Huang showed him the power of ChatGPT when he visited Nvidia headquarters months ago, well before it saw mainstream popularity. "And had the cards ready for all who wanted them when Wall Street finally came around to generative artificial intelligence.

Persons: Jim Cramer, Cramer, he's, Jensen Huang, Huang, Andy Reid, Reid, Paul Cezanne, " Cramer, Jensen, Wall, We're Organizations: Nvidia, Kansas City Chiefs, Oracle, Microsoft, Meta, Intel Locations: Washington

☆ Stocks making the biggest premarket moves: Apple, Meta, Micron, PacWest and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Check out the companies making the biggest moves in premarket trading:Apple — Shares of the iPhone maker fell about 1% premarket after Loop Capital downgraded Apple's stock to hold from buy. Nike , Foot Locker — Shares of Nike and Foot Locker declined 1.5% and 2.4%, respectively, in premarket trading. Foot Locker missed on the top and bottom lines in its first fiscal quarter, and lowered its guidance. UBS upgraded shares to a buy from neutral rating, saying that expansion into new markets should fuel growth. Norfolk Southern , CSX — Shares of the railroads added 1.8% and 1.5%, respectively, in premarket trading.

☆ The metaverse isn't dead, says the billionaire CEO behind Fortnite— and he's jokingly trying to hold a wake so 600 million gamers can mourn its passing in 'real-time 3D'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Tim Sweeney on Tuesday mocked the notion that the metaverse is dead. But Sweeney is a long-term supporter of the Metaverse, putting in some serious money into the platform. Tim Sweeney, the billionaire CEO of Epic Games, doesn't think the metaverse is dead. After all, Epic Games — developer of Fortnite — is putting serious money into the metaverse. Moreover, Meta's still trying to convince users that the metaverse is alive and kicking and could potentially be lucrative.

☆ Analysis: How to characterize the American economy — from broken to just bizarre
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Christine Romans | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —The US economy is going from broken to bizarre. Covid crashed the American economy three years ago with no playbook for the wild recovery that would follow. And yet, the US economy today is growing, the job market is strong, and the consumer is still spending. The economy has added an astonishing 1.2 million jobs this year and the jobless rate matches the lowest since 1969. Goldman Sachs pegs recession odds at 35% and Fed Chair Jerome Powell last week said the economy could still skirt a recession.

☆ Mark Zuckerberg says people spent 24% more time on Instagram after Meta launched AI-powered Reels
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Nidhi Pandurangi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Meta reported revenue growth in the first quarter, reversing three consecutive quarters of decline. Mark Zuckerberg is crediting higher engagement in Instagram Reels for part of this growth. Zuckerberg said time spent on Instagram has risen by 24% since the company launched the product. On an earnings call on Wednesday, Zuckerberg said that time spent on Instagram had risen by 24% since the company launched its short-form video product Reels — a TikTok challenger. Meta also reported a net profit of $5.7 billion during the quarter, a 24% drop year-over-year — partly due to the company's restructuring.

The conglomerate reported adjusted first-quarter earnings of $2.07 per share on revenues of $8.86 billion. Southwest Airlines — The airline company's shares slipped 3.4% following a wider-than-expected loss for the first quarter. The pharmaceutical company posted adjusted earnings per share of $2.46, while analysts had estimated $2.51, according to StreetAccount. United Rentals — Shares fell 5.7% after the company's first-quarter earnings came in below expectations. CBRE — Shares of the real estate group soared 8.8% after CBRE's first-quarter earnings announcement buoyed investor sentiment.

☆ Mark Zuckerberg isn't ruling out future layoffs at Meta 'given the volatility,' a report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Mark Zuckerberg told staff he couldn't promise that Meta wouldn't carry out future layoffs, per WSJ. "I generally feel good about the position here," and Meta has no further cuts planned, Zuckerberg said. Meta isn't ruling out the possibility of future layoffs, CEO Mark Zuckerberg told staff on Thursday, per The Wall Street Journal. "I wanted to front-load it as early in the year as possible," Zuckerberg told staff on Thursday, per The Journal. The batch of layoffs announced this week was "always going to be the most difficult and controversial one," he added, per The Journal.

☆ YouTube lets advertisers use creators' video content as ads without their permission, hurting their ability to make money and build audiences
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Lauren Johnson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

YouTube creator Taki Udon said his video was used as an ad without his permission. YouTube is letting advertisers use creators' video content as ads without their permission. He said that advertisers promoting creators' videos without their knowledge could risk a creator's audience and key metrics like watch time. TikTok has an ad program that allows advertisers to promote creators' videos but requires advertisers to first get permission from the creator. Meta-owned Instagram also requires advertisers to virtually agree to using a video by asking creators to opt-in to sharing their content with advertisers.

☆ Mark Zuckerberg is leaning into Meta's 'year of efficiency' the wrong way, and multiple rounds of layoffs will be damaging
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Rebecca Knight | Tim Paradis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg last week unveiled another round of layoffs hitting 10,000 staffers. The dismissals are part of an efficiency plan boost productivity and turn Meta into a talent magnet. But the job cuts are likely to have the opposite effect, two management experts told Insider. Rather than resorting to layoffs, Sucher said companies should look at other ways to lower headcount, including natural attrition, buyouts, and hiring freezes. "You have to plan for it in order to not have it kill your company," Sucher said.

☆ Stocks making the biggest premarket moves: Credit Suisse, Snap, Adobe, PagerDuty & more
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Check out the companies making the biggest moves in premarket trading:Credit Suisse — U.S.-listed shares of Credit Suisse gained nearly 6% after the Swiss bank said it will borrow up to 50 billion Swiss francs ($54 billion) from the Swiss National Bank. Occidental Petroleum — Shares rose nearly 1% after Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought another 7.9 million shares, totaling $466.7 million. Baidu — U.S. listed shares of Baidu sank nearly 6% after the Chinese tech company unveiled its ChatGPT alternative, Ernie bot. PagerDuty — Shares rallied nearly 6% after the digital operations management platform's earnings and revenue topped estimates for the fourth quarter. Adjusted earnings per share came in at 8 cents per share, versus the 2 cents expected, per Refinitiv.

☆ Wall Street sees big gains for Meta, if it keeps cutting costs — and we agree
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Meta stock has rallied more than 50% since the start of the year. Wall Street's take UBS on Thursday called Meta its "favorite name in internet," citing higher earnings-per-share (EPS) potential as a result of costs cuts. Oppenheimer on Wednesday increased its price target on Meta stock to $235 per share, up from $220. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at Georgetown University in Washington on Oct. 17, 2019.

☆ Americans want to delete Instagram more than any other app
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

There are a lot of reasons why you might want to delete a popular app from their phone — and you're far from alone. Popular social media apps Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat garnered the most internet searches from people looking to delete those apps over a recent six-month period, according to an analysis of search trends from cybersecurity website VPNOverview. During that period, there were more than 900,000 searches for how to "delete" or "deactivate" Instagram, more than any of the country's 30 most popular apps by downloads, VPNOverview said in its February report. And in recent years, polls have shown growing distrust of popular social media platforms over issues like disinformation, cyberbullying, phishing scams, privacy concerns and data mining. And, while the majority of teens today are willing to take breaks from social media, they're also mostly split on whether they could give up social media altogether.

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