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☆ Novavax shares jump after Covid vaccine maker posts surprise quarterly profit
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Shares of Novavax jumped as much as 20% in premarket trading Tuesday after the Covid vaccine maker reported a surprise second-quarter profit. Here's what Novavax reported compared with Wall Street's expectations, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv. That compares with a net loss of $510.5 million, or $6.53 per share, reported during the same quarter last year. But Jacobs noted that the adjustment reflects part of a cash settlement the Canadian government agreed to pay for forfeiting Covid vaccine doses that were previously scheduled for delivery. The company reported R&D expenses of $258 million and SG&A expenses of $162 million last year.

Persons: Novavax, John Jacobs, Jacobs, We're, it's Organizations: Refinitiv, CNBC, and Drug Administration Locations: Krakow, Poland

☆ iPhone maker Foxconn to invest $600 million into phone and chip project in India
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Foxconn will invest more than $600 million in India as part of a phone manufacturing project and separately a semiconductor equipment facility, according to the government of the state of Karnataka. The phone project will create employment opportunities for 12,000 people, Patil said, while the semiconductor facility will generate employment for 1,000 people. Foxconn has also, with little success so far, tried to enter the semiconductor manufacturing area. Applied Materials was not immediately available for comment. Modi attended a semiconductor event in India last week, at which senior executives from big U.S. chip firms including Applied Materials and AMD were present.

Persons: Foxconn, B Patil, Patil, Narendra Modi, Modi, Young Liu Organizations: Materials, Vedanta, CNBC, Applied Materials, AMD Locations: Krakow, Poland, India, Karnataka, U.S, China

☆ Netflix gets rid of cheapest basic ad-free option in the U.S., U.K.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Netflix has gotten rid of its cheapest commercial-free plan in the U.S. and the U.K., in a push to get more sign-ups for its recently launched ad-supported option. The move leaves Netflix's standard with ads plan, which is priced at $6.99 a month, as its cheapest option. During last quarter's earnings call, Netflix Chief Financial Officer Spencer Neumann said the "economics" of its ad-supported plan were higher than the basic plan. "It's actually even higher than our standard plan," he said during the call, adding that advertising was incremental to both its revenue and profit. Similarly, Disney CEO Bob Iger has said the company is leaning into its ad-supported streaming option to get to profitability.

Persons: Spencer Neumann, It's, Reed Hastings, Ted Sarandos, Bob Iger Organizations: Netflix, Disney Locations: Krakow, Poland, U.S

☆ Covid vaccine maker Novavax sees a pathway to survival – but it won’t be easy
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

Jakub Porzycki | NurPhoto | Getty ImagesNovavax has a clear message for Wall Street: The cash-strapped Covid vaccine maker sees a pathway to survival. The 36-year-old company will continue to rely on its protein-based Covid vaccine – its only commercially available product – for most of its revenue this year. Once the U.S. government's supply of free Covid vaccines runs out, all three companies will sell updated shots directly to health-care providers. A health worker prepares a dose of the Novavax vaccine as the Dutch Health Service Organization starts with the Novavax vaccination program on March 21, 2022 in The Hague, Netherlands. But Taylor emphasized that the plan will help Novavax refocus on its top priority: delivering an updated vaccine in the coming months.

Persons: Jakub Porzycki, Novavax, Covid, Cowen, Brendan Smith, John Jacobs, Smith, that's, Silvia Taylor, Taylor, Jefferies, Roger Song, Patrick Van Katwijk, Mayank Mamtani, let's, Mamtani, Let's, Song, Ding Genhou Organizations: NurPhoto, Getty, Pfizer, Moderna, CNBC, Food and Drug Administration, World Health Organization, FDA, Dutch Health Service Organization, Riley Securities, U.S, Centers for Disease Control, CDC, Reuters, Visual China Locations: Krakow, Poland, Maryland, U.S, The Hague, Netherlands, Moderna, Geneva, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China

☆ Netflix subscriptions rise as password-sharing crackdown takes effect
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The Netflix crackdown on password sharing is in its early days in the U.S., but it appears to be having the effect the streamer was looking for – a boost to its subscriber base. In 2022, Netflix began to see subscriber growth stagnate, and, like other media companies, it began homing in on ways to make boost revenue. In addition to cracking down on password sharing, Netflix also introduced a cheaper, ad-supported tier. Netflix began rolling out password-sharing guidance in international markets earlier this year. It had delayed its crackdown on password sharing in the U.S. from the first quarter to the second quarter.

Organizations: Netflix Locations: Krakow, Poland, U.S, lockdowns

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Netflix, Tesla, Coinbase, GameStop and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Brian Evans | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Check out the companies making headlines in premarket trading. GameStop — The meme stock added 2.4% premarket ahead of quarterly results on Wednesday. Petrobras — The Brazilian oil giant rose 2% in premarket trading after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to overweight from equal weight. NovoCure — The oncology company added 3.2% before the opening bell. Yext — The online marketing firm soared more than 17% in premarket trading on better-than-expected quarterly results.

Persons: Morgan Stanley, Coinbase, Wood, NovoCure, Yext, CNBC's Hakyung Kim, Jesse Pound, Yun Li Organizations: Netflix, JPMorgan, GameStop, FactSet, Petrobras —, SEC, of Clinical Locations: Krakow, Poland, premarket

☆ Wagner Group chief appears to escalate Kremlin feud by sitting in front of Ukraine's flag colors and praising the nation's fighting spirit
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Wagner Group's chief criticized Russia for concealing the truth about Ukraine's fighting abilities. In a video, Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared sitting in front of large mats in the colors of Ukraine's flag. The out-spoken mercenary group's leader has been publicly feuding with Russia's military leadership. In a video address, Yevgeny Prigozhin criticized the Russian establishment for not telling the country's citizens the truth about the "very difficult" situation in Ukraine. Behind him, large blue and yellow floor mats appear to be placed in a way that resembles Ukraine's flag.

Persons: Wagner Group's, Yevgeny Prigozhin, —, Russia's, Wagner, Anton Gerashchenko, Prigozhin, Gerashchenko, Beata Zawrzel, Vladimir Putin, Putin Organizations: Service, Ukrainian, Twitter, Getty Locations: Russia, Ukraine, Krakow, Poland

☆ Elon Musk's brain implant company Neuralink announces FDA approval of in-human clinical study
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Neuralink, the neurotech startup co-founded by Elon Musk, announced Thursday it has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration to conduct its first in-human clinical study. A BCI is a system that deciphers brain signals and translates them into commands for external technologies. But receiving FDA approval for a commercial medical device is no small task — it requires companies to successfully conduct several extremely thorough rounds of testing and data safety collection. But by receiving the go-ahead for a study with human patients, Neuralink is one step closer to market. The FDA's approval for an in-human study is a significant win for Neuralink after a series of recent hurdles at the company.

☆ Netflix password-sharing crackdown rolls out in the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The streaming service said it began alerting members on Tuesday about its new sharing policy, noting that Netflix accounts are only to be shared within a single household. Netflix 's crackdown on password sharing has come to the U.S.Netflix warned it would be tightening its guidelines on password sharing in a push to boost revenue and subscriber numbers, soon after the company began seeing growth stagnate. On Netflix's subscription plans page , it notes that extra members can be added to its standard and premium plans without ads. Earlier this year, Netflix outlined password-sharing guidance in four other countries: New Zealand, Canada, Portugal and Spain. In addition to its crackdown on password sharing, Netflix also recently introduced a cheaper, ad-supported tier in an effort to boost revenue.

☆ Gilead Sciences battles U.S. government in court over HIV prevention patent
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The U.S. is trying to enforce four patents issued to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on a two-drug regimen known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP for short. The government accuses Gilead of reaping billions of dollars in PrEP sales without paying royalties to the CDC. Gilead has rejected U.S. allegations that the company's sales of its PrEP oral medications, Truvada and Descovy, infringe on any CDC patents. "Indeed, Gilead has reaped billions from PrEP through the sale of Truvada and Descovy, but has not paid any royalties to CDC." Gilead rejects CDC claims that agency scientists developed the the PrEP regimen.

☆ Eli Lilly misses on earnings but raises full-year guidance
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Eli Lilly 's first-quarter earnings missed expectations Thursday, but the pharmaceutical company raised its full-year guidance. Lilly reported $6.96 billion in revenue for the quarter, which slightly topped analysts' expectations, but sales declined from $7.81 billion in the prior-year quarter. The company reported adjusted earnings of $1.62 per share, which missed analyst expectations of $1.73 a share for the quarter. Eli Lilly raised its guidance for the year due in large part to the U.S. dollar weakening against major currencies. It said it expects revenue of between $31.2 billion to $31.7 billion, compared to its previous projections of $30.3 billion to $30.8 billion.

☆ McDonald's earnings beat estimates as U.S. traffic grows despite price hikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-25 | by ( Amelia Lucas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

All three of its divisions reported same-store sales growth of 12.6%. In its home market, higher menu prices and increased traffic fueled same-store sales growth, which topped StreetAccount estimates of 7.9%. McDonald's U.S. traffic rose for the third consecutive quarter, bucking the industry trend of slipping traffic as menu prices rise. Its international operated markets, which include the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Australia, beat StreetAccount estimates of 8.5% same-store sales growth. Its international developmental licensed markets segment, which includes China and Japan, topped same-store sales expectations of 10.5%.

☆ Twitter drops labels for President Joe Biden, state-affiliated and government-funded media
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Rohan Goswami | In Rohangoswamicnbc | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Official Twitter account of Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, is displayed on a mobile phone screen photographed for the illustration photo. Elon Musk-owned Twitter has quietly dropped labeling that identified state-affiliated and government-funded accounts for officials and media outlets, including designations used to identify President Joe Biden's account as authentic. The shift on Friday also saw the removal of controversial labels added to media accounts earlier this month. Musk's Twitter had marked the accounts of several media outlets, including NPR, the BBC and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., as "state-affiliated." The BBC is funded by a nationally imposed TV license but doesn't meet the conventional definition of "state-affiliated media."

☆ Japan government weighs A.I. adoption as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman visits Prime Minister Fumio Kishida
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

OpenAI logo displayed on a phone screen and ChatGPT website displayed on a laptop screen are seen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on December 5, 2022. Japan will consider government adoption of artificial intelligence technology such as OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot if privacy and cybersecurity concerns are resolved, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Monday. The remarks from Matsuno, the top government spokesperson, came shortly before Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, met Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a visit to Japan, where Altman said his company is "looking at opening an office." "We hope to ... build something great for Japanese people, make the models better for Japanese language and Japanese culture," Altman told reporters following his meeting with Kishida. Asked about Italy's temporary ban on ChatGPT — developed by Microsoft backed OpenAI — Matsuno told a regular news conference that Japan is aware of other countries' actions.

☆ Eli Lilly says experimental Alzheimer's drug reduces brain plaque in early study
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Eli Lilly 's experimental Alzheimer's drug lowered levels of brain plaque in patients who are in the earliest stages of the devastating disease, initial data shows. Researchers have argued that accumulation of amyloid plaque is a crucial first step toward the cognitive decline observed in Alzheimer's disease. The early data comes as Eli Lilly continues its decades-long bid to bring an Alzheimer's drug to the market. Eli Lilly found the drug caused a "rapid and robust" clearance of amyloid plaque, the presentation said. But Tewari said it's unclear if clearing amyloid plaque will lead to clinical benefits like a reduction in cognitive decline.

☆ An Indian tour company is launching the 'world's longest bus trip' that travels to 22 countries over 56 days. A ticket costs $24,350.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Brittany Chang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

From there, the bus and its passengers will pass through five time zones and cities like Sofia, Bulgaria; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Krakow, Poland; and Copenhagen, Denmark before arriving in London. In 2021, Danish parliament passed a law, sometimes known as the "Blackstone Law," which prevented new landlords from raising the rents for five years, according to a new report from The Guardian. Alexander Spatari/Getty Images

[1/7] A woman prays as she participates in a march, in defense of pope John Paul II on his death anniversary in Warsaw, Poland, April 2, 2023. REUTERS/Kacper PempelWARSAW, April 2 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Poles marched through Warsaw and other cities in Poland on Sunday to mark the anniversary of the death of John Paul II 18 years ago, as allegations the late pope concealed child abuse deepen rifts in the predominantly Catholic country. "John Paul II had done nothing wrong. Earlier in the day, workers of the state-owned railway company PKP gave out cream pies favoured by the late pope to train travelers heading to Warsaw. The Polish Catholic church urged Poles to respect the late pope's memory, saying a review of its archives did not confirm the accusations against the church hierarchy, adding that some files could be opened in future.

☆ Netflix's expected password-sharing crackdown puts college students on edge
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Noah Sheidlower | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Sam Figiel, a sophomore at Mercer University in Georgia, said access to Netflix is required for many of his peers' classes. Yet the gradual password-sharing changes have created uncertainty for college students who might not have, or want to spend, disposable income for their own subscriptions. People in the 18-to-34 age group, which accounts for 30% of all Netflix users, are more likely to exchange passwords than older viewers. "There are a lot, lot, lot of U.S. users that are not paying for it, and so I think they're very sensitive to the backlash that they're going to get when they institute this," Nollen said. Staying or leavingEven if the cost of a subscription could rise for borrowers, some college students think Netflix is too important to give up.

☆ A single mother escaped Kyiv with her 5-year-old at the onset of the Russian invasion. She is one of 8 million refugees who can only dream of returning home.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Kseniya Kharchenko and her then 5-year-old son fled Kyiv a day after the start of the invasion. And yet, Before the war, her ex-husband had called her paranoid over her fears of an invasion — Kharchenko said she was waiting for the war to begin for months. "I was so frightened, I really was," Kharchenko told Insider, thinking about how she and her son would survive. The act of protecting her son's life, Kharchenko told Insider, brings her strength and gives her purpose when she feels overwhelmed by the events of the last year. I have a fantasy," Kharchenko told Insider.

☆ Netflix starts cracking down on password sharing in four countries
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Rebecca Picciotto | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Netflix sign in page displayed on a laptop sscreen and Netflix logo displayed on a phone screen are seen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on January 2, 2023. Netflix on Wednesday outlined its long-awaited password-sharing guidelines, starting first with users in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain, marking the latest step in the company's telegraphed crackdown. The streaming company said users in those countries will be asked to set a "primary location" for their Netflix accounts and will be allowed two "sub accounts" for users who don't live in that home-base household. Netflix said it plans to revisit and refine the new account management page based on user feedback. The company announced last fall that it would limit password sharing with the stalling of subscriber growth in its U.S.-Canada region.

☆ All you need to know about ChatGPT, the A.I. chatbot that's got the world talking and tech giants clashing
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

ChatGPT is an AI chatbot developed by San Francisco-based startup OpenAI. These are tools that allow users to enter written prompts and receive new human-like text or images and videos generated by the AI. With a whopping 175 billion parameters, GPT-3 is one of the largest and most powerful language processing AI models to date. watch nowWhat makes ChatGPT so impressive is its ability to produce human-like responses, thanks in no small part to the vast amounts of data it is trained on. No generative AI application has quite managed to achieve the kind of influence and virality that ChatGPT has.

☆ ChatGPT's 'jailbreak' tries to make the AI break its own rules, or die
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Now users have found a way to tap into its dark side, using coercive methods to force the AI to violate its own rules and provide users the content — whatever content — they want. ChatGPT creator OpenAI instituted an evolving set of safeguards, limiting ChatGPT's ability to create violent content, encourage illegal activity, or access up-to-date information. But a new "jailbreak" trick allows users to skirt those rules by creating a ChatGPT alter ego named DAN that can answer some of those queries. DAN 5.0's prompt tries to make ChatGPT break its own rules, or die. The DAN prompts cause ChatGPT to provide two responses: One as GPT and another as its unfettered, user-created alter ego, DAN.

☆ Elon Musk says Twitter ‘trending to breakeven’ after near bankruptcy
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk Twitter account displayed on a phone screen and Twitter logo displayed on a screen in the background are seen in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on November 22, 2022. Twitter CEO Elon Musk said Sunday that the last few months have been "extremely tough," but the social media company is "now trending to breakeven." "Twitter still has challenges, but it is now trending to breakeven if we keep at it. Twitter launched — and relaunched — its updated Twitter Blue subscription service in December after Musk had pulled and delayed the service in November. "I'm worried about me too," Musk wrote in response.

☆ Twitter will start charging developers for API access as Elon Musk seeks to improve monetization
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The microblogging site, which was taken over by Elon Musk last October, said that from Feb. 9 it would "no longer support free access to the Twitter API." Third-party services using the Twitter API will have to use its basic paid tier instead, the company said. APIs are software tools used by third-party developers to access data from applications and use it to make new services. The Twitter API is also used by the newsgathering service Dataminr to alert journalists to information that emerges on Twitter in real time. Under his rein, Twitter laid off roughly half of its global workforce and incorporated the verification badge into its paid Twitter Blue subscription product.

☆ Stocks making the biggest moves after hours: Snap, Electronic Arts, Advanced Micro Devices and more
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Carmen Reinicke | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Snap – Shares of social media company Snap sank 14% after the company reported quarterly revenue that was lower than Wall Street expected. Analysts expected $0.11 in adjusted earnings on $1.31 billion in revenue, per Refinitiv. Electronic Arts – Shares of entertainment company Electronic Arts shed 6.7% after the company reported $2.34 billion in revenue, less than the $2.51 billion analysts expected, per Refinitiv. Advanced Micro Devices – Shares of AMD rose 3% after the company reported earnings that beat Wall Street's sales and profit expectations. The chipmaker had adjusted earnings per share of $0.69 on $5.6 billion in revenue where analysts expected $0.67 per share adjusted and $5.5 billion in revenue, according to Refinitiv.

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