Hey Gotraders,
Chinese tech giant Alibaba (BABA) has Metaverse ambitions. That’s right. Everyone is talkin’ bout the Metaverse, and they want a piece of the action.
They led a $60 million funding round into a company called Nreal - an augmented reality glasses maker.
Hang on a sec, what exactly is the Metaverse? The Metaverse is most simply defined as the virtual world where people can socialize, work, and play. Meta-Facebook’s (FB) CEO, Mark Zuckerberg believes that it is the future of the internet and of his multi-billion-dollar company. He even went to the extent of renaming his company from Facebook to Meta Platforms to reflect this.
How do people meet in the Metaverse? By using virtual and augmented reality headsets, which impose digital images over the real world. Yeahhh, that’s some super cool futuristic technology right there!
Ok, back to Alibaba. The $60 million investment into Nreal will be used for research & development, to accelerate its global expansion, as well as to strengthen relationships with its partners & developers.
Nreal has a lot of high-profile investors such as Nio Capital, the investment arm of electric carmaker Nio (NIO), venture capital firm Sequoia Capital China, short video platform Kuaishou as well as streaming service iQiyi (IQ).
Why is this important? This is really exciting news, as this investment opens up a lot of possibilities for Alibaba in the Metaverse space.
It’s interesting to note that Nreal and Nio will be developing AR glasses for electric vehicles. So… Alibaba’s investment in the company could very possibly hint at a potential collaboration between the 2 companies going forward. Alibaba had previously announced plans to launch augmented reality glasses for virtual meetings this year. Hmmm…
Exciting times!
Shares of Alibaba closed at $116.71, up 1.41% for the day.
📈 Sony launches new PlayStation Plus subscription model 🎮
Hey, Microsoft (MSFT)! Sony (SONY) is here to take ya on!
What do I mean by this? Well, Microsoft already had a gaming subscription service called Xbox Game Pass. Sony has announced that it will be launching a new and improved version of its gaming subscription service. They will be bundling its existing PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now services into one single subscription service called PlayStation Plus, which will be launched this summer. They should’ve updated the name of their subscription service? (in my opinion)
Oh well… There will be 3 different tiers of subscription plans for consumers to choose from.
Is this important? YES! Sony’s PlayStation Plus will directly compete with Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass. Microsoft has spent a lot of money (over $70 billion) to acquire video game publishers Activision (ATVI) and Bethesda, just so they can integrate their games onto their platform.
Also, this subscription model will ensure recurring revenue for Sony. Cha-ching! 💰
Shares of Sony closed at $105.80, up 1.03% for the day.
📈 Micron shares are trading over 3% higher after earnings 💰
Micron Technology (MU) reported earnings after the bell yesterday, and they topped analysts’ estimates on both the top & bottom lines. They reported earnings of $2.14 per share on $7.79 billion revenue, while analysts were expecting earnings of $1.97 per share on $7.52 billion revenue. Well done, guys!
That’s not all, they also gave positive earnings & revenue guidance for its third quarter. Nice! It looks like investors are happy with their performance. Shares are trading up as a result.
Shares closed at $82.05. Shares are up 3.72% in extended trading at the time of writing.
Top movers & shakers 🎢
What else is making headline news 📰
Activist investor Ryan Cohen scores a $600 million gain on GameStop (GME) as the stock soars 50% in the space of a week.
S&P 500 exits correction: Here’s what history says happens next to U.S. stock-market benchmark.
Bill Ackman is done with activist short-selling, will focus on a quieter, long-term approach.
Carl Icahn is expanding his animal-welfare campaign to Kroger (KR), after first targeting McDonald’s (MCD).
Cathie Wood has been a magnet for criticism. She blames her contrarian views, not her gender.
Jim Cramer gives his take on what the latest Russia-Ukraine peace talks mean for the market.
Oil rebounds on tight supply, prospects of new Russia sanctions.
Facebook (FB) advertisers can pursue class action over ad rates.
Toyota (TM), Honda defy parts shortages in February global production.
Top analyst reports for Apple (AAPL), P&G (PNG), Chevron (CVX) & others.
Companies are spending more than ever buying their own stock. Joe Biden wants to put a stop to that.
FedEx (FDX) CEO says the company will make ‘an enormous effort’ toward AV trucks in June.
CDC recommends fourth Pfizer (PFE) and Moderna (MRNA) Covid vaccine doses for people aged 50 and older.
US stocks rise as Russia-Ukraine peace talks boost investor sentiment.
Popular companies releasing earnings this week 💰
Wednesday: Paychex (PAYX), Exelon (EXC), BioNTech (BNTX), UiPath (PATH), Five Below (FIVE), Braze (BRZE), Expensify (EXFY), Newegg (NEGG)
Thursday: Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), Blackberry (BB), Nano Dimension (NNDM)
A company’s market value may fluctuate considerably around the time that the earnings report is expected to be published. Stock prices may rise or fall according to analysts' speculative estimates, released prior to the actual earnings announcement.
The earnings season can be a time of great opportunity since better-than-expected figures could cause a company’s stock to greatly increase in value. Worse-than-expected results could have the opposite effect.
That’s all from us for now.
Signing out,
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The legal stuff 🤓
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