Why Acquiring Roku Could Solidify Facebook’s Video Strategy
Facebook has already begun digging into the TV space with Facebook Watch, so what might the social media company’s next move in video be?
Jesse Redniss, Chief Innovation Officer of Turner’s TBS and TNT networks, predicts the company might buy Roku.
“Facebook has been trying to be getting into the video space for quite sometime now,” he told Cheddar in a recent interview. “When you look at Facebook’s track record of growth, the acquisition of Insta, WhatsApp, Oculus. In some ways, in order for them to really scale into a marketplace, it’ll make a lot of sense for them to buy one of the leaders in a marketplace they want to get into.”
Roku shares fell steeply Friday after Goldman Sachs downgraded the stock, saying the streaming company is overvalued. Still, the company is trading well above its IPO price, and posted a 48 percent increase in active accounts in the third quarter, as well as a 58 percent increase in streaming hours.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/a-bold-prediction-on-why-facebook-would-acquire-roku).
One of Europe's leading micromobility providers, TIER mobility, is expanding into North America after acquiring the micromobility operator, Spin. Ford Motor Company previously owned Spin but is now selling the company to TIER Mobility, which says the deal will make it the largest multimodal micromobility operator in the world in terms of the number of cities it operates in and the number of vehicles in its fleet. Lawrence Leuschner, CEO of TIER Mobility, and Ben Bear, CEO of Spin, join Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Digital consulting company Publicis Sapient has its sights set on the Metaverse. The subsidiary of the French advertising giant Publicis Group is announcing a new partnership with NFT auction house Portion in an effor to help brands deliver experiences in the metaverse, including the sales of products. Publicis Sapient CEO Nigel Vaz joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss. "In the context of our collaboration with Portion, the first experience that we created was with Decentraland, which is a virtual world," he said. "And car manufacturers in this metaverse, in terms of their buyers, can interact with a virtual person, (and) they can view quality NFTs. They can examine a virtual vehicle, be inside the car, rev an engine, open doors, all without leaving their homes."
Identity and access management company ForgeRock looks to use pattern recognition and artificial intelligence to ease secure access for users as an alternative to just password management. CEO Fran Rosch joined Cheddar News to discuss how the company's services work. "I mean, who likes to set up and use a new password? And they're also really bad security because a lot of people repeat the same one and use it everywhere and use the simplest one possible," he said. "We're trying to really create a smarter better identity system where we can find different ways, smarter ways, of recognizing you as a user and giving you access to what you need by really eliminating the password altogether."
Ford announced today that it will be separating its electric vehicles business from its internal combustion engine vehicles in two divisions named Ford Model E and Ford Blue, respectively. Ford Motor Company CFO John Lawler joined Cheddar to discuss the decision-making behind the restructuring. "When you think about the expertise that Ford has in like body structural engineering, chassis engineering, manufacturing at scale, there isn't an EV startup company out there that wouldn't love to have our capabilities in that space," he said.
Amazon is confirming it’s closing all of its physical bookstores as well as its 4-star shops and pop up locations as the online behemoth reworks its physical footprint.
