Activist Investors Call on Apple to Address Youth Phone Addiction
Apple under fire after two Apple investors urged the company to step up and play a bigger role in managing smartphone overuse and addiction. David Benoit, Activism Reporter at The Wall Street Journal, was with us to discuss why Jana Partners has decided to push Apple to develop tools and research the effects of smartphone overuse by young people.
Benoit says the investors aren’t saying its necessarily Apple’s responsibility to monitor phone usage. Instead, he thinks they believe that Apple could play an important role in acknowledging that they aren’t sure what the impact of all this phone usage will be, but could score points by giving parents the option to monitor usage.
Activist investors typically focus on things like buybacks and acquisitions. Benoit says this move by Jana Partners to take a stance on corporate responsibility is very different. He thinks following Jana's advice could help protect Apple from potential backlash on teen iPhone usage. In addition, Benoit says goodwill could help drive future sales if consumers feel Apple made a phone that is safe for kids.
Pepsi’s 10-year contract with the NFL to sponsor the Super Bowl Half Time Show has come to an end and the rights are now up for grabs, leaving football fans to wonder what competitor or a wild card will jump in to take the food and beverage giant's place. However, PepsiCo will still have pour rights at all of the NFL major events.
CEO Anthony Zhang of Vinovest, a platform for investing in bottles of fine wine, joined Cheddar News to discuss how his company is bringing this unique opportunity to investors. “Just to be clear, these aren't the typical bottles of wine that you're finding at your local grocery store or Trader Joe's," he said. "These are really considered bottles that are collectible, age-worthy, and have a track regular of appreciating over time on the secondary market.”
Judith Enck, a former regional administrator for the EPA and the president of Beyond Plastics, joined Cheddar News to talk about the role of plastics in the climate crisis and California's investigation of ExxonMobil and other oil companies for misleading the public on the ability to recycle plastics. "The reason why petrochemical companies like Exxon have gotten away with selling more and more plastic is that they've lied to the public and told us don't worry about all those negative upstream impacts and downstream impacts of plastics. Just be sure to recycle it. Well, guess what? Plastics largely are not recycled," Enck said.
Apple warned of a potential $8 billion future sales hit due to supply issues, but Dan Ives, the managing director of equity research at Wedbush Securities, noted that the record quarterly report the tech giant posted shows demand remains high for Apple products and services. Ives joined Cheddar to explain why investors should look past the warning. "In these types of markets where many are yelling fire in a crowded theater, you look at the demand trends because that continues to be the focus for Apple," he said "I think you combine that with the services. I view it as a defensive name. It's a Rock of Gibraltar stock in a Category 5 storm as well as also an offensive play as I believe we start to move out of some of these just brutal headwinds that we've been seeing in the market once the Fed rips the band-aid off."
Neutral Foods is touting itself as the first carbon-neutral food producer starting with its cow's milk. Neutral Foods CEO Marcus Lovell Smith and founder of Darco Capital David Adelman joined Cheddar News to talk about their efforts in trying to address the climate anxiety being felt by many American consumers who still buy dairy. "You know, 93 percent of American households still have milk in the refrigerator, normal, ordinary milk. So we're meeting Americans where they are," said Smith.
The Week's Top Stories is a guided tour through the biggest market stories of the week, from winning stocks to brutal dips to the facts and forecasts generating buzz on Wall Street.
Brian Stewart, the U.S. brand ambassador for Belvedere Vodka, joined Cheddar News to show off the cocktail called the Belvedere Raspberry Circuit to pair with the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix, a race getting underway for the very first time on May 8. “I wanted this drink to be very approachable, but I also wanted to drink to be as luxurious and exciting as the race itself," he said.
The ongoing war in Ukraine and the Fed's hawkish stance toward reining in inflation might be causing a frenzy among investors. Craig Erlam, a senior market analyst at foreign exchange OANDA, joined Cheddar News to talk about the current "mixed bag" markets. "It's hard to read too much into it. These are just the market conditions we have right now," he said. "Ultimately we're a little directionless at times overall, but these intraday moves are causing a lot of volatility this week."
