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.
Primit Parikh, Founder and COO of Transphorm, discusses how his company's utilization of gallium nitride semiconductors will prove to be a difference-maker in various sectors ranging from EVs to 5G.
Gino LoPinto, Operating Partner at E11EVEN Partners, discusses what E11EVEN Residences Beyond will have in store for potential buyers, and says his company has seen great success accepting crypto at both the E11EVEN Hotel & Residences and the E11EVEN nightclub so far.
Veho bills itself as a next-day parcel delivery platform.
The startup recently announced a $170 million Series B round led by Tiger Global. Veho has a focus on last-mile delivery, which deals with getting packages from fulfillment centers to a customer's door. The company says it partners with e-commerce brands to provide them with a tech-forward and customer-centric delivery option. Itamar Zur, co-founder and CEO of Veho, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent the stock markets into a frenzy for the end of the week. Managing Director of Equity Research at Wedbush Securities, Dan Ives joined Cheddar News to discuss the shifts he expects for the stock market going forward. "It's going to be volatile. Put on the seat belts. I think we'll look back six, nine months. This was an opportunity, not the time to sell, especially some of the high quality names within tech — Microsoft, Apple leading the charge," he said.
Even amid the Great Resignation, the cannabis industry saw major job growth. As of January 2022, the legal industry supported more than 428,000 jobs — a 33 percent increase year-over-year, according to the sixth annual jobs report from Leafly, a website focused on cannabis use and education. Yoko Miyashita, CEO of Leafly, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss. “You know we've got big moments coming ahead in New Jersey and New York with adult-use sales starting in New Jersey, hopefully by this fall, with New York quickly to follow," she said. "So we're hugely optimistic about the kind of job growth that those markets can drive with the right type of market setup.
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
Theaters needed new releases to fill seats, and unfortunately for them, the supply of movies is entirely out of their control. Cheddar's Alex Vuocolo takes a deeper look.
