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.
BLOOMIN' BOOMING
Stock of Bloomin' Brands jumped on Friday when activist investor Starboard Value acquired a 10 percent stake in the company. Bloomin' Brands, the parent company of chains like Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, and Bonefish Grill, hit a profit in Q2, and investors are clearly interested in what Starboard has to offer. Previously it helped overhaul Papa Johns and Darden Restaurants, which owns Olive Garden, among other brands. Bloomin' Brands ended the week up 11 percent.
WEWORK REVERSE STOCK SPLIT
Last week we told you WeWork is again on the brink of bankruptcy. This Friday the company announced it will do a 1-for-40 reverse stock split after the New York Stock Exchange issued a notice on its low trading. The stock had an average close below a dollar over a 30-day stretch. WeWork stock closed the week down 38 percent.
NEW PAYPAL CEO
On Monday, PayPal announced its new president and CEO. Alex Chriss of Intuit will join the board in September and will take over the digital payments giant at the end of the year after CEO Dan Schuman retires. PayPal ends the week down 4 percent.
AUTO WORKERS VOTE
Next week nearly 150,000 auto workers will vote on whether to authorize a strike. United Auto Workers is pushing to negotiate a new contract with automakers, but the union says it's slow-going with less than a month before the current deals with GM, Ford and Stellanis expire.
COINBASE CRYPTO FUTURES
Coinbase says it has received the go-ahead to trade crypto futures. Earlier this summer, it was sued by the SEC, which alleged it was operating like an unregistered securities exchange. Now Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the U.S., says it has approval from the National Futures Association that will bring it into compliance. It was good news for investors; Coinbase stock shot up after the announcement on Wednesday, but still ended the week down 8 percent. Of course this news comes during a week when the granddaddy of all crypto, Bitcoin, hit the skids, losing 10 percent with a valuation of $26,185.90 for a single bitcoin by the close of the week.
Wealthfront’s CFO Alan Iberman talks the $2.05B IPO and the major moment for robo banking as the company bets on AI, automation, and “self-driving money."
A rare magnum of Dom Pérignon Vintage 1961 champagne that was specially produced for the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana has failed to sell during an auction. Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen handled the bidding Thursday. The auction's house website lists the bottle as not sold. It was expected to fetch up to around $93,000. It is one of 12 bottles made to celebrate the royal wedding. Little was revealed about the seller. The auction house says the bids did not receive the desired minimum price.
The New York Times and President Donald Trump are fighting again. The news outlet said Wednesday it won't be deterred by Trump's “false and inflammatory language” from writing about the 79-year-old president's health. The Times has done a handful of stories on that topic recently, including an opinion column that said Trump is “starting to give President Joe Biden vibes.” In a Truth Social post, Trump said it might be treasonous for outlets like the Times to do “FAKE” reports about his health and "we should do something about it.” The Republican president already has a pending lawsuit against the newspaper for its past reports on his finances.
OpenAI has appointed Slack CEO Denise Dresser as its first chief of revenue. Dresser will oversee global revenue strategy and help businesses integrate AI into daily operations. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently emphasized improving ChatGPT, which now has over 800 million weekly users. Despite its success, OpenAI faces competition from companies like Google and concerns about profitability. The company earns money from premium ChatGPT subscriptions but hasn't ventured into advertising. Altman had recently announced delays in developing new products like AI agents and a personal assistant.
President Donald Trump says he will allow Nvidia to sell its H200 computer chip used in the development of artificial intelligence to “approved customers” in China. Trump said Monday on his social media site that he had informed China’s leader Xi Jinping and “President Xi responded positively!” There had been concerns about allowing advanced computer chips into China as it could help them to compete against the U.S. in building out AI capabilities. But there has also been a desire to develop the AI ecosystem with American companies such as chipmaker Nvidia.
