As Netflix, Disney, and Apple duke it out for streaming supremacy, another platform is quietly amassing its own powerful stable of original content. Sony Pictures Television Network Chief Digital Officer and Crackle GM Eric Berger joins Cheddar to discuss standing out in the very crowded content landscape. Unlike many of its competitors, Crackle uses a free ad-supported model instead of a subscription plan.
Berger explains what Crackle calls its "connectors" demographic. The company's target audience consists of the intersection between gamers and streaming audiences. He says he greenlights content based on what will resonate most with those viewers.
The streaming world might be in store for quite the shakeup if Disney moves ahead with its planned content platform. Berger says it's too soon to tell what kind of effect the Disney/Fox deal will have on the streaming landscape. He says that any added attention and discussion surrounding digital programming is a good thing for the industry.
Oracle soars as it cashes in on the AI boom, Plus: Starbucks shares continue to fall under its new CEO, and does anybody actually want a new iPhone Air?
Swedish buy now, pay later company Klarna is making its highly anticipated public debut on the New York Stock Exchange Wednesday, the latest in a run of high-profile initial public offerings this year. The offering priced at $40 Tuesday, above the forecasted range of $35 to $37 a share, valuing the company at more than $15 billion. The valuation easily makes Klarna one of the biggest IPOs so far in 2025, which has been one of the busier years for companies going public. Other popular IPOs so far this year include the design software company Figma and Circle Internet Group, which issues the USDC stablecoin..
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison wrested the title of the world’s richest man from longtime holder Elon Musk early Wednesday as stock in his software giant rocketed more than a third in a stunning few minutes of trading. That is according to wealth tracker Bloomberg. A college dropout, the 81-year-old Ellison is now worth $393 billion, Bloomberg says, several billion more than Musk, who had been the world’s richest for four years. The switch in the ranking came after a blockbuster earnings report from Oracle. Forbes still has Musk as the richest, however, valuing his private businesses much higher.
