The indictment of 13 Russians for interfering with the Presidential election has intensified the pressure put on Facebook, which uncovered about three-thousand Russian-linked ads on its platforms before and after November 2016. Cheddar Senior Reporter, Alex Heath, breaks down the the latest developments.
Facebook's Vice President for ads, Rob Goldman, tweeted about Russia's disinformation effort. President Trump then cited him. Facebook did not intend for Goldman’s tweets to be quoted by Trump. They thought the tweets would only be seen by a contextually-aware audience of techies and media types who follow Goldman.
Heath believes that the tweeting from Goldman and other execs is part of a carefully orchestrated PR campaign by Facebook to make itself appear more transparent and relate-able through engaged spokespeople on Twitter.
Junta Nakai, global head of business development at fintech company Selerity, says automation in the financial industry has so far been primarily used by the consumer. But his technology will fundamentally change the way traders and financial analysts work.
The speaker maker acknowledged in its IPO filings that one risk to its business could be that partners like Amazon and Google could end their deals at any time. But on the day of the company's market debut, Sonos VP of Finance and Investor Relations Mike Groeninger says his company provides a "winning formula" and he's not worried. Sonos stock opened at $16 a share, above the IPO price, but below its expected range.
Mark Spiegel, managing member of Stanphyl Capital, says Tesla's second quarter was "just horrible," citing the electric carmaker's greater-than-expected loss, its cash-flow deficit and low demand for its Model 3 vehicle. Still, Spiegel says Tesla's current quarter could be the company's best ever, it just won't be as good as CEO Elon Musk says it will be.
Speaker maker Sonos went public Thursday, putting up almost 14 million shares for sale. Rob Marvin, associate features editor at PC Mag, breaks down what sort of competition and challenges the company will face moving forward.
These are the headlines you Need2Know for Thursday.
Tesla posted a bigger than expected loss, but CEO Elon Musk promises that by next quarter, the electric carmaker will turn a profit. Musk also apologized for his rude behavior during the first quarter earnings call, and investors seemed to accept his apology, as shared jumped after his comments.
Citibank is exploring various crypto products that it could offer retail customers, Cheddar has learned. Juliana Berger, a senior vice president of product in Citi’s mobile bank division, is overseeing the secretive initiative.
Mike Sievert, President and COO of T-Mobile U.S., joins Cheddar after the company's earnings report. He says that if the proposed merger with Sprint goes through, the combined companies will have seven times the wireless capacity they do individually and could actually increase competition in the field.
The electric automaker said most factories would hit a run rate of 10,000 of the mass-market vehicles a week by the end of the year, suggesting the company could be on the path to achieving profitability. The company did still report a wider loss than expected for the current quarter, but it said it burned through less cash than in the first quarter.
Ed Sclater and Farhad Farahbakhshian, co-founders of Naked Labs, sat down with Cheddar on Wednesday to discuss the company's latest $14 million in Series A funding and the launch of its newest product, the industry's first at-home body scanner.
