*By Britt Terrell*
Streaming platforms are in a war for top talent, and Apple just won the latest battle with a multi-year original content deal with Oprah Winfrey. It remains to be seen, though, whether the company can compete with streaming heavyweights like Netflix.
"The Oprah deal is said to be part of a $1 billion original programming push, but that's about the same amount that Netflix is increasing its original programming spending per year at the moment," said Mike Brown, innovation reporter at Inverse. Apple does have some advantages. It has over a billion devices in the market, but Netflix is already outspending."
Netflix recently inked a $300 million deal with producer Ryan Murphy, the man behind hits like *Glee*, *The People vs. O.J. Simpson*, *American Horror Story*, to create original content. It also signed the Obamas for an undisclosed amount.
"Getting these big names board shows that Apple and Netflix are serious about taking on the established players in this field," said Brown. "If they can get those big names on-board that is absolutely a huge benefit for them."
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/oprahs-big-bite-out-of-apple).
Wall Street is shaky Thursday as investors consider both the upsides and downsides of the latest signals that the U.S. economy remains in much better shape than feared.
Threatened by possible shortages of lithium for electric car batteries, automakers are racing to lock in supplies of the once-obscure “white gold” in a politically and environmentally fraught competition from China to Nevada to Chile.
The number of different electronic cigarette devices sold in the U.S. has nearly tripled to over 9,000 since 2020, driven almost entirely by a wave of unauthorized disposable vapes from China, according to tightly controlled sales data obtained by The Associated Press.
In Wednesday's business headlines, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is due in court to defend the company's takeover of Activision Blizzard and United Airlines is under fire over its recent cancellations with CEO Scott Kirby blaming the FAA for the disruptions. Meanwhile, a judge approved Overstock's purchase of Bed Bath & Beyond assets.
