The wait is over for Taylor Swift fans. Tickets for T-Swift's "Reputation" stadium tour are officially on sale, and Ticketmaster is helping her fight the fraud bots. Together, the pair created an exclusive program called "Taylor Swift Tix". Amy Howe, COO at Ticketmaster joined us to discuss how it not only helps the company and the artist, but also the fans.
One problem plaguing the ticket industry is scalpers and fraudulent bots. The goal of the exclusive program is to ensure tickets get directly into the hands of fans. Ticketmaster issued a warning about unofficial sellers who offer to sell tickets before they even have them.
Howe also touched on Ticketmaster's collaboration with the NFL. With the NFL playoffs around the corner, Ticketmaster is working to make sure fans get access to tickets using its 100% Verified Tickets platform, which ensures the ticket is real. The deal also marks a transition to the first fully digital ticketing system in sports.
Boeing shares saw a pullback after a 737-800 aircraft with 132 people on board nosedived mid-flight, crashing into the mountains of Southern China. China's Eastern Airlines plane was not a 737-Max model, which was grounded worldwide after two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, but it's once again raising questions about the safety of Boeing's aircraft. Michael Boyd, CEO of Boyd Group International, gave Opening Bell his take on what another crash means for Boeing.
HSBC announced that it is buying a plot of virtual land in decentralized gaming virtual world The Sandbox. Mathieu Nouzareth, U.S CEO of The Sandbox, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he elaborates on what his platform is providing to HSBC and how his company is helping companies across different sectors embrace Web3.
Deepwell Digital Therapeutics is a game development company looking to transform the way we look at video games — this time to improve health outcomes. Its goal is to create software to aid those who deal with conditions such as depression and ADHD. Company co-founder and co-CEO Ryan Douglas and co-founder Kate Edwards joined Cheddar News to talk about the technology is being used to help patients. "From a research perspective, the game industry itself has been well aware for many, many years of the kind of inherent, kind of anecdotal therapeutic value of playing games," said Edwards.
Allego, a European electric vehicle charging company, is officially public. With charging stations in 16 European countries and counting, Allego will play a strong supporting role in Europe's transition to clean energy, as its stations pull exclusively from renewable sources. Mathieu Bonnet, CEO of Allego, spoke with Cheddar's Opening Bell about its recent listing, the future of the EV industry, and what the Russia-Ukraine war means for the adoption of electric vehicles.
