Tech giants such as Facebook, Google and Twitter will once again face Congress this week to testify in the Russian election meddling investigation. Daniel Ives, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Technology Research at GBH Insights and Scott Kessler, Director of Equity Research and Analyst at CFRA join The Long and The Short to discuss which platform will be affected the most from this trial.
Facebook announced a new News Feed where "meaningful content" will take priority over "relevant content." Ives says that this change could actually be good for the company in the long term. He doesn't believe it will impact publishers or user growth as much as people are afraid it will. When it comes to testifying on Capitol Hill, Kessler believes Facebook will be on the defense and take a firm stance on defending its platform.
Plus, Twitter's stock spiked after Facebook announced it was changing its News Feed. Kessler thinks Twitter is the one company that hasn't answered questions from Congress regarding Russian meddling in the election. He talks about Twitter's long road to improve upon certain operations.
Simeon Hyman, Chief Investment Strategist at ProShares, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he explains why his firm launched the Proshares Metaverse ETF today and how this portfolio offers the opportunity for success both now and in the future.
Medical cannabis company Akanda went public this week in what was the first traditional IPO of the month. Shares jumped about 163% in the stock's first day of trading. The London-based company says it hopes to supply medical cannabis products to wholesalers in international markets. Tej Virk, CEO of Akanda, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Software company Akeneo CEO Fred De Gombert joined Closing Bell to discuss its recently closed Series D funding round raising $135 million in its quest to redefine product information management. De Gombert said the company is set out to improve the product information category by harnessing the power of data, which comes at a time where customer behavior has shifted in the pandemic era. "We are more and more demanding as consumers when we are shopping online or even offline. We are looking for more and more information," De Gombert said.
Bioscience and genetic engineering company, Colossal, raised $60 million in a Series A funding round. Colossal is focused on developing new technologies and genetic tools to restore extinct species, and protect critically endangered species. One of the startup's long-term goals is to resurrect the woolly mammoth, and return it back to the arctic. Colossal also says it is developing technology that expands beyond animals, and has the potential to advance human health. Ben Lamm, co-founder and CEO of Colossal, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Nate Morris, Chairman and CEO of Rubicon, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss how the company is creating a digital marketplace for waste and recycling, and how technology and sustainability will go hand in hand in the future.
Amazon has closed its $8.5 billion acquisition of Hollywood studio MGM, two days after European regulators said the deal “would not significantly reduce competition” in European markets.
James Coddington, CEO of SkillsVR, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss how virtual reality is being used to train frontline workers to deal with difficult customers, and how this technology is being applied to diversity training.
