From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
Streaming Suits Disney Well
Thank goodness for streaming because other than that, the House of Mouse had some rough news in its latest earnings report. Pandemic-related theme park closures cost the company $2.6 billion dollars last quarter and it expects to lose another billion this year because of COVID. But fans have been tuning in: Disney+ more than doubled the number of its subscribers from a year ago to more than 94 million, ESPN+ subscribers are up 83 percent, and Hulu subscribers are up nearly a third. Though the company also beat expectations on income and revenue, the stock still dipped on Friday.
Cannabis Is the New GameStop
Pot rode the meme stock wave this week, with several of the biggest players, like Canopy Growth, Tilray, Aurora Cannabis, and Aphria seeing spikes early on — then precipitously falling. The Reddit crowd seems to be behind this latest market rollercoaster ride, and Congress has taken note. Next Thursday, the House Financial Services Committee will hold a hearing called “Game Stopped? Who Wins and Loses When Short Sellers, Social Media, and Retail Investors Collide.” Committee Chair Rep. Maxine Waters told Cheddar she expects it to be a "learning experience for everybody."
Bumble's Great First Date
Bumble, the parent company of the namesake female-first dating app joined the Nasdaq Thursday, and it looks like there was an attraction with investors. The stock rose, closing Friday at $75.46 per share. The company's 31-year-old founder and CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd is now a billionaire — the youngest woman to accomplish that feat by taking her company public. Tariq Shaukat, Bumble's president, told Cheddar the plan now is to grow users and the types of products the company offers.
Shopify Surge
E-commerce tech platform Shopify announced Tuesday that it has a new deal to help shoppers spend via social media. Its Shop Pay checkout option began rolling out immediately on Instagram and is expected to hit Facebook Shops in the next few weeks. This means shoppers will have the option to use Shopify to pay for items instead of PayPal or credit cards. $SHOP jumped on the news and continued trading at that level for the rest of the week.
Old Bank, New Currency
BNY Mellon, which has its roots as America's oldest bank, is definitely caught up here in the 21st century. It announced that it will begin dealing in crypto — holding, transferring, and issuing digital currencies for its asset-management clients. For those looking to spend, rather than save, this week Tesla announced that it bought about $1.5 billion in Bitcoin and is getting ready to accept it for its high-end vehicles.
