*By Bridgette Webb*
Turtle Beach is on a roll.
The headset producer unveiled a new line of gaming gear called Atlas that's specifically designed for PC gamers.
"We are doing the same thing in the PC segment that we are doing in the console headset gaming segment for many years," said Turtle Beach CEO Juergen Stark in an interview Thursday on Cheddar. "We've put a lot of effort in making sure the build quality, the audio quality and the mic quality is the best you can get."
The new headset was introduced after the company reported second-quarter results that blew away analysts' expectations. Net revenue, net income, and earnings were higher than any second quarter since the company's 2014 IPO. Turtle Beach reported $60.8 million in revenue for the quarter ー up from $19.1 million the year before.
Stark attributed Turtle Beach's success to cost cutting on one side of its balance sheet and the booming demand for headsets generated by the popularity of battle royale games Fortnite and PUBG.
As promising a year as it's been so far, Stark said international tariffs could hurt sales of the imported Turtle Beach headsets.
"It will effect retail pricing for us, and for everyone in the category if what people are threatening goes through," he said. "I'm hopeful that it doesn't happen, I don't see how increasing the prices for consumers for everything you buy that's electronic is going to help anybody."
When asked how tariffs would affect the price of gaming headsets, Stark offered a matter-of-fact outlook.
"If there is a 10 percent tariff and you are building a product in China, the retail price point is going to go up 10 percent. If it's a 25 percent tariff that's being threatened, the retailer is it going to go up 25 percent."
For more on this story, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/turtle-beach-expands-further-into-pc-gaming).
Politicians on both sides of the aisle united with labor leaders on Monday to slam GM's announcement that it would cut more than 14,000 jobs ー a combination of factory and office roles ー and put five plants on the chopping block.
Ohio officials will allow businesses to pay taxes in Bitcoin as of this week. While limited in scope, the move represents an important tacit admission by a government body that Bitcoin is an acceptable currency, according to Jimmy Song, a Bitcoin developer.
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E-commerce and mobile was the breakout star this Thanksgiving weekend with more customers picking the couch over the queue, shopping earlier ー and increasingly on their phones. "It's not just about Black Friday anymore ー there's the day before Thanksgiving, there's Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday. Small Business Saturday was pretty big too ... It's basically a whole week at this point," Rob Marvin, associate features editor at PCMag told Cheddar on Monday.
Elon Musk says there's a 70 percent chance he'll go to Mars ー even though there's also a good chance he won't come back. Musk spoke on his plans to personally take the SpaceX Starship (formerly known as the BFR) to Mars in an interview with Axios broadcast Sunday on HBO, during which he also said that Tesla was "single-digit weeks" from dying this spring and summer.
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.
MLG co-founder Mike Sepso takes a seat at the podcast table for a discussion on the lazy summer that inspired MLG.
On today's show: the collapse of the H1Z1 Pro League, the announcement of the "League of Legends" European Championship, and "Fortnite"'s first open cash-prize tournament in the Winter Royale ー plus, PlayVS announces $30 million in funding. Featuring CEO of PlayVS Delane Parnell and DreamHack Global FGC Director Alex Jebailey.
Discussion of Smash Summit 7, Dreamhack Atlanta 2018, Red Bull Conquest, and Chris Pratt's Fortnite ads in Korea.
Featuring former NFL running back Ahman Green, Kelsey Moser, Amanda Stevens, and NYXL Product Dev Manager Samira Behrouzan
PUBG announces their global league for 2019, Red Dead Redemption 2 releases, and Riot faces down a lawsuit for workplace discrimination. Featuring Guy Blaze, ESL brand partnerships SVP Paul Brewer, and CEO of Electronic Gaming Federation Tyler Schrodt.
