*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).
Facebook has announced Portal and Portal+, two video chat devices for the home that are geared towards video calling. Priced at $199 and $349, they feature A.I. technology that can automatically follow a person as they move throughout a room.
Elastic, a company that provides data services for Uber and Tinder, went public on the NYSE on Friday. The stock rose as much as 104 percent before settling at $70. CEO Shay Banon said he didn't take the company public in order to raise money but to mark the maturity of the company.
Elon Musk's infamous "funding secured" tweet spawned a now-settled SEC lawsuit, but will his latest "Shortseller Enrichment Commission" one open it back up? Elizabeth Lopatto, deputy editor at The Verge, said the Tesla CEO doesn't seem to want to give up his Twitter fingers just yet, but that could hurt the company in the long run.
If Nike's Colin Kaepernick ad taught us anything, it might have been that ads are getting more political. And Stacy Minero, Twitter's head of content strategy, said one of the reasons the ads get such traction on the platform is that "Twitter has the most valuable audience when they're most receptive."
Snap’s Vice President of Marketing, Steve LaBella, is leaving the company, Cheddar has learned. His departure comes as CEO Evan Spiegel has tasked the company with developing a new marketing and communications strategy to help reignite growth.
The newly-launched game uses AR to help fans immerse in the worlds of the hit AMC show even when new episodes aren't airing. Clayton Neuman, VP of games and entertainment at AMC Networks, told Cheddar, "Gaming is an ever-evolving field, and there is always going to be a place for more."
Days after Elon Musk and the Securities and Exchange Commission reached a settlement over securities fraud charges, Musk tweeted an insult directly at the SEC. This could reopen the suit and lead to further consequences for Musk, who's already agreed to step down as chairman and pay a $20 million fine.
VR may have trouble finding its foothold with the general public, but esports could give it new life. Frank Soqui, vice president and general manager for Intel's gaming division, said it is difficult to get virtual reality technology into the hands of everyone, but esports is making it more accessible.
Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel has given Snapchat the directive of achieving full-year profitability in 2019 and has refocused the company around a new set of strategic goals, according to a recent memo sent to employees.
The professional gamer and Twitch streamer told Cheddar CEO Jon Steinberg that it's hard to get fans to follow you from game to game, no matter how big your following. The 31-year-old also championed the "shenanigans" of Fortnite maker Epic Games, which allowed him to ride a rocket launched by fellow esports hero Ninja ー a combination of words that aren't typically uttered in a traditional workplace.
