Fortnite Frenzy Propels Turtle Beach to Record Earnings
*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).
Jaguar's Product Planning Manager Dave Larsen pointed out that Waymo's software would have avoided the fatal crash by one of Uber's self-driving cars last week in Tempe, Ariz. Recently, reports have emerged that Uber's self-driving car tests were falling far behind rival Waymo's long before that crash.
While the technology is almost there, legislation may be the reason a fully autonomous society is pushed back. Dave Larsen, Jaguar's U.S. Product Planning Manager, says it'll take about 20 years.
President Trump called out Amazon in an early morning tweet Thursday, saying he's concerned the company pays "little or no taxes." This follows reports that the president wants to go after Amazon. Immediately following these reports, Amazon stock tanked, losing billions of dollars in market cap. This is not the first time Trump has attacked Amazon.
Facebook is making changes to its data-sharing practices in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The social media company announced late Wednesday that it would stop sharing user information with third-party data firms. This strategy has been at the core of Facebook's business for the past few years.
Bryan Cranston, star of the hit show "Breaking Bad," joins us to talk about this new project. He's the co-creator of "The Dangerous Book for Boys," a new TV series which will stream on Amazon Prime. Fans won't see him on camera, but they will see actress Erinn Hayes. Cranston and Hayes tell us what to expect from the family-friendly show. It premieres on Amazon this Friday, March 30th.
Later this year, Jaguar will provide Waymo with its first I-Pace electric vehicle. It will then be fitted with self-driving tech and begin testing, says Dave Larsen, Jaguar's U.S. Product Planning Manager. The two companies hope to roll out about 20,000 autonomous vehicles by 2020.
By growing so quickly and with such scale, the cryptocurrency market almost brought the investigation by the SEC on itself. "[It] is a situation that regulations cannot ignore," says Paul Vigna, reporter at the Wall Street Journal and author of "The Truth Machine."
Facebook is making changes to its data-sharing practices in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The social media company announced late Wednesday that it would stop sharing user information with third-party data firms.
President Trump called out Amazon in an early morning tweet today, saying he's concerned the company pays "little or no taxes." This follows reports that the president wanted to go after Amazon.
The driverless car revolution won't fully take over in the near term because safety needs to be mastered first, says Jeff Bracken, Group Vice President of the luxury carmaker. His comments come after Uber's fatal autonomous car crash last week, which has left the industry reeling.
In a bid to lure millennials, the luxury carmaker is testing out the new strategy with various pricing models, says Jeff Bracken, Lexus Group Vice President. The carmaker unveiled the Lexus UX model at the New York International Auto Show on Wednesday.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/lexus-unveils-a-new-compact-crossover-for-the-urban-explorer).
