*By Michael Teich*
Walmart's reported plans to launch a streaming video service may prove futile, said The Information reporter Jessica Toonkel. After all, the retailer, she told Cheddar on Wednesday, is late to the game.
"Netflix and Amazon have been doing this for a while," Toonkel said. "This is a really hard business to get into."
Toonkel broke news this week that Walmart may develop a subscription-based video service to compete with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. The retailer is considering a price point below $8 per month and may also include an ad-supported free service.
What's the likelihood that Walmart will actually enter the streaming business? That depends on its willingness to spend billions of dollars, Toonkel explained. But after generating $17 billion in cash last year, the company potentially has enough ammo to match Netflix's aggressive spending budget, pegged at $8 billion for 2018.
But it's not just a matter of cash flow, Toonkel said. "They have a lot of money, clearly, but they also have investors that might not be as patient as investors in Netflix."
Walmart's last attempt to enter video content faltered ー in 2010 the retailer acquired Vudu, a video-on-demand service that currently offers a combined 100,000 movie titles and television series. But analytics firm comScore reported that users spent only 18,000 hours on the platform in May, just 2 percent of the total hours spent on Netflix and 6 percent of hours spent watching Amazon in the same period.
For the full segment, [click here.](https://cheddar.com/videos/walmart-could-launch-video-streaming-platform)
Aly Orady,Tonal CEO, joined Cheddar to discuss the home fitness market. Orady also dove into the technology and high profile athletes that have allowed the company to grow.
Amazon has been growing its delivery infrastructure for years and is now shipping 67 percent of its own packages directly to its customers.
Tesla is working on new battery technology that CEO Elon Musk says will enable the company within the next three years to make sleeker, more affordable cars that can travel dramatically longer distances on a single charge.
Tesla is expected to announce a breakthrough in electric vehicle battery chemistry on Tuesday that could bring down the cost of the vehicles and increase their range and durability.
Facebook has helped 2.5 million people to register to vote. The social platform has rolled out a voting information center that users can go for everything voting related.
The software giant said Monday that it is paying $7.5 billion for ZeniMax Media, the parent company of video game publisher Bethesda Softworks.
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.
Video game engine, Unity, makes its debut on the NYSE. Kimberly Jabal, CFO, joined Cheddar to discuss the decision behind taking the company public.
The U.S. Commerce Department says it is prohibiting Chinese-owned TikTok and WeChat from app stores as of Sunday, citing national security and data privacy concerns.
U.S. stocks are closing lower Thursday as Wall Street continues to swirl after the Federal Reserve said it will keep interest rates at nearly zero for years to help nurse the wheezing economy.
