Top Financial Stories Thursday, September 1: Netflix Weighs Charging High Sum For Ads, Self Harm posts Grow On Twitter, California Fast-Food Bill Faces Industry Backlash…

Wall Street Journal

Disney Seeks To Pull Off An Amazon With ‘Prime-Like’ Bundle Service

• Walt Disney Company DIS is reportedly planning to ape a tried-and-tested route to rope in more customers for its multiple services.
• Disney is considering launching a membership program, which could be something similar to Amazon Inc’s AMZN Prime service, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the discussions.
• Through the proposed program, the entertainment giant plans to offer discounts or special perks to induce customers to spend more on its streaming services, theme parks, resorts, and merchandise, the report said.

T-Mobile Joins Bevy Of Companies Opting For Downsizing Employee Workforce

• T-Mobile US Inc TMUS has laid off workers in its network operations and engineering group.
• The layoffs are a part of a restructuring program that eliminated thousands of jobs since the company merged with Sprint two years ago.
• A terminated employee disclosed that the latest layoffs occurred lately among managers and executives.
• T-Mobile acknowledged the move as part of continuing organizational shifts.

Netflix Weighs Charging A Whopping Sum For Advertisement On Its Ad-Supported Platform, Buyers Say

• Netflix Inc NFLX plans to charge brands premium prices to advertise on its coming ad-supported platform, according to some ad buyers.
• Executives from Netflix and Microsoft Corp MSFT, which supplied the technology to facilitate the placement of video ads on Netflix, reportedly met with some ad buyers.
• Netflix sought to charge advertisers $65 for reaching 1,000 viewers, a measure known as cost per thousand, which is substantially higher than most other streaming platforms.
• Netflix reportedly wants brands to commit to a year-long upfront ad buy akin to traditional TV networks.
• Netflix seeks to cap the amount any brand can spend annually on its platform at $20 million to prevent brands from excessive advertisement.

CNBC

California Fast-Food Bill Faces Industry Backlash, Says Unfair To Big Chains

• Joe Erlinger, head of McDonald Corp’s MCD U.S. has criticized the California bill saying it unfairly targets big chains.
• Earlier this week, the California state Senate passed a bill to give a council the authority to raise the industry’s minimum wage to $22 an hour for chains with more than 100 locations nationally and establish safety conditions.
• Proponents of the bill say it will empower fast-food workers and help solve industry-wide problems such as unsafe working conditions and wage theft.
• But the FAST Act faces strong opposition from the restaurant industry.

Reuters

Boeing 737 MAX 7 Likely To Be Certified Before MAX 10

• Boeing Co BA is likely to have its 737 MAX 7 certified by the 2022 end and MAX 10 in the first half of 2023.
• The plane maker’s deadline is 2022 end for 737 MAX 7 and MAX 10.
• If Boeing misses the deadline, it has to meet new cockpit alerting requirements.

Exxon, Shell Seek To Offload California Oil & Gas Joint Venture

• Exxon Mobil Corp XOM and Shell Plc SHEL are in talks with a buyer to divest their Aera joint venture, Reuters reported citing three people with knowledge of the matter.
• Exxon and Shell hinted at focusing on larger-scale oil fields and liquefied natural gas projects and are selling older properties to repay debt and investing in new areas.
• JPMorgan Chase is the financial adviser for the possible divestiture and has been in talks with several potential buyers.

Washington Post

Researchers Highlight Exponential Growth Of Self-Harm Posts On Twitter

• A Network Contagion Research Institute and Rutgers University report indicated a dramatic rise in recent months of Twitter Inc TWTR self-harm tweets.
• The researchers detected a Twitter community increasingly posting graphic photos with hashtags that reveal bloody self-injury practices. The users are 13-, 14-, and 15-year-old kids. The tweets garner unusually high engagement.

Bloomberg

Alibaba’s Lazada Group Gears Up For Europe Foray To Take On Amazon, Zalando

• Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA-owned Lazada Group is getting ready to enter Europe, after its success in Southeast Asia, to take on rivals such as Amazon.com Inc AMZN and Zalando SE ZLNDY.
• Lazada Group CEO James Dong told Bloomberg that Europe is a very big market, and for most of the European brands, their largest retail partner is Alibaba Group because of their sales in China and in other markets. “We go where the brands want us to go,” Dong said.

Uber, Moove To Join Hands To Augment EV Delivery In London

• Uber Technologies Inc UBER looks to collaborate with financial technology startup Moove to boost the number of electric vehicles in London by an additional 10,000 over the next few years.
• Moove expanded its vehicle financing business to the U.K. after India and Nigeria.
• Moove is already Uber’s largest vehicle supply partner across Europe, the Mideast, and Africa.
• Amid soaring energy prices, Moove also sees a rise in demand for its electric vehicles.

Benzinga

Coinbase Lawsuit Picks Up Steam With Investors Invited To File A Lead Plaintiff Motion Against the Crypto Exchange

• Investors who purchased shares of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc COIN have been informed of the deadline for submitting a lead plaintiff motion in a securities class action lawsuit against the company.
• Coinbase is accused of making false and deceptive claims about its operations, business practices, and compliance standards.
• As the number of lawsuits against the exchange focused on Coinbase’s business practices has increased over time, allegations of insider trading have also shaken the corporation.

HP’s Challenges Unlikely To Ease Anytime Soon, Bear Analyst Says After Q3 Print

• HP Inc’s HPQ downbeat third-quarter revenue miss and reduction in fourth-quarter guidance were the largest of their kind in over five years, according to Morgan Stanley.
• Erik Woodring reiterated an Underweight rating on HP while reducing the price target from $30 to $28.
• The company witnessed challenges in both consumer and commercial demand, Woodring said in the note.

Nvidia, AMD Shares Tumble As US Slaps Export Curbs on Top AI Chips To China: What’s At Risk Here?

• Shares of Nvidia Corporation NVDA and Advanced Micro Devices AMD came under significant pressure late Wednesday following news that the chipmakers were slapped with certain chip export restrictions to China.
• Nvidia was informed by the U.S. government on August 26 about a new license requirement for future exports of A100 and the forthcoming H100 chips to China, including Hong Kong and Russia, the chipmaker revealed in a filing late Wednesday.
• The new requirement is also applicable to any other systems incorporating those chips.

BREAKING: Panama Regulates The Medicinal Use Of Cannabis

• The President of the Republic of Panama, Laurentino Cortizo, signed an Executive Decree approving Law 242, which regulates the medicinal and therapeutic use of cannabis, along with its derivatives, in the Central American country.
• Law 242 was sanctioned by President Cortizo in October 2021.
• Panama holds the potential to become a cannabis hub given its climate, investment-friendly governance framework, and strategic location with large port infrastructure and well-sedimented trade routes.

Why Novavax Shares Are Getting Hammered After Moderna, Pfizer And BioNTech News

• Novavax Inc NVAX shares are trading lower in possible reaction to competitor Moderna Inc MRNA receiving FDA authorization for emergency use of its Omicron-targeting COVID-19 booster. Pfizer Inc PFE and BioNTech SE BNTX were also granted Emergency Use Authorization for their BA.4/BA.5-adapted Bivalent COVID-19 booster.
• Moderna received emergency use authorization from the FDA for its BA.4/.5 Omicron-targeting bivalent COVID-19 booster vaccine, mRNA-1273.222.
• The authorization has been given for a 50 µg booster dose for adults over 18 years of age who have received either a primary series or an initial booster of any of the authorized or approved COVID-19 vaccines.

Sanofi’s Rare Disease Drug Xenpozyme Scores FDA Approval

• Soon after the European Commission’s (EC) approval, Sanofi SA SNY scooped up the FDA’s OK for the first approved therapy to treat symptoms not related to the central nervous system in patients with acid sphingomyelinase deficiency.
• The indication includes a range of ailments under the umbrella of Niemann-Pick disease.
• Sanofi now has a rare pediatric disease priority review voucher, making it Sanofi’s third PRV. The disease afflicts 1 in every 250,000 people.

Nio Clocks Rise In August EV Deliveries Bucking The Wider Trend As Rivals Xpeng, Li Auto See Numbers Fall Sequentially

• Nio Inc NIO sold 10,677 cars in August, representing an 81.6% increase from a year ago. Deliveries were 6.2% higher than the 10,052 cars it sold in July.
• XPeng Inc XPEV reported earlier in the day it sold 9,578 cars in August, a 33% year-over-year increase but a 17% month-over-decline from the 11,524 cars it delivered in July.
• Li Auto Inc’s LI sales tapered off to 4,571 units in August from 9,433 units in the year-ago period and 10,422 units in July 2022.

Amazon Introduces New Initiative To Resolve Supply Chain Crisis

• Amazon.com Inc AMZN launched Amazon Warehousing & Distribution to help its sellers store bulk inventory and ease distribution to tackle supply chain issues.
• From 2023, sellers can use AWD to send their inventory to any location, including wholesale customers or brick-and-mortar stores.
• The pay-as-you-go service will also help sellers significantly cut logistics costs.

Dettol Maker Reckitt Benckiser’s CEO Steps Down

• England-based consumer company Reckitt Benckiser said its Chief Executive Officer Laxman Narasimhan would step down at the end of September.
• He will be replaced by Nicandro Durante, who will assume the role on an interim basis.

Novartis Appoints Merck Executive As Research Head

• Novartis AG NVS has appointed Merck executive Fiona Marshall as president of the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research to replace Jay Bradner, who is stepping down after seven years as research head.
• The company said the appointment of Marshall, currently senior vice president and global head of discovery sciences, preclinical development, and translational medicine at Merck & Co Inc MRK, takes effect on November 1.

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