Top Stories Friday, July 21: Potential Delay In iPhone 15 Debut Could Impact Apple's Margins, Meta's Threads App Faces User Exodus, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's Earnings Exceed $1B - Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Autoliv (NYSE:ALV)

New York Times

Apple Inc's AAPL upcoming iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max models are facing manufacturing issues.
The iPhone maker and its suppliers are struggling with a "new manufacturing process" that allows the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max to have larger screen displays without increasing the device size.
The screens made by LG Display have failed reliability tests during production, causing delays and shortages.

Meta Platforms Inc META Instagram-linked app Threads faces user exodus, with daily active users dropping to 23.6 million from a peak of 49 million in July.
Twitter Inc had around 107 million users on July 14, while Threads' retention of new users is down.
Threads' initial boom was short-lived as users discovered limited features, making it different from the expected "Twitter 2.0."

Wall Street Journal

Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL Google stock is trading higher Friday amid reports of co-founder Sergey Brin increasing his involvement in the tech giant's artificial intelligence (AI) research, returning to the company's Mountain View, California, offices three to four days a week.
While Brin had been relatively hands-off after stepping down from an executive role at parent company Alphabet in 2019, he is now actively participating in meetings about AI and working closely with researchers developing Google's long-awaited AI model, Gemini. The Gemini AI program aims to rival OpenAI's GPT-4 model, which powers the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT.

Benzinga

Microsoft Corp MSFT chief Satya Nadella bagged $1 billion in compensation fueled by the stock surge amid the ChatGPT frenzy.
He earned nearly $55 million in 2022 alone.
The surge in Nadella's earnings coincides with Microsoft's remarkable stock performance under his leadership. Since becoming CEO in 2014, the company's shares have gained over 1,000%, with a nearly 50% surge in 2023.

The FDA approved Emergent BioSolutions Inc's EBS anthrax vaccine for adults aged 18 through 65.
The vaccine Cyfendus (Anthrax Vaccine Adsorbed, Adjuvanted), previously known as AV7909, is approved for post-exposure prophylaxis of disease following suspected or confirmed exposure to Bacillus anthracis when administered in conjunction with recommended antibacterial drugs.

Barbie doll manufacturer Mattel Inc MAT has been accused of stealth marketing in schools, according to an investigative piece in the British Medical Journal (BMJ).
The company allegedly used its Barbie brand to promote its products to children subtly. The BMJ report suggests that Mattel's "You Can Be Anything" program may be a veiled marketing strategy presented as an educational initiative.

American Express Co AXP stock is trading lower after it reported Q2 revenue (net of interest expense) growth of 12% year-on-year to $15.05 billion, missing the consensus of $15.48 billion.
Card Member spending hit another all-time high, growing 8% on an FX-adjusted basis, driven by double-digit U.S. Consumer and International Card Member spending growth. Total Network Volumes grew 8% Y/Y to $426.6 billion.
American Express reaffirmed guidance for revenue growth of 15% - 17% (consensus of $61.57 billion) and EPS of $11.00 - $11.40 (consensus of $11.11).

AutoNation Inc AN reported second-quarter FY23 sales growth of 0.3% year-on-year to $6.89 billion, beating the analyst consensus of $6.74 billion.
Net income declined 28% Y/Y. Adjusted EPS of $6.29 beat the consensus of $5.90.
New vehicle retail unit sales increased 8%, and used vehicle retail unit sales declined 11%.

French aerospace company Safran SAFRY has agreed to acquire an aerospace business from RTX Corp RTX in cash for an enterprise value of $1.8 billion.
The activity to be acquired from Collins Aerospace, an RTX business, is a global provider of actuation and flight control systems for commercial & military aircraft and helicopters.

Rithm Capital Corp RITM purchased $1.4 billion of prime unsecured consumer loans from Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS.
The pool represents a portion of the broader Marcus portfolio previously owned and held on the balance sheet by Goldman Sachs.
Goldman Sachs recently was in the headlines for reportedly selling $1 billion of Marcus loans to investment firm Varde Partners as a part of its plan to exit the lending business.

Autoliv Inc ALV reported second-quarter FY23 sales growth of 27% year-on-year to $2.63 billion, beating the analyst consensus of $2.54 billion.
Adjusted EPS of $1.93 beat the analyst consensus of $1.43.
Autoliv continues to see FY23 organic sales growth of around 15%, adjusted operating margin of around 8.5%-9%, and $900 million in operating cash flow.

Schlumberger N.V. SLB reported a second-quarter FY23 revenue increase of 19.6% year-over-year to $8.10 billion, missing the consensus of $8.22 billion.
Adjusted EPS increased 44% Y/Y to $0.72, beating the consensus of $0.71.
The company reiterated its capital investment forecast for FY23 to be ~$2.5-$2.6 billion versus $2.3 billion in 2022.

Reuters

German rival Alfaview launched an EU antitrust complaint on Microsoft Corp MSFT this week, marking the bloc regulator's second over its bundling of video app Teams into its Office product.
Microsoft has been on the EU competition enforcer's radar since 2020 when Salesforce Inc CRM-owned workspace messaging app Slack complained about tying Teams with Office.

Verge

A data breach from 2017-2020 exposed the sensitive information of thousands of Roblox Corp RBLX creators. The data breach impacted attendees at the Roblox Developer Conference between 2017-2020.
Personal data leaked includes names, usernames, birth dates, email addresses, IP addresses, phone numbers, and T-shirt sizes.

Potential Delay In iPhone 15 Debut Could Impact Apple's Margins, Meta's Threads App Faces User Exodus, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's Earnings Exceed $1B: Today's Top Stories