Blockchain Foundry Inc. (CSE: BCFN)
Develops and commercializes blockchain-based business solutions and provides consulting services to corporate clients seeking to leverage blockchain technology in their businesses.
In a legal filing, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) accuses Epic Games of asking for individual treatment and violating its App Store rules.
Apple produced three emails from Epic CEO Tim Sweeney to back its allegation. Earlier this month, Sweeney had denied claims Epic sought “a special deal.”
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Key quote from the filing: “In the wake of its own voluntary actions, Epic now seeks emergency relief. But the ‘emergency’ is entirely of Epic’s own making.”
The filing is the latest swing in a fight that started with Epic releasing a direct payment method in Fortnite to get around Apple’s 30% App Store cut. Apple pulled the game, and Epic sued claiming anticompetitive behavior.
Epic asked for a temporary restraining order that would return Fortnite to the store while the legal battle continues. Apple says the game can only come back if the payment system is removed.
A hearing is scheduled for Monday.
Apple shares are currently up 4.9% to $496.30. The company added about $100B to its market cap today, more than the market caps of the likes of Wells Fargo and AMD.
The premium-access streaming release of anticipated big-budget movie Mulan to Disney Plus (DIS -0.3%) will also be available on “select platforms” including Roku (ROKU -1.4%), Apple (AAPL +5.3%) and Google (GOOG +0.1%, GOOGL +0.1%).
It was big news when Disney took one of the pandemic’s most anticipated tentpole releases and gave it a streaming launch set for Sept. 4 (for a $29.99 fee on top of a Disney Plus subscription). Now it’s getting a wider distribution.
Notably absent from the usual streaming-partner suspects: Amazon Prime Video (AMZN -0.5%).
That suggests that viewers will be able to use in-app purchases on those additional platforms without a complicated workaround through Disney Plus. And LightShed’s Rich Greenfield notes that means there’s some economic sharing going on there with partners.
Interestingly, in discussing the selection of $29.99 as a price point on top of Disney Plus’ standard monthly cost, Disney CEO Bob Chapek said that Disney wasn’t just drawing that $30 fee from the transaction but that it “also acts as a fairly large stimulus to sign up for Disney Plus.” Was that incentive surpassed by the scale of the revenue sharing with partners?
Ahead of the earnings report on August 31, Rosenblatt raises its Zoom Video (NASDAQ:ZM) price target from $210 to $260.
Analyst Ryan Koontz expects “very strong” revenue and revenue guidance.
Koontz says the pandemic tailwind could drive rapid consumer adoption and strong upside to the FY21 consensus, which sees $1.81B in revenue and $1.29 EPS versus Zoom’s guidance of $1.775-1.8B and $1.21-1.29, respectively.
Potential headwinds include competition (Microsoft Teams) and valuation (shares up 327% YTD), which drive Rosenblatt’s Neutral rating.
For Q2, consensus estimates expect Zoom to report $500.35M in revenue and $0.45 EPS. Zoom guided $495-500M in revenue and $0.44-0.46 EPS.
Zoom shares are down 0.2% to $290.
Facebook (FB -0.5%) is losing its chief marketing officer.
Antonio Lucio is set to depart the company after two years, according to media reports citing Facebook’s internal message board.
He was hired in August 2018 following his service at HP, at a challenging time for Facebook’s public image as it faced flak over data-privacy practice, from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and its handling of offensive content and false news.
He had taken over about nine months after the resignation of Gary Briggs.
Meanwhile on the Facebook beat: The social network is preparing steps to take in case of a scenario where President Trump or his campaign use Facebook to wrongly claim he won another four-year term, or otherwise delegitimize the election results in November, The New York Times reports.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and key lieutenants have discuss the prospect of a “kill switch” that turns off political advertising after Election Day, in order to quell potential misinformation after the vote is done.
The preparations follow a ramp-up in sharper comments from Trump about whether the election will have been fair if he loses, and casting doubt upon the legitimacy of mail-in voting, despite a long history of the practice in the United States.
TikTok (BDNCE) will continue to operate its fast-rising short-video app in the U.S., its regional chief says – regardless of the Trump administration’s threats to ban it.
“We believe we have multiple paths forward to ensure that we continue to provide this amazing app experience to the millions of Americans who come to rely on it every day,” says TikTok’s Vanessa Pappas.
Pappas is general manager of TikTok’s business in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand – the portions that are reportedly foremost in sale discussions with Microsoft (MSFT -0.4%) and Oracle (ORCL -0.9%).
“We’ve made it clear that we strongly disagree with the conclusions of CFIUS (the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.) and we’re certainly disappointed in the outcome that we saw there,” Pappas says. “We still haven’t been presented with any evidence to back up those claims and assertions.”
The approaching deadline from the administration is affecting business for TikTok, with employees wondering if they’ll get paid – TikTok says it will continue to pay workers, just as it has in India after a ban there – foreign workers wondering if they’ll lose visas, and advertisers and social media stars looking to add clauses to contracts to address the outcome of a ban.
