There’s a lot in this Wall Street Journal profile of ESPN boss Jimmy Pitaro. The switch to streaming; the Hulu for Sports plan; the battle over ever-more-expensive sports rights. But the undercurrent here is pretty clear: if ESPN can make all that work over the next couple of years, Pitaro might get Bob Iger’s office. (But that’s a really, really big if.)
Leaked documents viewed by TechCrunch say SpaceX can prevent former or current employees from selling shares during a tender offer if they engaged in “an act of dishonesty against the company” or violated policies.
Since SpaceX is a private company, this could prevent employees from selling their shares until SpaceX goes public — which may not even happen. SpaceX also reserves the right to buy back vested shares six months after an employee leaves the company, TechCrunch reports.
The iPhone maker was accused of defrauding shareholders when it cut its quarterly revenue forecast by up to $9 billion in 2019 due to US-China trade tensions. That announcement literally decimated its share price, just a couple of months after CEO Tim Cook declined to put China in the same category as other emerging markets where Apple faced sales pressure.
Reuters notes that the settlement, which covers any investors who bought shares in those two months, amounts to under two days of profit for Apple.
The firms include Citadel, KKR. and Blackstone. “Their goal is to minimize any fines and ensure that if they reach a settlement, no firm is singled out for a harsher penalty,” according to Bloomberg.
The SEC is investigating whether WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal use at these companies broke disclosure rules. Citadel in particular is still willing to fight the SEC on this.
Outdoor Voices, a popular athleisure brand once seen as the next Lululemon, is closing all of its stores on Sunday. The direct-to-consumer lifestyle brand was valued at $110 million in 2018, but has been on the decline following internal friction. It’s the end of an era for the e-comm startup once considered a model for founders — the company will go back to selling strictly online.
[The New York Times]
Tesla’s owner agreement expressly forbids owners to “sell or otherwise attempt to sell” the truck within a year of buying it, or the company would take action, including refusing future sales.
Well, someone in the Cybertruck Owners Club forum says they tried listing theirs “on multiple sites to feel it out” anyway, and the company canceled their two (2!) other reservations.
[Tesla Cybertruck Forum - News, Discussions, Community - Cybertruckownersclub.com]
According to Fortune, the crowdfunding platform got a $100 million investment from the VC firm’s crypto fund — and the 2021 deal was meant to get Kickstarter into the Web3 hype cycle.
If you recall, the pivot was a disaster: after public outrage, Kickstarter formed a community advisory council, and the company ultimately decided to shift its attention away from the blockchain.
Correction March 12th 10:56AM ET: The Web3 pivot wasn’t a formal stipulation of the deal, as initially stated.
The company hopes to raise up to $748 million when it goes public by selling about 22 million shares at $31 to $34 per share, according to a public filing issued Monday after Bloomberg first reported the number.
Part of its plan will rest on its own users and moderators, for whom the company will set aside 1.76 million shares. Reddit’s valuation would be down from the $10 billion it hoped for when it first filed to go public in 2021.
Update March 11th, 6:41AM ET: Added official filing.
Ahead of its IPO, Reddit announced a set of tools for businesses that want to be more active on the platform — including the ability to see which subreddits are mentioning a brand. For businesses, Reddit says it’s a way to “establish and grow a meaningful organic presence on Reddit.” In other words: the brands are coming.
The idea is to get American tech giants out of the country:
Document 79 was so sensitive that high-ranking officials and executives were only shown the order and weren’t allowed to make copies, people familiar with the matter said. It requires state-owned companies in finance, energy and other sectors to replace foreign software in their IT systems by 2027.
Also, the Chinese government plans to splash out on science and tech — spending $51 billion this year, a 10 percent increase over last year.
Comcast says it’s doubled the throughput for Connect plans, from 75Mbps to 150Mbps, while its prepaid plans go from 50Mbps to 200Mbps. Connect More and Fast will each get a 100Mbps boost, as well, bringing those up to 300Mbps and 500Mbps, respectively.
The company says it’s not raising prices for these increases.
Disclosure: Comcast is an investor in Vox Media, The Verge’s parent company.
In a memo to employees obtained by Variety, Rooster Teeth general manager Jordan Levin wrote that the company is closing “due to challenges facing digital media resulting from fundamental shifts in consumer behavior and monetization.”
Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns Rooster Teeth, is in talks to sell the rights to some of the production company’s series, including RWBY, Red vs. Blue, and Gen:Lock, Variety reports. And while WBD is also reportedly looking to sell the Roost podcast network, it will remain operational.
They are discussing options that may make the debt less risky to hold. After the events of 2022, when Musk bought Twitter, it was difficult for these banks to offload the debt; they’ve agreed — for now anyway — to coordinate a sale together when X is “on firmer financial footing.”
