Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) was expected to report a bleak quarter due to the continuing slump in iPhone sales. It was not just iPhones, though. iPad and Mac sales have also declined. It is time Apple made a big move. >>>
Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) finally seems to have found a buyer for its core assets. After years of trying to recover lost ground, earlier this year, the company had decided to sell off its core assets. It has finally found a willing buyer in Verizon. Yesterday, Verizon agreed to buy Yahoo for $4.83 billion, making it probably the best news for Yahoo in a while.
For some time now, eBay’s users have been a disgruntled lot. It has a poor feedback management system and there are issues in search and discoverability. eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) is now focusing on improving these organically and through acquisitions. >>>
Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) appears to be on a roll, finally. The recent result announcement earlier this week, sent the stock soaring close to its 52-week high levels. The company surpassed analyst expectations, primarily driven by the growth in its cloud business. According to a Gartner report published earlier this year, the global market for cloud system infrastructure is projected to grow to $22.4 billion this year and Microsoft is making sure it has a big chunk of the market.
IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) revenues continued to decline for the seventeenth straight quarter, but the general sentiment is that it seems to be making progress in its strategic turnaround and its stock is trading close to its 52-week high. IBM has been moving away from computer hardware sales and reorganizing its portfolio to focus on “strategic imperatives” like the cloud, analytics, and mobile computing. >>>
Five years ago, Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) announced plans to increase its subscription cost and the announcement had backfired. The stock tanked, subscribers fled and the company had to recall its decision. For the last two years now, the company has been gradually increasing its prices again. New subscribers are being added at a higher cost subscription and grandfathered rates are finally going away. But the market is still not happy.
According to Gartner, the worldwide video game market, which includes video game console hardware and software, online, mobile and PC games, is projected to reach $128 billion by 2017. US video game companies recorded revenues of $23.5 billion in 2015 with software sales increasing 7% to $16.5 billion. Unity Technologies is the most recent entry to the Billion Dollar Unicorn Club from this market. >>>
According to ZenithOptimedia, the global ad expenditure will reach $579 billion by the end of 2016. Internet advertising is one of the fastest growing advertising media: it has risen from 6% share in 2005 to 29.5% share in 2015 and is expected to attract 37.6% of global ad spend by 2018. This comes at the expense of print media. Newspapers’ share of global spend has fallen from 29% to 13%, while magazines’ has fallen from 13% to 6% and by 2018 newspapers and magazines are expected to end with 10% and 5% market share, respectively. >>>
Referring to online reviews is no longer restricted to restaurant booking, hairstylists, or your neighborhood dog walker. More and more people are using job review sites like Glassdoor.com to review their next new job. Little wonder then that the increasing traffic has helped drive valuations upwards as the company gets ready to go public.
Last year, Billion Dollar Unicorn player Match.com (Nasdaq: MTCH) went public and listed in times when most Unicorns and venture capitalists were re-evaluating valuations. But despite the circumstances, Match appears to have done well with the stock still trading above its initial listing price and the company still being valued at multi-billion dollars.