Tesla, Procter & Gamble, Apple: Stocks That Defined the Week
April 23 2021 - 8:11PM
Dow Jones News
By Francesca Fontana
Apple Inc.
A podcast fight between Apple and Spotify Technology SA is
getting louder. Apple unveiled new products Tuesday that include a
subscription podcast service, while Spotify has said it plans to
launch a subscription-podcasting model. The music-streaming company
has been among Apple's most prominent corporate critics; it claims
Apple uses its strength to compete unfairly, a charge the tech
company denies. Apple shares lost 1.3% Tuesday, and Spotify shares
fell 3.3%.
GameStop Corp.
It is game over for GameStop's chief executive. George Sherman
will leave his post by July 31, the latest in a series of changes
to the videogame retailer's leadership team since Chewy Inc.
co-founder Ryan Cohen became a board member. Mr. Sherman has been
leading the company since April 2019. GameStop agreed to allow Mr.
Sherman to retain more than one million shares of restricted stock,
worth nearly $175 million as of Friday, as part of a separation
agreement. The company has been working with a search firm to
evaluate candidates for the role, focusing on people with a
background in the technology or videogame industries. GameStop
shares rose 6.3% Monday.
Tesla Inc.
Tesla is facing scrutiny after a fatal crash involving one of
its electric cars. U.S. safety officials are investigating the
accident, in which two men died in a Tesla Model S sedan that
crashed into a tree. Local authorities believe the vehicle was
operating without anyone in the driver's seat when it crashed.
Chief Executive Elon Musk on Monday injected additional uncertainty
into the situation. He tweeted that data recovered so far showed
the car's advanced driver-assistance system, known as Autopilot,
wasn't enabled. Authorities have been investigating whether the
vehicle's Autopilot was engaged at the time of the crash. Tesla
shares fell 3.4% Monday.
Netflix Inc.
Netflix's sign-up boom is slowing down. The company's subscriber
growth for the first quarter of 2021 was weaker than expected, a
potential warning sign as consumers start to emerge from lockdowns
and streaming competition increases. The company on Tuesday said it
added four million subscribers on a net basis globally between
January and March, fewer than its forecast of six million and far
below the 15.8 million increase from the same period a year
earlier. Netflix also faces its greatest competitive threats. Walt
Disney Co.'s Disney+ already has 100 million subscribers world-wide
after launching about a year and a half ago, and other rivals are
spending heavily for content, driving up programming costs. Netflix
shares lost 7.4% Wednesday.
Procter & Gamble Co.
The costs of running a household are going up. Procter &
Gamble will this fall start charging more for household staples
from diapers to tampons, citing rising costs for raw materials and
higher expenses to move goods. Global supply chains were already
struggling because of the pandemic, and the February freeze that
triggered blackouts in Texas led to a shortage in raw materials
that sent prices for polyethylene, polypropylene and other chemical
compounds to their highest levels in years. The maker of Gillette
razors and Tide detergent is the latest and biggest
consumer-products company to announce price increases, following a
similar move by Kimberly-Clark Corp. P&G shares added 0.8%
Tuesday.
Nestlé SA
Nestlé sales got a boost from consumers stuck at home. The
world's biggest packaged-food company on Thursday reported its best
quarterly sales growth in almost a decade, driven by strong demand
for Nespresso pods, Nescafé instant coffee and Starbucks-branded
products. The Swiss company made coffee a priority in recent years
as part of an overhaul, and it has paid off during the pandemic.
American depositary shares of Nestlé rose 2.4% Thursday.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
JPMorgan Chase made a rare public apology for its role in the
failed soccer Super League. The bank said Friday that its role
providing the financial backing for the new European soccer league
was a misjudgment. The effort to reshape the soccer landscape
collapsed Tuesday as six of the proposed circuit's 12 elite clubs
pulled out following ferocious outcry from fans, rival clubs,
players, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prince William, the
president of England's Football Association. JPMorgan had pledged
around $4 billion of financing to get the new Super League off the
ground. JPMorgan shares rose 1.9% Friday.
Write to Francesca Fontana at francesca.fontana@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 23, 2021 19:56 ET (23:56 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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