Good Evening. Following a crucial day on Wall Street highlighted by the Federal Reserve’s long-anticipated move to raise short-term interest rates for the first time in three years, U.S. stocks turned positive on Thursday.
The S&P 500 had recovered from session lows, advancing 1.23%, while the Dow Jones had gained 1.23%. The Nasdaq Composite recovered some ground as well, rising 1.33%. WTI Crude Oil futures were up 9.14% to $103.73 per barrel, while Brent Crude Oil futures were up 9.16% to $107.02 per barrel.
ACQUISITION
Amazon (AMZN) said on Thursday that it has completed an $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM as part of its strategy to attract more customers through video streaming.
“We welcome MGM employees, creators, and talent to Prime Video and Amazon Studios, and we look forward to working together to create even more opportunities to deliver quality storytelling to our customers,” the company said in a statement, signaling there would be no layoffs following the transaction.
The decision to close comes after the deadline for the US Federal Trade Commission to file a lawsuit against the deal passed. MGM offered a plethora of content to entice users to Amazon’s fast-shipping and streaming club Prime, according to Amazon’s initial announcement in May 2021.
Amazon was up 2.70% to $3,144.78 per share as of closing.
ENTERTAINMENT
They are responsible for their own accounts. Netflix is testing new features in some countries to cut down on password-sharing, which is bad news for everyone who uses their dad’s girlfriend’s cousin’s Netflix account. Because, yes, sharing an account with someone you don’t live with is against the rules of service.
The streamer will send alerts to primary account holders who have shared their credentials with anyone outside their household, and they will be asked to pay fees for up to two freeloaders. Individual profiles will also be able to be spun off into independent accounts, allowing anyone who is removed from the primary account to preserve their viewing history and content recommendations.
The new features are part of a restricted test that will begin in Chile, Costa Rica, and Peru in the coming weeks, with the option to expand to other countries later.
Why would they be doing this? Now that consumers have more interesting things to do than binge-watch GBBO, Netflix is looking for new ways to make money so it can “invest in fantastic new TV and films for our members,” according to Chengyi Long, Netflix’s director of product innovation. For that purpose, Netflix hiked its fees in the United States and internationally this year.