(Hector Retamal/Getty Images) |
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What happens when you pit a Tesla against a classic "Looney Tunes" conceit? Well, a former NASA engineer turned YouTuber did just that, testing a camera-only Tesla against a lidar-equipped vehicle to see how each fared against the illusion of a wall that's been painted to appear as a seamless view of the road ahead. Like the Road Runner's nemesis, Wile E. Coyote, the Tesla ran straight into that wall. Check out the video. US stocks climbed to kick off the week, but with absolutely no help from the so-called Magnificent 7. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% for its broadest rally since 2023, the Nasdaq 100 also rose 0.6%, and small caps had big gains, with the Russell 2000 up 1.2%. An equal-weight basket of the Magnificent 7, meanwhile, fell 1.1%, punctuated by a steep 4.8% loss in Tesla and a 1.8% retreat from Nvidia. It's just the second time since the Magnificent 7 became A Thing back in June 2023 that the cohort fell 1% on a day the S&P 500 rose at least 0.5%. Mag 7? More like the Lag 7, looking at these charts. |
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For years, American entertainment companies that had long exported their products internationally to great profit saw China as a potentially huge and increasingly open market for their products, whether we're talking movies or video games. China bought them eagerly, and then learned how to produce high-quality games and films in its own right. The trend of the past several years has been American video game publishers, movie studios, and streaming services losing in China as beefed-up domestic companies make a fortune from their own movies and games. Now, though, comes a specific moment of truth for those Chinese producers: can they actually start making movies and games that appeal globally? It's a mixed bag, but there's one particularly bright spot. On one hand, you've got movies like "Ne Zha 2," which grossed over $2 billion and became the highest-grossing animated movie of all time, but did so pretty much entirely in China, with little overseas traction. That's a sign that Chinese filmmakers can make world-class quality movies, but still can't get the foothold exporting them internationally that American studios have. On the other hand, as Ryan Broderick and Adam Bumas persuasively argue, when it comes to video games, we're firmly in the era of Chinese gaming. |
- "Black Myth: Wukong" became one of the most popular Steam games of all time just last year, and was developed completely in China.
- "Genshin Impact" and "Zenless Zone Zero" from Chinese developer MiHoYo have cornered a whole market.
- Most intriguing of all, "Marvel Rivals" made an estimated $136 million in its first month, and by all accounts has become a multiplayer game with some serious staying power.
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That last point could be a huge moment for China's pop culture flywheel. Why? |
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If the Steam metrics for "Marvel Rivals" are anything to go by, the company has a big enough player base now to ride out the ongoing gaming industry downturn. |
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The secret behind some of Netflix and Amazon's biggest hits |
It's more than just star power. This company has built its business on turning comics and games into flagship franchises. Meet Skybound. They've taken The Walking Dead from a comic to a $10B+ franchise, spanning TV series, games, novels, and more. They did the same thing with Invincible on Prime Video where Season 2 was the top title on platform by revenue. But they aren't stopping there. They've just launched a slate of international TV series, plus the Invincible Season 3 finale just wrapped with record-breaking numbers, with Season 4 already in the works. Next, Skybound plans to apply this same formula to the hundreds of entertainment properties they own. Want to get a piece of the $300B entertainment market? Invest in Skybound and get a 20% bonus investment (today's the FINAL day). Invest in Skybound.1 |
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If you ask dating app users, they'll say they want an experience that feels more human. If you ask dating app companies, the solution is adding robots to the mix. Companies like Bumble, Grindr, and Match Group (which recently broke up with its CEO) are mentioning AI more and more as the wingman their companies need to score profits and bring them home for their investors. |
- AI might have more rizz than you do: Match Group is using AI to help users brainstorm something more interesting to say for a first message than, "Hey." A common sentiment among dating app users is that they don't want to put in effort for a witty or creative first message, but they would like to receive one. In other words, we want to be recognized as the unique special flowers we are but don't want to do the work to notice and ask someone about the plants flowering behind their profile pic. So far, at least Grindr's AI Wingman is getting good reviews.
- Will AI make dating apps more profitable? Even if AI does improve the experience, it's unclear whether that will translate to more paying users, which investors are growing tired of waiting for. A fundamental problem with dating apps' business model is that if it's really good at fulfilling its purpose of helping people find love, that means it ultimately loses a customer.
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Investors are betting heavily on new CEO Lip-Bu Tan's ability to turn around the once iconic American semiconductor giant. Here's the reason. |
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12 Dumbest Things Smart People Waste Money On
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Yesterday's Big Daily Movers |
- Shares of Affirm tanked as Walmart dropped the "buy now, pay later" giant for Swedish rival Klarna
- Norwegian Cruise Line shares sailed higher after JPMorgan said the cruise stock's a buy
- Guess shares soared after the '90s fashion darling announced a $13 per share buyout offer
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- Alphabet is selling its laser-based Starlink competitor
- Forever 21 is filing for bankruptcy (again)
- The GOP may use a trick in their budget to make a $4 trillion tax cut look free
- Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang takes the stage today at GTC 2025, Nvidia's biggest conference of the year
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- February housing starts and building permits and February industrial production
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Advertiser's disclosures:
1 Please read the offering circular and related risks at http://invest.skybound.com. This is a paid advertisement for Skybound's Regulation CF Offering. Investing in private company securities is not suitable for all investors because it is highly speculative and involves a high degree of risk. It should only be considered a long-term investment. You must be prepared to withstand a total loss of your investment. Private company securities are also highly illiquid, and there is no guarantee that a market will develop for such securities. DealMaker Securities LLC, a registered broker-dealer, and member of FINRA | SIPC, located at 105 Maxess Road, Suite 124, Melville, NY 11747, is the Intermediary for this offering and is not an affiliate of or connected with the Issuer. Please check our background on FINRA's BrokerCheck. |
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Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... See more |
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