Sony (SONY) wants in on the Metaverse market. They invested $1 billion into Epic Games. Kirkbi, the family-owned investment company behind Lego, will also invest a billion bucks into Epic Games. This deal will value Epic at a whopping $31.5 billion! Cha ching!
Just last week, Epic and Lego announced a partnership to co-develop a “family-friendly” version of the Metaverse for kids.
“A proportion of our investments is focused on trends we believe will impact the future world that we and our children will live in… This investment will accelerate our engagement in the world of digital play, and we are pleased to be investing in Epic Games to support their continued growth journey, with a long-term focus toward the future Metaverse” - Soren Thorup Sorensen, CEO of Kirkbi.
“The fresh funds will help accelerate our work to build the Metaverse… As we reimagine the future of entertainment and play we need partners who share our vision. We have found this in our partnership with Sony and KIRKBI” - Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games.
Who is Epic Games? They are a video game powerhouse. They are most commonly known for their Fortnite video game. They developed Unreal Engine, one of the biggest platforms used to create games, and they operate their very own online games store. Their name might sound familiar to you as they were embroiled in a battle with Apple (AAPL) not too long ago.
Why is this important? The Metaverse is loosely defined as the virtual world where people come together to live, play and work. Companies have been quick to jump onto the Metaverse bandwagon. You have companies like JPMorgan (JPM), Samsung and Nike (NKE) experimenting with the technology. Even celebrities like Paris Hilton were hosting parties in the Metaverse.
Nvidia shares are down over 5%
Shares of chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) closed over 5% lower yesterday.
An analyst from Baird - Tristan Gerra - downgraded Nvidia from “Outperform” to “Neutral.” He was mainly concerned about excess inventory for their consumer graphics processing units (GPUs), due to business being affected by the Russian war, as well as declining demand in China.
“We believe order cancellations recently started in consumer GPUs, driven by excess inventories, a slowdown in consumer demand (reflected by an ongoing reduction in graphic cards pricing), slowdown in PC demand, and the Russia embargo” - Tristan Gerra.
He revised his price target on Nvidia from $360 down to $225. Ouch!
Shares closed at $219.17, down 5.20% for the day.
E-commerce startup Shopify (SHOP) plans to offer a 10-for-1 stock split for its Class A and Class B shares. The stock split is subject to the approval of at least two-thirds of the shareholders. If approved, investors will receive nine additional Class A shares or Class B shares for every one share held after the close of business on June 28.
At the same time, they are seeking approval to increase their CEO Tobi Lutke’s voting power. If approved by shareholders, Shopify will authorize and issue a new class of non-transferable “founder share” to Tobi. This will increase his total voting power from 34% to 40%.
“Tobi is key to supporting and executing Shopify’s strategic vision and this proposal ensures his interests are aligned with long-term shareholder value creation” - Robert Ashe, Shopify’s Lead Independent Director.
These proposals will go to a vote at Shopify’s annual shareholder meeting on June 7.
Shares of Shopify closed at $617.38, up 2.35% for the day.
Shopify plans to offer a 10-for-1 stock split
E-commerce startup Shopify (SHOP) plans to offer a 10-for-1 stock split for its Class A and Class B shares. The stock split is subject to the approval of at least two-thirds of the shareholders. If approved, investors will receive nine additional Class A shares or Class B shares for every one share held after the close of business on June 28.
At the same time, they are seeking approval to increase their CEO Tobi Lutke’s voting power. If approved by shareholders, Shopify will authorize and issue a new class of non-transferable “founder share” to Tobi. This will increase his total voting power from 34% to 40%.
“Tobi is key to supporting and executing Shopify’s strategic vision and this proposal ensures his interests are aligned with long-term shareholder value creation” - Robert Ashe, Shopify’s Lead Independent Director.
These proposals will go to a vote at Shopify’s annual shareholder meeting on June 7.
Shares of Shopify closed at $617.38, up 2.35% for the day.
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