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Hey Snackers,
Houston, we have a ballot: even American astronauts aboard the International Space Station voted in this yearâs election. Their electronic ballots were relayed by satellite to New Mexico, transmitted to Houston, and finally sent to local county clerks.
Yesterdayâs quarter-point rate cut was the cherry on top for investors, who kept juicing up stocks after Trumpâs win. Bitcoinâs hovered around its record high of $76K.
đď¸ Booked ânâ quizzy: Put 2 minutes on your cal to take this weekâs Snacks Seven quiz. Try the first q:
Which company will be removed from the Dow Jones after 25 years? (Check your answer.)
Warner Bros. scores its first quarterly profit in years as Max becomes a profit puppy
Earnings from Gotham⌠Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery surged 12% yesterday after the media titan dropped streamy Q3 earnings. While its sales dipped 4% in the quarter, the company secured a $135M profit â its first in more than two years. Its Max streaming service drove the surprise earnings, with revenue jumping 8% and a record 7M+ new subs. That helped Max notch higher ad sales and boost revenue per user.
Maximized: Warner said fans of hit shows âHouse of the Dragonâ and âLast of Usâ have tuned in to its new series, âThe Penguin,â whose premiere racked up 10M+ viewers.
Warnerâs movie biz didnât sparkle: Theater revenue sank 40% after âBeetlejuice Beetlejuiceâ and âTwistersâ fell short at the box office (last year it had âBarbieâ).Â
Still watching⌠Streamers have been turning their first profits by hiking subscription prices and tapping into ad revenue. In January, Amazon began sticking ads into Prime Video and recently announced that more ads were coming (unless you pay extra for its ad-free tier). In August, Disneyâs streaming biz (Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+) turned its first profit a quarter earlier than expected. Paramountâs streaming unit (Paramount+, BET+, and Pluto TV) also notched its first profit in Q2 and raised subscription fees.
More places = more faces⌠With streaming nearly universal in US households, providers are expanding their reach with bundles and partnerships to unlock growth. In September, Warner signed a multi-year deal with Charter (the USâs biggest cable provider) to bundle its streaming services with SpectrumTV Select plans. And Disney and Warner joined forces this year to debut their Disney+, Hulu, and Max discounted bundle.
RYSE and Shine: Donât Sleep On This Investment Opportunity
The Smart Home Industry has seen some spectacular exits, yielding impressive returns for early investors. In the past decade, we've seen Nest acquired for $3.2B by Google, and Ring acquired by Amazon for $1B.1 That's helped turn the Smart Home space into a growing billion-dollar industry.
Yet one category in this burgeoning industry has eluded adoption - Smart Shades. High prices and complex installation have prevented the mass adoption of smart shades despite their potential benefits, and one company hopes to change that.
RYSE is the tech firm aiming to dominate this category (which is growing at an astonishing 23% annually), and their public offering of shares priced at just $1.75 has opened. Their products have just launched in over 100 Best Buy stores, continuing their expansion into this billion-dollar industry.
News earnings show AI deals are paying off for publishers as media fragments
This just in⌠On the heels of the election, news companies published their earnings this week. As journalism holds on for dear life (77% of newspaper jobs have disappeared in the past two decades), news companies have tested a variety of alternate revenue streams to keep the lights on. The industryâs tried paywalls, video, podcasts, newsletters (hello), and, most recently, licensing deals with AI companies. How much these efforts are paying off is TBD, but earnings from The New York Times, Wall Street Journal owner News Corp., and Reuters provided some hints.
Wordleâs world: The Timesâ digital-subscriber count grew to 11M, though its 260K new subs were below expectations. Still, its ad sales jumped the most in two years, and subscribers to its non-news offerings like Wordle grew 25% from last year.
Walled off: Thomson Reuters said its news revenue grew 10%, boosted by AI-licensing deals. Last month, the outlet added a $1/week paywall to draw steadier $$ from its 50M monthly readers.
Journaling: WSJ parent News Corp. said its media ad revenue fell 5% and it saw a $4M drop in subscription $$.
The AI-media handshake⌠While outlets including The Times and the Chicago Trib have sued AI companies over copyright infringement, other media cos have cozied up to AI. Reuters last month struck a multiyear deal to allow Metaâs chatbot to use its articles to answer user questions. In May, News Corp. signed a licensing agreement with OpenAI said to be worth $250M. Other publishers including Axel Springer (Business Insider), IAC, The Atlantic, and the Associated Press have made similar moves.
News consumption has a new look⌠Americans are increasingly getting their news from nontraditional sources, and advertisers are following them. A third of 18- to 29-year-olds last year said they regularly got news from TikTok. Podcasters like Joe Rogan had more access to Donald Trump this election season than most legacy media. That fragmentation has news orgs hunting steadier revenue streams like AI.
Amazon Bets Big on Smart Homes, You Can Too
VCs know how difficult it is to spot promising early investment opportunities. Even the Sharks from Shark Tank declined the offer to buy 10% of Ring for $700,000 â a decision they likely regretted when Amazon acquired Ring, turning the $700,000 into $10M!1
RYSE is the smart-home brand hoping to follow a similar trajectory. The founder pitched on Canadaâs version of Shark Tank, Dragonsâ Den and received two offers - it seems the Dragons saw the potential in RYSEâs smart shades innovation. Do it like the Dragons - invest now.2
What else weâre Snackinâ
Steve Madden plans to slash its share of China-sourced products (which make up ~70% of its biz) to prep for possible Trump tariffs on imports.
Budget makeup seller E.l.f. said itâs the top beauty brand among Gen Alpha, Gen Z, and millennials after its Q3 sales popped 40%.
Investors swiped left on Match Group after the Tinder and Hinge owner lost paying daters for the eighth straight quarter.
Australia pledged to ban social media for kids under 16 over mental-health concerns and said it could fine cos that donât comply.
Stanley rival Yeti insulated its profit in Q3 and posted a 10% sales boost as hydrated shoppers splurged on $300 coolers and rambler bottles.
Household name: With their Smart Shades product on the shelves of 100 Best Buy stores already, RYSE is aiming to become the next big thing in the billion-dollar Smart Home industry. Learn about investing in RYSE.²
Snack Fact of the Day
Meme-coin platform Pump.fun recorded a record $31M in revenue in October
Friday
Consumer sentiment
Earnings expected from Canopy Growth, Sony, and Paramount Global
Authors of this Snacks own bitcoin and shares of: Amazon, Disney, IAC, Match, and Warner Bros. Discovery
Advertiser's disclosures:
š The performance of other companies is not necessarily indicative of the prospective returns of RYSE, Inc. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.
² This is a paid advertisement for RYSE's Regulation A+ Offering. Please read the offering circular and related risks at: SEC website.
Start-up investments are speculative and involve a high degree of risk. Those investors who cannot afford to lose their entire investment should not invest in start-ups. Companies seeking startup investment tend to be in earlier stages of development and their business model, products and services may not yet be fully developed, operational or tested in the public marketplace. There is no guarantee that the stated valuation and other terms are accurate or in agreement with the market or industry valuations. Further, investors may receive illiquid and/or restricted stock that may be subject to holding period requirements and/or liquidity concerns.
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.