True Value

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Workers at a Beijing restaurant packing takeout orders on Sunday. Photo by AP
True Value

The Long and the Short of the Coronavirus’s Impact on Companies

By The Information Staff · Mar 1, 2020 12:02pm PST · 5 comments
The U.S. stock market just had its worst week since the 2008 financial crisis, triggered by the coronavirus. Out of the carnage, there may still be opportunities for investors.The market has recognized a few potential winners, most obviously biotech stocks working on vaccines and companies that enable people to work from home, such as... The U.S. stock market just had its worst week since the 2008 financial crisis, triggered by the...
Art by Mike Sullivan
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What I Learned From My Mother-in-Law’s Cable Bill—and Trying YouTube TV

By Martin Peers · Feb 19, 2020 10:00am PST · 10 comments
It may be hard to believe, but Comcast still charges its cable TV subscribers a $9.95 monthly fee for high-definition TV—the 20-year-old technology that is standard in video-streaming services (and in TV sets). It’s one of a number of fees—also including a $12.60 fee for the right to watch free broadcast networks like CBS and... It may be hard to believe, but Comcast still charges its cable TV subscribers a $9.95 monthly fee...
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Why Snap Does Not Equal Twitter

By Alex Heath · Feb 4, 2020 7:01am PST
This year Twitter is expected to make 13 times as much profit as Snap. And yet right now, each company is trading on the stock market at roughly the same market capitalization: $25.5 billion. Investors are either overenthusiastic about Snap’s prospects—or too pessimistic about Twitter’s (or possibly both).The market may have it... This year Twitter is expected to make 13 times as much profit as Snap. And yet right now, each...
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Photo by Bloomberg
Why Uber’s Stock Rally Doesn’t Make Sense
By Amir Efrati and Martin Peers · Jan 22, 2020 7:02am PST · 9 comments
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Photo by Bloomberg
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Why Uber’s Stock Rally Doesn’t Make Sense

By Amir Efrati and Martin Peers · Jan 22, 2020 7:02am PST · 9 comments
Uber proved countless doubters wrong by showing, when it reported its third-quarter results last fall, that its ride-hailing business can make money. And as investors await the fourth-quarter numbers scheduled to be released Feb. 6, they’ve sent the stock soaring. It’s as though they think the worst is over for the ride-hailing... Uber proved countless doubters wrong by showing, when it reported its third-quarter results last...
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Netflix’s Asia Growth Challenge: Trading Price for Volume

By Wayne Ma · Jan 15, 2020 12:52pm PST · 1 comment
Netflix’s stock rises and falls on subscriber growth, which has come to a halt in the U.S. But subscribers are still growing strong internationally, reaching 158 million subscribers at the end of September. Its executives have laid out a case to investors that the next 100 million subscribers could come from places like India and Southeast... Netflix’s stock rises and falls on subscriber growth, which has come to a halt in the U.S....
WeWork's former CEO Adam Neumann. Photo by Bloomberg
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Why Tech ‘Run Rates’ Should Raise Eyebrows

By Nick Wingfield · Jan 7, 2020 7:01am PST · 8 comments
When We Co.—the parent of WeWork—filed to go public last fall, its financial disclosures showed the company had “run rate revenue” of $2.4 billion as of Dec. 31 2018. But in a different spot in the IPO filing, WeWork reported its actual 2018 revenue as $1.8 billion—25% lower. Run rate revenue has joined a host... When We Co.—the parent of WeWork—filed to go public last fall, its financial...
Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo by Bloomberg
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Why Apple Shouldn’t Buy an Entertainment Company

By Martin Peers · Nov 26, 2019 7:01am PST
Film producer Jason Blum last week declared that tech companies wanting to get into streaming, like Apple, should buy a film studio. That would yield a “bigger audience for less money.” Apple has reportedly pondered buying a company like Time Warner in the past. It’s likely not the only tech company to have considered such a... Film producer Jason Blum last week declared that tech companies wanting to get into streaming,...
Vice CEO Nancy Dubuc. Photo by Bloomberg
The New Norm for Digital Media Valuations
By Tom Dotan · Oct 11, 2019 7:00am PDT · 3 comments
Vice CEO Nancy Dubuc. Photo by Bloomberg
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The New Norm for Digital Media Valuations

By Tom Dotan · Oct 11, 2019 7:00am PDT · 3 comments
The consolidation of the digital media industry is well and truly underway, with Refinery29, New York Media and PopSugar each being swallowed up in the past few weeks. Those deals have highlighted how much valuations have come down from the highs of recent years—with implications for the companies that remain.Potentially most affected is... The consolidation of the digital media industry is well and truly underway, with Refinery29, New...
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Why WeWork Needs Cash Fast

By Cory Weinberg · Sep 23, 2019 12:04pm PDT · 1 comment
As WeWork’s board wrestles with the company’s future, the options on the table are shrinking. The cash that WeWork’s parent company We Co. has to spend freely would dwindle from about $1.9 billion to $400 million by next March if it doesn’t raise new outside funds and keeps spending at a similar pace, according to an... As WeWork’s board wrestles with the company’s future, the options on the table are...
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson. Photo by Bloomberg
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How Streaming Math Could Hurt AT&T

By Martin Peers · Sep 9, 2019 2:03pm PDT · 5 comments
Activist investor Elliott Associates, which on Monday said it had bought a stake in AT&T, homed in on the flaws in the telecom giant’s growth strategy of recent years: It spent a total of $163 billion buying DirecTV and Time Warner just as cord-cutting was starting to eat away at the foundations of those companies’ businesses.... Activist investor Elliott Associates, which on Monday said it had bought a stake in AT&T,...
Cast members of Netflix 's Stranger Things at a screening in France last month. Photo by AP.
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Netflix’s Hit Addiction Makes Stock Pricey

By Martin Peers · Aug 12, 2019 7:01am PDT · 2 comments
Subscription software stocks like Zoom Video and Atlassian have been one of the hottest tech sectors on Wall Street in the past couple of years, thanks in part to their reliably recurring revenue. Investors love the predictability of subscription businesses.But that predictability disappears when subscriber growth is driven by hit products as... Subscription software stocks like Zoom Video and Atlassian have been one of the hottest tech...
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. Photo by Bloomberg.
Why Salesforce Stock Has Lost its Edge
By Ross Matican · Jul 23, 2019 7:01am PDT
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. Photo by Bloomberg.
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Why Salesforce Stock Has Lost its Edge

By Ross Matican · Jul 23, 2019 7:01am PDT
Salesforce, once the fast-moving disrupter of the enterprise software sector, is showing its age.After years of outperforming the broader tech sector, Salesforce shares are up just 6% in the past six months while the Nasdaq is up 17%. That likely reflects a worry among investors that a slowing growth rate is prompting Salesforce to make bigger... Salesforce, once the fast-moving disrupter of the enterprise software sector, is showing its age....
Photo: Bloomberg
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Slack Listing Will Test Wall Street Demand for Software Stocks

By Alfred Lee · Jun 6, 2019 7:00am PDT · 1 comment
Slack’s planned public listing later this month will be the next big test of Wall Street’s demand for tech stocks. Recent IPOs, of Uber and Lyft in particular, have disappointed. But Slack has the advantage of being in a sector—subscription software—that is a hot favorite with investors right now.The question is whether... Slack’s planned public listing later this month will be the next big test of Wall...
Photo by Bloomberg.
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What Lyft and Uber Are Really Worth

By Amir Efrati and Jessica Toonkel · Apr 17, 2019 6:31am PDT · 6 comments
With the 20% plunge from its offering price since its IPO, Lyft joins a large group of big-name tech IPOs that have slumped out of the gate, including Facebook, LinkedIn and Etsy. One of the big questions now is whether Lyft turns out to be like Facebook or Etsy, whose stock recovered and eventually turned into a winner, or like Blue Apron whose... With the 20% plunge from its offering price since its IPO, Lyft joins a large group of big-name...
Roku CEO Anthony Wood. Photo by AP
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Why Roku Acquisition Could Make Sense for Disney or Walmart

By Tom Dotan · Mar 19, 2019 12:41pm PDT · 3 comments
A few years ago, when Roku was still a private company with uncertain prospects, it would occasionally get acquisition offers from bigger companies. CEO Anthony Wood was never interested. Even when the streaming device maker was worth around $1 billion, he argued that one day he expected it to be worth 10 times that much, according to a person... A few years ago, when Roku was still a private company with uncertain prospects, it would...
Lyft CEO Logan Green. Photo by Bloomberg
Lyft’s Numbers Point to Potential $26 Billion IPO Valuation
By Amir Efrati and Cory Weinberg · Mar 1, 2019 2:59pm PST · 1 comment
Lyft CEO Logan Green. Photo by Bloomberg
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Lyft’s Numbers Point to Potential $26 Billion IPO Valuation

By Amir Efrati and Cory Weinberg · Mar 1, 2019 2:59pm PST · 1 comment
U.S. ride-hailing firm Lyft appears set to surpass its sought-after IPO valuation range of $20 billion to $25 billion, based on our analysis of its IPO filing on Friday. It could be valued at between $26 billion and $28 billion, given the company’s robust revenue growth in the fourth quarter. (See related article here.)That’s... U.S. ride-hailing firm Lyft appears set to surpass its sought-after IPO valuation range of $20...
Disney CEO Bob Iger. Photo by Bloomberg
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Streaming Video’s New Math

By Martin Peers · Feb 13, 2019 6:32am PST · 6 comments
As several of the big entertainment companies move toward the launch of Netflix-like video streaming services, the big questions for investors are how big a business will they build—and how much money will they lose along the way.To get a sense of that, we dug into some numbers. Consider this: To cover what we estimate could be the... As several of the big entertainment companies move toward the launch of Netflix-like video...
Time Warner's then CEO Jeff Bewkes, in the foreground, with AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson at a congressional hearing in December 2016. Photo by Bloomberg
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How Time Warner Shareholders Lost M&A’s Game of Thrones

By Martin Peers · Jan 24, 2019 10:01am PST · 1 comment
When big company mergers go south, it’s usually the buyer who has regrets. But in the case of AT&T’s $81 billion purchase of Time Warner, it is the sellers who are now likely to be feeling remorseful.Time Warner shareholders received a price for their stock 6.5% below what was announced, thanks to a blunder made by Time Warner... When big company mergers go south, it’s usually the buyer who has regrets. But in the case...
Photo by Shutterstock.com
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Social Media Backlash Leaves Pinterest Vulnerable

By Alfred Lee · Jan 9, 2019 7:01am PST · 6 comments
A big question hanging over the tech industry is how this year’s hotly anticipated IPOs will perform in the face of a tumultuous stock market. Among the expected major public offerings, one stands out as particularly vulnerable to recent market swings: Pinterest. Given the big stock slides of fellow social media companies Facebook, Twitter... A big question hanging over the tech industry is how this year’s hotly anticipated IPOs...
An Uber pickup zone at a shopping mall in Maryland. Photo by AP
Uber’s Confidential Documents Show Path to $90 Billion IPO
By Amir Efrati · Jan 7, 2019 7:01am PST · 3 comments
An Uber pickup zone at a shopping mall in Maryland. Photo by AP
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Uber’s Confidential Documents Show Path to $90 Billion IPO

By Amir Efrati · Jan 7, 2019 7:01am PST · 3 comments
When Wall Street banks last fall were pitching to take Uber public, some suggested the ride-hailing giant could hit the public market with a valuation of $120 billion. But given how much valuations have fallen with the stock market slump in recent weeks, Uber is more likely to fetch a valuation of a little less than $90 billion. That still would... When Wall Street banks last fall were pitching to take Uber public, some suggested the...