Stock Markets

Golden Globes organizer mulls bid from interim CEO Boehly

Published

5 days ago

May 13, 2022

Golden Globes organizer mulls bid from interim CEO Boehly

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A view shows the Golden Globe statue before the 79th Annual Golden Globe Awards nominations announcement in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., December 13, 2021. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

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(Reuters) – The organizer of the Golden Globe awards is exploring strategic options including a takeover offer from interim Chief Executive Todd Boehly, the non-profit organization said on Friday.

Boehly’s proposal comes a week after a consortium led by the U.S. business tycoon clinched a $5.2 billion deal to buy Premier League club Chelsea.

The LA Dodgers part-owner’s investment vehicle Eldridge Industries LLC has worked out a term sheet with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) that allows the organization to solicit other offers and consider alternative deals.

“At least one other entity has already indicated interest in making a proposal,” the association said in a statement.

The HFPA, which hands out the annual Golden Globe awards for television and film, has formed a special committee to determine “potential outside strategic interest”, it said.

The offer comes at a time when the HFPA struggles to repair its reputation after Hollywood backlash over its ethics and lack of diversity, which led U.S. television network NBC to drop the Golden Globes ceremony in 2022.

Stock Markets

Cisco Shares Plunge 17% on Q3 Revenue Miss and Disappointing Outlook

Published

29 mins ago

May 18, 2022

letizo News

Cisco Shares Plunge 17% on Q3 Revenue Miss and Disappointing Outlook

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) shares dropped around 17% after-hours Wednesday following the company’s Q3 earnings results. While EPS of $0.87 came in better than the consensus estimate of $0.86, the revenue of $12.8 million (flat year-over-year) missed the consensus estimate of $13.34 million.

Product order growth was up 8% year-over-year. Total Annualized Recurring Revenue (ARR) grew 11% year-over-year to $22.4 billion.

The company expects Q4/22 EPS in the range of $0.76-$0.84, below the consensus of $0.92, and revenue growth in the range of (5.5)%-(1)%.

For the full 2022-year, the company expects EPS in the range of $3.29-$3.37, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.44. Revenue is expected to grow 2%-3% year-over-year.

Shares of Cisco were down 24% year-to-date going into the results.

By Davit Kirakosyan

Stock Markets

Cisco shares plunge after China lockdowns, Ukraine crisis hits outlook

Published

29 mins ago

May 18, 2022

letizo News

Cisco shares plunge after China lockdowns, Ukraine crisis hits outlook

(Reuters) – Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) cut its full-year earnings forecast on Wednesday after COVID lockdowns in China and the war in Ukraine dragged sales below estimates in the third quarter, sending shares down 13% in extended trading.

Cisco is the latest U.S. company to lay out a hit to earnings from Beijing’s “Zero COVID” policy that has worsened supply-chain issues and dampened demand for firms already under pressure from rising inflation.

Executives said ceasing operations in Russia and Belarus due to the ongoing conflict hurt revenue growth.

The company now expects revenue growth of 2% to 3% in fiscal 2022, compared with an earlier forecast of 5.5% to 6.5%.

“We believe that our revenue performance in the upcoming quarters is less dependent on demand and more dependent on the supply availability in this increasingly complex environment,” Chief Executive Officer Chuck Robbins said on a post-earnings call.

Its adjusted profit expectations of $3.29 to $3.37 per share were lowered from the $3.41 to $3.46 per share forecast earlier.

The company reported third-quarter adjusted profit of 87 cents on revenue of $12.8 billion, compared with expectations of 86 cents on revenue of $13.87 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

It expects fourth-quarter revenue to decline by 1% to 5.5%, while adjusted profit expectations of 76 cents to 84 cents per share were much below estimates of 92 cents.

Cisco shares were trading at $40 in extended trading, after closing 4.4% lower on Wednesday. They have lost about 23.7% so far this year.

Stock Markets

NASA set for Boeing’s Starliner uncrewed space capsule test

Published

29 mins ago

May 18, 2022

letizo News

NASA set for Boeing's Starliner uncrewed space capsule test

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The Atlas V rocket carrying Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner capsule is seen after the launch to the International Space Station was delayed for a do-over test flight in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. July 30, 2021. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo

By Joey Roulette

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) – NASA astronauts and officials on Wednesday said Boeing (NYSE:BA) Co’s Starliner space capsule is ready for its uncrewed launch this week to the International Space Station, a long-delayed test mission meant to demonstrate the aerospace giant can safely fly humans in space.

Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner capsule, a gumdrop-shaped astronaut pod, has experienced multiple setbacks in recent years. Software failures in 2019 nixed its debut attempt to dock at the space station. Fuel valve issues last year added nine months of further delays.

At 6:54 p.m. EDT (2254 GMT) on Thursday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Starliner is set to make another attempt at launching to the space station without any astronauts aboard, aiming to provide Boeing a much-needed success as the company strives to climb out of successive crises in its jetliner business and elsewhere in its space and defense unit.

“We wouldn’t be here right now if we weren’t confident that this would be a successful mission,” Butch Wilmore, a NASA astronaut likely to fly on Starliner’s first crewed flight sometime in the future, told reporters on Wednesday. “We’re ready. This spacecraft is ready.”

“The teams have been working really hard to get ready for this,” added Kathy Lueders, NASA’s space operations chief, underlining that the Starliner flight is a test mission. “We learned a lot from the first uncrewed demo (in 2019). We’re gonna learn a lot from the second one.”

Last year’s valve issues led Boeing to come up with temporary fixes for this week’s mission, company officials said on Tuesday, adding that longer-term fixes will be implemented after the mission. The issues have triggered conflict with one of Boeing’s key suppliers for Starliner, Reuters reported last week.

Starliner will attempt to dock to the space station on Friday and spend four to five days attached to the orbital outpost before returning to Earth. If all goes as planned, Starliner could fly its first crew of astronauts in the fall, though NASA officials caution that could get delayed.

Butch and NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, two of 44 in NASA’s active astronaut corps, had been assigned to the subsequent crewed test flight. But NASA officials, reluctant to tie down two of its astronauts to a flight whose launch date is uncertain, said on Wednesday the mission could carry at least two of a cadre of four astronauts training to test-fly Starliner.

Delays and engineering setbacks with Starliner have led Boeing to take $595 million in charges since the capsule’s 2019 failure. The spacecraft was developed with a $4.5 billion fixed-price NASA contract in a program that aims, with both Boeing and its rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX, to provide the U.S. space agency with two alternate astronaut rides to the space station.