TOP NEWS
* New York Attorney General Letitia James launched an investigation into tech platforms, including but not limited to Amazon.com Inc.'s Twitch Interactive Inc., Discord Inc., 4chan and 8chan, to determine their potential roles in the mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y. The probe will focus on platforms the shooter may have used to stream, promote or plan the attack.
* Cisco Systems Inc. projected a year-over-year revenue decline of 1% to 5.5% for its fiscal fourth quarter. Cisco's revenue came in flat year over year at $12.8 billion in the fiscal third quarter ended April 30, with the war in Ukraine and COVID-19 lockdowns in China affecting its business.
➤ Data Dispatch: 'The Batman' boosts Latin America's film revenue with 193.2% YOY growth
Latin America's box office generated $100.8 million in the first three months of 2022, with Mexico, Brazil and Argentina continuing to report positive film earnings.
➤ Data Dispatch: Asia-Pacific box office records YOY losses amid rise in COVID-19 cases
South Korea was the only tracked market in the region to grow its film earnings, by 15.1% year over year, generating $85.8 million for the period under review.
➤ Technology: Solid fiber-to-the-home sales in Q4'21 soften 46% DSL decline
Fourth-quarter 2021 worldwide DSL revenues dropped sharply while fiber-to-the-home revenues were the highest they have been since the fourth quarter of 2020. On the vendor front, Huawei regained its global market lead following a soft third quarter.
TECHNOLOGY
* Microsoft Corp. was selected as American Airlines Group Inc.'s preferred cloud platform for airline applications and key workloads. The companies plan to use data and digital technologies to meet customer demands and streamline business processes, including bag tracking and automatic rerouting of flights based on weather conditions.
* Amazon launched its new Fire 7 and Fire 7 Kids tablets, which have starting prices of $59.99 and $109.99, respectively. Amazon said the tablets, which are now available for pre-order, come with larger RAM capacity and 40% longer battery life.
* Texas Instruments Inc. broke ground on its new semiconductor fabrication plants in Sherman, Texas, which have a potential investment cost of $30 billion. The company plans to build four fabrication facilities, which will manufacture analog and embedded processing chips and support 3,000 jobs.
* BlackBerry Ltd. disclosed its long-term financial targets, which include expanding its total annual revenue to $1.21 billion in fiscal year 2027 from $655 million in fiscal year 2022. The company aims to generate positive non-GAAP EPS and cash flow starting in fiscal year 2025.
INTERNET AND OTT
* Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company is not planning to cut jobs, although it has paused hiring for certain engineering roles, recruiters and low-level data scientists, The Verge reported, citing an internal company meeting. Meta also plans to pull back investments in certain products, including teams working on shopping features.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
* Verizon Communications Inc. is increasing its local capital spending in Texas by $97.9 million, citing the exponential and unexpected population increase in the state. Verizon said over 200,000 of its wireless customers moved to Texas between January 2020 and April 2022, leading to a spike in data traffic.
* Frontier Communications Parent Inc. aims to exceed its fiber build target of 1 million locations in 2022 by between 100,000 and 200,000 locations. The company plans to use the proceeds from a recently completed $1.2 billion debt offering to fund its fiber build-out.
* Altice USA Inc. launched its new Optimum 5 Gig Internet service in the New York Tri-State area. The company is also offering customers another speed option under the new Optimum 2 Gig Fiber Internet service.
FILM AND TV
* Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.'s portfolio exceeds the viewing of CBS (US), NBC (US), FOX (US) and ABC (US) among adults aged 25 to 54, Chief U.S. Advertising Sales Officer Jon Steinlauf said at the company's inaugural upfront presentation. Kathleen Finch, chairman and chief content officer of the U.S. networks group, also said the company premieres over 500 hours of programming monthly across its brands.
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