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The 'villain' in Reddit's GameStop investor saga is shutting down
Melvin Capital, the hedge fund 'nemesis' of Reddit's GameStop investors, is shutting down.
Nasdaq plans to offer bitcoin futures in early 2018
Bitcoin continues to grow, hitting a $11,000 price per coin valuation less than a day after it topped $10,000. The cryptocurrency has been normalizing with investors, getting its own federally-regulated exchange this past July. Now, Nasdaq is planning to launch contracts for bitcoin futures in the first half of 2018, according to The Wall Street Journal, which will enable investors to predict and put money on the future price of the currency.
PayPal can help you save and invest money with the Acorns app
PayPal is funding several new digital services lately. You can send cash to your friends via the money service using Facebook Messenger, Skype and even PayPal's own money cards. The company also makes it easy to pool money for gifts and tip Twitch streamers. Now you can fund your Acorn investment account with PayPal, too, making it easier to take care of your financial future.
Wells Fargo will use 'robo-advisers' to dish out investment help
You won't have to go to a dedicated, tech-focused firm to get investment help from machines instead of humans. Wells Fargo has revealed that it's using SigFig's "robo-advisers" to offer guidance to investors. The sometimes troubled bank will launch a pilot program for the AI helpers sometime in the first half of 2017. It's not certain when you could see it widely available, but that will likely depend on the test's success.
Fresh crowdfunding rules give you a bigger stake in startups
If you've ever wanted to support a young company beyond pledging money toward its products, it's time to act. After years of waiting, the US has enacted new rules that make it much easier to crowdfund a company through investments. Before, you had to be an accredited investor with some wealth (making over $200,000 per year, or a net worth of over $1 million) to contribute significant money and get a stake. Now, anyone can invest $2,000 or more online and get a say. Companies can't raise more than $1 million per year through this method, but that could frequently be enough to get the ball rolling.
Amazon's Echo speaker guides you through workouts
Amazon must want to help you fulfill your New Year's resolutions, since it just updated the Echo speaker with a handful of features meant to get your life in shape. To begin with, you can ask Alexa to start a 7-minute workout -- the voice-guided cylinder will coach you every step of the way. You can also get your investments on track thanks to a Fidelity feature that tells you how individual stocks are doing. And if you're more interested in how political leaders fare this year, you can ask the Echo when the next Democratic or Republican debate will take place. The additions won't change your life, but they're definitely cheaper than visiting the gym or a financial guru.[Image credit: AP Photo/Mark Lennihan]
You don't have to be a millionaire to invest in Fig's next video game
Crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter don't deal in investments: Backers pledge money to a project and that's generally where their involvement ends. No purchasing shares, no percentage of final sales. Video game-funding platform Fig, however, combines this traditional form of crowdfunding with actual investment -- and it will allow unaccredited people to invest in its next campaign. This move opens up investment to people who aren't SEC-accredited, meaning they don't make at least $200,000 a year (or have a minimum net worth of $1 million). "We believe that fans, in addition to having the opportunity to participate in the rewards-only tiers, should also have the opportunity to buy shares and participate in the financial success of a title," Fig CEO Justin Bailey says in a press release.
Invest in the development of your favorite video games with 'Fig'
When Double Fine launched a Kickstarter campaign for an unnamed adventure game in 2012, it changed the gaming industry in a huge way. The project asked for $400,000 but raised more than $3 million in about a month, setting records at the time and jump-starting the video game crowdfunding craze. And then, in 2013, Double Fine announced it needed more money to finish its adventure game, now titled Broken Age. Even with millions of dollars, widespread publicity and thousands of fans, Double Fine ran into costly issues during development, and not all backers were receptive to the studio's reasoning. Some of them wanted more say in how the game was made, seeing their donation as a legitimate stake in Broken Age's development -- something that the Kickstarter campaign never promised. Flash forward to August 2015: Former Double Fine COO Justin Bailey launches Fig, a video game crowdfunding platform that offers investment opportunities with cash returns and promises to provide backers with an inside look at how game development actually goes down.
Report: Ouya gets $10 million investment from Alibaba
Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba invested $10 million into microconsole maker Ouya last month, The Wall Street Journal reported. The two companies have seemingly agreed to bring Ouya's software and game library to Alibaba's set-top box. Ouya announced its Ouya console-less ambitions in March 2014, dubbed "Ouya Everywhere." The initiative allows Ouya to run its software on other devices, starting with Mad Catz's MOJO microconsole. Ouya raised $8.6 million on Kickstarter in 2012, first launching in July 2013. The system didn't generate much revenue for developers as just 27 percent of Ouya owners purchased a game in its first month. Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman would not confirm Alibaba's investment, but did tell Engadget that the company has "been working with partners to bring our platform and games library to their devices." She said that Ouya is "live with Madcatz in the US and working with Xiaomi in China. There are a number of others in the works, with our focus outside the US because there is where we see the most opportunity and growth. Sometimes new markets leapfrog the established ones -- this may be one of those cases." The Chinese government lifted its 14-year ban on foreign consoles and video games just over one year ago, issuing a new set of content restrictions for manufacturers this past April. Reports from December found that gaming revenues in the country grew 38 percent year-over-year. The other major console manufacturers are poised to enter the emerging market: While Sony delayed the launch of the PS4 in China earlier this month, Microsoft already reportedly sold over 100,000 Xbox One systems in its introductory week back in October. Nintendo revealed plans in May to approach emerging markets such as China with new hardware this year.
Scutify puts the bells and whistles on Wall Street
Scutify is a combination of many things, but it's mainly a social network built around the stock market. Monitor your important stocks and their current prices, get into trading and investing and chat about them with other members of Scutify. Post questions or status updates called "scuttles" to get the conversation going, which look like long, intelligent tweets. The app also integrates with Tradier Brokerage for investors to do what they do best and Twitter. Scutify is free for iPhone and iPad and requires iOS 7.0 or later. If you stare at Scutify for too long on your iPhone, your brain actually starts to hurt. Trending company logos at the top, a scrolling stock ticker underneath, investors' current opinions of the market, latest scuttles, plus a cluster of navigation options - it's a lot to take in. It feels like a software representation of all the chaos happening on CNBC during just about any program. The app is never void of content because right off the bat, Scutify appears to follow popular accounts at random. It feels weird at first but makes sense rather than just having a blank feed until you follow people. Above these latest scuttles from people are statistics about the market. Companies that are trending, an interactive stock ticker, and what's called the Scutify Sentiment giving a general consensus on whether stocks and the community surrounding them are bullish or bearish. If you tap a stock, the app brings up detailed information about its current price and pulls in relevant tweets and news articles. Use the search tool at the top to search for any stock in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada or India. You also get your own profile by tapping what appears to be a Dashboard icon at the top to view your own scuttles, track your follower account, see tweets relevant to the stocks you follow and more. To post a new scuttle, tap the New Post icon and type up to 500 characters with or without an image. The slide-in menu does absolutely nothing to consolidate an already disorderly app. Menu options here are Latest Scuttles, Premium Scuttles, Companies, Commodities, All-Star Users, Latest Articles, Trending 20 Index, Scutify's separate Sentiment app and that's not even the entire list. I'm drowning in everything Scutify is trying to pile into this app. To make matters worse, the navigation is just as confusing as it is cluttered. "My Dashboard," something that normally refers to a home screen is actually your profile while "Home" is for your Home screen. Also, Latest Scuttles displays a list of posts from other users, "My Scuttle List" is a list of stocks you're following. Are scuttles stocks or posts? The breadth of features Scutify offers investors and business enthusiasts in its app is extraordinary. In fact, I haven't even scratched the surface of what it's capable of. Unfortunately, I don't think anyone would ever be able to efficiently or effectively browse through the entirety of Scutify without yearning for some fresh outside air or a glass of wine by the time they close the app. Far too much is going on to the point that it's just plain difficult to use. At least on the iPad app, Scutify has more room to work with and does take great advantage of the larger display to showcase all of its features. Ultimately though if you're looking for a stock trading app, keep browsing until you find one that doesn't give you a headache.
Nexon, Wargaming, Zynga CEO back mobile startup fund
Venture capital firm London Venture Partners is offering initial funding for mobile game development startups. The firm plans to invest between $50,000 and $500,000 into developers that are primarily in Europe. LVP General Partner Paul Heydon told TechCrunch that the firm plans to invest in 20 to 25 projects "of up to half a million dollars each over the lifetime of the fund." The money is coming from Asian publisher Nexon, World of Tanks creator Wargaming and Zynga CEO Don Mattrick. London Venture Partners includes former Atari CEO David Gardner with Microsoft's Corporate VP Phil Harrison serving as a special advisor. Harrison joined Gardner's firm in May 2010. LVP's previous investments include Clash of Clans developer Supercell, the now-Zynga-owned Backbreaker studio NaturalMotion, as well as development platform Unity. [Image: London Venture Partners]
GameStop may seek exclusive content during a game's development
GameStop is contemplating taking a greater interest in games during their development in order to secure exclusive content. Colin Sebastian of investment firm R.W. Baird recently discussed GameStop's future with the retailer, then told investors in a note that GameStop "indicated that software publishers are more enthusiastic about partnering with it." For example, publishers may offer "exclusive content on each major game release," and in longer terms, "future models may include GameStop offering exclusive gameplay" for games. While GameStop already secures exclusive content for some major releases, this means the retailer may involve itself earlier in the development process than usual. As Sebastian clarified to GamesBeat, the retailer would be "getting involved at the time of game development where there could be some content exclusive to [the retailer] included in the game." GameStop spokesperson Jackie Smith also added that the company is working with development partners "to get both physical and digital exclusives for our customers." [Image: GameStop]
Equity crowdfunding is coming, but not on Kickstarter
Think you can do a better job than wealthy venture capitalists at sussing out potential winners and losers in game development? You'll soon be able to put your money where your mouth is thanks to a new wave of up-and-coming crowdfunding sites that will be offering equity instead of plushies and in-game digital goods. In the wake of Oculus' $2 billion Facebook deal, The Verge has published a piece that asks what one of the Rift's original $300.00 Kickstarter backers would've gained had they been actual investors instead of donators. The answer is a cool $43,500, or a substantial 145x ROI. Kickstarter, for now at least, won't be jumping on the equity bandwagon. "We believe the real disruption comes from people supporting things because they like them, rather than finding things that produce a good return on investment," CEO Yancey Strickler told Popular Science.
Limbo investor funds indie sleepwalker Back to Bed
Sleepwalking puzzler Back to Bed is back on track thanks to assistance from Danish investment firm Capnova. The investment prompted the team of students from the Danish National Academy of Digital Interactive Entertainment (DADIU) to form an official studio now known as Bedtime Digital Games. Capnova's history of video game investments include Playdead's Limbo, PressPlay's Max and the Magic Marker and Full Control's digital adaptation of Space Hulk for iPad. Bedtime Digital Games Project Manager Klaus Pederson told Polygon that the funding from Capnova will make a second game from the developer possible. Back to Bed was scheduled to arrive in late December 2013 before being pushed back during the developer's restructuring. Players guide a sleepwalker through dreamlike, 3D puzzle-platforming environments in the game, which will come to PC, Mac, Linux , iOS, Android and Ouya. The developer earned $13,312 on Kickstarter in March 2013 to initially fund the game. [Image: Bedtime Digital Games]
EA finds itself in third law firm's iron sights over Battlefield 4 issues
EA has been under a lot of scrutiny lately. First, law firm Holzer Holzer & Fistel, LLC launched an investigation to uncover whether or not the company deliberately misled investors on the state of Battlefield 4 and the game's impact on company revenue. Then, law firm Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, LLP filed a class action lawsuit against the publisher. Now, law firm Bower Piven has likewise filed for a class action lawsuit, and is currently seeking a lead plaintiff. Investors who lost more than $200,000 between July 24 and December 4 of this year have until February 17, 2014 to contact Bower Piven, should they wish to take up the mantle of lead plaintiff. The law firm alleges that EA violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 by failing to disclose the game's multitude of issues before release, which in turn left investors unable to make informed choices about their investments. EA's stock declined sharply following the announcement that future DICE projects would be put on hold until Battlefield 4 was fixed, hence Bower Piven's case. This legal kerfuffle is starting to look like a regular battle(field).
Apple and the Gambler's Fallacy
For reasons that often defy explanation, the news swirling around Apple always tends to be framed in a negative light. Despite Apple's success and unparalleled ability to release hit product after hit product over a multi-year stretch, many in the tech industry would have you believe that Apple's demise is right around the corner. Horace Dediu this past August touched on this briefly while discussing Apple's share price. At this point of time, as at all other points of time in the past, no activity by Apple has been seen as sufficient for its survival. Apple has always been priced as a company that is in a perpetual state of free-fall. Indeed, if you pay any attention to the assortment of pundits, analysts and folks in the mainstream press who get paid to cover Apple, the company has seemingly been on the verge of collapse for years. Rather than seeing Apple's accomplishments as proof positive that it knows what it's doing, Apple's success is often touted as the very reason why it's doomed to flounder in the future. This notion is otherwise referred to as the gambler's fallacy. The gambler's fallacy is the mistaken belief that past events make the occurrence of a future event statistically less probable. The most common example of this flawed logic is in assuming that flipping two heads in a row on successive coin flips increases the odds that the next flip will yield tails. We've seen this play out with Apple many times over the past few years. To that end, here are 10 years' worth of analyst reports about Apple summarized in just a few sentences: Sure, the iPod was a game-changer, but Apple has nowhere to go now but down. Okay, the iPhone was revolutionary, but there's absolutely no way lightning can strike thrice. Wow, the iPad sure took the tech world by storm, but what are the odds that Apple can come out with yet another game-changing device? Apple's best days are clearly behind it. The narrative surrounding Apple is typically one of gloom and doom, with news reports often spun in such a way to fit some preconceived conclusion that Apple is destined to fail at any moment. To wit, here are a few examples detailing how tech pundits and bonehead analysts often try and spin stories about Apple. If Apple doesn't lower prices, its marketshare will take a hit If Apple lowers prices, its margins will take a hit If Apple's quarterly earnings beat on revenue, its profits that matter If Apple's quarterly earnings beat on profits, revenue is what matters If retailers like Walmart begin discounting iPhones, they must not be selling well If Android devices are heavily discounted, it's trouble for Apple ahead Now, the gambler's fallacy is truly meant to describe events that are inherently random, like the flip of a coin. That said, it's strange that this flawed logic is still applied to Apple when success in the tech world is slightly more ordered than random. In other words, if we take a look at an assortment of tech companies today, one can make reasonably educated guesses as to which are best positioned to drive innovation in the coming years. We can look at each of those companies' product portfolios, their leadership teams and a number of other factors to help paint a more vivid picture about which ones are more likely to thrive in the uber-competitive world of tech. In Apple's case, the company has billions of dollars in the bank, an impressive product line across the board and an impressive track record of introducing innovative new products and features that have historically set a new bar for others in the industry. None of this guarantees that Apple's innovation train will continue riding along unabated, but it's enough of a reason to take a "wait and see" approach instead of blindly proclaiming, without rhyme or reason, that Apple's future is doomed simply on account of its past success.
Activision completes purchase of itself from Vivendi
Activision's buyback of $8.2 billion of its own shares from Vivendi has been completed, the publisher announced today. It was just yesterday that the Delaware Supreme Court overturned a September ruling that halted the purchase, which followed a lawsuit by an Activision Blizzard shareholder in August. The shareholder alleged a "breach of fiduciary duties, waste of corporate assets and unjust enrichment" on Activision's behalf. The publisher's purchase from Vivendi amounts to 429 million of its own shares for $5.83 billion. Additionally, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and Co-Chairman Brian Kelly purchased 172 million shares for $2.34 billion in a separate transaction. Activision is now officially an independent company, majority owned by its shareholders. "The shares Activision Blizzard purchased in the transaction will no longer be treated as outstanding, leaving the majority of the remaining 690 million shares in the hands of public shareholders," Activision noted in today's announcement. Activision said yesterday that it expected the purchase to be completed on October 15. The transaction came about four days ahead of schedule, as someone must have sprinted to the bank this morning.
Twitch gets $20 million in funding, Take-Two among investors
Twitch has earned $20 million from investors, the company announced. Among the Series C, or third round of investors is Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two, though it is uncertain how much the publisher invested in the video game live-streaming company. The investment round is appropriately timed ahead of the PS4 and Xbox One launches, as Twitch will offer its streaming services on both consoles. Twitch added that its viewership has grown to 45 million unique visitors per month, and expects that number to increase thanks to these next-gen, broadcast-capable systems. Twitch noted that the investment round was led by Thrive Capital, with Take-Two and WestSummit Capital "participating" in the funding. Current investors Alsop Louie Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners also invested more money into the company.
Best Buy founder ever closer to finalizing company buyout bid
Best Buy founder Richard Schulze may have stepped down as chairman of the board, but he's certainly not out. His plan to buy the turbulent company has reached the next step -- an agreement which pre-empts the formal offer. Schulze now has access to all the private numbers he'll need to put together an investor group within the 60-day timeframe. And, if this round is unsuccessful, it'll be next January before another bid can go to the Board of Directors, followed by direct shareholder offers if the second attempt fails. Given that Schulze owns 20 percent of Best Buy, he gets two seats-worth of voting power as long as he sticks to the agreed process. So, with a new CEO taking the reigns in September and the acquisition machinery in top gear, is there fresh hope for the big box retailer?
FTC and Facebook settle privacy dispute, skip the fine
Well, Mark Zuckerberg is finally trying to make things right after admitting to a "bunch of mistakes" when dealing with user privacy on his juggernaut of a social network. The FTC and Facebook had agreed to settle the dispute in November, and now the final details of the deal have been ironed out. Noticeably missing from the list of concessions is cash. The government isn't asking Facebook to cough up any dough as part of the settlement -- avoiding the sort of hefty fine that Google recently found itself on the wrong end of. The company will, however, have drastically revamp how it handles user data and subject itself to privacy audits every two years for 20 years. Customers will now be provided with "clear and prominent" warnings any time information is shared. And, before anything can be shared, users must give express consent to for that information to be distributed. Ideally, these measures would have been in place on day one, but we'll take what we can get at this point. For more details, check out the FTC's press release after the break.
