Are You Guilty as Charged, Oh Google?!

Hello Bestie!

TA-DA! I’m back! Oh yeah, your fav is back to give you the latest while it’s still hot! 😉

How’s your month going? And yeah! Is it just me or does August seem to be flying so fast? (like a superhero on a mission) 🤣🤣🤣

Well, hope you are doing well – If you’ve got any issues you know you can always count on me as your guy-guy!

I dey for you, always!!

Guilty as Charged!

Omo! Google has been caught red-handed (or should I say, found ranking no 1 on the first page of SERP for the keyword “Search Monopolist”) 🤣🤣🤣🤣

*Whispers* Google’s been paying BILLIONS to the big guys like Apple and Samsung to keep their search engine on top and now they’re in BIG trouble! 👀

So, the company got busted by a federal judge Amit P. Mehta of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.The judge said in a 277-page ruling that Google had abused a monopoly over the search business. Yeh! According to him, Google violated US antitrust law by maintaining a monopoly in the search and advertising markets. It was stated that the company has been paying other companies billions to keep their search engine on top, which is illegal.

Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” Judge Mehta said in his ruling.

Well, according to Professor Rebecca Haw Allensworth, a renowned antitrust expert at Vanderbilt University’s law school, this case against Google is the most significant antitrust case of the century. Notably, she predicts it’s just the beginning of a series of high-stakes cases poised to challenge the dominance of Big Tech.

Google’s president of global affairs, Kent Walker, went ahead to say that the ruling acknowledges Google’s search engine is the best but unfairly restricts Google from making its search engine easily accessible to users. He also stated that the company will keep making great products for our users. Google plans to appeal this decision. Yes! the company intends to challenge the ruling. We will see how that goes 🥱

A Dash of Pixie Dust!! ✨ ✨

WHOA!! You guys! Disney’s streaming division is finally making money! Yeah, I think a dash of pixie dust has finally been sprinkled on its finances! ✨

The company reported a profit, and it was really a big deal because it’s the first for its streaming business! After years of pouring money into Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, they finally made some profit! And I’m just talking about some little cash, we’re talking $47 million! C’mon! That’s a turnaround from last year’s $512 million loss.

However, in their report, the company stated that Disney’s parks division is having a bit of a meltdown! But don’t worry, they’re not saying people are avoiding the parks like a bad case of cholera… nope! They’re just experiencing a “moderation of consumer demand”. Yeah, that’s it!

BUT, despite the park problems, Disney’s overall earnings are still on fire! They made $1.39 per share, leaving the street’s expectations in the mud. Ouch!

And, their revenue? A cool $23.2 billion, which is even higher than last year! I mean, the company’s so confident that they even raised their guidance for full-year earnings growth to 30%!

Paramount

Paramount Global just reported a whopping $5.41 BILLION loss in their second quarter! I know, I know, it sounds like a total disaster, but hear me out… they actually beat Wall Street’s expectations! 😜😜

But hey, at least they didn’t quite hit the predicted loss of $8.12 per share. They tried… Hahaha!

The company’s revenue? Bruhh! It was a bit of a mess. 🤦‍♂ They brought in $6.81 billion, which is less than what the experts were expecting ($7.21 billion). Subscribers of its Paramount+ streaming service also fell by 2.8 million to 68 million… 👀

Also, Paramount Global mentioned that its cable TV channels (like CBS, MTV, and Nickelodeon) are worth $6 billion less than they thought and they were going to save $500 million by cutting costs and laying off 2,000 employees (15% of our US workers). Mmmmmh
This is happening because streaming services like Netflix are becoming more popular, and people are watching less traditional TV.

Surprisingly, investors are happy about the cuts, and the company’s shares went up 5% because they think this will help the company survive in the long run. Mmmmm…Maybe, just maybe, they are right.

Akamai, Not Playin’ Games

Akamai just dropped their second-quarter results, and like seriously, the result is sweeter than the first sip of a perfectly chilled soda on a scorching day! You get what I mean? But hold up, which is perfect for a scorching weather—Coke or Pepsi? 🤔🤔(Can’t believe I’m rethinking my entire beverage allegiance…hahaha)

Oya, come closer lemme tell you about it

Akamai Technologies is an American delivery company that provides content delivery network, cybersecurity, DDoS mitigation, and cloud services. Their revenue came in at $979.6 million! Bruh, they smashed analyst expectations like it was nothing!

But wait, that’s not all. They spent $128 million just in Q2 of 2024 to buy back 1.4 million shares of their stock at an average price of $94.29! These guys know how to play the game, man. You know when a company buys back shares, they are simply saying, “We know our worth, so we’re investing in ourselves.” Plus, with 152 million shares still out there as of June 30, 2024, they’re keepin’ it tight, my guy!

For Q3, Akamai is aiming to crush it again with a revenue projection between $988 million and $1.01 billion whereas analysts expect an average of $996.7 million. And as for adjusted net income? They’re calling for $1.56 to $1.62 per share!

Akamai right now 👇🏼