TechCheck

We all lived through the SPAC boom of 2021 – when the blank check mergers accounted for 61% of all U.S. public listings that year… and the subsequent bust, with at least a dozen going bankrupt since then and more than a hundred now running low on cash. But even though many stopped paying attention to them, SPACs continued to live on. Now, two years later, there are signs of a resurgence, and some investors are seeing new opportunities. This week on Tech Check, zombie SPACs – back from the dead.

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Calculating who is set to lose the most in the showdown between Disney and Charter is complex. Disney could lose contract fees for Charter’s 15 million subscribers, but the dispute is also driving a huge jump in Hulu + Live TV subs. Disney owns 67% of Hulu, but will also soon renegotiate ownership with Comcast. Plus, AI is increasingly playing a role in sports, most recently in this year’s U.S. Open. The USTA has been using IBM’s Watson AI to provide commentary, working to translate it into every possible language, and has even correctly forecast who’s most likely to win a match.  

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China is an ever-present risk for Apple, but this week it's front and center on reports that China, which makes up 19% of Apple's revenue, is restricting the use of iPhones at government agencies, and the resurgence of Huawei - its new Mate 60 Pro smartphone is seen as the first significant threat to Apple's dominance in the market in years. Widely-followed hedge fund manager Dan Niles joins to discuss those headwinds and why Apple is now his largest single-stock short. 

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A new report today forecasts a 5% increase in U.S. ad revenue this year, but says the TV ad sector is experiencing an "existential crisis" amid an ongoing showdown between Charter and Disney that's caused sports programming blackouts for millions just as the NFL season kicks off. Plus, a top Apple analyst breaks down why shares are down today, citing two big decisions against the company - the EU naming Apple, among others, a gatekeeper under its Digital Markets Act, and Chinese officials told they can't use iPhones for work or bring them into the office. 

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The tech moguls and investors at this year's Burning Man also had to endure torrential downpours that caused campsite flooding and foot-deep mud. But one venture capitalist said that after getting over the mini panic attack of being stuck, most people embraced it. Plus, Disney has been butting heads with cable giant Charter over contract fees that has left millions without access to U.S. Open, college football and potentially Monday Night Football programming. Will this time show that Disney might not have the leverage it once did?

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SPACs are back and volatile as ever. But the class of 2021 has settled somewhat, and that's where some investors are seeing opportunity. Proem Asset Management CIO Imran Khan, who also led Alibaba and Snap’s IPOs, says he's picked up shares in the banking app Dave, OpenDoor, and super app Grab because of what he calls arbitrage between private and public market valuations. 

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After all that activist pressure, Marc Benioff’s M&A spending spree may seem like it’s ended – but in the past year, Salesforce has only been ramping up investments in AI startups. It’s funded at least seven, including leading a $200 million funding round for startup Hugging Face. Tonight’s numbers are set to show investors whether Benioff has more room to run, or will instead bring back more scrutiny. Plus, ETFs are closing at a record pace as niche funds targeting fads like crpyto, the metaverse, and Gen Z wane in popularity. On the flip side, the number of the less buzzy bond ETFs are soaring. 

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Nvidia’s stock rise this year has been nothing short of meteoric. The chipmaker is at the heart of the AI boom as the supplier of chips that are required to build and run the likes of ChatGPT and other generative AI technologies. On this week of TechCheck Weekly, Deirdre Bosa digs into how Nvidia dominates this technological sea change and who is trying to challenge the chipmaker’s rule.

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Nvidia’s blowout earnings is flexing its dominance in AI. Revenue at its data center segment, which includes AI chips like the A100 and H100, jumped 141% just from the last quarter. But are the cracks in that already beginning to show? Competition is beginning to emerge – on a software level from startups working on tools to reduce the cost of training and running machine learning models, and on the hardware front – from chipmakers and cloud service providers starting to produce their own AI chips. 

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Can Nvidia do it again? Its blowout last quarter fueled a 220% rally this year and sent the market into an AI craze. Amid sky-high expectations, it might be the most crucial print of the season. The chipmaker has been the biggest contributor to the Nasdaq 100’s rally this year, and the options market is now bracing for a 10% move.

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