Disney accomplished a rare achievement for a traditional media company: its streaming service generated a profit — with some limitations. But Wall Street was still dissatisfied, sending stocks down more than 9%. Disney had its worst stock trading day in 18 months.

Disney (DIS), fresh off a bruising (and ridiculously expensive) boardroom proxy battle last month, made $47 million in profit from Disney+ and Hulu for the first time ever. However, Disney’s other streaming product, ESPN+, continued to lose customers and dollars, bringing the total streaming loss to $18 million.

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Disney Just Had Its Worst Day In A Year And A Half

That’s a lot of money, but it’s a significant improvement over the $659 million deficit the collective streaming business suffered in the same period last year.

Wall Street is always looking ahead to future growth, so the expected decline next quarter sent investors into a frenzy.

“They delivered some pretty good results,” said Paul Verna, eMarketer’s main analyst. “What the Street seems to be reacting to is the guidance for some softness in entertainment streaming next quarter.”

Disney expects the merged streaming operation to be profitable by the end of its fiscal year in September.

Of course, “getting to profitability is one thing,” Verna explained. “Sustaining it is another.”

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Disney Just Had Its Worst Day In A Year And A Half

Disney is amid an unpleasant transformation nobody could have predicted a decade ago. Imagine telling CEO Bob Iger in 2014 that one day his firm, a die-hard movie-making, intellectual-property-mastering Hollywood giant, would be competing with software nerds like Apple and Amazon, hoping to catch up with that little DVD distribution provider, Netflix.

But that’s basically what’s going on.

Streaming is a new(ish) and very different beast from the old cable TV model that Disney and other media conglomerates like Paramount, Viacom, and Warner Bros. Discovery (CNN’s parent company) have relied on for decades to boost profit margins.

However, years of cord-cutting mean that cable’s gravy train is ending, and firms like Disney must figure out how to continue producing fantastic TV and movies while simultaneously capturing streaming consumers before Netflix eats their lunch.

“It is a very tough business,” Verna added. “Profit margins are lower…” Maybe it’s psychological, but it’s almost as if these corporations that have built entire businesses around the cable model find it difficult to let go and accept that their future will look different.”

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Disney Just Had Its Worst Day In A Year And A Half

Streaming is only one of several headaches for Disney. It has had a string of box-office disappointments (“The Marvels,” “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” “Haunted Mansion”). Iger has been attempting to carry out an ambitious turnaround strategy, resulting in thousands of layoffs and the costly merging of its India divisions while battling off activist investors in a shareholder drama worthy of an eight-episode television series. And in the midst of it all, Iger, 73, is reportedly lining up a successor to take over when his contract expires in two years.

Tuesday’s market reaction demonstrates that Wall Street has “more questions than answers for earnings over the next couple of quarters,” according to Brian Mulberry, a portfolio manager at Zacks Investment Management. “While it is a relief, I am sure, to have the battle over board seats behind them, it now creates more focus on results.

SOURCE – (AP)

This year, Apple will confront numerous hurdles, including regulatory scrutiny in Washington, sluggish sales in China, and a competitive AI field. Now, its authorities must deal with labor unrest.

Shop employees in Towson, Maryland, made history in June 2022 by voting to create the first union at one of the tech giant’s elegant US storefronts. Since 2023, the workers outside of Baltimore have been in contract negotiations with management. Workers are considering a strike.

The Maryland workers are holding a strike authorization vote on Saturday, claiming that management has yet to meet their basic demands. This is one of the strongest labor actions conducted against the Big Tech corporation to date, and it’s far from the only labor issue they are facing in the United States.

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Apple Faces Growing Labor Unrest At Its Retail Stores

This weekend, employees in New Jersey will hold a union election. In addition, the National Labor Relations Board upheld a ruling this week that accused Apple of union-busting efforts in New York City. The corporation is also currently facing unfair labor practice complaints before labor judges.

The labor wave that has slammed Apple retail locations is similar to the mass organization that has begun at other major corporations in the United States, such as Starbucks and Amazon. As Apple became the world’s first $3 trillion company, a tight labor market following the Covid-19 outbreak revealed labor conditions and disparities that front-line workers in shops and warehouses faced.

“It speaks to a growing frustration among workers and also a contagion in labor activity, which is when one group of workers stands up and inspires others,” said Kate Bronfenbrenner, Director of Labor Education Research at Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

So far, workers at two Apple stores in Towson, Maryland, and Oklahoma City have decided to unionize. However, this weekend’s union vote in New Jersey and other attempts across the country may only be the beginning.

Apple is a well-known company, and many Americans own at least one of its products.

“This entire area of the economy, which previously had little activity, has suddenly become active. The potential walkout by Apple employees will catalyze other workers, according to Bronfenbrenner.

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Apple Faces Growing Labor Unrest At Its Retail Stores

“At Apple, we work hard to give our retail team members a fantastic experience and empower them to provide amazing support to our consumers. We cherish our team members and are delighted to offer them industry-leading wages and benefits. “As always, we will engage with the union representing our team in Towson in a respectful and good-faith manner,” an Apple spokeswoman told CNN via email.

According to the union’s release, the Maryland workers are considering a strike because, after more than a year of negotiations, management has yet to provide solutions to core issues such as “work-life balance, unpredictable scheduling practices that disrupt personal lives, and wages that do not reflect the cost of living in the area.”

A strike sanction vote does not mean the store will go on strike. It’s one phase in a longer process that culminates in a final strike authorization vote.

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Apple Faces Growing Labor Unrest At Its Retail Stores

The employees at the Maryland Apple Store are part of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Coalition of Organized Retail Employees (IAM COTE).

“This strike sanction vote sends a strong message that workers want Apple to recognize the need for an equitable and respectful work environment for all of its employees,” IAM District 4 Directing Business Representative Jay Wadleigh said in a statement.

SOURCE – (CNN)

When submitted from outside its platform, TikTok will start categorizing content using artificial intelligence.

TikTok claims its initiatives are intended to counteract misinformation on its social media platforms.

“AI enables incredible creative opportunities, but it can confuse or mislead viewers if they don’t know the content was AI-generated,” the business said in a prepared statement Thursday. “Labeling helps make that context clear—which is why we label AIGC made with TikTok AI effects, and have required creators to label realistic AIGC for over a year.”

The move is part of a larger effort by individuals in the technology industry to strengthen protections for AI use. Meta stated in February that it was working with industry partners to develop technical standards to make it easier to identify photos and, eventually, video and audio generated by artificial intelligence algorithms. Facebook and Instagram users could read labels on AI-generated photographs in their feeds.

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TikTok Will Start Labeling AI-Generated Material When Technology Becomes More Mainstream.

Last year, Google said AI labels would be coming to YouTube and its other services.

In October, US President Joe Biden signed an executive order promoting digital watermarking and labeling AI-generated content.

TikTok announced collaborating with the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity to leverage its Content Credentials platform.

The company claims that the technology can attach metadata to information, instantly recognizing and categorizing AI-generated content. TikTok announced Thursday that it began using the feature on photos and videos and will soon expand to audio-only content.

In the future months, material Credentials will be tied to TikTok material and will remain on it when downloaded. This will let people recognize AI-generated material on TikTok and determine when, where, and how it was created or altered. Other platforms using Content Credentials will be able to automatically label it.

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TikTok Will Start Labeling AI-Generated Material When Technology Becomes More Mainstream.

TikTok claims to be the first video-sharing platform to use the credentials and will join the Adobe-led Content Authenticity Initiative to assist in boosting their adoption throughout the industry.

“TikTok is the first social media platform to support Content Credentials, and with over 140 million users in the United States alone, their platform and their vast community of creators and users are an essential piece of that chain of trust needed to increase transparency online,” Dana Rao, Adobe’s executive vice president, general counsel, and chief trust officer, wrote in a blog post.

TikTok’s previous policy encouraged users to flag AI-generated or drastically modified videos. Now, the company requires users to label any AI-generated content, including realistic visuals, audio, or video.

“Our users and creators are so excited about AI and what it can do for their creativity and their ability to connect with audiences,” Adam Presser, TikTok’s Head of Operations, Trust, and Safety, told ABC News. “At the same time, we want to make sure that people have that ability to understand what fact is and what is fiction.”

The announcement first appeared on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Thursday.

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TikTok Will Start Labeling AI-Generated Material When Technology Becomes More Mainstream.

TikTok’s AI actions come just two days after the company announced that it and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, had filed a lawsuit challenging a new American law that would prohibit the video-sharing app from operating in the United States unless sold to an approved buyer, claiming that it unfairly singles out the platform and is an unprecedented attack on free speech.

The complaint is the latest development in what appears to be a protracted legal battle for TikTok’s future in the United States — one that could end up before the Supreme Court. If TikTok loses, it says it will be forced to close next year.

SOURCE – (AP)