Tech Roundup: Earnings results and streaming TV set the week’s tone

Cisco Systems, FuboTV and a handful of big sports media deals with ties to streaming TV services led activity in the tech sector this past week as the latest earnings season slowly worked its way to a close.

Among those reporting results was Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO), which saw its shares get a boost of 6% a day after the networking giant reported strong quarterly results, and gave an outlook that suggested it is doing well to manage supply chain issues that have hampered many tech bellwethers for more than a year.

And, unlike other tech companies that have begun cutting jobs, to various degrees, Cisco (CSCO) said it will boost its spending my $1B over the next year in order to increase employees’ pay and encourage workers to remain with the company.

Along with Cisco (CSCO), Applied Materials (AMAT) also got a lift after the semiconductor equipment maker’s upbeat quarterly report and outlook helped to alleviate some concerns about a prolonged slowdown in the chip market.

Unfortunately, other chip companies such as Nvidia (NVDA) failed to rally in the immediate wake of Applied Materials’ (AMAT) results.

Meanwhile, streaming TV platform company FuboTV (NYSE: FUBO) held its first investor day meeting, and its shares surged by 45% as Fubo (FUBO) officials outlined a path to profitability that includes doubling sales between 2022 and 2025.

Among other streaming TV companies, Netflix (NFLX) was said to be planning on blocking downloads of movies and TV shows on its upcoming ad-supported subscription option. HBO Max (WBD) reportedly shut down its reality programming division, began cutting jobs as part of what are expected to be big changes at the streaming TV service, and removed more than 200 episodes of Sesame Street from its streaming library.

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), which is taking over the exclusive streaming rights of the National Football League’s Thursday Night Football, said those games will be included in Nielsen’s (NLSN) traditional weekly TV ratings. And Paramount Global (NASDAQ: PARA) renewed its deal for the U.S. broadcast and streaming rights for the UEFA Champions League soccer matches to the tune of $1.5B over six years beginning in 2024.

As the court case between Twitter (TWTR) and Elon Musk gets closer to happening, Musk’s lawyers subpoenaed a handful of advertising technology companies in order to acquire data on how they audit Twitter’s (TWTR) user numbers. Musk also began the week by posting column in China outlining his views on the future of society and technology. The column appeared in official publication of the Cyberspace Administration of China, the regulatory agency that oversees Chinese tech companies such as Alibaba (BABA) and JD.com (JD).

And Alibaba (BABA), JD.com (JD) and a handful of other Chinese tech companies took it on the chin after investor Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates disclosed it had sold off all of its holdings in Alibaba (BABA) and other well-know Chinese tech companies.

And with it coming toward the end of August, speculation began to grow about when Apple (AAPL) will hold its next company event in which it is expected to show off the iPhone 14.