Wall Street Breakfast Podcast: Amazon, Meta Back Trump Inauguration
Summary
- Amazon and Meta each donate $1M to Trump's inauguration fund, aiming to improve ties amid regulatory scrutiny and antitrust lawsuits against Big Tech.
- EVgo secures a $1.25B loan from the U.S. Department of Energy to expand its fast charging network, boosting its stock by nearly 10%.
- RH reports a 13% demand increase in Q3 despite a challenging housing market, driving shares up 17% premarket and 29% year-to-date.
- Google raises YouTube TV's monthly subscription fee by $10 to $82.99 due to rising content costs, reflecting broader industry price pressures.
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Amazon, Meta donating $1M each to Trump inauguration as Big Tech seeks better ties. (00:21) EVgo surges after securing $1.25B loan facility from U.S. Department of Energy. (01:47) RH soars after saying it defied the worst housing market in 30 years. (02:44)
This is an abridged transcript of the podcast.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Meta (NASDAQ:META) are donating $1M each to Donald Trump's inauguration fund, according to multiple media reports.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) will also air the January 20 event on Prime Video, which represents a separate in-kind donation worth another $1M.
Meta's (NASDAQ:META) donation followed its CEO Mark Zuckerberg's private meeting with Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort, while Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos will meet Trump next week.
The donations come as Trump has repeatedly pledged to end Big Tech censorship and protect free speech. Big Tech companies are also currently facing several antitrust lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny over AI deals.
Recall that Bezos, who owns The Washington Post, blocked the newspaper from endorsing any candidate during the presidential election to avoid "a perception of bias." During his first term, Trump criticized Bezos' ownership of the newspaper and its coverage of his administration.
At a recent event, Bezos said he's "very optimistic" about Trump's second term. "He seems to have a lot of energy around reducing regulation, and if I can help him do that, I am going to help him," he said at The New York Times' DealBook Summit.
Zuckerberg committed to remain neutral this election cycle. This made Trump soften his stance on the tech leader after years of accusing Meta (NASDAQ:META) of censoring conservative views on its social media platforms.
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) donated about $58,000 to Trump's 2017 inaugural fund, while Meta (NASDAQ:META) reportedly did not donate back then.
EVgo (NASDAQ:EVGO) is up nearly 10% premarket after saying it closed a $1.25B loan facility from the U.S. Department of Energy to support nationwide deployment of ~7,500 high-power fast charging stalls.
EVgo (EVGO) said the buildout would raise its total owned and operated network to at least 10K fast charging stalls, allowing the company to more than triple its network footprint by 2029.
The loan, which was made under the DoE's Title 17 Clean Energy Financing Program, follows receipt of a conditional commitment on October 3.
RH (NYSE:RH) reported that demand increased 13% in Q3, as the business saw a positive inflection despite operating in the worst housing market in 30 years.
Revenue was up 8.1% year-over-year at $811.7 million to match the consensus expectation.
RH (RH) said its growth is being driven by the namesake RH brand where November demand increased 24% with the introduction of the company's new RH Modern Sourcebook and has continued to accelerate into December with month to date demand up 30%.
Looking ahead, RH (RH) said it believes its collections reflect a level of design and quality inaccessible in the current market and a value proposition that is disruptive across multiple markets, which is seen positioning the company to gain significant market share for the foreseeable future.
Shares of RH (RH) are up 17% premarket after shedding 4.4% during the regular session on Thursday.
The stock is up 29% on a year-to-date basis. Short interest on RH stands at 10.1% of the total float.
And in case you missed it, Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) has raised the subscription price for YouTube TV by $10 to $82.99 per month, due to rising costs for content.
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Now let’s take a look at the markets as of 6 am. Ahead of the opening bell today, Dow, S&P and Nasdaq futures are in the green. Crude oil is up 0.7% at $70/barrel. Bitcoin is down 0.4% and above $100,000.
In the world markets, the FTSE 100 is up 0.1% and the DAX is up 0.3%.
The biggest movers for the day premarket: Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) is up 14% after reporting FQ4 results, showcasing a 44% Y/Y increase in full-year revenue to a record $51.6B.
On today’s economic calendar:
8:30 am Import/Export Prices
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