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Entertainment

Jeffrey Dahmer Halloween costumes being removed from eBay

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CNN
 — 

Netflix’s hit series “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” has sparked renewed interest in the notorious serial killer just in time for Halloween season, but at least one online retailer is shutting down sales of Dahmer costumes.

A spokesperson for eBay confirmed to CNN in an email listings described as Jeffrey Dahmer costumes are banned on the platform and are being removed under its “Violence and Violent Criminal Policy.

The policy states, “Listings that promote or glorify violence or violent acts, or are associated with individuals who are notorious for committing violent acts, are not allowed.”

The spokesperson added the ban of Dahmer costumes was not a new or recent decision.

The series has sparked heated debate for its portrayal of the serial killer. Some critics, like Sara Stewart writing for CNN, have suggested despite its attempt to focus on Dahmer’s victims, the show veers on the insensitive – especially because some of the victims’ families have said they were not consulted before being portrayed.

But the show, starring Evan Peters, has been extremely popular: It amassed more than 196 million viewing hours in the first week after its release.
Dahmer murdered and dismembered seventeen men and boys, most of whom were Black, in Wisconsin between 1978 and 1991. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1992 and was beaten to death by a fellow inmate in 1994.

As of Saturday afternoon, searching “Jeffrey Dahmer costume” on eBay still brings up some listings, like clear glasses resembling those worn by the real-life Dahmer and Peters playing Dahmer in “Monster.” And other online retailers like Etsy also appear to be selling kits of blonde wigs, clear glasses, and orange jumpsuits labeled as Jeffrey Dahmer costumes.

Gymnast Simone Biles has also spoken out against the costumes, writing, “put the jeffrey dahmer costumes back in the closet,” on Twitter last week.



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Business

New minimum tax could hit Berkshire Hathaway and Amazon hardest, study shows

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Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett seen at the annual Berkshire shareholder shopping day in Omaha, Nebraska, U.S., May 3, 2019.

Scott Morgan | Reuters

Researchers applied the Inflation Reduction Act’s new 15% corporate minimum tax onto 2021 company earnings and found that the burden would only be felt by about 78 companies, with Berkshire Hathaway and Amazon paying up the most.

The study from the University of North Carolina Tax Center used past securities filings to map the tax, which goes into effect in January, onto companies’ 2021 earnings.

The researchers found that the 15% minimum would have taken a total of $31.8 billion from 78 firms in 2021. Berkshire led the estimated payout with $8.33 billion, and Amazon follows behind with $2.77 billion owed based on its 2021 earnings.

The study notes the limitations of looking solely at public company data within a single year. The researchers recognized that these estimates may be subject to change, especially as company operations change under the tax in 2023.

President Joe Biden signed the minimum book tax into law, along with the rest of the Inflation Reduction Act, in August. The tax is specifically meant to target companies earning more than $1 billion per year.

The Joint Committee on Taxation had previously estimated that it would affect around 150 firms, with the costs falling specifically on the manufacturing industry. The bipartisan JCT also predicted $34 billion in revenue in the first year of the tax, slightly more than the theoretical 2021 revenue estimated at UNC.

According to the study, the next-highest taxes would be paid by Ford, AT&T, eBay and Moderna, all of which would owe more than $1.2 billion in payments based on their 2021 financials.

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Business

Three reasons this struggling fintech stock may break out of its slump

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PayPal tumbled 16% this week, but one top analyst is making a bullish long-term case for the struggling stock.

The company’s underperformance follows leadership uncertainty. PayPal’s chief financial officer, John Rainey, announced last week he’ll leave the company in late May. Yet, Bruderman Asset Management’s Akshata Bailkeri made an optimistic case for PayPal on CNBC’s “Fast Money” this week.

The firm’s equity analyst likes the stock for three reasons:

1. Post-pandemic sales could pick up

Bailkeri, whose firm owns PayPal shares, thinks sales will pick up in a post-pandemic world.

“We believe that the online percentage of these retail sales should pick up in 2023,” said Bailkeri. “PayPal is a primary beneficiary of it.”

2. Its spin-off from eBay is beneficial

She contends PayPal as a stand-alone company also bodes well for the stock. Even though its stock is lower now, PayPal shares reached all-time highs last July.

“EBay is no longer really an overhang,” Bailkeri said. “The company has had significant growth even after spinning out of the company in 2015.”

3. It’s an attractive valuation over a five-year horizon

PayPal is trading at a significant growth-adjusted discount versus its competitors, according to Bailkeri. She sees the stock’s volatility as a buying opportunity for gains over the next five years.

“You’re looking at long-term online trends and movements from cash to cashless growing,” she said. “That’s more reflective in a five-year view than maybe in the next couple quarters.”

Where PayPal is heading

Overall, Bailkeri expects double-digit percentage returns for PayPal over the next five years due to strong secular trends.

“People are going to continue to shop more online and have more payments that are in the digital space,” she said.

PayPal, which reports earnings on Wednesday, is down 26% so far this month.

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Business

Amazon piles ads into search results as big brands pay for placement

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The Amazon logo displayed on a smartphone and a PC screen.

Pavlo Gonchar | LightRocket via Getty Images

Search for “toothpaste” on Amazon, and the top of the web page will show you a mix of popular brands like Colgate, Crest and Sensodyne. Try a separate search for “deodorant” and you’ll first see products from Secret, Dove and Native.

Look a little closer, though, and you’ll notice that those listings are advertisements with the “sponsored” label affixed to them. Amazon is generating hefty revenue from the top consumer brands because getting valuable placement on the biggest e-commerce site comes with a rising price tag.

“There’s fewer organic search results on the page, so that increasingly means the only way to get on the page is to buy your way on there,” said Jason Goldberg, chief commerce strategy officer at advertising firm Publicis.

For consumers looking for toothpaste on Amazon, getting to unpaid results requires two full swipes up on the mobile app.

An example of a mobile search for “toothpaste” on Amazon shows a sponsored brand ad at the top of results.

Until recently, Amazon put two or three sponsored products at the top of search results. Now, there may be as many as six sponsored products that appear ahead of any organic results, with more promotions elsewhere on the page, said Juozas Kaziukenas, who runs e-commerce research firm Marketplace Pulse.

The number of ads that appear differs depending on the exact search term and other factors such as whether users are shopping on desktop, mobile or in the Amazon app, Amazon says.

While Amazon doesn’t break out advertising revenue, ads account for the majority of the company’s “other” sales. That category was the fastest-growing part of Amazon’s overall business in the second quarter, with revenue soaring 87% from a year earlier to more than $7.9 billion.

In 2018, Amazon leapfrogged Microsoft to become the third-largest ad platform in the U.S., trailing only Google and Facebook. Amazon is capitalizing on its market control, knowing that its website or app is where many consumers begin their online shopping journey.

Kaziukenas said Amazon and founder Jeff Bezos have completely transformed from being anti-advertising. It’s become such a lucrative business that ads “have replaced most of the functionality on the site,” he said.

An Amazon spokesperson said there are no dedicated ad slots within search results, meaning that a user may see one ad, multiple ads or none at all. The company said advertising is an optional service for brands and sellers, but that using it can improve visibility of their products.

“Like all retailers, we design our store to help customers easily find and discover the right brands and products, and sponsored ads is one of the many ways we do this,” the spokesperson said in an email. “In all cases we work back from the most useful customer experience and the relevance of the results surfaced, regardless of how they’re presented to the shopper.”

Big consumer products makers aren’t the only ones taking up the most valuable virtual real estate. Amazon is also populating search results with its own products. For example, a search for “shampoo” pulls up a promotion for a bottle of Amazon brand Solimo before ads for products from Pantene, Nexxus, L’Oreal and others.

Sponsored product ads accounted for roughly 73% of retailers’ ad spend on Amazon in the second quarter, according to digital marketing agency Merkle. Last year, Amazon began replacing product recommendations in listings with product ads.

Amazon has also added new ad formats like video ads and sponsored brands posts, which feature a single brand and several product listings in a banner at the top of the page.

Ad prices going up

For brand owners, the price of doing business on Amazon is surging as the company expands its dominance in online commerce.

The cost per click for Amazon search advertising was $1.27 in August, up from 86 cents a year ago, according to a survey of more than 300 Amazon sellers conducted by Canopy Management, an agency that helps manage businesses on Amazon.

Companies that don’t pay the toll are finding their listings buried in search results. At the same time, sellers are paying more overall to Amazon for things like transaction fees and fulfillment services.

“It’s not uncommon now for brands to be spending 50% or more of their product price on various fees to be selling on Amazon,” Kaziukenas said.

Competition has also intensified as a result of the rise of Amazon aggregators, venture-backed companies that are raising big money from outside investors to acquire independent sellers. Some smaller sellers are concerned they may not be able to compete against deep-pocketed aggregators, which are bringing “massive budgets to be spent on Amazon, also in the form of advertising,” Kaziukenas said.

“They’re going from competing against other, smaller sellers to now competing against massive and well-funded sellers,” he said.

WATCH: Inside the rapid growth of Amazon Logistics and how it’s taking on third-party shipping

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Business

Comcast, Merck, Tempur Sealy, Yum and others

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Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:

Comcast (CMCSA) – Comcast rose 1.9% in the premarket after reporting adjusted quarterly earnings of 84 cents per share, beating the consensus estimate of 67 cents. The NBCUniversal parent also reported better-than-expected revenue, helped by a rebound in ad sales and a reopening of theme parks.

Merck (MRK) – The drug maker matched estimates with adjusted quarterly profit of $1.31 per share, with revenue beating Street forecasts. Sales of cancer drug Keytruda jumped 23%, in line with expectations. Merck fell 1.8% in premarket trading.

Tempur Sealy (TPX) – The mattress maker earned an adjusted 79 cents per share for its latest quarter, 22 cents above estimates, with revenue topping forecasts as well. Tempur Sealy also raised its full-year outlook, and the stock jumped 4.9% in premarket action.

Yum Brands (YUM) – The parent of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut came in 20 cents ahead of estimates with adjusted quarterly earnings of 1.16 per share, and revenue also beating analyst projections. Results got a boost from restaurant reopenings as well as continued strong demand in online orders. Yum rallied 2.3% in premarket trading.

Molson Coors (TAP) – Molson Coors added 1.8% in the premarket after its adjusted quarterly earnings of $1.58 per share beat the consensus estimate of $1.34. The beer brewer’s revenue was above Wall Street forecasts as well.

Northrup Grumman (NOC) – The defense contractor reported adjusted quarterly earnings of $6.42 per share, beating the $5.84 consensus estimate, with revenue also topping estimates. The company was helped by continued strength in its satellite and missile-making units, and the stock rose 1.1% in premarket trading.

Facebook (FB) – Facebook shares fell 3.7% in premarket trading after the company said revenue growth will slow during the second half of the year as a change in Apple’s (AAPL) privacy policies will hurt Facebook’s ability to target ads. For the second quarter, Facebook reported earnings of $3.61 per share compared to a consensus estimate of $3.03, with revenue also topping Wall Street forecasts.

Ford (F) – Ford surprised analysts with an adjusted quarterly profit of 13 cents per share. The automaker had been expected to report a second-quarter loss of 3 cents per share, due in large part to a chip shortage crimping production. However, Ford said it expected that situation to improve in the second half, and it raised its full-year outlook. Ford jumped 4% in the premarket.

PayPal (PYPL) – PayPal beat estimates by 3 cents with adjusted quarterly earnings of $1.15 per share, with the payment service’s revenue essentially in line with analyst projections. However, shares came under pressure after it gave a lower-than-expected outlook, as former PayPal parent eBay (EBAY) continues its transition to its own payment platform. The stock slid 5.6% in premarket trading.

Qualcomm (QCOM) – Qualcomm reported adjusted quarterly earnings of $1.92 per share, beating the $1.68 consensus estimate, with the chip maker’s revenue also exceeding Street forecasts. Qualcomm also gave an upbeat forecast as it expects supply chain disruptions to ease. Qualcomm added 3.2% in the premarket.

Uber Technologies (UBER) – Uber dropped 5.1% in premarket trading after sources told CNBC that Japanese investment giant Softbank is selling a chunk of its stake in Uber to cover losses related to its investment in another ride-hailing company, Didi Global (DIDI). Didi itself is in the news, denying an earlier Wall Street Journal report that it was considering going private. Didi had been up well over 30% in the premarket before that denial, before trimming that still-large gain to 17.5%.

iRobot (IRBT) – iRobot shares plunged 11.5% in premarket trading after it reported a second-quarter loss and cut its full-year outlook. The maker of the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner said the worldwide chip shortage would continue to hurt its ability to fulfill orders during the second half of the year.

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Business

Bank of America, BlackRock, Delta, Peloton and more

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Check out the companies making headlines before the bell:

Bank of America (BAC) – Bank of America shares slid 2.2% in the premarket after it reported a quarterly profit of $1.03 per share, including a one-time tax benefit. The consensus estimate was 77 cents. The bank’s revenue came in below Wall Street forecasts and it also reported higher expenses.

BlackRock (BLK) – The asset management firm reported an adjusted quarterly profit of $10.03 per share, beating the consensus estimate of $9.46, while revenue was also above Wall Street forecasts. Assets under management surged to a record $9.49 trillion during the quarter. Despite the beat, BlackRock fell 1.4% in premarket action.

Delta Air Lines (DAL) – Delta lost $1.07 per share for the second quarter, less than the $1.38 per share loss that analysts were anticipating. Revenue topped forecasts, with Delta noting accelerated customer demand and a “solid” pretax profit for the month of June. Delta gained 2.6% in premarket action.

Peloton (PTON) – Pelton shares fell 2.2% in the premarket after Wedbush Securities downgraded the fitness equipment maker’s stock to “neutral” from “outperform”. Wedbush points out that consumers now have a growing number of workout alternatives, as well as the post-pandemic option of out-of-home workouts.

American Airlines (AAL) – American expects to report positive cash flow for the second quarter, the first time that’s happened since the pandemic began. At the height of the global travel shutdown, American was burning about $100 million per day in cash. American shares jumped 2.9% in premarket trading.

Broadcom (AVGO) – The chipmaker is no longer in talks to buy software company SAS Institute, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke to the Wall Street Journal. The end of the discussions reportedly came after SAS co-founders Jim Goodnight and John Sall changed their minds about possibly selling the company.

Apple (AAPL) – Apple is asking suppliers to build as many as 90 million next-generation iPhones, according to people with knowledge of the matter who spoke to Bloomberg. That would represent an up to 20% increase over 2020 levels. Apple rose 1.8% in the premarket.

EBay (EBAY) – eBay agreed to sell part of its stake in Norway’s Adevinta to satisfy a demand from Austrian competition regulators. Austria wanted eBay to cut its stake to no more than 33%, in order to give its approval for a tie-up between the classified ad businesses of the two companies. EBay will sell a 10.2% Adevinta stake to private equity firm Permira for $2.25 billion.

L Brands (LB) – L Brands raised its fiscal second-quarter earnings guidance, thanks to better-than-expected profit margins and improved sales at its Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works units. Separately, L Brands filed to sell 20 million shares held by founder Leslie Wexner and affiliated stockholders. The company will not receive any proceeds from the sale. L Brands fell 2.1% in the premarket.

Jefferies Financial (JEF) – Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group is considering buying a 5% stake in Jefferies for about $380 million, according to multiple reports. Sumitomo did acknowledge it was considering a financial alliance with Jefferies and would announce further details once they are worked out. Jefferies shares rallied 3.5% in premarket trading.

Lululemon (LULU) – The apparel maker’s shares rose 1.1% in the premarket after Goldman initiated coverage with a “buy” rating and inclusion on the firm’s “Conviction Buy” list. Goldman said the post-Covid recovery period has been favorable for apparel and strong brands.

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Business

Stock futures rise slightly as Reddit mania unravels, Amazon and Alphabet report strong earnings

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U.S. stock futures rose slightly in overnight trading on Tuesday, after a strong market rally as the Reddit trading mania continued to unwind.

Dow futures rose 60 points. S&P 500 futures gained 0.4% and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.4%.

Strong earnings from Amazon and Alphabet helped futures. Amazon reported earnings nearly double Wall Street estimates; however, the stock move was tempered by news that Jeff Bezos would step down as CEO.

Shares of Alphabet gained 6% in after hours trading after the technology giant reported 23% revenue growth and topped estimates for earnings.

Stocks rallied for the second day on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining more than 475 points for its best day since November. Investors returned to buying equities after the Reddit-fueled action that shook markets last week. The Dow is up 2.35% this week.

The S&P 500 climbed 1.4% and the Nasdaq Composite jumped more than 1.5%.

After a meteoric, albeit seemingly synthetic rise in GameStop last week caused by a short squeeze, shares have cratered more than 70% this week. Other Reddit trades have also come back down to Earth amid trading restrictions from major brokers.

“The best way to describe today’s stock market action is ‘reversing the Reddit revolution,” Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at the Leuthold Group, told CNBC. “What went up with GameStop, came down with GameStop.”

“From mid-day Jan. 28 to the end of Jan. 29, cyclicals including technology got pounded while defensive sectors outpaced. Over the last two days, and particularly today, this was reversed,” added Paulsen.

Investors are also monitoring negotiations in Washington surrounding another stimulus package. President Joe Biden met with the 10 Republican senators on Monday to discuss an alternative, smaller aid proposal to his $1.9 trillion package.

Earnings season continues on Wednesday with AbbVie, Biogen, Boston Scientific, GlaxoSmithKline and Humana reporting before the opening bell.

Chipmaker Qualcomm, eBay, PayPal and Yum China report earnings after the market closes on Wednesday.

Private payroll data from January is released at 8:15 a.m. on Wednesday from ADP. Economists polled by Dow Jones are expecting private sector jobs grew by 50,000 in January, compared to the loss of 123,000 in December.

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