Tag Archives: amzn

Hiring Amazon Vet As CEO Signals Shutterfly Not For Sale

The March 17 appointment of Christopher North as CEO of digital photo firm Shutterfly ( SFLY ) signals the company’s intent to remain independent, despite rumors of buyout offers, says RBC Capital Markets. In a research note sent to investors late Wednesday, RBC analyst Rohit Kulkarni said North’s appointment signals the firm’s likely intent to rebuff takeover offers from bidders such as private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners. Shutterfly stock is down 2% since the CEO announcement, though shares were up 1.5% in late-afternoon trading on the stock market today , near 46.The company has a weak IBD Composite Rating of 58, where 99 is the highest. Kulkarni rates Shutterfly stock to outperform, and has a price target of 48. The analyst said the firm’s Q4 results were “nothing to get excited about,” but he said he is willing to “remain patient” to give the new management team time to jell. He sees the possibility of profit margins rising and sales accelerating. North, a 10-year veteran of  Amazon.com ( AMZN ), has a “resume and impressive track record,” Kulkarni wrote in his research note. North was one of the executives at Amazon’s U.K. operation, Shutterfly said in its press release announcing the hiring. Before Amazon, North held leadership rolls with Phaidon Press and HarpersCollins Publishers, and was once a media and entertainment consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton, according to the RBC research note. “We believe Mr. North’s appointment will help Shutterfly reinvigorate such core metrics,” Kulkarni said. “And given his experience, Mr. North at the helm could open up international possibilities for Shutterfly.” North’s appointment is effective May 31. Company Chairman Philip Marineau is its temporary CEO. On Dec. 1, Shutterfly announced that 11-year CEO Jeffrey Housenbold was resigning as of February “to pursue other opportunities.” He also resigned as president and board member.

Google Cloud Faces Amazon, Microsoft Over $25 Billion ‘Jump Ball’

With Alphabet ( GOOGL )-owned Google Cloud Platform snaring more major customers, there’s a three-company race between it,  Amazon ( AMZN ) Web Services and  Microsoft ( MSFT ) Azure that will only intensify. Cowen & Co. analyst John Blackledge wrote in a report on Thursday, after the first day of the Google Cloud Platform Next Conference in San Francisco, that “our sense from talking to potential customers at the event is that they are giving Google Cloud Platform another look.” Blackledge said press reports have highlighted “recent wins” for Google’s cloud business, including Spotify, Coca-Cola Enterprises ( CCE ) and Snapchat, which “were featured prominently in customer use-case discussions. Other customers include Home Depot ( HD ), Electronic Arts ( EA ), Zulily, Sony ( SNE ) Music, HTC, Best Buy ( BBY ), TiVo ( TIVO ), Wix ( WIX ), Philips ( PHG ), Volkswagen ‘s ( VLKAY ) Audi, (and Tata Group’s) Jaguar and Range Rover,” Blackledge said. Public clouds “are likely to be a highly competitive market where customer stickiness will be challenged by new technologies that make it easier to move workloads between public cloud vendors,” Macquarie Research analyst Ben Schachter wrote in industry research note on Wednesday. “It clearly has become a major focus area for Google and one in which it intends to compete directly against Amazon and Microsoft.” Competition between the three groups will rise “particularly as enterprises become increasingly comfortable migrating select workloads to public cloud environments,” according to Cloud Computing Today . Cloud services is “a $25 billion jump ball” that will likely be captured by the big three competitors: Alphabet’s Google Cloud Platform, Amazon’s AWS and Microsoft’s Azure, Pacific Crest Securities analyst Evan Wilson said in a Wednesday industry research note. “With it being early in this opportunity, we think there will be wins and losses along the way, but we believe (Google) will be a significant competitor in the years to come, and it could help drive growth.” Apple recently signed a contract worth between $400 million and $600 million to use Google’s Cloud Platform, according to CRN . Apple now uses cloud services from Amazon and Microsoft, but it intends to end its reliance on all its rivals in the next few years as it builds its own data centers, according to Re/Code. In February, music service Spotify, a high-profile customer of Amazon’s Amazon Web Services, said it would use  Google’s cloud for some computing infrastructure. Google’s cloud business generated about $500 million in revenues last year, according to analysts at Goldman Sachs, as cited by Reuters . That compares with $74.5 billion overall for parent company Alphabet, but the cloud business is one of its fastest-growing business areas. Overall, Reuters said Google ranks as the No. 4 player in the cloud infrastructure industry, with 4% of the market last year, according to Synergy Research. Amazon’s Amazon Web Services had a 31% share, Microsoft’s Azure had a 9% share, and IBM ( IBM ) had 7%, according to the group. Google is also building up its data centers across the world, launching two new regional centers in Japan and Oregon to bring the number of regions it serves to five. Cloud computing is an increasingly popular way for companies to run their IT operations, and the $20-billion-a-year business is forecast to grow 35% over the next year, according to Gartner Inc. Alphabet stock was down a fraction in late afternoon trading in the stock market today , near 755. Microsoft stock was up a fraction, near 54. Apple stock was down marginally, near 106, and Amazon stock was up more than 2%, near 581.

Game On! Virtual Reality Race Starts As Facebook Oculus Rift Ships

Virtual reality will get its close-up on Monday when Facebook ( FB ) starts shipping its hot Oculus Rift headsets. Facebook sees Oculus Rift as a big game changer that starts with games and later moves to virtual front-row seats at sports games, as users slap on the Rift goggles for deep-seated immersion. Preorders for the $599 Oculus Rift headsets began in January. Facebook has not said how many Rift orders it received but did say they span 20 countries. When it ships,  30 games will be available, with more than 100 games expected by the end of this year. Game prices range from $9.99 to $59.99. High-performance PCs will be needed to power the Rift system. Oculus-ready PCs and Rift bundles are available from Dell, Dell’s Alienware unit, and Asus, which start at around $1,499. They’re available through Amazon ( AMZN ), Best Buy ( BBY ) and the  Microsoft ( MSFT ) Store. Research firm CCS Insight estimates  that virtual reality devices, including the related augmented reality field, will exceed $4 billion in sales in three years. It projects 2.5 million virtual reality and augmented reality devices will sell this year, growing to 12 million devices next year, and more than 24 million in 2018. Later this year, Facebook will also ship its Oculus Touch controllers that allow people to interact more naturally in VR through hand movements and gestures. Facebook says it’s working with thousands of developers on entirely new VR experiences. Facebook acquired Oculus for $1.9 billion two years ago. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the Oculus acquisition with a Facebook post , saying the technology goes far beyond being a system for gaming. “After games, we’re going to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences. Imagine enjoying a court-side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face, just by putting on goggles in your home,” he wrote in the post. In a conference call when Facebook announced fourth-quarter earnings on Jan. 27, he said: “This Oculus launch is shaping up to be a big moment for the gaming community. Over the long-term, VR has the potential to change the way that we live, work and communicate as well.” As to the revenue contribution Oculus will make to Facebook’s bottom line, the company is downplaying that for now. “With Rift, it’s early in the evolution of VR,” Facebook CFO David Wehner said on the conference call. “It’s early to be talking about large volumes. So, at this point, I don’t think we’re giving a lot of color around supply chain and that sort of thing. It’s not going to be material to our financials this year.” The arrival of Rift could have a big benefit for chipmaker and computer game-card maker Nvidia ( NVDA ), as the demand for virtual reality accelerates. Nvidia provides the graphic processors needed in computers for Oculus Rift performance and that of other VR systems. The virtual reality field is expected to be intensely competitive, with a host of companies jumping into the game. Samsung has already shipped its Gear VR. Sony ( SNE ) is releasing a PlayStation VR system later this year, which will have a $400 price tag. Sony VR will have the benefit of leveraging its installed base of 30 million PlayStation 4 users. Also coming is the Vive VR system from Taiwan-based HTC, in joint development with U.S. game developer Valve. The HTC VR headset will begin shipping on April 5. Likewise, Microsoft is working on its “HoloLens” technology.