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Today we are watching…
1.ย PayPal (#paypal)
PayPal just bought an 80% stake in Chinese payment gateway GoPay, and with China so keen for more of that kind of investment, it’s rewarded the Western payment processor with a cherry on top. China’s central bank has granted PayPal an exclusive license to go there and tap its billion-strong population. Counting his lucky stars, CEO Dan Schulman told investors how much he was looking forward to serving China’s widening middle class. The uncertainty of a corporate takeover pulled the stock back yesterday, but if PayPal makes good on its luck over time and beats its new Chinese competition, it could have a very bright future.
2. Sony (#sony)
ย Sony is a conglomerate and a very complex one at that. Stock in the Japanese company has soared in recent years on the back of profits made in the financial services business, home entertainment industry, and semiconductor market. It’s now on the streaming bandwagon, pitting a gamers’ PlayStation Now subscription service against Google’s Stadia and Microsoft’s Project xCloud. The PlayStation is a dying product, so this attempt at breathing new life into it has surprised investors. Unfortunately, it’s not proving easy. Yesterday, Sony halved the price of PlayStation Now under pressure from rivals. Could Sony be as lucrative a short as it has been a long-term investment, or is it too diversified to bet against?