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A gamer plays soccer title Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 on an Xbox console.
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Microsoft is developing dedicated streaming hardware that people will be able to hook up to their TVs to use its Netflix-like cloud gaming service.

The company is betting the future of video games will be a subscription-based model where people pay a certain amount of money each month to get access to a plethora of titles.

Its Xbox Game Pass service does exactly that, offering access to a library of games developed both in-house and by third-party studios.

That’s mostly digital downloads, but last year streaming was added with Microsoft publicly releasing Xbox Cloud Gaming. The feature is sort of like a “Netflix for games,” allowing gamers to play games that are hosted on remote servers and then streamed to users over the internet.

A number of other companies have launched similar game-streaming services, including Google with Stadia and Amazon with Luna.

Now, Microsoft is aiming to push its cloud gaming product to other platforms. It started rolling out Xbox Cloud Gaming to some users via a web browser on iPhones, iPads and PCs in April (Microsoft couldn’t launch a proper mobile app for cloud gaming on Apple devices due to a dispute over App Store policies). And on Thursday, the company announced it wants to expand the service to TVs as well.

One way it plans to do that is by partnering with manufacturers to add cloud gaming to smart TVs. But Microsoft is also developing streaming devices which users can plug into their TV or computer monitor to stream games from the cloud. The company didn’t elaborate on what those devices could look like, though it’s reminiscent of Amazon’s Fire TV and Google’s Chromecast dongles, both of which now support cloud gaming.

In addition, Microsoft says it is working with mobile carriers like Telstra in Australia to offer new Xbox subscription models. It’s also expanding cloud gaming to four new countries — Australia, Brazil, Mexico and Japan —  later this year, and aims to publicly launch the browser-based version of the software to all members of its $15-a-month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription in the coming weeks.

Microsoft said it plans to add cloud gaming to its new Xbox Series X console, which launched last November to compete with Sony’s PlayStation 5. In the next few weeks, the company will also upgrade the servers that power its cloud gaming service from its old Xbox One hardware to the Xbox Series X.

Microsoft competes aggressively with Sony when it comes to gaming. But it’s taking a different strategy to its Japanese counterpart. While Sony is known for blockbuster exclusives that can only be played on a PlayStation console, Microsoft is focusing on embedding its Xbox services onto multiple platforms, including mobile and PC.

Microsoft has been stepping up its investments in gaming, buying the iconic studio Bethesda for $7.5 billion in its biggest video game-related acquisition yet.

The company is holding a joint event with Bethesda on Sunday as part of the E3 gaming conference to show off new games, with fans speculating they will reveal some details about a hotly-anticipated sci-fi game called Starfield.

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Former Tesla SVP Drew Baglino is selling $181.5 million worth of stock, SEC filing says

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Former Tesla SVP Drew Baglino is selling 1.5 million worth of stock, SEC filing says

In an aerial view, brand new Tesla cars sit parked in a lot at the Tesla Fremont Factory on April 24, 2024 in Fremont, California.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Former Tesla executive Drew Baglino, who announced his resignation earlier this month, sold shares in the electric vehicle company worth around $181.5 million, according to a filing on Thursday with the SEC.

Baglino, who joined Tesla in 2006, is selling about 1.14 million of his shares, the filing said, listing an “approximate date of sale” of April 25, and describing it as an exercise of stock options.

Tesla announced on April 15 that it’s laying off 10% of its global workforce, following a drop in first-quarter deliveries and a steep slide in the stock price. That day, Baglino and fellow company veteran Rohan Patel said they were leaving the company.

Baglino announced his departure in a statement posted to X.

“I made the difficult decision to move on from Tesla after 18 years yesterday,” he wrote. “I am so thankful to have worked with and learned from the countless incredibly talented people at Tesla over the years.”

Baglino began as an engineer and climbed the ranks, most recently serving as senior vice president of powertrain and energy engineering, a job he’d held since 2016. Reporting directly to Musk, Baglino was seen as the unofficial chief of operations by many colleagues.

Prior to the latest sale, Baglino had unloaded about $4 million worth of shares in two transactions this year — one in late February and the other in early April, filings show. In each case, he sold 10,500 shares, exercising stock options in both.

During earnings calls and other major company events, including a presentation of Tesla’s “Master Plan part 3” in the spring of 2023, Baglino had become a familiar voice and face to shareholders, often discussing mining, battery manufacturing and performance.

Baglino didn’t respond to requests for comment. Tesla also didn’t provide a comment.

Baglino’s resigned as Tesla appeared to embark on a major strategic shift.

Musk said on the company’s earnings call this week that while Tesla still intends to produce affordable, new model electric cars in 2025, investors should focus more on Tesla’s “autonomy roadmap.” Tesla said it plans to unveil a robotaxi, or CyberCab, design on Aug. 8.

Musk also touted Tesla’s investments in AI infrastructure and the company’s potential to finally deliver self-driving vehicle technology, robotaxis, a driverless ride-hailing service, and a “sentient” humanoid robot. He even told doubters to stay away from the stock.

“If somebody doesn’t believe Tesla’s going to solve autonomy, I think they should not be an investor in the company,” Musk said on the call.

Tesla’s share price, which was down about 40% for the year prior to the earnings report, jumped 18% in the two trading days after Musk’s commentary, closing on Thursday at $170.18.

Tesla skepticism remains centered on potential new models, says Bernstein's Toni Sacconaghi

Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi is among the skeptics. In an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” Sacconaghi questioned whether the affordable EVs Musk promised will “really be new models, or tweaks on existing models.” He also said that competitors, notably Waymo, already have robotaxi services on the road, while Tesla is still grappling with autonomous vehicle research and development.

Tesla reported a 9% drop in first-quarter revenue, its steepest year-over-year decline since 2012, due to declining demand and increased global competition. The company also reported a 55% drop in net income in the quarter.

While Musk said he expects the second quarter to be better than the first, the company hasn’t issued guidance for the year.

At the end of the earnings call, Martin Viecha, Tesla’s vice president of investor relations, announced that he, too, was resigning.

WATCH: Tesla and Musk fans have an optimistic outlook

Tesla and Elon Musk fans have an optimistic outlook for company's future, says WSJ's Tim Higgins

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Alphabet tempers fears that it’s falling behind in AI with blowout first-quarter results

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Alphabet tempers fears that it's falling behind in AI with blowout first-quarter results

Alphabet went into its earnings report on Thursday facing concerns about the growth of its core Google ads business and the company’s ability to generate profits from its hefty investments in artificial intelligence.

For the time being at least, the company put Wall Street’s fears to rest.

Alphabet topped analysts’ estimates, reporting revenue growth of 15% for the quarter, the fastest rate of expansion since early 2022. Ad sales at YouTube jumped 20%, also beating expectations.

Questions have been swirling about the future of Google’s online ads, because the biggest revenue driver remains search, which is under pressure as new generative AI services like OpenAI’s ChatGPT offer consumers new ways to access information.

“We’re very pleased with momentum of our ads businesses,” Alphabet finance chief Ruth Porat said on Thursday’s earnings call after the report. “Search had broad-based growth.”

Alphabet shares jumped 12% in extended trading, pushing the company’s market cap past $2 trillion. Prior to the report, the stock was up 12% for the year, ahead of the Nasdaq Composite but trailing some mega-cap peers like Meta, Nvidia and Amazon.

First-quarter results showed the core advertising business is reaccelerating after a difficult 2022 and 2023, when brands reeled in spending to contend with rising interest rates and inflationary concerns. Growth is spread across the digital ad market, with Meta reporting 27% growth for the first quarter, the fastest since 2021, and Snap reporting growth of 21%, a level not seen since early 2022.

Alphabet has been on a cost-cutting spree since last year in anticipation of slower ad growth and increased spending on AI, where competition has grown rapidly in the last year. The company has also experienced a series of apparent missteps tied to the rushed launch of various AI products.

There were other reasons for skepticism ahead of Alphabet’s earnings report.

Investors turned on Meta after its first-quarter report on Wednesday, sending the stock down as much as 19% in extended trading. CEO Mark Zuckerberg opened the investor call saying he planned to spend billions of dollars investing in areas like artificial intelligence and the metaverse, even though Meta counts on advertising for 98% of its revenue.

Like Meta, Alphabet is pouring money into AI. But its investments are turning into sales.

Revenue in Google Cloud, which houses much of the company’s AI technology, jumped 28% from a year earlier to $9.57 billion, sailing past estimates. Operating income more than quadrupled to $900 million, showing that Google is finally generating substantial profits after pouring money into the business for years to keep up with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.

Last month, Alphabet announced a suite of products, including Vertex AI, a no-code console for enterprise companies to build their own AI agents.

“There were a lot of questions last year and, you know, we always felt confident and comfortable that we would be able to improve the user experience,” CEO Sundar Pichai said on Thursday’s earnings call.

Pichai said he’s seen “early confirmation” that the company can use AI to expand search’s capabilities, citing rollouts in the U.S. and the U.K. He said the company can both manage spending and monetize AI tools at the same time in the coming quarters.

To show how confident the company is in its financial position, Alphabet announced its first-ever quarterly dividend of 20 cents per share and a plan to repurchase an additional $70 billion in stock.

With first-quarter results in the rearview mirror, Alphabet now has to keep up with heightened expectations, which will only increase as competitors roll out more generative AI products. The company also only has a couple more quarters in which growth will be comparable to some of its weakest results on record.

“We’re in a new cost reality,” Prabhakar Raghavan, a senior vice president who oversees search, said at a recent all-hands meeting, urging employees to work more efficiently.

With generative AI, the company is “spending a ton more on machines,” Raghavan added, saying organic growth is slowing and the number of new devices coming into the world “is not what it used to be.”

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Alphabet soars 10% on strong earnings, first-ever dividend, $70 billion buyback

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Alphabet soars 10% on strong earnings, first-ever dividend,  billion buyback

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai during the Google I/O developers conference in Mountain View, California, on May 10, 2023.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Alphabet shares shot up 10% Friday morning after the company posted better-than-expected first-quarter results and greenlit its first-ever dividend and a $70 billion buyback.

The company on Thursday reported revenue of $80.54 billion, a 15% increase from a year earlier and the fastest growth rate since early 2022, surpassing the $78.59 billion in sales expected by analysts polled by LSEG. Earnings of $1.89 per share eclipsed the $1.51 in earnings per share expected by Wall Street.

Alphabet announced that its board authorized a dividend of 20 cents per share to be paid on June 17 to all shareholders of record as of June 10, and said it intends to pay future quarterly cash dividends. The company said the board also approved the repurchase of an additional $70 billion in stock.

The company exceeded analysts’ expectations for YouTube advertising revenue and Google Cloud revenue.

Barclays analysts maintained an overweight rating on Alphabet stock and lifted their price target to $200 from $173, lauding the company’s balancing of investment with efficiency and capital returns.

“Google is in the sweet spot of accelerating growth, expanding margins while shipping product faster, and returning capital — basically proving the naysayers wrong,” they wrote in a Thursday note. “The momentum should stay strong for a while here.”

Analysts at Oppenheimer keyed in on Alphabet’s accelerating advertising business despite its substantial spending on artificial intelligence, raising their price target to $205 from $185 and reiterating an outperform rating.

Morgan Stanley analysts, retaining their overweight rating of Alphabet, hiked their price target to $195 from $165, citing the company’s core growth durability and “early success durably reengineering the cost base.”

Among other price target boosts for the stock following Alphabet’s earnings, JPMorgan increased its price target to $200 from $165, while Evercore ISI upped its target to $200 from $160.

— CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.

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