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The Bluesky logo displayed on a smartphone screen. 

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Brazil’s recent ban of Elon Musk’s social media platform X has boosted the profile of its smaller rival, Bluesky, as people search for alternatives to voice their opinions.

Bluesky said in a post that it had attracted two million new users in a span of a week, and the app appeared to be experiencing some problems on Wednesday, with several users reporting an outage.

“There will almost certainly be some outages and performance issues,” Bluesky developer Paul Frazee said in a post, adding, “We’ve never seen traffic like this. Hang with us!”

On Saturday, the company also said that users from Brazil were setting new all-time highs for activity.

The reported uptick in the platform’s traffic comes after a Brazilian Supreme Court justice ordered a nationwide suspension of the X platform on Friday. A Supreme Court panel affirmed the ruling on Monday. 

Predating the ban, X indicated it would not comply with court orders in Brazil concerning its content moderation policies and a request to appoint a new legal representative in the country.

The judge, Alexandre de Moraes, has also ordered daily fines for people or businesses in Brazil that use virtual private networks (VPNs) or other methods to access X while it’s banned, according to local media

X is estimated to have over 22 million users in Brazil. 

As of Wednesday, Bluesky was the top free app on Brazil’s iOS App Store, followed by Threads — an X-alternative by Meta Platforms which also own Facebook and Instagram. 

“We’re so back,” the official Threads account posted on Wednesday without providing further context. 

Market share battle  

Bluesky was first announced in 2019 as a project to build an open, decentralized social protocol, backed by Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter — which was rebranded as X after Musk bought it. Bluesky became an independent company in 2021. Dorsey cut ties with the platform earlier this year.

Bluesky, Threads and the open-source, decentralized network Mastodon, have been competing to unseat X as the top microblogging platform.

Amid controversies surrounding Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover in 2022 and his subsequent changes to the platform, these companies have experienced a jump in their users.

Bluesky’s sign-ups from the U.K. had reportedly surged last month, while Musk had been posting controversial comments about nationwide riots in the country.

However, despite reports of advertisers and some users fleeing X, none of the alternatives have emerged as a credible threat to X. 

Threads appears to be the closest, with over 200 million monthly active users, according to a post on Threads by Instagram head Adam Mosseri in August.

In May, Musk said in a post that X had reached 600 million monthly active users and around 300 million daily active users.

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IBM shares drop despite earnings beat

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IBM shares drop despite earnings beat

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna appears at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 16, 2024.

Stefan Wermuth | Bloomberg | Getty Images

IBM shares fell as much as 5% in extended trading on Wednesday after the tech conglomerate issued second-quarter results that topped Wall Street projections.

Here’s how the company did in comparison with LSEG consensus:

  • Earnings per share: $2.80 adjusted vs. $2.64 expected
  • Revenue: $16.98 billion vs. $16.59 billion

IBM’s revenue increased nearly 8% year over year in the quarter, according to a statement. Growth in the first quarter was below 1%. Net income, which includes costs related to acquisitions, rose to $2.19 billion, or $2.31 per share, from $1.83 billion, or $1.96 per share, a year ago.

Software revenue climbed about 10% to $7.39 billion, exceeding the $7.43 billion consensus among analysts surveyed by StreetAccount. Hybrid cloud revenue, including Red Hat, showed 16% growth. The software unit’s gross margin of 83.9% was barely narrower than StreetAccount’s 84.0% consensus.

Revenue from consulting rose almost 3% to $5.31 billion, higher than StreetAccount’s $5.16 billion consensus. Infrastructure revenue went up 14% to $4.14 billion, above the $3.75 billion StreetAccount average estimate.

During the quarter, IBM announced the next-generation z17 mainframe computer and the acquisition of data and artificial intelligence consulting firm Hakkoda.

IBM called for over $13.5 billion in 2025 free cash flow, similar to a projection from April. The company still sees at least 5% revenue growth at constant currency for the year.

As of Wednesday’s close, IBM shares were up 28% so far in 2025, while the S&P 500 index has gained around 8% in the same period.

Executives will discuss the results with analysts on a conference call starting at 5 p.m. ET.

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

WATCH: Cramer’s Stop Trading: IBM

Cramer's Stop Trading: IBM

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ServiceNow lifts guidance on AI growth

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ServiceNow lifts guidance on AI growth

Bill McDermott, Chairman, President & CEO ServiceNow, speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 17th, 2024.

Adam Galici | CNBC

ServiceNow posted strong second-quarter results and lifted its guidance Wednesday. Shares climbed 7% following the report.

Here’s how the company performed compared to LSEG estimates:

  • Earnings per share: $4.09 adjusted vs. $3.57 expected
  • Revenue: $3.22 billion vs. 3.12 billion expected

Subscription revenues, which account for the majority of the enterprise technology company’s revenues, hit $3.11 billion and topped a $3.03 billion forecast from StreetAccount.

The company boosted its full-year subscription revenue guidance to between $12.775 billion and $12.795 billion as it benefits from artificial intelligence adoption.

“Every business process in every industry is being refactored for agentic AI,” said ServiceNow chairman and CEO Bill McDermott in a release.

Net income grew 47% to $385 million, or $1.84 per share, from $262 million, or $1.26 per share a year ago. Revenues grew nearly 23% to about $3.22 billion.

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ServiceNow said it anticipates a 2 percentage point hit to current remaining obligations in the third quarter due to seasonality and more customers renewing contracts in the final quarter of the year. The company also said budget changes at U.S. government agencies could impact results.

“While federal business is a bit uncertain today versus a year ago, we’re navigating it well, and we feel confident that our guidance reflects any potential changes that we’re seeing,” finance chief Gina Mastantuono told CNBC.

In its 2024 annual earnings report, ServiceNow said one U.S. federal government customer accounted for 11% of revenues.

During the first quarter, its public sector business grew 30%, McDermott said during the last reporting period.

Subscription revenues are expected to range between $3.26 billion and $3.27 billion, ahead of a $3.21 billion estimate from StreetAccount. Current remaining performance obligations rose nearly 25% to $10.92 billion in the quarter.

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Texas Instruments stock falls 12% as CEO warns of tariff concerns

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Texas Instruments stock falls 12% as CEO warns of tariff concerns

The Texas Instruments headquarters in Dallas, Texas, US, on Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024.

N. Johnson | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Texas Instruments shares plunged 12% after the automotive and industrial semiconductor supplier warned of ongoing tariff aftershocks.

The company said it expects third-quarter earnings between $1.36 and $1.60 per share, a midpoint of $1.48 per share. That fell short of an LSEG estimate of $1.50.

Texas Instruments anticipates revenues between $4.45 billion and $4.48 billion. The midpoint of $4.63 billion was slightly ahead of the $4.59 billion expected by analysts.

In an earnings call with analysts, CEO Haviv Ilan said the company is experiencing a “shallow” recovery in the automotive sector and said customers may have lingering worries over tariffs and geopolitical uncertainty.

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Despite the post-earnings slump, Texas Instruments posted a 16% year-over-year jump in revenue. The company reported earnings of $1.41 per share on $4.45 billion in revenue, surpassing the earnings of $1.35 per share on $4.36 billion in revenue expected by LSEG analysts.

Ilan said that some of the second-quarter strength may have come from a pull forward in demand to acquire inventory ahead of tariffs.

Net income for the company rose 15% to $1.3 billion, or $1.41 per share, from $1.13 billion, or $1.22 per share, a year ago.

WATCH: Texas Instruments shares fall more than 7% despite quarterly beat

Texas Instruments shares fall more than 7% despite quarterly beat

CNBC’s Kif Leswing contributed to this story.

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