Catch up on the weekend’s top five stories with this list compiled by The Fly:
1. Alibaba (BABA) announced that $25.3B of gross merchandise volume was settled through Alipay on November 11, or Single’s Day, an increase of 39% compared to 2016. Mobile GMV settled through Alipay accounted for 90% of total GMV. “More than $25B of GMV in one day is not just a sales figure,” said Daniel Zhang, CEO of Alibaba Group. “It represents the aspiration for quality consumption of the Chinese consumer, and it reflects how merchants and consumers alike have now fully embraced the integration of online and offline retail.”
2. Qualcomm (QCOM) is preparing to reject rival Broadcom’s (AVGO) $103B bid as early as this week, according to Reuters, citing people familiar with the matter. Qualcomm CEO Steven Mollenkopf has spent the past few days soliciting feedback from shareholders, and feels that the $70 per share bid undervalues the company and does not price in the uncertainty associated with getting the deal approved by regulators, sources said.
3. Sony’s (SNE) sales of camera chips for smartphones and videogame systems and software are marching higher, as the company reintroduced its robot puppy Aibo, Jack Hough wrote in this week’s edition of Barron’s, while arguing that the company’s shares could jump another 20%. If Sony continues its record of beating expectations, and shares hold on to their market-average earnings multiple, the ADRs could top $55 in a year, versus a recent $46 and change, he added.
4. Disney (DIS) and Marvel Studios’ “Thor: Ragnarok” won the weekend again with $56.6M for a 10-day domestic tally of $211.6M. Overseas, the movie also topped the chart with $75.9M for a foreign tally of $438.5M. The pic with Chris Hemsworth returning in the titular role earned 93% from Rotten Tomatoes.
5. AT&T (T), Verizon (VZ), PayPal (PYPL), and Nintendo (NTDOY) saw positive mentions in Barron’s.
