FAANG Report: Apple's App store ads could be $2 billion business by 2020; Netflix to borrow $2 billion

Apple Inc’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) App Store ads could become a $2 billion business by 2020, according to an analyst quoted in a report by CNBC.

Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi said his estimate that Apple could approach $2 billion in Search Ad revenue by 2020 was “conservative” in a research note published on Monday.

The development means Apple is likely to meet or exceed its goal of doubling its Services revenue by the end of 2020 to $49 billion, the report said.

If Apple achieves these revenue predictions, by 2020 its Search Ad business would be about the same size as Apple Music was last year, but with much higher gross margins, Sacconaghi wrote.

Apple is set to report its fourth-quarter earnings on November 1.

Shares gained 1.1% to $221.82 by midsession on Monday.

READ: Amazon looking to hire 100,000 seasonal workers for Christmas shopping season, says report

In its much hyped search for a second headquarters, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) may be leaning towards larger cities, a report by CNN Business said.

“The key for Amazon is that they want to build a second HQ that is an attractive place to live and work for young professionals. This is why quality of life in the city will matter,” Nathan Jensen, a professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin, said in the report.

Amazon has searched for a home for its second headquarters, nicknamed HQ2, for more than a year.

The company has whipped up suspense around the decision which is due by the end of 2018.

It has cities competing with glossy proposals and tax cuts and Amazon watchers are eagerly looking for clues, and odds-makers are taking bets.

Amazon stock rose 1.4% to $1,788.93.

Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) is planning to raise $2 billion in new debt to fund spending on content, a report by Variety said.

As of September 30, 2018, Netflix reported $8.34 billion in long-term debt, up 71% from $4.89 billion a year prior, the report said.

The latest proposed debt offering is the sixth time in less than four years that the company is raising $1 billion or more through bonds. 

The proposed $2 billion debt offering comes less than a week after Netflix blew past expectations for subscriber growth for the third quarter of 2018, netting 7 million new streaming customers for the period (including 1.09 million in the US).

Netflix stock edged up 0.02% to $332.75.

READ: Facebook looking to acquire cybersecurity firm, according to The Information

Japan has ordered Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) to improve protection of users’ personal information following data breaches that affected millions of people worldwide, a report in Phys Org said.

Japan’s Personal Information Protection Commission on Monday demanded the social media giant investigate why the personal data was hacked and draw up preventive measures.

Facebook told Japanese authorities the 29 million people hacked in the latest attack may include Japanese users, top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga has said.

Facebook also acknowledged earlier this year that tens of millions of users had their personal data hijacked by Cambridge Analytica, a British political firm which worked for Donald Trump in 2016. Up to 100,000 Facebook users may have been affected in Japan in that scandal, the commission said.

Facebook shares were 1% higher at $155.59. 

The dominance of Alphabet Inc’s Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) in mobile phones in Europe shows no sign of easing despite the search giant paying $5 billion in an anti-trust ruling, a report by CNBC said.

Google was said to have decided that the fee for the Play Store bundle will be as high as $40 per device for high-end devices. Inudustry sources said Google will offer device-makers separate agreements to cover some or all of the Google suite licensing costs – but only if the phone maker chooses to pre-install Chrome and Search as well.

So, if a phone maker decides that it needs the Play Store and can lower its fees by also pre-installing Chrome and Search, the math favors keeping Chrome and Search around.

The status quo will likely remain largely the same then: Android phones that come with the Play Store will also include Chrome and Search.

Google shares added 0.7% to $1,104.97.

Reporting by Rene Pastor, contactable on [email protected]

Story by ProactiveInvestors