GameStop surges after board changes — the fate of the decade-long struggling stock rests on Ryan Cohen

이상혁 joins the game — GameStop’s stock surges.

GameStop’s stock jumped nearly 100% after releasing holiday sales numbers and announcing a big change to its board:

• Sales fell 3.1% but digital sales increased 309% in the 9-week holiday period compared to last year.
• Added new board members including Ryan Cohen and two former Chewy executives.

Poshmark — eBay meets social media of fashion — makes its IPO debut

Poshmark, the “eBay meets social media” of fashion, is expected to debut on the stock market on Jan. 14.

Poshmark was popularized by:

1. Thrifty Millennials and Gen-Zs, which made up 80% of users
2. Growing awareness in the negative environmental impacts of clothing

Intel replaces its CEO — can the struggling company return to its glory days?

New Year, New CEO, New Intel.

On Jan. 13, Intel, the chipmaker that powers most of the world’s PCs, announced the replacement of its CEO, Bob Swan.

Under Swan’s tenure, Intel’s stock had barely budged, the company lost several big customers but on a positive note, had successfully redesigned its logo.

Over the past 5 years, Intel’s stock was up 90% while competitor, Nvidia and AMD, was up 1,800% and 4,400%.

NIO day — how does the electric vehicle maker compete against other Chinese EVs?

Carmakers like Tesla and NIO have created annual events like “Battery Day” and “NIO Day” to reveal big announcements, introduce new products and to hype itself up just enough to send its stock higher.

On Jan. 9, NIO, the Chinese luxury electric vehicle (EV) maker held its fourth NIO day with some key announcements:

• First company’s sedan, ET7, with a starting price of US$69,193 — deliveries to start first quarter of 2022
• Most notably… A new battery pack that will increase the range of its vehicles to 621 miles — while Tesla’s Model 3 drives only 353 miles.

2020 was the breakout year for solar stocks — why you should avoid residential solar

The solar industry has been a story of repeated boom and bust.

In 2011, solar stocks crashed and have since gone through several up and down cycles. And now, solar’s taking investors for another ride…

• The largest solar ETF — Invesco Solar ETF ($TAN) grew 3x in value in 2020.
• Two of the largest solar panel installers for home use, Sunrun and Sunnova, have grown more than 4x in 2020.

Twitter joins the podcast battle — but lags behind other social media stocks in 2020

Welcoming your next podcast challenger, Twitter — who acquired the social podcasting app, Breaker, on Jan. 4.

This move follows bigger tech companies’ expansion into podcasts:

• Over the past two years, Spotify has spent over $800m on podcast content and creator tools.
• Just last week, Amazon purchased Wondery, a podcast producer for ~$300m.