Chapter 1: What are the details of TikTok's new U.S. joint venture?
Welcome to Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast, where we cover the top news for investors every morning. Thanks so much for joining us on this Friday, December 19th. I'm Julie Morgan. TikTok locks in a U.S. deal, Instacart agrees to a $60 million settlement, and Nike beats expectations but still faces pressure.
The CEO of TikTok has announced that parent company ByteDance has signed binding agreements to create a U.S. joint venture that will be majority owned by American investors. In an internal memo to employees, he said he was pleased to share some great news, confirming that agreements with Oracle, Silverlake and MGX have been finalized. According to the memo, the new U.S.
joint venture will be built on the foundation of TikTok's existing U.S. data security organization. Once the deal closes, it will operate as an independent entity with authority over U.S. data protection, algorithm security, software assurance, and content moderation.
Chapter 2: How did Instacart settle its FTC claims over deceptive practices?
TikTok's global U.S. entities will continue to manage global product interoperability and certain commercial activities, including e-commerce, advertising, and marketing. We're diving deeper into this story in the Wall Street Breakfast newsletter. A link to sign up is in the show notes section. Instacart has reached a $60 million settlement with the U.S.
Federal Trade Commission, resolving claims related to deceptive consumer practices. The FTC lawsuit claims the grocery delivery business misled consumers by advertising free delivery services and then charging for those services, as well as failing to disclose that consumers who signed up for a free trial would automatically be enrolled in the subscription program.
In addition, consumers who sought a refund for poor service were not offered full refunds despite a 100% satisfaction guarantee by the company. Under the terms of the agreement with the FTC, Instacart is prohibited from making misrepresentations surrounding the cost of delivery and satisfaction guarantees.
and must clearly and conspicuously disclose the terms and obtain express informed consent for transactions involving subscription enrollment. The $60 million settlement will be offered as refunds to consumers. Nike beat expectations in its fiscal second quarter mainly because wholesale and North America sales were strong. Even so, the stock is under pressure.
Nike is down 10% in pre-market action. Nike is still dealing with higher tariffs and thinner margins as it discounts older products to clear out inventory. In the fiscal second quarter, Nike earned a profit of 53 cents per share, down 32 percent from a year ago, but 16 cents better than expected. CEO Elliot Hill said the company is still early in its turnaround.
He noted that Nike is seeing progress in the areas it focused on first. and remains confident in its long-term growth plan. Margins took a hit as tariffs and discounting weighed on profitability, especially in North America. Gross margin dropped by more than 300 basis points to 40.6 percent, which was in line with expectations. Now I have a look at what's trending on Seeking Alpha.
Sony is taking over the Snoopy and Peanuts franchise for $457 million. The NYSE and the NASDAQ are keeping the trading hours unchanged after Trump's holiday announcement. JP Morgan spotlights 11 tech stocks to watch out for in 2026. And today is Friday, so of course we've got the news quiz for you as well.
On our Catalyst Watch for the Day, shareholders with Star Surgical will vote on the buyout offer from Alcon. Star Surgical trades well below the $30.75 deal price. And Disney will release Avatar, Fire and Ash across theaters in the U.S. Box office expectations are for an opening weekend tally of over $100 million.
which could be a late-year positive for ANC Entertainment, Cinemark Holdings, Marcus Corporation, and IMAX. On Wall Street today, Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq futures are in the green. Crude oil is down 0.5% at $55 a barrel. Bitcoin is up 3% at $88,000. The FTSE 100 is flat, and the DAX is up 0.5%.
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Chapter 3: What challenges is Nike facing despite beating fiscal expectations?
BlackBerry is on our list of the biggest movers of the day pre-market. BB is down 4.6% even as the company surpassed estimates after management noted challenges stemming from the government shutdown.
on today's economic calendar at 10 a.m personal income and outlays also at 10 a.m existing home sales another item to add to your calendar but it's not for today it's for the 6th of january it's the top stocks 2026 event with stephen kress you'll be the first to see which stocks lead seeking alpha's annual list i'll leave a link to register in the show notes section
That's it for today's Wall Street Breakfast. Thanks for listening. To take full advantage of Seeking Alpha with coverage on significant stocks and ETFs, become a premium subscriber. Check out seekingalpha.com slash subscriptions. I'm your host, Julie Morgan. Go out and make it a great day.