CNN+ launched its paid streaming service on March 29. It is reportedly facing teething problems as the number of viewers who sign up on a daily basis are less than 10,000, according to sources. The cable news network has not as yet released any data on the matter. It was available on Roku only on Monday and is still not streaming on Android TV.

The subscription news streaming service of CNN was launched by CEO Jason Kilar two weeks before Warner Bros. merged with Discovery. He had been upbeat about the numbers in an interview with CNBC but had not shared the numbers. He left the company, a few days ago.

A CNN spokesperson told CNBC that they continued “to be happy with the launch and its progress after only two weeks.” However, people familiar with the matter told the outlet that fewer than 10,000 people were using the recently launched streaming service, on the condition of anonymity, as the data is nonpublic.

According to a report in Axios, around $300 million has been spent on the streaming service, including marketing. The news channel had planned a billion dollar investment in the next four years but the outlet said that hundreds of millions of those dollars will no longer be spent.

CNN will be lead by Chris Licht from May 1. Many decisions including the new budget and more will be discussed when he is at the helm. There could be many changes including resignations as well as job cuts if the budget is cut. There could also be a decrease in the projected viewership if funds get limited.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has not commented publicly on CNN+ after the merger. In February, he told CNBC that he had not got a business review on what CNN+ was going to be and how it was going to be offered.

People familiar with the matter said that it could be offered as a part of a bundle that also had the popular streaming platforms HBO Max and Discovery+, which already have millions of subscribers.

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On Tuesday, Walmart Inc. announced that their next Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, (CFO), John Rainey will assume his duties on June 6, 2022. On the same day, John Rainey, the Chief Financial Officer of PayPal announced that he was stepping down from the payments company to pursue new opportunities. He will continue with PayPal till late May.

The big box retailer had said that long time CFO of Walmart Brett Biggs was leaving the company to pursue opportunities in both profit and nonprofit sectors. However, he will remain as CFO till June 6, following which he will serve as advisor, until he leaves Walmart on January 31, 2023.

Rainey’s appointment as Executive Vice President (EVP) and CFO is a coup for Walmart as it seeks to expand its fintech services. Walmart has a joint venture with Ribbit Capital which was formed in 2021. In February, its fintech operations called Hazel recently acquired Even and One. Walmart had announced that these two acquisitions would streamline its services into “a single financial services app.”

John Rainey has a load of experience in all things financial. He started his career at Ernst & Young. He was EVP and CFO at United Airlines. He joined PayPal as CFO about seven years ago and has been responsible for all its financial operations. He was also one of the architects who brought Venmo and crypto onboard at PayPal.

Rainer serves on the board of Nasdaq as the chair of the finance committee and a member of the audit company. He is also a member of the advisory board at Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University.

Walmart President and Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillion spoke of John’s past record and experience and said that his “experience leading finance in complex, highly competitive industries” would help Walmart deliver for their customers and shareholders as they “continue to transform” their company.

Rainer said that he was “excited and humbled” to join Walmart. Describing it as “an iconic company” he also said that he couldn’t wait to join the management team and their 2.3 million associates as they continued “to help people around the world save money and live better.”

Why Should You Buy Walmart 2022 Earnings. Beats on Revenue and Earnings of $152.87 billion

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram wants to make it simpler for people to spend and earn money on the virtual reality platform Horizon Worlds, which is a key component of Meta’s goal to create a “metaverse.”

The tech billionaire said in a video posted late Monday as part of a blogpost that Meta is testing new tools that will allow creators to sell virtual assets and experiences within the worlds they create on Horizon.

The new capabilities will be offered to a limited number of users of the company’s immersive platform, which can be accessed via virtual reality headsets.

These types of technologies, according to Meta, are an important step toward its long-term goal for the ‘metaverse,’ where creators can make a living and customers can buy.

However, the corporation has stated that it will charge creators up to 47.5% in fees to sell their virtual goods in its metaverse.

The virtual reality social network Horizon Worlds, has begun testing new capabilities that will allow creators to sell digital assets to people over 18 of age in the US and Canada, reports say. Attachable fashion accessories, for example, or purchased entry to a new portion of the world are examples of this.

Meta charges a 30% platform fee for sales made on Meta Quest, the company’s virtual reality system that was previously known as Oculus.

In addition, Horizon Worlds, Meta’s metaverse system, will take a 25% cut of the remaining funds. Horizon Worlds (previously Facebook Horizon) is a free online virtual reality game that allows users to create and explore virtual worlds.

The game was released on Meta’s Oculus VR headsets in the United States and Canada on December 9, although it has yet to be released globally. Companies and people have been buying anything from art to real estate in virtual worlds on portals like Decentraland and The SandBox during the last few months.

Meta intends to spend the next five to ten years creating an immersive virtual environment that includes scent, touch, and sound to allow users to lose themselves in virtual reality.

Land, buildings, avatars, and even names can be bought and sold as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), or blockchain-based virtual assets, in which the corporation competes with up-and-coming virtual world participants.

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