Top Stock Market News for Wednesday: WBD, CG, AMZN, DELL, NVDA, and more

Warner Bros. stock fell after shareholders rejected executive pay package. Carlyle invested $1.3 bln in Trucordia. Amazon's stock received a price target increase from JPMorgan. Dell Technologies dipped on GSA concerns. Nvidia benefited from gaming sales. President Trump pushed for interest rate cuts. Rocket Lab's stock rose with new price targets. Archer Aviation received analyst praise. Nio released Q1 earnings. Apple was downgraded by Needham. K Wave Media's stock soared on Bitcoin treasury plans. Raytheon stock surged on a $1.1 bln Navy deal. Moleculin Biotech sank on clinical trial results. Celsius Holdings received a reiterated Buy rating. JPMorgan raised Meta Platforms' price target. Lucid Group signed a supply deal with Graphite One. Netflix stock hit a new all-time high. Nintendo stock rose ahead of the Switch 2 launch. Shopify dipped on AI commitments. Rite Aid announced more store closures. Cloudflare received analyst praise for AI expansion. CoreWeave's stock jumped on an AI milestone. Amazon plans to invest $10 bln in AI data centers. Coca-Cola recalled a product sold at Costco. Nissan stock dropped on cost-cutting efforts.

In a significant move, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) shareholders overwhelmingly rejected the 2024 pay packages of CEO David Zaslav and other top executives at the company's annual stockholder meeting. The board of directors had recommended shareholders to vote in favor of the compensation proposal, but more than 59% of them voted against it on a non-binding basis [1][2].

The rejection of the compensation package comes amidst growing shareholder frustration with executive compensation and the company's financial performance. WBD has been grappling with declining cable TV business amid widespread cord-cutting, focusing instead on its streaming and studios divisions. The company missed first-quarter revenue estimates and posted a larger-than-expected loss, further exacerbating concerns about its financial health [1].

Warner Bros. Discovery's stock has plummeted 59% since the April 2022 merger of AT&T’s WarnerMedia and Discovery Communications, adding to the pressure on the company. The company is also moving towards a potential breakup, with plans to separate its cable TV assets from its streaming and studio operations [1].

Despite the challenges, WBD has seen growth in its streaming division, adding 5.3 million streaming subscribers in the January-March quarter, beating market expectations. However, it still lags behind industry leader Netflix [1].

The rejection of the compensation package is a clear sign of shareholder discontent with executive pay, particularly in the wake of the company's financial struggles. The move also highlights the growing scrutiny of executive compensation in the media and entertainment industry, where CEO pay often exceeds that of other sectors [2].

References:
[1] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/warner-bros-discovery-shareholders-reject-223644211.html
[2] https://www.benzinga.com/markets/equities/25/06/45764230/warner-bros-discovery-inc-wbd-shareholders-deliver-rebuke-to-ceo-david-zaslavs-51-9-million-pay-package-amid-stock-slump-debt-downgrade