Fallout from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) collapse so far seems to be contained but the bank failure has had some ramifications for businesses with deposits at the financial institution.
Roku was among those impacted, having around 26 percent of its cash and cash equivalents deposited at the bank. Around $487 million of its total $1.9 billion was in limbo before the government stepped in and said that the bank's clients would be able to recover their deposits in full.
News of the collapse initially plunged Roku's stock by as much as 9.2 percent on Monday, but it rebounded after President Joe Biden said the FDIC would protect impacted customers.
"First, all customers who had deposits in these banks can rest assured … they'll be protected and they'll have access to their money as of today," Biden said in a statement. "No losses will be borne by the taxpayers. Instead the money will come from the fees that banks pay into the Deposit Insurance Fund."
Even without the FDIC backing, Roku indicated to Cheddar News from SXSW that it had enough cash on hand to stay afloat.
"So we filed an 8-K and that's really the totality of our public statement right now. In it, we did say that we're confident that we have the cash balances to meet all of our obligations. That's our public statement right now," Julian Mintz, co-head of U.S. brand sales at Roku, said.
In an effort to avoid a potential financial crisis, global banking leader HSBC acquired SVB in the UK in order to protect a swath of British tech companies.
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve announced on Monday that it is currently reviewing its own part in overseeing the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and it would have a report by May 1.
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Skype users are scrambling to find an alternative after Microsoft shut down the pioneering internet phone service which let people make cheap long distance calls and chat with other users. Google Voice lets users make calls from a smartphone or a desktop web browser but it's only available to people in the U.S. Viber users can call phone numbers but can't get a number to receive calls. Zoom offers phone options too. You could get a number from a low cost virtual carrier or try other internet phone services. Microsoft says some Skype features will migrate to Teams, but its Teams Phone feature is only for businesses.
Amid a backdrop of ongoing tariff uncertainty, more and more gamers are facing price hikes. Microsoft raised recommended retailer pricing for its Xbox consoles and controllers around the world this week. Its Xbox Series S, for example, now starts at $379.99 in the U.S. — up $80 from the $299.99 price tag that debuted in 2020. And its more powerful Xbox Series X will be $599.99 going forward, a $100 jump from its previous $499.99 listing. The tech giant didn’t mention tariffs specifically, but cited wider “market conditions and the rising cost of development.” Beyond the U.S., Microsoft also laid out Xbox price adjustments for Europe, the U.K. and Australia. The company said all other countries would also receive updates locally.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said Thursday that the majority of iPhones sold in the U.S. in the current fiscal quarter will be sourced from India, while iPads and other devices will come from Vietnam as the company works to avoid the impact of President Trump’s tariffs on its business. Apple’s earnings for the first three months of the year topped Wall Street’s expectations thanks to high demand for its iPhones, and the company said tariffs had a limited effect on the fiscal second quarter’s results. Cook added that for the current quarter, assuming things don’t change, Apple expects to see $900 million added to its costs as a result of the tariffs.
