Adobe revenue rises 14% YOY in fiscal Q2; Nexstar auto ad sales stall

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TOP NEWS IN TMT

* Adobe Inc.'s revenue increased 14% year over year to a record $4.39 billion in the fiscal second quarter that ended June 3 amid strong demand across its creative cloud, document cloud and experience cloud segments. Adobe's net income came to $1.18 billion, or $2.49 per share, in the fiscal quarter, compared to $1.12 billion, or $2.32 per share, in the year-ago period.

* Nexstar Media Inc. President and COO Thomas Carter said the company is not seeing any sort of recovery in advertising revenue from the automotive sector. Carter is uncertain whether the sector will return to previous levels of accounting for 25% to 26% of the company's ad sales.

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TECHNOLOGY

* Amazon.com Inc. will kick off its annual two-day Prime Day sales event on July 12 at 3 a.m. ET for Prime members in about 20 countries, including, for the first time, Poland and Sweden. Early savings deals will begin June 21, including for select Amazon devices.

* MeridianLink Inc. named Sean Blitchok, Devesh Khare and Elizabeth Rieveley CFO, chief product officer and chief people officer, respectively. The software company also appointed Chris Maloof president of go-to-market.

INTERNET AND OTT

* EBay Inc. launched eBay Live, a dedicated shopping platform that will allow users to buy products in a live, interactive environment. The first series will offer a curated selection of rare trading cards from top eBay seller Bleecker Trading.

* Spotify Technology SA completed its acquisition of digital audiobook distributor Findaway World LLC. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

* Snap Inc. is testing Snapchat+, a new paid subscription service that will provide subscribers with access to exclusive and pre-release features, Reuters reported, citing the company's spokesperson.

* Roku Inc. and Walmart Inc. announced a collaboration that will enable viewers to purchase directly from shoppable ads on Roku's streaming platform by using their remotes, with Walmart as the exclusive retailer. The shopping experience will use a Walmart checkout page and Roku's payments platform.

* Nielsen Holdings PLC said streaming viewership captured 31.9% of total TV consumption in May, topping the record 29.7% and 30.4% set in March and April, respectively. Nielsen said streaming was the only viewing category that logged month-over-month growth in May.

* Reddit Inc. acquired Spell, an AI platform that enables technology teams to more easily run machine-learning experiments at scale. As part of the acquisition, Spell Founder and CEO Serkan Piantino will become Reddit's vice president of foundational product.

MEDIA

* BuzzFeed Inc. appointed Karolina Waclawiak editor-in-chief of its news division, the first woman to hold the position. Waclawiak previously served as executive editor of culture and director of news development for BuzzFeed Studios.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

* T-Mobile US Inc. is expanding the range of travel benefits for its customers. Subscribers of certain plans will get a free 5 GB of high-speed data per month globally from June 21, while some customers will also get access to free in-flight Wi-Fi connectivity on all flights with certain airlines.

* Shenandoah Telecommunications Co.'s Glo Fiber plans to build a 100% fiber network in Sussex County, Del., for over 21,000 homes and businesses. The project is currently in the engineering and network design phase, with construction expected to ramp up in early 2023.

FILM AND TV

* World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. said CEO and Chairman Vincent McMahon is voluntary stepping back from his responsibilities until the conclusion of an investigation into alleged misconduct by him and Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis. A special committee of the board appointed Stephanie McMahon interim CEO and interim chairwoman.

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