Daily's Pre-Market: ESPN, Fox, and Warner Bros Joint Venture, Ford, Chipotle, Toyota, and Sonos

ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery to launch joint sports streaming platform this year

ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery plan to launch a joint sports streaming service later this year.
The platform, which will be owned by a newly formed company with its own leadership team, does not yet have a name or price.
The product will be a skinnier bundle of linear networks than a standard cable offering, specifically tailored for sports fans.

Ford beat Wall Street’s top- and bottom-line expectations for the fourth quarter while forecasting better-than-expected results for 2024.
The company’s forecast for 2024 includes adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of between $10 billion and $12 billion.
The automaker also announced a special dividend of 18 cents per share in addition to a first-quarter regular dividend of 15 cents per share.

Chipotle easily beat earnings expectations and topped revenue estimates.
The chain’s same-store sales beat expectations.
Chipotle said foot traffic rose in the quarter, bucking an industry-wide trend of declining visits.

Toyota Motor is investing $1.3 billion in a Kentucky plant to produce a new all-electric, three-row SUV for the U.S. market, the company said Tuesday.
The vehicle is expected to go into production between late 2025 and early 2026.
The announcement comes as consumer adoption for EVs has been slower than many expected, causing some automakers to delay or cut investment plans for all-electric vehicles.

Sonos shares rose over 12% in extended trading Tuesday after the speaker company reported fiscal 2024 first-quarter sales and earnings that exceeded Wall Street expectations.
Sonos said it expected to report about $1.65 billion in sales in 2024, unchanged from its previous forecast.
Sonos makes smart speakers and other home consumer electronics, an industry that has been shrinking in recent years as a spending boom from the Covid-19 pandemic recedes.