Elon kicks off Man United’s share price

Elon Musk sets off a buying spree at Manchester United, Apple is bringing more ads to a device near you and Nearmap receive some billion-dollar interest. These are the 5 big stories from the week that was

1. Kick on

Manchester United shareholders are cheering after Elon Musk tweeted he was going to buy the publicly-listed football team. 

Musk later clarified that he was just kidding around but it didn’t stop MANU gaining 13% this week. Must be nice to pretend.

But it also made us think: what other sports franchises are on the market? Here’s a few  that caught our eye and one reason why many stay private. 

2. Memes test

Shares in meme stock Bed Bath & Beyond have plummeted back to earth overnight after one of its biggest investors sold out.

GameStop chair Ryan Cohen, who helped quadruple the share price in recent weeks, has offloaded his entire stake.

Amounting to almost 10 million shares, investors appear to have lost some confidence in the speculative stock. It fell about 50% on Thursday.

3. Ads up

If you’re an iPhone user, prepare to see a lot more ads. Apple is reportedly ready to open up advertising on its own in-house apps.

That means Maps, Stocks, News and more are due to house promotions for any business willing to pay. 

Internally it’s seen as a way to add an extra digit to Apple’s advertising revenue which currently sits at about US$4 billion.

It’s an interesting move considering the company just smashed the ability of Meta, Snap and others to sell to its users.

4. ASX wrap

The story of this reporting season so far has to be dividends with BHP delivering shareholders their biggest ever payday.

It’s been followed by bumper results from coal stocks like Whitehaven and Yancoal, and oil and gas companies like Santos. 

Even retailer giant JB Hi-Fi managed to post strong sales figures with its CEO suggesting electronics are no longer discretionary. 

5. Near enough

One of the biggest moves this week however came from aerial imagery company Nearmap which soared 33% on a takeover bid.

The ASX-listed company puts together 3D renders that can be analysed by AI to do everything from flood assessments to land valuations. 

It is now considering a $1.1 billion offer from U.S. tech investor Thoma Bravo, which has one more week to finalise the sale.