Universal Display formed UDC Ventures, a subsidiary that will invest in and partner with entrepreneurships, "disruptive" startups and "innovative, emerging companies,” said the OLED materials and technology supplier Wednesday. It's targeting investments in companies with “technology platforms” that have “proprietary position and significant growth potential,” it said. Possible investment sectors are OLED, organic electronics, displays, lighting, materials science and “other related areas,” it said. “Companies can be at any stage,” ranging from “pre-commercial” R&D to “early prototypes” to “late stage” initiatives, it said. “The venture arm seeks to be an impactful strategic investor, with investments ranging from seed funding to later stage growth capital.” Universal Display didn’t comment Thursday on how much of a cash war chest UDC Ventures will have available to invest.

The FTC should investigate Amazon for Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act violations related to its Echo Dot Kids Edition, senators wrote the agency Thursday. Ed Markey, D-Mass.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., cited alleged evidence Amazon is failing to meet COPPA’s notice standard and parental consent requirement and not allowing parents to properly delete children’s data. The FTC confirmed it received the letter. Nineteen consumer and public health organizations led by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood and Center for Digital Democracy called for an investigation, in an FTC complaint. They cited a review by the CCFC and Institute for Public Representation at Georgetown Law. “Amazon retains children’s data even after parents believe they have deleted it,” they wrote, citing overly complicated privacy policies. Color of Change, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Public Citizen were among others joining the complaint. FreeTime on Alexa and Echo Dot Kids Edition are compliant with COPPA, an Amazon spokesperson said Thursday, citing the company's privacy practices.

One in three smart TVs sold in the U.S. in Q1 had a Roku operating system, up from one in four in Q1 a year earlier, said CEO Anthony Wood on a Wednesday evening earnings call. That's a "pretty big increase," he said. Roku is “now the No. 1 smart TV OS in the country,” he said. It's taking share away from TV makers that go to market with their own “homegrown solutions,” he said. TV OEMs “that are not licensing Roku TV are almost all losing in market share and Roku’s OEMs are gaining in market share,” he said. The new Apple and Disney streaming service launches (see 1905090001) “are absolutely positive for Roku and we are excited to bring them to our users,” said Wood. “With 29 million active accounts and some very effective audience development tools, we are an increasingly important partner for these kinds of services that are trying to reach viewers, build audience, increase engagement.” The service launches also “drive interest in streaming,” he said. “It drives more cord cutters, it just propels the whole industry generally.” Content companies like Disney that launch streaming services are “absolutely not competitors” of Roku’s, said Wood. “They are direct-to-consumer services, but they need a platform like Roku to reach consumers in the living room on TVs, and we’re a great platform for doing that.” They’re “important partners for us and we’re important partners for them,” he said. Roku's 74 percent increase in Q1 streaming hours from a year earlier to 8.9 billion and 51 percent revenue increase to $206.7 million sent the stock soaring 28 percent higher Thursday to close at $83.17.

Altice USA, reaping gains from network investments and other improvements, had its best Q1 in terms of video subscribers, with "just 10,000 net losses," CEO Dexter Goei told analysts Thursday. That was also more than some analysts said they had expected. Friday, the stock closed 6.8 percent higher at $24.50. Revenue grew in all business segments, with the highest-ever Q1 margin at 43.1 percent, and it would have been higher if not for some mobile and other costs, Goei said. "It is really cap ex light," said Chief Financial Officer Charlie Stewart said of the coming mobile product. Revenue grew 2.9 percent from the year-ago quarter to $2.4 billion, and the company has about 3.3 million video customers. Altice is "on track for a full commercial launch this summer" of wireless service, Goei said. Its partnership with Sprint led to 19,000 small cell rollouts in about a year, the "fastest rollout of its kind in the U.S.," he said. There are "major mobile handset partnerships" in place, the CEO said. "We are in a phase of heavy testing now." Altice doesn't expect wireless carriers to soon offer 5G targeted at residences where the company operates, he said. "We have seen no 5G fixed launches in our footprint." The ISP has been investing "in our own proprietary video set-top box and broadband router," better user interfaces and new features like voice control, Goei said. "We continue to see increased customer demand for higher broadband speeds and significantly growing data usage." Many customers use Netflix through their set-top, and many Altice subscribers are using voice control, he said: The average home the operator serves has about 12 connected devices. (See also page 7.) Earlier last week, Altice said it's buying Cheddar (see 1904300120).

Qualcomm expects to record revenue gains in Q3 ending June 30 of between $4.5 billion and $4.7 billion from its global settlement with Apple, said finance chief Dave Wise on a fiscal Q2 call Wednesday. The gains include a one-time “cash payment” from Apple and the “release of related liabilities,” plus “go-forward royalties,” he said. Apple will take a six-year license from Qualcomm with an option for two more years, and will source Qualcomm chipsets for a “multiyear” term, said CEO Steve Mollenkopf. The settlement is “a significant milestone, as it is Qualcomm's first patent license agreement directly with Apple,” rather than through Apple’s contract manufacturers, he said. “There's a lot of tension removed out of the system as a result of these settlements,” he said. “I really like the opportunity to have the two teams just working together on products in the future.” Qualcomm downgraded its forecast for calendar 2019 smartphone chipset sales by 50 million units to 1.85 billion units “due to continued weakness in China and a lengthening of the handset replacement cycle, potentially reflecting a pause in advance of 5G rollouts,” said Wise. “We now expect global handset units to decline slightly year over year.” Global smartphone shipments declined 6.6 percent to 310.8 million units, “a clear sign that 2019 will be another down year,” said IDC Tuesday (see 1905010173).

Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou met with President Donald Trump Wednesday about Foxconn's plans to build an LCD fab in Wisconsin, said the White House Thursday. The company “is spending a lot of money in Wisconsin and soon will announce even more investment there,” it said. Gao and Trump didn’t discuss support for Gao’s campaign for the Taiwanese presidency, it said. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) said last month he wants to renegotiate Foxconn’s contract to build a downsized fab because the “deal that was struck” under then-Gov. Scott Walker (R) “is no longer in play” (see 1904190038). “In meetings today with state and local representatives," Gou "continued to build upon the relationships he feels are necessary to the company’s success in Wisconsin,” emailed Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. Secretary-CEO Mark Hogan Thursday when asked for comment about the White House reference to additional investments coming. Hogan's group negotiated the Foxconn contract on the state's behalf 17 months ago (see 1711130014).

As Charter Communications' wireless business grows, it's tough to peg when its losses peak and it begins swinging toward profitability, said Chief Financial Officer Chris Winfrey in an analyst call Tuesday as the company announced Q1 results. CEO Tom Rutledge said Charter is testing its Spectrum Mobile wireless product to see if mobile capabilities can be increased by using Dual SIM technology along with unlicensed and potentially licensed spectrum. It said it added 176,000 mobile lines in the most recent quarter, ending with 310,000. "Mobile is ramping nicely," Winfrey said. He said the bulk of capital spending, such as setting up retail locations, should be in 2019. The company said revenue in the quarter was $11.2 billion, up 5.1 percent year over year. It said during the quarter it had residential and small and mid-sized business internet net adds of 428,000, video net losses of 145,000 and wireline voice net losses of 99,000. It ended the quarter with 15.95 residential video customers, 24 million residential broadband customers and 10 million residential voice.

Video collaboration and gaming fueled Q1 growth at Logitech, said CEO Bracken Darrell on a Tuesday earnings call. Revenue grew 9 percent to $2.79 billion, a company record, it said. Trends fueling growth, said Bracken, include the movement toward equipping offices for cloud-based video calls, surging, growth of PC game play, and associated peripherals, and the “explosion of content creators.” Content is being created by professionals and by consumers in a "Starbucks" or a bedroom, dorm room or outdoors “right now,” said Bracken. He cited an employee’s five-year-old niece is infatuated with YouTube videos from a seven-year-old boy whose Ryan ToysReview show pulled in $22 million last year. Content creators edit, stage and format at a desk using a PC -- and peripherals Logitech sells -- such as a keyboard, mouse, webcam and microphone. Logitech's PC peripherals business has grown for six consecutive years without “specifically designing for that user,” he said. Vincent Pilette, chief financial officer, is leaving Logitech at the end of May to pursue a senior role at an undisclosed company, said Darrell. Nate Olmstead, who joined as vice president-finance this year, will be interim chief financial officer.

Amazon is “ahead of schedule and on pace” to create 400 new jobs this year at its HQ2 in Arlington, Virginia, blogged Ardine Williams, vice president-workforce development, Monday. Its goal is to hire 25,000 in Arlington “over the next decade plus,” she said. “We’ve enjoyed a warm welcome from the community and the strong support from state and local government has allowed us to make significant progress towards establishing our presence here.” Williams was among several Amazon executives who faced tough questions during a confrontational Jan. 30 New York City Council hearing from several members skeptical of Amazon’s plans, under her watch, to recruit Queens public-housing tenants for customer service jobs at its other planned HQ2 in Long Island City (see 1901300048). Amazon scrapped the project two weeks later, citing lack of local government support (see 1902140054). Monday was “an important step” for Amazon in Arlington “as we lease office space and begin hiring,” said Williams. “We will welcome our new employees to our temporary office space on Crystal Drive in June while we work toward opening our first building this fall.” Amazon posted its first job listings Monday, and “while the number is small, these employees will help build the foundation of our workforce and workplace,” she said.

Sony sold 11.3 million TVs globally in the fiscal year ended March 31, slightly below the 11.5 million projected in its February forecast, said the company Friday. Including the 2.1 million sets shipped in fiscal Q4, which was a 16 percent reduction from the same quarter a year earlier, Sony sold 9 percent fewer TVs for the year and forecasts another 3 percent decline in fiscal 2019, it said. For the year, revenue in Home Entertainment & Sound declined 6 percent to 1.16 trillion yen ($10.35 billion) from “the strategic decision to focus on profitability” in TVs over unit volume, Sony said. Operating profit in the sector rose 4.5 percent to 89.7 billion yen ($803.53 million) because of the “shift” in the TV mix to “high value-added models,” it said.