Tech Roundup: Microsoft goes gaming and investors pull the plug on Netflix
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Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) threw the hammer down in the videogame market, and Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) is now worth almost a quarter less than it was a week ago.
Those two items alone were enough to mark a busy week in a tech sector this is only going to see more activity as a series of earnings reports for several bellwethers are about to start rolling in and taking the spotlight on Wall Street.

But, for a moment...Back to Microsoft (MSFT).
The world's biggest software company wasted little time in showing where some of its intentions are this year, as on Tuesday it said it would acquire Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard
(NASDAQ:ATVI) for almost $69 billion. It's Microsoft's (MSFT) largest-ever acquisition, and puts the company ever deeper into the videogame industry.
Needless to say, the deal raises multiple questions, including what it says about Microsoft's (MSFT) plans for the metaverse, and which game publisher might next be in the crosshairs for being acquired.
Meanwhile, the latest figures from NPD Group said that videogame sales fell for the second-straight month in December, but that overall sales rose for all of 2021.
For the tech sector, earnings season never really ends. But, the symbolic start to the next big round of tech earnings reports took place on Thursday, when Netflix (NFLX) delivered its fourth quarter report. And let's just say that by the end of Friday's trading session, there was no mistaking what pretty much everyone thought about the streaming TV giant's subscriber numbers.
Netflix (NFLX) shares plunged almost 22%, Friday, after the company delivered weaker-than-expected new subscriber numbers for the final three months of 2021. In response, at least half a dozen Wall Street analysts cut their ratings on Netflix's (NFLX) stock.
The company also tempered expectations for subscriber growth for the first quarter of this year, leading to speculation that other streaming TV services might be pulling customers away from Netflix (NFLX), and could be able to gain market share at Netflix's (NFLX) expense.
All of also came as Netflix (NFLX) began implementing new price increases in the United States and Canada.
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) made waves late in the week, when the semiconductor giant confirmed it will put at least $20 billion into building a massive new chip-fabrication facility near Columbus, Ohio. Intel (INTC) said construction on the plant will start this year, with a goal of rolling chips off the assembly line by 2025.
President Joe Biden voiced support for Intel's (INTC), saying that the facility will create at least 3,000 permanent jobs. Intel (INTC) Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger said the company was working to create a "Silicon Heartland" in Ohio.
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) made some noise during the week, as it filed a request asking that an antitrust lawsuit brought by Texas and several other states be thrown out. The company also is reportedly working on a new augmented reality headset.
How good is it to be Disney (NYSE:DIS) CEO Bob Chapek? Well, according to the company's proxy statement, it's pretty good, as Disney (DIS) gave Chapek a 2021 compensation package of $32.5 million, or more than twice what he earned in 2020.
We couldn't get through a week without some mention of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), now could we? Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook met with Sen. Ted Cruz [R.-Texas] to discuss antitrust legislation that is being bandied about in Congress.
And with Apple (AAPL) scheduled to report quarterly results on Jan. 27, analysts are beginning to pay attention to things like how the company's services business perform in the last quarter.