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Webtoon surges after Disney plans to invest and partner in digital push for brands like Marvel and “Star Wars”

Webtoon Entertainment shares jumped 36% in premarket trading Tuesday after Disney said it’s buying a 2% stake in the digital comics platform. The investment is part of a deal to bring Marvel, “Star Wars,” Pixar, and 20th Century Studios titles into a new streaming-style app run by Webtoon. The offering will launch in Q4 across the US and nine other countries.

“With a new platform that will combine our product and technical expertise with Disney’s full comic catalog, we’re giving new and longtime fans all over the world a new way to discover these legendary characters and stories,” said Junkoo Kim, founder and CEO of Webtoon Entertainment.

The platform is expected to host more than 35,000 titles, mixing archived comics with Webtoon originals. Disney+ perks could also be on the table, giving the service a natural tie-in to Disney’s broader streaming play.

The arrangement isn’t final yet: Disney’s stake and the platform details are still under negotiation. But with Webtoon’s ~155 million monthly active users, the partnership gives Disney a mobile-friendly channel for its comics while Webtoon gains the ultimate IP access.

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Lucid climbs after Uber revealed to be its second-largest shareholder following recent investment

Shares of luxury EV maker Lucid are up more than 7% in premarket trading on Tuesday, following the release of a regulatory filing that revealed Uber is now its second-largest shareholder, trailing only Saudi Arabia’s PIF sovereign wealth fund.

The news follows an announcement earlier this month that Uber and Lucid would expand their robotaxi partnership from 20,000 planned vehicles to 35,000. Along with the expansion, Uber also said it would invest an additional $200 million into the EV maker.

Per Monday afternoon’s filing, it seems that investment pushed Uber’s ownership stake in Lucid to 11.52%.

Lucid’s stock is down 29% in April. It hit an all-time low of $6.75 on Monday ahead of the regulatory filing becoming public.

In a mark of just how painful the slide has been for Lucid shareholders, as of Monday, the company’s market cap had dropped to a quarter of the approximately $9.5 billion that Saudi Arabia’s PIF has sunk into it.

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Justice Department accuses telehealth Zealthy of fraud, says remedy may bankrupt it

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