The markets traded mixed during the midday with the Dow losing 19 points to 20,637. Nasdaq gained 20 points to 5,838.
After a disappointing holiday quarter with a 13.6% drop in global sales, GameStop announced plans to close approximately 150 stores. Consumers are choosing mobile games and digital downloads over traditional hardcopy games. The retailer will also open 65 new Technology Brand stores and 35 Collectibles stores in order to diversify.
Diversified holding company Zhonghong Zhuoye Group will acquire Blackstone Group's 21% stake in SeaWorld Entertainment for a premium of approximately $429 million. Blackstone paid approximately $2.3 billion to purchase SeaWorld in 2009. The embattled theme park operator was taken public in 2013 and has seen its revenue drop the last three years.
The National Football League is pursuing a new revenue stream by selling the streaming rights to its Thursday Night Football games. Twitter reportedly paid $10 million last year for the rights to stream ten Thursday night games. Amazon, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are reportedly all bidding for the rights to stream next season's games on Thursday nights.
In the broad market, advancing issues outpaced decliners by a margin of more than 7 to 5 on both the NYSE and on Nasdaq. The broader S&P 500 index added a point to 2,347. Bitcoin plummeted $47 to $996.
