Vudu, MGM to work on original series
Vudu, the video-on-demand service owned by Walmart Inc., will work with MGM to create original series based on the movie studio's film and television franchises, Walmart said Monday. The shows will be available exclusively on Vudu's free, ad-supported Movies On Us service.
Vudu and MGM executives are scheduled to make an announcement about the first production under the partnership today at the NewFronts digital media conference in Los Angeles.
Walmart spokesman Justin Rushing told Reuters that the partners will focus on "family-friendly content that Walmart customers prefer."
The Bentonville retailer acquired Vudu Inc. in 2010. The online video service has licensing agreements with major studios that make more than 150,000 titles available.
Unlike competitors such as Netflix and Hulu, Vudu doesn't require a subscription. Instead, viewers can rent or buy content, or watch the free movies and TV shows on Movies On Us.
-- Serenah McKay
America's Car-Mart opens 2 more sites
America's Car-Mart recently opened two new dealerships, one in Oklahoma and the other in Alabama, the car company said this week.
The Bentonville-based buy-here, pay-here used-car dealer said the new dealership in Bixby, Okla., will be managed by Jack Pew, and the Alabama lot with be run by Pedro Mendez. The new locations bring the company's dealership total to 143 with four lots expected to open in fiscal 2019.
In August, Car-Mart saw its shares soar when it reported profits of $10.9 million, or $1.53 per share, for the company's first quarter in fiscal 2019, up from $7 million, or 90 cents per share, for the year-ago period -- the third quarter in a row that Car-Mart has beaten analysts' average earnings estimates.
Car-Mart has dealerships in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
-- John Magsam
Day ends down 3.19 for Arkansas Index
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, dropped 3.19 to 445.68 Tuesday.
"The Dow and S&P 500 closed slightly lower on Tuesday after the International Monetary Fund cut its global economic growth forecasts for 2018 and 2019, saying that the U.S.-China trade war was taking a toll, and emerging markets were beginning to struggle," said Chris Harkins, managing director with Raymond James & Associates in Little Rock.
Total volume for the index was 21.6 million shares.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 10/10/2018