Roku IPO, Playboy's Hugh Hefner Dies, Twitter and Russia: Thursday's Top Stories

Today's top stories: Roku is expected to raise $219 million in its initial public offering, Playboy Founder Hugh Hefner dies, Twitter and the Russian Investigation.

Author:: Jane King
Publish date:: Sep 28, 2017 12:07 PM EDT

Jane King has Thursday's Top Stories:

Roku Public Offering:

Roku (ROKU) - Get Report is expected to raise $219 million in its initial public offering today. The value of the company, at that price, is $1.3 billion. Roku makes devices that allow TV viewers to access Netflix (NFLX) - Get Report , Amazon TV (AMZN) - Get Report , and Youtube. It will trade on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol 'ROKU'.

Twitter - Russia Investation:

Russia is being accused of using Twitter (TWTR) - Get Report to stoke debate and division among Americans in the NFL debate. The New York Times says Russia seized on both sides of the issue with hashtags such as #boycottnfl, #standforouranthem and #takeaknee. Twitter is preparing to brief staff members of the Senate and House intelligence committees today on their investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Death of an Icon:

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner has died. He was 91 years old. He was was credited with ushering in the sexual revolution of the 1960's. Hefner took Playboy Enterprises Inc. private in 2011. The Chicago company, which held its initial public offering in 1971, had shrunk in size Hefner's core readers aged while younger readers, mostly male, gravitated to so-called lad magazines Maxim, FHM and Stuff, as well as porn. Hefner's enterprise was progressive and a family run business. Read TheStreet'sLeon Lazaroff (Follow) fascinating story about the men's magazine that objectfied women, even as its CEO was Hugh Hefner's daughter and its politics were left-of-center.

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