Author: V. Alure

Warner Bros. Discovery has formally declared Paramount Skydance’s latest takeover proposal a “superior” offer to its existing deal with Netflix, escalating one of the most dramatic bidding wars Hollywood has seen in years. The determination prompted Netflix to withdraw from the bidding, handing the victory to Paramount. In a statement Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery said its board concluded that Paramount’s revised all‑cash offer to buy the entire company qualifies as a “Company Superior Proposal” under the terms of its merger agreement with Netflix. The bid values Warner Bros. Discovery at around $111 billion, or $31 a share, up from Paramount’s…

State Farm on Thursday announced a historic $5 billion dividend for its car insurance members, the largest in the mutual insurance company’s 103-year history. “This dividend is possible due to State Farm Mutual’s financial strength and a stronger than expected underwriting performance, which has been reported industry wide,” the company said in a statement. Customers can expect to receive refunds of $100 on average, though State Farm says the amount will vary by state and by the amount of premium paid. State Farm reports it has also lowered premiums by about 10% across 40 states, totaling $4.6 billion in cost…

Republican lawmakers leading the congressional investigation into the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein are signaling that they could subpoena U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over his ties to Epstein.Lutnick, a long-time ally of President Donald Trump and former CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, has faced intense scrutiny after the recent release of millions of pages of documents from the Justice Department’s Epstein Files, which were made public under the Epstein Files Transparency Act of 2025.Those records revealed additional encounters between Lutnick and Epstein, including a 2012 lunch on Epstein’s private island, contradicting earlier statements in which Lutnick said he severed ties…

Earnings, excluding one-off items, increased to $3.81 per share in the fourth quarter from $2.78 per share in the comparable quarter last year, exceeding expectations. On a reported basis, fourth-quarter profit rose to $1.94 billion or $2.07 per share from $1.71 billion or $1.75 per share in the prior-year quarter. Driving the earnings growth, total revenues increased to $11.2 billion in the fourth quarter from $10.0 billion in the comparable period of FY25. The top line exceeded Wall Street’s estimates. Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, said, “We’ve rebuilt Salesforce to become the operating system for the Agentic Enterprise, bringing humans…

Michael Intrator, Chief Executive Officer of CoreWeave Inc., speaks during an interview with CNBC on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., Sept. 22, 2025.Jeenah Moon | ReutersCoreWeave shares fell as much as 7% in extended trading on Thursday after the artificial intelligence-focused cloud infrastructure provider posted higher fourth-quarter revenue than Wall Street had expected.Here’s how the company did in comparison with LSEG consensus:Loss per share: Loss of 89 cents.Revenue: $1.57 billion vs. $1.55 billion expectedCoreWeave’s revenue grew 110% year over year in the quarter, according to a statement.It had 850 megawatts in…

Exclusive-ICE struggles to vet recruits amid US immigration enforcement push, internal email shows Source link #ExclusiveICE #struggles #vet #recruits #immigration #enforcement #push #internal #email #shows

Fourth-quarter revenue increased to $68.1 billion from $39.3 billion in the prior-year period, benefitting from a 75% surge in Data Center revenues. The top-line exceeded Wall Street’s expectations. Adjusted earnings, excluding one-off items, rose sharply to $1.62 per share in the fourth quarter from $0.89 per share a year earlier, beating estimates. On a reported basis, the company posted a net income of $42.9 billion or $1.76 per share for Q4, compared to $22.09 billion or $0.89 per share in the year-ago quarter. Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, said, “Computing demand is growing exponentially — the agentic AI inflection point has…

It’s still very early days for brain chips that let people control devices with their thoughts — but the market opportunity has become increasingly intriguing to tech CEOs and politicians. Source link #Musk #Altman #China #fighting #control #potential #billion #market #brain #implants

British intelligence agencies have shared intercepted phone calls and messages from senior Russian officials with their American counterparts in which Kremlin figures are said to be privately mocking President Donald Trump.In a report from The Spectator about the relationship between Trump and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the exchanges were described by a senior security source as part of a broader effort by the United Kingdom to alert U.S. officials to what Western governments interpret as Russia’s continued misrepresentation of its own intentions.”We have continually shown them intelligence that shows the Russians are lying,” the source told The Spectator, reflecting…

Revenue grows modestly For the fourth quarter of FY2026, Zoom reported: Revenue: $1.247 billion, up 5.3% year over year Enterprise revenue: $757.3 million, up 7.1% Online revenue: $489.7 million, up 2.6% For the full fiscal year: Total revenue: $4.869 billion, up 4.4% year over year Enterprise segment remained the main growth driver, while the online segment grew only slightly The company also reported a 9.3% increase in customers generating more than $100,000 in annual revenue, indicating deeper penetration among large organizations. Earnings and profitability Zoom delivered strong profit growth despite moderate revenue expansion. GAAP results (reported) Net income: $674.1 million…