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Thrive Holdings agrees to take ADT private for $7.6 billion
ADT has accepted an all-cash offer from Thrive Holdings that values the home-security company at $7.6 billion.
Business
THE DEVELOPMENTS THAT MATTER
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AI chip expansion lifts Linde's electronics sales
Linde's electronics sales grew 15% as semiconductor manufacturers expanded capacity for AI and high-performance computing chips.
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Microsoft’s cloud growth puts cash behind its AI expansion
Microsoft reported 48% Azure growth and $18.6 billion in quarterly free cash flow, giving investors a stronger cash cushion for its AI buildout.
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Alphabet’s AI buildout pushes free cash flow below zero
Alphabet posted $9.07 billion in negative free cash flow as AI investment accelerated, while weaker search advertising outweighed rapidly growing cloud revenue.
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UPS sees a $15 billion logistics opportunity in data centers
UPS says the data-center buildout could create a $15 billion annual logistics market covering chips, equipment, freight and replacement parts.
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Guidewire agrees to buy insurance AI firm hyperexponential
Guidewire agreed to acquire UK insurance AI company hyperexponential for $1.7 billion in cash, with up to $400 million more tied to revenue targets.
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HSBC profit rises 32% as rates lift income
HSBC reported a 32% increase in third-quarter pretax profit as higher interest rates supported lending income and wealth management drew new clients.
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Microsoft offers buyouts to about 60,000 staff
Microsoft offered voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees as it seeks to contain costs while funding a major expansion in AI infrastructure.
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Bon Secours nears $6bn Surgery Partners deal, FT reports
Bon Secours Mercy Health is in late-stage talks for a majority stake in Surgery Partners at a roughly $6 billion valuation including debt, the Financial Times reported.
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Brookfield opens Doha office around credit platform
Brookfield opened a Doha office anchored by its global credit platform, including Oaktree, as it expands its Gulf presence.
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Lindt says price increases pushed demand too far
Lindt’s chairman says the chocolate maker overestimated how much it could raise prices without damaging demand, particularly in Germany.
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England plans £1.5 billion borrowing facility for mayors
Britain’s government plans to give English mayors a £1.5 billion borrowing facility and new seed funding for locally chosen growth projects.
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Couche-Tard reportedly offers up to $8 billion for Cumberland Farms
Alimentation Couche-Tard has reportedly proposed paying $7.5 billion to $8 billion for US convenience-store operator Cumberland Farms.
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Amazon says cloud capacity is largely sold out through 2027
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy says AWS cloud capacity is largely committed through 2027, with significant customer commitments already extending into 2028.
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Saab’s order bookings triple as quarterly profit rises
Saab’s third-quarter operating profit rose to 1.95 billion Swedish crowns as sales and order bookings accelerated sharply.
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Safran sales rise as engine services drive growth
Safran reported €9 billion in third-quarter revenue, up 13.4% organically, and maintained its full-year outlook.
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Rexel raises its outlook as data centers and electrification lift demand
Rexel upgraded its annual targets after US data-center demand and Europe's electrification push helped third-quarter sales rise 11.4%.
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IMF and OECD warn AI could widen the development divide
The IMF and OECD say AI can lift growth but may leave poorer countries, smaller companies and younger workers further behind.
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Meta centers its AI strategy on Muse and a new class of shares
Meta plans non-voting Class C shares as it increases AI spending and positions its Muse agent as a future revenue engine.
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Legal AI startup Legora raises $550 million at an $8.8 billion valuation
Legora’s Series E will fund expansion and agentic product development as legal AI attracts another large financing round.
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Salesforce agrees to buy Braze for about $5.66 billion
Salesforce plans to add Braze’s real-time customer-engagement tools through an all-cash acquisition.
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ABB reports record orders as investors question the AI spending cycle
ABB posted $12 billion in third-quarter orders, while market concern focused on how long AI infrastructure spending can last.
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3M links Amazon share warrants to data-center purchases
An Amazon subsidiary received warrants for up to 3.16 million 3M shares.
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Nscale and Anthropic discuss a second Monarch computing deal
Reuters reports talks over a new cloud-computing agreement worth roughly $45 billion.
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S&P warns that AI-linked financial obligations may be less visible
An S&P Global analyst raised concerns about interconnected AI-infrastructure financing.
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Oil prices ease as traders weigh prospective Russian fuel supplies
Brent futures traded at $107.92 a barrel at 02:27 UTC on October 19, down 1.77%.
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Report: Accenture reviews a potential sale of its China operations
The Financial Times reports that the consultancy is considering a transaction worth up to $1.5 billion.
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Anthropic proposes a public-benefit fund backed by company shares
The company proposes committing 5% of its equity, subject to stockholder approval.
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HDFC Bank reports 4.7% quarterly profit growth
Standalone net profit reached 195.10 billion rupees for the quarter ended September 30.
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IMF members call for support against financing shocks
An IMFC chair’s statement warns that conflict, energy costs and debt can amplify economic vulnerabilities.
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Anthropic signs its first Canadian data-centre lease
The company has leased capacity from EverWind at Point Tupper, Nova Scotia.
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TSMC reports a 68.7% rise in quarterly profit
Actual third-quarter results show NT$763.06 billion in net income and US$46.72 billion in revenue.
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ASML posts record sales and weighs a larger capacity expansion
The lithography supplier reported €11.7 billion in quarterly sales and said planned output may not meet customer demand.
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Inflation worries hit AI infrastructure shares
AI infrastructure stocks fell as investors reassessed borrowing costs after a hotter-than-expected US inflation report.
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Nvidia agrees investments in Doctolib and Genesis AI
Two French startups confirmed Nvidia investments, extending the chipmaker’s connections beyond hardware.
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IMF warns AI correction could amplify global financial stress
The IMF said an AI-related asset selloff, higher sovereign yields or a major cyberattack could become systemic when combined with existing financial vulnerabilities.
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Omron to buy OnLogic for $675m in physical-AI push
Omron agreed to acquire industrial-PC developer OnLogic and parent Interlogic for $675 million to expand physical-AI platforms in factory automation.
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Amazon in talks to buy AI startup Decart for about $7 billion, WSJ reports
Amazon is discussing a possible acquisition of AI startup Decart at a valuation of roughly $7 billion, according to a Wall Street Journal report cited by Reuters.
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Moonshot AI executives seek settlement of shareholder dispute before IPO
Moonshot AI executives are in early settlement talks over a shareholder dispute as the Chinese startup prepares for a potential public listing, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
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Infosys sees no material impact from US PERM suspension
Infosys said it does not expect a material business effect from its US suspension from the employment-based PERM program and will work with the Labor Department and other agencies.
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Apple reportedly cuts iPhone 18 Pro component orders by at least 15%.
Nikkei Asia said October component orders were reduced as higher memory costs and handset prices weighed on demand; Reuters could not verify the report.
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Firmus abandons a planned Australian AI-infrastructure IPO.
The Nvidia- and Blackstone-backed data-center company dropped a listing that had targeted an A$44 billion valuation and more than A$5 billion of proceeds.
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Fast Retailing posts a fifth record profit as Western sales pass China.
Combined revenue from North America and Europe reached 877.6 billion yen, overtaking Greater China's 724 billion yen for the first time.
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Samsung forecasts an $80 billion quarterly profit as AI memory demand surges.
The company projected 107.4 trillion won in third-quarter operating profit, with tight memory supply and AI infrastructure spending lifting chip prices.
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Anglo American says its Teck merger is testing a harder critical-minerals rulebook.
The proposed $54 billion merger has cleared every operating jurisdiction except China, while a separate nickel sale remains under European Union review.
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FICO plans a 15% workforce cut in an AI-led restructuring.
The credit-scoring company expects about $27 million in pretax charges as it reduces staffing and redirects resources toward AI-enabled products.
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Uber agrees to buy corporate-catering platform ezCater for $2.3 billion.
The all-cash deal would add large corporate meal orders to Uber's delivery network, subject to regulatory approval.
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C.H. Robinson agrees to buy RXO for $5.8 billion.
The combination would create a roughly $25 billion logistics company and expand C.H. Robinson's last-mile and route-density capabilities.
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Nasdaq closes at a record as chip stocks lift Wall Street.
The Nasdaq gained 1.05% to a record close, supported by chip shares, lower oil prices and reduced expectations for a near-term rate increase.
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Global dealmaking fell below $1 trillion in the third quarter as the 2026 M&A boom cooled.
Financial Times analysis put third-quarter transaction value at $986 billion, down sharply from nearly $1.7 trillion in the preceding quarter.
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Schneider Electric agrees to acquire PTC for $22.6 billion.
The all-cash agreement values PTC at $205 a share and would deepen Schneider's industrial-software portfolio, subject to approvals and an expected 2027 closing.
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Revolut's $115 billion valuation puts the fintech ahead of major European banks.
The digital bank has reached 80 million customers and reported £1.7 billion in 2025 pretax profit, but still earns less per customer than incumbents.
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Iran's rial falls to a new low as the central bank announces up to $2 billion in support.
Free-market trackers put the dollar near 2.7 million rials as state banks began selling foreign currency to slow the decline.
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U.S.-Russia talks have expanded to a proposed multibillion-dollar Lukoil asset deal, NYT reports.
The reported proposal covers oil fields, refineries and fuel stations and would require approval from both Washington and the Kremlin.
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Novartis licenses Abogen's mRNA autoimmune program in a deal worth up to $7.8 billion.
Abogen will receive $575 million upfront, with the rest dependent on development and regulatory milestones.
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Wall Street questions how much long-term collateral value Nvidia's AI chips can carry.
Some lenders want stronger guarantees for a proposed chip-backed financing model because AI hardware can lose value faster than conventional infrastructure.
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South Korea's monthly exports exceed $120 billion for the first time.
September exports rose 83.5% from a year earlier to $120.9 billion, led by semiconductor shipments tied to global AI investment.
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Micron's AI-memory backlog expands as its revenue forecast beats estimates.
Micron forecast first-quarter revenue of $61.5 billion, plus or minus $1.5 billion, above the $57.02 billion analyst average compiled by LSEG.
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HPE wins a $1.2 billion AI-server order from cloud provider Vultr.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced a $1.2 billion order to provide AMD Helios AI racks, networking switches and software to Vultr's U.S. data centres.
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The United States offers to loan up to 40 million barrels from the SPR.
The U.S. government opened a new offer to loan energy companies as much as 40 million barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, completing its planned share of a coordinated international release.
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EIB and BNP Paribas create a €700 million guarantee pool for grid manufacturers.
The European Investment Bank and BNP Paribas agreed to mobilise €700 million in guarantees for manufacturers of electricity-grid equipment, with €350 million of counter-guarantees from each institution.
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Samsung commits $1 billion to KKR-backed AI infrastructure platform Helix Digital.
Samsung Electronics and affiliated companies will invest a combined $1 billion in Helix Digital, a KKR-backed platform designed to build data centers and the power, transmission and fiber systems that support them.
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China confirms a two-month extension of the US trade truce.
Beijing said the pause will run through January 10, giving companies a more predictable window while new bilateral groups work on tariffs, agriculture and other commercial issues.
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A bankruptcy court approves the sale of Spirit’s final 27 Airbus jets.
Spirit Airlines’ remaining 27 A320-family aircraft are set to change hands in transactions valued at a combined $668.129 million.
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Gary/Chicago Airport starts work on an $18.3 million control tower.
Gary/Chicago International Airport broke ground on a new air-traffic-control tower scheduled for completion in late 2027.
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DayOne presses ahead with an IPO as data-centre investors grow more selective.
Singapore-based data-centre operator DayOne is preparing a public filing and possible November listing despite a tougher financing market, Reuters reported.
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Akamai and Anthropic sign an $11.6 billion cloud agreement.
Akamai signed a seven-year, $11.6 billion cloud-services contract with Anthropic and granted the AI company a warrant that could convert into as much as a 5% stake.
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Oracle cites potential power delays at a major New Mexico data center.
Oracle issued a force-majeure notice to the developer of a large New Mexico data center, citing possible delays in obtaining power for the site, a source told Reuters.
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Mercuria commits $500 million to a US strategic-minerals reserve initiative.
Commodities trader Mercuria has committed $500 million to Project Vault, an initiative intended to build US strategic inventories of critical minerals.
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Snorkel AI raises $350 million at a $3.5 billion valuation.
The Stanford AI Lab spinout says demand for complex training data and reinforcement-learning environments has pushed its annualized revenue run-rate above $350 million.
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Banks warn that AI shopping agents could widen fraud and privacy risks.
A group including NatWest, Bank of America and ING says consumer protections and industry standards are lagging behind automated purchasing tools.
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Mombak opens a second Amazon reforestation fund and adds Salesforce as a buyer.
The fund targets $150 million and can draw on a Brazilian climate-credit line, while Salesforce signed a multiyear carbon-removal purchase agreement.
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Four Chinese companies seek up to $1.83 billion in Hong Kong offerings.
RoboTechnik leads a group of technology and industrial issuers entering a Hong Kong market where fundraising has nearly doubled from last year.
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Europe accelerates the search for alternative rare-earth supply.
A Brazil-based project seeking European customers illustrates the costly effort to reduce dependence on China for materials used in vehicles, turbines and defense systems.
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IMF says AI could lift European productivity while increasing economic strain.
An IMF paper estimates a roughly 1% productivity boost over five years but flags labor, power-grid and technology-dependence risks.
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Chinese central-bank adviser warns AI could deepen a supply-demand imbalance.
Huang Yiping said productivity gains risk reinforcing strong supply and weak consumption unless China advances market and income reforms.
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Nscale files for a U.S. IPO after rapid growth and widening losses.
The Nvidia-backed British AI cloud provider reported sharply higher first-half revenue alongside a $1.02 billion net loss.
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GlobalFoundries and Marvell expand capacity for faster AI data links.
A multi-year agreement will add U.S. manufacturing capacity for silicon-germanium chips used in optical networking.
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Generac lands a $2.4 billion Amazon data-center supply agreement.
Initial generator deliveries for Amazon data centers are expected to total about $2.4 billion in 2027 and 2028.
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Cohere and Aleph Alpha sign their enterprise-AI merger.
The enterprise-AI companies signed a definitive combination agreement, backed by fresh capital and German computing infrastructure.
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Axelera launches Europa after signing AI-factory supply deals.
The Dutch startup is expanding from edge inference into enterprise servers and European AI infrastructure.
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Lagarde calls for European capital to build European AI.
The ECB president links domestic AI capacity with economic resilience and deeper capital markets.
IBM and Lockheed Martin establish a quantum hub at ETH Zurich.
The project will give Swiss researchers cloud access immediately and is expected to install the country's first IBM Quantum System Two by year-end.
Apple enters the foldable-phone market with the iPhone Duo.
The $1,999 device pairs a 7.6-inch inner display with a 5.4-inch outer screen and is due in stores on October 23.
Qualcomm and Amazon tie a custom-chip partnership to equity incentives.
A multi-generation AI silicon collaboration includes warrants linked to commercial milestones, not guaranteed chip sales.
Bond markets steady. The pressure on borrowing costs remains.
A calmer trading session does not immediately remove the risk of higher financing costs.
Nvidia sets September 10 date for its next investor appearance.
The chipmaker has announced a presentation at Goldman Sachs’ technology conference.
Apple announces a single set of EU app business terms.
The company set October 1 as the effective date for the changes.
UK output grows faster than expected in June.
The August release showed a 0.3% monthly expansion.
Apple reports $109.4 billion in quarterly revenue.
Its fiscal third-quarter release also disclosed a benefit from tariff refunds.
Apple introduces a US hardware leasing program.
Apple Upgrade brings a Klarna-provided option to its sales channels.
A small-business case study shows AI’s role before launch.
Reuters followed how a founder used AI while building a service business.
Inflation eases in Germany and France in June.
The latest readings reduced some immediate pressure around rate increases.
France’s central bank trims its growth forecast.
Energy costs weighed on the June economic assessment.
IMF lowers its euro-area growth outlook.
The June assessment paired weaker growth with a higher inflation forecast.