EasyJet's shares saw a significant jump due to a rival $7.6 billion bid from Apollo, while Vodafone shares surged after Xavier Niel became the largest shareholder, and Bayer sold a stake in its contraceptives business to Apollo in a €3 billion financing deal, further highlighting a private equity offer for DCC and Tencent's lead in unwinding Meta's Manus acquisition.
European authorities ordered Meta to alter the addictive design of Instagram and Facebook, as record companies pushed for AI songs to be labeled on streaming platforms, while OpenAI faced a leadership shake-up with a top executive stepping down and Meta ran afoul of the Indian government, concurrently, OpenAI and Google were found to be selling AI models to blacklisted Chinese groups and Palantir data in English hospitals showed a litany of errors.
The IEA warned of a petrol and diesel supply crunch and oil prices wobbled due to a week of hostilities derailing shipping and U.S.-Iran escalation clouding the outlook for oil demand recovery, which is expected to remain supported by a persistent Iran-related risk premium, with Africa's richest man notably profiting from the Iran war.
Delta Air Lines reported climbing sales despite sky-high fuel costs, while Volkswagen's vast jobs factory is under threat as the company plans to halve its model lineup and shrink capacity due to plunging sales in China, impacting BMW's sales performance, and the industry faced airlines and hyperscalers clamoring for turbines from a limited number of specialized manufacturers.
SK Hynix completed the biggest US IPO by a foreign company, raising $26.5 billion, signaling a giant memory windfall for Wall Street although its jumbo share sale was also seen as a sign of overheated times, and the Reformation listing is presenting an acid test for fashion brands.
Wall Street firms set limits on prediction market trading, with Goldman Sachs being the latest to restrict employee use, while Japan's finance minister urged its giant pension fund to invest more at home, and a Wall Street firm found itself at the center of Trump’s trading spree, with work on Trump's E. Jean Carroll defamation case dividing Sullivan & Cromwell.
Spanish wildfires claimed lives amidst a heatwave gripping Europe, Japan's price index shake-up reflected changing habits, hotel workers found World Cup hours unaffected by crowds, and Barcelona's new tourism leader aimed to diminish visitor impact, while a new EU 'scale-up' fund expected to exceed its €5bn target, and London's luxury real estate market showed mansions were not selling.