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Meta signs $27 billion deal with Nebius for AI infrastructure

admin — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 11:58:56 +0000

In an aerial view, a billboard advertising an artificial intelligence (AI) company is posted on Sept. 16, 2025 in San Francisco, California.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Meta has signed a new long-term agreement to spend up to $27 billion on Dutch cloud provider Nebius‘ AI infrastructure, the company announced on Monday.

Over the next five years, Nebius will provide $12 billion of dedicated capacity across a number of locations, including on what the company says will be one of the first large-scale deployments of Nvidia’s latest AI-specialist Vera Rubin chips.

Meta has also committed to purchase additional available compute capacity from Nebius, worth up to a total of $15 billion over five years.

“We are pleased to expand our significant partnership with Meta as part of securing more large, long-term capacity contracts to accelerate the build-out and growth of our core AI cloud business,” Arkady Volozh, founder and CEO of Nebius, said in a statement.

Nebius’ stock surged 14% in pre-market trading.

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November unemployment rate jumps to 4.6% as labor market shows signs of weakness

admin — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 17:13:53 +0000

The unemployment rate rose more than expected in November and previous jobs figures were revised downward as the first full report after months of a data fog revealed a weakening labor market.

Hiring remained steady as US employers added 64,000 jobs in November, above expectations of a 50,000 increase, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday.

But the unemployment rate jumped to 4.6%, its highest level since September 2021 – up from 4.4% in September, according to government data.

US employers added 64,000 jobs in November, above expectations of a 50,000 increase, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Tuesday. Getty Images

“For a data-dependent Fed, this morning’s data will only increase the internal debate,” Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Northlight Asset Management, said in a note on Tuesday.

“The labor market is weakening as evidenced by the higher unemployment rate, but the retail sales were generally better than expected.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were little changed following the jobs report, each falling less than 0.1%. The Nasdaq rose 0.3% by approximately 10 a.m. ET.

According to the jobs report, which also included some data delayed by the government shutdown, payroll employment dropped by 105,000 in October – largely due to federal layoffs.

The federal government has lost 168,000 jobs since September as workers who took a deferred resignation come off payrolls.

Downward revisions to late summer and fall jobs data saw 33,000 jobs cut off the total figure.

Job seekers attend a career fair in Harlem on December 10, 2025. Getty Images

In November, employment rose in the health care and construction sectors, adding 46,000 and 28,000 jobs, respectively – but other areas, like manufacturing and transportation and warehousing, lost workers.

The Federal Reserve – which slashed interest rates by a quarter point last week for the third time in a row on labor market concerns – will likely pay special attention to the unemployment rate.

Up from just 4% in January, central bankers last week forecast the unemployment rate would peak at 4.5% this year – below the 4.6% figure released Tuesday.

But Fed Chairman Jerome Powell also warned last week that the jobs numbers “may be distorted” and should be viewed with a “somewhat skeptical eye.”

While November’s jobs report is not a red alarm for the labor market, it does carry several signs of underlying weakness.

Wage growth slowed to 3.5% in November since the same time last year – its slowest pace since before the pandemic.

Initial claims for unemployment benefits and the layoff rate have not spiked, yet the number of Americans who have been out of work for more than six months rose to 1.9 million in November – up from 1.7 million the previous year.

The unemployment rate for young people aged 20 to 24 hit 8.3% in November, down from 9.2% in September – but it’s the highest rate since 2021.

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DraftKings signs with Disney unit, replacing Penn

admin — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 14:07:17 +0000

The ESPN Bet logo on a laptop arranged in New York, US, on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024.

Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Disney’s ESPN is swapping out its sports betting partner.

In separate releases Thursday, the company said it was terminating its agreement with Penn Entertainment years earlier than planned and had signed an agreement with DraftKings to make it the exclusive official sportsbook and odds provider for ESPN.

Both changes take effect in December.

“Our betting approach has focused on offering an integrated experience within our products,” ESPN Chariman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement. “Working with DraftKings, a leader in the space, will allow us to build upon that foundation, continue to super-serve passionate sports fans and grow our ESPN direct-to-consumer business.”

Under the partnership, DraftKings will power ESPN’s mobile betting tab.

“ESPN’s unmatched visibility across the world of sports make this collaboration a natural fit,” said DraftKings CEO Jason Robins in a statement. “As an innovative leader in digital sports entertainment, DraftKings is uniquely positioned to integrate our technology and products with ESPN’s iconic brand and storytelling power.”

ESPN inked its previous deal with Penn in 2023 after spending some time looking for a gambling partner. Disney had made clear in the past it would never take bets directly, making a partnership the only viable path for ESPN to get into the booming online sports gambling industry.

Sports betting has become an integral part of ESPN’s direct-to-consumer streaming platform.

ESPN and Penn’s partnership allowed for ESPN to rebrand and relaunch Penn’s sportsbook — then known as Barstool Sportsbook — as ESPN Bet.

The agreement had a 10-year term but allowed for either ESPN or Penn to end the agreement after the third year “if specific market share performance thresholds were not met,” according to the news release.

And on Thursday, Penn and ESPN announced they had agreed to wind down the partnership after just two years. Penn’s sportsbook will be rebranded again as theScore Bet.

“When we first announced our partnership with ESPN, both sides made it clear that we expected to compete for a podium position in the space,” said Penn CEO Jay Snowden in a news release.

“Although we made significant progress in improving our product offering and building a cohesive ecosystem with ESPN, we have mutually and amicably agreed to wind down our collaboration,” he said.

Under the original deal, ESPN agreed to provide Penn with the exclusive right to its brand for the sportsbook, as well as media and marketing services. In exchange, Penn agreed to pay ESPN $1.5 billion in cash over the 10-year period, and also granted ESPN about $500 million of warrants to buy roughly 31.8 million Penn common shares that would vest over the same period.

On Thursday the companies said Penn’s $150 million in yearly cash payments will cease in the fourth quarter, as would the warrants to buy Penn’s common stock.

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Baidu shares surge amid positive signs for its growing AI business

admin — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 07:07:11 +0000

Baidu has launched a slew of AI applications after its Ernie chatbot received public approval.

Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Chinese tech giant Baidu saw its shares in Hong Kong soar nearly 16% on Wednesday as it increasingly focuses on its artificial intelligence-related business that has also led to a ratings upgrade.

Shares in the Beijing-based firm, which holds a dominant position in China’s search engine market, had gained nearly 8% overnight in U.S. trading.

The strong stock performance came after equity research firm Arete Research Services lifted its rating on Baidu’s American depositary receipts to buy from sell, based on a positive outlook for its AI chip and cloud-computing revenue.

Baidu has been aggressively trying to grow AI-related chip and computing business, which supports its popular large language model and AI chatbot Ernie Bot.

To train its AI models, the company has started using internally designed chips, The Information reported last week, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter.

According to researchers from Arete, Baidu’s growing chip venture has the potential to more than offset the impact from the company’s struggling online advertising business.

Baidu, whose Hong Kong shares have gained nearly 59% this year, reported a drop in second-quarter revenue last month as its core advertising business struggled and returns from AI investments remained limited.

In addition to providing a new potential business venture, Baidu’s chip drive could help it reduce reliance on AI chips from Nvidia, which has been subject to shifting export controls from Washington.

A week of AI moves

In other news this week, Baidu on Monday secured an AI-related deal with China Merchants Group, a major state-owned enterprise, focused on transportation, finance and property development.

“Both sides plan to focus on applications of large language models, AI agents and ‘digital employees,’ vowing to make scalable and sustainable progress in industrial intelligence based on real-life business scenarios,” according to Baidu’s statement translated by CNBC.

As it seeks to gain an edge in China’s competitive AI space, the company also disclosed a 4.4 billion yuan ($56.2 million) offshore bond offering on Tuesday. This follows a $2 billion bond issuance back in March.

Other Chinese AI players, such as Tencent, have also been raising funds, including via debt sales this year, to support the billions being invested into their AI capabilities.

Meanwhile, at a developer conference last week, Baidu unveiled a series of AI advancements, including the company’s latest reasoning model, Ernie X 1.1.

According to the company, multiple benchmark results showed that its model’s overall performance surpassed that of Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek’s latest reasoning model. CNBC could not independently verify that claim.

Gimme Credit Senior Bond Analyst, Saurav Sen, said in a report last week that Baidu’s recent capital allocations have revealed that the company is making an “all-in AI pivot.”

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Amazon signs delivery deal with FedEx to fill void after UPS pulls back

admin — Tue, 13 May 2025 03:42:04 +0000

Amazon has hired FedEx to handle some of its large package deliveries, the companies said Monday, weeks after UPS said it was halting its less-profitable deliveries for the e-commerce retailer and cutting 20,000 jobs.

FedEx shares surged on Monday even more than rallying Wall Street benchmarks, finishing up 7%. The Memphis-based delivery company said the multi-year agreement covers residential delivery of select large packages for Amazon.

The deal with FedEx, signed in February, gives Amazon “cost favorability” compared with delivery rival UPS, Business Insider had reported, citing an internal document.

The deal with FedEx, signed in February, gives Amazon “cost favorability” compared with delivery rival UPS, Business Insider had reported, citing an internal document. REUTERS

The agreement will not replace UPS, Amazon said as FedEx will join its third-party partners, including UPS and the USPS, and work alongside its own last-mile delivery network.

FedEx called it a “mutually beneficial, multi-year agreement” in a statement.

The deal may signal a thaw in relations between FedEx and Amazon. The companies cut residential delivery ties in 2019 as Amazon was building its now sprawling network of delivery services.

UPS said in January it plans to shrink shipment volumes for Amazon, its largest customer, by more than 50% by the second half of 2026 to focus on fewer, but more profitable deliveries.

FedEx called it a “mutually beneficial, multi-year agreement” in a statement. Bloomberg via Getty Images

The deal may signal a thaw in relations between FedEx and Amazon. The companies cut residential delivery ties in 2019 as Amazon was building its now sprawling network of delivery services. AP

Late last month, UPS said it would slash 20,000 jobs and shut 73 facilities as a part of its planned reduction in Amazon deliveries, as well as cost-cutting and efficiency projects under a major operational restructuring.

FedEx and UPS have been in a fierce battle for market share over the last five years, often poaching whole or partial customer accounts from the other.

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Trump Signs Order to Create a ‘Crypto Reserve’

admin — Sun, 09 Mar 2025 22:21:16 +0000

President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to create a national stockpile of Bitcoin and other digital currencies, an audacious idea that has been widely criticized as a scheme to enrich crypto investors.

The basis of the stockpile will be a stash of Bitcoin, estimated to be worth as much as $17 billion, that the United States has seized in legal cases over the years.

The order also calls for federal agencies to develop strategies to buy more Bitcoin, the most popular digital currency, as long as those purchases do not generate extra costs for taxpayers.

“This Executive Order underscores President Trump’s commitment to making the U.S. the ‘crypto capital of the world,’” said David Sacks, the White House’s crypto and A.I. policy czar, in a post on social media. He said the United States would not sell any Bitcoin in the reserve, which he likened to “a digital Fort Knox.”

Since Mr. Trump took office in January, his administration has moved rapidly to elevate the crypto industry, a volatile sector that had battled with federal regulators for years. The Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped lawsuits against two of the biggest U.S. crypto companies and halted investigations into several others. And on Friday, Mr. Trump is scheduled to host crypto executives at the White House for a first-of-its-kind “crypto summit.”

Mr. Trump has a personal stake in the success of the crypto industry, creating conflicts of interests that have raised alarms with government ethics experts. Last year he started a business, World Liberty Financial, that offers a cryptocurrency called WLFI. Just days before his inauguration, he also began selling a so-called memecoin — a type of cryptocurrency tied to an online joke or a celebrity figure.

The notion of a U.S. crypto reserve gained traction last year as Mr. Trump embraced the industry on the campaign trail. Proponents argued that an investment in Bitcoin would help the government chip away at the $36 trillion national debt, and ensure that the United States remained dominant in a hypothetical future where the global economy runs on cryptocurrencies.

But skeptics said the plan seemed calculated to enrich crypto executives who already owned large amounts of Bitcoin by lifting its price. They argued that it was dangerous to link the nation’s economic future to a highly volatile asset.

At a conference in Nashville in July, Mr. Trump gave a speech to a crowd of Bitcoin enthusiasts and vowed to establish a national stockpile. He doubled down on that promise last weekend, posting on social media that he intended to create a reserve consisting of Bitcoin and other lesser-known cryptocurrencies, such as Solana, Cardano, Ether and XRP.

That plan drew criticism from some crypto executives, who argued that the only asset in a national reserve should be Bitcoin, the most valuable cryptocurrency on the market.

Under the order, the government will create a separate stockpile of digital assets other than Bitcoin. But it will include only coins that were acquired in criminal or civil seizures, and the government will not move to buy any cryptocurrencies except Bitcoin.

Crypto investors celebrated the announcement on social media, calling it a “historic day” and a “massive win” for the country.

“By holding Bitcoin and other digital assets for the long term, the White House is taking a future-forward approach,” Nathan McCauley, the chief executive of the crypto firm Anchorage Digital, said in a statement. “Expect this move to catalyze crypto adoption among more governments and institutions.”

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Trump signs executive order to salvage TikTok

admin — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 07:36:23 +0000

President Trump threw TikTok a lifeline Monday night, giving the popular app’s parent company 75 more days to find a buyer for the platform.

The 78-year-old argued during a conversation with reporters in the Oval Office that the US should “get half” of TikTok, before caveating that some percentage of that could be from the private sector.

Beijing-based ByteDance had a Jan. 19 deadline to sell off the platform due to national security concerns or have it be pulled from US-based app stores like Apple and Google Play.

President Trump signed an executive order to salvage TikTok and give its parent company 90 days more to sell off the popular platform. AP

ByteDance refused to sell, saying it would rather shut TikTok down completely.

Congress passed the “divest-or-ban” legislation in April of last year in April of last year and it was signed into law by President Biden, responding to concerns from national security experts about the platform giving the Chinese Communist Party access to a vast trove of American user data.

Those experts have also raised concerns about TikTok being weaponized as a propaganda tool against the US.

The Supreme Court upheld the forced divestiture law Jan. 17.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that the US should get 50% of TikTok. POOL/AFP via Getty Images

ByteDance had a Jan. 19 deadline to sell off the platform due to national security concerns or else the app would be pulled from Apple and Google Pay. Getty Images

In his first stint in office, Trump took executive action to ban TikTok, but it was shot down by the courts. AP

During his first administration, Trump had taken executive action to ban Tiktok that was shot down by the courts.

Since then, the president had a change of heart, crediting TikTok for helping him make inroads with younger voters during the 2024 campaign. Trump had also been pressed on the issue by GOP megadonor Jeff Yass, who owns 7% of ByteDance.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew got a prized seat in the Capitol Rotunda for Trump’s swearing-in, a privilege that governors and other key officials were not afforded.

Trump’s stance on TikTok has put him at odds with China hawks in the GOP, such as Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), who backed the ban, though they have been careful not to castigate the president publicly.

TikTok briefly went offline Saturday night into Sunday — ostensibly due to the ban, even though the sale deadline had not been reached. It later came back online after Trump unveiled his plans to intervene, with critics accusing the app of engaging in a publicity stunt.

The platform estimates that it has a user base of about 170 million in the US, but as Trump told reporters Monday night: “TikTok is worthless if I don’t approve it.”

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LSU star Flau’jae Johnson signs equity deal with Unrivaled basketball league

admin — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 13:33:19 +0000

BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA – NOVEMBER 9: Flau’jae Johnson #4 of the LSU Tigers in action during a game against the Northwestern State Demons at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on November 9, 2024 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (Photo by Kristen Young/LSU/Getty Images)

Reagan Cotton/lsu | University Images | Getty Images

Flau’jae Johnson has a lot going on at the moment.

The 21-year-old star basketball player, rapper, student and aspiring businesswoman has just inked her latest deal with the new women’s 3-on-3 basketball league Unrivaled.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Johnson will receive an equity stake in the league.

“I wanted to be involved in something that is pushing the women’s game forward,” Johnson told CNBC.

Unrivaled, which kicks off its inaugural season in January, looks to offer female athletes another option to play basketball in the U.S. during the WNBA offseason. In addition to giving players equity in the league, Unrivaled aims to offer the highest average salary in women’s pro sports league history. In October, the Unrivaled signed a broadcast deal with TNT Sports.

“When I heard about the money, that was big for me. … These women are getting paid what they deserve,” Johnson said.

NCAA rules prevent Johnson, a junior at Louisiana State University, from committing to play in the league until she turns professional. Unrivaled signed a similar deal with University of Connecticut star Paige Bueckers in August.

In addition to being a league owner, Johnson will collaborate with Unrivaled on content throughout the season, and the league plans to support her music.

Star power

In just two years playing college basketball, Johnson has become marketing gold.

She led LSU to the 2023 national championship and quickly became a top prospect for WNBA teams.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 18: JBL ambassador, basketball player and rapper Flau’jae Johnson sets the stage ablaze at JBL FEST to celebrate the launch of the JBL PartyBox series on May 18, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for JBL)

Ilya S. Savenok | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

Off the court, she’s not only marketable as an athlete but as a rapper. Johnson signed with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation in 2021 and released a song with Lil Wayne in June.

She also has more than 3.5 million followers across her Instagram, TikTok and Twitter accounts.

Brands have taken notice. Johnson has signed deals with companies from Meta, to Puma, Powerade, the Athlete’s Foot and Amazon.

On Tuesday, she made the Forbes “30 Under 30” list, which estimated her net worth at $7 million.

She’s also ranked No.1 by On3 as having the highest name, image and likeness, or NIL, valuation of college women’s basketball players.

Johnson said her mother currently handles her finances and she doesn’t really splurge on anything, but she spends a lot of money at Chipotle.

“I’m trying to get that Chipotle deal so I don’t spend all my money on bowls,” she joked.

Despite all her sports and extracurriculars, Johnson said she still takes time to learn about business whether it’s by meeting with CEOs, watching YouTube videos or studying, noting she’s reading “Investing 101” by Michele Cagan at the moment.

While the top rookie salary in the WNBA is $76,535, Johnson said she hasn’t decided yet when she’s going to enter the WNBA draft but she isn’t worried about her brand diminishing.

“NIL is big but it’s really just a gateway to the pros,” she said. “The opportunities that I get from college are still going to roll over and it’s not like my followers are going to disappear.”

When asked who she looks up to as a role model, Johnson says she looks to the King: LeBron James.

“He’s the ultimate businessman,” she said.

“The way that he leverages his business opportunities, the way he carries himself, and he’s done so many things [like building a school] to help other people,” she added.

With so many different balls in the air, Johnson said it takes discipline, consistency and time management to fit everything in.

“I don’t like sitting in the house watching Netflix. … I like getting stuff done,” she said.

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