Business

(Reuters) – The U.S. government on Friday announced a list of 15 prescription medicines targeted for Medicare price negotiations for 2027, which includes Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy.Here’s what Wall Street analysts say about the inclusion: WHAT IT MEANS FOR PATIENTSThe potential for more aggressive price cuts would enable wider access to GLP-1 drugs – the same class of drugs as Ozempic and Wegovy – for people over the age of 65. Medicare prescription … Read more…

By Ernest Scheyder (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Energy has finalized a $996 million loan for ioneer’s Rhyolite Ridge lithium project, according to documents reviewed by Reuters, an increase of $296 million from a preliminary funding offer and a move aimed at boosting President Joe Biden’s green energy legacy. Shares of ioneer jumped 15% to $4.96 during Friday afternoon trading in New York. Scant U.S. production of lithium, an ultralight metal used to make … Read more…

By Dawn Chmielewski (Reuters) – Businessman Frank McCourt is “open-minded” to keeping TikTok’s existing investors, including the founder, involved after any deal to buy the U.S. operations of the Chinese-owned short-form video app, the U.S. billionaire told Reuters on Thursday. McCourt said in an interview his consortium has made a formal offer to buy TikTok from its Chinese parent company ByteDance, confirming reports that it values the app without its algorithm at around $20 billion. … Read more…

(Reuters) – Microsoft said on Thursday that it is now including Copilot AI features to its Microsoft 365 suite for individual consumers, a day after it rolled out on-demand AI agents for businesses. The Windows-maker will give its customers an option to either choose a Microsoft 365 subscription plan with Copilot AI features or one without it. It will also increase the prices of subscription plans in the U.S. by $3. Copilot will assist users … Read more…

By Patrick Wingrove (Reuters) – Novo Holdings, the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk, hopes to double the size of its recently acquired contract drugmaker Catalent over five years, a senior partner at the investment firm said, as it prepares for a likely focus on U.S. manufacturing by President-elect Donald Trump. Novo Holdings last month closed a $16.5 billion deal to buy U.S.-based Catalent. The firm then sold three of Catalent’s plants used to complete the … Read more…

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs’ credit-card partnership with Apple may end before its contract runs out in 2030, Goldman CEO David Solomon said on Wednesday. “We have a contract with Apple to run that partnership until 2030, although there’s some possibility that it won’t continue until that time frame,” Solomon told analysts on an earnings call. The Apple card dragged down Goldman’s return on equity by 75 to 100 basis points last year, but … Read more…

By Davide Barbuscia NEW YORK (Reuters) -BlackRock’s assets hit a record high $11.6 trillion in the fourth quarter of last year as the world’s largest money manager posted a 21% profit jump, with fee income buoyed by stronger equity markets. Assets managed by the New York-based company increased to $11.55 trillion from $10.01 trillion a year earlier and $11.48 trillion in the third quarter. Client assets were buoyed by a U.S. stock market rally after … Read more…

(Reuters) – Microsoft is planning to halt hiring in part of its consulting business in the U.S. in a bid to cut costs, CNBC reported on Tuesday, citing an internal memo. The tech giant is looking to manage overall expenses as it looks to continue investments in its artificial intelligence (AI) efforts. Earlier this month, Microsoft said it planned to invest about $80 billion in fiscal 2025 on developing data centers to train AI models … Read more…

LONDON (Reuters) – Apple and Amazon have successfully fought off a mass lawsuit in Britain over alleged collusion between the tech giants to remove resellers of new Apple products from Amazon’s website, a tribunal ruled on Tuesday. The lawsuit was brought by consumer law academic Christine Riefa on behalf of around 36 million British consumers who had bought Apple or Beats products. Riefa’s lawyers alleged that Apple and Amazon reached an agreement in 2018 to … Read more…

(Reuters) -Brown-Forman said on Tuesday it will lay off about 12% of its global workforce of 5,400 employees, as the Jack Daniel’s maker looks to reduce costs amid weak alcohol demand. The company has struggled with high input costs, including of raw materials such as agave and wood barrels, and raised prices for its whiskey brands to shield margins. Consumers have also traded down to cheaper brands as they deal with higher costs of living. … Read more…