Business

(Reuters) – Nasdaq said on Friday private equity firm Thoma Bravo will sell 41.6 million shares in the exchange operator through a secondary public offering. Based on Nasdaq’s last close, the offering will raise $2.79 billion for its top shareholder Thoma Bravo. Nasdaq shares fell 2.7% after the bell. The offering will reduce Thoma Bravo’s stake in Nasdaq to 7.4% from nearly 14.9%. Nasdaq said Thoma Bravo’s remaining shares in the company will be subject … Read more…

MILAN (Reuters) – An Italian unit of Amazon is being investigated by Milan prosecutors for suspected tax evasion, two sources said on Friday, but the inquiry was not linked to a multi-million euro seizure from another of the group’s Italian units this week. Italy’s tax police on Tuesday seized some 121 million euros ($131 million) from another unit of the U.S. e-retailer as part of an investigation into alleged tax fraud and illegal labour practices, … Read more…

By Sheila Dang (Reuters) – The Paris Olympics will be a showcase of generative AI for American viewers but European audiences won’t see a similar approach, a contrast that reflects how global media companies are deliberating over the use of the technology. Comcast’s NBCUniversal is diving into AI for its U.S. broadcast of the Games, including re-creating the voice of a legendary sportscaster, while Warner Bros. Discovery’s sports division in Europe said the tech is … Read more…

(Reuters) – Amazon MGM Studios has entered a multi-year film partnership with Scott Stuber, the former longtime head of films at Netflix, to finance and release movies from his new production company, it said on Friday. Stuber, who left Netflix in March to start his media company, will produce several films annually under United Artists (UA), a relaunched label that once operated under MGM. The films will be released both theatrically and on Prime Video. … Read more…

By Kenrick Cai Alphabet’s Google unveiled a pair of artificial intelligence systems on Thursday that demonstrated advances in solving complex mathematical problems, a key frontier of generative AI development. The current class of AI models, which work by statistically predicting the next word, have struggled with abstract math, which requires greater reasoning capabilities resembling human intelligence. DeepMind, the company’s AI unit, published results showing that its new AI models in development, called AlphaProof and AlphaGeometry … Read more…

By Stephanie Kelly NASHVILLE (Reuters) – U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has added three new members to its board of directors, including an executive from ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, as the company steps up its efforts to sway U.S. crypto policy, Coinbase told Reuters on Thursday. The new members are Chris Lehane, a member of the executive team at OpenAI; Paul Clement, former U.S. Solicitor General under President George W. Bush; and Christa Davies, chief financial officer for … Read more…

By Nick Carey and Gilles Guillaume LONDON (Reuters) – Renault posted a better-than-expected operating profit for the first half of the year on Wednesday due to strong pricing and new vehicle launches, and stuck to its full-year profit-margin forecast. The French automaker last week reported that its first-half sales volume rose 1.9% versus the same period in 2023 due to the strong performance of hybrid models in Europe, its key region. Renault posted a higher … Read more…

By Suzanne McGee (Reuters) – The nine exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tied to the spot price of ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, scooped up net inflows of $106 million on Tuesday as they began trading on U.S. stock exchanges, according to data from CF Benchmarks and several trading firms. The funds that pulled in most of those assets were sponsored by the same firms that emerged as the biggest winners following January’s debut of spot bitcoin … Read more…

By Pritam Biswas and Echo Wang (Reuters) -Shares of financial software maker OneStream, backed by private equity firm KKR, rose nearly 30% in their Nasdaq debut on Wednesday, valuing the company at nearly $6 billion. Investors have shown optimism for new listings in 2024 on hopes of a soft landing for the economy, after two years of a sluggish U.S. IPO market fueled by geopolitical tensions and high borrowing rates. OneStream’s shares began trading at … Read more…

(Reuters) – CME Group reported its second-quarter profit above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday as uncertainty in markets helped the exchange operator notch record trading volumes. Latest economic data showing signs of easing inflation has fueled hopes of a possible rate cut in the current half of the year that has helped markets reach new highs. “As escalating uncertainties drove an increased need for risk management across all asset classes, CME Group achieved record Q2 … Read more…