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Allianz posts record operating profit

Germany-headquartered Allianz SE posted an 7% year-on-year increase in operating profit to 14.1 billion euros ($18.5 billion) in the first three quarters of 2026, the highest nine-month profit in the…

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Nov 13 • 10:48 AM EST • Business • businessinsurance.com
Zurich’s first-half net income reaches $3.5B

Switzerland-based Zurich Insurance Group AG’s first-half group net income rose 14% year on year to $3.5 billion, Reinsurance News reported. Property and casualty gross written premiums grew 7% to $29.

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Nov 13 • 10:46 AM EST • Business • businessinsurance.com
Manufacturing remains economic engine as projects take shape

Iowa’s economy is largely concentrated around agriculture, finance and insurance and manufacturing, but no industry employs more people or contributes more to the state’s gross domestic product than manufacturing, according to a study from the Common Sense Institute. Manufacturing accounts for 17% of the state’s gross domestic product and contributes $35 billion annually to the…

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Nov 13 • 7:00 AM EST • Business • businessrecord.com
A 4.5 billion year old meteorite crashed into her home. She gave it to the Houston Museum of Natural Science

The sonic boom and streak of light from the meteorite earlier this year made many Houstonians look to the sky. Now, that meteorite is on display for free at the museum for Houstonians to see a part of Space City history.

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Nov 12 • 9:36 AM EST • Science • tpr.org
A 4.5 billion year old meteorite crashed into her home. She gave it to the Houston Museum of Natural Science

The sonic boom and streak of light from the meteorite earlier this year made many Houstonians look to the sky. Now, that meteorite is on display for free at the museum for Houstonians to see a part of Space City history.

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Nov 12 • 9:04 AM EST • Science • houstonpublicmedia.org
Mesabi Metallics signs incentive term sheet for steel plant

The Lee County Board of Supervisors approved a term sheet with Mesabi Metallics on Tuesday to support its planned steel plant development. Mesabi plans to invest $18 billion in the project, including a $15 billion facility in Iowa and $3 billion to complete an iron ore mine in Minnesota. Mesabi Metallics will pair domestic iron…

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Nov 11 • 4:59 PM EST • Business • businessrecord.com
Can Amazon’s Business Pay For Its Spending?

For questions about this article or underlying research, email help@trefis.com.Amazon.com (AMZN) directed $215 billion toward capital spending over the twelve months to September 2026. During the same twelve-month period three years earlier, the company spent $54.7 billion.

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Nov 11 • 5:59 AM EST • Business • trefis.com
Significant losses expected to continue for Tyson beef segment

It’s been 25 years since Tyson Foods acquired Dakota Dunes, S.D.-based IBP and jumped headfirst into the beef business. The $4.5 billion deal closed in October 2001 after Tyson lost...

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Nov 10 • 1:18 PM EST • Business • talkbusiness.net
The fierce battle for James Bond is playing out in public

(CNN) — It’s been five years since Daniel Craig bid farewell to the role of 007 in “No Time to Die,” which ended with a closing credit promise that “James Bond will return.” And while corporate machinations have slowed the character’s reappearance, the battle to play cinema’s most famous secret agent is playing out more publicly than usual.In recent weeks, there have been numerous leaks to the press about the slew of big-name actors said to be auditioning for Bond in what will be the 26th film in the franchise, stoking debates among fans.Last month, it was reported that “final screen tests” were being held, with “One Night Only” heartthrob Callum Turner, “Slow Horses” actor Jack Lowden and Josh O’Connor of “Challengers” said to be among those who made the cut. Then two surprise names entered the mix over the weekend, with Deadline and Variety reporting “Primetime” star Robert Pattinson and “X-Men” actor Nicholas Hoult had also undergone screen tests for the role. (Pattinson’s casting would be particularly remarkable given he’s also currently leading another major franchise as Batman, while Hoult is appearing as Lex Luther in the new “Superman” movies.)Other wild cards, per Variety? Pop singer Harry Styles or “The White Lotus” star Theo James. At 32, Styles would be the youngest choice, while 41-year-old James is the oldest.Representatives for the actors and Amazon MGM Studios, didn’t respond to requests for comment. None of the actors have revealed what the audition process has involved, although O’Connor told the BBC that being considered was an “incredibly bizarre pinch-me moment.”A ‘methodical’ huntProducer Amy Pascal, who steered “Spider-Man” to several reboots over her career, has said fans can expect a decision by the end of the year. “We are being really, really methodical,” she told Deadline this summer. “Daniel Craig is a hard act to follow. And it’s got to be something really different that is a stirring and exciting and different.”There is immense pressure to get the decision right. For one, the Bond franchise is big business, with Craig’s “No Time to Die” earning more than $900 million. (In 2022, Amazon paid $8.5 billion to acquire Bond’s parent company, MGM.) But the role also occupies huge cultural real estate as one of the most identifiably “British” characters in film.Just six actors have portrayed Bond. Sean Connery first appeared as the suave, shaken-not-stirred secret agent in 1962’s “Dr. No.” Tradition has it that the role should be played a Brit, although George Lazenby, an Australian, played Bond in 1969’s “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.”Pierce Brosnan, who played 007 in four movies, appeared to back Turner in an interview with Vanity Fair last week, saying the husband of Dua Lipa was a strong actor. “They all have a voice and a physique, and a presence on film,” Brosnan said of the final candidates. “They all have longevity as actors, all of these young men.”“Whoever plays the role, I wish him the very best of life and strength and courage,” he said.The next Bond movie will be directed by Denis Villeneuve, who knows a thing or two about working in a franchise, given he has overseen the “Dune” trilogy. At a Los Angeles gala on Saturday, Villeneuve appeared to be reveling in the media’s focus on the battle for Bond.“I should not comment right now because every word I’m going to say is going to be scrutinized,” Villeneuve told Variety. “I would just say that I’m having a great time.”The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.​THE-CNN-WIRE (TM) & © 2026 CABLE NEWS NETWORK, INC., A TIME WARNER COMPANY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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Nov 9 • 3:20 PM EST • Entertainment • applevalleynewsnow.com
Yg Entertainment Q3 Operating Profit 13.5 Billion Won, Down 56.8% From Year Earlier

YG Entertainment Inc. KRX:122870:

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Nov 8 • 11:40 PM EST • Entertainment • tradingview.com
SpaceX Wants To Turn AI Compute Into A $500B Business Next Year – And Elon Musk Says NASA’s Annual Budget Is No Match

Baron touted $50 billion in annual rental revenue from $35 billion data-center investments.

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Nov 8 • 9:44 PM EST • Business • finance.yahoo.com
Why HP picked a transformation vet from the pharma industry to lead its $55 billion business

Ex-GSK chief Emma Walmsley was the first woman to run a major pharma company. Now she'll bring her transformation experience to hardware.

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Nov 6 • 12:32 PM EST • Business • fortune.com
States tax sports betting heavily, but gamblers may barely feel it

Sports betting has grown explosively since 2018, when a U.S. Supreme Court ruling struck down a federal ban on it. Now, Americans wager more than $165 billion on sports annually, contributing to an industry ...

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Nov 6 • 12:20 PM EST • Sports • phys.org
Cardinal Health Grows Drug Sales, Expands Home Care Business

The Dublin, Ohio-based company reported sales of $67.5 billion for the quarter ending Sept. 30, up 5% from $64 billion a year earlier.

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Nov 6 • 11:57 AM EST • Business • distributionstrategy.com
⛳️ Y! Sports Biz: $5 billion later

We say farewell, 4Aces, and condolences, Crushers.

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Nov 6 • 11:02 AM EST • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
This gen’s top 10 PlayStation Studios games

As we near the six-year anniversary of the PS5, we thought we’d dive into our estimates for the top-grossing PlayStation Studios games since the start of the gen. Together, the 10 games we’re covering today have generated over $6.5 billion across PlayStation (84.7%), Steam (14.1%), and Xbox (1.2% via just Helldivers 2). Let’s have a look at the top 10. Spidey and Kratos sequels take the top two spots God of War Ragnarok takes the top spot with $1.4B in revenue via 21.6M copies – 20.1M on PlayStation (75.2% via PS5) and the rest on Steam. Around 27.5% of the copies sold on PlayStation were physical. It’s another PlayStation evergreen seller, too. This year, Ragnarok has already sold 1.1M copies, generating $60M (68% on PlayStation), outperforming new 2026 titles like Gears of War E-Day and Saros. Overall, our estimates show that Ragnarok has been accessed by 6.7M PlayStation Plus players (it was added to the Extra tier about two years ago). So it’s performed that well this year despite subscription cannibalisation. That’s the pull of God of War IP. And that Bautista series on Amazon is going to be massive - bigger than Fallout, I reckon. Next up is Spider-Man 2 with $1.3B across PS5 (over $1.2B) and Steam (nearly $70M). Spider-Man 2 has sold over 19.1M copies overall, so it should pass 20M early next year. Spider-Man 2 is an evergreen title that always spikes around the holidays (mostly concentrated around Christmas week): In December 2023, it sold 2.1M copies, up 20% from November 2023 (the month after release) In December 2024, Spider-Man 2 sold 460K copies (natural decay), up 60% from November 2024. Despite the Steam version launching in January 2025, it still sold more copies – and made more revenue – the month before. In December 2025, it sold 328K copies, up 30% from November 2025. This year’s December and Christmas will be somewhat limited by Spidey’s February 2026 addition to PS+ Extra, where 6.3M people accessed it for the first time. While subscription inclusions always cannibalise premium revenues to some extent, Spider-Man 2 did manage to sell 578K copies in August 2026 – the most its sold since Q1 2024, following hype from the Spider-Man Brand New Day movie. Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe God of War Ragnarok and Spider-Man 2 continue to be huge evergreen tentpoles for Sony. Together, both titles have sold 3.4M this year (2.3M for Spidey and 1.1M for Ragnarok), generating a combined $172.9M ($115.8M for Spidey and $57.1M for Ragnarok). Again, some premium games would take a leaf out of Kratos’ book (not Spidey’s!) and would kill for these numbers in year 1. And we can see why Sony wants to take a leaf from Steam’s book, killing physical to get higher margins from catalogue sales, ensuring they get their cut, and having more control over supply and demand (and pricing for their first-party titles). Hot rods, hellpods, and horizons Gran Turismo 7 takes #3 this generation with $841.9M in revenue via 12.7M copies sold. For more info on GT7, you can check out our write-up from earlier this week. Around 1.1M people have already played GT7 this month, less than six days in. Next up – at #4 – is the first second-party game on this list. Helldivers 2 has generated $786.3M via 23M copies sold across Steam (66.1% of the copies), PS5 (25.7%), and the 1.5-year-later Xbox port (8.3%). And there are plenty of players very dedicated to the Super Earth cause, as over 4M folks have played Helldivers 2 for over 100 hours, while 462K played for over 500 hours. That dedication to democracy is pretty topical… Anyway, Helldivers 2 still attracts about 700K players per day (more if there’s a significant update), and its August addition to PlayStation Plus Extra has led to 1.6M new players overall. This year, Helldivers 2 has sold over 2.5M copies, generating $81.1M in revenue. It’s another evergreen hit for Sony, and draws in engagement numbers similar to Arc Raiders. The Helldivers 2 model, in my opinion, should be the way PlayStation approaches its live-service and second-party releases. Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Horizon Forbidden West rounds off the first half of the top 10, generating $485.8M. That said, PlayStation completely stifled Horizon Forbidden West’s revenue by adding it to PlayStation Plus way too early (one year after launch). You can see the revenue drop-off clearly in our platform: As you can see: Forbidden West was still a healthy catalogue earner right before it was added to PS+ Extra, making about $1.23M a week on PlayStation across late 2022 and into January 2023. After it was added to Extra_, Forbidden West_’s weekly revenue halved to around $610K, basically overnight. Excluding launch month, Horizon Forbidden West generated about $67.2M on PlayStation in the period before the PS Plus addition. In the same period after it joined the service, that fell to $28.1M, a 58% drop. So, PlayStation didn’t trade a little bit of premium revenue for subscriber value here. It gave up well over half of it, and it cut momentum instantly for one of its premier franchises. Could you imagine the kind of cannibalisation if it launched day in date on Extra? Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe And the cannibalisation wasn’t a temporary blip that bounced back once the game left the service in September 2024. By then, 19 months on PS Plus had already hoovered up most of the install base that would have bought it, so there was barely a premium audience left to monetise. PlayStation even added it back to PS Plus on October 21 this year, and sure enough, weekly revenue dropped again (by around a third); though, the numbers are small now that Forbidden West is nearly four years old. Worth the trade-off. The usual suspects, platformers, and an Asia-driven second-party hit As for the rest of the list: Ghost of Yotei has now generated $410.1M via 5.5M copies on PS5. Yotei popped off a bit a few weeks ago due to a content update, which we covered here. The Last of Part Us I, a remake that we covered here, has generated $341.3M in revenue (67.2% via PlayStation) via 6.4M copies. It was also added to PS+ Extra about two years after launch, where 7.8M people accessed it for the first time. Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart has made $334.9M (93.6% via PlayStation 5). It’s now passed 5M copies sold overall. It’s sold 250K copies this year, generating $13.5M in revenue. Time for another Ratchet? Stellar Blade has generated $316.9M via PS5 (59.7%) and Steam (40.3%). However, the share of Stellar Blade’s 5.4M copies sold is far closer (50.4% on PlayStation, 49.6% on Steam) – despite the Steam version releasing a year later. China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong account for 48% of Steam copies and 35% of PlayStation copies (about 41% overall). These markets are regionally priced lower than others, hence the difference. Astro Bot rounds out the top 10 with $292.6M in revenue via over 4.7M copies sold. We covered Astro’s recent performance here, covering how Astro Bot is another evergreen seller and has been a hit with families. Want more free estimates and insights in your inbox twice a week? Subscribe below! Subscribe Even these bottom five games have generated a combined $281.7M this year in catalogue sales. PlayStation wants those numbers to be bigger in the coming years, which is one of the reasons it’s killing the disc (alongside the better margins it and publishers get through digital). No more used discs means more D2C revenue for PlayStation. On that note, we recently chatted to the New York Times again about PlayStation’s digital future, so keep your eyes peeled for that! The last word Reply to this email – or reach out here – if you have any feedback for the newsletter – or want to request a game for us to cover. Want to see why these companies (and many others) are subscribed to Alinea? Get a free platform trial! [Alinea Analytics boasts the most accurate PC and console estimates in the business. Game makers use our platform to understand their audience, keep an eye on the competition, monitor sales trends, and spot new opportunities. We equip game studios and financial institutions with accurate data and the confidence to make smarter, data-driven decisions. Want to talk about all things games market data? We’d love to chat!]

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Nov 6 • 10:43 AM EST • Technology • alineaanalytics.substack.com
Thinking Machines Lab is closing in on a $5 billion new funding round

Founded by Mira Murati, Thinking Machines Lab is set to close a new round that values the company at $40 billion.

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Nov 5 • 7:40 PM EST • Business • businessinsider.com
Lakers hire Will Iger, son of new co-owner Bob Iger, as next G League announcer

Iger and venture capitalist Joshua Kushner reached a deal to purchase a majority stake in the Lakers for $12.5 billion in August.

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Nov 5 • 7:13 PM EST • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
PENN Entertainment Inc (PENN) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Highlights: Record Retail Revenue, Raised ...

PENN Entertainment Inc (PENN) posts a record third-quarter with retail revenue of $1.5 billion, lifts full-year 2026 guidance, and signals that interactive losses are largely in the rearview mirror.

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Nov 5 • 6:13 PM EST • Entertainment • finance.yahoo.com
Penn Entertainment posts record third-quarter revenue

Penn Entertainment Thursday morning reported financial results for third quarter, including record revenue. Revenue reached $1.5 billion, Adjusted EBITDAR was $

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Nov 5 • 9:50 AM EST • Entertainment • cdcgaming.com
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Moore talks Maryland budget, redistricting, Democrats’ future after reelection

Gov. Wes Moore is heading into a second term promising to make Maryland more affordable, but a projected $2.5 billion budget shortfall will test how he delivers on that pledge.

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Nov 4 • 9:56 PM EST • Entertainment • thederrick.com
U.K. Culture Secretary Scrutinizing Comcast-Owned Sky's Acquisition of ITV Media & Entertainment

U.K. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy Nov. 4 disclosed that she will look into Comcast-owned Sky’s $2.15 billion acquisition of ITV’s Media & Entertainment, which includes its free-to-air channels and the ITVX streaming platform. In a statement, Nandy, who most-recently conducted an 11th hour investigation of Paramount’s $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, says she … Continue reading "U.K. Culture Secretary Scrutinizing Comcast-Owned Sky’s Acquisition of ITV Media & Entertainment"

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Nov 4 • 12:11 PM EST • Entertainment • mediaplaynews.com
Turkey flood losses hit $229M

Insured losses related to the Oct. 14 and 15 floods in Turkey have reached at least 11.5 billion Turkish lira ($229 million), with Istanbul accounting for 90% of the total, according to the Insurance…

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Nov 4 • 9:01 AM EST • Business • businessinsurance.com
SM Entertainment Q3 Operating Profit 35.5 Billion Won, Down 26.4% From Year Earlier

SM Entertainment Co Ltd KRX:041510:

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Nov 3 • 11:51 PM EST • Entertainment • tradingview.com
AMD beats Q3 estimates with data center business booming

Patrick Moorhead, Moor Insights & Strategy Founder, CEO, and Chief Analyst, joins Yahoo Finance Breaking Business News Reporter Jake Conley to discuss AMD's (AMD) third quarter earnings beating estimates, with data center revenue nearly doubling to $8.55 billion.

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Nov 3 • 4:28 PM EST • Business • finance.yahoo.com
Fresno SEDA plan could generate $2.5 billion surplus, study finds

A new study projects Fresno's SEDA plan could generate a $2.5 billion surplus over 15 years, as supporters and opponents debate the proposed expansion.

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Nov 3 • 12:20 PM EST • Business • thebusinessjournal.com
OpenAI: ChatGPT Search Is About 20% of Google’s, 250 Million People Speak With ChatGPT, and Chat Is Merging With Work

OpenAI says ChatGPT growth is accelerating. The company added 200 million users over just the past two months, jumping from 1 billion to 1.2 billion weekly active users in 60 days. Its search volume, it says, is approximately 20% of Google’s. Its users create 1.5 billion images with it per week. And its voice mode, between dictation and speaking with ChatGPT, now has 250 million combined weekly active users. ChatGPT consumer product lead Adam Fry told me this during a brief fireside chat at an OpenAI-hosted dinner in New York City on Monday night. “The growth is just going big,” he said. During our conversation, Fry also revealed plans to merge ChatGPT’s Chat and Work modes (so that confusing toggle up top will soon go away), agreed with feedback that ChatGPT-created restaurant signage looks too uniform, and addressed the cost to serve its personal assistant Dots. Here’s a look at our full conversation, lightly edited for clarity and length. We also cover image generation, interactive interfaces, advertising, education, and public unease about AI: Alex Kantrowitz: OpenAI has analyzed ChatGPT’s search volume and compared it with Google’s. What did you find? Adam Fry: ChatGPT has been growing quite quickly. ChatGPT’s volume of search-like queries is now roughly one-fifth the volume of queries of Google. It’s a pretty amazing statistic when you think about it, mainly because we started just about a year and a half ago. It’s hard to remember this, but ChatGPT at a time didn’t have any up-to-date information. You’d ask a question, it would say something like, “It’s past my training date,” and nobody had any idea what that meant. You’re saying ChatGPT’s search volume is one-fifth of Google’s. Bing’s share of the search market is around 5%. Does that make you multiple times larger than Bing? To say that more directly, ChatGPT has gone from one billion to 1.2 in just the last two months. That’s roughly 100 million users in 30 days, and another 100 million in another 30 days. The growth is just going big, and we’re staying very focused on how fast ChatGPT is growing. What counts as a search? I might have 20 prompts back and forth in a ChatGPT conversation. Does each one count as a query? Story continues below… A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR Move upmarket without a rebuild Moving upmarket means saying yes to what enterprise buyers ask for first: SSO, directory sync, and audit logs. WorkOS gives you all three, so your team keeps building the product instead of the checklist. Get enterprise-ready. Continued from above…. Adam Fry: What people came to ChatGPT for to start, if you go back about two years, is really writing help and coding help. Those wouldn’t be things that you really search for. What we’ve seen over the last year is people have grown into all these other topics. Things like you’re looking up a person or people or a place or a thing, and it requires up-to-date information. That’s a key element. Another big part is finance questions or health questions, where you really want to make sure it’s up-to-date information that’s quite factual, and we’ll do a web search for those questions. It’s basically anything that a user would have traditionally gone to a traditional search engine for, but is now deciding to go to ChatGPT for. Does each conversation with a search embedded count as one search, or does every question that requires a web search count? Every time you ask a question and go search the web, that’s a search. You used to work at Google. How would you say the nature of search is changing? One of the things that people really love about ChatGPT is this personalization and this understanding of the broader journey. If you look in the past, people would go for a Q&A box, and you’d ask a one-off question, like how tall is the Eiffel Tower. But there’s so much context in our lives around, “Maybe I’m taking a trip to Paris.” It’s actually helpful for ChatGPT to respond, “Here’s how tall the Eiffel Tower is, but I know you’re going on a trip to Paris.” It’s that ability for people to actually maintain context over time that has led them to start using ChatGPT in this way. You’ve also announced 250 million weekly active users of voice input, including dictation and conversations with voice mode. We are at 250 million weekly active users. What’s amazing about this is, if you look at those 250 million, what we’re seeing is it’s actually also incremental to the product. It’s no longer just a novelty. People aren’t just trying out voice. We’re seeing them use voice input day to day in their daily life, and it’s grown so quickly. Those 250 million users are using voice input, and that could just be a quick question or a long conversation. We’re seeing both behaviors. We’re seeing people just not want to type. You just hold it and start talking to it, or it turns into a longer conversation where people just sit with it. The big reason for this is the frontier capabilities of our models that we’ve shipped. We shipped what we call GPT Live 1, and then we shipped GPT Live 1.1. The big change with this is that it’s much more natural to speak with. It’s something we call backchanneling and interruptibility. Mhhhm… What you just did there is what the model does, because it’s really good at having a bidirectional conversation. That push to the frontier—we were the first to really release this at scale—has made it so much more natural for people to chat. That’s still only about 20% of the user base. From the outside, that looks small. Why is it exciting from the inside? It’s very exciting for a few reasons. We see from the data that when people start using voice, they stay around using voice. One of the things, transparently, we can do a better job of is bringing more people into discovering it. We see that the number of people who discover it could be a lot higher. But once they do, it’s a really new way for people to interact with AI. We’ve made a lot of improvements to it too, where we’re just going to see the number go up. You have background mode, so now by default, if you close the app, it’ll show, “Hey, the conversation’s still going.” If you want to walk around the house or you’re putting away the groceries, you can still have a chat. That kind of continuity has also changed how much people use it. Dots launched on September 29 and is about a month old. How’s it doing? It’s doing great. We talk to people about their Dot, and the first thing that everyone says is, “I love my Dot.” One of the reasons we’re seeing this is the proactivity, its ability to reach out to you and figure out things. The biggest use case I see all the time is, “Did I forget something today that I was supposed to do?” You can just say to your Dot, “Remind me of things at the end of the day that I may have forgotten. Somebody emailed me or messaged me,” and it’ll do that. This Dot changes the paradigm of the relationship with AI, where it’s actually helping you and giving you time back. You’re more conservative with permissions than some competitors. I tried to give my Dot my credit card, and it wouldn’t take it. With the creator of OpenClaw in-house, why are Dots’ permissions more limited? This is a space where we want to be very thoughtful and conservative because it’s a new space where you’re entrusting your Dot to take care of things on behalf of you that matter and are meaningful. We’ve just talked about how you go to this 1.2 billion user growth and asking questions. Now we’re asking people, “Can you ask ChatGPT or your Dot to help get things done?” But when you ask it to help get things done, it’s a whole new level of trust. We’ve built up a tremendous amount of trust in giving the right answers to your questions, and we want to make sure that when we build this new product, it has a high degree of trust. It’s a long game. We think this is going to be a new market for a very long time, and we want to make sure that we’re being this trusted player in the market to start. I initially thought Dots would be available on my $20 plan, then realized I had to spend $100 a month to get it. I upgraded, but I’d like to downgrade at some point…. We hope to keep earning your business and make the value good enough. It’s a really good point. ChatGPT’s goal more broadly, which I think is unique for us in the market, is we are focused on bringing intelligence to everyone safely across the entire world. For Dots in particular, there’s no difference. We don’t have anything to share tonight about the date of when Dots will go to a broader set of users. But you can rest assured we’re working very hard, and there are a couple things we have to get right. Over time we’re going to work on more efficient, agentic models that are able and capable of doing things for you. The first one is, right now we wanted to make sure that your Dot is actually really helpful. We started with some of our best models, but over time we’re going to work on more efficient, agentic models that are able and capable of doing things for you. The second thing is around proactivity. We’re still dialing in: How much do I message you to help you get things done? We can always play around with that to understand how much usage should a user use to have a successful Dot. We’re going to work on both, and our goal and ambition is to bring it out to all users. How much background computing does a Dot require? I’ve read estimates that serving a $100 subscriber might cost OpenAI $3,000 in compute, and mine seems to read every email that arrives. How often is it checking connected data sources? Right now, Dots are on the compute-heavier side, and this is one of the things we want to make sure that we can dial back over time. But the goal is to give you the best product. This is our premium, always-on personal assistant. Once we nail that, we’ll figure out how to dial back the compute needs. The thing we’re seeing also from our models, as we train frontier models, is just how—I can’t even keep up with how quickly we have a new model, and each new model is more efficient. If you looked at 6.1 Sol when it came out relative to Astra, much more efficient. I’m very excited about the next set of models we have coming too that’ll be even more efficient that we can use. Elon Musk said the cost of serving Grok Bot was unsustainably high relative to revenue. Is efficiency the key to winning against competitors, or is there more to it? There are a couple of factors that go into it. One is the cost side, but the other is the revenue side. On ChatGPT and on our consumer business, we’ve been extremely proud of our ability to diversify different revenue streams in a way that’s growing really fast. To give you another stat, we announced several months back that we had passed 50 million subscriptions, and the number has grown considerably since then. On ads, within 200 days, we reached more than a billion in ARR, and that business is growing extremely quickly. We also have credits. Rather than paying for subscriptions, users can buy more credits. Between credits, subscriptions, and ads, I’m confident that the value of a Dot is going to be able to pay for itself. Elon has subscriptions too. This is clearly an expensive product to serve. One thing we continue to bet on at OpenAI and ChatGPT more broadly is that the models will continue to get much better and much cheaper, way faster than any of us think. If you look back at the historicals on it, it continues to be true. From what I’ve seen, I see no slowing down of that. What is Meta doing right with Muse? It has spent a lot of time atop the App Store charts. There are a couple of things they’ve done well. The first is people have been craving simplicity in their products. One of the things we have stated publicly as well is, at times AI products can be too complex. We’ve announced we’re merging ChatGPT’s Chat and Work. We’re making it much more simple in the products. You don’t have as many toggles or sliders between efforts and different model pickers. One of the things they’ve done well is this simplicity. You just go in and you can ask a question. You don’t have to think too much about what you’re doing. That’s one thing that seems to have resonated with users, which we also believe in. Second, there’s something really nice about being able to access your agent across many different channels. We just announced and launched Dots on iMessage. Whether you talk to your Dot on email or iMessage or within the ChatGPT app, the ubiquity in getting your assistant out there is going to be key. Those are two things that, if I had to be nice to our competitors, I would say were two big ones. So Alexandr Wang’s meme-tweeting strategy isn’t something you’re going to emulate? I have a different tweeting style. ChatGPT still asks me to choose between Chat and Work, even though some people call this technology AGI. Will that distinction go away? Couldn’t agree more. We have to solve this. Asking users to choose — we’ve heard repeatedly from all of our users it’s too much to understand. When should you go to Chat? When should you go to Work? It’s solvable. There’s real research to solve to make sure the models can understand what your intent is. Are you asking for a fast, quick reply? Are you asking me to go do a long agentic task? We’re going to solve it, and the plan is to bring Chat and Work together. So one interface will work out whether I’m asking for a conversation or a task. When? Coming soon. You told me the majority of ChatGPT’s 1.2 billion users are using image functionality. What are they doing? Today, 1.5 billion images are created per week. It’s hard to even wrap my head around that number. They’re doing a wide range of things. One of the most interesting things they’ve started to do is really use it for productivity use cases. The first thing it started with—I don’t know if you saw the ’80s trend, but it was quite fun. You could take a photo of yourself and say, “Put me and my family in ’80s outfits.” I did this for my family, and it was a really fun poster. But what we’re also seeing is businesses for their menus, or posters for birthdays. People are using it almost in a productivity-like fashion to create visual diagrams of what they would like to see. We’ve actually brought the latency down on images as well, so it’s gotten a lot faster. It went from a very high number of seconds to getting much faster. As it comes down even further, the number of images people are creating and the number of use cases is going to grow a lot. My feature request: When a restaurant makes a menu or sign, prompt it for more specificity so it doesn’t look like every other AI-generated restaurant sign. Or offer a shuffle button for a different style. I agree with the feedback, and we’ll take it to the team. I’m seeing ChatGPT generate little interactive interfaces within its answers. What’s the direction for Intelligent UI, and how are people using it? I am extremely excited about Intelligent UI. If you go back a couple years, these chat apps were all text, and now that’s changing. They’re going to be visuals. Intelligent UI and our first attempt at this with GPT-6 Intelligent UI is really just the beginning. As you go to the extreme, what you can imagine is, let’s say you’re using voice mode, and you just say, “Show me how offside works.” Immediately it should show you a visual diagram, and you say, “No, I don’t quite understand it.” It should just repopulate. That’s where the future of this technology goes. It’s almost like you’re talking to a canvas that will update and change. People are finding it helpful for a lot of things. My favorite one is—it’s hard to admit that I had no idea how hearts work. The last biology course I took was in high school. I just asked it, “How does the heart work?” and it instantly gave me a beautiful interactive diagram of where blood flows and how it goes through. I’m really, really bullish on this for learning in particular. You’ve described useful applications in finance, health, and learning, and ChatGPT has 1.2 billion users. If people are getting so much value, why is public polling on AI so negative? The reality with AI is it is going to change the nature of how work gets done. For a lot of people, that is something that can feel scary at times, and we’ve all felt that. But I remain confident that when people actually use the product and they use AI, it very quickly changes how they perceive it. We’re at 1.2 billion, but there are still a lot of people who haven’t used it. The more people use it, get familiar with it, how it can actually help you in your life, it’s going to feel a lot less scary. Big Technology is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Thanks!! Subscribe

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Nov 3 • 10:00 AM EST • Technology • bigtechnology.com
Data center risks outstrip insurance capacity, says Scor chief

Hyperscale data centers carry total insurable values of up to $30 billion for construction alone, but insurers can currently provide only about $15 billion in capacity per risk…

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Nov 3 • 8:34 AM EST • Business • businessinsurance.com
Turkey and one of its most reliable African allies are looking to generate $5 billion in bilateral trade

Turkey and Libya are looking to grow their bilateral trade to $5 billion, as both countries explore new ways to deepen their economic relationship

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Nov 3 • 2:00 AM EST • Business • africa.businessinsider.com
Marvell to buy Lumentum in $115-billion deal to expand its AI business

Marvell to Acquire Lumentum in Historic $115 Billion Dea

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Nov 2 • 6:29 PM EST • Business • latimes.com
Apple posts record September quarter under new CEO as iPhone, Mac sales surge

Apple reported record September-quarter revenue of $114.5 billion, driven by strong iPhone 18 Pro and Mac sales despite price increases.

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Nov 2 • 6:13 PM EST • Business • foxbusiness.com
Apple's new CEO delivers earnings beat, but China and iPad sales miss

Apple's revenue for its fiscal Q4 was $114.5 billion, surpassing Wall Street's estimates of $113.46 billion. EPS came in at $2.10, topping estimates.

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Nov 2 • 4:49 PM EST • Business • businessinsider.com
Roku Q3 2026 Earnings: Sales Soar 24%, Net Profit Booms 7-Fold

Roku reported Q3 2026 earnings results, with growth of 24% to $1.5 billion in revenue as media and entertainment ad spending growth hit a four-year high.

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Nov 2 • 4:05 PM EST • Entertainment • variety.com
Trump administration promised farmers $15 billion in weeks before midterms

President Donald Trump’s administration has made $15 billion worth of promises to agriculture producers in the last few weeks before the midterm elections.

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Nov 2 • 1:25 PM EST • Politics • pbs.org
UK’s investment arm takes £2.25 billion bet on Africa’s least-favoured markets as it targets businesses and infrastructure projects others avoid

British International Investment (BII) will inject around £2

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Nov 2 • 11:17 AM EST • Business • africa.businessinsider.com
Marvell stock dips after $115 billion deal for Lumentum Holdings

Marvell said it would buy Lumentum in a deal worth $115 billion. Shares of both companies dipped, with investors still recovering from Friday's rout.

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Nov 2 • 10:53 AM EST • Business • businessinsider.com
Anthropic's amended S-1 reveals Q3 revenue, massive compute bill

Anthropic's amended S-1 shows Q3 revenue jumped to nearly $17 billion as its compute and infrastructure commitments reached $895 billion.

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Nov 2 • 10:18 AM EST • Business • businessinsider.com
Canada-India $5.5 billion bank takeover attracts opposition from workers, politicians

IDBI workers demand the government "cancel the privatization process" and work to strengthen the bank while protecting public investment and staff interests.

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Nov 1 • 11:09 PM EST • Politics • cnbc.com
Trump administration promises US farmers $15 billion in weeks before the midterms

President Donald Trump’s administration has made $15 billion worth of promises to agriculture producers in the last few weeks of the midterm elections.

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Nov 1 • 8:57 AM EST • Politics • scrippsnews.com
In 1984, Pat Bowlen paid $78 million for the Denver Broncos; 38 years later, his family sold the team for $4.65 billion
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Nov 1 • 1:47 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Rivian rallies on strong EV sales

Rivian shares surged Friday after its latest results boosted optimism that the long-struggling electric-vehicle maker is headed toward better times. The Irvine-based manufacturer announced Thursday that it posted $2.15 billion

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Oct 30 • 7:05 PM EDT • Entertainment • thederrick.com
Boo-ming business: KSU expert explains why consumers spend on Halloween

The National Retail Federation projects Halloween spending to reach a record $13.5 billion. Kennesaw State's Patrick Fennell explains how nostalgia, family traditions, social connections and self-expression drive spending on costumes, candy and decorations.

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Oct 29 • 8:50 AM EDT • Business • newswise.com
Catholic Health names Frank Kurre president and CEO

Catholic Health has named Frank Kurre as its new president and CEO, effective January 1, 2027. Kurre, a Catholic deacon with extensive healthcare leadership experience, will guide the Long Island-based health system, which generates $4.5 billion in annual revenue and employs 18,000 staff across multiple care services.

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Oct 28 • 2:17 PM EDT • Health • libn.com
Jeanie Buss ‘Stunned’ by $12.5 Billion Lakers Sale to Bob Iger

Jeanie Buss was reportedly left in the dark about Mark Walter's record-breaking $12.5 billion sale of the Los Angeles Lakers to Bob Iger and Josh Kushner. The post Jeanie Buss ‘Stunned’ by $12.5 Billion Lakers Sale to Bob Iger appeared first on LA Sports Report.

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Oct 28 • 11:00 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Feds offer Constellation $5 billion in financing to spur nuke development

The Trump administration is offering as much as $5 billion in financing to Constellation Energy Corp. to upgrade and modernize the nuclear operator’s fleet of reactors in Illinois, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.

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Oct 27 • 11:25 PM EDT • Business • chicagobusiness.com
Meta Plans To Raise Up To $95 Billion In Equity To Power AI

Meta stock was lower premarket after the tech giant announced plans to raise $95 billion in equity.

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Oct 26 • 9:17 AM EDT • Business • investors.com
Meta looks to raise up to $95 billion from stock sales for AI build out

Meta is seeking more cash as it spends heavily on AI infrastructure, data centers, and computing power as it develops consumer AI products.

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Oct 26 • 7:51 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com
ESMO: Roche touts ‘convincing’ phase 3 KRAS data after win over rivals

Roche has shed more light on its investigational KRAS G12C inhibitor's phase 3 victory over Amgen’s Lumakras and Bristol Myers Squibb’s Krazati. The open-label Krascendo 1 trial enrolled 338 people with previously treated KRAS G12C-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Patients who had already received a KRAS G12C inhibitor or pan-KRAS/RAS inhibitor were excluded from the trial. Participants received either divarasib once daily, Lumakras once daily or Krazati twice daily. Roche announced back in July that divarasib had demonstrated statistically significant improvements in progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), meeting the trial’s primary and key secondary endpoints. But the Swiss pharma had been holding back the detailed data until now. At the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Madrid, Roche revealed that median OS for the 167 patients who received divarasib was 17.7 months, compared to 12 months for the 171 patients who received Lumakras or Krazati. The benefit was similarly clear when it came to median PFS, which stood at 9.8 months versus 5.7 months, respectively. A total of 44% of patients receiving divarasib were alive without disease progression at one year, compared to 24% of the control group, according to Roche’s presentation. It was a similar story for the objective response rate, which came in at 58% for divarasib versus 32% for the control group, while median duration of response was 11.9 months versus 6.9 months. Stefan Frings, M.D., Ph.D., deputy chief medical officer at Roche Pharma, told Fierce that the data made for a “very comprehensive, strong package, which should be convincing to health authorities.” “It’s an important advance for patients with lung cancer,” Frings said in an interview at a Madrid hotel during the conference. “It's a second-line setting, and patients who receive divarasib benefit compared to the current first-generation KRAS G12C inhibitors by having far longer overall survival,” he continued. “They live longer. They have better progression-free survival, better response rates, and with a safety profile which is—if [anything]—even better,” he said. According to Roche, 4.8% of patients receiving divarasib discontinued treatment due to treatment-related adverse events, compared to 11.7% in the control group. Serious treatment-related adverse events were also less common with divarasib, at 7.8% versus 15.2%. Roche’s confidence in divarasib had been building even before this phase 3 success. The candidate had already shown better potency and selectivity than the incumbent KRAS G12C inhibitors Krazati and Lumakras in preclinical tests. After cross-trial comparisons suggested that the edge translated into better clinical outcomes, Roche axed a study comparing divarasib to the chemotherapy docetaxel and went toe-to-toe with Lumakras and Krazati. “We designed the drug on purpose with higher potency and better selectivity,” Frings explained. “So, based on preclinical models, we clearly knew it would be superior to the first generation.” “It’s honestly not so frequent that pharma companies go head-to-head,” he added. “But if you want to make a point, if you want to convince payers, prescribers and patients … then a head-to-head win is rather rewarding.” While Amgen and BMS reached the regulatory finish line first for KRAS G12C-mutated, locally advanced or metastatic NSCLC in 2021 and 2022, respectively, they have struggled to capitalize on their head start. Krazati brought in $55 million for BMS in the second quarter, while Lumakras delivered $111 million to Amgen. For its part, Roche is aiming for peak divarasib sales of 1 billion to 2 billion Swiss francs ($1.2 billion to $2.5 billion), according to Frings. The Big Pharma is currently recruiting patients into a phase 3 trial comparing divarasib plus Keytruda against Keytruda plus chemotherapy in previously untreated advanced or metastatic nonsquamous KRAS G12C-mutated NSCLC. Roche has previously suggested that sales in metastatic disease would account for most of the forecast. Frings was tight-lipped on the exact timeline for a regulatory filing but said the Swiss pharma is “certainly keen to get this to as many patients as possible around the world.” Roche has more RAS drugs coming up behind divarasib. The pharma has already launched phase 1 trials of a pan-RAS inhibitor called RG6505 and a KRAS G12D inhibitor dubbed RG6620 in solid tumors. Roche’s partner Chugai Pharmaceutical is also testing a pan-KRAS inhibitor called AUBE00. Roche has made a “deliberate effort” to test a range of RAS drugs, Frings said. “If you have many rare mutations and you are scrambling to find sufficient patients, a pan-RAS inhibitor makes a lot of sense,” he explained.

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Oct 25 • 11:30 AM EDT • Health • fiercebiotech.com
Three giant black holes discovered in a galaxy from the dawn of time

Astronomers have discovered three actively feeding black holes inside a single galaxy more than 12.5 billion light-years away, revealing a remarkable scene from the universe’s infancy. Two of the black holes are separated by just 620 light-years and are expected to eventually merge, while a third lurks farther away. One weighs an astonishing 80 million suns, and another is growing faster than conventional theories predict.

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Oct 25 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com
Eli Lilly breaks ground on $5B Virginia manufacturing site

Eli Lilly ceremonially broke ground on its $5 billion Goochland County manufacturing facility Thursday, expected to begin production in 2030.

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Oct 22 • 2:47 PM EDT • Business • virginiabusiness.com
Introspection required if EU Inc fails, says start-up lobbyist

European start-ups have a new voice in Brussels. Startups for Europe, created from the merger of lobby groups Allied for Startups and the European Startup Network, is hoping to harness the momentum behind EU-Inc, a campaign that united start-ups and investors behind demands for a new pan-European company regime.At a launch event for the new association in Brussels on October 1, the mood was remarkably upbeat compared to a typical Eurobubble gathering, more Silicon Valley than Schuman roundabout.When asked whether this reflects a feeling that Europe is on the right track, chief executive Serena Borbotti-Frison said it’s a “scary” moment as the continent looks to boost its competitiveness amid a new technological arms race.“What is at stake is quite intense, and the way we can answer is by delivering, but also with hope,” she told Science|Business. “It’s what our industry does. It’s not about identifying a pain point and then saying it’s too hard.”For many in the start-up community, that sense of hope is dwindling. In March, the European Commission presented its proposal for EU Inc, naming its initiative after the grassroots campaign.EU Inc was meant to be a gamechanger: the ability to incorporate within 48 hours for less than €100 and scale up across Europe; a harmonised stock option regime enabling start-ups to compete for talent; and simplified insolvency procedures for innovative start-ups to reduce the cost of failure.However, haggling by EU governments has raised concerns that EU Inc will be stripped of the very features, including stock option harmonisation, that are meant to make it attractive for companies.“I fear we are proving to ourselves that the model doesn’t work,” Borbotti-Frison said of the policymaking process. “Everyone agrees we should have EU Inc. Everyone agrees it’s hard to scale and we need to scale to answer the competitiveness [challenge], and still we cannot deliver? [. . .] What does that say about ourselves?”The Commission has made EU Inc a cornerstone of its single market reform, and has agreed with the European Parliament and the Council of the EU to target an agreement by the end of 2026. However, several points are currently holding up an agreement, including national rules around employee participation in management decisions, and the provision that employee stock options always be taxed at the point of sale. Some EU governments have reportedly pushed back on the Commission’s choice of legal basis, contending that anything related to taxation requires unanimity in the Council.Trade unions have also protested against EU Inc, fearing it will be exploited by companies looking to undermine workers’ rights.“If this doesn’t work, it’s introspection time, on the way our institutions work, maybe the way our lobbies work, and maybe the way the cooperation between them works,” Borbotti-Frison said.“Is it in the national interest? Is it a gap between political will and technical ability to operate? Is it speed? I don't know, but something needs to be fixed.”Ahead of last week’s European Council meeting, EU-Inc campaigners tried a new strategy: appealing directly to EU presidents and prime ministers. In an open letter, they urged EU leaders to “step in and give your negotiating teams a clear mandate to change course and reverse their objections to the Commission’s original proposal.”Lessons from EU-IncLike its predecessors, Startups for Europe will represent national start-up associations, but it is also targeting investors. The founding sponsors are venture capital firm Atomico and EQT, the investor selected earlier this year to manage the €5 billion Scaleup Europe Fund.It also wants to harness the knowledge and cross-border experience of European success stories. “Take the list of the 100 biggest unicorns in Europe. We are speaking to all of them,” Borbotti-Frison said. The association plans to publish a full list of supporters following the Slush tech conference in Helsinki in November.Andreas Klinger and Simon Schaefer, two key figures in the EU-Inc campaign, are both on the board of the new association, and Startups for Europe wants to take the lessons from their campaign.What was unprecedented about EU-Inc was “how rooted it was, and how strong it was in bringing everyone on board behind one clear pain point and solution to fix it,” Borbotti-Frison said. “This is an inspiration for us, and then we need to turn it into something more systematic, more bridged in Brussels, more connected to the policymaking game, and to scale it.”If it’s possible to unite such a broad coalition, it’s because the European start-up ecosystem is now mature, she said. “Maybe it was not ten years ago. Maybe it was not five years ago. But now, it’s mature to speak with one voice.”Open and liberal EuropeThe association plans to campaign on files related to three “pain points,” Borbotti-Frison said: “start and scale in Europe, fundraise and invest in Europe, and making Europe the most innovative continent.”As well as EU Inc, she cited public procurement, the EU’s simplification push, the Savings and Investments Union, and files related to AI adoption and technological sovereignty as priorities for the coming months.What these files have in common is that they relate not to subsidies but to the framework conditions influencing the availability of mostly private, or in the case of procurement, public, funding.Related articlesEmployee participation disagreement delays MEPs’ vote on EU IncCommission urges EU governments not to water down EU IncEU’s ‘ultra-fast’ €5B scale-up fund is set up to win, says its fund managerThe budget dispute over the next Horizon Europe programme will also impact start-ups, which are supported notably through the European Innovation Council. But EU innovation funding is a drop in the ocean compared to venture capital and public procurement budgets.“If competitiveness and innovation are a priority, then the [EU budget] should reflect it,” Borbotti-Frison said. However, she added that the main question is not how much public money is invested, but “how do we create the right conditions for the market to solve the problem?”The Scaleup Europe Fund mixes both approaches, using €1 billion in EU funding to crowd in private investors and address Europe’s lack of large-scale, late-stage growth funds. “It’s a proof of concept. Ideally, then the market will do it itself,” Borbotti-Frison said.Startups for Europe is also focused on bringing an alternative political narrative. Amid competing visions for open, global markets on the one side and a protectionist Europe on the other, it wants to offer “a third voice, to say we can be proudly European and build a strong continent in a liberal economy, open to the world, and global.”It can be tempting, when thinking about how Europe can better support innovation, to look across the Atlantic. But while it’s important to compare statistics to see where Europe needs to catch up, that’s where the comparison should stop, Borbotti-Frison said. “On everything else, we need to do it our own way. We don't have the same history. We don't have the same political model. We don't have the same way of life.”Many of the key files that could benefit the start-up community, including EU Inc and the Savings and Investments Union, rely on closer integration within Europe, making it easier to operate across borders.While the Commission has made deepening the single market a political priority, support at national level is more precarious. The coming months will see pivotal elections in Spain and France, while the German government has also been coming under pressure domestically. In each country, far-right parties have been gaining ground.When asked if she was concerned the political situation could jeopardise this progress, Borbotti-Frison responded: “Of course. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t.” However, she continues to believe that cooperation is the only way forward. “Doing it alone is not the solution. It’s also not who we are, it’s not the model we are building, and it’s not the scale we need.”

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Oct 22 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencebusiness.net
Burning through Türkiye's GDP: The high cost of fossil fuel PM2.5 pollution on public health – Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air

Türkiye’s reliance on fossil fuels is generating massive air pollution health costs both within the country and throughout the region. This report finds that fossil fuels account for more than half (52%) of Türkiye’s population exposure to PM2.5 air pollution. The cumulative health impacts are estimated to cost the Turkish economy approximately USD 55 billion each year, equivalent to 4.1% of national GDP in 2024. The pollution is also responsible for roughly 26,500 deaths per year in the country, including deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, lung cancer, stroke, and diabetes.The impacts begin at the very start of life, with fossil-fuel-derived PM2.5 pollution contributing to an estimated 8,000 preterm births, 8,200 low-birthweight infants, 5,100 new cases of childhood asthma, and 6,500 emergency-room visits for asthma each year in Türkiye.Beyond the estimated deaths each year in Türkiye, air pollution from the country’s fossil fuel emissions also contributes to deaths and economic losses in neighbouring countries. In 2024, these emissions were estimated to cause: 32,000 deaths and USD 2.1 billion in economic burden in Egypt; 1,700 deaths and USD 0.2 billion in economic burden in Syria; 800 deaths and USD 0.8 billion in economic burden in Iraq; 500 deaths and USD 4.5 billion in economic burden in Israel; and 400 deaths and USD 1.5 billion in economic burden in Greece.Türkiye currently has no national ambient air-quality standard for PM2.5, despite the substantial health burden associated with exposure to the pollutant. Figure — The percentage of annual PM2.5 emissions in Türkiye’s fossil fuel emissions, using the EMEP emission inventory and EMEP MSC-W chemical transport model Key findings Türkiye’s fossil fuel emissions (from domestic sources as well as international aviation and shipping) account for 52% of population exposure to PM₂.₅ nationwide. PM2.5 pollution attributable to Türkiye’s fossil fuel use is responsible for approximately 26,500 deaths in the country every year, including deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, lung cancer, stroke, and diabetes. Children are among the most affected, with fossil fuel-derived PM2.5 pollution contributing to an estimated 8,000 preterm births, 8,200 low-birth-weight infants, 5,100 new cases of childhood asthma and 6,500 emergency room visits for asthma each year. The cumulative health impacts of fossil fuel-derived PM2.5 pollution are estimated to cost the Turkish economy approximately USD 55 billion each year, equivalent to 4.1% of national GDP in 2024. Transboundary pollution attributable to Türkiye’s land-based fossil fuel emissions also leads to thousands of deaths in five neighbouring countries, with estimated economic burden per year (as of 2024) reaching USD 2.1 billion in Egypt (3,200 deaths), USD 0.2 billion in Syria (1,700 deaths), USD 0.8 billion in Iraq (800 deaths), USD 4.5 billion in Israel (500 deaths), and USD 1.5 billion in Greece (400 deaths). Türkiye currently has no national ambient air quality standard for PM2.5, despite the substantial health burden associated with exposure to the pollutant. Reducing fossil fuel use and emissions across Türkiye’s energy, transport and industrial systems would deliver substantial air quality and public health benefits by reducing exposure to PM2.5 and preventing associated illness and deaths. Figure — Annual deaths attributable to Türkiye’s land-based fossil fuel emissions in the five most affected countries, based on 2024 emissions

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Oct 22 • 3:00 AM EDT • Health • energyandcleanair.org
Meta Slams New Mexico Business Climate After $25 Billion Verdict

Meta’s chief legal officer said Wednesday (Oct. 21) that it is “all but impossible to do business” in New Mexico after a court ordered the company to pay

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Oct 21 • 6:30 PM EDT • Business • pymnts.com
Meta to pay historic $25 billion in New Mexico deception case

Meta Platforms Inc. was ordered to pay a groundbreaking $25 billion civil penalty to the state of New Mexico in a consumer deception case spurred by the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

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Oct 21 • 5:46 PM EDT • Entertainment • thederrick.com
Meta ordered to pay New Mexico $25 billion over Cambridge Analytica breach

A judge has ordered Meta to pay New Mexico $25 billion after a jury found the company liable for deceiving users about privacy and content moderation on Facebook.

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Oct 21 • 1:18 PM EDT • Politics • ksat.com
Abbott to spin off Nutrition business

The new company will have approximately $8.5 billion in annual sales.

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Oct 21 • 11:44 AM EDT • Business • foodbusinessnews.net
Abbott plans to spin off nutrition unit that generates $8.5 billion in annual sales

The separation of the maker of Similac and Ensure is expected by the end of 2027 and will leave 2026 guidance unchanged

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Oct 21 • 8:50 AM EDT • Business • qz.com
Abbott to Carve Out Nutrition Business Into Independent Company

Abbott Laboratories plans to separate its nutrition business into an independent company with about $8.5 billion in annual sales.

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Oct 21 • 8:31 AM EDT • Business • finance.yahoo.com
Abbott Laboratories Plans to Spin Off Similac and Pedialyte Business

Abbott Laboratories plans to separate its nutrition business into an independent company with about $8.5 billion in annual sales.

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Oct 21 • 8:07 AM EDT • Business • wsj.com
Amazon hiring thousands in Southern Nevada

This year workers will receive a pay bump, with the company putting more than $1.5 billion into wage increases for its United States workers, Amazon said.

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Oct 20 • 1:30 PM EDT • Business • reviewjournal.com
CEO Marco Bassetti Talks Banijay After All3Media Mega-Merger

The Banijay chief discussed the new $8.5 billion super indie at the MIA Market in Rome after the super indie scaled up by adding distribution and sports to its content offering.

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Oct 19 • 10:26 AM EDT • Entertainment • hollywoodreporter.com
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Accenture is looking to sell Greater China business for up to $1.5 billion, FT report says

The FT report says Accenture hired JPMorgan to review the unit after unsolicited interest over the past year

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Oct 19 • 8:44 AM EDT • Business • qz.com
2026 midterms could be the most expensive on record. And, Macron condemns protests

More than $15 billion has been raised in this year's midterm elections. And, France's president is condemning the violent protests erupting across the country.

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Oct 19 • 7:15 AM EDT • Politics • kosu.org
HanWool Materials Science Extends Maturity of 25.5 Billion Won Bonds With Warrants by One Year

HanWool Materials Science has extended the maturity of 25.5 billion won in outstanding bon

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Oct 19 • 6:10 AM EDT • Science • thelec.net
Elon Musk says he'll give a SpaceX share to every American child

Elon Musk's plan to gift SpaceX shares to U.S. children in 2027 would be worth equivalent to roughly $10.5 billion at current market prices.

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Oct 19 • 4:43 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com
Scientists Find Evidence That Earth's Core Is Still Leaking Hydrogen, Helium and Tungsten

When Earth first formed, around 4.5 billion years ago, it was an extremely hot, largely molten planet. As it cooled, heavier materials sank to form the core, while lighter materials formed the mantle and crust.

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Oct 18 • 3:34 AM EDT • Science • ndtv.com
Here's How Microsoft's $175 Billion in Capital Expenditures Is Hurting Its Business

Microsoft cloud computing business may not be as profitable as its other segments.

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Oct 17 • 10:36 AM EDT • Business • finance.yahoo.com
Li Auto Inc. Announces Equity Financing for Its Chip Business

BEIJING, China, Oct. 16, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Li Auto Inc. (“Li Auto” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: LI; HKEX: 2015), a leader in China’s new energy vehicle market, today announced that Shanghai Mahe Xin Technology Co., Ltd. (“MHX Technology”), a subsidiary of the Company dedicated to its chip and domain controller business, entered into subscription agreements for equity financing totaling RMB1.625 billion (the “Subscription”). The Company, through a wholly-owned subsidiary, and external invest

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Oct 16 • 4:31 AM EDT • Business • finance.yahoo.com
Companies pledge free software and computing for AI in science

The European Commission has announced that a group of companies and foundations will offer free services, such as software or access to supercomputers, to European scientists using AI in their research.Unveiled on October 15 at a conference in Dublin, the initiative is the latest step by the Commission to try to help researchers use the technology. Scientists have used forms of AI, such as machine learning, for decades. But advances in deep learning in the past decade, and the wider interest in large language models since the release of ChatGPT in 2022, have spurred governments to invest in new AI tools that could help the scientific process.In July, the US announced it is spending $5 billion on the Genesis Mission, which it describes as a “national effort to harness AI for science,” funding 278 projects across areas such as autonomous labs or new AI tools in astronomy. The Commission has also identified AI in science as a priority, but the €107 million it pledged from Horizon Europe in 2025 does not come close to US spending levels. That said, the vast majority of public research spending in the EU comes from national funds. Today’s announcement at the European AI in Science Summit doesn’t commit any new public money. Instead, it launches the AI in Science Enablers Initiative, a set of voluntary contributions from companies and foundations. The idea is that the companies also benefit by getting access to scientific ecosystems, and feedback on how their tools work. Google, for example, has put up €3 million of cloud computing credits to European researchers. The Novo Nordisk Foundation intends to make its supercomputer, Gefion, available to European researchers, according to the Commission statement. The chipmaker Nvidia said it would provide access to tools, compute, training and collaborative projects.The publisher Elsevier also offered complementary licenses to some of its AI tools, plus AI training for PhD, postdoctoral and master’s students. The French AI firm Mistral will provide the European research community with access to its open-weight models, Vibe seats and application programming interface credits, according to the Commission’s statement. Vibe is one of the firm’s chatbot models. The idea is that more firms and foundations will come on board in the future as the initiative grows.

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Oct 15 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencebusiness.net
Is the EU research budget actually increasing?

Is a Horizon Europe budget of €158 billion a 10% cut or a significant increase to the EU’s support for research and innovation? What would seem like a question of fact has divided opinion in Brussels since the Irish presidency of the EU Council presented its negotiation box on October 10. The answer depends on factors such as how you adjust for inflation, whether you account for increases in overall EU wealth and if you care about absolute or proportional figures. The €158 billion budget in current prices, proposed by the Irish presidency of the EU Council, was quickly criticised by university lobbies and rejected by the high-level expert group led by former Portuguese science minister Manuel Heitor. It was also decried by the four pro-European political groups in the European Parliament. “How can Europe close its competitiveness gap while cutting the European Competitiveness Fund by 13% and Horizon Europe by nearly 10%?” asked a joint statement by the European People’s Party (EPP), Renew Europe, the Socialists and Democrats and the Greens/European Free Alliance. Together, these parties hold 63% of seats in the Parliament.In stark contrast, Irish foreign affairs minister Helen McEntee said that the proposal “significantly increases investment in competitiveness, research and innovation,” Meanwhile, a presidency press release said that, compared to the current Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), the proposal would “double the volume of competitiveness related programmes.” So, who is right? That depends on how you make the calculation.Compared to the Commission figure or the previous budget?The first thing to notice is the difference in baselines. When the MEPs say the Irish presidency will cut Horizon Europe by “nearly 10%” they are using the European Commission proposal for the MFF from July 2025, which allocated €175 billion in current prices to Horizon Europe. However, when the Irish foreign affairs minister said the research and competitiveness budget is increasing significantly, she is comparing it to the 2021-27 MFF, which had a Horizon Europe budget of €84.9 billion in 2018 prices.Her point holds when accounting for inflation. Applying a 2% annual inflation rate, the calculation method used by the Commission, the 2021-27 Horizon Europe would have a budget of €97.5 billion in 2025 prices. In comparison, the Irish presidency’s €158 billion figure in current prices translates to €140 billion in 2025 prices. Does the ECF count?But there is more to the dispute. In its statements, the Irish presidency lumped the research budget in with the overall budget for competitiveness. The Parliament statement, however, kept the two separate. This matters because the next MFF includes plans to add a new European Competitiveness Fund (ECF) to fund programmes meant to boost the continent's competitiveness. The Irish negotiating box allocated €245 billion in current prices to this programme.When this is added to the €158 billion for Horizon Europe, as well as programmes such as the EU education programme Erasmus+, the total for “competitiveness, prosperity and security” in the Irish proposal becomes €514 billion in current prices. But it is still uncertain how big a share of this competitiveness budget would go to research. The Commission proposal of July 2025 for the MFF included clear links between the ECF and Horizon Europe, indicating some ECF money will go to research. At the same time, the structure of the ECF is still being negotiated, and a substantial part of its budget is expected to support non-research activities such as defence manufacturing, decarbonisation and digital infrastructure. Related articlesCouncil floats 9.6% budget cut to next Horizon EuropeResearch community to appeal to national governments over planned EU budget cutEU own resources ‘essential’ for future research budget, says leading MEPSo, it is by looking at competitiveness rather than research, or combining the two, that the Irish presidency can claim that its proposed budget will significantly increase investment in competitiveness, research and innovation.According to the Irish presidency proposal, Horizon Europe and other competitiveness-related programmes in the current multiannual budget received €221 billion in current prices. However, since this money is being distributed from 2021 to 2027, it is not directly comparable to the €514 billion in current prices which will be distributed from 2028 to 2034.Research as a proportion of the MFFBut the relative rise in competitiveness-related programmes points to another important distinction: whether you look at the research budget in absolute terms or as a share of the overall MFF. Here, too, the size of the research budget has risen, although only slightly. In the 2021-27 MFF, Horizon Europe accounted for 7% of the total budget. In the Irish presidency’s proposal, it amounts to 8.7%. The share for the total competitiveness envelope went from 17.7% in the current MFF to 28.1% in the Irish presidency proposal.This proportional share may seem irrelevant to universities looking for research funding, but it is becoming significant as budget negotiations between the Parliament, the Commission and the Council begin. On October 2, a group of 17 southern and eastern European countries sent out a statement calling for the EU agriculture and cohesion budgets to be protected. The Parliament’s co-rapporteur on the budget, Siegfried Mureșan of the EPP, has also said that the research envelope is likely to be cut disproportionately as the budget is slimmed down during negotiations.

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Oct 15 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencebusiness.net
Galderma Is Acquiring ZO Skin Health for $1.5 Billion

Galderma has signed to acquire ZO Skin Health for $1.5 billion in a move that positions it deeper in the burgeoning dermatological skin care space.

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Oct 14 • 3:37 AM EDT • Health • wwd.com
Galderma to Buy ZO Skin Health for $1.5 Billion

The dermatology company agreed to acquire ZO Skin Health from its shareholders, including the Obagi family and funds managed by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities.

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Oct 14 • 1:47 AM EDT • Health • wsj.com
Science, health research bond to appear on March 2028 ballot

A bond that would cost California’s taxpayers $7.5 billion for health and science research will go on the March 2028 primary election ballot.

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Oct 13 • 1:32 PM EDT • Science • sjvsun.com
Halloween, Día de los Muertos a treat for Santa Fe business owners as sales climb

According to the National Retail Federation’s annual consumer survey, consumer spending on Halloween this year is projected to reach a record $13.5 billion, and local retailers are noticing.

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Oct 13 • 12:51 AM EDT • Business • santafenewmexican.com
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Science, health research bond to appear on March 2028 ballot

(The Center Square) – A bond that would cost California’s taxpayers $7.5 billion for health and science research will go on the March 2028 primary election ballot.

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Oct 12 • 7:20 PM EDT • Health • thecentersquare.com
Science, health research bond to appear on March 2028 ballot

(The Center Square) – A bond that would cost California’s taxpayers $7.5 billion for health and science research will go on the March 2028 primary election ballot.

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Oct 12 • 7:20 PM EDT • Science • thecentersquare.com
Is Salesforce Still The Business You Bought?

If you hold Salesforce (CRM), you likely bought into a subscription software provider known for steady growth and reliable cash generation. During its fiscal Q2 2027 earnings call in August, management noted that a $25 billion accelerated share repurchase was still under way.

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Oct 12 • 5:29 PM EDT • Business • trefis.com
UF Health now runs hospitals from Gainesville to St. Augustine. Experts disagree on what it means for patients

Nonprofit healthcare system UF Health opened a 99-bed hospital in northern St. Johns County Sept. 22, about 60 miles from its home campus in Gainesville.UF Health Durbin Park Hospital is the newest hospital in a system that has grown well beyond UF Health Shands Hospital, its first facility. Before the new addition, the UF Health hospital system had six licensed hospitals, about 2,900 beds, more than 280 physician practices and more than 27,000 employees, generating more than $6.5 billion in annual net revenue, according to a UF Health fact sheet for fiscal year 2025-26.

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Oct 12 • 8:00 AM EDT • Health • alligator.org
Zoomlion Expands Mining Machinery Business as International Revenue Grows

Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd. ("Zoomlion") is expanding its mining machinery business and strengthening international operations. In the first half of 2026, its mining machinery business grew by more than 57.20% year on year, while company-wide international revenue rose 12.45% to RMB 15.535 billion, accounting for 57.25% of total revenue.

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Oct 10 • 4:46 AM EDT • Business • finance.yahoo.com
Zoomlion Expands Mining Machinery Business as International Revenue Grows

Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science & Technology Co., Ltd. ("Zoomlion") is expanding its mining machinery business and strengthening international operations. In the first half of 2026, its mining machinery business grew by more than 57.20% year on year, while company-wide international revenue rose 12.45% to RMB 15.535 billion, accounting for 57.25% of total revenue.

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Oct 10 • 4:46 AM EDT • Business • finance.yahoo.com
Sweden’s startups will raise $5 billion in 2026. Our secret sauce is 150 years old

The precedents run so far back that we even have a Swedish word for inventor-founded firms of the late 19th century: snilleföretag or "genius companies."

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Oct 9 • 3:00 AM EDT • Business • fortune.com
U.S. backtracked on critical mineral, data demands in health deal with Zambia

The administration signed a $1.5 billion agreement with Zambia, but only after being forced to abandon controversial data-sharing and resource-access provisions.

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Oct 8 • 4:11 PM EDT • Health • washingtonpost.com
Ginkgo Bioworks to Provide Autonomous Lab Access to NSF X-Labs Researchers, Contributing Cloud Lab Time and Protein Testing Services to $1.5 Billion Breakthrough Science Program

Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA) today announced that it will provide in-kind access to its autonomous laboratory in Boston to support the National Science Founda...

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Oct 8 • 4:10 PM EDT • Science • businesswire.com
Who Won August and September: Original Films or Franchises?

(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) I just heard someone say that if you’re reading a pundit or data analyst, and they don’t tell you that they got anything wrong, they’re not a pundit but an “influencer”. I agree with that. You have to tell your audience when you get things wrong, or they won’t (or shouldn’t) trust you as much. Today, we’ve got another edition of “What I Got Right, What I Got Wrong”. In general, I’m patting myself on the back (and patting very hard) about a few things like IP at the box office, LIV golf, horror films, crowdfunding movies, superheroes, and old people going to the theaters. That said, I also made a couple of data mistakes on the streaming bubble popping and HBO’s datecdotes, so I’m not perfect. But first, I need your feedback... Subscribe Follow-Ups: What Should We Call Mid-Budget Movies Which Aren’t Cinematic Enough for Theaters But Are Too Expensive to Make Money on Streaming? After I asked for feedback on what we should call straight-to-streaming films that are too big to pencil out on streaming but not really big enough to resonate in theaters, I got some great suggestions from you all, including... “Moldilocks” from John Aboud “Little Big Indie” from Travis Frick1 “Midflicks” from Jonathan Funke. “Extra-Medium” from Jona Nwuke. (Read the explanation in the footnote.) Between these and Brandon Katz—who suggested “Bermuda Budget Triangle”, “The Platform Gap” and “The Distribution Deadzone”—we’ve got some excellent suggestions. And they’re better than my suggestion, the “Streaming Budget Dead Zone”, so let’s take a poll! The winning entry becomes the new term. Loading... RIGHT: LIV Golf is Fully Bankrupt…Is Anyone Else Next? A few years ago, I was always a bit perplexed at all the articles I’d read praising LIV Golf and their strategy to disrupt the PGA. LIV Golf, a brand new professional golf league, offered PGA stars ten times what they made on the PGA Tour to join their new league. And folks praised this strategy for its initial “success” in that a lot of big names did indeed leave the PGA. Yeah, of course the players came over. LIV Golf paid them so, so, so much more! But LIV Golf hadn’t discovered a way to increase potential revenue. So think about this in basic business terms… They paid much more in costs… …but had no real way to increase revenue. That’s not a strategy! That’s deficit financing. It won’t work unless you bankrupt the competition (and then turn around and pay those same golfers much, much less). It’s not a sustainable strategy and only lasts as long as the company/person/nation backing it decides they’re cool with losing money. For LIV Golf, that meant Middle East oil wealth, in particular Saudi Arabian money. Clearly, the current Iran War has hurt Middle East finances, so they need to trim their more exorbitant spending. And LIV Golf was part of that trimming. This should be a major warning for others. TGL’s parent company, TMRW Sports, just got a $1 billion valuation, despite TGL’s (the indoor golf league) horrible TV viewership of less than half a million viewers per match. Unrivaled, the women’s basketball league, just secured a $650 valuation, despite its horrible TV viewership and a new rival (Project B) entering the scene next year. To relate this to streaming, Hollywood should ask which streamers may have wealthy patrons funding their losses. (Let’s be clear: Google, Amazon and Apple.) Could those patrons lose their appetite? For Amazon, probably not. But Apple has a new boss, so maybe! WRONG: My Analysis of the Streaming Bubble Was Missing a Week I’m going to be congratulating myself a lot today, but I make mistakes too, like this data goof. When I last compiled the data on the decline in TV shows, I was missing one week at the end of June. If you look at the first image, you can see that one week was mislabelled as “July”. Mainly, this image got updated to show a 27% decline, not 29%: This change doesn’t really impact the overall analysis, but it is two percent better. By the way, through the third quarter, the decline increased and it’s now a 30% decrease since 2022. (I’ll write/visualize this in an upcoming article.) But I want you to trust me and my data. Especially these days, when many people are using LLMs that I know are inserting faulty data into their charts, I want to keep earning my audience’s faith. So that’s the accurate data. RIGHT: IP Remains Very, Very Popular In July, I wrote a giant (and I mean giant) article on Backrooms, Obsession, and the box office, going over what we know, what we don’t know about what works in theaters, looking at YouTubers, IP, the horror genre, comic book movies, and a whole lot more. The month of August really tested a lot of my theses and, being honest, mostly supported my arguments. Let’s start with IP. Looking at 8-Aug (the weekend after Spider-Man: Brand New Day came out) to 18-Sep (the weekend that Resident Evil came out, which I think provides a nice bookend to this time period), there were seven films based on pre-existing IP: Resident Evil (2026) ($126 million) Practical Magic 2 ($65 million) _Insidious: Out of the Furthe_r ($65 million) Coyote Vs. Acme ($59 million) Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie ($53 million) Tony ($15 million) Super Troopers 3 ($7 million) Compare those to the notable original films from the past month—I actually could have included more movies, but here are just thirteen, bringing us to an even twenty films—including.... The End of Oak Street ($54 million) Buddy ($26 million) Mutiny ($15 million) By Any Means ($15 million) The Dog Stars ($14 million) Runner ($14 million) One Night Only ($11 million) Hope ($8 million) Spa Weekend ($7 million) The Uprising ($6 million) Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma ($6 million) Onslaught ($3 million) Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man ($2.8 million) Here’s that in chart form: Five of the top six films in this time period were all based on IP. I made a big chart of films that grossed over $200 million at the box office before Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey hit theaters. Let’s update that chart! By the way, if you want to see how I categorized each film—so another bar chart—here it is: I know that many of my fellow critics/pundits/analysts dislike films based on IP and how Hollywood is making so many of them. And I’m sympathetic to this point of view. As I’ve written many, many times before, you need a balance between existing franchises, new IP, and original films. And Hollywood clearly needs to make more films like Resident Evil (a well-made film from a visionary director) and fewer Practical Magic 2’s (which didn’t get critical or customer buzz). But at some point, critics and pundits need to contend with what audiences are telling them: Movie-goers aren’t showing up to original films. Audiences are speaking with their dollars, telling you they want more IP and franchises. You can try to convince studio heads to make fewer IP-based films and franchises, but the data and numbers aren’t there. Instead, critics need to work harder to convince audiences to show up for original films. Aim your ire/concern at the average person, not studio heads.2 Because they’re just making the films that audiences are telling them to make. WRONG: Original Horror Films Didn’t Break Out I’ll be honest, even though I wrote an article casting some skepticism on the horror genre in July, if you asked me to make a prediction, I would have predicted that, in August, a new, original horror film would have blown up. No, seriously, I just assumed that Obsession and Backrooms presaged a change in audience behavior. But none of the buzzy new original horror films from August—Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, Onslaught (not an action film in spite of the ads), The End of Oak Street, Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man, or _Buddy—_broke out. To be clear, exactly one of those films (Buddy) had good “ROI”, but again—I try to be specific in my language—none were “popular” in any broad sense of the word. None of them will be “saving” movies theaters like Backrooms or _Obsession_helped save the summer. The new Insidious film and Resident Evil, both based on IP, were far and away the biggest horror films since July. (We’ll see if this changes in October/Halloween season.) RIGHT: Stay Skeptical about Crowdfunding... I’ve long been skeptical about crowd-investing platforms as one of Hollywood’s saviors, mainly because there’s so much hype/buzz. People need to stay more skeptical about more things, explaining both the potential upside but also the downsides. In particular, the media often hypes crowdfunding at the start and never checks in on the actual results after they’ve come in later. And August gave us our first update! _Ice Cream Man—_directed by Eli Roth—grossed $6 million off of a $5.5 million budget. This is a production of The Horror Section, which was one of the first “crowd investing” studios with 2,400 investors, which means that 2,400 investors probably lost money. They certainly aren’t getting as great of returns as if they had just invested their dollars in the stock market. Hopefully Stiletto (Tagline: “Someone’s Going to Make it Rain Blood!”) does better next month. WRONG: Another Data Goof Here’s another data error. When the first episode of House of the Dragon came out, HBO put out that it had 21.5 million viewers in the first three days, and I read that to mean in the US…but no, it was global. So my US-only datecdotes charts shouldn’t have included it. We never got US-only numbers for the first episode, but for the final episode, HBO put out that it had 11 million US viewers. (And that global dropped to 21 million viewers.) Here’s the updated chart (which I’ve since used in the Streaming Ratings Report): Still, this show is absolutely huge. RIGHT: Superhero Films Remain Very, Very Popular After Supergirl flopped, I read a few takes that “comic book movies are going the way of the Western”. Post-Spider-Man: Brand New Day, that take didn’t age well. To be fair, I have a very nuanced take on the superhero genre right now; it’s down right now, for a lot of reasons. But it’s not “dead”. Maybe _Spider-_Man is just a really popular character? I saw that take, and it’s a fair counter-argument. (But pundits arguing that superhero movies were dead should have mentioned this $1.5 billion counter-argument…) But is it just Spider-Man? The next Avengers film already has $50 million in pre-sales (and I was skeptical that that film would do well) and the Avengers: End Game re-release topped the box office two weekends ago (over three original films). And I wouldn’t bet against Batman or Superman. So maybe it’s just Spider-Man, Batman, Superman and the Avengers. Oh, and Deadpool, of course. And Black Panther. And Wolverine. And probably the X-Men. Plus a well-made Wonder Woman or the Hulk film could break out. But that’s it! It’s just those ten characters/teams. Oh, what’s that? Lanterns is also doing well on HBO? (See previous section…) To be fair, I’m actually pretty sympathetic to the argument that more popular characters—like Spider-Man and Batman—anchor more popular films. In fact, I made that exact argument three years ago when I first wrote about the “Marvel-cession”. In many ways, you can blame The Guardians of the Galaxy for fooling Marvel Studios (and the rest of us) into believing that any character could pop. It turns out, the list of iconic characters is probably smaller than most people think. But it’s probably too early to say that superhero films and comic book movies are dead unless “death” means a slight decline over a longtime. RIGHT: Who Killed Theaters? Old People I get frustrated whenever I see headlines or analysis about how young people are “returning” to theaters. As I’ve detailed(for years), young people have always powered the US box office, despite narratives about “kids these days” and their “phones”. Really, what’s changed post-2020/pandemic is that old people aren’t going to the movies nearly as much. This summer, I saw a movie (from an older director) in a theater near a retirement community, and multiple older people at the theater were talking about how this was their first time seeing a movie in years. I dislike personal anecdotes, so YouGov can fill in the data, best summarized by this headline: “Who killed movie theaters? Not the youths”. According to them, 64% of people aged 18-29 have seen a movie in the last year, but only 30% of 65-and-older. 20% of 18-29 have seen a movie in theaters in the last week and 42% in the last month. Here’s the polling data: Most concerning? Many Americans (17%) think theaters are a worse or much worse experience than watching films at home. Slight WRONG: Hadestown Opens Big A live theater capture of the Broadway musical, Hadestown, made $20 million at the US box office, which begs the question: was I wrong to be skeptical about musicals a few years ago? Yes and no. On the one hand, $20 million is a far cry from being “popular”, so yeah, the genre isn’t that popular overall and Hadestown is one of the more popular musicals from recent years (i.e. the “Taylor Swift Data Fallacy” in action). On the other, I doubt filming this cost all that much, and I don’t think that they spent much on marketing, so this is a good source of ancillary revenue. Smaller Updates WRONG: As I mentioned in a Streaming Ratings Report, I underestimated the budget for Enola Holmes 3. It probably cost more like $50 million, if not more. But... I’m not sure that it really matters? At sub-10 million hours, prices have to come down to make this work. WRONG: Netflix is giving Ink a 27-day in theaters! To quote the kids/YouTubers these days, let’s go! Now I might actually have a chance to see Danny Boyle’s latest in theaters. I’d complained about this in a “Coming Soon” section, but I was heartened to read that Netflix is giving multiple films longer theatrical windows this year. RIGHT: Netflix is sending 4-5 films per year to theaters. Netflix is slowly but surely sending more and more films to theaters, as I cautiously predicted earlier this year. For now, it’s just three big films and a number of awards contenders, but still, this is great news. And they’ll be releasing box office grosses! Just this week, Ted Sarandos confirmed that KPop Demon Hunters 2 will come to theaters (and my guess is it performs in the box office top ten at a minimum). WRONG: Angel has 3 million subscribers! How do I know this? Well, they told Deadline, who reported it. I marked this as “wrong”, since they’ve doubled their subscribers in one year but, you know, they don’t really have a hit film to speak of and they’re still losing money. WRONG: Furious was only renewed for one more season. I accidentally wrote “two more seasons” in my latest “Renewals, Cancellations, Un-Orders and Removals Update”. RIGHT: House of David is ending with its third season. In July, Prime Video renewed House of David for a third season, as I just wrote in my latest “Renewals and Cancellations” report. Well, now it’s ending after that third season. Why? As I’ve been writing, its viewership wasn’t great. I got feedback that this show didn’t cost very much, but it cost enough that its limited viewership didn’t save it. WRONG: Adults was a Hulu original! So I missed Adults when it first came out last year; I saw that it aired on FX and just assumed that it was a linear-first program. Turns out, it aired three episodes on FX, but binge-released the rest of its episodes the next day on Hulu. Huh. So I should have covered it last year! But I just wrote about it. 1 “When I was a kid in the 90s, if you wore a t-shirt to school that wasn’t too big and also wasn’t too small, but somehow didn’t quite fit, we’d say you were wearing an “extra-medium” shirt.” 2 As always, a huge exception is Disney, which barely makes anything original anymore.

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Oct 7 • 6:41 PM EDT • Entertainment • entertainment.substack.com
Wolfspeed secures $1.5 billion conditional loan commitment from US defense department

Chipmaker Wolfspeed said on Wednesday it has received a conditional loan commitment ​for up to $1.5 billion from the ‌US Department of Defense to expand domestic production of silicon carbide materials and power devices, ​sending its shares surging 27% in ​extended trading.

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Oct 7 • 5:09 PM EDT • Business • reuters.com
Cresset Aims for $13.1B Trust Business with NAT Deal

Cresset would fold its existing $5.5 billion trust division into the $7.7 billion NAT platform while continuing to grow through clients, acquisitions.

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Oct 5 • 5:20 PM EDT • Business • wealthmanagement.com
NWA C-Suite: Sam Sicard

Since taking the helm at the age of 35, Sicard has grown assets from $1.5 billion to $3.5 billion. He has also expanded the company’s footprint into eastern and southwestern...

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Oct 5 • 1:00 PM EDT • Business • talkbusiness.net
AkzoNobel is selling its Southeast Asia decorative paints business to Nippon Paint for $1.35 billion

The deal covers seven countries and is expected to generate about $1 billion in net cash proceeds after taxes and minority partners

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Oct 5 • 7:52 AM EDT • Business • qz.com
5 takeaways from Iowa lawmakers passing historic $1.4B tax breaks

Five key takeaways from the Iowa Legislature passing historic tax incentives for a $15 billion proposed steel mill.

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Oct 5 • 6:35 AM EDT • Politics • desmoinesregister.com
Japan’s Nippon To Buy Akzo’s Southeast Asia Decorative Paints Business For $1.35 Billion

The deal gives Nippon Paint—controlled by the family of late Singaporean billionaire Goh Cheng Liang—access to Akzo’s operations across Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea and Australia.

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Oct 5 • 12:21 AM EDT • Business • forbes.com
Inside Iowa Politics: the five-day flurry that led to $1.5 billion taxpayer commitment for proposed $15 billion Iowa steel plant

The five days that led to $1.5 billion commitment by Iowa taxpayers for new steel plant in Lee County.

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Oct 4 • 9:40 PM EDT • Politics • ktiv.com
Caterpillar is a Great Business. But is CAT Stock a Great Buy?

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) is having a strong year. Construction and mining demand remain solid, infrastructure spending is creating more opportunities, and the rapid buildout of data centers is opening another market for the company’s power equipment. The latest numbers make that clear. Sales and revenues reached a record $20.5 billion in the latest quarter, up […]

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Oct 4 • 7:04 PM EDT • Business • finance.yahoo.com
Nvidia’s $235 Billion Buyback Offers a Powerful Lesson for Founders

Founders should bet on themselves by using strong cash flow to strategically reinvest in their business and fuel sustainable growth.

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Oct 4 • 11:00 AM EDT • Business • inc.com
Sarah Trone Garriott Puts Politics Over Good Paying Jobs

Sarah Trone Garriott just showed Iowans exactly where her priorities lie by voting against the largest steel mill project in American history. The $15 billion steel mill planned for Lee County is expected to create at least 1,750 permanent, good-paying jobs, bring billions of dollars in investment to Iowa, and expand American steel manufacturing. Instead of supporting a […]

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Oct 3 • 6:05 PM EDT • Politics • nrcc.org
AI Could Turn U.S. Media And Entertainment Into A $48 Billion Market

Scripts, storyboards, trailers, thumbnails, voiceovers and rough cuts are all becoming part of AI’s entertainment-industry résumé. A Research and Markets report projects the U.S. AI media and entertainment market will grow from $9.70 billion in 2025 to $47.95 billion by 2034, with a compound annual growth rate of 19.43 per cent from 2026 through 2034. […]

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Oct 3 • 11:22 AM EDT • Entertainment • thatericalper.com
California voters to decide $7.5 billion science and health research bond measure in March 2028

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed Senate Bill 895 (SB 895) on Sept. 30, sending a $7.5 billion bond measure that would fund scientific and health research and development to voters on March 7, 2028. SB 895 would also establish the California Foundation for Science and Health Research within the Government Operations Agency and the California […]

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Oct 2 • 5:02 AM EDT • Science • news.ballotpedia.org
California voters to decide $7.5 billion science and health research bond measure in March 2028

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed Senate Bill 895 (SB 895) on Sept. 30, sending a $7.5 billion bond measure that would fund scientific and health research and development to voters on March 7, 2028. SB 895 would also establish the California Foundation for Science and Health Research within the Government Operations Agency and the California […]

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Oct 2 • 5:02 AM EDT • Health • news.ballotpedia.org
With a steel mill and campaign cash, Trump and GOP leaders launch an Iowa rescue mission

Republicans are on a rescue mission in Iowa, touting new plans for a $15 billion steel mill as President Donald Trump and the state’s GOP leaders rush to blunt the political impact of a battered economy and prevent the governor’s office, a Senate seat and three House seats from slipping into Democratic hands in November.

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Oct 2 • 5:00 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Colleges paid athletes over $1.77 billion in first year of revenue sharing, CSC reports

The CSC said more than $1.975 billion in direct payments from schools to athletes were recorded by its College Athletes Payment System.

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Oct 1 • 8:39 PM EDT • Sports • nytimes.com
Rogers becomes sole owner of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment after purchasing remaining stake

TORONTO -- Rogers Communications Inc. has officially completed a full takeover of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors, after purchasing the remaining 25 percent ownership stake from Kilmer Sports Inc. for $4.35 billion (Cdn) on Thursday.

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Oct 1 • 7:46 PM EDT • Entertainment • johnsoncitypress.com
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