Tim Cook, the chief executive of tech giant Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) since 2011, has announced plans to step down and transition to a board Chairman role. He’ll step down effective September 1, 2026, to be replaced by John Ternus, Apple’s current hardware chief.

Cook took over in 2011 from Apple’s late co-founder Steve Jobs. Under his leadership, Apple’s revenue surged from $108bn in fiscal 2011 to $416bn in 2025, driven by robust iPhone sales and record revenue from services like Apple Music, iCloud, App Store, and Apple Pay. In fiscal 2025, Apple reported $109bn in revenue from services alone, slightly more than its entire sales in 2011.

• Since 2011, Apple’s market capitalization has surged from around $350bn to $4 trillion currently. 

Although Tim Cook’s tenure has been marked by remarkable financial metrics, Apple has struggled to deliver a ‘killer’ product in the artificial intelligence (AI) era. It has integrated AI systems, particularly Apple Intelligence, into its hardware and software services, but adoption hasn’t kept pace with competitors like OpenAI, Google, and Meta. 

Cook is handing over to Ternus to lead Apple into a new AI-centric era. Ternus has been senior vice president (SVP) of hardware engineering since 2021, reporting directly to Cook. He joined Apple as a product design engineer in 2001.

Analysts will closely watch Ternus’s ability to maintain Apple’s dominance amid tough AI competition. Some hope for Apple to reduce its dependence on the iPhone, which currently brings in half of its revenue. 

Over the years, Apple has released hardware products that became hits (the AirPods and Apple Watch), but some, like the Vision Pro, have struggled to gain traction. Record services revenue has also helped Apple reduce its reliance on the iPhone.

• In September, Cook will replace Arthur Levinson, Apple’s board chairman for the past 15 years. Levinson will become Apple’s lead independent director as Cook takes up the executive chairman role.  

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E-commerce giant Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) has struck a deal to acquire Globalstar (NASDAQ: GSAT), a leading mobile satellite service provider. Amazon will pay $10.8bn for Louisiana-based Globalstar, with shareholders choosing to receive either cash or Amazon shares.

• Globalstar operates a constellation of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites that provide mobile services in areas without cellular coverage. Its constellation powers handheld satellite phones, emergency text messaging in remote areas, remote asset tracking, and related services.

• Amazon is building out Leo, a satellite-based internet service that rivals SpaceX’s Starlink, the dominant industry player. SpaceX has deployed over 10,000 LEO satellites to power the Starlink network, while Leo is in the early stages, with about 200 satellites deployed out of a planned 3,000+ constellation.

• Starlink also offers direct satellite-to-phone services, putting it in direct competition with Globalstar. Amazon plans to launch its satellite-to-phone service in 2028, and acquiring Globalstar gives it a solid footing.

Globalstar’s largest customer is Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), the popular iPhone maker. 85% of Globalstar’s network capacity is allocated to Apple, powering satellite messaging for iPhones (14 and later).

Apple holds a 20% stake in Globalstar, acquired in a $1.5bn deal in 2024. Amazon has negotiated with Apple and agreed to continue supporting satellite connectivity for iPhones post-acquisition.

• Globalstar reported $273mn in revenue in 2025, up 9% from the previous year and its highest annual sales on record. Apple accounted for $172mn, or 63%, of this revenue, according to Globalstar’s annual report.

• Amazon’s offer represents a 31% premium to Globalstar’s market value before reports of an imminent acquisition emerged. Barring regulatory hurdles, the deal is expected to close in 2027.

Update: The deal’s value was corrected to $10.8bn, against an earlier reported $11.6bn figure.

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Sysco (NYSE: SYY), an American food products distribution giant, has struck a deal to acquire Jetro Restaurant Depot, a privately-held restaurant products supplier. Sysco will pay $21.6bn in cash and 91.5 million shares worth roughly $7.5bn at the time of announcement, totaling $29.1bn.

• Sysco supplies food to restaurants, schools, stadiums, and hospitals across the U.S. It reported a $1.8bn net income on $81bn in revenue in 2025. The Houston-based company has a market value of over $30bn.

• Jetro Restaurant Depot sells crucial supplies to restaurants across the U.S. It operates 166 big-box warehouse stores across 35 states, from which hundreds of thousands of restaurants source key supplies. The closely-held company generated $16bn in revenue and $2.1bn in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) in fiscal 2025, according to an official statement.

Jetro Restaurant Depot was founded by Nathan “Natie” Kirsh, a South African-born billionaire. In 1976, he founded Jetro Cash & Carry, a wholesale grocer based in New York. Jetro Cash & Carry acquired Restaurant Depot in 1994, and the merged entity became Jetro Restaurant Depot. Under Kirsh’s leadership, the company has morphed into a leading supplier to restaurants and foodservice operators.

Kirsh reportedly holds a 75% stake in Jetro Restaurant Depot. That stake implies a windfall of over $20bn from Sysco’s acquisition.

• By acquiring Jetro Restaurant Depot, Sysco will gain a foothold in the restaurant supplies market, which has higher margins than its direct food distribution business. Jetro has higher EBITDA and free cash flow margins than Sysco.

• However, Sysco is taking on some risk to acquire Jetro Restaurant Depot. It plans to fund the deal with $1bn of cash on hand and $21bn of debt. The company will pause its share buyback program to reduce its debt load post-acquisition.

Sysco’s investors didn’t seem happy with the new debt load and the imminent pause of its share buyback program. The company’s share price has fallen 16% since it announced the acquisition.

Post-acquisition, Jetro Restaurant Depot will operate as an independent business unit within Sysco, with its leadership team reporting to Sysco’s chief executive, Kevin Hourican. Barring regulatory hurdles, Sysco expects the acquisition to close by March 2027.

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Yih-Shyan “Wally” Liaw, a co-founder of Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ: SMCI), a leading server producer, has been indicted by the U.S. Justice Department for smuggling high-performance AI servers powered by Nvidia chips to China, in violation of export restrictions. Liaw was indicted alongside Ruei-Tsang “Steven” Chang, another Super Micro employee, and Ting-Wei “Willy” Sun, a contractor.

The U.S. government accused the trio of conspiring to sell billions of dollars’ worth of servers containing high-performance, export-restricted Nvidia chips to companies in China. They allegedly shipped the servers to Southeast Asia, which were then placed in unmarked boxes and sent to China, while using false documents to claim that a customer in Southeast Asia was the end user.

Prosecutors claim an unnamed company in Southeast Asia bought $2.5bn worth of Super Micro servers, which were assembled in the U.S., and diverted them to China.

• As the U.S. and China face fierce competition for AI dominance, the U.S. government has restricted exports of high-performance Nvidia AI chips to Chinese companies. Export restrictions have also been placed on Russia and several Middle Eastern countries, citing national security risks.

• The Trump administration has balanced export restrictions with conditional licenses for selling modified AI chips to China. Yet, with Chinese companies and government entities seeking the most sophisticated AI chips, some have found opportunities in smuggling them at lucrative margins. The U.S. government has indicted various individuals for Nvidia chip smuggling.

Liaw, Chang, and Sun are each charged with one count of conspiring to violate the Export Controls Reform Act, one count of conspiring to smuggle goods from the United States, and one count of conspiring to defraud the United States. The case was filed in the Southern District of New York.

As usual, defendants are presumed innocent and have the opportunity to defend themselves in court. Liaw is a U.S. citizen, while Chang and Sun are citizens of Taiwan, where Super Micro operates major manufacturing facilities.

• Super Micro’s stock has fallen over 30% since the charges against its employees, including a co-founder, were announced.

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Bill Ackman, a prominent hedge fund billionaire, is returning to the public markets with a combined listing of his hedge fund management firm and a new closed-end fund. The closed-end fund, Pershing Square USA Ltd, has filed for a public listing on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Investors who buy shares in the closed-end fund will also receive shares in Pershing Square Inc, the underlying fund management firm.

For every 100 shares of the closed-end fund, buyers will receive 20 shares in the management firm, the S-1 filing indicates. Ackman is seeking to raise $5bn to $10bn in the combined listing. 

• Closed-end funds are investment funds that raise capital by issuing a fixed amount of shares. They can’t be redeemed by the issuer, unlike open-ended funds, but investors can freely buy or sell shares on the public markets. 

• Because they aren’t redeemed directly by issuers, closed-end funds can trade at a discount compared to the underlying assets, or at a premium.

A public market listing aligns with Ackman’s strategy of opening his fund to a broader investor base. The fabled hedge fund investor has long talked of creating an enduring investment firm inspired by Berkshire Hathaway, the investment conglomerate chaired by Warren Buffett.

• Pershing Square manages $31bn of assets, with $21bn of that being fee-generating. It runs a lucrative business that generated $762mn in management and performance fees in 2025; $230mn in management fees and $532mn in performance fees. 

• Most of Pershing Square’s expenses comprise profit-sharing compensation paid to partners. Ackman, the leading partner, received $143mn in profit-sharing compensation in 2025. Ryan Israel, the firm’s chief investment officer, took home $44mn, and President Ben Hakim received $18mn in compensation.

• After profit-sharing compensation and other expenses, Pershing Square Inc reported a $250mn net income in 2025.

The closed-end fund, Pershing Square USA, will charge investors a 2% management fee, but won’t charge a performance fee. 

Pershing Square Inc, the management firm, will list on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker “PS”, while the closed-end fund will list under the ticker “PSUS”, the S-1 filing indicates. 

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South African telecoms giant MTN Group (JSE: MTN) has struck a deal to acquire IHS Holding (NYSE: IHS), Africa’s largest telecoms tower operator. MTN, already a major IHS shareholder, will pay $2.2bn in cash for the 75% stake it doesn’t already own. It’ll also assume IHS Holding’s existing debt load, pushing the deal’s value to $6.2bn.

IHS Holding, also known as IHS Towers, was founded in Nigeria in 2001. It manages over 37,000 telecom towers across Nigeria, South Africa, Rwanda, Cameroon, and several other African countries. It also has tower assets in Brazil and Colombia.

• The acquisition will give MTN Group direct control of an expansive tower network it previously leased from IHS. MTN is Africa’s largest telecoms provider, with over 300 million customers and $10bn in annual revenue.

• Under the terms of the acquisition, IHS will divest its towers in Brazil and Colombia, leaving only its 29,000 African towers.

Direct control of IHS Towers’ assets will reduce MTN’s long-term rental costs as it invests heavily in 5G and fibre rollout. It’s a strategic shift in the African telecoms industry, which has long favored tower leasing rather than direct ownership.

MTN already owns roughly one-quarter of IHS Towers. Another major shareholder, French investment firm Wendel, with a 19% stake, has signaled support for the acquisition. The deal requires approval from two-thirds of shareholders, which will likely be obtained.

Post-acquisition, IHS Towers will become a wholly owned MTN Group subsidiary.

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U.S. banking giant Capital One (NYSE: COF) has struck a deal to acquire Brex, a San Francisco-based fintech firm. Capital One will pay $5.15bn in cash and stock for Brex, a provider of corporate credit cards and expense management tools.

• Brex was founded in 2017 by Brazilian entrepreneurs Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi to offer credit cards and expense management tools for fast-growing startups. It initially focused on technology startups with limited access to corporate credit cards, before broadening its customer base over time. 

• Since its founding, Brex has raised $1.5bn in equity funding and was valued at $12bn by private investors in 2022. The roughly $5bn price tag, split equally in cash and Capital One stock, represents less than half of Brex’s peak valuation.

With Brex, Capital One gets another addition to its suite of financial services, spanning credit cards, checking & savings bank accounts, and auto loans. The Virginia-based banking giant oversees $476bn in deposits and $669bn in assets, making it one of the largest in the U.S. It reported a net profit of $2.2bn in 2025, down from $4.4bn in 2024.

Post-acquisition, Brex co-founder and chief executive Pedro Franceschi will continue to lead the company as a Capital One subsidiary. Barring regulatory hurdles, the deal is expected to close in mid-2026. 

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The global renewable energy boom has been much talked about. Led by China, the U.S., and India, solar energy installations have exploded over the past decade, with total capacity reaching 2.2 Terawatts (TW) in 2024, 11x the 177 GW capacity in 2014.

Amid this boom, one region stands out for the vast underestimation of figures: Africa. Although Africa’s share of global solar power installations is generally known to be a few percent, we think the region’s growth has been vastly underestimated. The prime case study is Nigeria.

A quick search for Nigeria’s installed solar capacity yields widely varying figures, ranging from 144 MW to 386 MW. We consider this a gross underestimate. 

This underestimate occurs because, unlike in most countries where solar power is installed in large commercial plants connected to the grid, most Nigerian solar installations are in smaller, non-grid-connected systems serving households and businesses. These systems are largely unregistered, and there’s no central agency collecting the data.

China is the world’s largest exporter of solar panels and, unsurprisingly, the largest exporter of solar panel systems to Nigeria, according to customs data. After analyzing customs data, the U.K.-based energy think tank Ember recently found that Nigeria imported 1.7 GW of solar panels in the 12 months leading up to June 2025. That placed it as Africa’s second-largest solar panel importer, behind only South Africa, the continent’s most industrialized country and long the leading solar power installer. 

In December 2025, Abba Aliyu, the managing director of the Nigerian Rural Electrification Agency (REA), a government agency tasked with installing decentralized solar-powered microgrids in unserved areas, stated that Nigeria imported 82 MW of solar panels in October 2025 alone, plus 110 MW of solar cells to be assembled into panels by local manufacturers.

Surely, 386 MW is a gross underestimate for a country that imported 1.7 GW of solar panels in 12 months leading to June 2025 and 82 MW in October 2025 alone. Notably, importing solar panels isn’t the same as installing them for immediate use, but even accounting for long-term inventory storage, unsold panels, and systems resold to neighboring countries, 386 MW remains a gross underestimate. That figure came from the Africa Solar Industry Association (AFSIA) Africa Solar Outlook 2025 report, which acknowledged that it counted only large commercial installations and not small-scale residential or commercial systems.

However, the AFSIA’s Africa Solar Outlook 2026 report has released new figures that incorporate Chinese customs export data. The report places Nigeria’s installed solar capacity at 4,816 MW, 12x the 386 MW figure cited by the same AFSIA the previous year. We think this updated figure is a more realistic estimate.

For context, 4,816 MW is almost on par with Nigeria’s peak grid capacity of 5,801 MW and exceeds the average daily supply of 4,367 MW in the fourth quarter of 2025 (source: NERC). There’s a bit of an Apples-to-Oranges comparison, given that solar power is only available during the day, unlike the national grid supply, which works all hours (powered by natural gas and hydroelectricity). Yet, it indicates that during peak sunlight hours of 11 am to 3 pm, solar panels deliver almost as much electricity, if not more, than the national grid.

Nigeria’s solar generation really took off in 2023, after the new administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu scrapped fuel subsidies. The subsidy removal led to petrol and diesel price hikes, prompting Nigerians to seek a more affordable electricity generation source. Solar provided the answer, particularly at a time of historically low solar panel prices sourced from Chinese manufacturers.

Since 2023, Nigeria’s solar power capacity has risen rapidly. City residents, particularly in Abuja and Lagos, can attest to seeing solar panels installed on rooftops across many streets. This solar boom has occurred in plain sight, yet isn’t accurately tracked because most installations are small-scale systems (<50 kW) serving households and businesses.

Nigeria’s solar power boom mirrors that of Pakistan, the poster child for an unprecedented solar power revolution. A perfect storm of record-high grid power prices and record-low panel prices from neighboring China prompted many Pakistani households and businesses to install solar panel systems to save on energy costs. 

As in Nigeria, Pakistani figures vary because they mainly come from small-scale residential and commercial systems, but experts estimate the country’s installed solar power capacity at 29 GW, compared to 49 GW from the grid (dominated by natural gas and coal power plants). According to a senior Pakistani government official, decentralized rooftop solar power generation could exceed grid demand in some industrial regions by 2026. Nigeria is on the same trajectory, but on a lesser scale than Pakistan.

Given the persistent bottlenecks in the Nigerian electricity grid, many businesses resorted to generating their own power to avoid business disruptions. For industrial powerhouses, like the Dangote Group and BUA Group, gas-fired power plants were the go-to solution. However, for households and small and mid-sized businesses, diesel and petrol-powered generators were long the answer (at much higher costs than gas-fired generation)– the removal of fuel subsidies flipped that script, and solar energy, paired with battery storage systems, is increasingly becoming the answer.

Although installing solar panels and battery storage systems has high upfront costs, they save considerable long-term costs compared to running petrol or diesel generators. Figures suggest the cost of solar-generated electricity in Nigeria to be $0.487 to $0.775 per kWh, the standard unit for purchasing electricity, compared to $2.368 per kWh for diesel generators. At less than 3x the cost of diesel and petrol generation, that represents major cost savings over time.

What’s clear is that the solar revolution has been kick-started in Nigeria and won’t stop soon. It just happens to be hiding in plain sight rather than being in the limelight.

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Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank (TYO: 9984) has struck a deal to acquire DigitalBridge Group (NYSE: DBRG), a U.S.-based data center and telecoms infrastructure investor. SoftBank will pay $16 in cash per share, totaling $2.9bn. It’ll also assume DigitalBridge’s liabilities, pushing the deal’s value to $4bn.

• SoftBank’s offer represents a 15% premium to DigitalBridge’s share price on Friday, the last trading day before the announcement.

DigitalBridge invests in data centers, fiber networks, and cell towers that are leased to external clients. It manages $108bn of assets, making it one of the world’s largest digital infrastructure investors. The company was founded in 1991 as Colony Capital, a real estate investment firm. It invested in major hotels, resorts, and casinos before selling its real estate assets in 2021 and rebranding to DigitalBridge with a focus on digital infrastructure.

Colony Capital was founded by Tom Barrack, a prominent American investor and political fundraiser. He stepped down in 2021 following the rebrand to DigitalBridge. Barrack is currently the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy for Syria.

• DigitalBridge is currently led by chief executive Marc Ganzi. Before joining the firm, he founded Global Tower Partners, a cell tower operator that sold for $4.8bn in 2013.

SoftBank has positioned itself as a major digital infrastructure investor in the artificial intelligence (AI) age. In early 2025, it pledged to invest $500bn in data centers with OpenAI and Oracle under the Stargate project, but not much has materialized from that pledge to date.

Separately, in April 2025, SoftBank invested $10bn in OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, out of a total $40bn commitment. Acquiring DigitalBridge gives SoftBank control over valuable data center assets leased to technology companies that run AI systems. DigitalBridge has data centers across the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Singapore, South Africa, and several European countries.

• Barring regulatory hurdles, SoftBank expects the acquisition to close in the second half of 2026. Post-acquisition, Ganzi will remain DigitalBridge’s chief executive, SoftBank said in a statement.

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Tether Limited, the company behind the world’s most widely used stablecoin, has made an unsolicited bid to acquire Italian soccer club Juventus FC (BIT: JUVE). The El Salvador-based crypto giant has offered to acquire a 65.4% controlling stake in Juventus from Exor, a holding company of the prominent billionaire Agnelli family. 

• The Agnelli family has controlled Juventus since 1923. Tether began buying Juventus shares this year and has built an 11.5% stake. Its takeover offer values Juventus at 1.1 billion euros ($1.3bn). 

Exor, the Agnelli family holding company, seems highly averse to the offer. In a press statement, Exor said its board unanimously rejected the offer, and it “has no intention of selling any of its shares in Juventus to a third party, including but not restricted to El Salvador-based Tether.”

Tether’s chief executive, Paolo Ardoino, an Italian, is the driving force behind the offer. “For me, Juventus has always been part of my life,” he said in a press statement announcing Tether’s takeover offer. “I grew up with this team. As a boy, I learned what commitment, resilience, and responsibility meant by watching Juventus face success and adversity with dignity. Those lessons stayed with me long after the final whistle.”

The offer, swiftly rejected by Exor, pits Italian new money against old; 

• Ardoino became Tether’s chief technology officer in 2017, two years after joining Bitfinex, a crypto exchange affiliated with the company. He transitioned to chief executive in 2023. 

• The Agnellis are a powerful Italian business dynasty whose ascent began with Giovanni Agnelli (died 1945); he founded Italian automaker Fiat, which still accounts for a large share of the family’s current wealth. Giovanni was the son of Edoardo Agnelli, a prominent 19th-century Italian politician. Exor’s current chief executive is John Elkann, the great-great-grandson of Giovanni.

Tether Limited is behind the popular stablecoin of the same name. Tether (USDT), a cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar, is the most widely used stablecoin worldwide. 

Over 186 billion USDT tokens are currently in circulation. Each token represents $1 in cash held in Tether’s reserve. Tether Limited invests the massive reserves in government treasuries and other assets like precious metals. 

Tether retains the interest earned on its $186bn+ reserve assets; according to the company’s statement, it generated a sky-high $13bn in profit in 2024. This year, the company says it expects to earn $15bn in profit. With these figures, money isn’t an obstacle to acquiring Juventus; Exor’s refusal is the force Tether has to contend with. 

• Juventus, long dominant in the Italian Serie A league, has struggled in recent years. It last won the Serie A title in 2020 and currently ranks seventh in the league. 

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Movie streaming giant Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) has struck an outsized deal to acquire film and television powerhouse Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD). Netflix will pay $72bn in cash and stock to acquire Warner Bros. It’ll also assume Warner Bros.’ liabilities, pushing up the deal’s value to $82.7bn.

• Netflix is the most popular online video streaming platform, with over 300 million paid subscribers. Warner Bros. produces a vast array of film and television content, known for iconic titles like Joker and Barbie. It owns the HBO television channel and the HBO Max streaming service.

Netflix topped a reported $60bn bid by Paramount Skydance, the media giant run by David Ellison, heir to tech tycoon Larry Ellison. The Ellison duo acquired Paramount in an $8bn deal that closed in August 2025. David Ellison founded movie production company Skydance in 2006, before merging it with Paramount this August. 

• During the bidding war, Paramount Skydance sweetened its breakup fee (to be paid to Warner Bros. if the deal falls through) to $5bn. However, Warner Bros.’ board was more receptive to Netflix’s offer.

An $83bn deal is one of the largest media industry deals ever, and the largest acquisition announced in 2025. However, closing the deal is another matter. Antitrust agencies could heavily scrutinize the deal and block it. If permitted, the deal will take at least a year to be completed. 

The deal itself feels like a plot twist for Netflix. The streaming giant has shied away from outsized acquisitions throughout its history, preferring to invest billions in producing original scripted content. A deal for Warner Bros. would also invite major scrutiny from regulators in the U.S. and Europe, but Netflix feels confident enough to move forward. “I know some of you are surprised that we’re making this acquisition – and I certainly understand why…” Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos acknowledged on a call with investors. 

• The announcement is merely the initial stage. Expect more developments, or let’s say plot twists, on this deal as time goes by.

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Doug McMillon, the chief executive officer (CEO) of retail giant Walmart (NYSE: WMT), has announced his imminent retirement. He’ll step down on January 31, 2026, and be replaced by John Furner, current CEO of Walmart’s U.S. division.

McMillon has been Walmart’s chief executive since February 2014. He has worked at the Arkansas-based retail giant since 1984, starting as a teenage summer associate. He rose through the ranks over decades, becoming CEO of Sam’s Club, Walmart’s wholesale retail division, in 2005, then of Walmart’s international business in 2009, before being promoted to the number one executive role in 2014.

Under McMillon, Walmart has invested heavily in its e-commerce business and also expanded its physical retail business. He took over at a time when Walmart faced intensifying competition in both e-commerce and physical retail. 

• In 2014, Walmart’s e-commerce sales were estimated at $10bn. In 2024, its e-commerce revenue surpassed $100bn for the first time.

• In its last fiscal year ended July 2025, Walmart reported $681bn in revenue, compared to $473bn in fiscal 2014. Most of the company’s growth has come from e-commerce.

John Furner, McMillon’s imminent replacement, has led Walmart’s U.S. division since 2019. Like McMillon, he’s a Walmart corporate lifer, having begun as an hourly associate in 1993. Walmart U.S. is Walmart’s largest corporate division and accounts for most of its sales. 

After stepping down in early 2026, McMillon will remain on Walmart’s board for a year to oversee the executive transition, the company said. Furner has been elected to Walmart’s board, effective immediately, to begin the transition process. 

• With $681bn in annual revenue, Walmart remains the largest company worldwide by sales, and is the world’s largest private employer with 2.1 million employees.

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Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE), owner of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), has struck a deal to become a significant investor in prediction site Polymarket. ICE will invest up to $2bn in Polymarket at a $8bn valuation, indicating a 25% stake if it puts in the full amount.

• Founded in 2020 by entrepreneur Shayne Coplan, Polymarket is a prediction market where users bet on various events spanning sports, geopolitics, and pop culture. Users can bet on everything from election outcomes to football matches and weather patterns. Polymarket’s main rival is Kalshi, a prediction market launched in 2021.

In 2022, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which oversees the country’s derivatives markets, sued Polymarket for offering event-based options trading contracts without proper registration. Polymarket agreed to pay $1.4mn to settle the lawsuit and to block U.S.-based users from its platform.

In September 2025, the CFTC permitted Polymarket to reopen to U.S.-based users. The decision came shortly after Polymarket acquired QCEX, a CFTC-licensed derivatives exchange and clearinghouse, in a $112mn deal.

• Prediction markets have surged in popularity in recent years, with Polymarket and its rival, Kalshi, leading the industry. Both firms are positioned to rapidly expand their user base, partly by taking market share from the sports gambling industry.

• Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), now Polymarket’s biggest investor, owns various global financial exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). By market capitalization, the NYSE is the largest stock exchange in the U.S. A $2bn investment in Polymarket gives ICE a foothold in the fast-growing prediction markets industry.

Other prominent Polymarket investors include Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, Zynga co-founder Mark Pincus, Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick, and hedge fund tycoon Glenn Dubin. Before ICE’s investment, the New York City-based company had raised $205mn from private investors.

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Cerebras, a maker of artificial intelligence (AI) chipsets, has called off its plans for an initial public offering (IPO), roughly a year after filing an S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to go public. In a new SEC filing made this Friday, Cerebras said it “does not intend to conduct the proposed offering.”

• Cerebras withdrew its IPO plans just days after securing $1.1bn in additional private funding. Prominent investors participated in the fundraise, including Fidelity, Tiger Global, and Valor Equity Partners. Since its founding in 2015, Cerebras has raised $1.6bn (Tracxn) in private funding, including the recent $1.1bn round.

With the artificial intelligence (AI) industry exploding in recent years and Cerebras being one of the prominent players, its public listing was highly anticipated as a litmus test for investors’ appetite for up-and-coming AI companies. Cerebras makes sophisticated chips used to train, test, and run AI systems. It’s a small yet emerging challenger to Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA), whose AI chips broadly dominate the industry.

Cerebras’s previous S-1 filing revealed $79mn in revenue in 2023, up from $25mn in the previous year. $57mn of its 2023 revenue came from hardware sales, and a minor $22mn came from services. The company sells AI chips directly to companies and also offers a cloud-based platform for companies to train AI systems on Cerebras chips; the latter is preferable for companies that can’t afford or don’t want the stress of running their own AI hardware. 

As its revenue grows rapidly, Cerebras is incurring high research and development (R&D) costs to keep up with ever-growing competition. With high R&D expenses plus marketing and general costs, it reported a $127mn net loss in 2023, down from $178mn in 2022. 

Since filing to go public, Cerebras pivoted from selling AI chipsets more towards providing a cloud-based platform for companies to train AI systems with its chipsets. With this major disruption of its business strategy and the challenges it’ll bring, it seems Cerebras decided to secure private funding to weather the challenges. Public market investors are often more unforgiving of such short-term disruptions.

• Cerebras’s public listing was initially delayed by a U.S. national security review of a $335mn investment by G42, an Abu Dhabi-based company controlled by a sovereign wealth fund of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It secured approval for the investment in March 2025.

• Cerebras has withdrawn its IPO filing effective immediately, it announced. It provided no hint of whether or when it’ll pursue a future public listing. 

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Eni (BIT: ENI), an Italian oil and gas giant, has signed off on a deal to build a $7.2bn floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project in Mozambique, a southern African nation with abundant gas reserves. If accomplished, the FLNG facility would more than double Mozambique’s natural gas production.

The Coral North project, as it’s named, aims to build a massive floating facility for drilling, processing, and exporting natural gas from Mozambique’s northern coastline. It could produce up to 3.6 million tons of LNG annually, more than Mozambique’s current 3.3 million-ton annual production.

Mozambique began discovering massive gas reserves off its coast in the early 2010s. It had begun producing and exporting gas as early as 2004, but in small quantities. The discovery of massive gas reserves signalled Mozambique’s entry into the big leagues of gas-producing nations. 

• In 2019, French oil and gas giant TotalEnergies cemented Mozambique’s big-league entry by agreeing to invest $20 billion in an FLNG facility off the country’s coast that could produce 13 million tons annually. 

• However, a 2021 terrorist attack on a town close to TotalEnergies’ facility halted its construction. The attack, claimed by Islamist rebels affiliated with the Islamic State terrorist group, left over 1,000 people dead, according to conflict monitor ACLED. Construction hasn’t restarted, although signals indicate it could start this year amid improved security measures. However, even if construction restarts this year, production won’t begin till at least 2029, according to TotalEnergies.

Eni’s approval has given Mozambique another vote of confidence in its gas industry. Eni already operates floating gas facilities on Mozambique’s coast, but not on the scale of the planned Coral North project. Currently facing an economic downturn, the Mozambican government welcomed Eni’s approval of a project that could help it diversify its economy. 

Mozambique’s exports are dominated by natural resources, mainly coal, natural gas, aluminium, iron ore, and palm oil. The country’s top export partners are neighbouring South Africa, China, and India, respectively.

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Video game giant Electronic Arts (EA) has agreed to be acquired by a trio of investment firms: Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), tech-focused private equity giant Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners, an upstart private equity firm founded by Jared Kushner. The deal values EA at $55bn, marking the largest-ever leveraged buyout by absolute value.

• EA (NASDAQ: EA) shareholders will receive $210 in cash per share, a 25% premium to EA’s share price prior to reports of an imminent deal.

Before the deal, PIF, a sovereign wealth fund of the Saudi Arabian government, already owned 9.9% of EA’s shares. It will provide the lion’s share of the funds to acquire the remaining EA shares, followed by Silver Lake, then Affinity Partners with a minor 5% stake. The three firms will invest $36bn in equity funding and raise $20bn in debt financing, solely from banking giant JPMorgan Chase, to complete the deal.

• At a $55bn value, EA will be the largest leveraged buyout deal in history, beating the existing record holder of KKR-TPG’s $45bn acquisition of energy giant TXU Corp in 2007. However, when dollars are adjusted for inflation, TXU Corp’s buyout comes out on top. 

EA is behind many best-selling video game titles, including the EA Sports FC (formerly FIFA) football game franchise, The Sims, Need for Speed, Madden NFL, and Battlefield, among others. It reported a $1.1bn net profit on $7.5bn in revenue in its last fiscal year ended March 2025.

EA saw substantial revenue growth from 2015 to 2023, but revenue has since stagnated. Its $7.5bn in last-year revenue was actually down from $7.65bn two years earlier. In recent years, the gaming industry has experienced generally sluggish growth, so EA isn’t all at fault. 

• The deal is expected to close in EA’s fiscal year 2027, which starts in September 2026. The acquiring consortium has agreed to pay a $1bn fee if it fails to complete the merger within the expected closing period. EA has also agreed to a $1bn termination fee if the company’s board reverses the merger agreement or pursues a rival deal.  

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Fermi, a data center real estate investment trust (REIT) whose founding team includes former Texas governor and U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry, has filed for an initial public offering (IPO). Amarillo, Texas-based Fermi aims to raise up to $550 million by selling 25 million shares for $18 to $22 apiece.

• A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that operates income-generating real estate properties. REITs pool money from individual and institutional investors to buy and manage properties, and rental or leasing income accrues to investors.

• In the U.S., REITs are legally required to pay at least 90% of their income as dividends to shareholders. The steady dividends make REITs attractive for investors seeking regular income from their assets. 

Fermi operates in arguably the hottest real niche in the U.S. market: data centers leased to technology companies for running artificial intelligence (AI) systems. With the AI industry on a tear and data centers relatively scarce, companies are willing to pay top dollar to secure massive computational resources for training and deploying AI systems.

Texas-based Fermi was founded by Toby Neugebauer, who serves as chief executive, and Rick Perry, a board director at the company. 

• Neugebauer is best known for co-founding Quantum Energy Partners, an energy-focused private equity firm with $30 billion of assets under management. Quantum provides equity and debt funding for oil and gas projects as well as renewable energy plants. 

• Rick Perry is a career politician who served as governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015 and as U.S. Secretary of Energy from 2017 to 2019. 

Fermi’s flagship project is dubbed Project Matador, a planned mammoth data center to be powered by solar, natural gas, and nuclear energy. At up to 11 GW capacity, Project Matador will be the world’s largest data center complex if Fermi successfully translates its idea into reality. For reference, 11 GW of electricity input is enough to power 11 million homes or a small country. 

• The largest data center currently is China’s Inner Mongolia Information Park with 150 MW of capacity, or about 7% of Project Matador’s conceived capacity, highlighting the enormous ambition and challenges associated with putting it into fruition. 

• Fermi hopes to have Project Matador fully running by 2038. For now, it remains a development-stage company with no revenue. Fermi plans to list its shares on both the Nasdaq and the London Stock Exchange under the “FRMI” symbol, the company’s S-1 filing indicates. 

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African countries are importing a record volume of electricity-generating solar panels from China, customs data indicate. 54 African nations imported 15 Gigawatts (GW) worth of Chinese-made solar panels in the 12 months leading up to June 2025, a 60% year-on-year jump, according to customs data examined by Ember, a U.K.-based energy think tank.

South Africa, Africa’s most industrialized country and the continent’s largest electricity generator, imported 3.8 GW of solar panels during the period, retaining its long-held position as the continent’s largest solar panel importer. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous and energy-deficient country, came second with 1.7 GW of imports, and Algeria came third with 1.2 GW of imports. Other standouts include Egypt (0.85 GW), Tunisia (0.65 GW), and Senegal (0.5 GW).

• Nigeria has been facing a long-standing electricity crisis. With over 230 million people and a steadily growing population over the past few decades, electricity demand has skyrocketed, while supply has lagged behind. 90 million Nigerians aren’t connected to the electricity grid, the highest number of any country. The population with access to the electricity grid faces frequent blackouts due to a shortfall in generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure.

• Unsurprisingly, with Chinese solar panel prices recently falling to their lowest levels ever seen, Nigerian individuals and commercial firms have imported a record volume of solar panels to compensate for severe electricity shortfalls.

• Although Nigeria has a theoretical grid generation capacity of 13 GW, a creaking power grid and strained supplies of natural gas, which produce most of Nigeria’s electricity, cause an average of 4,500 MW, or one-third of the theoretical capacity, to be delivered at any given time. In March 2025, the Nigerian electricity grid achieved its highest-ever power generation, reaching 5.8 GW.

For reference, 1.7 GW of solar panels imported in a single year is almost one-third of Nigeria’s highest-ever grid generation capacity. The situation becomes less astounding considering that solar panels only work when the sun shines, unlike natural gas and hydroelectric power plants, which operate 24/7 if needed, and which Nigeria largely depends on for electricity generation. Yet, it demonstrates the rapid expansion of solar energy in African countries experiencing severe electricity shortages.

Over 640 million Africans, out of a total of roughly 1.5 billion, aren’t connected to the electricity grid, the highest of any continent. Those connected to the electricity grid often experience frequent blackouts because of generation shortfalls and aging transmission and distribution infrastructure. Modern economic activities rely heavily on electricity, making this shortfall a major hindrance to Africa’s economic and social development.

Unlike other continents, where large utility-scale power plants account for most solar panel generation, the growth in Africa appears to be driven by smaller-scale residential and commercial installations. Satellite images indicate that solar panel arrays are increasingly dotting the rooftops of homes, schools, hospitals, offices, and factories across Africa. Yet, they aren’t as commonly found as in more economically developed regions.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), solar power is the cheapest new source of electricity. The data indicate that African countries are increasingly turning to this relatively cheap source of electricity to save costs. Yet, zooming out a bit, Africa’s solar power generation significantly lags behind that of more economically developed continents.

Despite having the most abundant sunshine, which translates to 60% of the world’s solar resources, Africa accounts for only 1% of the world’s solar energy generation capacity, according to the IEA. Additionally, solar energy accounts for only 3% of Africa’s current electricity generation capacity, indicating a massive gap that needs to be addressed. The good news is that solar energy growth in Africa doesn’t appear to be slowing down soon, but there’s a need for large-scale investments, especially in utility-scale plants.

Despite the solar energy boom, African nations continue to rely heavily on fossil fuels for most of their electricity generation. Fossil fuels account for over half of the electricity generation capacity, mainly coal, fuel oil, and natural gas.

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Ridehailing giant Uber (NYSE: UBER) has announced plans to buy back $20bn of its shares from investors. The company announced the massive buyback, equivalent to nearly 10% of its $190bn market capitalization, along with record quarterly earnings results. Uber reported $12.7bn in revenue in the second quarter of 2025, up 18% year-on-year, and a $1.4bn net profit.

A $20bn buyback is almost triple the $7bn in share buybacks Uber has previously announced. It signals long-term confidence in Uber delivering more profit despite broader economic headwinds in the U.S., its biggest market.

• Under chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi, who assumed the role in 2017, Uber has transformed from a rapid-growth, money-losing tech startup into a more stable, profitable company. Growth isn’t as rapid as in the early days, but Uber’s business continues to increase significantly. Khosrowshahi replaced Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick as chief executive in 2017.

Although Uber earns most of its revenue from ridehailing, growth has been faster in its Uber Eats food delivery business. The company also has a smaller freight booking business.

In the second quarter of 2025, Uber reported $7.3bn in revenue from ridehailing, $4.1bn from food delivery, and $1.3bn from freight bookings. Delivery revenue grew 25% year-on-year, compared to a 19% growth in ridehailing and a 1% decrease in freight revenue.

Uber launched its first share buyback scheme in 2024 and has nearly tripled its buyback ambitions barely a year later. The company’s shares rose a modest 1% following the new buyback announcement, giving it a near-record $190bn market capitalization.

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Chevron (NYSE: CVX), the American oil and gas giant, has closed its deal to acquire smaller rival Hess Corporation following a legal battle with fellow American oil and gas giant ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM).

• The legal battle stemmed from Hess’s existing joint venture with ExxonMobil in Guyana. The prized joint venture is the offshore Stabroek Block oil and gas reservoir straddling Guyana’s coast; it holds an estimated 11 billion barrels of recoverable oil, making it the largest oil discovery in decades.

ExxonMobil holds a 45% stake in the Stabroek Block joint venture, with Hess Corporation owning 30% and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) owning the remaining 25%. ExxonMobil sought to block Chevron’s acquisition of Hess, claiming it had pre-emptive rights to buy Hess’s stake in the joint venture instead of Chevron.

ExxonMobil filed a case against Chevron with the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in March 2024. The International Chamber of Commerce recently ruled in Chevron’s favor, which eliminated the last regulatory roadblock to completing the Hess acquisition. Chevron has closed the deal and now owns Hess’s 30% stake in the Stabroek Block joint venture.

The Stabroek Block is currently the hottest asset in the global oil and gas industry. Production began in 2019 and averaged 183,000 barrels of oil per day in the first quarter of 2025. The ExxonMobil-led joint venture plans to increase production to 1.3 million barrels per day in 2027.

Guyana has leveraged the Stabroek Block to experience rapid economic growth. The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate averaged a remarkable 47% annually between 2022 and 2024, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). However, concerns persist about overreliance on oil and the risks of succumbing to the infamous “resource curse.”

• The “resource curse” is a paradox wherein countries with abundant natural resources experience poorer development outcomes than those with little natural resources.

• Tenets of the “resource curse” include abundant natural resources fueling corruption and rent-seeking by specific individuals and groups with ties to the government, currency appreciation making non-oil exports less competitive, and vulnerability to oil price fluctuations making long-term economic planning difficult.

Along with a 30% stake in the Stabroek Block joint venture, Chevron has also absorbed Hess’s oil and gas assets in the U.S. Permian Basin, Kazakhstan, the Eastern Mediterranean and Australia. Chevron initially agreed to pay $53bn in shares to acquire Hess in 2023. The deal later closed at $55bn, thanks to a slight uptick in Chevron’s share price.

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