Tag Archives: Finance

Paramount makes a $108 billion hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery

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Paramount has been none too pleased about Netflix striking an $82.7 billion deal to buy much of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). Now, Paramount is making a hostile takeover bid for WBD. It's making its pitch directly to WBD shareholders with an all-cash offer of $30 per share that expires on January 8.

Late last week, the WBD board unanimously accepted Netflix's offer of $27.75 per share. That breaks down to $23.25 per share in cash and another $4.50 per share in Netflix stock. Netflix's overall bid is valued at $82.7 billion, while Paramount's totals $108.4 billion.

There's a key difference when it comes to the Paramount offer, as it’s for all of WBD. The latter is scheduled to split into two companies next year. Netflix only wants the Streaming and Studios side of WBD's business, which includes HBO Max and the Warner Bros. film, TV and game studios.

Paramount is after the whole shebang, including WBD's cable channels (Global Networks). "WBD's Board of Directors recommendation of the Netflix transaction over Paramount's offer is based on an illusory prospective valuation of Global Networks that is unsupported by the business fundamentals and encumbered by high levels of financial leverage assigned to the entity," Paramount said in a press release on Monday.

As of the end of September, WBD was carrying $34.5 billion of gross debt. It planned to saddle the Global Networks company (aka Discovery Global) with most of that. The Paramount offer includes $40.7 billion in financing from the family of Paramount CEO David Ellison — his father is Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison — and RedBird Capital, but it would be taking on more debt to secure a deal for WBD. The bid includes "$54 billion of debt commitments from Bank of America, Citi and Apollo." (Apollo owns a majority stake in Yahoo, Engadget's parent company).

According to an SEC filing [PDF], other entities are backing the Paramount bid, including Jared Kushner’s investment firm Affinity Partners and the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia (the Public Investment Fund), Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Tencent was a financing partner in a previous Paramount offer, but it’s not involved with the hostile takeover attempt.

In a letter sent to WBD CEO David Zazlav before the company accepted Netflix's offer, Paramount questioned the "fairness and adequacy" of the sale process. It asked whether WBD was acting in the best interest of shareholders after the management team allegedly appeared to favor the Netflix offer.

"Despite Paramount submitting six proposals over the course of 12 weeks, WBD never engaged meaningfully with these proposals which we believe deliver the best outcome for WBD shareholders," Paramount said. "Paramount has now taken its offer directly to WBD shareholders and its Board of Directors to ensure they have the opportunity to pursue this clearly superior alternative."

Paramount — which Skydance bought for $8 billion this year — also claims that its offer is likely to face less regulatory scrutiny than the Netflix offer, which wouldn't close until sometime after WBD splits in two later in 2026. According to CNBC, Paramount executives believe that the company's smaller size and cozy relationship with the Trump administration will help streamline the regulatory process. Over the weekend, President Donald Trump said that Netflix's bid for WBD has "got to go through a process, and we’ll see what happens. But it is a big market share. It could be a problem."

In a statement to Variety, WBD said it will consider Paramount’s latest bid and provide a recommendation to its stockholders within 10 business days — in other words, by December 19. The company said it “is not modifying its recommendation with respect to the agreement with Netflix” for the time being and it is asking shareholders “not to take any action at this time with respect to Paramount Skydance’s proposal.”

Meanwhile, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said at an event on Monday that Paramount’s new offer was “entirely expected. We have a deal done, and we are incredibly happy with the deal. We think it’s great for our shareholders. It’s great for consumers. We think it’s a great way to create and protect jobs in the entertainment industry. We’re super confident we’re going to get it across the line and finish.”

Update December 8, 2025, 11:14AM ET: Added details about the involvement of sovereign wealth funds and Affinity Partners.

Update December 8, 2025, 2:38PM ET: Added the responses from WBD and Netflix.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/paramount-makes-a-108-billion-hostile-takeover-bid-for-warner-bros-discovery-152248473.html?src=rss

Ubisoft delayed its latest earnings report due to an accounting issue

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The possible reasons behind Ubisoft delaying the earnings report it was expected to release last week were the subject of much discussion, especially given the company’s well-documented issues in recent times. But we now know that the delay was forced by an accounting issue relating to its soon-to-be finalized transaction with Tencent.

As detailed in Ubisoft’s now-published first-half 2025-26 earnings figures, the company was required to restate its FY2024-25 accounts, concerning revenue for this period attributed to sales from a partnership. "This position now applied by the Group going forward has also resulted in a partnership signed in Q2 FY2025-26 not being recognized in IFRS15 revenues," the company said. "The above results in the Company not complying with its leverage covenant ratio under certain existing financing agreements at September 30, 2025. However, this is being addressed by the aforementioned actions relating to the concerned debt instruments."

With the report now published, Ubisoft has asked Euronext to resume trading its shares. And while the accounting snag led to the week-long delay, the French company said that its deal with Tencent is set to close in "the coming days," with the imminent €1.16 billion ($1.36 billion) investment expected to help the company pay off outstanding debt. Once finalized, the partnership will also "enable the acceleration" of Vantage Studios, the new Ubisoft subsidiary in which Tencent will own a 25 percent stake. The new studio will be responsible for Ubisoft’s three biggest IPs: Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Rainbow Six.

Ubisoft reported net bookings of €491 million ($564 million) this quarter, which it said was a 39 percent year-on-year increase. The company said that Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which is getting a Switch 2 port next month, had overperformed this quarter, likely helped by arrival of its New Game+ mode in the summer.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ubisoft-delayed-its-latest-earnings-report-due-to-an-accounting-issue-152017119.html?src=rss

Intuit is integrating its tax and accounting products with ChatGPT

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The financial software company Intuit has signed a nine-figure deal with OpenAI which will allow customers to use its various services within ChatGPT. Intuit’s apps include Intuit Turbo Tax, Credit Karma, QuickBooks and MailChimp, all of which will now be accessible when using OpenAI’s chatbot for personalized financial advice and management.

The partnership is driven by what Intuit calls the "hundreds of millions of consumers and businesses" that ask ChatGPT finance-related questions every week. Consumers will be able to use Intuit’s apps within ChatGPT to research credit cards and mortgages, with advice tailored to their spending. They can also permit the chatbot to access their financial data to estimate their tax refund amounts and schedule appointments with a "live, AI-powered tax expert."

On the business side, companies can use ChatGPT to get advice on how to increase their revenue based on their current performance. They can also create targeted campaigns to send out to prospective customers and use AI to generate invoice reminders.

Intuit has been investing heavily in AI for the last 10 years, introducing its own AI assistant back in 2023 and building it into its products. Its $100 million contract with OpenAI will also see it widen its use of the latter’s models and their agentic capabilities across its platform. Generative AI allows Intuit customers to complete their financial tasks and ask questions about complex subjects using natural language prompts.

OpenAI is seemingly committed to growing its reputation as a credible source of finance-related guidance and information. Last month it acquired a personal investing app called ROI, which uses a built-in chatbot to advise users on potential investments.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/intuit-is-integrating-its-tax-and-accounting-products-with-chatgpt-153809280.html?src=rss

Mastodon’s founder is no longer its CEO

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Mastodon's founder Eugen Rochko has officially stepped down as CEO. The move comes ten months after the company announced it would transition into a nonprofit entity and that Rochko would leave his post. Rochko will take on an advisory role with the company. 

In a blog post about this decision, Rochko pointed to a desire for guardrails to avoid becoming another egotistical founder "sabotaging thriving communities." He added, "But it would be uncouth for me to pretend that there isn’t some self-interest involved. Being in charge of a social media project is, turns out, quite the stressful endeavour, and I don’t have the right personality for it." 

In his place, Felix Hlatky has taken on the role of executive director. Hlatky has worked at Mastodon since March 2020 and plans to focus on expanding the team, long-term financial stability and making it easier to run servers safely and efficiently.

Currently, Mastodon is operating as a nonprofit in the US, but aims to set up a permanent home base as a nonprofit in Belgium, known as an AISBL. Mastodon previously held nonprofit status in Germany but lost that it last year. 

Mastodon has pursued outside funding since its announced transition to a nonprofit. It shared that Stock Exchange co-founder Jeff Atwood and his family gave the organization €2.2 million ($2.5 million). Part of that influx of cash has gone toward hiring new employees in its engineering, marketing, operations and product teams. Rochko also received a one-time €1 million ($1.2 million) compensation after ten years of "taking less than a fair market salary." 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/mastodons-founder-is-no-longer-its-ceo-143011438.html?src=rss

Apple is reportedly getting ready to replace Tim Cook as early as next year

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According to the Financial Times, Tim Cook may be ready to leave his position as soon as next year, and Apple's board and senior executives have ramped up their preparations to secure his replacement.

Cook, who has been at the helm of Apple for more than 14 years, succeeded Steve Jobs and led the company to a market cap of more than $4 trillion. Cook's tenure since 2011 has overseen the introduction of hardware, including Apple Watch, AirPods and Vision Pro, but also services like Apple Arcade and Apple TV+. According to the Financial Times's sources, Apple's senior vice president of engineering, John Ternus, will most likely take on the CEO role, but this decision hasn't been finalized yet. Ternus has been with Apple since 2001 as part of its Product Design team and eventually stepped into a vice president role within the Hardware Engineering division, where he played a heavy role in the company's transition to Apple silicon.

According to the Financial Times, Apple isn't planning to announce the new CEO before its January earnings report. However, the report also noted that this announcement would come earlier in the year to allow the leadership team to transition smoothly in time for all of Apple's annual events. Earlier this year, Apple also announced Sabih Khan as the new chief operating officer, taking over for Jeff Williams.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-is-reportedly-getting-ready-to-replace-tim-cook-as-early-as-next-year-171407974.html?src=rss

Something funky is going on at Ubisoft

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It's been clear for some time that all is not well at Ubisoft. Between games not meeting the company's sales expectations, studio closures, downsizing elsewhere and sexual misconduct issues, it's been a rocky past several years for the company. 

But now it seems something else may be going on at the publisher. Just before it was set to hold a call with investors on Thursday, Ubisoft said it was delaying its half-year earnings report and halting trading of its shares. It has asked Euronext — the European stock market on which its shares are listed — to halt trading from November 14 until it publishes its earnings results "in the coming days."

This could mean any number of things. Other companies have delayed earnings reports due to things like accounting issues. But halting trading of the company's shares could portend major news, such as a sale or Ubisoft becoming a private entity again. Engadget has contacted Ubisoft for comment. 

It was reported late last year that the founders of Ubisoft were looking to take the company private with the help of Tencent. That hasn't transpired as yet, but Ubisoft (with the help of a Tencent investment) did this year form a new subsidiary called Vantage Studios. That is now overseeing Assassin's Creed, Far Cry and Rainbow Six — three of Ubisoft's most important franchises.


This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/something-funky-is-going-on-at-ubisoft-184058990.html?src=rss

Paramount+ is getting a price hike and ending free trials

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Paramount+ is making some changes that will make its streaming service get more to watch. During Paramount's earnings report today, the company announced that it will increase the subscription prices for Paramount+ in the US during the first quarter of 2026. Price hikes were also announced today for viewers in Canada and Australia. The new pricing was not shared, but a dollar or two more per month has become the standard change. Considering most streaming services jack their prices every year or two, the news was probably inevitable; the last increase for Paramount+ was back in June 2024. But today's announcement also revealed that Paramount+ will no longer offer free trials, which is a common practice for most digital entertainment subscriptions. 

The changes appear to be part of a reassessment of the Paramount+ finances. The company's approach to increase long-term profitability "includes shifting away from certain hard bundles and low-margin subscriptions, reducing investment in select international markets without a clear path to sufficient scale, retiring free trials, and reviewing discount practices."

These new moves follow Skydance's acquisition of Paramount over the summer, an $8 billion purchase which received regulatory approval after some pretty scuzzy interactions with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/paramount-is-getting-a-price-hike-and-ending-free-trials-231146302.html?src=rss

Snap and Perplexity sign $400 million deal to put AI search directly in Snapchat

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Snap and Perplexity AI have struck a $400 million deal that will bring the AI search engine directly to Snapchat sometime in "early 2026," the two companies announced. With the partnership, Perplexity's AI search engine will be a prominent part of Snapchat's "chat" interface so users can "ask questions and get clear, conversational answers drawn from verifiable sources, all within Snapchat."

The news was announced alongside the company's third-quarter earnings. The company said that revenue from the deal — Perplexity is paying Snap $400 million for the integration — is "expected to begin contributing" to the company's bottom line in 2026. In a letter to shareholders, CEO Evan Spiegel also hinted that Snap could pursue similar partnerships with other AI companies. "This collaboration makes AI-powered discovery native to Snapchat, enhances personalization, and positions Snap as a leading distribution channel for intelligent agents, laying the groundwork for a broader ecosystem of AI partners to reach our global community," he wrote. 

Snap, like its peers, has been leaning into generative AI in recent years. The company has its own LLM-powered chatbot, called MyAI, which uses models from OpenAI, Google and, soon, Perplexity AI. Snap has also introduced AI-powered lenses and creation tools, which have helped boost its Snapchat+ subscription service.  

Spiegel also teased other AI-powered updates coming to Snapchat. He said the company is working on a new AI video generation feature called "AI Clips" that "will allow creators to generate short, shareable videos from simple prompts." He didn’t say when the feature might launch.

Outside of Snapchat, Snap is also planning on launching a new version of its AR glasses, called Specs, sometime next year. Spiegel didn’t offer any new details about the device, which he has previously promised will be lighter-weight than the current version. He did, however, suggest the company was considering working with potential hardware partners. He said Snap would be “putting Specs into their own standalone, 100% owned subsidiary” to give the company more flexibility to pursue such arrangements.

Update, November 5, 2025, 3:08PM PT: Added more details from Snap’s earnings call.


This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/snap-and-perplexity-sign-400-million-deal-to-put-ai-search-directly-in-snapchat-221101734.html?src=rss

The IRS’ free tax-filing tool reportedly won’t be offered in 2026

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Direct File, the free, government-provided alternative to services like TurboTax, won't be available for the 2026 tax season, Bloomberg Tax reports. That's based on a letter sent from the Internal Revenue Service to participating states that says that "no launch date has been set for the future."

A Biden administration project, Direct File was designed to be an easy way for eligible taxpayers to file taxes online, without having to pay for a service like TurboTax or H&R Block to do it on their behalf. The IRS began piloting Direct File for the 2024 tax season, and opted to make it a permanent option later that year. Direct File was available for the most recent 2025 tax season in 25 states in the US.

Despite the service's success, the Trump administration appears to opposed to offering Direct File in its current form. The "Big Beautiful Bill" passed in July 2025 includes funding for the IRS to research "the cost to replace any direct e-file programs run by the Internal Revenue Service" and "the cost of developing and running a free direct e-file tax return system." Whatever the results of that research, later in July, former IRS Commissioner Billy Long seemed to suggest the e-filing option had been eliminated. "You've heard of Direct File, that's gone," Long said at a tax professional summit. "Big beautiful Billy wiped that out."

Engadget has contacted the IRS to confirm that Direct File won't be offered in 2026. We'll update this article if we hear back.

While the IRS has yet to formally announce that Direct File is going away outside of Long's comments, the tool is currently unavailable through the IRS website. Additionally, the position to lead the Direct File project inside the IRS is currently vacant under acting IRS Commissioner Scott Bessent.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-irs-free-tax-filing-tool-reportedly-wont-be-offered-in-2026-185430716.html?src=rss

OpenAI signs $38 billion cloud contract with Amazon

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When OpenAI announced last week the end of its drawn-out corporate restructuring, one of the freedoms the company had managed to negotiate for itself was the ability to more easily sign cloud contracts with Microsoft’s competitors. With the new agreement in place, the company waived its first right of refusal to be OpenAI’s compute provider. OpenAI is wasting no time taking advantage of that freedom.

On Monday, Amazon announced a new multi-year, $38 billion cloud partnership with OpenAI. “Starting immediately,” Amazon Web Services will provide the company with access to “thousands” of NVIDIA GB200 and GB300 GPUs for inference and training its next-generation models. Amazon expects to deploy all the capacity OpenAI has agreed to buy by the end of 2026, with the option to purchase additional capacity in 2027 and beyond. Amazon says the partnership “will help millions of users continue to get value from ChatGPT.”

Of course, the question is how OpenAI will pay for all of its cloud commitments. The Information recently reported the company was generating about $12 billion in annualized revenue. As part of just its restructuring agreement, the company agreed to spend $250 billion on Azure services from Microsoft. It also has a revenue-sharing agreement with the tech giant that will continue when and if OpenAI is able to develop artificial general intelligence.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-signs-38-billion-cloud-contract-with-amazon-151821384.html?src=rss