Business

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

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

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

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

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

(Reuters) -Nvidia’s top customers are delaying orders of the AI chip leader’s latest ‘Blackwell’ racks due to overheating issues, the Information reported on Monday. The Santa Clara, California-based company’s shares fell more than 4% in early trading. The U.S. government also said earlier in the day it would further restrict AI chip and technology exports, potentially hurting Nvidia’s sales. The first shipments of racks with Blackwell chips have been overheating and exhibiting glitches in the … Read more…

(Reuters) – The European Union is considering expanding its investigation into whether Elon Musk’s social media network X breached its content moderation rulebook, Bloomberg News reported on Monday, citing the bloc’s tech policy chief. The EU started investigating X, formerly Twitter, in late 2023 over suspected breaches of obligations, partly relating to posts following Hamas’ attacks on Israel, its first probe under the EU’s Digital Services Act, or DSA. “We are currently assessing if the … Read more…

By Ross Kerber (Reuters) – BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, said on Thursday it will leave the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, Wall Street’s latest environmental step-back amid antitrust concerns raised by Republican politicians. BlackRock, which manages some $11.5 trillion, said that with two-thirds of its global clients committed to cutting emissions to net zero, it had made sense to join groups like the organization known as NZAMI. “However, our memberships in some of … Read more…

By Blake Brittain (Reuters) – Meta Platforms used pirated versions of copyrighted books to train its artificial intelligence systems with approval from its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, a group of authors alleged in newly disclosed court papers. Ta-Nehisi Coates, comedian Sarah Silverman and other authors suing Meta for copyright infringement made the accusations in filings made public on Wednesday in California federal court. They said internal documents produced by Meta during the discovery process showed the … Read more…