Business

(Reuters) -Paramount Global fell short of Wall Street’s fourth-quarter revenue expectations on Wednesday as a continued decline in its cable TV unit clouded higher-than-expected subscriber growth for its Paramount+ streaming platform.  Shares of the company fell 1.5% in extended trading. Media giants are reshaping their business strategies in response to the continued erosion of cable TV audiences to streaming platforms.  According to TD Cowen’s analysts, Paramount is highly vulnerable to fluctuations in advertising performance due … Read more…

By Pete Schroeder WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. banking sector profits rose 2.3% to $66.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024, a bank regulator reported on Tuesday, as it also announced moves to update how so-called problem banks are tracked. In its latest quarterly report, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said it is revising its “problem bank” list to say only how many banks have been downgraded by regulators. The FDIC will no longer disclose … Read more…

By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS (Reuters) – U.S. chipmaker Nvidia has sued EU antitrust regulators for accepting an Italian request last year to scrutinise its acquisition of AI startup Run:ai, saying they had flouted an earlier court ruling restricting their merger powers on minor deals. While the case does not have any impact on the Run:ai deal which was eventually approved by the EU competition watchdog in December last year, a ruling favouring Nvidia may … Read more…

(Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase will continue its diversity efforts, its CEO Jamie Dimon said in an interview with CNBC on Monday, despite a broader corporate retreat from such initiatives. The bank will continue its outreach to Black, Hispanic, LGBT, veteran and disabled communities, Dimon said. Earlier this month, the largest U.S. bank said it expects “to be criticized by activists, politicians and other members of the public” concerning business practices or positions it takes with … Read more…

By Stephanie Kelly and Jarrett Renshaw NEW YORK (Reuters) – The American Petroleum Institute trade group on Monday pressed for a nationwide policy on higher-ethanol blends of gasoline after the President Donald Trump’s administration said on Friday it would move ahead with expanded sales of the product in certain Midwestern states. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Feb. 21 it would uphold an April 28 implementation date for a request from eight Midwest governors … Read more…

(Reuters) – AI startup Anthropic is looking to raise $3.5 billion in its latest funding round which would value the startup behind the chatbot Claude at $61.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. Investors in the latest round include venture firms Lightspeed Venture Partners, General Catalyst and Bessemer Venture Partners, WSJ said. Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX is also in talks, according to the report. Anthropic did not immediately respond to a Reuters … Read more…

By Sarah Morland MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The chief executive of streaming giant Netflix on Thursday announced a $1 billion investment to produce some 20 films and TV series in Mexico annually over the next four years. Speaking at President Claudia Sheinbaum’s morning press conference in Mexico City, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos said he looked forward to entering more partnerships with producers in the Latin American nation. Sheinbaum said the investments in the film industry … Read more…

(Reuters) – ChatGPT developer OpenAI’s weekly active users surged past 400 million in February, a company spokesperson told Reuters on Thursday, highlighting rapid growth in the adoption of artificial intelligence tools. The Microsoft-backed startup had 300 million weekly active users in December. Its paying business users also crossed 2 million in February, more than doubling from its last update in September. The upbeat numbers come weeks after China’s DeepSeek launched an AI model it said … Read more…

By Siddharth Cavale NEW YORK (Reuters) – Higher egg prices, an issue U.S. President Donald Trump spoke about often during his election campaign last fall, boosted Walmart grocery revenue, the world’s largest retailer said during its earnings briefing on Thursday. Walmart said its grocery revenue rose by mid-single digits in the quarter through January 31, and a Walmart earnings presentation showed that egg-price inflation was baked into that increase. Egg prices have been rising as … Read more…

(Reuters) – U.S. crude oil stockpiles were expected to have risen last week, while distillate inventories likely fell with gasoline falling marginally, an extended Reuters poll showed on Wednesday. Nine analysts polled by Reuters, ahead of weekly inventory data, estimated on average that crude inventories rose by about 3.1 million barrels in the week to February 14. The data is delayed a day due to the President’s Day holiday on Monday. The report from industry … Read more…