Business

(Reuters) -Google-parent Alphabet has abandoned its plans to buy online marketing software company HubSpot, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. HubSpot shares fell nearly 12% in afternoon trading while Alphabet shares were up 1.2%. In April, Reuters had reported, citing sources, that Alphabet was in talks with advisers about making an offer for HubSpot. Alphabet had communicated its interest in a potential deal with HubSpot earlier this year, but the … Read more…

(Reuters) -Neuralink, Elon Musk’s brain-chip company, is working on a new device that it believes will require half the number of electrodes to be implanted in the brain to make it more efficient and powerful, the company’s executives said. The company is also taking risk mitigation measures such as skull sculpting and reduce the carbon dioxide concentration in the blood to normal level in patients, the executives said in a live stream on social media … Read more…

(Reuters) -Billionaire Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI and tech giant Oracle have ended talks on a potential $10 billion server deal, The Information reported on Tuesday. The startup and Oracle have ended talks to expand an existing arrangement under which xAI has been renting Nvidia’s AI chips from the cloud provider, the report said, citing several people involved in the talks. The AI startup is building a system using Nvidia’s H100 graphics processing units … Read more…

SANTIAGO (Reuters) – Chilean officials on Tuesday said they will consider 81 proposals for lithium projects across the South American country, putting the country on track to surpass a goal of launching four new projects by the end of 2026. Chile in April called for proposals in more than two dozen salt flats that contain the battery metal, in line with the government’s aims to boost production. It is currently the world’s No. 2 producer. … Read more…

(Reuters) -Citigroup will wind up its operations in Haiti due to weak demand from institutional clients and lower international banking activity, ending its presence of more than five decades in the country. The exit is part of a strategic review and will not have a significant economic impact on Citi, the bank said on Monday. Citi, one of the largest banks in the United States, has exited non-core markets since CEO Jane Fraser took the … Read more…

By Milana Vinn (Reuters) -Private equity firm Bain Capital is nearing a deal to acquire Envestnet, a U.S. financial software vendor with a market value of about $3.5 billion, people familiar with the matter said on Monday. If the negotiations conclude successfully, a deal with Bain could be announced as soon as this week and would value Envestnet at close to its current stock price, the sources said. Envestnet shares are hovering at around $63. … Read more…

(Reuters) – Wall Street’s top regulator no longer expects to move ahead with proposed “swing pricing” regulations on the management of liquidity at so-called open-end funds, choosing instead to issue a fresh proposal after facing industry opposition, according to a regulatory agenda on Monday. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2022 issued the proposal which it said would help such funds, in which investors can redeem their shares on a daily basis, better prepare … Read more…

(Reuters) – Private equity firm Carlyle Group is in exclusive talks to acquire Baxter International’s kidney care spinoff Vantive for more than $4 billion, including debt, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. Shares of the Deerfield, Illinois-based firm rose about 4%. The parties had entered exclusive negotiations in late June, the person said, adding that a deal could be announced in the coming weeks. Medical device maker Baxter said in March … Read more…

LONDON (Reuters) – The amount of cryptocurrency stolen in hacks globally more than doubled in the first six months of 2024 from a year earlier, driven by a small number of large attacks and rising crypto prices, blockchain researchers TRM Labs said on Friday. Hackers had stolen more than $1.38 billion worth of crypto by June 24, 2024, compared with $657 million in the same period in 2023, TRM Labs said in a report. The … Read more…

(Reuters) – Robinhood Markets is considering offering cryptocurrency futures in the U.S. and Europe in the coming months, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The commission-free trading app is hoping to use the licenses of crypto exchange Bitstamp, which it agreed to buy last month in a $200 million deal, once the transaction closes next year, the report said. It also wants to launch CME-based futures in the U.S. for … Read more…