cnbc_topnews

Saudi wealth fund and Jared Kushner's Affinity finalize $55 billion EA Sports deal

📰 source: cnbc_topnews · 💼 business

a consortium led by saudi arabia's public investment fund finalized the $55 billion acquisition of electronic arts. the deal includes private equity firm silver lake and affity partners, the firm led by jared kushner. ea confirmed the deal late tuesday, shares ceased trading and will be delisted from the nasdaq. shareholders get $210 in cash per share.

the purchase was partly financed by a $20 billion loan from jpmorgan, reportedly the largest leveraged buyout in history. pif's head of international investments turqi alnowaiser said 'entertainment and sports are key areas of strategic focus.' analysts worry the debt load will push ea toward safe franchises like the sims, battlefield, and sports titles instead of new intellectual property.

f-squared founder michael futter told cnbc: 'the debt hanging over their head isn't likely to create a shift in strategy... it will likely see leadership entrench themselves in the titles they think have the largest revenue potential.' he added he doesn't know how ea will service the debt without layoffs, studio closures, or ip sell-offs.

why it matters: record $55b leveraged buyout puts saudi money and heavy debt behind ea, likely reshaping its risk appetite and game pipeline.

source: cnbc_topnews
sentiment: +0.60 · impact: 0.90

Surprise fall in US jobs last month as slow summer continues

📰 source: bbc_business · 💼 business us jobs fell by 23,000 last month, against forecasts for an 80,000 gain, with the bureau of labor statistics also revising down may and june payrolls by a combined 103,000. the unemployment rate still dipped to 4.1% from 4.2%, as labor

Homes are selling below asking in 38 of the 50 biggest U.S. cities—if you can afford one

📰 source: cnbc_topnews · 💼 business homes sold for less than their asking price in 38 of the 50 largest u.s. housing markets in june, per redfin. the biggest discounts hit florida and texas: miami and west palm beach averaged nearly 5% below asking, while houston, austin, tampa, dallas, san antonio,

China is gaining ground in AI. But the U.S. still has a major advantage

📰 source: cnbc_topnews · 💼 business hugging face ceo clément delangue told cnbc china is clearly dominating on open models and could start dominating at the frontier by end of this year or next. chinese models are closing the gap with u.s. frontier systems despite limited access to cutting-edge compute. beijing-based

US strikes $1.2bn deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects

📰 source: bbc_business · 💼 business rwe will abandon its offshore wind projects in the us after accepting a $1.2bn payout from the department of the interior. the german energy firm said it will reinvest the money into gas projects, including $900m for an lng export terminal in louisiana. rwe will

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Surprise fall in US jobs last month as slow summer continues

Homes are selling below asking in 38 of the 50 biggest U.S. cities—if you can afford one

China is gaining ground in AI. But the U.S. still has a major advantage

US strikes $1.2bn deal to pay German firm to halt offshore wind projects