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Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Walgreens Gains After CNBC Says Sycamore Takeout Is ‘Alive'
(Bloomberg) -- Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. shares soared after CNBC said that a take-private deal with private equity firm Sycamore Partners is still possible. Why Barcelona Bought the Building That Symbolizes Its Housing Crisis Por qué Barcelona compró el edificio que simboliza su crisis inmobiliaria Trump Child Refugee Agency Shares Data With Immigration Enforcers A Filmmaker's Surreal Journey Into His Own Private Winnipeg The deal for the drugstore chain appeared 'mostly dead a couple of weeks ago,' CNBC's David Faber said Tuesday. He said he was now upgrading the deal to 'alive.' Walgreens shares gained as much as 15% in New York. They had risen 4% this year as of Friday's close. Reports emerged in December of a possible deal with Sycamore, which had earlier expressed interest in Walgreens' international unit. Bloomberg reported at the end of last month that Sycamore had been speaking with private credit firms about debt financing for a potential deal for Walgreens, according to people familiar with the matter. Faber had said Jan. 27 that the deal was 'mostly dead.' Walgreens' pharmacy operations are facing financial pressure from falling drug reimbursements and increased competition for retail sales from online and discount rivals. The company is also contending with liabilities from opioid-related legal actions and has considered selling some of its health clinic businesses. Walgreens has been conserving cash, suspending its quarterly dividend at the end of January, which it had paid for the past 92 years. The potential deal would be 'big and complicated, and I'm still skeptical,' said Jeff Jonas, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds, an investor in Walgreens. The company has a lot of debt, which makes a leveraged buyout difficult, he said. Sycamore and Walgreens declined to comment. (Updates with background in fourth and fifth paragraphs.) Before DeepSeek Blew Up, Chatbot Arena Announced Its Arrival The Undocumented Workers Who Helped Build Elon Musk's Texas Gigafactory The Startup That Stepped In When the Baby Formula Supply Chain Broke The Unicorn Boom Is Over, and Startups Are Getting Desperate Japan Perfected 7-Eleven. Why Can't the US Get It Right? ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Siemens Set to Raise €1.4 Billion in Healthineers Stake Sale
(Bloomberg) -- Siemens AG is likely to raise about €1.4 billion ($1.5 billion) from the sale of a roughly 2.3% stake in Siemens Healthineers AG, the medical technology unit it listed in 2018, after increasing the size of the deal. Trump to Halt NY Congestion Pricing by Terminating Approval Sorry, Kids: Disney's New York Headquarters Is for Grown-Ups Why Barcelona Bought the Building That Symbolizes Its Housing Crisis Child Migrant Watchdog Gutted in DOGE Cuts Por qué Barcelona compró el edificio que simboliza su crisis inmobiliaria The German group increased the number of Healthineers shares offered to around 26.5 million from 22 million, and was expected to price them at €54.65 each, according to terms seen by Bloomberg. Demand exceeded the shares available by several times, the terms show. The price would represent a discount of about 2.9% from the close on Wednesday of €56.28 each, according to Bloomberg calculations. The sale comes after Siemens said last year it could sell shares in Siemens Healthineers to pay for its $10.6 billion acquisition of Altair Engineering Inc. The proceeds will go to fund general corporate purposes, according to the release. Siemens has also said it plans to sell a €2.5 billion stake in Siemens Energy AG to fund the Altair deal. Barclays Plc, BNP Paribas SA and Morgan Stanley are arranging the deal, according to the terms. Investors have raised $6.3 billion in Europe this year through overnight placings, with corporate shareholders leading the charge, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Pfizer Inc. sold a $3.1 billion stake in Sensodyne-maker Haleon Plc last month, just a day after Reinet Investments SCA exited its $1.5 billion stake in British American Tobacco Plc. --With assistance from Wilfried Eckl-Dorna and Bre Bradham. (Updates with price guidance, number of shares in first three paragraphs.) How Med Spas Conquered America Before DeepSeek Blew Up, Chatbot Arena Announced Its Arrival The Startup That Stepped In When the Baby Formula Supply Chain Broke The Undocumented Workers Who Helped Build Elon Musk's Texas Gigafactory The Unicorn Boom Is Over, and Startups Are Getting Desperate ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Microsoft Debuts Generative AI That Can Create Video-Game Scenes
(Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp. unveiled artificial intelligence tools that can create video-game scenes that would normally have to be programmed and animated by a human, a model it built using data collected from Xbox gamers and their controllers. Trump to Halt NY Congestion Pricing by Terminating Approval Sorry, Kids: Disney's New York Headquarters Is for Grown-Ups Why Barcelona Bought the Building That Symbolizes Its Housing Crisis Child Migrant Watchdog Gutted in DOGE Cuts Por qué Barcelona compró el edificio que simboliza su crisis inmobiliaria Called Muse, the model is the first of its kind, according to Microsoft. A machine learning research team surveyed game developers to discern how generative AI could be helpful and what they'd need for such tools to be effective, said Katja Hofmann, a senior principal research manager at Microsoft. Then, to train the AI model, Hofmann's team collected seven years' worth of gameplay data from Bleeding Edge, a 2020 multiplayer battle game from Xbox's Ninja Theory studio. 'If you haven't seen any of this generated gameplay footage before, you might think these are just clips from a video game,' Hofmann said in a demonstration for reporters. The Muse model was announced Wednesday in the journal Nature. Microsoft's Xbox team and other industry players are eager to use AI to help reduce the hundreds of millions of dollars studios typically spend on blockbusters — costs that have skyrocketed in recent years even as sales growth has slowed. It's controversial because players are suspicious that generative AI could hurt game quality. And studio employees, already hit with a series of layoffs, fret that the technology could further reduce their ranks. Bleeding Edge pits two teams of four against each another and is played entirely online. All games are recorded with players' permission. That let the researchers amass more than a billion game images paired with corresponding controller usage. The result is what Microsoft calls a 'World and Human Action Model.' Like most generative AI models, it creates something after being prompted — in this case a sequence of visuals after being shown a game scene created by a human. 'The model is able to generate something that is really consistent, that demonstrates a very accurate understanding of the actual game world,' Hofmann said. The AI-made elements include interactions between characters and other elements of the game. Outside researchers will be able to build on Microsoft's work with prototype software the company plans to release. How Med Spas Conquered America Before DeepSeek Blew Up, Chatbot Arena Announced Its Arrival The Startup That Stepped In When the Baby Formula Supply Chain Broke The Undocumented Workers Who Helped Build Elon Musk's Texas Gigafactory The Unicorn Boom Is Over, and Startups Are Getting Desperate ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Pope's Blood Tests Show ‘Slight Improvement,' Vatican Says
(Bloomberg) -- Pope Francis' blood tests showed 'a slight improvement' in measurements of inflammation and the pontiff remained in stable condition as he's hospitalized for pneumonia, the Vatican said. Trump to Halt NY Congestion Pricing by Terminating Approval Sorry, Kids: Disney's New York Headquarters Is for Grown-Ups Why Barcelona Bought the Building That Symbolizes Its Housing Crisis Child Migrant Watchdog Gutted in DOGE Cuts Por qué Barcelona compró el edificio que simboliza su crisis inmobiliaria Earlier in the day, the pontiff, who was admitted for treatment in Rome on Friday, met for 20 minutes with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who said he is 'alert and responsive.' 'We joked as always,' Meloni said in an earlier statement. 'He hasn't lost his proverbial sense of humor.' Francis, 88, was hospitalized after what doctors called an increasingly complex health issue. The Vatican said the pope was suffering from pneumonia in both lungs — and that medical staff had altered his drug regimen to battle the infection. Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Francis has been the spiritual leader of the world's Catholics since 2013. He is the first pope to hail from the Americas and the first non-European pontiff since the eighth century. How Med Spas Conquered America Before DeepSeek Blew Up, Chatbot Arena Announced Its Arrival The Startup That Stepped In When the Baby Formula Supply Chain Broke The Undocumented Workers Who Helped Build Elon Musk's Texas Gigafactory The Unicorn Boom Is Over, and Startups Are Getting Desperate ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Intel Has Biggest Rally Since 2020 on Breakup Speculation
(Bloomberg) -- Intel Corp. soared 16% on speculation that the iconic chipmaker could be broken up in a deal involving Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and Broadcom Inc. Sorry, Kids: Disney's New York Headquarters Is for Grown-Ups Why Barcelona Bought the Building That Symbolizes Its Housing Crisis Child Migrant Watchdog Gutted in DOGE Cuts Por qué Barcelona compró el edificio que simboliza su crisis inmobiliaria Trump Child Refugee Agency Shares Data With Immigration Enforcers TSMC has discussed the idea of operating Intel's US factories and owning a controlling stake in the venture, Bloomberg News reported last week. Broadcom, meanwhile, has held informal talks with advisers about making a bid for Intel's chip-design and marketing business, the Wall Street Journal said. Separately, Bloomberg reported that Silver Lake Management is in exclusive talks to acquire a majority stake in Altera, Intel's programmable chip unit. Though the discussions have reached an an advanced stage, the exact size of the stake hasn't been determined, according to people familiar with the talks. The reports gave fresh life to the idea of an Intel breakup — a topic of conjecture for investors and analysts since last year. Even the company itself has said that it's an open question whether Intel might eventually split up its factory and product-development divisions. Intel climbed to $27.39 in New York trading Tuesday, marking the biggest single-day increase since March 2020. The stock was already up 18% this year through the end of last week, fueled by the deal speculation. Intel, once dominant in the chip industry, has struggled to regain its technological edge and lost market share to rivals in recent years. It also missed the shift to artificial intelligence accelerators, letting Nvidia Corp. take a commanding lead in that field. Intel's board ousted Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger last year after his comeback plan was slow to gain momentum, and the company has been searching for a new leader. Bloomberg reported last year that Broadcom assessed whether to pursue an Intel deal but didn't move ahead with talks. Advisers continued to pitch ideas to Broadcom, people familiar with the matter said at the time. The TSMC factory plan might help clear the way for a deal to buy the product-development unit, but neither scenario has advanced past the early stages. Though Trump administration officials raised the idea of the TSMC deal in recent meetings, a White House representative said last week that the president would be unlikely to support a foreign entity operating Intel's factories. --With assistance from Mackenzie Hawkins. (Updates shares starting in first paragraph.) How Med Spas Conquered America Before DeepSeek Blew Up, Chatbot Arena Announced Its Arrival The Startup That Stepped In When the Baby Formula Supply Chain Broke The Undocumented Workers Who Helped Build Elon Musk's Texas Gigafactory The Unicorn Boom Is Over, and Startups Are Getting Desperate ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
