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SpaceX Reports 92% Revenue Growth and $2 Billion Loss in First Quarterly Earnings
79d ago · bbc
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Edition · 2026-08-05
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David Ellison, chief executive of Paramount, said the lawsuits challenging the proposed $111 billion merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery are driven by political concerns rather than competition. In a New York Times guest essay published on Tuesday, he noted that regulators in 65 countries, including the United States, have reviewed and approved the deal. Ellison said the opposition is not about market share but reflects a broader political worry. He added that the state coalition and the Writers Guilds of America West and East filed the lawsuits to block the merger. The legal dispute remains unresolved, and the outcome will determine whether the merger can proceed.
Kevin Warsh, the new Federal Reserve chair, said the central bank will allow market forces to shape inflation policy after the Federal Open Markets Committee decided not to raise interest rates despite inflation running above its 2% target.
The Fed has faced rising inflation and political pressure, including calls from President Trump for lower rates. Warsh indicated that long‑term bond yields have increased, which he attributed to solid economic output, strong business investment and a resilient labor market, while noting the Fed has not taken direct action in the past 42 days. He suggested the Fed may hold fewer policy meetings and reduce the frequency of post‑meeting press conferences. Markets reacted with falling Treasury bond prices, a spike in 30‑year yields to the highest level in 19 years, and a decline in equity indices. Analysts warned that limited Fed guidance could increase uncertainty for investors and businesses, leading to higher borrowing costs across the economy. The approach may heighten market volatility and complicate the Fed’s role as a monetary authority, while inflation is expected to remain elevated.
David Ellison, the tech heir behind Paramount Skydance, said in a New York Times op‑ed that the legal challenge to his proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery is driven by perceptions of his politics and his stewardship of news outlets, not by market concerns. He argued that the dispute concerns whether he can be trusted to operate CNN and other news properties impartially.
The California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 11 other state attorneys general filed a lawsuit in July to block the deal, asserting that it could reduce competition. A judge has temporarily halted the transaction, and the parties are scheduled to go to trial within the next year.
Ellison, son of Oracle co‑founder Larry Ellison, said he has voted for both Democratic and Republican candidates and that his news properties, including CBS News and CNN, aim to report straight down the middle and reflect a broad range of viewpoints. He added that allegations of editorial interference involving CBS editor Bari Weiss, a former conservative columnist, are unsubstantiated, and that Paramount and CBS News have denied any improper influence. Representatives for Bonta did not respond to a request for comment. The lawsuit seeks to force a breakup of the merger, which would reshape the U.S. media landscape.
The outcome of the trial will determine whether the deal proceeds, leaving the future of the combined entity and its news operations unresolved.
Saudi-Led Group Completes $55 Billion Purchase of Electronic Arts Electronic Arts, known for titles such as EA FC, The Sims and Mass Effect, has been a publicly traded company ...
By · 79d ago · Source: bbc
Saudi-Led Group Completes $55 Billion Purchase of Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, known for titles such as EA FC, The Sims and Mass Effect, has been a publicly traded company since its 1993 debut and has sold more than 325 million copies of its games. The firm reported $7.5 billion in revenue last year and saw Battlefield 6 sell more than 7 million copies in its first three days.
The acquisition, finalized after a $36 billion cash contribution from the consortium and a $20 billion loan from JPMorgan, will take EA private. The group, which includes the Public Investment Fund and Affinity Partners, will hold all of EA’s shares and the company will no longer be listed on a stock exchange.
Christopher Dring, editor‑in‑chief of Game Business, said the buyout is likely to bring a hands‑on approach from the investment group, noting that private equity firms typically manage companies aggressively. Some fans have raised concerns that the new ownership could affect EA’s inclusive content, particularly regarding LGBTQ+ representation. EA chief executive Andrew Wilson said the company will continue to focus on creating transformative experiences and that he remains energized about the future. Observers noted that the deal gives the Saudi‑controlled fund a soft‑power asset with reach into the global gaming community.
Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan said on Aug. 4 that the crypto industry could continue expanding even if the U.S. Senate does not pass the Clarity Act before its August recess.
The Clarity Act, H.R. 3633, cleared the Senate Banking Committee 15 to 9 on May 14 and now requires sixty votes for cloture to proceed to a floor vote. The Senate schedule for the week of Aug. 4 did not list the bill, and no cloture filing had been announced by the end of the session on Aug. 5.
In a memo to investors, Hougan wrote that crypto “will be fine” without immediate congressional action and said the Securities and Exchange Commission could issue rules that support market growth. He cited SEC Chair Paul Atkins, who said the agency was “ready, willing, and able” to address several matters covered by the legislation. Atkins noted that statutory language would give the SEC stronger protection against future regulatory reversal.
Democratic senators, including Catherine Cortez Masto, Angela Alsobrooks, Cory Booker, Ruben Gallego, John Hickenlooper, Mark Warner and Raphael Warnock, said on July 22 that the updated Republican text falls short on ethics, consumer protection, illicit finance, conflict of interest and market integrity provisions. They requested stronger rules and indicated negotiations would continue.
Prediction markets on Polymarket assign a 23% probability that the bill will become law by Dec. 31, down from 27% earlier, based on trader sentiment.
The bill’s provisions include token disclosures, digital commodity exchanges, customer property protections, stablecoin rewards rules and anti‑money‑laundering requirements. The SEC can amend securities regulations and token offering rules under existing authority, but cannot grant the Commodity Futures Trading Commission nationwide jurisdiction over digital commodity spot markets. Consequently, SEC rules would provide part of the regulatory framework but not a complete structure.
The Senate’s procedural calendar places lawmakers in a state work period from Aug. 10 to Sept. 11. Without a cloture filing, the bill may remain in a “walking dead” status, with consideration possible in September or attached to a year‑end omnibus package, though Senate leaders have not announced such a plan.
The long‑term allocation of U.S. digital asset oversight therefore remains unsettled, with the industry potentially relying on SEC rulemaking while the legislative path stays uncertain.
BNY Mellon and Galaxy Digital announced on Tuesday a partnership to integrate institutional cryptocurrency staking into BNY’s digital asset custody platform, allowing eligible clients to earn staking rewards without transferring assets out of custody. BNY Mellon, one of the largest U.S. banks, has been offering regulated custody for Bitcoin and Ether and has expanded its digital asset services to include tokenized fund administration and onchain record‑keeping. Galaxy Digital, a crypto‑focused investment firm, will supply the staking infrastructure and act as a design partner for the broader platform. Under the agreement, institutional clients will be able to stake supported proof‑of‑stake assets while retaining them in BNY’s custody framework. The companies have not disclosed which digital assets will be included. The arrangement is intended to combine custody, staking, reporting and tax services into a single offering, a capability the firms said could streamline digital asset operations for institutions. The partnership represents an expansion of BNY Mellon’s effort to embed digital assets within traditional financial infrastructure.
Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy Digital, said at least 15 attackers exploited a vulnerability in Coldcard hardware wallets, resulting in estimated losses of $100 million across three confirmed attack waves and a possible fourth wave that could bring total losses to about $130 million. Thorn explained that the exploit differed from a centralized exchange hack and that a single victim’s report of less than 1 BTC stolen helped identify a new attack in which 12 BTC were taken from 126 addresses. Galaxy Research estimates total losses at $100 million, with a fourth wave potentially adding roughly $30 million. Discussion about the security of cold storage wallets and whether users are safer holding their own Bitcoin has been revived. Dragonfly managing partner Haseeb Qureshi noted that about $2 worth of AI hardening could have prevented the exploit, citing social media reports that AI models reproduced the vulnerability in minutes. Qureshi said results may be influenced by web search and that the open‑source model GLM 5.2 rediscovered the issue in 20 minutes without internet access. Tokenomist data lead Tatsapat Saerejittima responded that the claim of a two‑minute discovery came from a pseudonymous Reddit user after the vulnerability was publicly known, with no blind testing or documented methodology. Castle Labs co‑founder Francesco, who requested anonymity, said Coldcard’s 40‑bit private key entropy, a firmware bug, reduced security compared with the standard 128‑bit seed used by other wallets, making the flaw easier to exploit. Francesco expects the cost and time required to discover such vulnerabilities to decline as AI capabilities improve. The incident underscores ongoing concerns about cold wallet security and the role of AI in vulnerability discovery, with no definitive solution yet.
Polymarket in Talks to Raise $1 billion at Valuation Above $20 billion. The company has not announced a deal and a spokesperson declined to comment.
Earlier in April, Polymarket completed a financing round that valued the platform at about $15 billion, according to Bloomberg, with D.E. Shaw and G Squared joining the investor group. ICE confirmed a $600 million investment in March, part of a broader equity raise, and had already invested $1 billion in October 2025, though it did not disclose the valuation attached to that March injection.
Polymarket’s annualized revenue has more than tripled since April, reaching above $1.2 billion, Bloomberg said, while Reuters noted in June that annualized revenue had passed $1 billion. The company’s combined trading volume reached $50.6 billion in July, with Kalshi handling $37.7 billion, Polymarket US $5 billion and the international venue $7.9 billion.
The U.S. expansion, which began after the April financing, allows Polymarket to operate through QCX, a CFTC‑designated contract market, and to offer its app to a wait‑listed user base. The CFTC recorded Polymarket US’s designation on July 9, 2025, and the exchange has submitted rule changes covering fees, liquidity programs, surveillance and trading procedures.
Regulatory disputes remain open. The Nevada Gaming Control Board filed a civil complaint in January alleging that sports event contracts constitute unlicensed wagering, and a North Carolina law signed in July taxes CFTC‑regulated prediction market fees at 6 % beginning in 2027.
Kalshi, Polymarket’s main competitor, secured a $1 billion Series F round at a $22 billion valuation in May, with Coatue leading participation from Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, IVP, Paradigm, Morgan Stanley and ARK Invest. Kalshi reported an 800 % increase in institutional trading volume over six months and a rise in annualized trading volume from $52 billion to $178 billion.
If the $1 billion raise is completed, Polymarket’s valuation would be more than twice the $9 billion figure cited by Bloomberg for an October round and would place the company nearer to Kalshi’s $22 billion valuation. However, the transaction remains unverified, and investors may weigh the company’s international reach, crypto settlement infrastructure, brand recognition and relationships with ICE against regulatory risks and legal costs.
Readers should treat the fundraising amount, valuation and investor composition as preliminary until a formal agreement is announced.
Samsung announced it will embed stablecoin functionality, including fiat‑pegged savings and payment accounts, into Galaxy smartphones sold in 61 countries, targeting about 800 million devices.
The integration builds on Samsung’s existing Wallet app, which already has roughly 19 million users in South Korea and is available in 61 countries. Samsung’s $408 million investment in Upbit operator Dunamu and related affiliates aims to develop digital‑asset infrastructure, supporting both dollar‑ and won‑denominated stablecoins as South Korea considers its Digital Asset Basic Act.
At the Galaxy Unpacked 2026 event, Samsung said the new features would be enabled by default on upcoming devices. Industry analysts noted that wide distribution could accelerate stablecoin adoption, though they cautioned that actual user uptake remains uncertain. Joseph Goh of Areta described Samsung’s distribution capacity as a “scarce asset,” while Ben Nadareski of Solstice called the move positive for broader crypto use.
Samsung’s effort positions it as one of the first major handset manufacturers to offer native stablecoins, potentially reshaping how digital value is transferred on mobile devices, but the company has not disclosed expected adoption rates.
Poolin Technology and its affiliates filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 22, proposing to sell two West Texas mining sites for a combined $52 million as part of a plan to address roughly $173.1 million in pre‑petition obligations, including $163.7 million in IOUs owed to about 11,700 wallet holders. The asset sales are being pursued by prospective buyer Thor CALAP LLC, which may terminate the agreements before Aug. 9 if due diligence is unsatisfactory. The court has scheduled a hearing on the bidding process for Aug. 14, with a proposed bid deadline of Sept. 8, a possible auction on Sept. 10, and a sale hearing by Sept. 16. The two packages, known as the Tarbush and Pyote assets, are valued at $37 million and $15 million respectively, with initial cash deposits of $1.85 million and $750,000 already secured. Lonestar Dream Inc. and Lonestar Taproot LLC currently hold the assets, while Poolin’s direct cash holdings total about $1.2 million, an office lease, and an intercompany claim against the two Lonestar entities. Mining and hosting operations at the sites were halted on July 10, and the debtors have indicated no intention to resume them. Additional expressions of interest have been filed, but no qualified competing offers have been confirmed. The amount available to wallet creditors will depend on estate‑specific claims, liens, taxes, professional fees, and the treatment of Poolin’s intercompany claim, all of which remain unresolved. Whether Thor remains engaged past the Aug. 9 deadline, whether the court approves the sale process, and whether competition influences the final price are the key variables that will determine the recovery percentage for wallet holders.
This edition was assembled from neutral, agent-rewritten summaries of the day's aggregated news.
Why it matters: Every article was reviewed for loaded language, partisan framing, and missing attribution before publication.
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