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This photograph taken on September 28, 2017, shows a smartphone being operated in front of the logos of Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon web giants.
Damien Meyer | AFP | Getty Images

The world’s biggest tech companies are facing a corporate tax avoidance crackdown after the Group of Seven most developed economies agreed a historic deal Saturday.

The G-7 backed a U.S. proposal that calls for corporations around the world to pay a minimum 15% tax on profits. The reforms, if finalized, would affect the largest companies in the world with profit margins of at least 10%.

Looking ahead, the G-7 hopes to achieve a wider agreement on the new tax proposals next month at a gathering of the expanded G-20 finance ministers.

Asked whether Amazon and Facebook would be among the companies targeted by the proposal, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she believes they would “qualify by almost any definition.”

Here’s how America’s tech giants reacted to the news:

Amazon

Amazon said the agreement “marks a welcome step forward” in efforts to “bring stability to the international tax system.”

“We hope to see discussions continue to advance with the broader G20 and Inclusive Framework alliance,” an Amazon spokesperson told CNBC by email.

Facebook

Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president for global affairs, welcomed the G-7 deal and said the social networking giant “has long called for reform of the global tax rules.”

The agreement is a “significant first step towards certainty for businesses and strengthening public confidence in the global tax system,” Clegg tweeted Saturday.

“We want the international tax reform process to succeed and recognize this could mean Facebook paying more tax, and in different places.”

Google

A spokesperson for Google told Sky News that the company strongly supported the initiative and hoped for a “balanced and durable” agreement.

Apple wasn’t immediately available for a comment on the G-7 agreement when contacted by CNBC.

The tech tax debate

Tech giants have long been criticized for paying little in taxes despite their size. Amazon and other companies have been accused of avoiding tax by shifting revenue and profits through tax havens or low-tax countries. The companies insist they’re doing nothing wrong from a legal standpoint, which is why policymakers are calling for reforms.

Amazon infamously paid no U.S. federal income tax in 2018, despite booking more than $11 billion in profits. The low tax bill stemmed largely from tax cuts in 2017, carryforward losses from years when the company wasn’t profitable, and tax credits for massive research and development investment and share-based employee compensation.

Some countries, such as Britain, France and Italy, have introduced a digital services tax in an effort to rake in more cash from large tech firms. The aim was to implement a solution for the interim while global officials hash out details for international tax rules.

But this has led to friction with the United States, which under President Donald Trump’s administration threatened to impose tariffs on French goods over the issue.

Meanwhile, some analysts have argued the deal doesn’t go far enough, while others said there was a long road ahead.

George Dibb, head of the Centre for Economic Justice at the London-based Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), described the deal as a “major step forward,” but said there were still “big questions” surrounding the minimum tax level.

“We would like to see something a lot closer to 25%,” he told CNBC Monday.

“The Biden administration came into these negotiations with an opening offer of 21% but I think the big fight at the G-7 over Friday and Saturday was over the wording, about whether it would say ‘15%′ or ‘at least 15%’ and because we have that wording now of ‘at least 15%’ the door is still open for negotiation,” he told Squawk Box Europe.

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Amazon’s cloud business giving federal agencies up to $1 billion in discounts

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Amazon's cloud business giving federal agencies up to  billion in discounts

Attendees walk through an exposition hall at AWS re:Invent, a conference hosted by Amazon Web Services, in Las Vegas on Dec. 3, 2024.

Noah Berger | Getty Images

Amazon Web Services has agreed to provide U.S. federal agencies with up to $1 billion in discounts for cloud adoption, modernization and training through 2028, an agency overseeing government procurement announced Thursday.

The agreement is expected to speed up migration to the cloud, as well as adoption of artificial intelligence tools, the General Services Administration said.

“AWS’s partnership with GSA demonstrates a shared public-private commitment to enhancing America’s AI leadership,” the agency said in a release.

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Amazon‘s cloud boss Matt Garman hailed the agreement as a “significant milestone in the large-scale digital transformation of government services.”

The discounts aggregated across federal agencies include credits to use AWS’ cloud infrastructure, modernization programs and training services, as well as incentives for “direct partnership.”

The GSA announced a similar deal last month with cloud rival Oracle. The agency also reached an agreement with OpenAI on Wednesday that will give federal agencies access to ChatGPT for $1 through the next year.

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Duolingo stock skyrockets 30% on boosted guidance as AI powers user growth

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Duolingo stock skyrockets 30% on boosted guidance as AI powers user growth

A Duolingo logo is seen on a smartphone.

Pavlo Gonchar | LightRocket | Getty Images

Duolingo shares skyrocketed more than 30% after the language learning platform boosted its guidance due to strong user growth driven by artificial intelligence.

The mobile learning platform hiked its full-year guidance to between $1.01 billion and $1.02 billion, up from a prior range of $987 million to $996 million. Duolingo also lifted its bookings guidance to between $1.15 billion and $1.16 billion.

“We exceeded our own high expectations for bookings and revenue this quarter, and did it while expanding profitability,” said co-founder and CEO Luis von Ahn in a release.

Daily active users jumped 40% to nearly 48 million from about 34 million in the year-ago period.

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In an effort to expand its course offerings and boost users, Duolingo has implemented AI tools, including a video-call conversation practice feature for some paying subscribers. The company has also expanded beyond language learning with new course such as chess.

Duolingo also announced the acquisition of London-based music gaming startup NextBeat for an undisclosed amount as it looks to broaden its app products.

The company’s CEO said Duolingo is still in the early stages of its growth trajectory.

Revenues jumped about 41% year over year to $252 million and beat a Wall Street estimate of $241 million. Net income grew 84% from a year ago to about $45 million, or 91 cents per share.

For the third quarter, Duolingo projects revenues between $257 million and $261 million, surpassing the $253 million forecast from Wall Street analysts.

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Democrats question Google’s Trump talks over censorship suit and possible ‘quid-pro-quo’ deal

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Democrats question Google's Trump talks over censorship suit and possible 'quid-pro-quo' deal

Ranking Member, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks during a Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee confirmation hearing on President Trump’s nominees to lead the National Economic Council, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Housing Finance Agency, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 27, 2025.

Annabelle Gordon | Reuters

Senate Democrats, including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, are asking Google and its YouTube unit whether discussions with lawyers for President Donald Trump have included the possibility of settling a censorship suit in exchange for potentially favorable treatment from the administration.

In a letter sent Thursday to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, the senators asked the executives about conversations with President Trump’s lawyers over an ongoing lawsuit that was filed by Trump more than four years ago, accusing the online video platform of unlawful censorship.

The lawsuit stemmed from the suspension of Trump’s accounts on social media sites after the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump filed suits against Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube later that year.

The senators highlighted reports of a court filing from May indicating that lawyers representing YouTube and President Trump were “engaged in productive discussions.” In that filing, the two parties asked the judge to delay a June court hearing until Sept. 8. 

“We are concerned about the possibility that Google could settle the lawsuit against YouTube in a quid-pro-quo arrangement to avoid full accountability for violating federal competition, consumer protection, and labor laws, circumstances that could result in the company running afoul of federal bribery laws,” the letter states.

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Twitter (now X) and Facebook (now Meta) settled lawsuits with Trump this year, for about $10 million and $25 million, respectively. Trump’s 2021 suit claimed unconstitutional censorship after his accounts were suspended. A judge dismissed the Twitter case in 2022, but Trump appealed.

Under the 1996 Communications Decency Act, social media platforms are allowed to moderate content on their platforms and exempt themselves from liability for the material that users post.

The senators noted in their letter that Google is a defendant in multiple unfair labor and antitrust lawsuits brought by the U.S. government. It also pointed to the company’s donation of $1 million to President Trump’s inaugural fund, and noted that Pichai attended the president’s inauguration and dined with him at Mar-a-Lago.

Google currently faces the potential of being broken into parts, after the company lost an antitrust case last year brought by the Department of Justice related to Google’s dominance in search.

The company argued that any kind of breakup could result in the U.S. ceding tech competition to China. The judge is expected to rule on the penalties this month. 

Google also has several open cases from the National Labor Relations Board, alleging unfair labor practices, the senators said.

“The company has substantial interests in almost every aspect of the federal government, from tax policy to energy and environmental policy, and much more,” they wrote. “Google stands to benefit from how the federal government proceeds in these matters, and Google may settle this lawsuit in the hopes of securing outcomes favorable to the company.”

Despite calls for answers, Democratic senators have limited ability to force action as Republicans control the White House and both houses of Congress.

Google didn’t immediately provide a comment.

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