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Hungarian-born US investor and philanthropist George Soros delivers a speech on the sideline of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting, on January 24, 2019 in Davos, eastern Switzerland.
Fabrice Coffrini | AFP | Getty Images

Soros Fund Management, the asset management company founded by billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros, has revealed that it owns the cryptocurrency bitcoin.

The family office owns “some coins … but not a lot,” Dawn Fitzpatrick, CEO and chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, said in an interview at a Bloomberg event this week.

Soros Fund Management, which is renowned for making large profits on traditional currency investments, did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment when asked how many bitcoins it owns and when it bought them.

“I’m not sure bitcoin is only viewed as an inflation hedge here,” Fitzpatrick said. “I think it’s crossed the chasm to mainstream.”

Fitzpatrick went on to explain how cryptocurrencies now have a market value of over $2 trillion, with over 200 million users.

The price of bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, has jumped 10% from around $50,000 on Tuesday to over $55,000 on Wednesday. It was trading at $54,726 at roughly 4 a.m. ET Thursday. 

A week ago the price of bitcoin was around $43,000, while at the start of the year one bitcoin could be bought for around $29,000.

The latest bitcoin rally comes despite the continued threat of regulatory crackdowns from governments around the world and concerns about it’s enormous environmental footprint.

U.S. regulatory fears have eased this week after both Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and SEC Chair Gary Gensler said they have no plans to impose restrictions on cryptocurrency trading.

“This recent rally contrasts the stock market with assets like stocks, bonds and gold having a period of angst over high inflation and slowing economic growth,” said Freddie Evans, a sales trader at the U.K.-based digital asset broker GlobalBlock, in a statement Wednesday.

“This recent bitcoin advance could be the repeat of history following the Chinese ban on crypto activities,” he added.

Bitcoin isn’t the only cryptocurrency surging this year. Elsewhere, ether’s price has more than tripled from around $1,000 a coin at the start of the year, to over $3,000 a coin on Thursday.

Most professional investors think bitcoin is just a bubble, according to a Bank of America Fund Manager Survey that was published in April.

Some 74% of those who responded to the closely watched market gauge said they see the leading cryptocurrency as a bubble. Just 16% said no to the question, indicating the highly speculative ground they see bitcoin on.

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Chinese tech giant Tencent posts 13% revenue jump as growth at key gaming unit surges

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Chinese tech giant Tencent posts 13% revenue jump as growth at key gaming unit surges

Chinese tech company Tencent is a gaming giant and the parent company of WeChat, the ubiquitous social messaging app in China.

Cheng Xin | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Tencent on Wednesday reported an annual rise in its top and bottom line in the first quarter fuelled by accelerated growth in its key gaming business.

While revenue beat expectations, its net profit fell short.

Here’s how Tencent did in the first quarter of 2025 versus LSEG estimates:

  • Revenue: 180.02 billion Chinese yuan ($25 billion), versus 174.63 billion yuan expected
  • Net profit: 47.8 billion yuan, versus 52.2 billion yuan expected

Revenue rose 13% year-on-year, while net profit was up 14%.

This breaking news story is being updated.

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Sony shares rise about 2% in volatile trading following share buyback announcement

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Sony shares rise about 2% in volatile trading following share buyback announcement

A file photo of Hiroki Totoki, Sony Group Corporation executive, delivering a keynote address at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, on January 6, 2025. 

Artur Widak | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Sony Group shares rose about 2% Wednesday in volatile trading after the Japanese conglomerate announced a 250 billion yen ($1.7 billion) share buyback and operating income beat estimates.   

Operating income for the last three months of the financial year came in at 203.6 billion yen, beating mean analyst estimates of 192.2 billion yen, though it was down 11% from the same period last year. 

In the earnings report, the Japanese-based electronics, entertainment and finance company announced a stock buyback of shares worth 250 billion yen. 

Sony also provided details on a partial spinoff of its financial unit. The company plans to distribute slightly more than 80% of the shares of common stock of the spinoff to shareholders of Sony Group through dividends. 

The financial unit will list its financial operation this year and will be classified as a discontinued operation in Sony’s accounting from the current quarter, the company added. 

However, Sony’s outlook for the current financial year ending in March was lackluster.

The company forecasted its operating profit to rise a slight 0.3% to 1.28 trillion yen, after flagging a 100 billion yen hit from U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war.

Yet, Sony clarified that the estimated tariff impact did not reflect the trade deal made between the U.S. and China on May 12 and that the actual impact could vary significantly. 

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Samsung Electronics to acquire heating and cooling solutions provider FläktGroup for 1.5 billion euros

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Samsung Electronics to acquire heating and cooling solutions provider FläktGroup for 1.5 billion euros

A Samsung Group flag flutters in front of the company’s Seocho building in Seoul. 

Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Samsung Electronics on Wednesday announced that it would acquire all shares of German-based FläktGroup, a leading heating and cooling solutions provider, for 1.5 billion euros ($1.68 billion) from European investment firm Triton. 

Samsung said the acquisition would help it expand in the heating, ventilation and air conditioning business as the market experiences rapid growth. 

“Our commitment is to continue investing in and developing the high-growth HVAC business as a key future growth engine,” said TM Roh, Acting Head of the Device eXperience (DX) Division at Samsung Electronics.  

The acquisition of FläktGroup stands to bolster Samsung’s position in the HVAC market against rivals such as LG Electronics. 

FläktGroup supplies heating, HVAC solutions to a wide range of buildings and facilities, notably data centers which require a high degree of stable cooling. Samsung said it anticipates sustained growth in data center demand due to the proliferation of generative AI, robotics, autonomous driving and other technologies.

FläktGroup has more 60 major customers, including leading pharmaceutical companies, biotech and food and beverage firms, and gigafactories, according to Samsung’s statement.

Samsung said in March that its HVAC solutions had achieved double-digit annual revenue growth over the past five years, and that the company aimed to boost revenue by more than 30% in 2025.

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