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Eddy Cue, senior vice president of services at Apple Inc.

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Apple senior vice president of services Eddy Cue is expected to testify all day Tuesday in federal court where the U.S. Department of Justice is accusing Google of using licensing agreements to monopolize online search.

Under scrutiny is a deal in which Google pays Apple billions of dollars to be the default search engine on the iPhone’s browser and other settings. Google could pay Apple as much as $19 billion this year, according to an estimate from Bernstein.

Cue, who negotiated the deal with Google from Apple’s side, is expected to testify that Apple picked the Google search engine as an iPhone default because it was the best product. He’s also expected to say that Apple doesn’t see a reason to create a new Apple search engine because Google already exists, according to a person familiar with Cue’s anticipated testimony.

Cue will also say that Apple has revenue-sharing agreements with competing search engines Yahoo, Microsoft Bing, DuckDuckGo and Ecosia, and that Apple users can change their default search engines, according to a person familiar with Cue’s anticipated testimony.

The testimony could shed some light on one of the highest-profile deals in the technology industry, which has been shrouded in secrecy for the past decade. The money Google pays to Apple for default placement is one of its biggest costs, and the advertising revenue Apple collects from Google is a major part of Apple’s profits.

Apple reports its payments from Google as advertising revenue, reported in its services business, which totaled $78.1 billion in sales in Apple’s fiscal 2022.

“I think their search engine is the best,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said when asked about using Google as the iPhone’s default search engine in 2018.

Google on trial

Much of Cue’s testimony and related financial documents could remain under seal, which means they won’t be released to the public.

Last week, Apple machine learning executive John Giannandrea testified. Before Apple, he worked at Google on its search engine.

The D.C. District Court judge, Amit Mehta, has said he wants to be conservative about how many documents are released to the public, and last week’s Giannandrea testimony was entirely sealed except for 15 minutes, where Giannandrea revealed a new search engine setting on the most recent iPhone operating system.

The DOJ previously had a page on its website where it would post documents and exhibits from the trial, and it was taken down last week on Google’s request.

The Google trial, expected to last 10 weeks, is the biggest technology monopoly trial since the DOJ took on Microsoft more than 20 years ago. The DOJ alleges Google has violated anti-monopoly law by striking exclusive agreements with mobile phone makers for its Android operating system and browser companies for default placement. The government alleges that the practice creates barriers to entry for competing search engines.

“This case is about the future of the internet and whether Google’s search engine will ever face meaningful competition,” the DOJ’s lawyer, Kenneth Dintzer, told the court in opening statements. He alleged that Google has more than 89% of the market for general search.

Google said before the trial kicked off earlier this month that it sees licensing agreements as a standard business practice that brings its products to consumers and creates a better experience for users. Google also argues that consumers can easily change default search engines on Android and Apple phones.

The DOJ is expected to present its case for about four weeks, then a coalition of attorneys general will present their case, followed by Google. Google CEO Sundar Pichai is also expected to testify, the DOJ said.

CNBC’s Steve Kovach contributed to this story.

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Amazon CEO Jassy says AI will lead to ‘fewer people doing some of the jobs’ that get automated

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Amazon CEO Jassy says AI will lead to 'fewer people doing some of the jobs' that get automated

AI will change the workforce, says Amazon CEO Andy Jassy

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the rapid rollout of generative artificial intelligence means the company will one day require fewer employees to do some of the work that computers can handle.

“Like with every technical transformation, there will be fewer people doing some of the jobs that the technology actually starts to automate,” Jassy told CNBC’s Jim Cramer in an interview on Monday. “But there’s going to be other jobs.”

Even as AI eliminates the need for some roles, Amazon will continue to hire more employees in AI, robotics and elsewhere, Jassy said.

Earlier this month, Jassy admitted that he expects the company’s workforce to decline in the next few years as Amazon embraces generative AI and AI-powered software agents. He told staffers in a memo that it will be “hard to know exactly where this nets out over time” but that the corporate workforce will shrink as Amazon wrings more efficiencies out of the technology.

It’s a message that’s making its way across the tech sector. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff last week claimed AI is doing 30% to 50% of the work at his software vendor. Other companies such as Shopify and Microsoft have urged employees to adopt the technology in their daily work. The CEO of Klarna said in May that the online lender has managed to shrink its headcount by about 40%, in part due to investments in AI and natural attrition in its workforce.

Jassy said on Monday that AI will free employees from “rote work” and “make all our jobs more interesting,” while enabling staffers to invent better services more quickly than before.

Amazon and other tech companies have also been shrinking their workforces through rolling layoffs over the past several years. Amazon has cut more than 27,000 jobs since the start of 2022, and it’s announced smaller, more targeted layoffs in its retail and devices units in recent months.

Amazon shares are flat so far this year, underperforming the Nasdaq, which has gained 5.5%. The stock is about 10% below its record reached in February, while fellow megacaps Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia are all trading at or very near record highs.

WATCH: Jassy says robots that will eventually do delivery and transportation

Over time we will have robots that will do delivery and transportation, says Amazon CEO Andy Jassy

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Stablecoin issuer Circle applies for a national bank charter

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Stablecoin issuer Circle applies for a national bank charter

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), on the day of Circle Internet Group’s IPO, in New York City, U.S., June 5, 2025.

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group has applied for a national trust bank charter, moving forward on its mission to bring stablecoins into the traditional financial world after the firm’s big market debut this month, CNBC confirmed.

Shares rose 1% after hours.

If the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency grants the bank charter, Circle will establish the First National Digital Currency Bank, N.A. Under the charter, Circle, which issues the USDC stablecoin, will also be able to offer custody services in the future to institutional clients for assets, which could include representations of stocks and bonds on a blockchain network.

Reuters first reported on Circle’s bank charter application.

There are no plans to change the management of Circle’s USDC reserves, which are currently held with other major banks.

Anchorage Digital is the only other crypto company to obtain such a license.

Circle’s move comes after a wildly successful IPO and debut trading month on the public markets. Shares of the company are up 484% in June. The company is also benefiting from a wave of optimism after the Senate’s passage of the GENIUS Act, which would give the U.S. a regulatory framework for stablecoins.

Having a federally regulated trust charter would also help Circle meet requirements under the GENIUS Act.

“Establishing a national digital currency trust bank of this kind marks a significant milestone in our goal to build an internet financial system that is transparent, efficient and accessible,” Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said in a statement shared with CNBC. “By applying for a national trust charter, Circle is taking proactive steps to further strengthen our USDC infrastructure.”

“Further, we will align with emerging U.S. regulation for the issuance and operation of dollar-denominated payment stablecoins, which we believe can enhance the reach and resilience of the U.S. dollar, and support the development of crucial, market neutral infrastructure for the world’s leading institutions to build on,” he said.

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Meta shares hit all-time high as Mark Zuckerberg goes on AI hiring blitz

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Meta shares hit all-time high as Mark Zuckerberg goes on AI hiring blitz

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., during the Meta Connect event on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images


Meta shares hit a record high on Monday, underscoring investor interest in the company’s new AI superintelligence group.

The company’s shares reached $747.90 during midday trading, topping Meta’s previous stock market record in February when it began laying off the 5% of its workforce that it deemed “low performers.”

Meta joins Microsoft and Nvidia among tech megacaps that have reached new highs of late, all closing at records Monday. Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Tesla remain below their all-time highs reached late last year or early this year.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been on an AI hiring blitz amid fierce competition with rivals such as OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet. Earlier in June, Meta said it would hire Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang and some of his colleagues as part of a $14.3 billion investment into the executive’s data labeling and annotation startup.

The social media company also hired Nat Friedman and his business partner, Daniel Gross, the chief of Safe Superintelligence, an AI startup with a valuation of $32 billion, CNBC reported on June 19. Meta’s attempts to buy Safe Superintelligence were rebuffed by the startup’s founder and AI expert Ilya Sutskever, the report noted.

Wang and Friedman are the leaders of Meta’s new Superintelligence Labs, tasked with overseeing the company’s artificial intelligence foundation models, projects and research, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC. The term superintelligence refers to technology that exceeds human capability.

Bloomberg News first reported about the new superintelligence unit.

Meta has also snatched AI researchers from OpenAI. Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, said during a podcast that Meta was offering signing bonuses as high as $100 million.

Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s technology chief, spoke about the social media company’s AI hiring spree during a June 20 interview with CNBC’s “Closing Bell Overtime,” saying that the talent market is “really incredible and kind of unprecedented in my 20-year career as a technology executive.”

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Meta escalated talent war with OpenAI

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