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Still from Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 2.”

Paramount

After Sega’s blockbuster adaptation of its classic Sonic the Hedgehog gaming franchise on the big screen, the company suggested it wants to replicate that success with other hit video games in its arsenal.

Speaking with CNBC at the Web Summit tech conference in Libson, Portugal, Tuesday, Sega Chief Operating Officer Shuji Utsumi said that the company is thinking of bringing more of its lucrative intellectual property to other platforms, including movies and the gaming platform Roblox.

“Sonic is reviving,” Utsumi told CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal, alluding to the success of the Sonic the Hedgehog adaptations in the box office.

Sonic the Hedgehog grossed $306.8 million in the box office, becoming a blockbuster win for the franchise even after initial angry reaction from fans over a poor rendition of the iconic character the first time Sega revealed it to the world.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 did even better, banking $405.4 million at the box office.

After 'Sonic The Hedgehog' success, Sega wants to revive more classics

Now, Sega is looking to translate that success into other game adaptations. That might not just mean movies, Utsumi cautioned, adding that the company is looking at other ways to bring its IP to more consumers.

That could include bringing a Sonic experience to the Roblox gaming platform, where millions of people gather to build games and connect with each other in massive online communities, as well as mobile, too.

The company recently closed its acquisition of Rovio, the maker of the Angry Birds mobile game, for 706 million euros ($767.9 million).  

“We have other major IPs,” Utsumi said. “We are thinking of reviving other classical IPs too.”

Bringing Yakuza and Persona to more platforms

Utsumi highlighted the Yakuza beat ’em up game and Persona role-playing game franchise as examples that could be adapted.

It comes as Sega is set to launch a new Yakuza game, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, next year. The company is also launching two new Persona games in 2024, too.

“As I say, we are trying to be in a lot of different categories, different areas like Roblox, movies,” Utsumi said. “All these IPs can be somewhere else other than games soon.”

Sega plans to ramp up mobile gaming push

Sega recently launched the latest iteration of its Yakuza game. Collectively, the Yakuza game series has sold 21.1 million units since its debut in 2005, according to Sega. Persona 5, the latest game in the franchise, has also seen considerable success selling over 9 million copies worldwide.

Yakuza is currently only available on PlayStation, Xbox and PC. Platforms. Persona is currently only available on Xbox, PlayStation, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

Buying more studios

Sega is also on the hunt for more acquisitions as it seeks to expand its ownership of gaming studios, Utsumi said.

Utsumi suggested that the company would look to find more acquisition targets as opportunities in the market arise.

“As an entity of Sega Sammy, we are acquiring some of the companies. We just made an announcement [to buy Rovio]. We are still looking for opportunities for growth.”

Utsumi said that European gaming studios are “struggling” at the moment as they work to recover from the sales slump that followed the Covid-19 pandemic, as gamers emerged from lockdowns around the world and high inflation made people less willing to pay punchy prices for the latest titles.

“Japan studios are doing well. European studios are struggling,” Utsumi said. “I say all European developers are in a difficult time right now. Once, it was a kind of bubble. Now, it’s adjustment time.”

However, he struck an optimistic note for the future: “I think it’s going to be coming back. As long as you have solid development studios and also solid IPs.”

Sega isn’t the first company that’s looked to replicate the success of blockbuster entertainment franchises on other forms of media. Sony, Sega’s main Japanese gaming rival, made a big splash with its Spider-Man movie franchise, which the company adapted into several top video games.

No Microsoft deal on the cards

Utsumi also addressed rumors of Microsoft interest to buy the company.

The Redmond, Washington technology giant reportedly considered acquiring Sega as well as Bungie, the studio originally responsible for Halo, the Verge reported earlier this year, citing internal documents from a hearing in the Federal Trade Commission lawsuit seeking to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Sega’s operations chief dismissed the suggestion that Sega, which is owned by Sega Sammy Corporation, the company formed from the merger of Sega and Sammy Corporation in 2004, had any intention of being sold to another party.

“Many companies are interested. We feel honored,” Utsumi told CNBC.

“We have attractive IPs and potentials. Companies owned by the owner. A strong owner. I don’t think that kind of transaction is going to happen.”

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Google hires Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, others in latest AI talent deal

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Google hires Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, others in latest AI talent deal

Chief executive officer of Google Sundar Pichai.

Marek Antoni Iwanczuk | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Google on Friday made the latest a splash in the AI talent wars, announcing an agreement to bring in Varun Mohan, co-founder and CEO of artificial intelligence coding startup Windsurf.

As part of the deal, Google will also hire other senior Windsurf research and development employees. Google is not investing in Windsurf, but the search giant will take a nonexclusive license to certain Windsurf technology, according to a person familiar with the matter. Windsurf remains free to license its technology to others.

“We’re excited to welcome some top AI coding talent from Windsurf’s team to Google DeepMind to advance our work in agentic coding,” a Google spokesperson wrote in an email. “We’re excited to continue bringing the benefits of Gemini to software developers everywhere.”

The deal between Google and Windsurf comes after the AI coding startup had been in talks with OpenAI for a $3 billion acquisition deal, CNBC reported in April. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The move ratchets up the talent war in AI particularly among prominent companies. Meta has made lucrative job offers to several employees at OpenAI in recent weeks. Most notably, the Facebook parent added Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang to lead its AI strategy as part of a $14.3 billion investment into his startup. 

Douglas Chen, another Windsurf co-founder, will be among those joining Google in the deal, Jeff Wang, the startup’s new interim CEO and its head of business for the past two years, wrote in a post on X.

“Most of Windsurf’s world-class team will continue to build the Windsurf product with the goal of maximizing its impact in the enterprise,” Wang wrote.

Windsurf has become more popular this year as an option for so-called vibe coding, which is the process of using new age AI tools to write code. Developers and non-developers have embraced the concept, leading to more revenue for Windsurf and competitors, such as Cursor, which OpenAI also looked at buying. All the interest has led investors to assign higher valuations to the startups.

This isn’t the first time Google has hired select people out of a startup. It did the same with Character.AI last summer. Amazon and Microsoft have also absorbed AI talent in this fashion, with the Adept and Inflection deals, respectively.

Microsoft is pushing an agent mode in its Visual Studio Code editor for vibe coding. In April, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said AI is composing as much of 30% of his company’s code.

The Verge reported the Google-Windsurf deal earlier on Friday.

WATCH: Google pushes “AI Mode” on homepage

Google pushes "AI Mode" on homepage

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Nvidia’s Jensen Huang sells more than $36 million in stock, catches Warren Buffett in net worth

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Nvidia's Jensen Huang sells more than  million in stock, catches Warren Buffett in net worth

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, holds a motherboard as he speaks during the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, on June 11, 2025.

Gonzalo Fuentes | Reuters

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unloaded roughly $36.4 million worth of stock in the leading artificial intelligence chipmaker, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The sale, which totals 225,000 shares, comes as part of Huang’s previously adopted plan in March to unload up to 6 million shares of Nvidia through the end of the year. He sold his first batch of stock from the agreement in June, equaling about $15 million.

Last year, the tech executive sold about $700 million worth of shares as part of a prearranged plan. Nvidia stock climbed about 1% Friday.

Huang’s net worth has skyrocketed as investors bet on Nvidia’s AI dominance and graphics processing units powering large language models.

The 62-year-old’s wealth has grown by more than a quarter, or about $29 billion, since the start of 2025 alone, based on Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. His net worth last stood at $143 billion in the index, putting him neck-and-neck with Berkshire Hathaway‘s Warren Buffett at $144 billion.

Shortly after the market opened Friday, Fortune‘s analysis of net worth had Huang ahead of Buffett, with the Nvidia CEO at $143.7 billion and the Oracle of Omaha at $142.1 billion.

Read more CNBC tech news

The company has also achieved its own notable milestones this year, as it prospers off the AI boom.

On Wednesday, the Santa Clara, California-based chipmaker became the first company to top a $4 trillion market capitalization, beating out both Microsoft and Apple. The chipmaker closed above that milestone Thursday as CNBC reported that the technology titan met with President Donald Trump.

Brooke Seawell, venture partner at New Enterprise Associates, sold about $24 million worth of Nvidia shares, according to an SEC filing. Seawell has been on the company’s board since 1997, according to the company.

Huang still holds more than 858 million shares of Nvidia, both directly and indirectly, in different partnerships and trusts.

WATCH: Nvidia hits $4 trillion in market cap milestone despite curbs on chip exports

Nvidia hits $4 trillion in market cap milestone despite curbs on chip exports

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Tesla to officially launch in India with planned showroom opening

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Tesla to officially launch in India with planned showroom opening

Elon Musk meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Blair House in Washington DC, USA on February 13, 2025.

Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images

Tesla will open a showroom in Mumbai, India next week, marking the U.S. electric carmakers first official foray into the country.

The one and a half hour launch event for the Tesla “Experience Center” will take place on July 15 at the Maker Maxity Mall in Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai, according to an event invitation seen by CNBC.

Along with the showroom display, which will feature the company’s cars, Tesla is also likely to officially launch direct sales to Indian customers.

The automaker has had its eye on India for a while and now appears to have stepped up efforts to launch locally.

In April, Tesla boss Elon Musk spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss collaboration in areas including technology and innovation. That same month, the EV-maker’s finance chief said the company has been “very careful” in trying to figure out when to enter the market.

Tesla has no manufacturing operations in India, even though the country’s government is likely keen for the company to establish a factory. Instead the cars sold in India will need to be imported from Tesla’s other manufacturing locations in places like Shanghai, China, and Berlin, Germany.

As Tesla begins sales in India, it will come up against challenges from long-time Chinese rival BYD, as well as local player Tata Motors.

One potential challenge for Tesla comes by way of India’s import duties on electric vehicles, which stand at around 70%. India has tried to entice investment in the country by offering companies a reduced duty of 15% if they commit to invest $500 million and set up manufacturing locally.

HD Kumaraswamy, India’s minister for heavy industries, told reporters in June that Tesla is “not interested” in manufacturing in the country, according to a Reuters report.

Tesla is looking to recruit roles in Mumbai, job listings posted on LinkedIn . These include advisors working in showrooms, security, vehicle operators to collect data for its Autopilot feature and service technicians.

There are also roles being advertised in the Indian capital of New Delhi, including for store managers. It’s unclear if Tesla is planning to launch a showroom in the city.

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