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David Wadhwani, senior vice president of digital media for Adobe, speaks during the launch of Adobe Creative Cloud and CS6 in San Francisco, April 23, 2012.

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Britain’s top competition watchdog said Tuesday that Adobe‘s proposed $20 billion acquisition of Figma could harm the U.K.’s digital design sector, findings that could mean a major setback for the merger.

The Competition and Markets Authority said the deal could “eliminate competition,” “reduce innovation” and “remove Figma as a threat to Adobe’s flagship Photoshop and Illustrator products,” according to a release. The findings are provisional, but the regulator said it will investigate potential remedies, “which could include blocking the deal outright.”

Adobe announced plans to buy Figma, which allows users to collaborate on app and website design, for $20 billion in September last year. In addition to regulatory probes in the U.K., the deal has been under scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Union.

“Our provisional conclusion is therefore that the Merger would remove competition between close competitors and an important competitive constraint on Figma, in a market in which Figma is already the strongest player by far and there are few other competitive constraints,” the CMA wrote in the release.

A representative for Figma told CNBC the company is “disappointed” by the CMA’s findings and that they “strongly disagree” with the idea that Figma competes with Adobe or will do so in the future.

“The facts are Figma operates in a dynamic and highly-competitive market for product design and development, and Figma has not spent a single dollar or hired a single engineer to build creative tools,” the spokesperson said. “We remain committed to the deal, confident in the facts, and convinced our proposed combination with Adobe is a win for consumers and should be approved.”

Adobe said it is “disappointed” and disagrees with the CMA’s perspective.

“Adobe and Figma will deliver significant value to customers,” Adobe told CNBC in a statement. “We are reviewing the provisional findings and will reengage with the CMA on the facts and merits of the case.”

David Wadhwani, a key Adobe executive behind the Figma deal, expressed frustration in October over the slow pace of regulatory approval. The company has previously said it expects to close the deal this year, and Adobe has agreed to pay Figma $1 billion if either the merger is not completed by March 2024 or it is rejected by regulators.

The CMA requested responses from Adobe and Figma by Dec. 19. The regulator said a final decision will be issued by Feb. 25 next year.

–CNBC’s Jordan Novet contributed to this report.

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Hinge Health opens at $39.25 per share after pricing IPO at top end of range

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Hinge Health opens at .25 per share after pricing IPO at top end of range

Hinge Health signage outside the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) during the company’s initial public offering (IPO) in New York, US, on Thursday, May 21, 2025.

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Shares of Hinge Health popped in their debut on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday after the digital physical therapy company raised about $273 million in its IPO.

The stock opened at $39.25, rising 23% from its $32 IPO price. Hinge sold 8.52 million shares in the offering, while the total offering was for 13.7 million shares, with the balance being sold by existing shareholders.

Hinge, founded in 2014, uses software to help patients treat acute musculoskeletal injuries, chronic pain and carry out post-surgery rehabilitation from anywhere.

The San Francisco-based company filed its initial prospectus in March and updated the document earlier this month with an expected pricing range of $28 to $32.

Wall Street and the digital health sector have been watching Hinge’s debut closely, as it will shine some light on investors’ appetite for new health-tech solutions.

The broader tech IPO market has been in an extended drought since late 2021, when soaring inflation and rising interest rates pushed investors out of risky assets. Within digital health, it’s been almost completely dormant. Hinge is leading the charge, with virtual chronic care company Omada Health filing to go public earlier this month.

“Health care is tough, absolutely, but we’re very different from any of the digital health companies that have come before,” Hinge CEO Daniel Perez told CNBC’s “Money Movers” on Thursday. “Our technology is actually automating the delivery of care itself, and that’s why a lot of investors have been so interested in Hinge Health.”

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Perez and Hinge’s Executive Chairman Gabriel Mecklenburg co-founded the company after experiencing personal struggles with physical rehabilitation. Perez broke an arm and a leg after he was hit by a car, and Mecklenburg tore his anterior cruciate ligament during a judo match. Both men went through about 12 months of physical therapy.

At the IPO price, Hinge was worth about $2.6 billion, though that number could be higher on a fully diluted basis. That’s down significantly from a private market valuation of $6.2 billion in October 2021, the last time the company raised outside funding.

Hinge has raised more than $1 billion from investors including Insight Partners, Tiger Global Management, Coatue Management and Atomico.

Ben Blume, a partner at Atomico, said Hinge’s ability to scale has “truly set them apart.” The firm led Hinge’s Series A funding round in 2017.

“Hinge Health has grown into a clear category leader, improving the lives of people who are living with chronic pain,” Blume said in a statement to CNBC. “Their success is a testament to the power of mission-driven innovation.”

Hinge is trading on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “HNGE.”

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Snowflake shares soar to highest level in over a year as revenue tops $1 billion for first time

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Snowflake shares soar to highest level in over a year as revenue tops  billion for first time

Snowflake Inc. signage on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, US, on Jan. 2, 2025.

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Snowflake shares jumped 12% on Thursday, climbing to their highest level since early last year after the data analytics company reported better-than-expected quarterly results.

Revenue in the fiscal first quarter of 2026 jumped 26% to $1.04 billion from $828.7 million a year earlier, and topped the $1.01 billion average LSEG estimate. It’s the first time the company, which went public in 2020, has recorded more than $1 billion in sales in a quarter.

Adjusted earnings per share of 24 cents exceeded the 21-cent average analyst estimate, according to LSEG. Snowflake reported a net loss of $430 million, a loss of $1.29 a share, widening from a loss of $317 million, or 95 cents a share, a year earlier.

Snowflake has been adding artificial intelligence services into its cloud-based data analytics platform, which the company said in its earning release late Wednesday has helped it reach 11,000 customers.

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Analysts at Cantor highlighted the significance of two new $100 million deals that closed in the quarter after slipping from the prior period, noting that “churn concerns were abated.”

The firm reiterated its buy recommendation on the stock, writing that it has “confidence Snowflake should continue to execute on a beat-and-raise strategy as the year progresses and continue to show leverage in the model.”

With Thursday’s rally, Snowflake shares are up 29% for the year, while the Nasdaq is down close to 2%.

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OpenAI, Oracle and NVIDIA will help build Stargate UAE AI campus launching in 2026

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OpenAI, Oracle and NVIDIA will help build Stargate UAE AI campus launching in 2026

OpenAI CFO on UAE partnership: It's 'OpenAI for countries'

Technology giants OpenAI, Oracle, Nvidia and Cisco are joining forces to help build a sweeping Stargate artificial intelligence campus in the United Arab Emirates.

“AI is the most transformative force of our time,” said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in a release Thursday. “With Stargate UAE, we are building the AI infrastructure to power the country’s bold vision – to empower its people, grow its economy, and shape its future.”

The announcement confirms previous CNBC reporting on the project.

During his Middle East tour last week, President Donald Trump and the U.S. Commerce Department announced a slew of new AI deals, including the UAE Stargate project slated for Abu Dhabi.

The project, in collaboration with Emirati firm G42, will span 10 square miles and include a 5-gigawatt capacity.

As part of the deal, OpenAI and Oracle are slated to manage a 1-gigawatt compute cluster built by G42. The project will include chips from Nvidia, while Cisco Systems will provide connectivity infrastructure.

The companies said an initial 200-megawatt AI cluster should launch next year.

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OpenAI said in a release that the project “reinforces OpenAI’s commitment to strengthening U.S. infrastructure while helping allies gain access to transformative AI responsible and securely.”

The latest project marks the first international iteration of the Trump administration’s multi-billion dollar joint AI infrastructure project announced in January between OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank. At the time, the companies committed $100 billion to the project and an additional $500 billion over the next four years.

OpenAI said in February that it was weighing data center campuses in 16 states as part of the deal.

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