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SHANGHAI, CHINA – MARCH 21: Tim Cook, chief executive officer of Apple Inc., arrives for opening ceremony of the new Apple Jing’an store on March 21, 2024 in Shanghai, China. The new Apple store opens on March 21 in Shanghai’s Jing’an district. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images

Apple could double down on the China smartphone market amid declining iPhone sales and stiff competition in the country, Wedbush Securities said on Monday.

Apple needs to overcome its China challenges including a tough macro environment and competition from Huawei before the iPhone 16 release and “it all starts with reaffirming Apple’s presence in China,” Wedbush said.

China’s Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao met Apple CEO Tim Cook on Friday and said his country holds opportunities for Apple as well as other companies, and asked the iPhone maker to keep building its business in China for “shared development,” according to a press statement.

Cook said China was a crucial supply chain partner for Apple and the company plans to increase investment in the country in the long term, the statement said.

Last week, Cook opened Apple’s newest flagship store in Shanghai on Thursday and met with key suppliers in China, according to media reports. He also attended the China Development Forum in Beijing, as China seeks to woo foreign investors amid regulatory and global uncertainties.

Cook’s latest trip to China, which Wedbush said is “a sign Apple could double down” on China, comes amid reports of iPhone sales in China plunging 24% in the first six weeks of 2024.

Apple is operating in a challenging environment in its largest overseas market, China, as it faces stiff competition from local Chinese smartphone makers, particularly Huawei, whose consumer business is experiencing a resurgence in the country after the launch of its Mate 60 smartphone.

Apple should have a new app store with AI by June, says Melius Research's Ben Reitzes

“The timing of this trip was important as in essence Apple needs China and China needs Apple despite all the noise,” Wedbush said.

Covid-19 lockdowns in China in late 2022 majorly disrupted Apple’s supply chain, which prompted the tech firm to diversify some of its production to countries such as India and Vietnam.

“However, the vast majority of its iPhone production and suppliers will remain in China,” Wedbush said while maintaining its “outperform” rating and a $250 price target on Apple.

Apple is currently facing regulatory challenges in the U.S. and EU and while its sales have dropped in China this year, the company last year emerged as the country’s biggest smartphone supplier.

The U.S. Department of Justice sued Apple on Thursday, alleging the tech firm illegally maintains a monopoly over smartphones. The EU on Monday opened an investigation into Apple in relation to the so-called anti-steering rules.

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Astronomer CEO Andy Byron resigns after viral Coldplay kiss-cam controversy

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Astronomer CEO Andy Byron resigns after viral Coldplay kiss-cam controversy

Chris Martin of Coldplay performs at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on October 12, 2021 in London, England.

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Astronomer, the technology company that faced backlash after its CEO was allegedly caught in an affair at a Coldplay concert, said the CEO has resigned, the company announced Saturday.

“Andy Byron has tendered his resignation, and the Board of Directors has accepted,” the company said in a statement. “The Board will begin a search for our next Chief Executive as Cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy continues to serve as interim CEO.”

Byron was shown on a big screen at a Coldplay concert on Wednesday with his arms around the company’s chief people officer, Kristin Cabot. Byron, who is married with children, immediately hid when the couple was shown on screen. Lead singer Chris Martin said, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.” A concert attendee’s video of the affair went viral.

In May, Astronomer announced a $93 million investment round led by Bain Ventures and other investors, including Salesforce Ventures.

Byron’s resignation comes after Astronomer said Friday that it had launched a “formal investigation” into the matter, and the CEO was placed on administrative leave.

“Before this week, we were known as a pioneer in the DataOps space, helping data teams power everything from modern analytics to production AI,” the company said in its Saturday statement. “Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met.”

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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sells an additional $12.94 million worth of shares

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Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sells an additional .94 million worth of shares

Jensen Huang, co-founder and CEO of Nvidia Corp., speaks during a news conference in Taipei on May 21, 2025.

I-hwa Cheng | Afp | Getty Images

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sold 75,000 shares on Friday, valued at about $12.94 million, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Friday’s sale is part of a plan adopted in March for Huang to sell up to 6 million shares of the leading artificial intelligence company. Earlier this week, Huang sold 225,000 shares of the chipmaker, totaling about $37 million, according to a separate SEC filing. The CEO began trading stock per the plan last month.

Surging demand for AI and the graphics processing units that power large language models has significantly boosted Huang’s net worth and pushed Nvidia’s market capitalization beyond $4 trillion, making it the world’s most valuable company.

Nvidia announced this week that it expects to resume sales of its H20 chips to China soon, following signals from the Trump administration that it would approve export licenses. Earlier this year, U.S. officials had stated that Nvidia would require special permission to ship the chips, which are specifically designed for the Chinese market.

“The U.S. government has assured NVIDIA that licenses will be granted, and NVIDIA hopes to start deliveries soon,” the company said in a statement on Tuesday. Huang said during a news conference on Wednesday in Beijing that he wants to sell chips more advanced than the H20 to China at some point.

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Peter Thiel-backed cryptocurrency exchange Bullish files to go public on NYSE

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Peter Thiel-backed cryptocurrency exchange Bullish files to go public on NYSE

Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, holds hundred dollar bills as he speaks during the Bitcoin 2022 Conference at Miami Beach Convention Center on April 7, 2022 in Miami, Florida.

Marco Bello | Getty Images

The Peter Thiel-backed cryptocurrency exchange Bullish filed for an IPO on Friday, the latest digital asset firm to head for the public market.

The company, led by CEO Tom Farley, a veteran of the finance industry and former president of the New York Stock Exchange, said it plans to trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol “BLSH.”

A spinout of Block.one, Bullish started with an initial investment from backers including Thiel’s Founders Fund and Thiel Capital, along with Nomura, Mike Novogratz and others. Bullish acquired crypto news site CoinDesk in 2023.

“In the first quarter of 2025, Bullish exchange executed over $2.5 billion in average daily volume, ranking in the top five exchanges by spot volume for Bitcoin and Ether,” the company said on its website. The prospectus listed top competitors as Binance, Coinbase and Kraken.

The IPO filing says that as of March 31, the total trading volume since launch has exceeded $1.25 trillion.

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The filing is another significant step for the cryptocurrency industry, which has fought for years to convince institutions to embrace digital assets as legitimate investments.

It’s already been a big year on the market for crypto offerings, highlighted by stablecoin issuer Circle, which has jumped more than sevenfold since its IPO in June. Etoro, an online trading platform that includes services for crypto investors, debuted in May.

Novogratz‘s crypto firm Galaxy Digital started trading on the Nasdaq in May, moving its listing from the Toronto Stock Exchange. And in June, Gemini, the cryptocurrency exchange and custodian founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, confidentially filed for an IPO in the U.S.

Meanwhile, investors continue to flock to bitcoin. The digital currency is trading at over $117,000, up from about $94,000 at the start of the year.

President Donald Trump, on Friday, signed the GENIUS Act into law — a set of regulations that establish some initial consumer protections around stablecoins, which are tied to assets like the U.S. dollar with the intent of reducing price volatility associated with many cryptocurrencies.

In its filing with the SEC, Bullish says its mission is partly to “drive the adoption of stablecoins, digital assets, and blockchain technology.”

Crypto industry players, including Thiel, Elon Musk, and President Trump’s AI and Crypto czar David Sacks spent heavily to re-elect Trump and have pushed for legislation that legitimizes digital assets and exchanges.

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