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CEO of Meta and Facebook Mark Zuckerberg, Lauren Sanchez, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk attend the inauguration ceremony before Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th US President in the US Capitol Rotunda in Washington, DC, on Jan. 20, 2025.

Saul Loeb | Via Reuters

The strengthening dollar is posing challenges for the biggest U.S. tech companies, which have become increasingly reliant on overseas revenue. With other currencies weakening, money made elsewhere is worth less when converted into dollars.

Amazon should suffer less than its megacap peers as the e-commerce giant generates a higher percentage of sales in the U.S. However, in its fourth-quarter earnings report on Thursday, Amazon said foreign exchange rates are to blame for the company’s weaker-than-expected first-quarter forecast and the possibility of its slowest revenue growth on record.

Revenue in the current quarter will land between $151 billion and $155.5 billion, suggesting annual growth of just 5% to 9%. Amazon’s slowest quarter for growth came in mid-2022, when revenue increased by 7.2%.

“This guidance anticipates an unusually large, unfavorable impact of approximately $2.1 billion, or 150 basis points, from foreign exchange rates,” Amazon said in the earnings release.

On its earnings call that followed, Amazon said it saw $700 million “more of foreign exchange headwind than we anticipated” in the fourth quarter. During the period, international revenue totaled $43.4 billion, or 23% of overall sales.

At Apple, roughly 58% of revenue came from overseas in the latest period. For Meta, it was 55%, Alphabet reported about 52%, Microsoft slightly under 50% and Tesla just over 50% for all of 2024.

The U.S. dollar index — which measures the greenback against a basket of rivals — hit its highest level in more than two years last month, ahead of President Donald Trump’s inauguration.  The dollar climbed steadily from late November through mid-January and has since fallen slightly.

The dollar may be particularly volatile in the coming weeks and months due to uncertainties surrounding Trump’s tariff policies and the threat of a trade war, most notably China, along with a lack of clarity about U.S. foreign policy, given comments Trump has made about potentially trying to take over Greenland and Gaza.

Here’s what other companies had to say on the topic of foreign exchange in issuing their financial results.

Microsoft CFO Amy Hood said foreign exchange did “not have a significant impact on our results and was roughly in line with expectation,” though for the current quarter it would bring down revenue growth by “more than 1 point.”

Susan Li, Meta’s finance chief, said the company expects “a three-point headwind in Q1” after foreign exchange “approximately neutral to revenue in Q4, just with the dollar strengthening, in particular against the euro.”

Alphabet CFO Anat Ashkenazi said investors can “expect a larger headwind to our revenues from the strengthening of the U.S. dollar relative to key currencies in Q1 versus Q4 2024.”

Apple finance chief Kevan Parekh warned last week that, “As the dollar strengthens significantly, we expect foreign exchange to be a headwind and to have a negative impact on revenue of about 2.5 percentage points on a year-over-year basis.”

The rise of the dollar will lead investors to pay close attention to job numbers out on Friday. When the Bureau of Labor Statistics releases its nonfarm payrolls count for January, it’s projected to show growth of 169,000, down from 256,000 in December, but nearly in line with the past three-month average. The unemployment rate is projected to stay at 4.1%, according to the Dow Jones consensus for the report.

After that, the the tech industry will wait to see what Nvidia has to say about foreign exchange when the chipmaker reports earnings later in February. In the period ending in October, Nvidia generated about 58% of its revenue from outside the U.S.

— CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa contributed to this report

WATCH: Why a stronger dollar could spell trouble for Big Tech

Why a stronger dollar could spell trouble for Big Tech

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Firefly Aerospace shares jump 15% on strong revenues, boosted guidance

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Firefly Aerospace shares jump 15% on strong revenues, boosted guidance

Jason Kim, chief executive officer of Firefly Aerospace, center, during the company’s initial public offering at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York, US, on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025.

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Firefly Aerospace‘s stock surged 15% on Wednesday after the space technology company issued better-than-expected third-quarter results and lifted its guidance.

Revenues in the third quarter jumped nearly 38% to $30.8 million from $22.4 million in the year-ago period and nearly doubled from the previous quarter.

Firefly’s net loss totaled $140.4 million, or $1.50 per share. The company said net loss included costs tied to its IPO, foreign exchange and executive severance

The company also lifted its outlook for the year, saying it now expects revenues to range between $150 million and $158 million. That’s up from previous guidance in the range of $133 million and $145 million.

This is Firefly’s second quarterly report as a public company. Last quarter, shares slumped after it posted a bigger loss and lower revenues than analysts were expecting.

The Cedar Park, Texas, company went public on the Nasdaq in August during a period of heightened enthusiasm toward space technology. The U.S. government and NASA have leaned on more contracts with companies like Firefly and Elon Musk‘s SpaceX to support moon missions.

But shares of Firefly have lost 70% of their value since their opening day close, and the company’s market capitalization has plummeted from about $8.5 billion to about $2.7 billion on Wednesday.

In September, Firefly shares sank after a rocket exploded during a ground test at the company’s Texas facility, days after receiving clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration over a separate incident. Firefly has since put “corrective measures” in place, the company said on Wednesday. Shares dropped 35% in September and are down 24% this month.

Firefly in July won a nearly $177 million contract with NASA for an upcoming moon mission, and in October, it announced its acquisition of defense tech firm SciTec to boost its national security portfolio.

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Cisco’s stock jumps on earnings beat, strong guidance and $1.3 billion in AI orders

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Cisco's stock jumps on earnings beat, strong guidance and .3 billion in AI orders

Chuck Robbins, Cisco CEO, speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box outside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 22, 2025.

Gerry Miller | CNBC

Cisco reported better-than-expected profit and revenue for its fiscal first quarter on Wednesday. The stock rose more than 7% in extended trading.

Here’s how the company did in comparison with consensus estimates from LSEG:

  • Earnings per share: $1 adjusted vs. 98 cents expected
  • Revenue: $14.88 billion vs. $14.77 billion expected

Revenue increased 8% from $13.84 billion in the same period a year earlier, Cisco said in a statement. Net income climbed to $2.86 billion, or 72 cents per share, from $2.71 billion, or 68 cents per share, a year ago.

It’s the fourth straight quarter of growth for Cisco following a stretch of four consecutive year-over-year revenue declines, as the company contended with economic uncertainty and delayed spending from government agencies.

Cisco’s networking business, its biggest unit, saw sales climb 15% to $7.77 billion. Analysts were expecting revenue for that segment of $7.47 billion, according to StreetAccount.

Most of the growth in data center spending is focused on artificial intelligence, as companies bolster their investments in servers packed with graphics processing units, primarily from Nvidia. Cisco is trying to tie itself more closely to the AI boom, and last month introduced a new Ethernet switch based on Nvidia silicon.

Cisco said that AI infrastructure orders from “hyperscaler customers” reached $1.3 billion, “reflecting a significant acceleration in growth.”

“Our relevance in AI continues to build,” CFO Mark Patterson said in the press release. “We have a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar campus refresh opportunity starting to ramp, with strong demand for our refreshed networking products.” 

For the fiscal second quarter, Cisco said it expects revenue of $15 billion to $15.2 billion, topping the $14.6 billion average estimate, according to LSEG. Adjusted earnings will be $1.01 to $1.03 per share, exceeding the 99-cent average estimate.

Revenue for the full fiscal year will be between $60.2 billion and $61 billion, with earnings per share of $4.08 to $4.14, Cisco said. Analysts expect sales of $59.7 billion and EPS of $4.04.

While networking is growing and performing better than expected, Cisco’s other two main segments saw revenue declines and missed Wall Street’s expectations.

Sales in the company’s security unit fell 2% from a year earlier to $1.98 billion, missing the average estimate of $2.16 billion, according to StreetAccount. And collaboration sales slipped 3% to $1.06 billion, trailing the $1.09 billion average estimate.

Cisco shares are up 25% this year as of Wednesday’s close, topping the 21% gain for the Nasdaq.

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Defense startup Govini founder Eric Gillespie charged in child sex sting

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Defense startup Govini founder Eric Gillespie charged in child sex sting

Mug shot of Eric Gillespie, Govini Founder and Chairman.

Courtesy: Pennsylvania Attorney General

The founder of Virginia-based defense startup Govini was arrested on charges of attempting to solicit a pre-teen girl for sexual contact in Pennsylvania, authorities said Monday.

The founder, Eric Gillespie, 57, was charged with four felonies, including multiple counts of unlawful contact with a minor, according to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.

Gillespie, who lives in Pittsburgh, was denied bail by the judge, citing flight risk and concerns over public safety.

His company has a $900-million U.S. government contract and multiple deals with the Defense Department.

Govini, which last month announced it had passed $100 million in annual recurring revenue and is considered a prominent “unicorn” in the defense technology space, is a key partner in the U.S. Army’s Next Generation Command Control program.

Pentagon officials told CNBC they are looking into the arrest and possible security issues.

Gillespie lists himself as executive chairman of the company on his LinkedIn page.

Gillespie was considered an expert in transparency in government and was appointed to the Freedom of Information Act Advisory Committee by the Obama Administration in 2014.

The White House has referred all security clearance questions to the Department of Defense.

An agent posed as an adult on an online chat platform that the AG’s office said was often utilized by offenders who try to arrange meetings with children, and engaged in a conversation with Gillespie.

The AG’s office said Gillespie then made attempts to arrange a meeting with who he believed was a pre-teenage girl in Lebanon County, which is located near Hershey, Pennsylvania. Gillespie also alluded to methods he used to contact children, and other evidence was found.

Govini did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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The state attorney general’s office would not comment on questions about electronic devices seized during the sting. The AG’s office is asking the public to come forward with any other information on the case.

Govini, along with Anduril Industries, Palantir, Striveworks, Instant Connect Enterprise, Research Innovations, Inc., Microsoft and Lockheed Martin are also a part of the $99.6 million U.S. Army’s Next Generation Command and Control program.

NGC2 is a program for the U.S. Army to transform command and control operations by ensuring commanders have access to critical real-time data and infrastructure in areas where communications may be disrupted.

According to the company, Govini’s suite of AI-enabled applications is used by every department of the U.S. military and other federal agencies. The access to sensitive information is vast.

The software analyzes supply chains and critical details of companies being considered by the U.S. government for acquisition, enabling the U.S. military to make informed decisions.

In a recent Bain Capital press release announcing a $150m investment of Govini, Scott Kirk, Partner at Bain Capital Tech Opportunities, said, “We’re thrilled to support Govini’s next phase of growth as it continues to revolutionize how the U.S. government acquires and deploys the capabilities that keep us safe.”

Bain has not responded to CNBC’s multiple emails for comment.

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