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The U.K.’s competition watchdog has opened an initial review into Microsoft’s mammoth investment into ChatGPT-creator OpenAI, making it the first major regulator to flag potential competition concerns over the tech giant’s relationship with one of the most important AI companies today.

The Competition and Markets Authority said in a statement Friday that it is seeking views from interested parties to address whether Microsoft’s $10 billion investment in OpenAI has led to a “relevant merger situation,” where two or more businesses have ceased or will cease to be distinct as a result of a transaction.

The CMA said the pace at which AI is scaling is “unrivalled in economic history,” and that advances in so-called foundation models, which describe general purpose AI tools such as ChatGPT, represent a “pivotal moment in the development of this transformative technology.”

The regulator said it will review whether Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI has resulted in an acquisition of control – in other words, a situation where one company has material influence, de facto control, or more than 50% of the voting rights over another entity.

“The invitation to comment is the first part of the CMA’s information gathering process and comes in advance of launching any phase 1 investigation, which would only happen once the CMA has received the information it needs from the partnership parties,” Sorcha O’Carroll, senior director for mergers at the CMA, said in a statement.

Microsoft President and Vice Chair Brad Smith, responding to the CMA’s statement, called out Google’s 2014 acquisition of British AI lab DeepMind, saying that Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI is unlike that deal.

“Since 2019, we’ve forged a partnership with OpenAI that has fostered more AI innovation and competition, while preserving independence for both companies,” Microsoft’s Smith said in the statement Friday.

“The only thing that has changed is that Microsoft will now have a non-voting observer on OpenAI’s Board, which is very different from an acquisition such as Google’s purchase of DeepMind in the UK. We will work closely with the CMA to provide all the information it needs.”

Separately, the CMA is reviewing the AI industry to assess what risks and opportunities foundation models present, and what principles need to be applied to the tech to prevent competition and consumer protection breaches. The European Union is also expected to agree on landmark rules designed to regulate AI technology later Friday.

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Chinese tech giant Tencent’s quarterly revenue jumps 15% on AI investments, gaming unit boost

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Chinese tech giant Tencent's quarterly revenue jumps 15% on AI investments, gaming unit boost

The Tencent logo is displayed on the exterior of a building at the company’s headquarters, with a surveillance camera visible in the foreground, on November 30, 2024, in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China. 

Cheng Xin | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Tencent on Wednesday reported a 15% jump in second-quarter revenue as a strong performance in its gaming unit and AI investments boosted growth.

Here’s how Tencent did in the first quarter of 2025:

  • Revenue: 184.504 billion Chinese yuan ($25.7 billion), compared to 161.117 billion Chinese yuan in the same period last year
  • Operating profit: 63.052 billion yuan, versus 57.313 billion yuan last year

Domestic games revenue, which accounts for sales from China, rose 17% year-on-year to 40.4 billion yuan thanks to the performance of the company’s newly-released “Delta Force” game and evergreen titles such as “Honor of Kings,” “VALORANT” and “Peacekeeper Elite.”

Revenue from its international gaming business totaled 18.8 billion yuan, a 35% year-on-year increase driven by games such as “PUBG Mobile,” and the recently-released “Dune: Awakening.”

Meanwhile, Tencent said that AI-driven improvements to the company’s advertising platform and Weixin transaction ecosystem helped boost marketing services revenue by 20% in the quarter to 35.8 billion yuan.

“During the second quarter of 2025, we delivered double-digit revenue and non-IFRS operating profit growth on a year-on-year basis, as we invested in, and also benefitted from, utilising AI,” said Tencent CEO Ma Huateng.

Tencent said its capital expenditures surged 119% to 19.1 billion yuan in the second quarter, as the tech giant invested in AI upgrades for advertising, its gaming business and social media service Weixin.

The Shenzhen-headquartered company’s music unit posted better-than-expected results thanks to growth in strong growth from subscription and non-subscription online music revenue, according to Citi’s Alicia Yap. The firm said Tencent Music had 124 million music subscribers, up slightly from 123 million subscribers noted in Tencent’s first-quarter report.

Looking ahead to the second half of the year, Tencent Music “continues to drive high-quality growth in subscription revenues, growth momentum from fans economy, concert and ad revs will support faster-than-previously expected full year growth,” Yap said in a note.

Tencent, like other cloud computing firms, has put a higher focus on selling artificial intelligence tools as a way to boost revenue and differentiate its offerings from those of its rivals.

Earlier this summer, Tencent revealed it is looking to bring its cloud computing capabilities to Europe, pitching it against U.S. hyperscalers AmazonMicrosoft and Alphabet-owned Google, which collectively make up 70% share of Europe’s cloud market.

“We are striving to bring further benefits of AI to consumers and enterprises through powering more use cases within Weixin, driving usage of our AI native app Yuanbao, and upgrading the capabilities of our HunYuan foundation models,” Huateng said in the Wednesday earnings release.

— CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.

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Circle shares fall after stablecoin issuer says it will offer 10 million shares

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Circle shares fall after stablecoin issuer says it will offer 10 million shares

Circle Internet Group Initial Public Offering at the New York Stock Exchange in New York City, U.S., June 5, 2025.

NYSE

Circle Internet Group stock tumbled more than 5% in extended trading Tuesday after it said it would offer 10 million Class A shares to the public.

Of the total stock being offered, 2 million shares will be offered by Circle. The remaining 8 million shares will be sold by stockholders.

The stablecoin issuer’s shares have soared more than 450% since it went public on June 5.

As part of the offering, Circle is offering its underwriters a 30-day option to buy an additional 1.5 million shares.

Circle shares closed Tuesday up 1.3% after the company reporting its first quarterly results as a publicly traded company. While charges tied to its IPO weighed on its second-quarter results and led to a loss of $4.48 per share, it saw revenue rise 53% on the back of strong stablecoin growth.

Don’t miss these cryptocurrency insights from CNBC Pro:

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CoreWeave shares drop even as revenue tops estimates

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CoreWeave shares drop even as revenue tops estimates

Mike Intrator, co-founder and CEO of CoreWeave, speaks at the Nasdaq headquarters in New York on March 28, 2025.

Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images

CoreWeave shares fell about 6% in extended trading on Tuesday even as the provider of artificial intelligence infrastructure beat estimates for second-quarter revenue

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

  • Earnings per share: Loss of 21 cents
  • Revenue: $1.21 billion vs. $1.08 billion expected

Revenue more than tripled from $395.4 million a year earlier, CoreWeave said in a statement. The company registered a $290.5 million net loss, compared with a $323 million loss in second quarter of 2024. CoreWeave’s earnings per share figure wasn’t immediately comparable with estimates from LSEG.

CoreWeave’s operating margin shrank to 2% from 20% a year ago due primarily to $145 million in stock-based compensation costs. This is CoreWeave’s second quarter of full financial results as a public company following its IPO in March.

CoreWeave pointed to an expansion in business with OpenAI, a major client and investor. Also during the quarter, CoreWeave acquired Weights and Biases, a startup with software for monitoring AI models, for $1.4 billion.

In May, management touted 420% revenue growth, alongside widening losses and nearly $9 billion in debt. The stock still doubled anyway over the course of the next month.

CoreWeave shares became available on Nasdaq at the end of the first quarter, after the company sold 37.5 shares at $40 each, yielding $1.5 billion in proceeds. As of Tuesday’s close, the stock was trading at $148.75 for a market cap of over $72 billion.

A CoreWeave data center project with up to 250 megawatts of capacity is set to be delivered in 2026, the company said in the statement.

Executives will discuss the results and issue guidance on a conference call starting at 5 p.m. ET.

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

WATCH: Citi’s Tyler Radke’s bullish call on CoreWeave, upgraded to buy

Citi's Tyler Radke's bullish call on CoreWeave, upgraded to buy

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