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The Amazon Pharmacy home screen is displayed on a laptop in Brooklyn, New York, on Nov. 17, 2020.

Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Amazon’s effort to get customers in the two largest U.S. markets whatever they want on the day of their order has expanded to include prescription drugs.

The e-commerce giant said on Tuesday that it’s rolling out same-day delivery of prescription medications in New York City and the greater Los Angeles area.

The prescriptions are offered via Amazon’s online pharmacy service, which launched in 2020. Amazon Pharmacy, born out of the company’s 2018 acquisition of online pharmacy PillPack, allows customers to order prescription medications for home delivery, with free shipping for Prime members.

To speed up deliveries, Amazon said it’s using new, smaller facilities, stocked with the most common prescription medications for acute conditions. The locations are equipped to process a prescription “within a matter of minutes rather than hours or days,” the company said.

“By bringing Amazon Pharmacy’s deliveries into our existing world-class logistics network, Amazon is building the fastest and most convenient service for the home delivery of prescription medications,” Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores, said in a statement. “These faster delivery speeds will be a game changer when you or your family need your medications quickly.”

San Bernardino, Riverside and Anaheim, which are all in the LA area, are eligible for same-day prescription deliveries starting Tuesday. The broader LA metro area will be up and running in April. The company plans to add more than a dozen other cities by the end of the year.

In October, Amazon began offering same-day prescription medication delivery in Seattle, Miami, Indianapolis, Phoenix and Austin, Texas. At the same time, the company said it would start sending prescription medications via drone in College Station, Texas, one of the two cities where Amazon is dispatching unmanned aircrafts to deliver items weighing five pounds or less.

The company said it’s dispatching e-bikes to handle some Amazon Pharmacy deliveries in New York. Amazon has been experimenting with e-cargo delivery bikes, which can speed up deliveries and cut down on emissions, in the city for the past several years.

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Anthropic reportedly preparing for one of the largest IPOs ever in race with OpenAI: FT

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Anthropic reportedly preparing for one of the largest IPOs ever in race with OpenAI: FT

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Anthropic, the AI startup behind the popular Claude chatbot, is in early talks to launch one of the largest initial public offerings as early as next year, the Financial Times reported Wednesday. 

For the potential IPO, Anthropic has engaged law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, which has previously worked on high-profile tech IPOs such as Google, LinkedIn and Lyft, the FT said, citing two sources familiar with the matter.

The start-up, led by chief executive Dario Amodei, was also pursuing a private funding round that could value it above $300 billion, including a $15 billion combined commitment from Microsoft and Nvidia, per the report. 

It added that Anthropic has also discussed a potential IPO with major investment banks, but that sources characterized the discussions as preliminary and informal. 

If true, the news could position Anthropic in a race to market with rival ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, which is also reportedly laying the groundwork for a public offering. The potential listings would also test investors’ appetite for loss-making AI startups amid growing fears of a so-called AI bubble. 

However, an Anthropic spokesperson told the FT: “It’s fairly standard practice for companies operating at our scale and revenue level to effectively operate as if they are publicly traded companies,” adding that no decisions have been made on timing or whether to go public.

CNBC was unable to reach Anthropic and Wilson Sonsini, which has advised Anthropic for a few years, for comment. 

According to one of the FT’s sources, Anthropic has been working through internal preparations for a potential listing, though details were not provided. 

The FT report follows several notable changes at the company of late, including the hiring of former Airbnb executive Krishna Rao, who played a key role in the firm’s 2020 IPO.

CNBC also reported last month that Anthropic was recently valued to the range of $350 billion after receiving investments of up to $5 billion from Microsoft and $10 billion from Nvidia. 

In its race to overtake OpenAI in the AI space, the startup has also been expanding aggressively, recently announcing a $50 billion AI infrastructure build-out with data centers in Texas and New York, and tripling its international workforce.

According to the FT report, investors in the company are enthusiastic about Anthropic’s potential IPO, which could see it “seize the initiative” from OpenAI.

While OpenAI has been rumoured to be considering an IPO, its chief financial officer recently said the company is not pursuing a near-term listing, even as it closed a $6.6 billion share sale at a $500 billion valuation in October.

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We’re raising our CrowdStrike price target following a beat and raise quarter

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We're raising our CrowdStrike price target following a beat and raise quarter

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Okta shares fall as company declines to give guidance for next fiscal year

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Okta shares fall as company declines to give guidance for next fiscal year

Cheng Xin | Getty Images

Okta on Tuesday topped Wall Street’s third-quarter estimates and issued an upbeat outlook, but shares fell as the company did not provide guidance for fiscal 2027.

Shares of the identity management provider fell more than 3% in after-hours trading on Tuesday.

Here’s how the company did versus LSEG estimates:

  • Earnings per share: 82 cents adjusted vs. 76 cents expected
  • Revenue: $742 million vs. $730 million expected

Compared to previous third-quarter reports, Okta refrained from offering preliminary guidance for the upcoming fiscal year. Finance chief Brett Tighe cited seasonality in the fourth quarter, and said providing guidance would require “some conservatism.”

Okta released a capability that allows businesses to build AI agents and automate tasks during the third quarter.

CEO Todd McKinnon told CNBC that upside from AI agents haven’t been fully baked into results and could exceed Okta’s core total addressable market over the next five years.

“It’s not in the results yet, but we’re investing, and we’re capitalizing on the opportunity like it will be a big part of the future,” he said in a Tuesday interview.

Revenues increased almost 12% from $665 million in the year-ago period. Net income increased 169% to $43 million, or 24 cents per share, from $16 million, or breakeven, a year ago. Subscription revenues grew 11% to $724 million, ahead of a $715 million estimate.

For the current quarter, the cybersecurity company expects revenues between $748 million and $750 million and adjusted earnings of 84 cents to 85 cents per share. Analysts forecast $738 million in revenues and EPS of 84 cents for the fourth quarter.

Returning performance obligations, or the company’s subscription backlog, rose 17% from a year ago to $4.29 billion and surpassed a $4.17 billion estimate from StreetAccount.

This year has been a blockbuster period for cybersecurity companies, with major acquisition deals from the likes of Palo Alto Networks and Google and a raft of new initial public offerings from the sector.

Okta shares have gained about 4% this year.

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