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VMware at the NYSE, Dec. 14, 2021.

Source: NYSE

The compliance chief at a Chinese payment processor was charged by the SEC and New York federal prosecutors with violating insider trading laws after sneaking onto to his girlfriend’s computer to view meetings between investment bankers and companies.

Steven Teixeira, who served as chief compliance officer for the U.S. arm of China’s LianLian Global, pleaded guilty to the federal charges under a cooperation agreement. The SEC charges remain outstanding, the agency said on Thursday.

Teixeira allegedly obtained insider information, including advance knowledge of Broadcom’s announced $65 billion acquisition of VMware from 2022, and shared it with an associate for profit. The SEC says Teixeira got the information from the Outlook calendars and files of his girlfriend, who was employed as an executive assistant at an unnamed New York-based investment bank.

The non-public information included term sheet data and deal planning by a host of technology companies, including for the VMware deal and Thoma Bravo’s planned purchase of Proofpoint, allegedly allowing Teixeira to collect over $730,000 in profit.

Teixeira’s girlfriend, who was not named in the complaint, asked him “to check her work email while she was away during the workday, and to alert her if she received emails that required her attention.”

Proofpoint was taken private in 2021 by private equity firm Thoma Bravo in a $12.3 billion deal, within the timeframe that Teixeira was allegedly trading on insider information. Teixeira purchased options on Proofpoint stock on April 22, 2021, days ahead of the announcement. Broadcom’s deal for VMware has been delayed by regulators.

Teixeira allegedly shared the insider information with his associate, Jordan Meadow, who is also charged with violating federal insider trading laws.

Meadow used the information in his work as an investment advisor, steering his clients towards lucrative opportunities and gaining “hundreds of thousands” of dollars in commissions, the SEC alleged.

Meadow also faces federal charges, which were unveiled on Thursday, in the Southern District of New York.

“Our complaint alleges brazen betrayals of trust by Teixeira, who misappropriated information from his girlfriend’s laptop to make a quick buck, and by industry-veteran Meadow, who was all too eager to use the information to line his pockets,” Scott Thompson, SEC’s Philadelphia associate regional director, said in a press release.

WATCH: Sens. Kennedy and Van Hollen introduce bill to block foreign executives from insider trading

Senators Kennedy and Van Hollen on their new bill to block foreign executives from insider trading

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AMD announces $6 billion buyback; shares climb 6%

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AMD announces  billion buyback; shares climb 6%

Lisa Su, president and CEO of AMD, talks about the AMD EPYC processor during a keynote address at the 2019 CES in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., January 9, 2019.

Steve Marcus | Reuters

AMD said on Wednesday that its board of directors approved $6 billion in share buybacks. The stock climbed 6%.

The authorization is in addition to $4 billion in existing approved share repurchases, the company said.

“Our expanded share repurchase program reflects the Board’s confidence in AMD’s strategic direction, growth prospects, and ability to consistently generate strong free cash flow,” AMD CEO Lisa Su said in a statement.

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AMD, the most important artificial intelligence chip company aside from Nvidia, reported 96 cents in earnings per share on $7.44 billion in revenue in its fiscal first quarter.

AMD announced a deal potentially worth $10 billion in investment on Tuesday to support an AI company called Humain in Saudi Arabia with chips. Su was in Saudi Arabia this week to announce the deal.

AMD said that it would provide graphics processors for AI as well as central processors needed to build AI servers to Humain, which is also buying Nvidia processors. Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya added $10 to his price target for AMD, bringing it to $130 per share, on the news.

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Chinese tech giant Tencent posts 13% revenue jump as growth at key gaming unit surges

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Chinese tech giant Tencent posts 13% revenue jump as growth at key gaming unit surges

Chinese tech company Tencent is a gaming giant and the parent company of WeChat, the ubiquitous social messaging app in China.

Cheng Xin | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Tencent on Wednesday reported an annual rise in its top and bottom line in the first quarter fuelled by accelerated growth in its key gaming business.

While revenue beat expectations, its net profit fell short.

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

  • Revenue: 180.02 billion Chinese yuan ($25 billion), versus 174.63 billion yuan expected
  • Net profit: 47.8 billion yuan, versus 52.2 billion yuan expected

Revenue rose 13% year-on-year, while net profit was up 14%.

This breaking news story is being updated.

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Sony shares rise about 2% in volatile trading following share buyback announcement

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Sony shares rise about 2% in volatile trading following share buyback announcement

A file photo of Hiroki Totoki, Sony Group Corporation executive, delivering a keynote address at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, on January 6, 2025. 

Artur Widak | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Sony Group shares rose about 2% Wednesday in volatile trading after the Japanese conglomerate announced a 250 billion yen ($1.7 billion) share buyback and operating income beat estimates.   

Operating income for the last three months of the financial year came in at 203.6 billion yen, beating mean analyst estimates of 192.2 billion yen, though it was down 11% from the same period last year. 

In the earnings report, the Japanese-based electronics, entertainment and finance company announced a stock buyback of shares worth 250 billion yen. 

Sony also provided details on a partial spinoff of its financial unit. The company plans to distribute slightly more than 80% of the shares of common stock of the spinoff to shareholders of Sony Group through dividends. 

The financial unit will list its financial operation this year and will be classified as a discontinued operation in Sony’s accounting from the current quarter, the company added. 

However, Sony’s outlook for the current financial year ending in March was lackluster.

The company forecasted its operating profit to rise a slight 0.3% to 1.28 trillion yen, after flagging a 100 billion yen hit from U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war.

Yet, Sony clarified that the estimated tariff impact did not reflect the trade deal made between the U.S. and China on May 12 and that the actual impact could vary significantly. 

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