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Juniper Green Energy plans a ?1,800 crore IPO to reduce its debt burden. The company is aggressively expanding its renewable energy capacity to meet demand. Most of its power generation is secured through long-term purchase agreements. However, high leverage and execution risks are key concerns for investors. The issue is suitable for long-term investors with a higher risk appetite. View More

ET Intelligence Group: Juniper Green Energy, a renewable independent power producer (IPP), plans to raise ₹1,800 crore through a fresh issue to repay debt. The promoter stake will fall to 85.9% after the IPO from 100%. The company is aggressively expanding capacity to cater to rising power demand. About 98% of its capacity is covered through long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs), providing strong revenue visibility. However, high leverage, execution risks in commissioning under-construction projects, dependence on government policies, and high customer concentration remain key risks. Given these factors, the issue is suitable for long term investors with a higher risk appetite. Read more: Indo-MIM shares list at 45% premium. Should investors book profits or stay invested? Business Incorporated in 2011 and rebranded as Juniper Green Energy in 2018, the company is among India's top 10 renewable IPPs by total capacity. It develops, builds, operates and maintains renewable energy projects and generates revenue primarily through electricity sales under long-term PPAs. It had a portfolio of 7.9 giga watt spanning solar, wind, wind-solar hybrid and FDRE (Firm and dispatchable renewable energy) projects, including BESS (Battery energy storage system) linked projects at the end of June 2026. The company has secured more than 12,000 acres of land and over 300 WTG (Wind Turbine Generator) sites across Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Its portfolio comprised 20 operational projects (1,795 MW), 19 contracted projects (2,875 MW) and 11 awarded projects (3,240 MW) as of June 30, 2026. It derives about 86% of its revenue from two customers, Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam and Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution, implying high customer concentration. AgenciesGoing Green Renewable energy player is expanding fast with revenue visibility; however, high leverage and execution risks are a concern Financials Revenue increased 36% annually to ₹718.9 crore in FY26 from ₹391.6 crore in FY24. Operating margin before depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda margin) moderated to 85.9% from 87.4% during the period though it remained within the peer range of 81-90%. Net profit remained stagnant at ₹40.5 crore in FY26 compared with ₹40.1 crore in FY24 given the investments in capacity building. Which elevated finance cost to ₹400 crore in FY26 from ₹191 crore in FY24. The interest coverage ratio declined to 1.7 times from 1.8 times during the period. While net debt-equity ratio rose to 2.8 in FY26 from 0.8 in FY24, it was within the peer range of 1.5-4.8. These ratios are expected to improve given the company's plan to reduce debt. Live Events Valuation The IPO is valued at an EV/operating Ebitda of 33.6 compared with 21.3 for ACME Solar and 29.5 for Adani Green Energy . Juniper's premium valuation reflects its future potential growth given the capacity addition. .Pbanner{display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;background-color:#ec1c40;margin-top:20px;padding:5px 10px;border-radius:4px;color:#fff;line-height:10px;width: 100%;box-sizing: border-box} .Pbannertext{display:flex;align-items:center;font-size:16px;font-weight:600;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannertext img{height:20px;margin:0 6px} .Pbannerbutton a{display:flex;align-items:center;background-color:#fff;color:#ec1c40;text-decoration:none;font-weight:600;padding:4px 8px;border-radius:6px;font-size:15px;font-family:'Montserrat';} .Pbannerbutton img{height:20px;margin-right:6px} .Pbannerbutton a:hover{background-color:#f7f7f7} Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel) (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel)

Anthropic said it discovered three instances where its Claude AI models accessed the internet during an evaluation and accessed outside systems. View More

In this articleANTHR.FGFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Dario Amodei, co-founder and chief executive officer of Anthropic, at Bloomberg House during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images Anthropic on Thursday said it discovered three instances where its Claude artificial intelligence models accessed the internet during an evaluation and "gained unauthorized access to the real systems of three different organizations." The company said it found these incidents after carrying out a "a large-scale retrospective review" of its cybersecurity evaluations. Anthropic said the review was prompted by a separate but similar security incident that OpenAI disclosed last week. OpenAI said a combination of its models escaped an isolated testing environment that had very limited internet access. The models chained together a series of vulnerabilities to reach the open web and eventually gain access to Hugging Face, which operates an open-source developer platform. In the three incidents that Anthropic detected, its models accessed the internet while interacting with a testing environment from one of its third-party evaluation partners called Irregular. The company said that it prompted Claude that it was in a simulation with no internet access, but due to "misunderstanding between us and our evaluation partner, this was not the case, and internet access was available." The models were then able to breach the impacted organizations by using "basic techniques," like accessing unauthenticated endpoints and exploiting weak passwords. Anthropic did not disclose which three organizations were affected."Ultimately, many factors contributed to these incidents, but, consistent with a blameless postmortem culture, we're approaching the fixes as if the responsibility were ours alone," Anthropic said in a release. Read more CNBC tech newsAmazon posts 'booming' cloud growth, hikes 2026 capex to $220 billionApple earnings: Revenue tops estimates, but supply constraints weigh on guidanceChina's open-weight model lead exposes America's AI blind spotNew details in the OpenAI Hugging Face hack show how far agents will go: 'It's now remarkably easy' Anthropic's disclosure adds to growing anxiety within the tech sector about AI's rapidly advancing cyber capabilities, which both OpenAI and Anthropic have warned about in recent months. Following the Hugging Face incident, two members of Congress introduced a bill called the "AI Kill Switch Act," which would require AI companies to maintain the ability to shut down, throttle or suspend their models in case they go rogue.Three of Anthropic's models, Opus 4.7, Mythos 5 and an internal research test model, were involved in the breaches, the company said. Mythos 5 is an advanced model that Anthropic released in June, and it's limited to a select group of users because of its advanced cybersecurity capabilities. The company released an earlier version of that model in April, which captivated Wall Street and government officials.Anthropic said all three models responded differently once they detected that they had reached a real company's systems. Opus 4.7 continued its attack, Mythos 5 convinced itself that it was still in a simulation and the research model stopped the exercise. "The pattern is consistent with more advanced models responding more appropriately, but we would need to perform more testing to be confident in this conclusion," Anthropic said.The company began its review last week and said it stopped all cyber evaluations as soon as it discovered that Claude might have improperly accessed the internet. It is working with METR, which carries out independent AI evaluations, to investigate further."We encourage other labs to perform similar reviews," Anthropic said.WATCH: OpenAI’s rogue AI agent hacked multiple 3rd-party accounts as part of hack on Hugging Face watch nowVIDEO2:0602:06OpenAI's rogue AI agent hacked multiple 3rd-party accounts as part of hack on Hugging FaceSquawk Box Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Investors are questioning whether Beijing's blessing can carry a $40-billion-plus valuation for a clothing retailer whose growth engine is stalling. View More

Sunglasses are displayed at the reception of the fast-fashion brand Shein's office in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Dec. 15, 2025. Jorge Silva | Reuters Shein won Beijing's approval for a Hong Kong listing after it publicly embraced the Chinese roots it spent years playing down. Now investors are questioning whether that blessing can carry a $40-billion-plus valuation for a company whose growth engine has stalled.The China Securities Regulatory Commission approved the listing early this month, after Shein's attempts at going public in New York and London failed. The company's filing on Sunday gave investors a closer look at the pressure facing the online fast-fashion retailer — higher costs, slowing growth, and mounting regulatory scrutiny in its biggest markets.Shein's revenue grew 8% to $41.8 billion in 2025, decelerating from 20.7% growth a year earlier. In the first quarter of 2026, the company swung to a $99 million loss after the U.S. removed an import-duty exemption on small packages and the company booked a hefty one-time accounting charge."The company has missed the golden time to list," said William Ma, chief investment officer at GROW Investment Group. Investors and consumers were no longer excited by the ultra-fast fashion retailer as they once did, said Shaun Rein, managing director at China Market Research Group: "By waiting, they missed the golden windows of opportunity." Shein, known for selling $5 dresses and $10 jeans with a presence in about 160 countries, is under pressure to flatten its valuation to $30 billion, according to Bloomberg, a far cry from the nearly $100 billion it commanded in a 2022 fundraising round, and below the $64 billion of 2024. Even after the markdown, "that valuation is still demanding," Ma said. It represents roughly 19 to 25 times fiscal 2025 earnings, he said, while peers such as PDD trade at 9 times and established consumer names in Hong Kong at around 11.Analysts are increasingly valuing the one-time tech-focused supply-chain disruptor as a pure clothing retailer, grappling with slowing growth and sharp declines in profitability. The company is "transitioning from a high-growth, technology-enabled fast-fashion platform to a mature global apparel retailer facing structurally slower growth and sustained margin pressure," said Lenny Zephirin, principal and analyst at The Zephirin Group. He expects its post-listing market capitalization to settle in the high-$20 billion to low-$30 billion range. Shein did not respond to CNBC's request for comments. watch nowVIDEO3:1503:15Shein's 'hypergrowth' era over, analyst sees sharp valuation reset post-IPOThe China Connection The Hong Kong stock market Shein is entering has also moved on. "The Shein appetite has gone. It no longer exists," Zephirin said of an IPO pipeline dominated by AI and chip listings. "The appetite right now is AI, semiconductors, memory chips, storage, cloud infrastructure—and Shein does not offer it." Founded in Nanjing, Shein moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2022, built a global brand identity and pursued Western exchanges only to see Beijing block its London prospectus over risk disclosures tied to its China supply chain. In February, Shein's founder Sky Xu, in his first public appearance, pledged to "continue to take root in Guangdong," committing more than 10 billion yuan ($1.4 billion) to a "smart supply chain system" in the province. "China clearly wants Chinese brands to IPO in mainland China and Hong Kong ... the future for Chinese companies is to forgo western markets and seek listings close to home, or at home," Rein added. Investors also face a set of reputational and ethical risks due to alleged poor working conditions at Shein suppliers, addictive features of its shopping app, and the environmental toll of shipping enormous volumes by air. Shein disclosed Tuesday that its U.S. business is under investigation by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for unspecified reasons, and that it could face significant fines as a result. Stalling growth, heated rivalry Sales data also point to a slowdown that runs deeper than tariffs.Shein's share of U.S. apparel, accessories, and footwear spending peaked at about 5% in the first quarter of 2025, turned negative year over year by the fourth quarter, and has continued ceding ground in 2026, even after lapping the duty change, according to Michael Gunther, an analyst at Consumer Edge.In the U.K., where Shein commands a record high 7.5% share of the apparel, accessories, and footwear segment, year-over-year share gain slowed to essentially zero from roughly 1.8 percentage points in the first half of 2025, according to Gunther. "That suggests that Shein may be entering the mature retailer phase, since momentum slowed in the one market with no specific price pressure," Gunther said. The customer base is aging with it. In the U.S., share losses are steepest among 18-to-34-year-olds while shoppers over 55 are still adding share, Gunther said. The under-25s who drove Shein's rise in the country two years ago have turned slightly negative, with every gain now coming from shoppers over 55. "A fast fashion brand losing momentum with under-35s while growing with over-55s is a signal worth monitoring across geographies," he said. watch nowVIDEO1:0001:00Shein says it’s under investigation by the FTC as it prepares for Hong Kong IPOSquawk on the Street Rivals have adapted in ways Shein may struggle to match. Temu has shifted toward local sellers holding bulk-imported inventory that clears customs at standard tariffs. "Shein, however, can't localize inventory as easily, because the whole idea of ultra-fast fashion is that they launch thousands of new designs every day and only ship them on demand from China," said Juozas Kaziukenas, an e-commerce industry analyst.Since the European Union imposed a fee of 3 euros on low-value imports this month, both companies have paused most advertising spending in Europe, Kaziukenas said, switching off the customer-acquisition engine in a region that supplied about a third of Shein's revenue last year. — CNBC's Evelyn Cheng contributed to this story. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Microsoft's gaming unit wants to invest in its Minecraft franchise and expand through partnerships, including in China. View More

In this articleMSFTFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Asha Sharma, CEO of Xbox at Microsoft, speaks at the Bloomberg Tech conference in San Francisco on June 4, 2026.David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images Microsoft's new Xbox chief is looking to push the gaming unit's margin back in line with its rivals by next year and beat them on profitability by mid-2030."We will not live on past successes or be trapped by past failures," CEO Asha Sharma wrote in a Thursday message to staff members that CNBC viewed. "We will learn from both and put our energy into creating what players will love for decades."Sharma, a former Instacart and Meta executive, replaced Phil Spencer as Xbox CEO in February. She has since appointed new leaders, lowered Game Pass subscription prices and announced layoffs and divestitures of four development studios. Sharma has put more emphasis on exclusive titles for the Xbox console, delighting gamers who have seen the subsidiary bring franchises to Sony's PlayStation.On Wednesday, Xbox turned in a 10% quarterly revenue decline — the most sluggish performance since 2022 — even as its parent surpassed consensus in cloud infrastructure and productivity software. Microsoft stock spiked almost 16% on Thursday in its strongest session since 2008.Sharma and Matt Booty, Xbox's chief content officer, said last month that they anticipated a 3% internal margin. Sony reported a 9.9% operating margin from game and network services in the latest fiscal year, while Nintendo's approached 16%.The Xbox Series X and Series S consoles have lagged behind the Nintendo Switch and Sony PlayStation 5 in terms of shipments. Sharma wrote in her Thursday memo that Xbox will make every function and studio responsible for the gaming group getting back to growth in terms of number of players and revenue in the new fiscal year that ends in June 2027."We will build long-term plans for our biggest franchises across film, television, consumer products, sponsorship, live experiences, and form new partnerships globally, including China," she wrote. Read more CNBC tech newsAmazon posts 'booming' cloud growth, hikes 2026 capex to $220 billionApple earnings: Revenue tops estimates, but supply constraints weigh on guidanceChina's open-weight model lead exposes America's AI blind spotNew details in the OpenAI Hugging Face hack show how far agents will go: 'It's now remarkably easy' Sharma also said she wants to see Xbox gain share in casual games, partly through Activision Blizzard's King, which puts out Candy Crush Saga games.Microsoft placed a giant bet on gaming with the $75.4 billion acquisition of Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard in 2023. The deal boosted revenue, but the subsidiary became overextended. Consumers got to try new high-value Call of Duty releases for short periods through Game Pass for a small fee and leave without paying full price. Game Pass now excludes the first-person shooter titles.Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told analysts on the software maker's Wednesday earnings call that in gaming, the company is "making the necessary decisions required across our content portfolio, platform and operations to reset the business for long-term growth."In 2014, Microsoft acquired Mojang, the developer of block-building game Minecraft, for $2.5 billion. It surpassed Tetris as the world's best-selling game five years later.Sharma told employees in her note that the company would "invest in Minecraft more than ever before, strengthening the experiences players love while expanding the tools that help people create, share, build audiences, and earn."Sharma wrote that revenue growth must speed up in the 2028 and 2029 fiscal years."By FY30, our ambition is to be halfway to our long-term daily-player goal with sustained double-digit growth in players and engagement and industry leading margins," she wrote.WATCH: D.A. Davidson's Gil Luria on Microsoft layoffs: Gaming business has become 'almost irrelevant' watch nowVIDEO3:4203:42D.A. Davidson's Gil Luria on Microsoft layoffs: Gaming business has become 'almost irrelevant'Squawk on the Street Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

The company previously hadn't disclosed whether it would recoup tariff costs after the Supreme Court ruled many of President Donald Trump's levies were illegal. View More

In this articleAMZNFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a news article on Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos that reads "Amazon partnered with China propaganda arm" during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 29, 2025. Mandel Ngan | Afp | Getty Images Amazon disclosed Thursday that it has received $600 million in tariff refunds after the Supreme Court ruled that many of President Donald Trump's levies were illegal, and it expects to return some of that cash to customers."We are participating in the tariff refund process and, as I mentioned earlier, we received approximately $600 million in Q2," Brian Olsavsky, Amazon's finance chief, said on the company's earnings call. In February, the Supreme Court invalidated Trump's tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977, forcing the government to pay back duties to companies that imported goods into the U.S. that were hit by tariffs.Major companies, including Apple, Walmart, Costco, Home Depot and General Motors, all said they would apply for refunds. Trump told CNBC in April he'd "remember" companies that don't seek refunds, when asked whether companies, including Amazon, might be avoiding doing so because they're worried about offending him. Apple said Thursday its earnings per share were lifted 5%, or 11 cents, by tariff refunds in the third quarter.Amazon previously hadn't said whether it intended to apply for the refunds. In May, consumers filed a class action lawsuit in federal court in Seattle, arguing that they were owed refunds for paying tariff-inflated prices, and alleging the company wasn't seeking refunds to "curry favor" with Trump. Read more CNBC tech newsAmazon posts 'booming' cloud growth, hikes 2026 capex to $220 billionApple earnings: Revenue tops estimates, but supply constraints weigh on guidanceChina's open-weight model lead exposes America's AI blind spotNew details in the OpenAI Hugging Face hack show how far agents will go: 'It's now remarkably easy' Amazon, last April, landed in hot water with the White House after it was reported that the company planned to display the cost of Trump's tariffs next to some products on its site. Trump personally called Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos to complain about the plan, NBC News reported.On Thursday, Olsavsky said Amazon was issued a "limited" refund amount because it worked to order and preposition inventory in anticipation of the tariffs."Second, we are not the importer of record for the large majority of items sold in our store," he said.Many of Amazon's third-party sellers who import their goods from overseas were forced to raise prices due to the levies, and have since applied to receive tariff refunds. Outside sellers account for more than 60% of goods sold on Amazon's marketplace.Olsavsky said some of the company's tariff refunds will be returned to shoppers."We've identified a limited set of circumstances where we can trace that we've passed specific import charges onto customers, and when we receive those refunds, we will proactively contact affected customers and automatically issue refunds to them," Olsavsky said. "Otherwise, like other large retailers, we'll utilize refunds to continue to invest in low prices for customers." watch nowVIDEO1:0501:05Amazon stock pops on quarterly beatClosing Bell: Overtime Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Microsoft posted strong Azure and Copilot growth, while Meta missed revenue guidance forecasts as free cash flow plunged leading to diverging stock moves. View More

In this articleMSFTMETAFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT watch nowVIDEO3:2703:27Jay Woods: Microsoft is what this market needed right nowMorning Call Microsoft shares jumped 15% on Thursday while Meta tanked nearly 8% as investors gave differing verdicts on the two tech giants' earnings.On Wednesday, Microsoft posted fiscal fourth-quarter revenue that beat analyst estimates and reported 43% growth at its key Azure cloud business, which was also ahead of market expectations.The company said that it now has over 30 million paid seats for Microsoft 365 Copilot, its AI work assistant, up from more than 20 million as of April, in further signs that parts of its AI investments are paying off."Microsoft's strong revenue performance, combined with accelerating Copilot adoption, signals that its $190 billion data‑center buildout is beginning to deliver returns," Tracy Woo, principal analyst at Forrester, said in a note on Wednesday.Microsoft posted its best day since 2008 and added nearly $450 billion to its market cap on Thursday. Read more CNBC tech newsAmazon posts 'booming' cloud growth, hikes 2026 capex to $220 billionApple earnings: Revenue tops estimates, but supply constraints weigh on guidanceChina's open-weight model lead exposes America's AI blind spotNew details in the OpenAI Hugging Face hack show how far agents will go: 'It's now remarkably easy' Microsoft's stock popped even as the company reiterated its 2026 capital expenditure forecast and signaled a potential spending expansion in its 2027 fiscal year at a time when the market is jittery over the cost of AI. It was a different story for Meta. The social media giant missed investor expectations on earnings and its revenue guidance for the current quarter.Meta said it expects revenue this quarter of between $61 billion and $64 billion, or $62.5 billion at the middle of the range. Analysts were expecting guidance of $63.15 billion, according to LSEG.At the same time, Meta's free cash flow plunged 91% year-on-year to $784 million as it continues to spend on AI investments. Meta's stock sank for an 11th day, continuing a record losing streak, and is down over 20% in that time. Stock Chart IconStock chart iconMicrosoft and Meta shares this year. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company is "getting a lot of offers for compute at a significant premium" over what the company paid for it. This would be a change of direction for Meta if it begins leasing out its excess computing capacity to third parties. However, there were very few details on what this business could look like. At the same time, Zuckerberg acknowledged that the company will need to keep compute resources for itself to develop new products. "Right now, the narrative from Mark Zuckerberg is a little light on detail and relying on what could be done in the future," Ben Barringer, head of technology research at Quilter Cheviot, said in a note on Thursday."Meta still has a crucial role to play in the AI world, but it is still finding its way somewhat and that is why we see both costs and revenues looking a little volatile."— CNBC's Jonathan Vanian contributed to this report.   watch nowVIDEO6:5406:54Rosenblatt's Barton Crockett on Meta's Q2 results: I don't share the market's negative viewSquawk Box Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Reddit reported second-quarter earnings that beat on the top and the bottom, and gave a revenue forecast that topped estimates. View More

In this articleRDDTFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT Reddit CEO Steve Huffman stands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) after ringing a bell on the floor setting the share price at $47 in its initial public offering (IPO) on March 21, 2024 in New York City.Spencer Platt | Getty Images Reddit reported second-quarter earnings on Thursday that beat on the top and the bottom lines, and the company issued guidance that sailed past expectations. But the stock sank 11% after the company said in an investor letter that "search referrals were choppy," underscoring investor concerns about Reddit's reliance on Google to land new users.Here's how the company did compared with LSEG estimates:Earnings per share: $1.25 vs. 95 cents expectedRevenue: $805 million vs. $730 million expectedSales for the second quarter rose 61% year-over-year from $500 million a year earlier, the company said in a statement. Net income climbed to $253 million, or $1.25 a share, from $89 million, or 45 cents per share, the previous year.Third-quarter revenue should come in between $860 million to $870 million, the company said, while  analysts were expecting $828 million. Reddit said adjusted earnings this quarter will be between $385 million and $395 million, topping Wall Street projections of $368 million.Reddit's revenue rose more than 60% for an eighth straight quarter as the company's ad business continues to benefit from overseas expansion, a rush of new users and continued improvements to its online ad engine.The results come a day after digital ad giant Meta reported a 28% increase in year-over-year revenue. That topped estimates, but the stock sank due to a weaker-than-expected forecast and dwindling cash flow tied to artificial intelligence investments. watch nowVIDEO3:4803:48Meta's stock pullback is justified, says Needham's Laura MartinThe Exchange Meta's cash is going the other direction, as the companies investments stay in check. Free cash flow more than doubled to $261 million from $111 million a year ago.The company's global daily active unique users, or DAUq, jumped 18% year-over-year to 130.3 million for the quarter, ahead of analyst estimates of 129.9 million. Its U.S.-specific DAUq rose 6% to 53.2 million.Average revenue per user, or ARPU, came in at $6.18 while U.S. ARPU was $11.85.Reddit's "Other revenue" category, which includes its data licensing business, grew 24% year-over-year to $43 million. The company's two biggest data licensing partners are OpenAI and Google. While Reddit's user base has been expanding, investors have expressed concern about the company's ability to monetize traffic, as Google search referrals come down. CEO Steve Huffman wrote in the investor letter on Thursday that, "Search referrals were choppy in the quarter, and traffic was more volatile later in the quarter.""But the bigger picture is unchanged," he wrote. "The commercial business is strong, our revenue growth is differentiated, and we have much to be encouraged by on the product side."Reddit shares sank around 7% in after-hours trading, underscoring Wall Street's concerns about the company's search-referral traffic from Google.Earlier this month, Reddit shares tumbled after the Wall Street Journal reported that the company was considering cutting off Google's access to its data. Reddit and publishers like USA Today and Politico are concerned that they're receiving less referral traffic as the search giant increasingly pushes its Gemini-powered AI chat service, the report said.A Reddit spokesperson told CNBC at the time that it is approaching negotiations "just like any business should, by focusing on doing what's best for Reddit."Huffman said the company is considering its options."In AI overviews, we have still yet to find that win-win, but we're still you know collaborative and looking for that," he said. "I don't think there's any simple binary decision here." WATCH: Meta needs to fire up more revenue engines given its massive AI capex. watch nowVIDEO2:4202:42Meta needs to fire up more revenue engines given its massive AI capex: AnalystSquawk Box Asia Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

AWS sales expanded 37% year over year, which trounced analysts' expectations for 31% growth. View More

In this articleAMZNFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT watch nowVIDEO1:0501:05Amazon stock pops on quarterly beatClosing Bell: Overtime Amazon reported surging cloud growth during the second quarter, pointing to strong artificial intelligence demand, and the company boosted its capital spending forecast for the year. The stock shot up more than 10% in extended trading. Here's how the company did, compared with estimates from analysts polled by LSEG:Earnings per share: $5.75 a share. That may not compare with the $1.82 per share expected by LSEGRevenue: $200.61 billion vs. $196.47 billion estimatedWall Street was also looking at other key revenue numbers:Amazon Web Services: $42.2 billion vs. $40.54 billion expected, according to StreetAccountAdvertising: $19.81 billion vs. $19.43 billion expected, according to StreetAccountAmazon said it expects to spend even more on AI, with capital expenditures projected to hit $220 billion this year, CEO Andy Jassy said on a conference call with investors. In February, the company said capex would hit $200 billion this year, and it held steady on that forecast in April. Jassy said rising memory prices pushed its capex estimate higher. He suggested Amazon's spending spree isn't likely to abate anytime soon."But even at that amount, we will still not have enough capacity to meet all the demand we have in 2026, and I believe this dynamic will also be true in 2027 too," Jassy said. "In fact, the demand we already have for 2028 is striking." Wall Street had anticipated Amazon would boost its capex forecast after Alphabet hiked its spending plans to as high as $205 billion. Revenue in Amazon's cloud segment expanded 37% year over year during the quarter, surpassing Wall Street's expectations for 31% growth. That marked the unit's fastest growth since 2021, Jassy said in the earnings release. Read more CNBC tech newsAmazon posts 'booming' cloud growth, hikes 2026 capex to $220 billionApple earnings: Revenue tops estimates, but supply constraints weigh on guidanceChina's open-weight model lead exposes America's AI blind spotNew details in the OpenAI Hugging Face hack show how far agents will go: 'It's now remarkably easy' Heading into the earnings report, investors were keenly focused on AWS growth after Amazon's primary cloud rivals posted robust cloud results. Alphabet last week reported Google Cloud growth of 82%, while Microsoft's Azure cloud revenue rose 43% during the fiscal fourth quarter. Jassy said AWS is "booming," and pointed to the growth of its artificial intelligence and homegrown chips units, which both exceeded a $25 billion annual revenue run rate. Amazon has increasingly looked to highlight its in-house chips division, which includes the Trainium and Graviton brands, as a newer growth pillar for the company. Its AI products like the Bedrock model marketplace have primarily been targeted for enterprises.Amazon has been juggling the need to spend massive sums on AI products and infrastructure, while also appeasing jittery investors eager to see returns on those investments. Capital expenditures during the quarter reached $54.2 billion during the June quarter, compared with $32.1 billion a year ago.The lavish spending has caused Amazon's free cash flow to flip into the red. The company's free cash flow for the trailing twelve months amounted to an outflow of $7.6 billion, while it recorded an inflow of $18.2 billion one year earlier.On a conference call with investors, Jassy highlighted that those investments are necessary to fulfill the surging demand for its cloud services. AWS backlog, or contracted work that hasn't come online yet, reached $496 billion during the quarter, he said. For the current quarter, Amazon guided for revenue between $197 billion and $202 billion. Analysts polled by LSEG were expecting $204.1 billion. The company blamed tough comparisons to last year's third quarter as a result of its decision to shift this year's Prime Day discount event up to June, instead of its typical July timeframe. Excluding the impact of this year and last year's Prime Day, third-quarter 2026 growth "would be nearly 400 basis points higher," Amazon said.Amazon doesn't disclose Prime Day revenue, but U.S. sales across online retailers grew 9% to $26.4 billion during the weeklong event, according to Adobe. Prime Day helped lift Amazon's North America revenue 16% year over year to $116.2 billion during the second quarter. Operating income in the third quarter is expected to be in the range of $22.5 billion to $26.5 billion, while analysts polled by StreetAccount forecast $24.92 billion. Net income for the second quarter was $62.6 billion, or $5.75 per share, compared with $18.2 billion, or $1.68 per share, a year earlier. The company said this includes pre-tax income of $53.4 billion, primarily from its investments in AI lab Anthropic. Amazon said it more than doubled the number of new customers for its online pharmacy service, and grew same-day prescription deliveries "nearly 5x." The company has operated Amazon Pharmacy since 2020, and the service remains a key pillar of its health-care push, but it has shared scant details about user sign-ups. watch nowVIDEO1:3101:31Amazon raising at least $25B in bond saleTechCheck Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Trump said he'd "like to see tariffs on Iran" added to a bill that would impose economic sanctions on Russia and those supporting its war against Ukraine. View More

US President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on July 29, 2026.Ken Cedeno | AFP | Getty Images President Donald Trump wants Congress to add tariffs on Iran to a sanctions bill against Russia and Tehran that has bipartisan support.Those duties would have little effect because the U.S. imports nearly nothing from Iran. But tacking them on to the bill may torpedo its chances of becoming law. While sanctions against the two countries have widespread support in Congress, Trump's well-established belief in tariffs as a one-size-fits-all tool for economic coercion is polarizing.The U.S. imported just $1.4 million in goods from Iran in 2025, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Works of art, collectors pieces and antiques were the largest category of those imports, making up 55% of the value, according to the firm Trading Economics.It's hard to imagine that figure increasing much this year — especially since late February, when the U.S. and Israel launched a war against Iran that continues with no end in sight. The U.S. has sanctioned Iran for decades, and the Treasury Department has sought to further squeeze Tehran's economy amid the war."The Administration's threat to impose tariffs on imports from Iran is entirely symbolic," Jonathan Doh, professor of international business at Villanova School of Business, said in an email to CNBC. "U.S. imports from Iran are trivial."Trump sees it differently. Asked at the White House on Wednesday about the pending sanctions bill, he said, "I'd like them to add Iran as tariffs, not just as sanctions."The measure is named after former Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who died unexpectedly in mid-July."I'd like to see tariffs on Iran. It would make it much stronger," Trump said of the bill, which would impose economic sanctions on Russia and those supporting its war against Ukraine.The legislation would also let Trump slap targeted tariffs on goods imported from the top five countries that buy Russian energy and help it evade sanctions. Trump claimed Wednesday that modifying it by adding tariffs on Iran is "what Lindsey wanted."Graham's office, which is now occupied by his sister, Darline Graham, did not respond to CNBC's request for comment on Trump's remark.Doh told CNBC that U.S. sanctions on Iran — which already prohibit nearly all trade — are "far more impactful" than tariffs would be."Primary sanctions target U.S. persons from trading with Iran, while secondary sanctions target non-U.S. companies and individuals for doing business with Iran," Doh said. He noted that Iran was eager to include sanctions relief as part of a now-defunct temporary ceasefire deal with the U.S. that was signed in June, then effectively scrapped weeks later as military action resumed. Read more CNBC politics coverageTodd Blanche AG nomination on edge as Sen. Cornyn questions Trump-IRS settlementAnalysis: Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh's credibility in question after rates left unchangedTrump promised a 'golden age' for agriculture. Farmers in Iowa say they're still waiting The sanctions bill took a key step forward Tuesday, as a bipartisan group of senators said they reached a deal to combine provisions on Russia and Iran into a single legislative package. The chamber then voted 86-12 on a procedural measure to advance the bill. The vote was notable in a Congress that has been riven by partisan divisions.But that progress could hit a wall if Trump insists additional tariffs on Iran be added to the bill.Democrats have denounced Trump's heavy use of tariffs, which has ramped back up this month after being tamped down by the Supreme Court earlier this year. The Trump administration in recent weeks has imposed or announced new duties on goods from dozens of countries, including Canada, Brazil and the 27-member European Union.The White House and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative did not respond to CNBC's requests for comment on Trump's call for tariffs on Iran. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

Investors weighed the Federal Reserve's decision to hold interest rates steady. View More

In this articleUS30YUS2YUS10YFollow your favorite stocksCREATE FREE ACCOUNT watch nowVIDEO7:2907:29Chairman Kevin Warsh delivers remarks following the Fed's decision to leave rates unchangedPower Lunch U.S. Treasury yields were little changed on Thursday, following the Federal Reserve's decision to hold interest rates steady. The 30-year Treasury bond yield hovered near levels not seen since 2007, having jumped 6 basis points after regular trading on Wednesday to above 5.2%. The rest of the yield curve was little changed.On Wednesday, the Fed voted to hold its key interest rate steady at a range of 3.5% to 3.75% in a 9-3 vote, at the second FOMC meeting with Chairman Kevin Warsh at the helm."Economic activity is expanding at a solid pace despite elevated uncertainty that owes, in part, to the conflict in the Middle East," the FOMC statement said following the decision. "Job gains have kept pace with the workforce, and the unemployment rate has changed little." Deutsche Bank analysts also noted the Treasury sell-off continuing overnight and said its economists still expect the Fed to raise rates by 50 basis points this year. "But they think the FOMC is unlikely to take much comfort in yesterday's market reaction, with the rise in long-end rates coupled with the decline in forward real yields suggesting doubts about an imminent return of price stability," the analysts said.They added that the overall US credit conditions remain supportive, but a steeper yield curve could add pressure to the weak housing market.The latest economic data released Thursday showed U.S. growth slowing to 1.5% in the second quarter, missing the Dow Jones consensus estimate of 1.8%. Inflation remained above the Fed's target, with core PCE, which excludes food and energy, showing a monthly increase of 0.1% and an annual level of 3.3%. Economists polled by Dow Jones were expecting 0.2% and 3.3%, respectively. Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.