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Articles by Gregory Zuckerman
JetBlue Creditors Reportedly Retain Restructuring Advisers
A group of JetBlue Airways senior creditors has hired restructuring adviser PJT Partners and law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, according to a report attributed to people familiar with the matter. The reported move comes as a specific $2 billion tranche of JetBlue senior notes due in 2031 fell to distressed prices, sharpening attention on the carrier’s ability to manage a large debt burden while pursuing a turnaround.
Bank of Israel Tells Netanyahu Crypto Cannot Replace Global Financial Ties
The Bank of Israel said cryptocurrency cannot be used to circumvent sanctions, publicly pushing back on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s discussion of financial contingencies should Israel face banking or economic restrictions. The position, reported Oct. 24 by Ynetnews and corroborated by Anadolu Agency, places Israel’s access to international financial institutions and trading partners at the center of a political debate over digital assets.
Skydance Warns Employees of Difficult Decisions After Paramount-Warner Deal Closes
Skydance has completed Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, creating a combined entertainment company with major film, television, streaming and news operations—and has warned employees that the integration will require difficult decisions affecting the workforce. The transaction, valued at $110 billion by BBC News, closed Oct. 6, according to the company’s press-release index.
Trump Housing Order Targets Mortgage Insurance and Refinance Costs
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Oct. 22 directing federal housing and lending agencies to pursue lower mortgage-insurance and refinancing costs, reduce rates on certain government-made direct loans and develop a new manufactured-housing agenda. The action puts the Federal Housing Finance Agency at the center of changes that could affect loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but it does not immediately erase mortgage insurance or reset broad mortgage rates.
Lycia Raises $318 Million as Nasdaq Debut Climbs 67%
Lycia Therapeutics raised about $317.5 million in gross proceeds through an upsized initial public offering and then finished its first Nasdaq trading session 67% above its $18 offer price, according to IPO-market tracker Renaissance Capital. The debut gives the clinical-stage drug developer a substantial financing base for medicines designed to remove disease-causing proteins outside cells, while adding another strong data point to a busy market for biotech listings.
Global Credit Spreads Hit 17-Month High Amid AI Investment Worries
Global corporate credit spreads widened to as much as 129 basis points on Oct. 23, the broadest premium over government debt reported since May 2025, as concern about large, debt-funded artificial-intelligence investments coincided with geopolitical tension and a wider retreat from risk assets. The move extended beyond technology shares.
Tech Selloff Drives Nasdaq Down 2.6% as AI Costs Loom
U.S. stocks sold off sharply on Oct. 22 as investors reassessed the expense, financing demands and eventual returns of the technology industry’s AI buildout. The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.6% to 26,008.86, its steepest decline since June, while the S&P 500 lost 1.2% to 7,663.43. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was effectively unchanged, rising 11.89 points to 52,867.98. The split among the major averages captured the concentration of the move.
Getty Images’ Reported Chapter 11 Filing Would Cancel Shares
Getty Images is reported to have entered Chapter 11 with a restructuring framework that would cancel all existing common shares, shift ownership of the reorganized company to its majority shareholders and reshape more than $2 billion of reported debt. The proposed transaction also calls for roughly $533 million of support from those shareholders, combining debtor-in-possession financing, a cash equity investment and the conversion of certain prepetition debt into equity.
IBM Beats Estimates as Software Revenue Rises 8%
IBM reported third-quarter adjusted earnings and revenue above Wall Street expectations, with software sales rising 8% even as its consulting unit posted flat revenue. The results give the company support for its full-year growth outlook, but also expose an uneven operating picture behind its broader artificial-intelligence strategy. CNBC reported Oct. 21 that IBM earned $2.95 per share on an adjusted basis, compared with the $2.86 LSEG consensus estimate.
Meta Reports $64.6 Billion Revenue, Plans Class C Dividend
Meta Platforms reported $64.601 billion in third-quarter revenue, up 26% from a year earlier, while unveiling a recapitalization that would give holders of its existing stock a newly created, publicly listed non-voting Class C share. The combination puts two of Meta’s current priorities in view: preserving the voting structure of its existing equity while funding an increasingly expensive artificial-intelligence buildout.
OCC Reportedly Preserves Issuer Interest Ban While Allowing Some Stablecoin Rewards
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has reportedly drawn a line that could shape competition between banks and crypto platforms: stablecoin issuers would remain barred from paying interest directly to holders, while exchanges and custodial platforms could continue offering interest-like rewards in some circumstances.
Amuay Refinery Restart Begins After Venezuela Power Outage
Venezuela’s Amuay refinery, the country’s largest, began restarting processing units after a power outage forced it to shut down on June 29, according to Reuters reporting. The restoration narrows the risk of an extended loss of refining capacity, but it does not resolve wider electricity problems that were still limiting operations at another refinery and a neighboring petrochemical complex.
SpaceX Reports $4.4 Billion Quarterly Profit as Spending Climbs
SpaceX reported $14.6 billion in revenue and $4.4 billion in net income for the three months through September, a sharp reversal from the loss it disclosed in its first quarterly report as a public company. The results, reported Oct. 20 by The Guardian and in an Associated Press report carried by AOL, give investors a second view of a company whose satellite network, computing-related activities and launch ambitions require unusually large and continuing investment.
Social Security Retirement Fund Projected to Run Short in 2032
Social Security’s retirement and survivors trust fund is projected to exhaust its reserves in the fourth quarter of 2032, three months earlier than projected a year ago, according to reporting on the latest trustees update. The broader 2034 estimate for Social Security’s two trust funds combined did not change. The split is more than an accounting detail: the earlier date applies to the fund that pays retirement and survivors benefits, while the later one includes the disability fund.
Jio IPO Anchor Book Draws Reported $25 Billion in Bids
Jio Platforms’ proposed $3.2 billion initial public offering has drawn about $25 billion in bids for its institutional anchor allocation, according to a Reuters report published Oct. 19, an early indication of unusually strong demand for a listing that would test global investors’ appetite for India’s largest mobile operator. The reported orders are not final investments, and neither Reliance Industries nor the named investors had confirmed allocations.
Pentagon Escalates Anthropic Dispute Over Claude Military Safeguards
The Pentagon’s dispute with Anthropic over permitted military uses of the Claude AI system has escalated beyond a contract negotiation. Anthropic said Feb. 27 that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had directed the department to designate the company a supply-chain risk after it refused to remove restrictions involving mass domestic surveillance of Americans and fully autonomous weapons.
Character.AI Chapter 11 Sets Disney’s $20 Million License Bid
Character.AI has entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware and lined up Walt Disney as the proposed stalking-horse bidder for a $20 million license to certain company intellectual property. The arrangement is a bid floor for a court-supervised sale process, not an acquisition of the AI chatbot company. The distinction frames both the value of the transaction and its uncertainty.
China Opens AI Export-Control Consultation, Requires Interim Registration
China’s Commerce and Science and Technology ministries have opened a monthlong consultation on revisions to the country’s catalogue of technologies prohibited or restricted from export, a proposal that reaches across artificial intelligence, biomedicine and photovoltaics. At the same time, the ministries have imposed an interim registration requirement on exports involving technologies within the proposal’s scope.
Netflix Plans Roughly 1,000 Job Cuts Across Key Teams
Netflix has told employees it plans to eliminate roughly 6% of its workforce, or about 1,000 positions, in a global reduction expected to fall most heavily on product, technology, legal and human-resources teams. The planned cuts are the company’s largest reported workforce reduction since 2022 and arrive less than a week before its scheduled third-quarter earnings report.
UK Culture Secretary Weighs Intervention in Sky’s £1.6bn ITV Media Deal
UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has told Sky and ITV that she is minded to intervene in Sky’s proposed £1.6 billion purchase of ITV’s media and entertainment business, opening the prospect of a public-interest review focused on news plurality, freedom of expression and programming choice. The move does not halt the transaction or amount to a formal intervention notice. Sky and ITV have until 20 October to respond before Nandy decides whether to issue one.
South Carolina lawmakers press NextEra on bill credits and jobs as Dominion merger faces contested PSC review
South Carolina lawmakers received their first formal briefing Oct. 15 on NextEra Energy’s proposed acquisition of Dominion Energy, pressing company officials on customer bill credits, employment and the future of Dominion Energy South Carolina while a contested state regulatory case proceeds. WIS News 10 described the proposed transaction as a $67 billion deal.
Berkshire Agrees to $330 Million Bending Spoons Share Placement
Berkshire Hathaway has agreed to buy 10 million newly issued ordinary shares of Bending Spoons at $33 apiece, a private placement expected to produce about $330 million in gross proceeds for the Nasdaq-listed software acquirer. The agreement is binding, but the purchase has not yet closed: Bending Spoons expects completion in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions. The distinction is consequential for both companies.
Workday Signs Deal for C1.ai to Govern AI Agents
Workday said it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire C1.ai, an agentic identity platform, placing access controls alongside the software maker’s expanding push to deploy AI agents in HR, finance and IT workflows. The transaction, announced Oct. 13 at Workday Rising 2026, is designed to govern what both employees and automated agents can reach across Workday and other business systems. The deal is not complete.
BlackRock Reports $205 Billion in Quarterly Inflows
BlackRock reported $205 billion in total client inflows for the third quarter, pushing assets under management to $15.49 trillion as its adjusted earnings per share topped Wall Street expectations. The results offer a large-scale measure of where investors are putting money: exchange-traded funds, debt products and private markets all registered disclosed inflows.
Citi Reports Higher Third-Quarter Profit as Services, Wealth Grow
Citigroup reported third-quarter net income of $5.245 billion, or $2.85 a diluted share, as growth in its services, wealth, markets and banking operations lifted revenue 8% from a year earlier. The New York-based bank’s reported profit was 40% above the same period in 2025, although that headline comparison was amplified by a Banamex-related impairment recorded a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 reached $23.845 billion, up from $22.090 billion.
Reese Witherspoon and Mediawan Acquire Hello Sunshine
Reese Witherspoon and Paris-based content group Mediawan are acquiring Hello Sunshine from Candle Media, placing the production company and Reese’s Book Club inside a rapidly expanding international network of independent entertainment labels. The transaction returns Witherspoon, who founded Hello Sunshine in 2016, to an investing ownership role after Candle Media took a controlling stake five years ago.
CrowdStrike issued 2.1 million shares to close XM Cyber technology deal, CTech reports
CrowdStrike issued 2,118,022 shares to an affiliate of Schwarz Group as part of the closing of its purchase of XM Cyber intellectual-property and technology assets, according to an Oct. 13 report by CTech. Using the $208-per-share figure cited in that report, the newly issued stock would be worth about $440.5 million. Added to $145 million in previously disclosed cash-and-stock consideration, that produces an implied total of roughly $585.5 million.
UnitedHealth raises adjusted 2026 EPS outlook after third-quarter beat
UnitedHealth Group raised its full-year adjusted earnings outlook to at least $20.50 a share after reporting third-quarter adjusted earnings of $4.69 a share, ahead of outside expectations. The increase moves the company above its prior adjusted-EPS range of $19.50 to $20 and offers a closely watched reading on whether the insurer is gaining ground against high medical utilization and claims costs.
IMF Warns AI Market Correction Could Spread Globally
The International Monetary Fund has warned that a correction in AI-linked markets could extend well beyond technology stocks, disrupting financial conditions, investment and economic activity around the world. The warning, presented in the Fund’s October financial-stability assessment, identifies AI valuations and financing as one of several plausible shocks that could unsettle markets already facing higher sovereign borrowing costs and cyber risks.
Trump Announces Russian Diesel Deal as U.S. Eases Sanctions
President Donald Trump said he reached an arrangement with Russian President Vladimir Putin for Russian diesel to be supplied to the United States and global markets, a sharp departure from the U.S. prohibition on importing Russian oil and gas imposed after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih Reportedly Plans Cold Shutdown
ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih is preparing to place its operations in cold shutdown after repeated missile attacks, according to an Oct. 10 RBC-Ukraine report that described a sharper operational retreat than the partial production halt the company confirmed in August. The report said primary steelmaking has already stopped and that the Kryvyi Rih site will use the next two months to prepare equipment and industrial assets for safe preservation.
AI stocks fall after report puts OpenAI annualized revenue near $50 billion
Shares of major AI suppliers and infrastructure companies declined Oct. 8 after reports said OpenAI had told investors it was running at roughly $50 billion in annualized revenue at the end of September. The figure was below earlier media reports of roughly $68 billion to $70 billion, though the reports indicate the numbers may not measure the same thing. The decline reached Nvidia, Oracle, Intel, AMD, Broadcom, CoreWeave and Super Micro Computer.
CMS Details $90 Medicare Part B Rebate
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is preparing one-time $90 payments for an estimated 20.8 million people enrolled in Original Medicare Part B, using money from the Medicare Improvement Fund. Most eligible beneficiaries are expected to receive a direct deposit from the Social Security Administration on or around Oct. 8, 2026; those without direct deposit are slated to receive Treasury checks later this month. The payment is sizable in aggregate but narrowly targeted.
Skydance Completes Warner Bros. Discovery Acquisition
Skydance has completed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, closing a roughly $110 billion transaction that combines Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., Paramount+, HBO Max, CBS and CNN in a newly named Skydance. The deal, reported as completed Oct. 6, creates one of the largest entertainment groups in the world and moves a long-running media consolidation from financing and regulatory review into the more difficult work of integration.
S&P 500 Closes Above 7,800 as Nasdaq Hits Record
The S&P 500 closed above 7,800 for the first time on Oct. 6, while the Nasdaq Composite also finished at a record, extending a rally that has carried major U.S. benchmarks into an earnings season with unusually high expectations for corporate profits. An AOL-published market report put the S&P 500’s gain at 0.58% and the Nasdaq’s at 0.45%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.49%, but remained below the record it reached in August.
Ellison Names Skydance Leadership Ahead of Expected Paramount-WBD Closing
David Ellison has named the executives intended to run the combined Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery operations under Skydance, establishing a management map for film, streaming, television and news before the transaction’s expected Oct. 6 closing. Ellison is slated to be chairman and chief executive, with former Mattel chief Ynon Kreiz designated co-chief executive.
French Bond Stress Hits Euro as Italy Spreads Widen
French government bonds came under renewed selling pressure on Oct. 5, widening the premium investors demand over German debt, weighing on the euro and coinciding with a sharp move in Italian borrowing spreads. The moves have revived concern about fragmentation in the euro area, where higher financing costs for a large member can complicate monetary policy across the currency bloc.
Schneider Electric Agrees to Buy PTC for $22.6 Billion
Schneider Electric has agreed to acquire Boston-based software company PTC in an all-cash transaction valuing PTC’s equity at about $22.6 billion, a proposed takeover that would be the French group’s largest acquisition and a major wager on industrial software. The offer of $205 a share implies an enterprise value of $23.7 billion and represented a 42.3% premium to PTC’s last closing price, according to CNA’s transaction report.
SEC Proposal Would Let Companies Choose Semiannual Filings
The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed giving eligible U.S. public companies a choice that could materially change the rhythm of corporate disclosure: replace quarterly reports with a single semiannual filing. The May 5 proposal would create Form 10-S, allowing an electing company to submit one interim report for its first six months and one annual report each fiscal year instead of three Form 10-Q reports and an annual report.
Judge Approves Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery State Settlement
A federal judge has approved Paramount’s settlement with 12 states that sought to block its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, removing the last reported litigation obstacle before the companies’ expected Oct. 6 closing. The ruling resolves the states’ antitrust suit through a consent decree rather than a trial or an upfront break-up of assets. The transaction would combine Paramount’s film studio, CBS, Paramount+ and cable networks with Warner Bros. Discovery’s Warner Bros.
Trump Announces Mesabi Metallics’ $15 Billion Iowa Steel Complex
President Donald Trump announced plans for a $15 billion Mesabi Metallics steel complex in Iowa, a proposed industrial project that the administration says would employ 1,750 people permanently and support up to 6,000 construction jobs. The announcement, made at the White House on Sept. 28, places a large new steelmaking investment at the center of a planned supply chain running from an iron-ore mine in northern Minnesota to an Iowa mill.
G7 Agrees to Release Up to 100 Million Barrels of Reserves
Group of Seven leaders agreed Friday to coordinate the release of up to 100 million barrels of strategic crude-oil and refined-product reserves over the next four months, putting diesel at the center of an emergency response to elevated fuel prices. The agreement, announced after a videoconference convened by French President Emmanuel Macron, also commits G7 members not to impose energy-export bans or restrictions on one another.
U.S. Added 29,000 Jobs in September as Unemployment Rose to 4.2%
U.S. employers added a preliminary 29,000 jobs in September, while the unemployment rate rose to 4.2% from 4.1% in August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Situation report. The modest payroll increase was accompanied by downward revisions totaling 60,000 jobs for July and August, leaving the recent employment record softer than previously reported. The result was consistent with slower hiring, though one month of labor data can be volatile.
Anthropic Reportedly Targets Mid-November IPO Debut
Anthropic is seeking to begin trading as soon as mid-November, according to a Bloomberg report published by The Business Times, setting up a potential public-market test for one of the AI sector’s most highly valued private companies. The reported schedule would put a prospective debut before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Nov. 26, after what Bloomberg said was a delay in the company’s listing plans. The timetable is not a company announcement.
U.S. GDP Growth Revised Up to 2.2% in Final Estimate
The U.S. economy expanded at a 2.2% seasonally adjusted annual rate in the second quarter, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said in its final estimate, a substantial upgrade from the 1.5% pace reported in each of the two earlier releases.
Nuveen Completes Schroders Acquisition, Plans 12-to-18-Month Transition
Nuveen said it completed its acquisition of Schroders on Oct. 1, bringing the London-based investment and wealth manager into the TIAA-owned asset manager while postponing a full operating combination. Schroders will continue as a separately run business within Nuveen for 12 to 18 months as management develops integration plans. The closing creates a firm with approximately $2.6 trillion in assets under management, according to Nuveen’s announcement.
Trump Media and TAE File SEC Registration Statement for Proposed All-Stock Merger
Trump Media & Technology Group has filed a Form S-4 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for its proposed all-stock merger with TAE Technologies, a significant procedural step in a transaction that would bring the privately held fusion developer into a public company. The filing does not complete the acquisition. Trump Media and TAE said Sept.
Anthropic’s Reported IPO Prospectus Details Vast Costs and AI Risks
Anthropic’s reported IPO prospectus presents prospective investors with an unusually stark combination: rapidly expanding artificial-intelligence revenue, exceptionally large expected computing costs and warnings that increasingly capable AI could create severe harm.
Paramount Skydance Markets $44.4 Billion Debt Package for Warner Bros. Discovery Deal
Paramount Skydance has begun marketing a reported $44.4 billion debt package to help fund its pending acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, moving the proposed media combination into a critical financing phase even as a federal court matter remains unresolved. The offering, reported Sept. 28 by Deadline and independently by TheWrap, is composed of approximately $32 billion in investment-grade debt and $12.4 billion in high-yield debt.
SpaceX Reports $7.8 Billion Revenue, $541 Million Quarterly Loss
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. reported $7.814 billion in second-quarter revenue and a $541 million GAAP net loss, offering public investors their first detailed view of the company’s financial results since its June initial public offering. Revenue for the quarter ended June 30 was up 92% from $4.071 billion a year earlier, according to the company’s Form 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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