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North America
CNBC Finance

Paramount-WBD merger wins approval from DOJ

The U.S. Department of Justice has signed off on Paramount Skydance's proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, clearing the merger of federal antitrust concerns. "The Division has completed its analysis of the proposed merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. and determined based on the evidence received in its investigation that the transaction is not likely to result in harm to competition or American consumers," the department said in its determination. A Paramount spokesperson said in a statement the company was "grateful for the Department of Justice's thorough review of this transaction, as well as the work of the other agencies that have completed their reviews and provided clearance to date. "This deal is pro-competitive, resulting in a stronger company better positioned to compete against dominant technology platforms in an industry increasingly defined by intense competition for audiences, talent, technology, and investment," the spokesperson said. "We remain focused on completing the transaction as soon as possible and delivering its benefits to consumers, creators and the entertainment industry as a whole." It's an important milestone for the roughly $110 billion deal, though it could still face legal challenges from state attorneys general. California Attorney General Rob Bonta has been among the officials reviewing the proposal, and the deal "remains under investigation by the California Department of Justice," his office said in a statement Friday. Paramount's stock was up about 3% in after-hours trading. Politico first reported the government approval. Paramount CEO David Ellison told investors during the company's April earnings call that the deal was on track to close by September, after which point a so-called ticking fee kicks in, making the deal more expensive. The proposed merger has already received WBD shareholder approval. In late February, Paramount offered $31 per share to acquire all of WBD's assets, which includes cable TV networks like CNN and TBS, the Warner Bros. film studio and streaming platform HBO Max. The proposal came following multiple offers and upended a deal with Netflix for that company to acquire WBD's streaming and film assets. Paramount is still awaiting regulatory approval from European officials. Earlier this week the European Union's regulator arm began reviewing the proposed deal and set a July 14 deadline for vetting, according to a notice on its website. On Wednesday Paramount said in a regulatory filing that the deal received approval from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis.

Paramount-WBD merger wins approval from DOJ
Asia
The Hindu BusinessLine

India–Latin America trade set to double to $100 billion by 2030, says Uruguay envoy

Uruguay is also pushing to expand the India–Mercosur preferential trade agreement from 450 to 3,000 products, with a long-term vision of a free trade pact. | Photo Credit: Octavio Jones Trade between India and Latin America is expected to double to USD 100 billion by 2030 from the current USD 50 billion, Alberto Antonio Guani Amarilla, Ambassador of Uruguay to India and Coordinator of the Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC), told ANI on Wednesday, highlighting the growing economic partnership between the two regions.”It is very crucial to see that we already have a trade of USD 50 billion that will be USD 100 billion in the year 2030,” Guani Amarilla told ANI in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of LAC FIRST: India-Latin America & Caribbean Business & Diplomatic Conference.He said Latin America expects to remain a strong partner as India advances towards becoming a developed economy, adding that there is significant scope to expand cooperation across productive sectors.Guani Amarilla said Latin America has increasingly emerged as an important partner for India and stressed the need to further deepen economic engagement between the two regions. He welcomed India’s decision to open an embassy in Uruguay next month, describing it as an important step in strengthening bilateral ties. Amarilla said Uruguay hopes External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will attend the inauguration.”We are now very much expecting the fact that India is going to open an embassy in Uruguay next month. We hope that Minister Jaishankar will be able to be the chief guest there,” he said.He also called for greater high-level engagement between the two countries, saying Uruguay would be pleased to host Prime Minister Narendra Modi and would also like to see the President of Uruguay visit India. On trade, Amarilla said Uruguay is seeking an expansion of the existing India-Mercosur Preferential Trade Agreement, which currently covers around 450 products.”We have a preferential agreement with Mercosur and that is something that has been covering 450 products. We want to take it to 3,000 and maybe that’s the first stage to think on a wider possibility of having a free trade agreement,” he said. Amarilla identified minerals, agro-industries and pharmaceuticals as among the key sectors driving trade between India and Latin America and offering scope for further growth.Commenting on global trade, Amarilla reiterated Uruguay’s longstanding support for open markets and free trade.”In the case of Uruguay, we have always been very much favourable to free trade. We have always promoted the possibility of having open markets and free exchange,” he said. Addressing energy markets, Amarilla said fluctuations in oil prices do not necessarily transform economies, citing Uruguay’s own experience of shifting from dependence on imported oil to renewable energy.”What happened to Uruguay, for example, we were practically a net importer of oil and now we are a big producer of renewable energy,” he said.He said India and Uruguay should continue identifying areas of complementarity and collaboration to create mutually beneficial opportunities and expand engagement across sectors. Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments. We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.

India–Latin America trade set to double to $100 billion by 2030, says Uruguay envoy
North America
CNBC Finance

Elon Musk becomes world's first trillionaire as SpaceX begins trading on the Nasdaq

With SpaceX opening on the Nasdaq at $150 a share Friday, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla now has a stake in SpaceX that's worth more than $766 billion. Combined with his Tesla stake, which is worth $280 billion, Musk's net worth from both companies as of Friday was roughly $1.05 trillion. The SpaceX IPO added more than $180 billion to Musk's fortune. He is now worth more than the next five richest billionaires in the world combined. His personal net worth is larger than the national GDP of Taiwan, Ireland or Sweden. Musk's coronation as the first person in history to be worth $1 trillion is likely to add fuel to the debate over wealth inequality and the rise in power of America's richest tech founders. Along with creating the world's first trillionaire, the SpaceX IPO also minted thousands of new millionaires and several new billionaires among the employees and executives who own stock. Shares of SpaceX gained roughly 20% Friday to close just above $160 apiece. That values the company at more than $2 trillion. Musk was first declared a billionaire by Bloomberg and Forbes in 2012, with the latter estimating his net worth at $2.4 billion at the time. His fortune reached $20 billion in 2019 and skyrocketed the following year after a Tesla stock split, making Musk the world's fifth centibillionaire — worth more than $100 billion — by Forbes' estimate. In the six years since, Musk's net worth has grown roughly tenfold. His fortune has surged by a rate unmatched even by the decade's previous "world's richest person" titleholders: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and Bernard Arnault, head of the luxury empire LVMH. Google co-founder Larry Page, currently worth an estimated $295 billion, according to Forbes, takes a distant second place among the ranks of the world's richest people. Page is followed by a second Google co-founder, Sergey Brin; Bezos, and Oracle founder Larry Ellison, each worth more than $200 billion as of Friday, according to Forbes. That said, Gates' fortune would be a whopping $464 billion had he not given so much away to philanthropy, per Forbes' estimate. Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services. Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis.

Elon Musk becomes world's first trillionaire as SpaceX begins trading on the Nasdaq
Asia-Pacific
The Straits Times

The fine print in insurance policy nobody reads until it matters 

Recent cases in which policyholders’ claims were denied serve as a stark reminder that insurance is not a promise to pay every claim. Sign up for ST InvestMe and unlock the full access to exclusive insights and financial literacy courses today. SINGAPORE – Insurance is meant to be a safety net. Many assume that once premiums are paid, medical and accident bills will be taken care of – but reality can be messier. Recent cases in which policyholders’ claims were denied serve as a stark reminder that insurance is not a promise to pay every claim. It is a promise to pay claims that fall within the policy’s terms. This technicality can leave policyholders facing tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in unexpected out-of-pocket costs. This distinction was thrown into sharp relief when a Singapore court delivered a rebuke to NTUC Income – now Income Insurance – over its handling of claims related to Ko Wah, an elderly victim of an accident. Ko, who was 78 when he was knocked down by a van, suffered severe brain injuries requiring multiple operations, and became bedridden and permanently mentally incapacitated. He died five years later in October 2024. The court awarded more than $417,000 in damages to his son, who had sued on behalf of Ko’s estate for damages for pain and suffering, loss of amenities arising from injuries in the accident, loss of pre-trial earnings, medical expenses and further expenses. In issuing the judgment, deputy registrar Kim Bum Soo chided NTUC Income for its “wholly unreasonable behaviour”, citing “unfounded objections” to some claims and “casually impersonal stonewalling”. Kim said: “Their position was that the late Mr Ko had been comatose the entire time and could not have appreciated any pain and suffering at all.” He also noted that despite being given “an explicit opportunity” to explain their insistence “on such an unyielding and apparently unreasonable position”, NTUC Income “simply declined to explain themselves”. Often, insurance disputes involve how policy terms are interpreted. This happens when you and your insurance company disagree about whether your policy covers a specific claim or situation. The company says it will not pay for it, even though you believe it should.

The fine print in insurance policy nobody reads until it matters 
Europe
BBC Business

'We had to get out of the way': The backlash over delivery robots

The first time Chicago resident John Roberts saw a delivery robot trundling down the sidewalk on his street he was impressed. But his attitude started to change when, soon after, he was out for a walk with his family. As another robot approached, they found themselves having to dodge it. "To us it felt a little off - the fact that we were on the one strip reserved for walking, and we were having to get out of the way," says Roberts. "I started thinking about what it would be like for us to go for a walk as a family if there were dozens of robots with lights and cameras zipping around." The robots, more formally known as autonomous urban delivery vehicles, have started to appear on pavements in a number of cities across the US, plus in the UK, Japan, South Korea and Germany, transporting groceries and fast food, using cameras, sensors and GPS to navigate. According to the companies operating them, they can reliably identify and avoid objects in the path, cross streets safely and react to their environment. The robots provide a useful service and help cut down on traffic and emissions, they claim. However, some local authorities in the US and Canada, and members of the public, are less than enthusiastic. Bans have been put in place, and protests have been launched. San Francisco has limited the access of the vehicles to less busy parts of the city, and Toronto has since 2021 prohibited the robots from using sidewalks. Meanwhile, in Chicago the machines have now been banned from two small areas of the city. Roberts wants the robots to be suspended across all of Chicago until safety tests are carried out, and clear rules are set on their usage. He has launched a petition calling for this, and so far, it has around 4,400 signatures. People frequently find themselves having to step into the street in order to get out of the machines' way, says Roberts. "There have been reports of collisions and injuries. I saw one a few days ago where somebody had been struck by one of the robots' safety flags, which is a little ironic," he says. "We've got reports of robots causing issues with traffic, blocking emergency vehicles because they're acting erratically at crosswalks." Similar concerns have emerged in Glendale, California, where the local council is considering a temporary ban on the use of the vehicles. Councillors say the robots appeared without warning, and at first they didn't even know which company was supplying them.

'We had to get out of the way': The backlash over delivery robots
Asia-Pacific
The Straits Times

As Jio Platforms eyes record IPO, what are India’s biggest share offerings?

An IPO by the National Stock Exchange of India is likely to be worth about US$3.3 billion (S$4.3 billion). MUMBAI – Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Platforms filed regulatory papers for an initial public offering (IPO) on June 19 that sources said would raise about US$3.8 billion (S$4.9 billion), making it the country’s biggest-ever stock offering. Another IPO that is in the pipeline – by the National Stock Exchange of India – is likely to be worth about US$3.3 billion. Hyundai, the world’s third-largest automaker and India’s fourth-biggest passenger vehicle maker, raised 278.7 billion rupees (S$3.8 billion) in October 2024 in what is currently India’s biggest-ever IPO. The manufacturer’s South Korean parent sold a 17.5 per cent stake in a pure offer-for-sale, where existing shareholders sell shares and no new capital is raised. Jio Platforms is expected to use a similar approach, with the company’s major investors set to dilute their stakes. The government pocketed roughly 205 billion rupees from selling a 3.5 per cent stake in India’s largest insurer and biggest domestic financial investor, a far cry from its initial target of up to US$12 billion. Paytm, an Indian fintech firm, raised 183 billion rupees in November 2021 in a mix of a fresh share issue and an offer for sale. Ant Group reduced its stake to 23 per cent from 28 per cent and SoftBank’s Vision Fund pared its holding to 16 per cent. Paytm lost more than 27 per cent on its debut, the biggest listing-day drop in Indian IPO history at the time. The Tata Group’s financial services arm raised 155 billion rupees in October 2025, with Tata Sons and IFC among those selling in the offer for sale component alongside a fresh issue. The IPO was the largest-ever by a non-banking financial company in India. The shares listed at a slight premium of 1.23 per cent. South Korean parent LG Electronics offloaded a 15 per cent stake in its Indian unit, a maker of refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and televisions, in a pure offer for sale issue, netting 116 billion rupees in October 2025.

As Jio Platforms eyes record IPO, what are India’s biggest share offerings?
Europe
BBC Business

Why the US economy keeps defying the odds

In Dresden, in east Germany late last year, the final car rolled off the assembly line at Volkswagen's "Transparent Factory", built to showcase the pinnacle of European industrial power. Thousands of miles away in Spartanburg, South Carolina, a different German giant, BMW, is running its biggest plant in the world. The contrast between the two plants helps explain a puzzle economists have been debating for a while: why has the American economy continued to outperform so many of its peers, despite facing the same global shocks? Over the past few years, much of the developed world has buckled under a succession of shocks. Trump's sweeping tariffs have disrupted global trade. Mass deportations are changing labour markets. And conflict in the Middle East has sent oil prices lurching. Many economists expected those pressures to weigh heavily on the US. Instead, the economy has continued to grow at a steady pace. Inflation has proved stubborn at times, but the combination of weak growth and persistently rising prices that many feared hasn't happened. Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, argues the trade war itself became the strongest proof of American resilience. "The own goals that the Trump administration has imposed on the US with respect to trade and immigration are probably the single best example of the underlying dynamism of the American economy," he says. Faced with a sudden tax on foreign components, US corporations didn't accept lower margins, they invested harder. "CapEx (capital expenditure) right now is 13.9% of US GDP," says Brusuelas. "That should be slowing, given the mix of supply and demand shocks the economy is absorbing, and it's not." Instead, much of that pressure has been offset by a notable rise in productivity. The broader US economy has continued to expand at an annualised rate of around 2%. Energy markets offer another explanation. The war in the Middle East has pushed oil prices higher, a development that historically would have posed a major threat to US growth. But the shale revolution fundamentally altered America's exposure to energy shocks. Over the past two decades, the US has become one of the world's largest oil and gas producers, while businesses have steadily reduced their reliance on petroleum. "The development since the early 2000s of fracking in the United States, alongside the evolution of alternative fuels, has created the conditions where oil's contribution to GDP per unit has fallen by half over the past 50 years," says Brusuelas. The difference with Europe is clear. While the US has focused on flexibility, embracing fracking and letting prices respond to the market, Europe has relied on long-term contracts and interconnected supply networks to guarantee energy security. That approach left many countries exposed when Russian gas supplies were cut after the Ukraine invasion. And given the current tensions in the Middle East, that vulnerability remains.

Why the US economy keeps defying the odds
Europe
BBC Business

Driving test wait time target will not be met until autumn next year

The driving test backlog won't be reduced to the target of seven weeks until autumn next year, the Transport Secretary has said. Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) figures show the average waiting time to book a test last month was nearly 22 weeks. Last November, Heidi Alexander announced changes aimed at cutting long waits and preventing test slots getting booked up - including by bots - and resold at inflated prices. Changes which have already come into effect including only allowing learners themselves to book their test slot. The DVSA initially had a target of reducing the average waiting time to seven weeks by the end of 2025. Alexander pushed this back to summer 2026, but admitted last November even that would not be possible. She told a Committee of MPs on Wednesday that she understood people's frustrations and insisted the government has done a lot to tackle the issue. However she added that "demand is still very high" and acknowledged there was still a lot of work to do. The BBC has repeatedly heard from learner drivers frustrated by the difficulty of booking tests when, and where, they need them. Some have ended up buying slots from resellers who charge many times the official cost of taking a driving test. A BBC investigation in December found some driving instructors were being offered kickbacks of up to £250 a month to sell their login details to touts. In the past few months, a number of changes to the test booking system have been introduced as part of efforts to combat the problem.

Driving test wait time target will not be met until autumn next year
Europe
BBC Business

Musk's SpaceX overtakes Amazon to become world's fifth most valuable firm

Elon Musk's SpaceX has overtaken Amazon to become the world's fifth most valuable company after a surge in its share price. Days after joining New York's tech-focused Nasdaq stock exchange in the biggest public listing ever, its share price has risen by more than 50%. It leaves Musk's rocket company worth about $2.78tn (£2.1tn), while Jeff Bezos's sprawling online retail and media empire is currently worth about $2.66tn. The boom in SpaceX's value came as it announced it was buying AI coding start-up Cursor for $60bn. SpaceX said it would take over Anysphere, Cursor's parent company, which makes the artificial intelligence coding agent. SpaceX has garnered huge enthusiasm among investors for its vision of sending AI data centres to space and even helping humans to colonise Mars. Its listing raised $85.7bn and minted Musk as the world's first trillionaire. Since first selling shares to the public at $135 each on Friday, they have risen to $209. But analysts have questioned the sustainability of its high share price given the huge amount of uncertainty over its future earnings. While Amazon is a household name, with its brand difficult to avoid being encountered on an almost daily basis, SpaceX is less embedded in the lives of the general public. Despite SpaceX's stock market value overtaking Amazon, the revenues and profits made by the companies are vastly different. Amazon made $30.3bn of profit in the first quarter of 2026, while Musk's future-focused SpaceX lost $4.3bn. In 2025, Jeff Bezos's firm accrued some $716.9bn in sales, while SpaceX recorded $18.67bn.

Musk's SpaceX overtakes Amazon to become world's fifth most valuable firm