Snap Inc. has secured San Francisco-based Perplexity as its new partner in artificial intelligence, with Perplexity’s AI-powered answer engine to become an in-app feature of social service Snapchat starting in early 2026. Snapchat’s community of over 943 million monthly active users will be able to converse with Perplexity, asking questions and getting “clear, conversational answers drawn from verifiable sources,” Snap explains. Perplexity will pay Snap $400 million over the next year through a combination of cash and equity, gaining access to Snap’s mobile-native audience, comprised of more than 75 percent of 13–34-year-olds in over 25 countries. Continue reading Perplexity Deal Will Bring Conversational AI to Snapchat App

Spotify passed 700 million monthly active users in Q3, with subscribers hitting 281 million, a 12 percent increase over the same period in 2024. Total revenue was $4.9 billion, up 12 percent year-over-year, while net income surged 200 percent to $1 billion, attributed to price hikes, subscriber growth and strict cost management. The Swedish company surpassed analyst expectations on both the top and bottom lines. Revenue from premium subscriptions grew 9 percent in Q3. Advertising revenue for the period was down 6 percent, however, to about $515 million. Spotify recently integrated with ChatGPT so that users can get podcast and music recommendations from the popular chatbot. Continue reading Spotify’s Profits Surge 200 Percent for Q3, Topping $1 Billion

Amazon Q3 revenue was up 13 percent to $180.2 billion in the third quarter, compared with $158.9 billion in 2024. The AWS group that includes AI saw sales increase 20 percent year-over-year to $33 billion. The company reported that gross profit increased 38 percent to $21.2 billion for the quarter, due largely to consumer spending online and the demand for cloud computing. Amazon is the dominant player in the cloud space with about 30 percent of global share. However, investors have been cautious about AWS, which accounted for 65 percent of the company’s total operating income in Q3. Since 2022, competition has heated up with OpenAI’s ChatGPT signing on with Microsoft Azure. Continue reading AWS, Cloud and AI Help Drive Impressive Quarter for Amazon

Apple had its first $100 billion quarter thanks to the new iPhone 17 series and a strong performance by services, up 15 percent from 2024. Revenue for fiscal Q4, ended September 27, totaled $102.5 billion, up 8 percent year-over-year. Profit surged 86 percent to $27.5 billion (due mainly to a 2024 tax hit). Q4 results capped a record fiscal year with revenue of $416 billion. Sales of the iPhone 17s brought in $49 billion for the three months. The company sold 100 million more units than last year during the same period despite “supply constraints” on some 2025 models. Design changes drove iPhone sales up 6 percent from Q4 of last year. Continue reading Apple Reports a Strong Quarter Propelled by iPhone 17 Sales

Alphabet has notched its first $100 billion-plus quarter, with revenue of $102.35 billion, a 16 percent increase for the period ending September 30. The result exceeded analyst estimates of $99.89 billion. CEO Sundar Pichai noted the results marked a 100 percent increase in Q3 revenue since 2020, when it was $50 billion. “We’re firmly in the generative AI era,” Nadella said, noting diversification “with successful businesses in Cloud, YouTube and subscriptions.” The company was onboard with the trend in increased spending, upping its capital expenditure range from $85 billion to $91 billion – $93 billion for 2025. Continue reading Cloud and AI Drive Alphabet to First $100 Billion-Plus Quarter

Increased demand for cloud computing and AI services has propelled revenue growth of 18 percent to $77.7 billion for Microsoft for its fiscal Q1, ending September 30. Net income was $27.7 billion for the quarter, an increase of 12 percent year-over-year. “Our planet-scale cloud and AI factory, together with Copilots across high value domains, is driving broad diffusion and real-world impact,” said Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella, noting “It’s why we continue to increase our investments in AI across both capital and talent to meet the massive opportunity ahead.” The news coincides with OpenAI’s next steps in becoming a for-profit company and an update in Microsoft’s stake in the AI startup. Continue reading Microsoft Market Cap Passes $4 Trillion Propelled by OpenAI

Meta Platforms shares fell by more than 7 percent despite record revenue of $51.2 billion in an adverse reaction to accelerated AI spending. Sales were up 26 percent year-over-year, but net income of $2.7 billion was far below analysts’ expectations. The company attributed the net income miss to accounting changes resulting from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act even as it advised analysts of “aggressive” capital expenditure increases to come. Meta’s 2025 capital expenditure forecast grew from the existing estimate of $66 billion to $72 billion. Most of that will be spent on data centers and researchers, Meta said, indicating 2026 capex would be “notably larger” and could reach as high as $100 billion. Continue reading Meta Reports Sales Increase, Record Revenue of $51.2 Billion

Netflix revenue grew 17 percent to $11.5 billion in Q3 versus the same period a year earlier, driven by membership growth along with price hikes and an increase in ad revenue. Net profit was up by almost 8 percent for the quarter to $2.5 billion, versus the $2.98 billion that was expected. The quarter was Netflix’s best-ever for ad sales, with that revenue expected to more than double this year over 2024. The new user interface it began rolling out in May is now available to 85 percent of TV devices and the company is beta testing an AI-powered “conversational search experience.” Continue reading Netflix Highlights Tech and Innovation in Q3 Earnings Report

OpenAI is said to be in talks with Broadcom about developing custom AI inference chips to run its models. On an earnings call last week, Broadcom disclosed that an AI developer had placed a $10 billion order for AI server racks using its chips. That new customer was reported to be OpenAI, which has relied primarily on hotly sought-after Nvidia GPUs for model training and deployment. Broadcom specializes in XPUs — accelerator chips designed for specific uses, like inference for ChatGPT. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has publicly complained that a shortage of chips has impeded the company’s ability to get new models and products to market. Continue reading OpenAI Reportedly Turning to Broadcom for Custom AI Chips

Santa Clara, California-based Nvidia reported its sales were $46.7 billion for the most recent quarter, marking 56 percent growth over the same period last year and up 6 percent sequentially. Profit rose more than 59 percent to $26.42 billion. The results, which surpassed estimates, reassured global analysts and investors that AI infrastructure spending remains strong, easing — though not erasing — anxieties about an AI bubble. This summer, the chipmaker became the first company to exceed a market cap of $4 trillion, and it is considered a global barometer for the overall health of the artificial intelligence sector. Continue reading Nvidia Announces Continued Growth, $26 Billion in Q2 Profit

The U.S. government is taking a 10 percent stake in Intel in exchange for $5.7 billion in grants previously awarded, but not yet paid, to Intel under the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act and $3.2 billion awarded to the company as part of the Secure Enclave program. Intel had already received $2.2 billion from those funds, bringing the U.S. investment to $11.1 billion. However, the company’s mounting losses — $2.9 billion in Q2, a 57 percent increase over Q2 2024’s $1.61 billion loss — made it questionable as to whether the company could continue to fulfill terms for the funding without intervention. The Intel agreement marks the largest U.S. government equity deal for an individual tech firm. Continue reading U.S. Is Taking 10 Percent Intel Stake in Equity for Grants Deal

In a major local television group consolidation move, Nexstar Media Group of Texas has reached an agreement to acquire a rival, Virginia-based Tegna, in a $22 per share cash transaction valued at $6.2 billion. The boards of both Nexstar and Tegna unanimously signed off on the deal, which is expected to close by the end of next year subject to FCC regulatory approval. The price includes Tegna debt and estimated transaction expenses and fees. Nexstar has more than 200 owned or partner stations while Tegna has 64. As a result of the consolidation, the combined company will have TV stations in nine of the top 10 U.S. markets. Continue reading Nexstar to Acquire Tegna in $6.2 Billion TV Consolidation Deal

Kansas-based AMC Entertainment Holdings reported substantially improved financials for Q2 2025, reducing losses by 150 percent year-over-year to $4.7 million from $32.8 million from the same period a year prior. The world’s largest theater chain reported a 26 percent attendance increase during the period. CEO Adam Aron attributed the strong showing to an industrywide box office recovery that produced strengthened results across AMC Theatres in the U.S. and Odeon Cinemas in Europe. Total revenue of $1.4 billion marked a 35 percent improvement compared to Q2 2024, and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) grew a stunning 150 percent to $189 million. Continue reading AMC Entertainment Turns Corner: Sales Surge, Losses Narrow

AMC Networks increased streaming revenue by 12 percent to $169 million in Q2 despite an 18 percent dip in U.S. ad sales. The company — whose portfolio of streaming platforms includes AMC+, Sundance Now, Acorn TV, Shudder, HIDIVE and ALLBLK — added 200,000 new subs in the April through June period, ending the quarter with a total of 10.4 million, a 2 percent increase. AMC said it now calculates streaming subscribers on the basis of paid signups. Ongoing challenges in the U.S. cable and satellite TV markets that berth the bulk of its business continue to drag on the balance sheet. AMC’s cable and satellite brands include AMC, BBC America, IFC, IFC Films, SundanceTV and WE tv. Continue reading AMC Networks: Streaming Revenue Growth, Drop in Ad Sales

Warner Bros. Discovery reported revenue growth in Q2 with a $9.8 billion total compared to $9.7 billion for the same period in 2024. Propelled by the success of films like the action/comedy “A Minecraft Movie” and the horror hit “Sinners” starring Michael B. Jordan — in addition to the international rollout of HBO Max — the company turned a profit of $1.58 billion for the quarter, a significant increase over the same frame last year. Television series including “The Last of Us” and “Abbott Elementary” were hailed as examples of “creative excellence.” In the shareholder letter, WBD says it “optimized” linear networks, while making “substantive progress” in the movie studios and streaming arms. Continue reading WBD Earnings Buoyed by ‘Minecraft’ Film, HBO Max Growth