markets

Max Knoblauch2h

Roblox willing to make changes to have its ban lifted in Russia, one of its biggest markets

Gaming platform Roblox on Wednesday said it is willing to make certain changes in order to have its ban lifted in Russia.

Russia banned Roblox earlier this month, alleging that the platform hosted “extremist materials” and “LGBT propaganda.” The country is a top 5 market for Roblox.

Shares were up 0.7% in recent trading.

The company is “ready to temporarily limit communication features in Russia and to revise our content moderation processes to address the legal requirements necessary to restore our community’s access to the platform,” a Roblox spokesperson told Reuters.

Russian media has reported that children in the country have sent thousands of letters in protest of the ban. Last week, JPMorgan downgraded Roblox. The firm said Russia’s ban could affect up to 10 million daily active users for the company.

Roblox gaming platform says it is ready to make changes to get Russian ban lifted

Roblox gaming platform says it is ready to make changes to get Russian ban lifted

Shares were up 0.7% in recent trading.

The company is “ready to temporarily limit communication features in Russia and to revise our content moderation processes to address the legal requirements necessary to restore our community’s access to the platform,” a Roblox spokesperson told Reuters.

Russian media has reported that children in the country have sent thousands of letters in protest of the ban. Last week, JPMorgan downgraded Roblox. The firm said Russia’s ban could affect up to 10 million daily active users for the company.

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The East Side of the US Capitol Building in the early morning, Washington DC, USA.

Group of House Republicans defy leadership and join Democrats to force ACA vote

The subsidies are still likely to end before the deadline.

J. Edward Moreno1h

Bitcoin is behaving like a no-fundamentals tech stock

The three-month correlation between the daily changes in the iShares Bitcoin ETF and a Goldman Sachs basket of nonprofitable tech stocks is at a record high.

Bitcoin ice carving

markets

Matt Phillips2h

Oracle slides on report that data center partner Blue Owl won’t fund $10 billion Michigan facility; company says project is on track without Blue Owl

Oracle shares declined early Wednesday after the Financial Times reported that Blue Owl Capital, the largest funder of Oracle’s data center investment push, will not finance a 1-gigawatt Oracle data center planned for Saline Township, Michigan. The pink-paged periodical reports:

“Blue Owl had been in discussions with lenders and Oracle about investing in the planned 1 gigawatt data centre being built to serve OpenAI in Saline Township, Michigan.

But the agreement will not go forward after negotiations stalled, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The private capital group has been the primary backer for Oracle’s largest data centre projects in the US, investing its own money and raising billions more in debt to build the facilities. Blue Owl typically sets up a special purpose vehicle, which owns the data centre and leases it to Oracle.”

For its part, Oracle told Bloomberg on Wednesday morning that negotiations for a data center project in Michigan are “on schedule” and don’t include Blue Owl.

While not horrible, Wednesday’s drop puts Oracle down 15% so far this week, as the shares continue to be clobbered by rapidly shifting investor sentiment toward lofty AI investment plans.

Oracle is down roughly 45% from the all-time high it hit on September 10, in a plunge that has destroyed more than $400 billion in value. Yowza.

“Blue Owl had been in discussions with lenders and Oracle about investing in the planned 1 gigawatt data centre being built to serve OpenAI in Saline Township, Michigan.

But the agreement will not go forward after negotiations stalled, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The private capital group has been the primary backer for Oracle’s largest data centre projects in the US, investing its own money and raising billions more in debt to build the facilities. Blue Owl typically sets up a special purpose vehicle, which owns the data centre and leases it to Oracle.”

For its part, Oracle told Bloomberg on Wednesday morning that negotiations for a data center project in Michigan are “on schedule” and don’t include Blue Owl.

While not horrible, Wednesday’s drop puts Oracle down 15% so far this week, as the shares continue to be clobbered by rapidly shifting investor sentiment toward lofty AI investment plans.

Oracle is down roughly 45% from the all-time high it hit on September 10, in a plunge that has destroyed more than $400 billion in value. Yowza.

markets

Max Knoblauch4h

Joby announces plans to double its air taxi manufacturing to 4 per month by 2027

Air taxi maker Joby Aviation on Wednesday announced that it’s making investments in equipment, facilities, and employees to double its aircraft output — to four per month — by 2027.

The company said it’s working to finalize an alliance with investor Toyota that will support the increase.

The aircraft will be produced in California and Ohio.

Earlier this year, Joby announced that it had received a $250 million investment from Toyota. The automaker had also made a $400 million investment in Joby in 2020.

Joby Announces Plans to Double Manufacturing Capacity in United States

Joby Announces Plans to Double Manufacturing Capacity in United States

The aircraft will be produced in California and Ohio.

Earlier this year, Joby announced that it had received a $250 million investment from Toyota. The automaker had also made a $400 million investment in Joby in 2020.

markets

Amazon in talks to invest upward of $10 billion in OpenAI at a valuation of more than $500 billion, per reports

Amazon is in discussions to invest in OpenAI, according to multiple reports.

The e-commerce and cloud computing giant could put $10 billion or more toward an equity position in the ChatGPT maker at a valuation of more than $500 billion, as first reported by The Information. The two sides are discussing having OpenAI use Amazon’s Trainium chips, and other potential collaborations in e-commerce as a part of this deal, the reports say.

Marvell Technology, which has been involved in the design process for Trainium and told JPMorgan analysts that it’s secured purchase orders for all of calendar year 2026 for these chips, is up about 3% in the premarket session.

What may potentially complicate or limit the extent of any partnership between OpenAI and Amazon is that Microsoft retains Azure API exclusivity for OpenAI’s models for now, thereby curbing Amazon Web Services’ ability to provide that access to its customers. However, non-API products can be served through any cloud company, and OpenAI is able to train models using Amazon’s computing power, based on the terms of its amended agreement with Microsoft announced in October.

Amazon has also invested in Anthropic, the maker of Claude.

CoreWeave and Oracle, two OpenAI-linked stocks that have gotten shellacked lately, were also up about 2% and 1.2%, respectively, in premarket trading.

The thinking here: OpenAI burns a lot of cash, and money is fungible. The privately held company getting its hands on more cash is presumably good news for all its vendors.

However, those gains evaporated and turned to losses after the Financial Times reported that Oracle’s data center partner, Blue Owl, will not fund a planned $10 billion facility in Michigan.

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