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Apple reports Q4 earnings and revenue slightly above Wall Street estimates

The iPhone maker reported its FY 25 fourth-quarter earnings Thursday.

Rani Molla

Apple reported earnings Thursday that beat analysts’ expectations. Revenue for the iPhone maker’s fourth quarter was $102.5 billion, slightly above the $102.2 billion analysts surveyed by FactSet expected and up 8% year over year.

Apple’s diluted earnings per share were $1.85, compared with Wall Street’s $1.78 forecast for the quarter ended in September, which includes a couple weeks’ worth of new iPhone 17 sales.

The company’s fourth-quarter earnings give an indication of how the latest iPhone — which is responsible for most of Apple’s product revenue and nearly half its total revenue — might perform in the company’s all-important holiday quarter. The stock was recently propelled above a $4 trillion market cap, in part by leading indicators that suggested iPhone 17 sales were ahead of last year’s model.

During the company’s earnings call today, investors will be looking for more details on this quarter’s expected iPhone sales as well as for updates on Apple’s AI progress, which has lagged its peers. They will also be paying attention to how tariffs have affected the iPhone maker; on the company’s last earnings call, management said it expected tariffs could cost $1.1 billion during this past quarter.

For Q4, the company’s iPhone sales were $49 billion, shy of the analyst consensus estimate of $50.1 billion but up 6% from the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, the revenue from Apple’s Services division was $28.8 billion, slightly above the Street’s $28.2 billion forecast. Its Services revenue, while less visible, is increasingly important to the company’s top line. That segment includes everything from the revenue it makes from the App Store and iCloud storage to Apple TV and the ~$20 billion a year Google pays it to be the default search engine on its products.

“Today, Apple is very proud to report a September quarter revenue record of $102.5 billion, including a September quarter revenue record for iPhone and an all-time revenue record for Services,” CEO Tim Cook said in the earnings release.

China sales were a disappointing $14.5 billion, below analysts’ expectation of $15.5 billion.

The stock is up about 3.5% aftermarket.

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Rani Molla

Tesla investors like the idea of merging with SpaceX

Tesla is trading up about 2.5% in early trading Friday after reports Thursday that the Elon Musk-led company was considering a merger with SpaceX, another of Musk’s many companies.

That’s a better showing than the stock’s reaction to its better-than-expected earnings a day earlier, after which shares closed down 3.5%. Acquiring a very valuable, entirely different company, it turns out, is a more attractive prospect than watching an existing one’s revenue and profit decline.

Musk is also reportedly considering merging SpaceX with xAI, his artificial intelligence company, which recently combined with his social media platform, X.

SpaceX is actually considering a merger with Tesla or xAI: Report

SpaceX is actually considering a merger with Tesla or xAI: Report

Musk is also reportedly considering merging SpaceX with xAI, his artificial intelligence company, which recently combined with his social media platform, X.

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WSJ: OpenAI plans Q4 IPO in race to be the first AI startup to enter public markets

OpenAI was the first to the generative-AI market with ChatGPT, and now it hopes to be the first of its AI startup cohort to pull off an initial public offering, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The $500 billion startup is in a race against its $350 billion competitor Anthropic, which has also been exploring an IPO.

Per the report, OpenAI is in talks with banks to try for a fourth-quarter IPO this year, which has the potential to be one of the largest IPOs ever in a year that is expected to see many record-breaking tech companies tap into public markets to raise sizable new rounds of capital.

Ahead of a potential public listing, OpenAI is reportedly attempting to raise a massive round of private investment. The company is reportedly aiming to raise $100 billion, with Amazon potentially accounting for up to half of that target. Other investors in talks with OpenAI over the private fundraising round include Nvidia, Microsoft, and SoftBank.

Exclusive | OpenAI Plans Fourth-Quarter IPO in Race to Beat Anthropic to Market

Exclusive | OpenAI Plans Fourth-Quarter IPO in Race to Beat Anthropic to Market

Per the report, OpenAI is in talks with banks to try for a fourth-quarter IPO this year, which has the potential to be one of the largest IPOs ever in a year that is expected to see many record-breaking tech companies tap into public markets to raise sizable new rounds of capital.

Ahead of a potential public listing, OpenAI is reportedly attempting to raise a massive round of private investment. The company is reportedly aiming to raise $100 billion, with Amazon potentially accounting for up to half of that target. Other investors in talks with OpenAI over the private fundraising round include Nvidia, Microsoft, and SoftBank.

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Rani Molla

SpaceX is actually considering a merger with Tesla or xAI: Report

Bloomberg reports that Elon Musk’s SpaceX is considering merging with Musk’s Tesla. Earlier today, Reuters had reported that SpaceX was thinking of potentially merging with xAI ahead of SpaceX’s IPO this year.

From Bloomberg:

“The firm has discussed the feasibility of a tie-up between SpaceX and Tesla, an idea that some investors are pushing, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. Separately, they are also exploring a tie-up between SpaceX and xAI ahead of an IPO, some of the people said.”

Musk’s companies already have numerous relationships between themselves, including most recently Tesla’s $2 billion investment in xAI. At Tesla’s shareholder meeting last year, shareholders voted to invest in the company but the board didn’t approve the measure due to significant abstentions.

In 2024, SpaceX incurred about $2.4 million in expenses under commercial, licensing, and support agreements with Tesla, and Tesla incurred about $800,000 in expenses for Musk’s use of SpaceX’s jet.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Is Said to Consider Merger With Tesla or xAI

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Is Said to Consider Merger With Tesla or xAI

From Bloomberg:

“The firm has discussed the feasibility of a tie-up between SpaceX and Tesla, an idea that some investors are pushing, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn’t public. Separately, they are also exploring a tie-up between SpaceX and xAI ahead of an IPO, some of the people said.”

Musk’s companies already have numerous relationships between themselves, including most recently Tesla’s $2 billion investment in xAI. At Tesla’s shareholder meeting last year, shareholders voted to invest in the company but the board didn’t approve the measure due to significant abstentions.

In 2024, SpaceX incurred about $2.4 million in expenses under commercial, licensing, and support agreements with Tesla, and Tesla incurred about $800,000 in expenses for Musk’s use of SpaceX’s jet.

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