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The article was replaced with an editor’s note apologizing “for any confusion” after the first lady’s lawyers contacted the lefty outlet.
Roger Goodell was emotional on Thursday as he publicly addressed the deadly shooting that took place inside 345 Park Avenue, the building that houses the NFL’s New York offices, earlier this week.
China’s “Shuiqiao” barges could enable PLA ground forces to bypass heavily defended beaches, analysts say.
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Tim Cook is in a shopping mood
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- Apple could acquire companies to boost its growth, says CEO Tim Cook.
- Acquisitions are rare for Apple, and its largest deal was in 2014.
- Apple’s acquisitions are smaller compared to Big Tech’s AI and cloud investments.
Apple is ready for some retail therapy.
In a rare move, Apple CEO Tim Cook indicated interest in corporate acquisitions.
“We’re very open to M&A that accelerates our road map,” Cook said on Thursday’s earnings call, referring to mergers and acquisitions. “We are not stuck on a certain size company, although the ones that we have acquired thus far this year are small in nature.“
The CEO added, “We basically ask ourselves whether a company can help us accelerate a road map. If they do, then we’re interested.”
Apple rarely splurges on big acquisitions. Its largest buy was Beats Electronics for $3 billion in 2014, which it used as a starting point to develop Apple Music. In the last few years, the company has bought smaller global fintech, augmented reality, and AI startups.
On Thursday’s call, Cook said Apple has bought seven companies this year from “all walks of life” and was doing a deal once every few weeks. In May, Apple bought video game studio RAC7 for an undisclosed amount.
Still, Apple’s recent eight- to nine-figure deals are small compared with those of its Big Tech counterparts, who have been spending big to stay competitive in the AI and cloud race.
In March, Google finalized a $32 billion acquisition of the cloud security startup Wiz. In May, OpenAI said that it was acquiring iPhone designer Jony Ive’s AI devices startup io for about $6.4 billion. In June, Meta paid $14.3 billion for a 49% stake in data labelling startup Scale AI.
More acquisitions could be the iPhone maker’s way of playing catch-up in the AI supremacy race that engulfed Big Tech.
Last year, Apple unveiled its Apple Intelligence AI platform. But this year, at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference, Craig Federighi, a senior vice president of software engineering, said Apple’s work on Siri needed “more time.”
On Thursday, Apple delivered record third-quarter revenue of $94 billion compared to Wall Street’s estimates of $89.3 billion. It also beat on earnings per share, a key profitability measure, which came in at $1.57 compared to the estimated $1.43.
The company’s stock was up 2.4% after hours on Thursday.
Apple is down 17% so far this year because of its failure to release innovative AI products and concerns that tariffs will hurt iPhone sales.
Read the original article on Business Insider
A South Carolina teen baseball player tragically lost his life in a single-vehicle car crash earlier this week.
UK Financial Campaign Faces Challenges Ahead of Launch
The UK government is set to launch a financial services campaign next April, aimed at boosting public confidence in the sector, but details remain sparse as stakeholders await the first meeting of its steering committee, scheduled for at least September, reports 24brussels.
Mike Coombes, COO of fintech firm PrimaryBid, cautioned that even the most well-crafted advertising initiative may struggle to resonate with the British public. He noted the findings from the FCA’s Financial Lives data, indicating that many British adults harbor skepticism towards financial services.
Originally proposed as a joint initiative led by the UK Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the regulator has since acknowledged its limitations in spearheading the campaign. Karen Kerrigan, COO of Moneybox, revealed that the industry’s subsequent compromise led to a collaborative effort funded by private firms with support from government and the FCA.
Insiders suggest that the initiative was planned in a hurry, with the announcement made during Reeves’ speech on July 15 finalized only days prior. Furthermore, the Investment Association was integrated into the campaign’s framework just days before the public declaration.
Under the new campaign structure, banks and financial platforms will contribute funds to a centralized group tasked with managing advertising efforts. This approach aims to streamline messaging rather than allowing individual firms to conduct separate campaigns. Reports indicate that advertising powerhouse WPP may be selected to oversee this initiative.
As the campaign progresses, stakeholders remain focused on creating a more cohesive and trusted relationship between financial services and the public. The effectiveness of this initiative in overcoming the existing trust barriers will be closely monitored as it unfolds.
El Salvador approves indefinite presidential reelection and extends presidential terms to 6 years
It won’t make Red Sox fans feel any better, but chief baseball officer Craig Breslow is insisting that the team tried its hardest.
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- Amazon’s second-quarter earnings beat expectations with $167.7 billion in net sales.
- Amazon’s stock fell 7% after hours.
- Here are the four main takeaways from the call, from tariffs to Alexa+.
Amazon earnings beat expectations in the second quarter, but it wasn’t enough to calm investors’ concerns over AI competition and its weak profit guidance.
On Thursday, the e-commerce giant reported $167.7 billion in net sales and earnings of $1.68 per share, which smashed analyst estimates.
Despite the strong results, the company’s stock fell 7% in after-hours trading. Investors were spooked by Amazon’s profit outlook for the third quarter, which projected operating income between $15.5 billion and $20.5 billion, against Wall Street’s estimate of $19.41 billion.
From where Amazon is in the AI race to competition with Starlink, here are our four key takeaways from the Q2 earnings call.
1. Tariff impacts have been limited, so far
CEO Andy Jassy said tariffs haven’t had a major impact on the business so far in 2025. He cited strong Prime Day sales as evidence that consumer demand remains resilient, though Prime Day was in July after Q2 wrapped.
Jassy said on the earnings call that the company hasn’t seen “diminishing demand” or “meaningfully appreciating prices” so far, though he said that could change later in the year.
He added during an analyst question session that it’s still unclear “who’s going to end up absorbing the higher costs.”
Jassy also pointed to Amazon’s 2 million third-party sellers as a key advantage, which often offer more flexible prices.
“Tariffs appear overstated for now, and Amazon remains the go-to destination for online deals and continues to draw strong consumer and brand engagement,” Brent Thill, senior technology research analyst at Jefferies, wrote in a recent note before the earnings report.
2. Competition with Elon Musk’s Starlink
Jassy said the race for satellite-based broadband internet is now largely a two-player game, between “the incumbent” — widely understood to be Musk’s Starlink — and Amazon’s own Project Kuiper.
On the earnings call, Jassy told investors that price will be a key differentiator for Kuiper, along with Amazon’s existing relationships with enterprise and government clients, many of whom are also interested in its AI offerings.
While Kuiper has faced delays, Jassy said the service is on track to enter commercial beta later this year or in early 2026.
In April, Amazon sent its first batch of 27 Kuiper internet satellites into low Earth orbit. At least 54 crafts are in orbit; Amazon plans a constellation of 3,236 satellites.
3. Excitement around Alexa+
Amazon touted Alexa+, its AI-enabled voice assistant that launched in February, as an action-focused chatbot that can complete tasks that others can’t.
“She’s much more intelligent than her prior self,” Jassy said of the improvement over the prior version of Alexa. “She’s much more capable, and I would say unlike the other chatbots that are out there today, who are good at answering questions, but really can’t take any action for you, Alexa+ can take a lot of action for you.”
Some examples of what Alexa+ can do include playing music, moving music between devices, drawing curtains, turning lights on, and changing the thermostat temperature, Jassy said.
Millions of customers have been given early access to Alexa+, and Jassy told the call that the feedback has been “very positive.”
Jassy also said that Alexa+ could incorporate advertisements or a subscription element in the future.
4. Jassy was asked if AWS is behind in the AI race
Jassy faced tough questions about how AWS is addressing competition from its cloud computing rivals.
Brian Nowak, an analyst from Morgan Stanley, asked Jassy to respond to the Wall Street narrative that “AWS is falling behind” in the generative AI race and losing share to its competitors.
Jassy said it was “early” in the AI space and that the industry was “top-heavy.” He didn’t address directly how AWS is responding to competitors, but said he thinks the company is well-positioned as AI adoption expands.
“Remember, 85% to 90% of the global IT spend is still on premises. If you believe that equation is going to flip, which I do, and we do, you have a lot of legacy infrastructure that you’ve got to move,” Jassy said.
Read the original article on Business Insider