M & A

California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a Second Amended Complaint in the state's PFAS litigation, alleging that DuPont-related companies executed fraudulent asset transfers designed to shield themselves from environmental liability. The complaint targets E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, DuPont de Nemours, Inc., Corteva, Inc., The Chemours Company, and newly created Qnity Electronics. Bonta contends that corporate restructuring and amended agreements shifted the bulk of PFAS-related liabilities onto Chemours while reducing exposure for New DuPont, Corteva, and Qnity Electronics. The filing invokes the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act and the Uniform Voidable Transactions Act, and seeks relief in U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.

Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume told an event called "For Europe" on Sunday, October 11, 2026, that EU policymakers must build the framework that makes the company's restructuring work. Speaking on the eve of the Paris motor show, he called the overhaul "the biggest transformation programme in our history." He said companies must become more competitive while governments set the conditions for that. Blume also backed the proposed "Made in Europe" local content rules and welcomed an EU-China deal that could cut Chinese plug-in hybrid imports to the bloc by more than half. French industry minister Sebastien Martin attended the event. Blume has led the group since October 2022, when he replaced Herbert Diess.

On July 13, 2026, a coalition of 12 state attorneys general filed a federal antitrust lawsuit challenging Paramount Skydance Corporation's $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. Led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and joined by officials from Minnesota, Oregon, and nine other states, the plaintiffs argue the merger violates the Clayton Act by eliminating competition between two of Hollywood's five major film distributors and cable operators. The states contend the deal would raise movie ticket and cable prices, reduce employment in the entertainment sector, and diminish consumer choice in news and entertainment programming.

Geely Auto announced on October 9, 2026, that it will begin selling vehicles in Canada in 2027 through Geely Auto Canada, based in Markham, Ontario. The unit already has a leadership team in place and is building dealer and service networks. Managing director Bryan Wu called Canada an important next step in the company's international growth. Geely's parent, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, also owns Volvo Cars, Polestar and Lotus.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and 13 state attorneys general filed a motion in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California asking the judge to enforce and clarify a hold-separate order in the Nexstar Media Group–TEGNA Inc. merger case. The filing alleges that recent board changes at TEGNA may allow Nexstar to exercise improper control over the company despite the court's injunction requiring both broadcasters to operate independently during litigation. The states argue that current or former Nexstar personnel should be barred from TEGNA's board to prevent the companies from coordinating merger-related activities.

Visa announced Monday that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire BioCatch, a Tel Aviv-based fraud intelligence company, for $2.4 billion in cash. BioCatch's platform uses behavioral biometrics and device signals to detect account takeovers, money mule activity, application fraud, and scams before they result in losses. The company serves hundreds of banking clients globally and analyzes patterns including keystroke timing, touchscreen interactions, and device behavior to identify fraudulent activity.

The Khosla family closed its $9.612 billion purchase of the Seattle Seahawks in early September 2026, about a week after NFL owners unanimously approved the sale at an August meeting in Atlanta. The price is a league record. The sellers were the estate of Paul Allen, which inherited the team after his 2018 death. Vinod Khosla is chair, his wife Neeru is controlling owner, and their son Neal is vice chair. A dozen co-owners joined the group, including Carlyle, Sixth Street, and Penny Pritzker.

The United Nations released the International AI Safety Report 2026, a comprehensive assessment concluding that advanced artificial intelligence presents both transformative opportunities and escalating dangers. The report, led by the UN agency for digital technology, finds that AI can accelerate development in health, education, and financial services in developing nations while simultaneously enabling cyberattacks, deepfake fraud, non-consensual intimate imagery, and biological weapon design. The core finding: AI capabilities in critical fields like biological research are advancing faster than governance frameworks, creating a dangerous gap between what is technologically possible and what remains safe.

Airtel Money, the African mobile money business, began conditional trading on the London Stock Exchange on 9 October 2026 under the ticker AMC. The offer price of 1.96 pounds valued the company at about £5.3bn (roughly $7bn). The IPO raised about £529mn ($703mn), but all of it went to selling shareholders: 270mn existing shares were sold, and the company received no new capital. Early trading was mixed. One Bloomberg-sourced report said shares rose as much as 2.1% above the offer price before slipping 0.6% below it. Another put the stock at £1.93 after an initial climb to £2.00. Unconditional trading is scheduled to begin on 14 October.

Justin Orr of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz has been named to Law360's list of technology attorneys under 40, recognition tied to his central role in OpenAI's October 2025 recapitalization and the company's subsequent record-breaking financing rounds. The recapitalization restructured OpenAI into a for-profit corporation housed within a nonprofit foundation, with the foundation retaining control and significant equity. The transaction also included material revisions to Microsoft's intellectual property rights through 2032. Wachtell simultaneously advised OpenAI on major financing rounds, including a $110 billion raise announced in February 2026 and a subsequent $122 billion round—reported as the largest funding round on record—that valued OpenAI at $852 billion.

Mauricio Leyva, who became CEO of 7-Eleven Inc. on August 1, 2026, is reported to be bringing the Japanese chain's playbook to North America. According to the Wall Street Journal, he plans to overhaul U.S. stores along those lines. He succeeded Joe DePinto and inherits a North American operation whose challenges differ from those of the corporate-owned Japanese business. A 7-Eleven spokesperson told trade press that "at this stage, the strategic partnership is limited to initiatives in Japan" and had no additional information on any North American implementation.

Paramount Skydance, controlled by David Ellison, is bypassing a preliminary-injunction hearing and moving directly to trial on the merits in its bid to preserve the $81 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The strategy represents a calculated gamble: avoiding an early legal loss but accepting significant delay and mounting costs to keep the deal alive through a full antitrust trial.

Nvidia is investing up to $3 billion in Lancium, the power infrastructure developer anchoring the Stargate data center campus in Texas. The deal structures as $2 billion for approximately 20% equity, with an additional $1 billion contingent on Lancium achieving specific operational milestones, including grid connections. Lancium, backed by Blackstone, operates the 1,000-acre Lancium Clean Campus in Abilene—the first operational site within Stargate, the broader joint venture among SoftBank, OpenAI, and Oracle announced in January as part of the Trump administration's $500 billion AI infrastructure initiative.

Twelve states led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed an antitrust lawsuit Monday to block Paramount Skydance Corp.'s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, challenging an $81–$111 billion transaction. The states argue the merger would eliminate competition, raise prices for TV bundles, reduce content output and quality, and harm movie theaters and basic cable distributors. The defendants are Paramount Skydance, backed by David Ellison and sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, and Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns HBO, CNN, and other major media properties. Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington joined California in the suit.

Aavalynx, a Jersey-based legaltech startup, has raised £1.5 million in pre-seed funding to expand its AI platform for dispute resolution. The round was led by European Omega Ventures, with participation from Two Ravens and angel investors including senior law firm partners and a former Amazon Europe executive. Founders Hanna Roos and Lauri Hyry launched Sisu, an analytics platform that processes litigation and dispute data to help enterprises forecast legal exposure, accelerate strategic decisions, and manage legal spend at scale.

Situational Awareness, an AI-focused hedge fund, has committed an additional $400 million to Source Foundry, a stealth-mode semiconductor tooling startup, bringing its total investment to $500 million. Source Foundry, founded by Stanford alumni Abdulmalik Obaid and Joe Burg, is developing lithography and chip manufacturing technology for AI-era processors. The company was incorporated in California in July 2025 and is already valued at approximately $5 billion. Sequoia Capital has also backed the venture, with partner Alfred Lin confirming on Bloomberg Television that Situational Awareness founder Leopold Aschenbrenner, 24, wired the $400 million directly to a Sequoia portfolio company.