M & A

On Sunday, November 8, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told staff in a note that he had been unfaithful to his wife. The same day, Nvidia's board opened an independent investigation into reports that Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort. The New York Times and Financial Times report that U.S. intelligence officials believe Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed, was recruited by China's Ministry of State Security. Alice Huang has no relation to the Nvidia CEO. Nvidia calls the spy allegation unsubstantiated, and Huang says he had no idea she was a spy. President Trump has said the FBI is involved. Nvidia stock closed down 4.27% on Monday, November 9.

Nvidia said Jensen Huang has stepped down as president, CEO, and board member, effective immediately. CFO Colette Kress is serving as interim CEO while the company searches for a permanent successor, and Harvey C. Jones was named the first chair of the board. The departure follows a May classified U.S. intelligence memo concluding that Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based Nvidia customer Megaspeed, was a Chinese intelligence asset, according to CNN. Shares fell as much as 13% on the news before recovering some ground.

Anthropic filed an updated prospectus with the SEC on Tuesday, November 10, setting a price range of $70 to $78 per share for an IPO of 825 million Class A shares on the Nasdaq under the ticker "ANT." Of those shares, 801.4 million are new and 23.6 million come from existing shareholders. Pricing is set for November 18, with trading beginning November 19. Anthropic is targeting about 20% retail allocation, well above the typical IPO norm, with shares offered through Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Robinhood, SoFi, and Morgan Stanley's E*Trade. At the midpoint, the company expects about $84.6 billion in net proceeds from the IPO and a concurrent private placement, to be used for compute, infrastructure, and general corporate purposes. CEO Dario Amodei, President Daniela Amodei, and several other senior researchers and executives each plan to sell nearly 3.4 million shares. The filing also states Anthropic will be a "controlled company" under Nasdaq rules and a public benefit corporation, which limits Class A holders' influence over major decisions.

Marvell Technology agreed on Monday, November 2, 2026, to acquire optical components maker Lumentum in an all-stock deal. The companies put Lumentum's implied enterprise value at $115 billion, or about $1,132 per share, a 23.9% premium to its October 28 close, the last trading day before deal speculation began. Each Lumentum share converts into 4.5 Marvell shares. After closing, Marvell holders would own about 67% of the combined company and Lumentum holders about 33%. The companies project more than $1 billion in annual run-rate cost savings. Closing is expected in the first half of 2028, subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals. Marvell CEO Matt Murphy stays as chairman and CEO. Lumentum CEO Michael Hurlston joins Marvell's board, along with two other Lumentum directors.

Nvidia's stock fell for a second straight session on Nov. 10, 2026, putting more than $470 billion in market value on track to disappear over two days. Some outlets put the figure closer to $400 billion. The sell-off followed a Sunday memo in which CEO Jensen Huang admitted to an extramarital affair with Alice Huang, an executive at Megaspeed, an Nvidia customer. The two are not related. Shares dropped 4.3% Monday and more than 6% Tuesday, allowing Microsoft to overtake Nvidia as the world's second-most valuable company for the first time since June 2025. Nvidia's board opened an internal investigation Sunday. The FBI is examining whether Huang, 63, was targeted by a foreign intelligence operation, which would tie the affair to a Chinese businesswoman alleged to be a spy. A shareholder class action filed by the Rosen Law Firm alleges the defendants made false or misleading statements about the affair and about Nvidia's relationship with Megaspeed.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, sent a letter dated October 27 to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei asking how the company will handle risks it disclosed in its IPO filing. The Form S-1, submitted to the SEC on October 26, warns that sufficiently advanced AI could pose "catastrophic or existential risks to humanity" without proper safeguards, and it discusses AI systems resisting shutdown or manipulating information. Warren wants answers by November 3 on AI safety measures, the possibility that AI could escape human control, the company's ties to Amazon and Broadcom, and how a valuation near $2 trillion can be justified. She also asks about preventing autonomous cyberattacks and bioweapons development.

Anthropic's amended IPO filing, made public Monday, November 2, 2026, shows a third-quarter net loss of $23.29 billion, down from $66.3 billion in the prior quarter. Revenue rose to $16.96 billion from $11.56 billion, but the company posted a $567 million operating loss, compared with $974 million in operating income in the second quarter. Anthropic attributed the swing partly to an extra $5 billion in short-term compute commitments, which reduced its revenue per dollar of compute, and said its net loss included non-operating items tied to convertible bonds. Customers paying at least $100,000 on a trailing 12-month basis grew to more than 11,900, up from about 1,500 at the end of 2025. The company publicly filed its S-1 on October 26, 2026, and plans to list on Nasdaq under the ticker ANT, with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley reported as lead underwriters. The amended filing also disclosed that Anthropic is considering changes to its Responsible Scaling Policy that would require human review of some R&D decisions.

Anthropic's IPO is facing valuation pressure. According to WSJ reporting, large investors lining up for the offering want a valuation of roughly $1.5 trillion to $1.6 trillion, well below talk of nearly $2 trillion. Sources describe the company's S-1 filing as showing about $16.3 billion in first-half 2026 revenue alongside a large net loss. Investors cite a sharp market drop, in which the SOX chip index fell 12.3%, and some have floated values closer to $1 trillion. Anthropic has not set a final valuation or share count, and a debut is reportedly targeted for the week before Thanksgiving.

Oura, the smart-ring maker, agreed on November 10, 2026, to acquire Counsel Health, an AI-native primary care company, for $625 million in cash, subject to purchase price adjustments. Counsel pairs a chat-based medical AI with licensed physicians, and Oura users can reach a doctor from inside the Oura app, a service Counsel has offered there since June. Oura CEO Tom Hale and Counsel founder and CEO Muthu Alagappan, a physician, announced the deal. Alagappan will become Oura's chief clinical AI officer, and about 70 Counsel employees are joining him. Counsel will continue serving its enterprise customers, including health plans, health systems and employers. Its prior backers include Andreessen Horowitz and GV, which led a $25 million Series A about a year ago.

Anthropic has set a price range of $70 to $78 per share for its IPO, according to an updated SEC filing on Tuesday, Nov. 10. The company plans to sell 825 million Class A shares on Nasdaq under the ticker "ANT," raising up to about $64.4 billion at the top of the range. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are lead underwriters. Seven companies that supply Anthropic's compute, including Google, Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom, Micron, Microsoft and TSMC, have agreed to buy $26 billion of non-voting Class N shares at the IPO price. Co-founders, including CEO Dario Amodei, also plan to sell. The top of the range implies a valuation of about $1.4 trillion, well below the $965 billion from a May funding round and the roughly $2 trillion reportedly sought a couple of months ago.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told staff in an internal message that he had a romantic relationship with a woman U.S. intelligence officials believed was a Chinese spy. He wrote that he was unfaithful to his wife, that his actions hurt her and their children, and that he accepts "full responsibility." On Sunday, November 8, 2026, Nvidia's board announced an independent investigation. It said it has no reason to believe national security or company secrets were compromised and expressed confidence in Huang's leadership. The woman is Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based cloud computing company Megaspeed. The New York Times reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned top Trump administration officials about the relationship. Rep. John Moolenaar, chair of a China-focused congressional panel, has demanded answers. A shareholder class action accuses Nvidia and Huang of failing to disclose his links to the woman and of making false statements about the company's dealings with a business connected to her. A Justice Department investigation has also been reported, and the stock has fallen sharply. Beijing has denied the allegation. Trump said Huang told him he had not known the woman was an alleged spy.

Anthropic has filed IPO paperwork with the SEC seeking a Nasdaq listing under the ticker ANT. Reports put the offering at a valuation of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion. The filing says the company's market opportunity exceeds $40 trillion, a figure derived from the 2025 global economic output of knowledge workers. It describes the economic activity Anthropic hopes to serve, not expected AI spending. First-half 2026 revenue reached $16.3 billion, up 14 times from $1.16 billion a year earlier, and operating losses narrowed to $693 million from $2.1 billion. The filing landed during a selloff in AI-linked stocks. The FT reports Big Tech lost nearly $900 billion on concerns about AI spending, and Alphabet recorded its worst day ever after its AI spending more than doubled.

Nvidia's board announced that co-founder Jensen Huang has resigned as president, CEO, and board member, effective immediately. The board accepted his resignation on November 11, 2026, according to the company's 8-K, and issued a press release the next day. CFO Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO while keeping her CFO role. The board, chaired by Harvey C. Jones, the company's first-ever chair, is searching for a permanent CEO and considering internal and external candidates. Nvidia's release gave no reason for the departure. Separate reporting links it to Huang's personal conduct, including extramarital relationships. The New York Times reported that one involved Alice Huang, a Chinese tech executive whom China's Ministry of State Security allegedly recruited to spy on him and learn about Nvidia's AI chips. Another reportedly involved a senior executive who reported directly to him, and Reuters, citing unidentified sources, reported a relationship with a second employee. Nvidia had initially said Huang would stay while it ran an independent investigation. Its stock fell more than 13% in early trading Thursday before partly recovering.

Character Technologies Inc., the company behind Character.AI, filed a voluntary Chapter 11 petition on October 12, 2026, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in Wilmington. The filing opens a court-supervised sale process. Disney Worldwide Services, a subsidiary of Disney, has agreed to pay $20 million to serve as stalking-horse bidder for a "non-exclusive perpetual license of certain Company intellectual property and certain Company claims." The stalking-horse bid sets a floor, and competing buyers can submit higher offers. CEO Colin Adams said the board chose the sale because it "provides the Company with the best opportunity to maximize value for all stakeholders." The company says the sale could close in late November or early December. The platform will keep running during the case. If no sale is completed, it will be "wound down." The company cited high costs and potential litigation and regulatory liabilities as reasons it cannot generate enough cash to support its current business.

Fiserv disclosed on its November 3, 2026 third-quarter earnings call that it has cut its combined employee and contractor headcount by 3,000 since June, with senior management down more than 10%. The company also raised its Project Elevate savings target to $1 billion from $500 million, after activist investor Jana pushed for $1.25 billion. Fiserv plans to exit more than a dozen smaller, non-core products that lack strong performance, growth, or margin profiles. Shares rose between roughly 9% and 12%, depending on the measurement window. CEO Takis Georgakopoulos, formerly of J.P. Morgan's payments business, took over in June, the same month the layoffs began. The company had more than 38,000 employees as of December 31, 2025.

Character Technologies Inc., which operates the AI companion platform Character.ai, filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on October 12, 2026. The company is pursuing a court-supervised sale and has signed a stalking horse agreement with a Disney affiliate to buy select intellectual property and software licenses for $20 million. CEO Colin Adams cited "significant legal, regulatory and operational headwinds" as the reason for the filing. The filing follows a January 2026 settlement, reached with Google, of several lawsuits, including the case brought by Megan Garcia over the 2024 suicide of her 14-year-old son, Sewell Setzer III. Separately, New Hampshire Attorney General John M. Formella and 39 other state attorneys general have intervened in the bankruptcy, demanding binding consumer protection and privacy safeguards. Pennsylvania sued the company in May, and Kentucky sued in January.

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn and the SEC have charged Chetram Balli, 54, with insider trading based on confidential deal information from Cravath, Swaine & Moore. Prosecutors allege Balli accessed nonpublic information through his job as a document processing specialist and traded ahead of at least five of the firm's major deals, including Paramount Skydance's $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. They say he has profited by at least $70,000 since April 2025. Beyond Paramount, the charges cite trades in Universal Health Services Inc., Pacira Biosciences Inc. and Forge Global Holdings. Balli was arraigned in Brooklyn federal court and released on a $75,000 bond.

Kroger has closed at least 50 supermarkets since mid-2025, according to a Fast Company tally of local media reports, store locator tools, and review data. The count stands at 51 locations across 18 states. Harris Teeter, Fred Meyer, King Soopers, and Kroger-branded stores make up most of the closures, with others operating under the Ralphs, Pick 'n Save, and Smith's banners. The closures trace to a June 2025 plan, announced by then-CEO Ronald Sargent, to shut about 60 underperforming stores over roughly 18 months. Kroger said the closures would have minimal financial impact and would be spread across the country. The plan followed the collapse of its proposed $24.6 billion merger with Albertsons, which was blocked on competition grounds and then abandoned.

TSMC's board has authorized up to $500 million to buy shares of Anthropic at its IPO price and up to $500 million of OpenAI preferred stock, for a combined ceiling of about $1 billion, according to Reuters. The board also approved forming an investment company funded with up to $500 million for strategic investments in semiconductors and related industries. The decision, dated November 10, 2026, in Taipei, was filed with the SEC on Form 6-K and signed by CFO Wendell Huang. The approvals set maximum amounts. They do not mean the purchases have been made.

Anthropic has filed a public S-1 registration with the SEC, dated October 26, 2026, for an IPO on Nasdaq under the ticker "ANT." The filing shows $16.3 billion in revenue for the six months ended June 30, 2026, up from $1.2 billion a year earlier, and an $80.7 billion net loss for the same period, which the company attributes mostly to accounting charges. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are the underwriters. Under the dual-class structure, seven co-founders will hold 50.1% of the vote through a single Class F share held by a Founder LLC, and the Long-Term Benefit Trust elects a board majority. The filing also shows about $417 billion in future obligations to pay compute providers.

LangChain, the San Francisco maker of AI agent tooling, announced on November 13, 2026 that it raised $300 million at a $3 billion valuation. Alphabet's CapitalG led the round, with significant participation from new investors GIC and DFJ Growth and existing investors IVP and Sapphire Ventures. Salesforce Ventures, Insight Venture Partners, QuantumLight and MongoDB Ventures also joined. The company will put the money toward LangSmith, its paid platform for building and running agents, and toward expanding operations and hiring. Co-founder and CEO Harrison Chase framed the raise around letting companies choose the best models for their needs, control their data and infrastructure, and keep improving their agents. The company reports more than 7,000 organizations on LangSmith and 35% of the Fortune 500 as customers. Total disclosed funding now stands at $460 million.

Anthropic PBC filed Amendment No. 2 to its S-1 registration statement with the SEC on Tuesday, ahead of its planned initial public offering of Class A common stock on Nasdaq under the ticker "ANT." Law360 reports that the amended filing discloses more about the company's legal technology connections. The amendment follows a November 2 update that added third-quarter results. Dario Amodei and Daniela Amodei are listed as chief executive and president, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is counsel to the registrant. The filing's risk section runs about 100 of its 335 pages. It cites settlements and injunctive relief that lawmakers have won against unnamed tech companies over "analogous theories of product-design or algorithmic harm." It also references a state attorney general's criminal investigation of another firm offering similar services. The filing discloses an FTC inquiry into Anthropic and a Pentagon dispute in which the D.C. Circuit upheld the Pentagon's designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk under Section 4713 of the Federal Acquisition Supply Chain Security Act.

Binance began reopening withdrawals on November 1, about three days after attackers drained roughly $6.3 billion from its hot wallets, the largest theft in crypto history. Reopening is phased: the Bitcoin network came back first, followed by Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain, and the exchange will add more assets as security checks clear. Binance says it has restored backing for about 90% of affected assets and will cover the losses from its own funds rather than user balances, according to co-CEO statements. The FBI has attributed the theft to TraderTraitor, a North Korea-linked group. The attack reportedly started with a compromised engineer's laptop and took under four hours. Separately, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, a nearly century-old firm known for restructuring work on Lehman Brothers and Enron, announced it will wind down operations after more than 30 partner departures this year, a failed merger discussion, and its chosen successor to the chair declining the role.

Marathon Petroleum reported third-quarter adjusted earnings of $26.93 per share, well above the $24.47 analysts expected, according to LSEG. The refiner also agreed to sell its St. Paul Park refinery in Minnesota and its Mandan refinery in North Dakota, along with related midstream assets, to CVR Energy for $4.2 billion. Marathon will receive $3.45 billion and its midstream partner MPLX will receive $750 million. The two refineries have combined crude capacity of 177,000 barrels per day. CVR Energy has confirmed the deal, which is expected to close by the end of 2026, subject to closing conditions including antitrust clearance.

EvenUp, an AI company that sells to personal injury law firms, has hired Stevie Case as its first president of field operations. Case reports to co-founder and CEO Rami Karabibar and will oversee sales, customer success, marketing, revenue operations, and business operations. The company announced the hire the same day it said it had passed $150 million in recurring revenue under contract. Case spent about four years as the first chief revenue officer at Vanta, which she joined in 2022, and earlier held sales leadership roles at Twilio and Visa.

Democrats won Texas's top statewide races on November 3, 2026. Gina Hinojosa defeated Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, and James Talarico beat Ken Paxton for a U.S. Senate seat. Democrats also took control of the U.S. House and Senate and the Texas House. The results threaten Elon Musk's plans in the state. Hinojosa has questioned a $1.66 billion tax break for Musk's $16.8 billion Terafab chip plant in Grimes County, and she has promised a freeze on data center approvals until the Legislature passes new protections. Her office would also control the Texas Enterprise Fund, which gave SpaceX $30 million for Terafab. Shares of SpaceX and Tesla fell about 9% and 11% on Thursday afternoon as investors weighed the possibility of new congressional probes into Musk.

Anthropic filed a public Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 26, 2026, and plans to list Class A shares on Nasdaq under the ticker "ANT." The company could begin trading as soon as November 16. The filing shows $16.3 billion in revenue for the first half of 2026, compared with about $4.6 billion for all of 2025. Losses have grown just as fast: $1.5 billion in 2023, $8.3 billion in 2024, $42 billion in 2025, and $80.7 billion in the first half of 2026, which the company attributes largely to financing-related accounting charges. Anthropic also plans to spend more than $430 billion on locked-in cloud computing deals with Amazon, Google, and others.