(Reuters) -Tesla is looking at internal CEO candidates if Elon Musk leaves in case the $1 trillion pay plan is not passed at the annual shareholder meeting next week, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing the automaker's board chair. (Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
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(Reuters) -Banking software company Temenos raised its 2025 outlook on Tuesday and reported third quarter earnings which were ahead of market expectations while stating its search for a new chief executive continues. In early September Temenos parted ways with CEO Jean-Pierre Brulard, who had been in the position for only 16 months. The company appointed finance chief Takis Spiliopoulos to the role on an interim basis. Temenos shares fell 15% following news of Brulard's departure. "We are making good progress and are actively considering a number of internal and external candidates," Chairman Thibault de Tersant said in a statement. Adjusted core earnings of $84.6 million in the third quarter came in above the $66.7 million analysts had predicted in a company-provided poll. TEMENOS SAYS SALES ENVIRONMENT REMAINS STABLE The software firm said in a statement that its sales environment remained stable this quarter with no disruptions from US bank credit concerns. Profit growth was also driven by cost cutting, it added. Temenos now expects full-year adjusted earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) growth of at least 14% at constant currency from at least 9% before. The Swiss firm slightly raised guidance for its subscription and SaaS (Software as a Service) metric as well as its EPS, expecting 15-17% growth in 2025, from 10-12% before, and confirmed its 2028 targets. (Reporting by Marleen Kaesebier in Gdansk; editing by Matt Scuffham)
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By Manya Saini (Reuters) -PayPal saw a slowdown in payments activity in September that continued into October across both the U.S. and Europe, as consumers became more selective in their purchases, CFO Jamie Miller told analysts on a call. Shares of the company, which had initially jumped 17% after PayPal announced a partnership with OpenAI and reported blowout results, pared some gains during the conference call as investors digested Miller's comments. The stock was last up 10%. U.S. companies across industries are feeling the squeeze from a widening gap between lower-income and affluent consumers, with tariffs adding further uncertainty, as seen in third-quarter earnings reported so far. "We're seeing basket sizes just trade down. Average order value being down, particularly in retail where you know consumers are just being more selective, and that behavior has continued into October," Miller said. The shift, echoed by major retailers and consumer goods companies, points to a slowdown in discretionary purchases, even as everyday spending remains steady, leaving the payments sector largely on firm footing. PayPal forecast current-quarter adjusted EPS between $1.23 and $1.27, below Street expectations of $1.31 according to estimates compiled by LSEG. "Worries over a weaker jobs market in the U.S., signs of financial strain among lower-income families and the slower-than-hoped rate of interest rate cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve have all added a cyclical element to more structural concerns," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell. However, the year-end holiday season, typically a strong period for retailers and payment firms, could help lift spending in the next couple of months. Retailers typically rely on the fourth-quarter holiday season for a large portion of annual sales, with spending during Christmas, Black Friday and Thanksgiving helping boost purchases. "The holiday season is very back-end loaded. So it's something we're watching," Miller added. (Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
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(Reuters) -Microsoft and OpenAI reached a deal to allow the ChatGPT maker to restructure itself into a public benefit corporation, valuing OpenAI at $500 billion and giving it more freedom in its business operations. The Windows-maker will still hold a stake of about $135 billion, or roughly 27%, in OpenAI Group PBC, which will be controlled by the OpenAI Foundation, a nonprofit, the companies said. Below is a timeline of important events related to the startup at the heart of the AI boom, since its inception: Date Event December 11, Tech executives including Elon Musk and Sam 2015 Altman announce the launch of OpenAI, pouring in $1 billion to create the AI firm 2018 OpenAI announces that Musk is leaving its board 2019 OpenAI creates for-profit arm to help raise funds from investors Nov. 17, OpenAI board fires CEO Altman and President 2023 Greg Brockman quits. Mira Murati named as interim CEO Nov. 18, Altman's firing was over a "breakdown in 2023 communication between Sam and the board," and not "malfeasance", COO Brad Lightcap says in an internal memo Nov. 20, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says the Windows 2023 maker has hired Altman, Brockman and their colleagues to lead a new advanced AI research team OpenAI appoints former Twitch boss Emmett Shear as interim CEO. Shear pledges probe into Altman's exit. Nearly all OpenAI staff threaten to quit and join Altman at Microsoft, demanding board resign and Altman and Brockman are reinstated Nov. 21, OpenAI says Altman will return as CEO with a 2023 new initial board. Brockman will also return Nov. 29, Altman says Microsoft will take a non-voting, 2023 observer position on OpenAI's board Dec. 13, Axel Springer partners with OpenAI in a 2023 first-of-its-kind deal to deliver summaries of the global news publisher's content Dec. 27, The New York Times sues OpenAI and Microsoft, 2023 accusing them of using the newspaper's articles without permission to train chatbots Jan. 25, The FTC orders OpenAI, Microsoft, Alphabet, 2024 Amazon and Anthropic to provide information on recent investments and partnerships as it scrutinizes tech deals Feb. 16, OpenAI completes a deal that values it at $80 2024 billion or more, according to media reports March 1, Musk sues OpenAI and Altman, saying they 2024 abandoned the startup's original mission to develop AI for the benefit of humanity March 8, Altman returns to the OpenAI board along with 2024 three new directors May 14, 2024 OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever leaves the company June 10, OpenAI hires Sarah Friar, former CEO of social 2024 media firm Nextdoor, as its first CFO June 11, Musk moves to dismiss his lawsuit against 2024 OpenAI and Altman July 10, Microsoft gives up its board observer seat at 2024 OpenAI August 5, Musk revives lawsuit against Altman and OpenAI 2024 September OpenAI's three top technical leaders, 25, 2024 including CTO Mira Murati, quit the company October 2, OpenAI raises $6.6 billion, valuing the 2024 company at $157 billion December 27, OpenAI says it plans to revamp its for-profit 2024 arm into a public benefit corporation (PBC) to ease the restrictions imposed by its current non-profit parent January 14, Private equity veteran Adebayo Ogunlesi, CEO 2025 of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), joins OpenAI's board January 21, OpenAI plans joint venture with SoftBank and 2025 Oracle to build up to $500 billion of new AI data centers in the United States Microsoft changes its exclusive deal terms with OpenAI to allow the company to build additional data center capacity, paving the way for the JV January 22, OpenAI and SoftBank say they will each commit 2025 $19 billion to fund Stargate, a joint venture to develop data centers for AI in the U.S January 30, SoftBank Group is in talks to lead a funding 2025 round of up to $40 billion in OpenAI at a valuation of $300 billion, including new funds, sources say February 10, A consortium led by Musk offers to buy the 2025 nonprofit that controls OpenAI for $97.4 billion. February 11, OpenAI's board has not received Musk's 2025 takeover bid, source says February 13, Consortium led by Musk will withdraw its bid 2025 for OpenAI's non-profit arm if the startup drops plans to become a for-profit entity, Musk's lawyers say February 14, OpenAI rejects Musk's bid for the ChatGPT 2025 maker, saying the startup is not for sale and that any future bid would be disingenuous March 4, A U.S. judge denies Musk's request for a 2025 preliminary injunction to pause OpenAI's transition to a for-profit model but agrees to a fast-track trial in the fall of this year March 5, Britain drops its probe into Microsoft's 2025 partnership with OpenAI March 15, OpenAI and Musk agree to fast-track a trial 2025 over for-profit shift March 28, OpenAI must transition to a for-profit company 2025 by the end of the year to secure the full $40 billion funding led by SoftBank, a source says April 1, OpenAI officially announces raising up to $40 2025 billion in a new funding round led by SoftBank Group at a $300 billion valuation April 4, Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI will go to a 2025 jury trial in spring 2026, federal judge presiding over the case decides April 9, OpenAI countersues Musk, citing a pattern of 2025 harassment by him April 15, OpenAI names members to its newly formed 2025 nonprofit commission, which will guide the company's philanthropic efforts April 16, OpenAI in discussions to buy AI-assisted 2025 coding tool Windsurf for about $3 billion – report May 5, 2025 OpenAI says it would remain under the control of its nonprofit parent, while pushing ahead with plans to change the structure of its for-profit arm May 8, 2025 Instacart head Fidji Simo steps down to join OpenAI as its chief of applications May 19, 2025 OpenAI prevails in a lawsuit in Georgia that accused the ChatGPT maker of defaming a radio host by fabricating allegations and a fictional lawsuit against him May 21, 2025 OpenAI buys Jony Ive's startup io Products in a $6.5 billion deal May 28, 2025 OpenAI's CFO Sarah Friar says the startup's restructuring plans position it for a potential future IPO OpenAI says its annualized revenue run rate June 9, 2025 surged to $10 billion as of June June 10, OpenAI plans to add 2025 Alphabet's Google cloud service to meet its growing needs for computing capacity, three sources tell Reuters OpenAI wins a $200 million contract to provide June 16, the U.S. Defense Department with artificial 2025 intelligence tools July 17, OpenAI launches AI agent for its ChatGPT 2025 July 22, OpenAI and Oracle expand their tie-up to 2025 develop another 4.5 gigawatts of data center capacity July 23, OpenAI wins trademark lawsuit over 'Open 2025 Artificial Intelligence' July 31, OpenAI plans to build its first Stargate data 2025 center project in Europe, partnering with developer Nscale Global Holdings and investment group Aker ASA August 18, OpenAI releases 2025 ChatGPT Go, a new India-only subscription plan priced at 399 rupees per month August 21, OpenAI announces to open first India office in 2025 New Delhi September 2, OpenAI says it will 2025 acquire Statsig in an all-stock deal valuing the product testing startup at about $1.1 billion based on OpenAI's current valuation of $300 billion September Microsoft and OpenAI sign a non-binding deal 11, 2025 for new relationship terms that would allow OpenAI to proceed to restructure itself into a for-profit company September OpenAI hires Mike Liberatore, former finance 16, 2025 chief at Musk's xAI, to be the AI startup's business finance officer September Nvidia plans to invest up to $100 billion in 22, 2025 OpenAI and supply it with data center chips September OpenAI, Oracle, SoftBank announce plans for 23, 2025 five new AI data centers in the U.S. September OpenAI rolls out parental controls for ChatGPT 29, 2025 on the web and mobile OpenAI introduces a feature that September would allow users 29, 2025 to make purchases through ChatGPT, in partnership with Etsy and Shopify Sept…
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By Greg Bensinger and Deborah Mary Sophia (Reuters) – Amazon said on Tuesday it will reduce its global corporate workforce by about 14,000 people, with more cuts expected next year, in a major shakeup driven in part by adoption of artificial intelligence at the tech giant. The online retailer began laying off employees across multiple divisions as part of a plan, first reported on Monday by Reuters, to cut as many as 30,000 employees. The company has not confirmed the broader layoff plan, but in a companywide email indicated further cuts were planned. Amazon is working to compensate for over-hiring during the peak demand of the pandemic and to limit costs as it enters its crucial holiday selling season. The layoffs offer an early look at the possibly broad effects of AI on workforces. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy flagged the potential for such losses in June, saying increased use of AI tools and agents would lead to more corporate job cuts, particularly through automating routine tasks. Amazon had about 1.56 million full-time and part-time employees at the end of last year. Its corporate workforce includes roughly 350,000 employees. Workers told Reuters they learned their jobs were eliminated from letters sent to their personal email addresses early on Tuesday morning. "You are no longer required to perform work on Amazon's behalf," reads the email from Beth Galetti, senior vice president of People Experience and Technology, which was sent to impacted employees and seen by Reuters. She said those workers would be given the option to meet with a human resources employee via video call. "Unfortunately, your role is being eliminated and your employment will end after a non-working period." Amazon will offer most affected workers 90 days to look for a new role internally and said its recruiting teams would prioritize those candidates. Jassy is undertaking an initiative to reduce what he has described as a surfeit of bureaucracy, including by reducing the number of managers. He spun up an anonymous complaint line for identifying inefficiencies that has elicited some 1,500 responses and over 450 process changes. This week's move represents the deepest job cuts since 27,000 jobs were eliminated in late 2022 and early 2023. Departments affected on Tuesday include devices, advertising, Prime Video, HR, operations, Alexa and Amazon's cloud computing unit Amazon Web Services (AWS), employees told Reuters. The full scope of departments affected could not be learned and when contacted for clarification, Amazon redirected Reuters to the post on its website. It was not immediately clear over what period the full extent of job cuts will take place, but Galetti said in the note that Amazon would continue hiring in certain areas and reducing headcount in other divisions heading into 2026. Over the past two years, the company has been carrying out piecemeal job cuts across divisions including books, devices and its Wondery podcast business. The layoffs so far have already helped teams move faster, Galetti said. Shares of the Seattle-based company were up 0.8% at midday on Tuesday. The stock has risen about 3.5% this year, making it the worst performer among the "Magnificent 7" group of megacap tech stocks. AI EFFORTS Galetti's note reiterated CEO Jassy's push to reduce management layers and lean more on AI. Corporations are increasingly using the technology to write code for their software and adopting AI agents to automate routine tasks, as they look to save costs and cut reliance on people. "This generation of AI is the most transformative technology we've seen since the Internet, and it's enabling companies to innovate much faster than ever before," Galetti said. Amazon is expected to shell out roughly $118 billion in capital expenditures for the year, with much of it going toward building AI and cloud infrastructure. The company will report third-quarter earnings on Thursday. Separately, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders on Tuesday called on Amazon founder Jeff Bezos to account for what he said were hundreds of thousands of potential lost jobs due to automation. Sanders was referring to a New York Times article published earlier this month that reported Amazon executives believe 500,000 jobs could be cut over time by replacing warehouse workers with robots. Two U.S. senators have also asked Amazon to explain why it is the nation's largest employer of foreign workers using H-1B visas while also cutting jobs. (Reporting by Greg Bensinger in San Francisco and Deborah Sophia and Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Matthew Lewis)
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(Corrects paragraph 2 to say 637 million euros bookings were for the third quarter, not the second) (Reuters) -Computer chip equipment maker ASM International reported third-quarter bookings below market expectations on Tuesday, hit by a larger-than-expected drop in orders from Chinese chipmakers. Bookings, the industry's most closely watched figure, came in at 637 million euros ($743 million) in the third quarter of the year. That compared with an average 719 millions euros expected by analysts, according to research firm Visible Alpha. ($1 = 0.8575 euros) (Reporting by Nathan Vifflin in Gdansk; Editing by Matt Scuffham)
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AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -A Dutch court on Tuesday gave Meta Platforms until the end of the year to provide Facebook and Instagram users with a simpler way to opt out of algorithmically curated timelines — the kind that show recommended content based on user profiling. The District Court of Amsterdam earlier this month had given Meta two weeks to make the changes, saying elements of the design of both platforms were not in line with the European Union's Digital Services Act. The act is intended to give users more control over how content is presented to them and how their data is used. The court ordered Meta to offer users a "direct and simple" way to opt out of a timeline with recommended content. It also ruled that users' choices for a chronological or other non-profiled timeline must remain in effect — meaning if a user opts out of the algorithmic feed, that choice should stick. Meta has launched an appeal against the verdict and had asked for more time to make the adjustments, to which it is still bound pending the appeal. The new deadline is now set for December 31, with a hearing in the appeal scheduled for January 26, 2026. (Reporting by Bart Meijer, Editing by William Maclean)
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By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) -Apple urged a federal judge to dismiss a racketeering lawsuit by a company that accused the iPhone maker of stealing its technology to create the lucrative mobile wallet Apple Pay. In a Monday night filing in Atlanta federal court, Apple said if the case is not dismissed, it should be transferred to a Texas judge who recently dismissed Fintiv's related patent case. Lawyers for Fintiv did not immediately respond on Tuesday to requests for comment. Fintiv, based in Austin, Texas, accused Apple of misappropriating technology for Apple Pay that it had once sought to license from CorFire, a Georgia company that Fintiv bought in 2014. Apple Pay is used in hundreds of millions of iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches and MacBooks. Fintiv said the racketeering arose from Apple's use of Apple Pay to generate fees for credit card issuers such as Bank of America, Capital One, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, and the payment networks American Express, Mastercard and Visa. In seeking a dismissal, Apple said Fintiv waited too long to pursue most of its federal and state claims, having known the underlying facts since 2014, and failed to show a pattern of racketeering. "The court should reject Fintiv's attempt to revive its failed patent case in a new district with no connection to the facts," Apple said. Absent a dismissal, Apple said the case should be sent to U.S. District Judge Alan Albright in Waco, Texas, to promote efficiency, because he has spent nearly seven years overseeing the underlying dispute and is familiar with the facts and law. Fintiv is appealing Albright's August 4 dismissal of its patent case. Albright once oversaw nearly 25% of all U.S. patent cases, being viewed as a favored judge for many plaintiffs suing large technology companies such as Apple. That concentration ended in 2022 when new patent cases were randomly farmed out to all judges in his district. The case is Fintiv Inc v Apple Inc, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia, No. 25-04413. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Richard Chang)
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By Jaspreet Singh (Reuters) -Palo Alto Networks is expanding its artificial intelligence-powered cybersecurity offerings, as clients seek to secure their business operations from rising hacking incidents. The company's AI tools, combined with its planned acquisition of Israeli peer CyberArk Software, are deepening its security offerings amid a wave of high-profile cyberattacks that has hit global companies, including F5 and UnitedHealth Group. Chief Executive Nikesh Arora said some recent breaches underscore how back-end infrastructure compromises can expose thousands of customers by revealing vulnerabilities in shared source code. Palo Alto launched new versions of its cloud security platform, Cortex Cloud, and AI application security platform Prisma AIRS on Tuesday. The company said Prisma AIRS 2.0 integrates technology from its recently acquired Seattle-based startup Protect AI, creating a combined platform to secure AI applications from development to deployment. It also uses AI systems to automatically find loopholes in other such systems. The Cortex Cloud 2.0 now incorporates agentic platform Cortex AgentiX and a cloud command center, its unified view of cloud assets to showcase risks and threats across cloud services of multiple providers. Customers will have the ability to tailor those agents for specific user roles, Arora said, adding the pricing of the new agentic AI offerings would be consistent with the company's existing Cortex XSOAR platform that unifies and automates incident response across all security tools. "We're not going to take actions where the customers can't reverse them, or the customers can't have that a human in the middle type of activity. So most of our agents will have humans in the middle," he added. The agents are trained on 1.2 billion real-world security incident responses. Palo Alto's standalone AgentiX platform is expected to launch early next year, the company said. Shares of the company were up around 1%. They have risen about 21% so far this year. (Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
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By Greg Bensinger SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders on Tuesday called on Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos to account for what the Vermont independent said were hundreds of thousands of potential lost jobs due to automation. "If Amazon succeeds on its massive automation plan, it will have a profound impact on blue-collar workers throughout America and will likely be used as a model by large corporations throughout America," Sanders wrote in a letter to Bezos, which was exclusively reviewed by Reuters. Sanders, who caucuses with the Democrats, was referring to a New York Times article published earlier this month that cited documents and interviews showing that Amazon executives believe 500,000 jobs could be cut over time by replacing warehouse workers with robots. Amazon employs 1.55 million people, the majority of whom are hourly workers. An Amazon spokesperson said the company had no immediate response to the letter. However, Amazon has said its automation goals are to assist workers and create new jobs. On Monday, Reuters reported Amazon planned to cut as many as 30,000 corporate jobs beginning Tuesday, as it pares expenses. It announced an initial cut of some 14,000 jobs tied in part to efficiency gains from its use of artificial intelligence software, according to a note posted to the company's website. In the letter, Sanders asked Bezos whether Amazon planned to provide laid-off workers with sufficient severance payments and some continuation of their health-care coverage. He also noted that Amazon workers have received federal subsidies for food, housing and health care and the company has received “billions of dollars” in federal contracts. “What are Amazon’s plans to provide help and support for the many hundreds of thousands of workers you’ll be replacing with robots and AI?” said Sanders, referring to artificial intelligence software. Bezos is now executive chairman and no longer runs day-to-day operations at Amazon after the company appointed Andy Jassy as chief executive in 2021. Jassy said earlier this year that advancements in AI would lead to a shrinking corporate workforce at the Seattle-based firm. Sanders has frequently sparred with Amazon and Bezos, particularly over warehouse working conditions, but also what he has called union-busting tactics. (Reporting by Greg Bensinger; Editing by Leslie Adler and Chizu Nomiyama )
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