Simplicity Could be Paramount to Bronfman’s Bid

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Simplicity Could be Paramount to Bronfman’s Bid

Paramount [PARA] shares gained 2.4% after markets closed on Wednesday after media veteran Edgar Bronfman Jr. increased his bid to take over the business. Bronfman had previously bid $4.3bn to acquire controlling shareholder National Amusements as well as a minority stake in Paramount, and has increased this to $6bn, according to Reuters. David Ellison’s SkydanceMedia has bid $8.4bn to acquire Paramount but the terms are more complex; Bronfman has argued that his proposal is superior because it avoids the risks and costs of Skydance’s offer.

Franklin Templeton Derivatives Chief Investigated

Western Asset Management, a fixed-income unit owned by Franklin Templeton [BEN], has announced that it has closed a $2bn fund and replaced its chief investment officer (CIO) Ken Leech after Leech received a Wells notice — a formal document that often precedes civil charges — from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Michael Buchanan has been made CIO with immediate effect, as Western Asset Management cooperates with the investigation into its derivatives trading. Franklin Templeton shares fell 12.5% on Wednesday.

Surprise Upside Outlook Boosts Zoom’s Stock

Zoom’s [ZM] outlook for Q3 revenue and earnings surprised to the upside as the video conferencing software maker announced Q2 results on Wednesday. Zoom predicted revenue of $1.16bn–1.17bn, while industry analysts had on average expected revenue at the bottom end of this range; EPS, meanwhile was forecast to be approximately $1.30, exceeding the $1.24 analysts had forecast. Zoom’s shares opened Thursday 2.7% up on Wednesday’s close.

California AI Safety Bill Under Fire

OpenAI’s Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon has written to Scott Wiener, a California state senator, criticizing SB 1047, an artificial intelligence (AI) safety bill that Wiener is pushing. Kwon argues the bill threatens California’s leading position in the global AI ecosystem, as well as warning that it could “slow the pace of innovation and lead California’s world-class engineers and entrepreneurs to leave the state”. Wiener responded by calling such arguments “tired”. OpenAI joins Anthropic, Andreessen Horowitz and Y Combinator in opposition to the bill.

Snowflake’s Shares in Post-Earnings Meltdown

Snowflake [SNOW]shares fell more than 10% overnight despite growing revenue 29% year-over-year in Q2 and beating forecasts on revenue and earnings. Q3 product revenue forecasts of $850m–855m exceeded the $848m that analysts had forecast on average, but underwhelmed compared to the $900m that some analysts had envisaged, according to Bloomberg. CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy highlighted the “traction” the company’s AI strategy is gathering in Snowflake’s earnings release.