BT shares spike as Drahi raises stake

In today’s top stories, telecoms billionaire Patrick Drahi has upped his stake in BT to almost 25%, but does not intend to make an offer. Elsewhere, Ford announced a number of lithium deals, including partnerships with Albemarle and Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile. TikTok’s US user data will “soon” start being routed through Oracle’s US servers; TikTok is currently suing Montana. Seoul won’t stand in the way of Korean chipmakers if they move to fill the gap left by Beijing’s ban of Micron. Lastly, activist investor TCS Capital Management was expected to deliver a letter to the Yelp board, arguing that a sale could see the share price double from its current level.

Ford inks lithium deals

As the electric vehicles industry scrambles to lock up supplies of critical materials to ensure future production isn’t delayed, US automaking giant Ford [F] announced a number of lithium deals on Monday. Among them are partnerships with miner Albemarle [ALB], and with chemical companies Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile [SQM] and Nemaska Lithium, which is majority-owned by Livent [LTHM]. Meanwhile, the US has denied a $200m grant to lithium battery company Microvast [MVST] over its alleged links to Beijing.

TikTok to grant Oracle access to data

TikTok’s US user data will “soon” start being routed through Oracle’s [ORCL] US servers, according to Bloomberg. The controversial social media platform is hoping to alleviate national security concerns with its Project Texas initiative, which is “ dedicated to making every American on TikTok feel safe, with confidence that their data is secure and the platform is free from outside influence”, according to a company press release. TikTok is suing the US state of Montana in an attempt to overturn its first state ban.

Samsung could fill China’s Micron gap

Seoul won’t stand in the way of Korean chipmakers if they decide to fill the gap left after Beijing banned US giant Micron [MU] from infrastructure projects. This is despite Washington having urged Seoul not to fill shortfalls, reported the Financial Times. Samsung Electronics [005930.KS] and SK Hynix [000660.KS] are two companies that could step up: “You can swap a Micron memory part out for Samsung or SK Hynix in nearly all cases without any changes,” said industry analyst Dylan Patel.

BT shares spike as Drahi raises stake

French-Israeli telecoms billionaire Patrick Drahi has upped his stake in BT [BT-A.L] to almost 25%, just days after the British telecoms giant announced plans to cut 55,000 jobs as a part of a major restructuring. However, according to a statement, “Altice UK has restated its position to the board of BT that it does not intend to make an offer for BT.” The BT share price was up nearly 2% Tuesday.

Sale call sends Yelp shares surging

Activist investor TCS Capital Management was expected to deliver a letter to the board of Yelp [YELP] yesterday, arguing that a sale could see the share price double from its current level. “Yelp maintains an active dialogue with our shareholders and values constructive feedback on our business and ways to create value,” a company spokesperson said. Yelp’s shares were up 13.6% pre-market.