Cbiz shareholders will receive $55 per share, a 17.8% premium to the stock’s previous close. The shares rose 17.5% in premarket trade after the announcement.

The deal will make Grant Thornton the fifth-largest provider of professional, tax and advisory services in the US, behind Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC. The combined platform will have a presence in more than 20 countries and territories and generate nearly $7.5 billion in revenue.

“By combining our multinational platform with CBIZ’s strong market presence, we’re broadening our ability to support businesses through every stage of growth — from early development to global scale,” Grant Thornton Advisors CEO Jim Peko said.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026. It includes a “go-shop” period that allows CBIZ to seek competing offers until August 27.

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Goldman Sachs advised CBIZ on the transaction. Deutsche Bank is the lead financial adviser for Grant Thornton Advisors.
Also Read: Vertiv shares crash 14% in pre-market after Q2 revenue misses estimatesDeal overshadows mixed earnings

The acquisition announcement came alongside CBIZ’s second-quarter results, which showed a clear earnings beat but weaker-than-expected revenue.

For the quarter ended June 30, 2026, CBIZ reported adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.91, above analysts’ estimate of $0.8046. Revenue came in at $682.2 million, about 3.2% below the $704.9 million expected by analysts.

Revenue was down 0.2% from a year earlier, hurt by a similar decline in the company’s core financial services business. Adjusted EBITDA fell 14.3% year-on-year to $103.1 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin narrowed to 15.1% from 17.6%.

On a GAAP basis, net income dropped 55.6% to $18.6 million, or $0.31 per diluted share. The decline reflected higher operating expenses and acquisition-related costs tied to the integration of Marcum, which CBIZ bought in 2024.

The CBIZ deal is another sign of consolidation in the US accounting industry, where mid-tier firms are trying to build scale and narrow the gap with the Big Four.

Baker Tilly and Moss Adams combined last year in a $7 billion deal. CBIZ had also expanded through acquisitions, including its $2.3 billion purchase of accounting firm Marcum in 2024.

Grant Thornton has been expanding since receiving investment from a consortium led by New Mountain Capital in 2024. New Mountain is making a fresh investment to support the CBIZ transaction, which the companies said is the largest deal of its kind in more than 25 years.

Bitcoin traded at $63,860.26 as of Wednesday afternoon, up a modest $13.14, or roughly 0.02%, as cryptocurrency markets settled into a holding pattern ahead of a Federal Reserve interest rate decision that traders across both traditional and digital asset markets have described as unusually difficult to predict.

Bitcoin opened Wednesday at $63,853.49, up 0.2% from Tuesday’s opening price, before climbing as high as $64,244.18 during the morning session, according to pricing data. The cryptocurrency’s relatively flat overall movement Wednesday followed a volatile stretch earlier in the week, including a sharp pullback Tuesday when bitcoin opened 2.5% lower than the previous day, dropping to around $63,327 as investors broadly reduced exposure to riskier assets ahead of the Fed’s two-day policy meeting.

The Federal Reserve’s rate decision, due later Wednesday, has emerged as the dominant catalyst shaping crypto market sentiment this week. According to data from the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, market participants assigned a 35.8% probability to a rate increase following the meeting’s conclusion, up sharply from 25.7% just a week earlier. Separate estimates cited by CoinDesk showed a somewhat different split, with roughly a 70% probability assigned to rates remaining unchanged and a 30% chance of a surprise quarter-point increase. Some analysts have characterized the meeting as among the hardest Fed decisions to forecast in recent years, given the unusual combination of economic signals policymakers are currently weighing.

Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, moved somewhat more sharply than bitcoin during the same period. Ethereum opened Wednesday at $1,919.73, up 1.5% from Tuesday’s opening price, before slipping back to $1,904.82 by mid-morning, according to pricing data. Bitcoin and ether moved in opposite directions for stretches of Wednesday’s session, a divergence that market watchers attributed to renewed airstrikes in the Middle East combined with the approaching Fed announcement, both of which have added competing sources of uncertainty for crypto investors this week.

Broader cryptocurrency market data showed modest overall improvement heading into Wednesday. The total global cryptocurrency market capitalization rose 0.4% to reach approximately $2.28 trillion, recovering from a 1.6% decline recorded the previous day, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin’s dominance within the broader crypto market held steady at approximately 56.3%, while ether accounted for roughly 10.2% of total market value. Despite the modest recovery in headline prices, a widely tracked measure of investor sentiment, the Fear and Greed Index, remained in “fear” territory at a reading of 28 to 29, reflecting continued caution among traders even as prices stabilized somewhat.

Institutional flows into bitcoin exchange-traded funds showed signs of softening in recent sessions. Spot bitcoin ETFs recorded a net outflow of $11.6 million on July 27, ending a streak of seven consecutive sessions of net inflows, with asset managers BlackRock and Fidelity leading the pullback, according to data on ETF flows. Even so, some corporate treasury activity continued during the same window, with Hyperscale Data disclosing a bitcoin treasury holding of 1,106 bitcoin, valued at approximately $71.7 million, as of July 28, signaling that at least some institutional accumulation of the cryptocurrency has continued despite broader market softness.

Macroeconomic factors beyond the Fed decision have also weighed on crypto sentiment this week. Rising oil prices, driven by renewed hostilities between the United States and Iran, have added to broader inflation concerns across financial markets, a dynamic that traditionally creates headwinds for risk assets including cryptocurrencies. At the same time, a strengthening U.S. dollar has added further pressure, with analysts noting that the combination of higher oil prices and dollar strength has increased overall macro-volatility risk heading into the Fed’s announcement.

Trading data suggested bitcoin has largely oscillated within a defined range in recent sessions, generally trading between roughly $62,700 and $65,500. Some market analysts have pointed to that range as a key technical zone to watch in the near term, with the lower boundary near $62,700 serving as a support level and the $64,500 to $65,500 zone acting as resistance that bitcoin has struggled to convincingly break through in recent trading.

Beyond bitcoin and ether, individual cryptocurrency tokens showed more significant divergence Wednesday. Jupiter, a decentralized finance token, rose nearly 6% to lead gains within a broader recovery among DeFi-focused tokens, while artificial intelligence-linked tokens continued to struggle, with Fetch.ai falling more than 4% on the day as AI-related crypto tokens continued unwinding gains posted the previous month.

Bitcoin’s current price level remains well below its all-time highs reached earlier in the cryptocurrency’s price cycle, though the asset has still posted substantial gains compared with prior years, with its market capitalization standing at approximately $1.27 trillion to $1.33 trillion depending on the specific pricing snapshot used, maintaining its position as by far the largest cryptocurrency by market value, well ahead of ether’s market capitalization of roughly $233 billion.

With the Federal Reserve’s decision expected to be announced later Wednesday, crypto traders and analysts broadly expect increased volatility to follow the announcement, regardless of whether the central bank opts to raise rates, hold steady, or signal a different policy path than markets currently anticipate, given how closely digital asset prices have tracked broader shifts in monetary policy expectations throughout the past several weeks of trading.

The cloud services arm of e-commerce giant Amazon had posted net profit of Rs 23.1 crore in FY25.

​Its consolidated revenue from operations grew by about 21 per cent to Rs 20,225.6 crore in FY26 from Rs 16,744.9 crore in FY25.

AWS, however, reported a decline of around 14 per cent in standalone net profit to Rs 242.4 crore in FY26, compared to Rs 281.5 crore in FY25.

The company’s revenue from operations on a standalone basis grew by 21.4 per cent to Rs 20,225.6 crore during the period under review from Rs 16,659 crore in the year-ago period.

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“The company’s total expenses for the fiscal were reported at Rs 19,888 crore (on a standalone basis),” Tofler said.

The initial costs are expected to be recouped through ticket prices

Heathrow will be allowed to pass the enormous bill it has accumulated in preparing its third runway bid on to passengers, the aviation watchdog has confirmed, in a ruling that looks set to cement the airport’s status as the costliest in the world.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) ruled that Heathrow Airport Limited (HAL) will be entitled to recoup the £320m it has already spent competing to secure the megaproject contract by increasing the fees attached to travellers’ air fares.

Rival bidder Heathrow West was also granted permission to recover the £4.2m it has so far spent on its own proposal.

The two operators have been competing fiercely to persuade ministers to back their respective third runway plans, assembling extensive planning documents and feasibility studies, while also enlisting the services of expensive third-party advisers to bolster their bids.

For incumbent HAL, that investment has already stretched into the hundreds of millions, the CAA noted, with the hub previously arguing it needs to cover its early outlay if the expansion is to remain financially attractive, reports City AM.

In its ruling, the aviation regulator said without the design and planning efforts both bidders have undertaken to develop credible expansion proposals, the timely delivery of the third runway project would have been put at risk.

It added that both parties would need to demonstrate their claims had been independently scrutinised line by line before being permitted to pass on the costs.

“Our decision strikes a balance between supporting the delivery of benefits to consumers through timely progress on Heathrow expansion, whilst also protecting them from undue increases in costs,” said Tim Johnson, the UK Civil Aviation Authority’s director of consumers and markets.

“The costs Heathrow can recover are capped, independently scrutinised and subject to efficiency reviews, helping ensure that passengers only pay for efficient costs that are justified.”

Under the compensation scheme, agreed following a consultation held last year, HAL will be permitted to add 10p to every passenger fare over the next 20 to 25 years. It will also be responsible for recouping Heathrow West’s more modest costs, should the rival bid led by hotel magnate Surinder Arora fail to succeed.

The CAA reached its decision alongside a wide-ranging review of Heathrow’s overarching regulatory framework, in which it will determine whether rival operators will be permitted to own and run key infrastructure within the airport.

Airlines operating at the hub have grown increasingly frustrated with the exorbitant charges they are forced to pass on to passengers, and – in lockstep with Arora – some have established a pressure group lobbying for a wholesale shake-up of red tape at the airport.

At £28.80, the airport’s charges are already the costliest in the world, and are anticipated to climb by as much as £50 once the full expenditure of the third runway is factored in.

Wednesday’s CAA ruling will see the airport charge per passenger rise by approximately 15 pence in 2028, climbing to 30 pence in subsequent years.

The initial costs incurred by bidders are expected to be recouped through ticket prices over a period of roughly 20 to 25 years.