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Judge blocks Virginia law restricting social media for children
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Alphabet Inc. Shares Dip on Heavy AI Spending Outlook Despite Strong Earnings Momentum
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL), the parent company of Google, saw its Class A shares close at $307.38 on Feb. 26, down 1.76% or $5.52 from the previous session’s $312.90. The decline followed broader market pressures and investor concerns over the company’s aggressive capital expenditure plans for artificial intelligence infrastructure.

The stock has traded in a 52-week range of $140.53 to $349.00, with the recent high reached in early February 2026. Alphabet’s market capitalization hovers around $3.72 trillion, reflecting its position as one of the world’s most valuable companies. Trading volume on Feb. 26 reached approximately 36 million shares, above average amid heightened interest in tech sector developments.
Alphabet’s most recent financial results, released Feb. 4 for the fourth quarter and full year 2025, showcased robust performance. Consolidated revenues climbed 18% year-over-year to $113.8 billion, surpassing analyst expectations of around $111 billion. Earnings per share came in at $2.82, beating estimates of $2.57 to $2.64. For the full year, revenues exceeded $400 billion for the first time, with net income rising 30% to $132.2 billion and diluted EPS at $10.81.
Google Services, the core advertising and consumer businesses, drove much of the growth with revenues up 14% to $95.9 billion. Google Search and other properties grew 17%, while YouTube ads and subscriptions contributed significantly, pushing the platform’s annual revenues past $60 billion. Google subscriptions, platforms and devices increased 17%, bolstered by strong adoption of Google One and YouTube Premium, now totaling over 325 million paid subscriptions.
Google Cloud continued its rapid expansion, with revenues surging 48% to $17.7 billion in the quarter. The segment benefited from surging demand for AI infrastructure and enterprise solutions on Google Cloud Platform. CEO Sundar Pichai highlighted the momentum in his earnings statement, noting that first-party models like Gemini now process over 10 billion tokens per minute via API, and the Gemini app has reached more than 750 million monthly active users.
Pichai emphasized AI’s role in expanding search usage, with features like AI Overviews driving more complex queries and longer sessions. “AI continues to drive an expansionary moment” in search, he said, while cloud’s annual run rate surpassed $70 billion.
The earnings beat initially lifted shares, but forward guidance tempered enthusiasm. Alphabet projected 2026 capital expenditures between $175 billion and $185 billion, nearly double prior-year levels, primarily to fuel AI data centers, custom Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) and related infrastructure. The high-end figure raised concerns about potential margin pressure and free cash flow impacts in the near term, contributing to recent pullbacks.
Analysts remain largely bullish. Consensus price targets sit around $344 to $376, with firms like Scotiabank, KeyCorp and others issuing upgrades citing AI advantages. The stock carries a “Buy” rating from most covering analysts, who point to Alphabet’s comprehensive AI stack—including leading large language models, custom chips and vast cloud resources—as a competitive edge over rivals.
Recent developments underscore Alphabet’s AI push. In late February, the company integrated its robotics software firm Intrinsic—formerly an Alphabet “Other Bet”—into Google to accelerate physical AI for industrial automation. Intrinsic will leverage Gemini models and Google Cloud to make robotics more accessible for manufacturing.
Alphabet also issued a 100-year bond in February to help fund its AI ambitions, drawing strong demand from institutional investors despite the long maturity. The move signals confidence in long-term growth while borrowing at favorable rates amid heavy spending plans.
Employee and ethical discussions have emerged around AI applications. More than 100 Google AI workers signed a letter in February urging “red lines” on military uses of Gemini, including restrictions on surveillance of U.S. citizens and autonomous weapons without human oversight. The letter echoes similar concerns at other AI firms amid Pentagon collaborations.
On the product front, Google launched a free AI Professional Certificate for U.S. small businesses and workers, offering training in AI skills like content creation and data analysis to address workforce gaps.
Alphabet’s next earnings report is expected April 23, covering the first quarter of 2026. Analysts forecast EPS around $2.67 on revenues near $106 billion to $113 billion. The company maintains a strong balance sheet, with ongoing share repurchases and a modest dividend initiated in recent years.
Despite short-term volatility from capex concerns, Alphabet’s trajectory reflects its evolution into an AI powerhouse. From search dominance to cloud acceleration and robotics integration, the company continues investing aggressively to capture emerging opportunities in generative AI, enterprise solutions and beyond.
Investors weigh the balance between near-term spending pressures and long-term revenue potential from AI monetization across search, cloud and new frontiers. As Alphabet navigates this pivotal phase, its stock performance may hinge on execution in scaling AI infrastructure while sustaining core growth engines.
Business
Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc. (DNA) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript
Daniel Waid Marshall
Good evening. I’m Daniel Marshall, Senior Manager of Communications and Ownership. I’m joined by Jason Kelly, our Co-Founder and CEO; and Steve Coen, our CFO. Thanks, as always, for joining us. We’re looking forward to updating you on our progress.
As a reminder, during the presentation today, we will be making forward-looking statements, which involve risks and uncertainties. Please refer to our filings with the SEC to learn more about these risks and uncertainties, including our most recent 10-K.
Today, in addition to updating you on the quarter results, we’re going to provide insight into the autonomous lab, how we believe it will transform biotechnology and how we plan to commercialize autonomous labs going forward.
As usual, we’ll end with a Q&A session, and I’ll take questions from analysts, investors and the public. You can submit those questions to us in advance via X, #ginkgoresults or through e-mail, investors@ginkgobioworks.com. All right. Over to you, Jason.
Jason Kelly
Co-Founder, Co-COO, CEO & Director
All right. Thanks, Daniel. So Q4 was really a breakout quarter for us in sort of defining and really leading in the category of autonomous labs. And so you’re going to hear a lot from me about that in the future. But I want to start by saying our mission remains to make biology easier to engineer. But in 2026, the technological focus for the company and really the business focus is going to drill down on investing to win in this category of autonomous labs. And this is really a part of what I see as an emerging movement around robotics and AI and autonomy that’s coming to
Business
Gary Pinkus, Bloom Energy director, sells $207k in stock

Gary Pinkus, Bloom Energy director, sells $207k in stock
Business
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) Stock Experiences Volatility Amid Strong Outlook and CEO Warnings
JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest U.S. bank by assets, saw its shares fluctuate in late February 2026 trading as investors digested recent company guidance, CEO Jamie Dimon’s economic cautions and broader market pressures.

As of Feb. 27, 2026, JPMorgan Chase stock (NYSE: JPM) traded around $297 to $301 in intraday sessions, down from a previous close near $306 and well off its 52-week high of $337.25 reached in early January. The shares have shown resilience over the past year, gaining approximately 19% in some measures, but recent sessions reflected a pullback amid concerns over interest rates, AI impacts and macroeconomic risks.
The bank’s market capitalization hovers above $800 billion, outpacing rivals Bank of America and Citigroup combined in valuation at times during the period.
In a Feb. 23 investor update, JPMorgan Chase provided an optimistic glimpse into 2026, nudging up its firmwide net interest income (NII) forecast to approximately $104.5 billion, including markets revenue. Core NII, excluding markets, is expected to reach about $95 billion, up from $92.6 billion in 2025. The guidance assumes two Federal Reserve rate cuts, a decline in interest on reserve balances and some deposit margin compression, offset by modest growth in consumer and wholesale deposits.
Investment banking fees and markets revenue are projected to see mid-teens percentage growth in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the prior year, potentially reaching high teens for IB fees. This outlook eased some investor worries about deal pipelines amid recent equity market volatility.
The bank maintained its full-year 2026 expense guidance at $105 billion while planning a 10% increase in technology spending to $19.8 billion. Executives highlighted investments in AI and new capabilities as drivers, despite cost pressures from inflation, hardware shortages related to AI chips and cloud infrastructure demands.
CEO Jamie Dimon struck a balanced tone in recent comments. He dismissed fears that AI would significantly harm the company, asserting JPMorgan Chase would emerge as a “winner” in the technology shift. However, he warned of potential job disruptions from automation and AI, urging preparation. Dimon also expressed heightened anxiety about the economy, drawing parallels to pre-2008 conditions in some market analyses, and reiterated plans to remain CEO for “a few years.”
The bank beat expectations in its most recent earnings. For the fourth quarter of 2025, reported in January 2026, JPMorgan posted revenue of $46.77 billion and EPS of $5.23, surpassing forecasts of $46.25 billion and $4.86, respectively. Trading desks benefited from volatile markets, contributing to strong performance across segments. Full-year profits for major U.S. banks reached record levels around $300 billion in some reports, underscoring sector strength.
J.P. Morgan Payments, a key growth engine, achieved record $5.1 billion in Q4 2025 revenue, up 9% year-over-year, driven by deposit growth and innovations like JPM Coin.
Analysts remain largely bullish. Multiple firms, including Wells Fargo, RBC Capital, Piper Sandler and Barclays, maintained buy ratings in late February. Price targets include adjustments such as Truist’s reduction to $330 from $334. Consensus estimates project moderate earnings growth of about 5.5% for 2026 and 7.6% for 2027.
Challenges persist. Reports highlighted ongoing scrutiny over past client relationships, including admissions related to accounts closed in 2021 amid a debanking lawsuit. Dimon addressed AI’s broader workforce implications, noting the need for policy responses.
Broader context includes JPMorgan’s role in market forecasts, such as raising long-term gold price targets to $4,500 per ounce while maintaining a 2026 year-end view at $3,300 in some updates. The bank also plans to exclude the UAE from certain emerging-market bond indexes by mid-2026 due to wealth threshold changes.
JPMorgan Chase declared preferred stock dividends recently and filed an $80 billion mixed securities shelf in February, supporting capital flexibility.
Investors watch for the next earnings report, expected around April 14, 2026, for the first quarter. Analysts forecast EPS around $5.37 and revenue near $48.62 billion.
Despite short-term dips, JPMorgan’s diversified operations — spanning consumer banking, commercial banking, asset management and investment banking — position it well in a dynamic environment. The bank’s scale, technology investments and consistent outperformance in recent quarters underpin analyst confidence in sustained returns.
Business
WBD employees fear job losses with Paramount merger
An American flag flies at Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank, California, on Sept. 12, 2025.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
The Warner Bros. Discovery board may have enriched its shareholders Thursday when it chose Paramount Skydance‘s acquisition offer over Netflix‘s, but it also terrified a lot of its employees.
While some of those people own WBD shares and may prefer the financials of Paramount’s $31-per-share bid to Netflix’s $27.75-per-share offer, CNBC spoke to 10 WBD employees in a variety of different roles at the company. All 10, who asked not to be named for fear of potential backlash, expressed concerns about potential job losses and questions of who would ultimately run their divisions if Paramount and WBD are eventually merged.
“It’s fair to say people are deflated by the news,” said one long-term WBD executive.
Nonetheless, a WBD-Paramount merger “is not a done deal,” as California Attorney General Rob Bonta said yesterday.
The transaction must gain regulatory approval both in the U.S. and in Europe. WBD CEO David Zaslav acknowledged at an all-hands meeting Friday that the deal may still be blocked and expressed sympathy for those experiencing a sense of whiplash going from Netflix to Paramount, according to people familiar with the matter.
“The deal may not close. If it doesn’t close, we get $7 billion, and we get back to work,” Zaslav said, according to leaked audio provided to Business Insider.

Still, several WBD employees told CNBC they wished Netflix had acquired WBD, citing several factors.
While Paramount and WBD both have core competencies in news, sports, theatrical film and streaming TV, Netflix has far less overlap. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos repeatedly said he planned to leave the WBD business alone, keeping its theatrical business separate from Netflix while also keeping HBO Max as a separate, independent streaming service for the foreseeable future.
Netflix also wasn’t acquiring WBD’s linear cable business with its bid. Employees at CNN, TNT Sports and the old Discovery networks would have remained in their jobs to forge a path as a standalone publicly traded company.
Now, WBD employees are staring at potentially massive job cuts. Paramount executives have previously stated they plan to cut $6 billion by eliminating “duplicative operations” on “back office, finance, corporate, legal, technology, infrastructure, et cetera,” according to Chief Strategy Officer Andy Gordon. Both WBD and Paramount have already gone through thousands of job cuts in recent years.
There are also questions about culture and leadership. While Mark Thompson currently runs CNN, Bari Weiss is the editor-in-chief at CBS News and could plausibly have CNN added to her purview.
The Wall Street Journal reported in December that Paramount CEO David Ellison promised President Donald Trump he’d make sweeping changes at CNN if he gained control of the network. Three CNN employees who spoke with CNBC said there’s rampant fear among their colleagues about Weiss making dramatic changes to the cable network’s anchors and tone.
“Despite all the speculation you’ve read during this process, I’d suggest that you don’t jump to conclusions about the future until we know more,” Thompson wrote in a memo to employees Thursday.
CNN media reporter Brian Stelter noted CNN “is a highly profitable business, and it would be foolish for any owner to put that at risk.”
On the entertainment side, WBD employees fear there may be too many proverbial cooks in the kitchen, which could bog down creativity and innovation for both film and TV.
One WBD executive noted that Paramount’s President Jeff Shell, Chair of Direct to Consumer Cindy Holland and Chair of TV George Cheeks are all used to being senior leaders in their organizations. Shell was CEO of NBCUniversal. Cheeks was co-CEO of Paramount before it merged with Skydance. Holland was a top executive at Netflix, where she worked for 18 years.
How that mix meshes with WBD’s entertainment leadership group is an open question and could lead to culture clashes.
TNT Sports is run by Luis Silberwasser and has largely steered WBD toward younger audiences with its programming decisions and investments, including Bleacher Report and House of Highlights. CBS Sports, meanwhile, is driven by the demographics of those who watch CBS and has historically catered to an older audience. This could lead to culture clash, or the divisions could mesh nicely as complementary assets.
While Silberwasser will have to work with CBS Sports President David Berson on employee duplications, like every other department, there’s some reason for optimism in the sports division, because WBD and CBS have worked together for many years producing March Madness, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. That’s given the units some degree of familiarity with each other.
WBD also lost NBA rights last season. Combining with CBS’ robust portfolio of sports rights, including the NFL and the Masters, makes WBD a major player again in sports, even if it’s as a subsidiary of CBS.
One other repeated concern among employees is the $64 billion in debt coming as part of the $111 billion enterprise value for the deal. Several employees said servicing large debt loads has hindered WBD in recent years, and they feared this could lead to more of the same. Two employees noted there’s comfort being a part of a giant company like Netflix, with a market capitalization of more than $400 billion. Paramount Skydance’s market valuation is just $15 billion.
Business
Victory Capital Discloses Competing Bid to Buy Janus Henderson
Victory Capital Discloses Competing Bid to Buy Janus Henderson
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Arcus Biosciences, Inc. 2025 Q4 – Results – Earnings Call Presentation (NYSE:RCUS) 2026-02-27
Q4: 2026-02-25 Earnings Summary
EPS of -$0.89 beats by $0.18
| Revenue of $33.00M (-8.33% Y/Y) beats by $8.06M
Seeking Alpha’s transcripts team is responsible for the development of all of our transcript-related projects. We currently publish thousands of quarterly earnings calls per quarter on our site and are continuing to grow and expand our coverage. The purpose of this profile is to allow us to share with our readers new transcript-related developments. Thanks, SA Transcripts Team
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Feld, Becton Dickinson’s EVP, sells $13,638 in stock

Feld, Becton Dickinson’s EVP, sells $13,638 in stock
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Charles Schwab MD Howard sells $2.65 million in shares

Charles Schwab MD Howard sells $2.65 million in shares
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DTE Energy posts DTE Gas 2025 financial statements to website

DTE Energy posts DTE Gas 2025 financial statements to website
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