Wall Street Breakfast Podcast: PepsiCo Exits Kanye Fest

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PepsiCo (PEP) exits London festival sponsorship after Kanye West named headliner. (00:14) UK tries to woo Anthropic to expand in London amid US clash: report. (01:05) Soleno Therapeutics (SNO) rallies on report of $2.5B Neurocrine (NBIX) buyout talks. (02:20)

This is an abridged transcript.

PepsiCo (PEP) has withdrawn its backing from a major London music festival following backlash over the decision to feature Kanye West as the top-billed performer.

West, who now goes by Ye, was recently announced as the headline act for the Wireless Festival, set to take place in July at Finsbury Park. Organizers had promoted the event under the branding “Pepsi Max Presents Wireless,” but the beverage giant confirmed it would no longer be involved.

The artist is scheduled to perform across all three days of the festival as part of a broader effort to reestablish his career after years of controversy.

The booking has also drawn political scrutiny in the U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the decision as troubling in comments to a British tabloid, adding to pressure surrounding the event.

The U.K. is reportedly trying to charm Anthropic to ​expand its presence in the country.

It comes as a fight continues to brew between the AI startup ​and the U.S. Department of War.

The ​Financial Times reported that staff at the U.K.’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology have written proposals for Anthropic, which include an office expansion in London and a dual listing.

Anthropic and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.

Anthropic’s CEO Dario Amodei is set to visit Britain in late May as part of a trip to meet European customers and policymakers.

Anthropic currently employs about 200 people in the U.K., 60 of them researchers, and last year appointed former prime minister Rishi Sunak as a senior adviser. Last month, competitor OpenAI (OPENAI) committed to expanding in London, making the city its biggest research hub outside the U.S.

The U.S. government and Anthropic have been in a legal tussle since the Trump administration banned the use of the company’s technology after designating it as a supply chain risk.

Anthropic PBC reportedly is also weighing an IPO as soon as October.

Soleno Therapeutics (SLNO) is up 30% in premarket action.

This follows a Financial Times report that Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX) is in advanced talks to buy the biotech firm in a $2.5B-plus deal.

The deal could value Soleno in the low-to-mid $50s per share, or in excess of $2.5B.

According to the report, discussions between Neurocrine (NBIX) and Soleno (SLNO) are progressing rapidly, and a deal could come together as soon as today.

Soleno (SLNO) is focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapeutics for the treatment of rare diseases.

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Catalyst watch:

• Powell Industries (POWL) will begin trading on a split-adjusted basis following the three-for-one stock split.

• The HumanX AI Conference in San Francisco will include participation from Amazon Web Services (AMZN), Anthropic, Canva, Conviction, CoreWeave (CRWV), Databricks, DeepLearning.AI, Google (GOOGL), Khosla Ventures, Mercedes-Benz (MBGAF), Microsoft (MSFT), NVIDIA (NVDA), OpenAI (OPENAI), and Perplexity.

• UiPath (PATH) will host a live product webinar highlighting its latest agentic business orchestration capabilities, product strategy, and real-world customer outcomes.

Stock index futures are higher as traders remain focused on developments in the Middle East, including the status of the Strait of Hormuz.

President Trump has given Iran until 8 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, warning that failure to comply could trigger U.S. attacks on key infrastructure across the country.

Axios reported that the U.S., Iran, and regional mediators are negotiating a potential 45-day ceasefire that could pave the way for ending the war.

Bitcoin is up 1.2% at $69,000. Gold is up 0.2% at $4,688.

The markets in China, Hong Kong and Australia closed for a holiday. Markets in London, Germany and France are also closed for a holiday.

The biggest movers for the day premarket: Netflix (NFLX) +2% – Shares rose after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to Buy from Neutral and raised its price target to $120, citing improved risk/reward following recent underperformance.

Economic calendar: