The U.S. Department of Justice has secured a $400 million settlement from TikTok and parent company ByteDance in a case related to children’s privacy legislation, the DOJ announced on Friday.

“This settlement is a major victory for American children and parents,” Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said in a statement. “The Department’s priority is ensuring that children are protected online and that companies entrusted with their personal information meet their legal obligations. This resolution secures a substantial recovery while reinforcing the protections that families expect and deserve.”

The lawsuit, related to compliance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, was filed by the Biden administration’s DOJ in 2024.

UK TO BAN TIKTOK, YOUTUBE, OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA APPS FOR CHILDREN UNDER 16, STARMER SAYS

The U.S. Department of Justice has secured a $400 million settlement from TiKTok and parent company ByteDance in a case related to children’s privacy legislation, the DOJ announced on Friday. (Anthony Kwan/Getty Images / Getty Images)

The Justice Department said the settlement is one of the largest ever reached in a case involving the privacy act.

Under the terms of the settlement, TikTok and ByteDance will pay $300 million immediately and then $100 million “upon entry of an order vacating a prior consent decree entered against TikTok’s predecessor, Musical.ly.”

FEDERAL EMPLOYEES CAN DOWNLOAD TIKTOK ON GOVERNMENT DEVICES AFTER BYTEDANCE’S DIVESTITURE, DOJ SAYS

The Justice Department said that since the lawsuit was first filed, “TikTok has undergone significant changes to its ownership, management, compliance functions, and privacy practices.”

The Justice Department said that since the lawsuit was first filed, “TikTok has undergone significant changes to its ownership, management, compliance functions, and privacy practices.” (J. David Ake/Getty Images / Getty Images)

“The company has implemented extensive measures designed to strengthen safeguards for younger users, improve age-related controls, and enhance parental oversight,” the DOJ added, saying that those developments have “strengthened protections for millions of American families.”

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The DOJ said the settlement shows their commitment to protecting the public while also acknowledging the progress TikTok has made.

The TikTok app logo is shown on an iPhone on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025, in Houston.  (AP Photo/Ashley Landis / AP Newsroom)

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“The most important result is that children and parents are better protected today than they were when this case began,” Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said in a statement. “This settlement reflects substantial progress, secures a significant monetary recovery, and brings this matter to a successful conclusion.”

TikTok did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment.

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Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

Shares of Intel Corp. fell 1.70%, or $1.56, to $90.57 as of 10:24 a.m. EDT Friday, continuing a choppy stretch for the chipmaker’s stock as investors weigh a recent, dramatically upsized share offering against continued strong demand for the company’s AI-focused server chips and evidence of intensifying competitive pressure across the semiconductor sector.

Friday’s decline extends a volatile week for Intel following the company’s decision earlier this month to significantly expand a planned equity raise. According to CNBC, Intel locked in pricing on a $20 billion stock sale, offloading more than 210 million shares at $95 apiece, after boosting the deal from its initial $15 billion target amid what the company described as accelerating AI-related demand. The offering, which closed Aug. 12, included a 30-day option allowing underwriters to purchase an additional $2.25 billion in common stock, and was expected to raise net proceeds of roughly $19.7 billion after deducting underwriting discounts, commissions and other offering expenses.

Intel’s stock has staged one of the most dramatic turnarounds of any major technology company in 2026. According to Barchart, shares surged 373.85% over the trailing 12 months as of earlier this month, recently trading between $97.52 and $99 before beginning to pull back, rebounding toward the psychologically significant $100 level following an earlier volatile stretch that had seen the stock briefly dip to $81.79 in July. By comparison, the S&P 500 Information Technology Sector Index gained 21.67% year to date over the same period, according to Barchart, underscoring the extent to which Intel has dramatically outpaced its own broader sector amid what analysts have described as extraordinary investor enthusiasm surrounding the company’s turnaround narrative, government backing and resurgent AI-driven chip demand.

Intel’s most recent quarterly results provided substantial fuel for that rally. According to Barchart, the company’s second-quarter report, posted July 23, showed revenue of $16.1 billion, up 25% year over year and marking Intel’s strongest quarterly growth rate in more than 15 years, comfortably topping the $14.42 billion analyst consensus estimate. Non-GAAP earnings per share came in at 42 cents, roughly double Wall Street’s expectation of approximately 21 cents. On a GAAP basis, however, Intel posted a net loss of $2.16 per share, driven largely by a $12.5 billion mark-to-market charge tied to escrowed shares connected to the company’s CHIPS Act agreement with the U.S. government, reflecting the complex accounting involved in Intel’s federal manufacturing partnership.

Growth within Intel’s business was led by its Data Center and AI segment, where revenue jumped 59% year over year to $6.3 billion on surging demand for AI-optimized server chips, according to Barchart. The company’s Client Computing Group, its largest business unit, grew 13% to $8.9 billion during the quarter despite looming memory-supply constraints affecting the broader industry. Intel Chief Financial Officer Dave Zinsner credited the quarter’s outperformance in part to improving manufacturing efficiency, noting that yields on the company’s advanced 18A manufacturing node climbed from roughly 65% to 85%, a milestone Intel has pointed to as evidence its long-troubled foundry business is beginning to gain meaningful operational traction.

The U.S. government’s continued involvement in Intel’s turnaround has also factored significantly into investor sentiment surrounding the stock. According to CNBC, Intel’s share price gains over the past year have been supported in part by the U.S. government’s 10% equity stake in the company, a stake aimed at bolstering domestic semiconductor manufacturing capacity amid broader national security and supply-chain concerns tied to the global chip industry.

Insider buying activity has further reinforced the narrative of growing confidence in Intel’s turnaround. According to StockAnalysis, Intel Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan purchased approximately $9.99 million worth of Intel shares as part of the company’s recently upsized stock offering, a disclosure made through an SEC filing dated Aug. 14. Bank of America characterized Intel’s capital raise as suggesting increasing conviction in the eventual success of the company’s foundry business, according to CNN’s tracking of analyst commentary on the stock, even as UBS separately lowered its price target on Intel shares to $112 from $121 around the same period.

Despite the broadly positive longer-term narrative, Intel’s stock has faced several distinct headwinds in recent trading sessions tied to competitive pressures within the semiconductor industry. According to CNN, Intel shares plummeted 7% on Aug. 18 following reports that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips were undergoing testing in a context that raised competitive concerns for Intel’s client computing business. The stock faced additional pressure the following day amid what CNN described as intensifying AI chip competition more broadly, alongside separate reporting noting Intel shares slipping despite an ongoing industrywide shortage of AI chips, a dynamic that has created a complicated picture in which strong underlying demand has not always translated into consistent stock performance.

TimothySykes.com characterized Intel’s recent trading pattern as a real-time lesson in how supply, sentiment and corporate strategy can collide within a single stock. The firm noted that Intel’s roughly $20 billion equity raise, layered on top of the company’s already substantial capital needs, effectively increases the total number of shares in the market while diluting existing shareholders’ proportional ownership, a dynamic that has acted as something of a ceiling on the stock’s ability to build sustained momentum above recent highs near $105.

Intel’s broader financial recovery remains a work in progress even amid the stock’s dramatic rally. According to StockAnalysis, Intel’s full-year 2025 revenue totaled $52.85 billion, a slight decline of 0.47% compared with $53.10 billion the prior year, while the company’s net losses narrowed dramatically to $267 million, a 98.58% improvement from 2024. Among the 48 analysts currently covering the stock, the average rating remains a Hold, with a 12-month price target of $114.88, implying roughly 24.69% upside from recent trading levels, according to StockAnalysis.

Intel has also signaled ambitions to expand its footprint beyond its traditional logic chip business. According to StockAnalysis, Tan indicated this week that Intel may consider returning to the memory chip market, a move that would potentially position the company as a new competitor to established memory leaders Micron Technology and SK Hynix, though any such expansion would likely require significant additional capital investment on top of the company’s already substantial spending commitments tied to its foundry and AI infrastructure ambitions.

With Intel’s next earnings report not expected until Oct. 21, according to CNBC, investors are likely to continue closely monitoring how the company balances its aggressive capital-raising strategy, continued foundry yield improvements, and evolving competitive positioning within both the AI data center and client computing markets over the coming weeks, as the stock works to consolidate its extraordinary gains from earlier this year against the near-term dilution and competitive pressures currently weighing on its trading.

It has acquired Crugan Holidays Park taking its portfolio to five parks in North Wales

Family-run Pario Holiday Park has expanded its portfolio in North Wales via acquisition.

It has acquired Crugan Holiday Park in a deal that strengthens its presence on the Llŷn Peninsula. The value of the acquisition has not been disclosed, but takes the firm’s portfolio to five holiday parks.

Located in Llanbedrog, Crugan Holiday Park provides around 100 privately owned holiday homes.

Rio Williams, group director of Pario Holiday Parks said: “We’ve admired Crugan for a long time. It’s a beautiful park in one of the most sought-after parts of North Wales, so the opportunity to welcome it into the Pario family was one we were incredibly excited about.

“What attracted us was the opportunity to build on what makes Crugan special. Owners already love the park for its peaceful setting, fantastic location and strong sense of community, and our role is to invest thoughtfully, look after it for the long term and make sure people continue creating memories there for many years to come.”

Samantha Williams, group director at Pario Holiday Parks, added: “As a family-run business, we’re passionate about creating places people are proud to be part of. Although we’re continuing to grow, that personal approach will never change. We’re looking forward to building on Crugan’s fantastic reputation while respecting everything that has made it such a well-loved park.”

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is expanding his economic pressure campaign against Iran, betting that intensified sanctions and financial restrictions can succeed where military strikes and diplomacy have so far failed to force Tehran to accept U.S. demands, as the conflict between the two countries enters its seventh month.

Trump announced what he described as the “most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country” against Iran, according to CNBC, warning that any nation providing financial or commercial assistance to Tehran would face severe consequences. Speaking during a meeting with cryptocurrency executives at the White House on Aug. 19, Trump characterized the planned campaign as an “Economic D-Day” for Iran, extending a pressure effort the administration has waged since April under the internal designation Operation Economic Fury.

The shift toward economic pressure comes as other avenues for ending the conflict have stalled. According to NPR, U.S. stockpiles of key munitions have dwindled and stop-start diplomatic talks between Washington and Tehran have once again broken down, prompting Trump to return to what the outlet described as a familiar playbook of financial sanctions rather than continued military escalation. Trump has previously said he began the war with Iran only after 50 years of economic pressure had failed to halt the country’s nuclear ambitions, but he is now betting that a renewed financial squeeze can bring the conflict to a close.

According to Bloomberg, the administration’s approach centers on a steady increase in economic sanctions combined with a naval blockade aimed at stifling Iran’s oil exports, reflecting a broader recognition within the administration that the military campaign against Iran has so far failed to force the regime to capitulate. Options reportedly under consideration include targeting Chinese banks involved in Iranian oil transactions, expanding secondary sanctions on countries or entities doing business with Tehran, and potentially confiscating Iranian assets held under U.S. jurisdiction, according to reporting from News Talk WBAP.

CNN reported that the U.S. imposed new sanctions on Hezbollah as part of the broader pressure campaign, even as the outlet cautioned that unless the administration develops new methods to quickly cut off Tehran’s revenue streams, it will likely once again confront a regime well-practiced in evading sanctions. According to CNN, Iran has spent decades building a complex network of front companies, largely tied to China, to procure essential goods for its 92 million citizens, while also developing methods to continue exporting oil using fleets of sanctioned “dark” tankers that disable their tracking systems to transfer cargo to other vessels before ultimately delivering it to Beijing, Iran’s principal oil customer.

Iran’s response to the escalating economic threats has been defiant. The Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned Trump’s threat as “unlawful,” according to CNN, warning in a statement that those who order or implement the sanctions “are liable to prosecution and punishment.” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps separately warned it could deploy more “destructive” weapons should the broader conflict resume in earnest, according to Iranian state media cited by CNN.

Some Iranian officials have responded to the intensified pressure by calling for even more dramatic countermeasures. Iranian member of parliament Ebrahim Rezaei suggested Iran should consider withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in response to Trump’s economic escalation. “The best response to Trump’s escalation of the economic war is to withdraw from the NPT,” Rezaei said, according to Time. Iran signed the treaty in 1968 and ratified it in 1970, committing as a non-nuclear-weapon state not to manufacture or acquire nuclear weapons, a commitment that would be directly called into question should the country follow through on withdrawing from the agreement.

The escalating economic pressure has already produced tangible ripple effects across the region. Time reported that the United Arab Emirates, a major regional trading hub for Iran, announced it would suspend trade with Tehran following reported missile strikes, a decision that came just one day before Trump’s latest threat of a “crushing” economic campaign.

Vice President JD Vance has emphasized that economic pressure represents the administration’s most viable current strategy for ending the conflict, according to CNN, even as officials have simultaneously stressed the importance of keeping oil and gas prices affordable for American consumers, a balancing act that has grown more difficult as prices have climbed amid continued disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump has consistently maintained that he is not operating under any specific timeline for resolving the conflict, despite the mounting economic and political costs associated with its continuation. “I have no time schedule. I’m not in a hurry,” Trump said, according to World Israel News, a stance he has repeated even as U.S. borrowing costs have climbed to their highest levels in nearly two decades and oil prices have risen amid the ongoing disruption.

The political costs of the prolonged conflict appear to be mounting domestically as Trump approaches the 2026 midterm elections. According to News Talk WBAP, a Reuters/Ipsos survey found Trump’s approval rating at 33%, the lowest level of his presidency, with roughly 80% of respondents saying they expected U.S. involvement in the conflict with Iran to continue for an extended period.

The Trump administration’s underlying strategic bet is that Iran’s worsening economy and domestic unrest will eventually force Tehran back to the negotiating table on terms more favorable to Washington. Iran, according to News Talk WBAP, appears to be making the opposite calculation, betting instead that the United States will ultimately face greater political and economic costs from a prolonged conflict than Iran itself will, particularly given the toll an unpopular and costly war has taken on both U.S. public opinion and military resources.

This latest pressure campaign builds on a broader pattern established earlier in Trump’s second term. The administration had already reinstated its “maximum pressure” policy on Iran in February 2025, according to Radio Farda, directing the Treasury Department to impose maximum economic pressure through sanctions and enforcement mechanisms targeting individuals and entities violating existing sanctions, with an explicit goal of driving Iran’s oil exports to zero. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reinforced that objective in subsequent remarks, telling the Economic Club of New York that the administration intended to shut down Iran’s oil industry entirely and cut off Tehran’s access to the international financial system.

As the conflict continues without a clear resolution in sight, both sides appear increasingly committed to a war of economic attrition, with Washington wagering that sustained financial pressure will eventually break Tehran’s resistance, and Iran betting that its historical resilience to sanctions, built over decades of prior U.S. and international pressure campaigns, will allow it to outlast the current effort regardless of the mounting toll on its own economy and population.

Luigi Lovaglio
CEO, GM & Director

Good morning. Thank you for joining us. Today, we are presenting not only two transactions, we are presenting a vision. Over the last years, Monte Paschi has completed one of the most remarkable transformations in European banking. We restored profitability, we rebuilt capital strength, we regained strategic freedom. Through Mediobanca, we added capabilities in corporate and investment banking, wealth management, consumer finance, and advisory.

The question before us is, therefore, not how to become larger. The question is how to become more relevant. And today, we have the opportunity to take the next strategic step. That’s why we are here to present two voluntary public exchange offers for Banco BPM and Banca Generali. They are legally separate transactions, but they form one coherent industrial project: the creation of an elevated national champion across banking, advisory, and wealth management.

The project will bring to a strong and comprehensive Italian financial platform, bringing together a unique combination of complementary strengths: commercial banking, corporate investment banking, wealth management, and also insurance capabilities.

All of them integrated within a single industrial platform. The uniqueness of this transaction does not stem from scale alone; it stems from bringing together capabilities that today coexist within few institutions in Italy.

The

The “One Bite” pizza reviewer and Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy threw his support behind Yum! Brands’ campaign to temporarily rebrand Pizza Hut, praising the pizza chain’s strategic marketing move as “brilliant” while pitching company executives on directing advertising dollars toward Barstool Sports during football season.

“At first, I didn’t really get it. But I’ll say this, Stuart. We do business with Pizza Hut. And we want them to spend lots of money with Barstool. So I think it’s a brilliant move. Whoever came up with that, I like it,” Portnoy said on “Varney & Co.” Friday.

“They’re thinking smart. It’s football season. There it is, the football with the ‘Hut.’ And you know, they’re gonna spread this message. They gotta find some new media vehicles that cover football,” he continued, “and maybe do a little bit of an ad spend to let people know what’s going on so they don’t get confused.”

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FOX Business host Stuart Varney replied: “And Barstool Sports is ideally situated to pick up a little pizza business, right?”

David Portnoy of Barstool Sports on May 11, 2019, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. (Getty Images)

“You don’t say!” Portnoy responded.

On Wednesday, the chain announced that it will go by “Hut” for the next 25 weeks, coinciding with the 2026 NFL season.

“You can just call us HUT for the next 25 weeks,” Pizza Hut wrote in a social media post announcing the temporary rebrand.

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The company showed off the change at a restaurant in Plano, Texas, where a banner featuring a football covered the word “Pizza” on the restaurant’s exterior sign. Pizza Hut, which is headquartered in Plano, also changed its social media profile images to a logo without the word “Pizza.”

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FOX Business’ Brittany Miller contributed to this report.