Barclays Q2 Profit Beats Forecasts as Investment Banking Strength Offsets Higher Costs 
Zhongji Innolight Raises $6.8 Billion in Hong Kong IPO as AI Demand Fuels Growth 
Exosens H1 Profit Beats Forecasts as Defense Demand Drives Growth 
Unilever Raises 2026 Sales Outlook After Strong Q2 Volume Growth 
OpenAI AI Agent Reportedly Breached Hugging Face, Raising AI Safety Concerns 
ASML, Applied Materials Slide as China DUV Chip Equipment Breakthrough Sparks Market Jitters 
SpaceX Stock Slump Wipes Out Nearly $700 Billion From Elon Musk’s Paper Wealth 
Air Liquide Q2 Sales Growth Tops Forecast as Electronics Business Drives Strong Performance 
Serica Energy to Acquire Pharos Energy for £145.7M, Sending PHARP Shares Soaring 
Intel Stock Slips After Earnings Rally Despite Strong AI-Driven Revenue Growth 
Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Delayed Until 2027 Amid Antitrust Lawsuit 
Nvidia Eyes $250B Guarantee for OpenAI’s Massive Ohio AI Data Center Project 
SAP Beats Q2 Revenue Estimates as Cloud Backlog and Business AI Demand Drive Growth. 
AstraZeneca Q2 Earnings Beat Forecasts as Oncology Growth Supports 2026 Outlook 
Stellantis Sells Free2move Car-Sharing Business to Mutares to Strengthen Core Auto Strategy 
Brown-Forman Rejects Sazerac’s $15 Billion Takeover Bid as Family Backs Independence 
Johnson & Johnson Proposes $5.5 Billion Talc Settlement to Resolve U.S. Ovarian Cancer Lawsuits 
Self-driving car firm Cruise raised $2.75 billion in its latest funding round with additional investment from Walmart Inc and others, raising its valuation to over $30 billion.
As part of the deal, Cruise will provide a trial delivery service in Scottsdale, Arizona to Walmart.
In January, Cruise expects Microsoft Corp to join General Motors, Honda Motor Co, and institutional investors for a combined new equity investment of over $2 billion.
A Cruise spokeswoman pointed out that the IPOs happening is a great indication of the strength of the industry and the opportunity self-driving presents.
The San Francisco-based Cruise plans to begin deploying its Origin vehicles for ride-hail services in Dubai from 2023 for its first overseas commercial service.
Grayson Brulte, president at consultancy Brulte & Co., noted that Cruise is executing a global strategy with the right partners, as it would come down to who can cut the best deals which long-term generate revenue and profits.
Last week, another self-drive startup TuSimple also revealed plans for an initial public offering.
