Geopolitics, market stress, and the race for AI dominance are colliding across the global economy. Iran’s newly installed Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei  has vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz blocked as leverage against  the U.S. and Israel , sending  oil markets on edge . In the U.S., Costco Wholesale  is facing a consumer lawsuit over whether tariff refunds  tied to  former President Donald Trump should be passed back to shoppers. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley has restricted

Mergers & Acquisitions News (M&A)   Asset manager Janus Henderson rejected Victory Capital 's $8.6B unsolicited bid and reaffirmed support for Trian and General Catalyst 's $7.4B offer    Wall Street Journal      Hospitality billionaire Tilman Fertitta is in exclusive talks to buy casino and hotel operator Caesars Entertainment for $7B after topping a competing bid from Icahn Enterprises  Reuters     Uniform supplier Cintas agreed to acquire rival UniFirst in a $5.5B cash-and

Venture Capital (VC) News   Mind Robotics , an AI-powered industrial robotics startup spun out of Rivian , raised a  $500M  Series A at a $2B  valuation led by Accel  and  a16z   TechCrunch   Quince , a manufacturer-to-consumer retail platform, raised a $500M  Series E led by ICONIQ   TechCrunch   Vibe coding startup Replit , a, raised a $400M  Series D at a $9B valuation led by Georgian Partners   Forbes   Indian household-help app Snabbit  is in talks for fresh funding at a

The world just moved from shock to action the International Energy Agency  agreed a historic 400 million-barrel  release to blunt Iran-war  supply snarls, but analysts warn logistics and transit delays mean relief won’t arrive overnight. At the same time, Revolut finally grabbed a full UK banking licence , unlocking deposit protection, lending and a much bigger product play a fintech going full-bank  for scale. Back in the boardroom, Amazon  is scrambling in an all-hands engi

Mergers & Acquisitions News (M&A)   MidOcean Buys Stake in Australian LNG Projects From Japan’s Jera Bloomberg   Google Completes Landmark $32 Billion Acquisition of Cloud Security Leader Wiz   Reuters   Allianz and Sun Life Weigh Bids for HSBC Life Singapore in Deal Valued Over $1 Billion   Bloomberg   Sembcorp Industries Seeking AUD 3 Billion Loan to Back Purchase of Alinta Energy   Bloomberg   MidOcean Energy to Acquire Additional Interest in Gorgon LNG Project from JERA  

Venture Capital (VC) News   Swarm Aero  raised a $35M Series A  led by Two Sigma Ventures  and Silent Ventures   VC Daily   Standard Kernel  raised a $20M seed round led by Jump Capital   VC Daily   Freestyle raised a $10M Series A led by  Silas Capital   VC Daily   Emboline raised a  $20M growth capital led by Trinity Capital   VC Daily   Hurray’s GIRL BEER  raised a $5M funding round led by Lakehouse Ventures   VC Daily   Option Circle  raised a $3M funding round led by Sav

Mergers & Acquisitions News (M&A)   PE firm Advent is exploring a $4B sale of naval defense business Ultra Maritime   SeekingAlpha   Apollo 's sports investment arm Apollo Sports Capital  is set to complete its 55% ​acquisition of Spanish soccer club Atletico ⁠Madrid  at a $2.9B valuation    Reuters   Monomoy Capital Partners agreed to acquire car service chain Jiffy Lube and subsidiary Premium Velocity Auto from Shell in a $1.3B deal  Reuters   OpenAI agreed to acquire AI se

Venture Capital (VC) News   UK AI infrastructure startup Nscale raised a  $2B  Series C at a  $14.6B valuation led by Aker  and 8090 Industries CNBC   Stablecoin neobank KAST  raised an $80M  Series A co-led by QED Investors and  Left Lane Capital   Bloomberg   Isembard , a UK software-first manufacturing network, raised a  $50M  Series A led by Union Square Ventures   Tech.eu   Dify , an enterprise-grade agentic workflow platform, raised a $30M Series Pre-A round at a $180M

The media, finance, and AI worlds are being reshaped by digital disruption and regulatory battles. YouTube  has overtaken The Walt Disney Company  in annual revenue, marking a historic shift as creator-driven platforms eclipse traditional Hollywood studios. On Wall Street, billionaire investor Bill Ackman  is moving to list Pershing Square Capital Management on the New York Stock Exchange in a bid to build a Buffett-style public investment vehicle . Meanwhile, Nasdaq  is part

Venture Capital (VC) News   Prediction market rivals Polymarket and Kalshi are in talks to raise new funding at  $20B valuations  Wall Street Journal   ModRetro , Palmer Luckey's retro game console startup, is seeking to raise funding at a  $1B  valuation  TechCrunch   Food-production tech startup TARGAN raised a $100M  growth round from Symbiotic Capital   AFN   AI-native cybersecurity startup Cylake raised  a  $45M  seed round led by Greylock Partners   VentureBurn   City D

Mergers & Acquisitions News (M&A)   Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio , son of the founder of $114B-listed eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica ,   is nearing a deal to buy out two of his siblings' stakes in Delfin , the holding company of EssilorLuxottica, to take his stake to 37.5%  Reuters   PE firm New Mountain Capital scrapped a $32B deal with ex-president Matt Holt  to sell five companies Datavant , Swoop , Machinify , Smarter Technologies , and Office Ally  to Matt Holt's tech roll

Markets swung sharply as geopolitics, trade momentum, and corporate deals reshaped the global outlook. Oil prices tumbled  after U.S. President Donald Trump  suggested the Israel-Iran conflict could end soon , reversing a spike that had pushed crude above $100 a barrel. Meanwhile, China’s export machine roared into 2026  with growth far exceeding forecasts, powered by booming electronics and semiconductor shipments. In the U.S., Live Nation Entertainment reached a settlement

Venture Capital (VC) News   Greater Good Health  Scores $20.5 Million Series B  was led by Allumia Ventures   VC Daily   Monalee  Rebrands as Artemis  and Raises $6 Million was co led by Long Journey Ventures and Copec WIND Ventures   VC Daily   DiligenceSquared  Raises  $5M Seed was led by RELENTLESS  and Y Combinator VC Daily   Fieldguide Snares $75M Series C was led by Growth Equity  at Goldman Sachs Alternatives   VC Daily   Voomi Supply Secures $10M Series A  was led by

Mergers & Acquisitions News (M&A)   Blackstone Is Said to Work With Citi on Revived Sale of ShyaHsin Packaging Bloomberg   PAG Is Said to Explore Sale of Chicken Meat Producer Fengxiang Bloomberg   Blue Owl Leads $750 Million Debt Deal for Vista Nexthink Buyout Bloomberg   Oak Hill Capital to acquire Guild Garage Group in $800 million-plus deal Reuters   Byron Allen, Aiming to Sell Shows to Starz, Buys Mnuchin’s Stake Bloomberg   Servier to buy Day One Biopharma for $2.5 bill

U.S. Customs and Border Protection  says it can’t yet process a judge’s order to refund $166 billion  in Trump-era tariffs  blaming systems, staffing and tech limits and leaving importers stuck in limbo after J udge Richard Eaton’s ruling . Meanwhile, Robinhood’s  new RVI vehicle  cratered about 11%  on debut as retail appetite for packaged private-market exposure met a cold market ; the fund holds names like Revolut  and Databricks . And in Asia , the sell-off turned vicious

Mergers & Acquisitions News (M&A)   Yellow Stripes Capital Acquires Majority Stake in NoblQ to Power Global AI-Led Expansion   PR Newswire   2PointZero Group Completes Majority Acquisition in Italy-Based ISEM Packaging Group   Business Wire   CBL Completes Acquisition of Gateway Mall in Nebraska for $43.5 Million   Business Wire   Ushio Inc. Completes Acquisition of OSRAM Entertainment and Industry Business   Business Wire      AFM Capital Acquires Majority Ownership Interest

Venture Capital (VC) News   Science Corp raised a  $230M Series C  led by  Lightspeed Venture Partners   VC Daily   Vast  raised a $300M Series A  led by  Balerion Space Ventures   VC Daily   Nominal Inc.  raised an $80M Series B-2  led by Founders Fund   VC Daily   Sage  raised a $65M Series C  led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives   VC Daily   Wujie  Power raised a  $116M angel financing round led  by CICC-Porsche Fund   Pandaily   Brainomix  raised a £4.8M Series C extension l

The oil shock  just shoved markets into the danger zone  with the Dow Jones Industrial  Average sliding more than 780 points  as crude topped $80 a barrel , turning a geopolitical flare-up into a real market event. Still, retail traders  aren’t spooked they kept buying through the chaos, a trend the Wall Street Journal says looks eerily familiar and stubborn. Meanwhile, one IPO  could swallow the year: SpaceX  is set to raise more in its offering than last year’s 90 IPOs comb

Venture Capital (VC) News   Crossover   Markets  raised a $31M Series B  led by Tradeweb   VC Daily   Reclaim Security  raised a $20M Series A  led by Acrew Capital   VC Daily   Eight Sleep  raised a $50M strategic investment  led by Tether Ventures   AlleyWatch   MeltPlan  raised a $10M Seed round  led by Bessemer Venture Partners   The SaaS News   Mezcla  raised a $9.5M Series B  led by  Bluestein Ventures   Green Queen   Artemis  raised a  $6M financing round  led by Long

Mergers & Acquisitions News (M&A)    Medline’s Buyout Firm Backers Raise $3.1 Billion in Share Sale Bloomberg   Baker Hughes Seeks to Sell $10 Billion in Cross-Border Bond Sale Bloomberg   Agnelli Family’s Media Company to Sell La Stampa Daily to SAE Bloomberg   RB Global to Acquire BigIron, Accelerating Strategic Expansion into U.S. Agriculture Business wire   TITAN Group Completes the Acquisition of Traçim Cement in the Greater Istanbul Market Business wire   GSK Agrees to