🌏 Apple’s buyback boost

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Here’s what you need to know

Apple offered its largest share buyback ever. The $110 billion initiative was announced with its second-quarter earnings yesterday, which showed slowing revenue and a drop in iPhone sales.

Paramount Global got a $26 billion takeover bid. Sony Pictures and Apollo Global Management put up the all-cash offer just ahead of a merger deadline between Paramount and Skydance.

Google’s landmark antitrust trial is coming to an end. The tech giant and the Department of Justice are now presenting their closing arguments in the case, with a decision possible by late summer. It was also revealed that Google paid Apple $20 billion to be Safari’s default search engine.

Cocoa prices are melting back down to Earth… sort of. Futures for the commodity are trading at just under $8,000 a metric ton — still nearly double where it started the year, but considerably lower than the $11,461 mark it reached in April.

It’s a stressful time for regional banks

The U.S. had its first bank failure of 2024 — a reality that came true just less than two months after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned as much would happen.

“There will be bank failures,” he told the Senate Banking Committee in early March. Then Philadelphia-based Republic First Bank shuttered last week.

While Republic First Bank was no JPMorgan (it had approximately $6 billion in total assets while Jamie Dimon’s bank has closer to $4 trillion), it’s just one glimpse into how higher-for-longer interest rates are continuing to ripple through the already-downbeat banking sector. Quartz’s Rocio Fabbro looked at what Republic First’s end could signal for other regional banks.

One big number: $60 billion

Price of ExxonMobil’s proposed acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources, which just got a greenlight from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission

The deal would be the biggest of the year by far (for reference, Capital One’s $35 billion bid for Discover is just about half of that), and it’s all but confirmed after the FTC’s blessing. But the agency had some stipulations — with one being an alleged conspiracy.

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Surprising discoveries

The Sun got a close-up and it’s really terrifying. One image shows a fiery eruption that looks small on camera but is actually as big as Earth.

An AI-generated image shows what the Baltimore bridge collapse looked like in insane detail. You can now watch the moment of impact from every angle.

Robotaxis can’t get traffic tickets in California because they don’t have a driver. That may soon change.

This year’s biggest IPO has nothing to do with tech. It does, however, have everything to do with having a good time.

Joe Biden asked ChatGPT to write a Bruce Springsteen-style song the first time he used it. The U.S. president also asked the AI chatbot to explain a lawsuit to him like a first grader.

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