Here's a quick overview of today's main events:

  • Apple has increased the prices of MacBooks and iPads, causing its stock to fall by 6 percent.

  • Merck KGaA is acquiring the American company Bio-Techne for $11.3 billion.

  • Volkswagen is selling a majority stake in Everllence to Bain Capital.

  • Blue Owl Capital is in talks to acquire a stake in the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball club.

  • OpenAI is considering delaying its IPO until 2027.

  • SoftBank fell by 13 percent after news about OpenAI.

  • Asian stocks fell to a two-week low due to a sell-off in tech stocks.

Foreign Investments

The most significant transaction of the day is the acquisition of the American biotechnology company Bio-Techne by the German group Merck KGaA. The Darmstadt-based company will pay $73 per share in cash, which corresponds to a total enterprise value of approximately $11.3 billion and a premium of about 24 percent over Wednesday's closing price, according to announcements from both companies. This is the largest acquisition by Merck KGaA in more than a decade and is intended to strengthen its life sciences division, which focuses on research tools and cell therapies, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2026 or early 2027.

The German industry is having a busy week, including the automaker Volkswagen, which has agreed to sell a 51 percent stake in its engine division, Everllence, to the investment company Bain Capital. The transaction, in which Bain Capital beat out competitors CVC and EQT, will bring Volkswagen a return of around €7.4 billion, or approximately $8.4 billion, according to Bloomberg. Volkswagen is continuing to streamline its portfolio amid declining sales in China, and it intends to retain the remaining 49 percent of the company, which also benefits from demand for energy for data centers, in the medium term.

The investment fund Blue Owl Capital is entering the sports business, and according to Bloomberg sources, it is in talks to acquire a minority stake in the basketball club Cleveland Cavaliers through the Dyal HomeCourt Partners fund. The stake is expected to be between five and ten percent, and Sportico values the franchise at $4.86 billion. Blue Owl previously owned stakes in the Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings, and Minnesota Timberwolves teams.

Apple has shocked the technology sector by announcing price increases for MacBooks, iPads, and other products, such as HomePod, Apple TV, and Vision Pro glasses. According to a statement from the company, quoted by CNBC, the reason is an unprecedented increase in demand for memory chips due to the construction of data centers for artificial intelligence; however, the company has not yet changed the prices of iPhones. Apple's shares on the New York Stock Exchange fell by approximately 6 percent in response, which is the largest decline since April 2025.

Significant Events with Global Impact

Bloomberg, citing The New York Times, reported that OpenAI is considering delaying its IPO until 2027 due to nervousness in the technology stock market after a series of sharp fluctuations, including a decline in prices following the recent IPO of SpaceX. According to sources, CEO Sam Altman insists on a valuation of the company at $1 trillion.

The message clearly impacted Japanese group SoftBank, whose shares fell by as much as 13 percent in response, as investors worried about the return on its approximately $65 billion stake in OpenAI. The combination of Apple's decline and news about OpenAI pushed Asian markets to a two-week low on Friday morning; the Korean Kospi index, heavily dragged down by severely affected chip manufacturers, plummeted by as much as 8 percent and trading was suspended for twenty minutes, while futures on the US Nasdaq 100 index meanwhile fell by 1.6 percent.

gnews.cz - GH

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