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By Krystal Hu and Zaheer Kachwala (Reuters) -Google-parent Alphabet is in advanced negotiations to buy Israeli cybersecurity company Wiz with an offer of more than $30 billion, according to a source familiar with the matter, marking its largest potential acquisition to date. Alphabet’s latest offer is higher by roughly a third of the $23 billion deal it offered last year, which Wiz called off in July 2024 over concerns it would not clear antitrust hurdles. Wiz had said in an internal memo at the time that it would focus on an initial public offering. Neither company has publicly acknowledged a…

By Maggie Fick LONDON (Reuters) -Drugmakers are urging the Trump administration and European Union officials to exclude medical goods from expanding tariff wars, hoping to avert price spikes on top-selling medicines made in Europe from Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy for weight loss to Merck’s cancer immunotherapy Keytruda. In conversations with U.S. officials, the pharmaceutical industry argued that tariffs on the EU would increase drug costs and create access barriers for patients, endangering priorities outlined in President Donald Trump’s health-related executive orders on drug pricing and increasing life expectancy of Americans, according to more than a half dozen pharma industry sources with…

ZURICH (Reuters) – Weaknesses in the capital regime for the Swiss banking sector still need to be addressed after the 2023 collapse of Credit Suisse, the Swiss National Bank said on Tuesday, backing government efforts to make the industry more robust. Switzerland has pledged to introduce stricter banking regulations in response to the demise of Credit Suisse, which was subsequently taken over by its old rival UBS. At the centre of proposals set out by the government last year is that UBS should hold more capital to make it more robust and prevent a repeat of the Credit Suisse meltdown.…

By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) -Ben & Jerry’s said its parent, Unilever, decided to oust the ice cream maker’s chief executive, Dave Stever, escalating a battle over the subsidiary’s independence on social policy issues. In a Tuesday night filing in Manhattan federal court, Ben & Jerry’s said Unilever advised on March 3 it was removing Stever without consulting directors because of his commitment to the ice cream maker’s social mission and brand integrity, not because of concerns about his job performance. It said Unilever chastised Stever in a January performance review for “repeatedly acquiescing” to Ben & Jerry’s promotion…

(Reuters) – Indian equities may extend their recent rebound to the third straight session on Wednesday, but caution ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy decision may keep a lid on gains. The GIFT Nifty futures were trading at 22,953.00 as of 08:14 a.m. IST, indicating that the blue-chip Nifty 50 will likely open above Tuesday’s close of 22,834.30. The 50-stock index logged its best day in six weeks on Tuesday, closing near one-month highs, on bargain hunting in beaten-down stocks. The index is still 13% below the record high hit in late September 2024. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) turned…

By Krystal Hu (Reuters) – The venture capital firms that invested in cybersecurity firm Wiz, which agreed to a $32 billion buyout by Google’s parent Alphabet (GOOG), stand to reap returns as high as 200 times for seed investors, among them Sequoia Capital, Cyberstarts and Index Ventures. The $32 billion all-cash Wiz deal on Tuesday marked a major win for about 25 firms on Wiz’s cap table, according to PitchBook, a rarity in the past few years as high interest rates and tight antitrust scrutiny reduced exit events. Among the investors, the biggest beneficiaries are those that put money into…

(Reuters) -Wall Street heavyweight Morgan Stanley is planning to lay off about 2,000 employees later this month, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. The reduction of 2% to 3% of the company’s workforce, excluding financial advisers, was aimed at improving operational efficiency, the person said, requesting anonymity. Morgan Stanley had more than 80,000 employees worldwide at the end of 2024. The layoffs were not related to current market conditions, the source said. The bank’s move follows a string of job cuts by Wall Street lenders in recent weeks as they prepare for an uncertain economic environment,…

By Hyunjoo Jin and Heekyong Yang SUWON, South Korea (Reuters) -Samsung Electronics said on Wednesday it is looking at major deals to drive growth as it faced tough questions from shareholders after its failure to ride an artificial intelligence boom made it one of the worst-performing tech stocks last year. The South Korean firm has been suffering from weak earnings and sagging share prices in recent quarters after falling behind rivals in advanced memory chips and contract chip manufacturing, which have enjoyed strong demand from AI projects. Shareholders slammed management for poor stock performance and called for measures to revive…

By Arunima Kumar (Reuters) – Oil prices fell on Wednesday after Russia agreed to U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal that Moscow and Kyiv temporarily stop attacking each other’s energy infrastructure, a move that could eventually pave the way for Russian oil to enter global markets. Brent crude futures were down 59 cents, or 0.84%, to $69.97 a barrel at 0924 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) was down 60 cents, or 0.90%, at $66.30. Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed on Tuesday to stop attacking Ukrainian energy facilities but stopped short of endorsing a full 30-day ceasefire that Trump hoped…

By Rishav Chatterjee (Reuters) – Australian department store owner Myer on Wednesday posted lower interim earnings, citing logistical challenges at a distribution centre in Victoria and strategic review costs, while painting a gloomy outlook due to weak economic conditions. The firm, which finalised the purchase of the apparel brands portfolio from rival Premier Investments in January, said the sales for the first five weeks in the second half of the fiscal year were already down by 2.6%. Shares in Sydney dropped 10.5% to A$0.68 and hit their lowest since June 24, 2024. Total sales at the retailer were A$1.83 billion…