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☆ Inside Microsoft's struggles with Copilot
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-15 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +23 min

In September 2023, Microsoft's famously soft-spoken CEO, Satya Nadella, unveiled the company's flagship AI product, Copilot, with sweeping fanfare. Some of Microsoft's own employees and executives are privately concerned that Copilot won't be able to deliver on its ambitions. Copilot's struggles have created an opening for Microsoft's rivals, some of whom have seized on the opportunity to promote their own agendas. "Now, when Joe Blow logs into an account and kicks off Copilot, they can see everything," said one Microsoft employee familiar with customer complaints. As complaints and questions over Copilot mount, so does the pressure to justify Microsoft's unprecedented level of spending on AI.

Persons: Microsoft's, Satya Nadella, Gartner, Copilot, it'll, Copilot's, Marc Benioff, Benioff, Goldman Sachs, Marc Andreessen, Andreessen Horowitz, Ethan Miller, Jared Spataro, Spataro, —, Joe Blow, Joe, Nadella, Gary Marcus, Marcus, Wile, Coyote, Brontë, Judson Althoff, Jason Zander, Zander, We've, OpenAI, Tasos Katopodis, Steve Jobs Organizations: Microsoft, Venture, Getty, Goldman, BI, Fortune, Excel, Lumen Technologies, Honeywell, Gartner, Wall Street, Initiative, Department of Homeland Security, Employees, San Francisco, Software, Apple, Jobs Locations: Microsoft's, Copilot, New York City

☆ Big Tech goes nuclear: Amazon's pitch to use power plants shows the crucial role the energy source plays for AI
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-25 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

In today's big story, inside Amazon's internal pitch for turning to nuclear power to meet its growing energy needs . AdvertisementThat's led Big Tech to consider nuclear power to address its skyrocketing energy requirements. Nuclear power ticks that box better than other clean energy options like solar or wind. Nuclear power, meanwhile, is an industry in desperate need of some love , BI's Daniel Geiger and Ellen Thomas previously reported. From advertising platforms to AI tech companies, here's the startups to watch .

Persons: —, Jocko Willink, we've, Jenny Chang, Rodriguez, That's, Business Insider's Eugene Kim, Andy Jassy, it's, Sam Altman, Eugene, BI's Hasan Chowdhury, BI's Daniel Geiger, Ellen Thomas, Jim Burke, Vistra, Chelsea Jia Feng, Elon Musk, Jean Boivin, He's, Marc Benioff isn't, bashed, Miles Brundage, OpenAI, Emma Tucker's, Tucker, Mike Jeffries, SpaceX's, Dan DeFrancesco, Jordan Parker Erb, Hallam Bullock, Milan Sehmbi Organizations: Business, Service, Navy, Big Tech, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Keystone, Hulton, Constellation Energy, Getty, EV, BlackRock Investment Institute, San Francisco, BI, AGI, Abercrombie, Fitch Locations: Fukushima, Pennsylvania, Arizona, New York, London

☆ Netflix Wanted ‘Wuthering Heights.’ Margot Robbie Wanted a Theatrical Release.
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-24 | by ( Nicole Sperling | More About Nicole Sperling | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the latest Hollywood movie bidding war, the battle between a theatrical and a streaming release could not have been more stark. And in this case, theaters won out. The film will star Margot Robbie as Catherine Earnshaw and Jacob Elordi from “Saltburn” as the rageful Heathcliff. Ms. Robbie’s company and its partner, independent studio MRC, have instead been won over by Warner Bros., the studio said on Thursday. The company offered them around $80 million plus a significant marketing commitment, according to a person with knowledge of the decision.

Persons: Emily Brontë’s, ”, Emerald Fennell, “, Margot Robbie, Catherine Earnshaw, Jacob Elordi, Saltburn ”, Heathcliff, Robbie, Tom Ackerley, Josey McNamara Organizations: Netflix, MRC, Warner Bros Locations: Wuthering

Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach and other beaches around the Australian city were shut on Thursday as authorities investigated mysterious tar balls that have washed ashore. The dark, sticky, golf-ball-sized blobs were first reported Tuesday on Coogee Beach, leading to a series of beach closures across the city’s shores. The City Council of Randwick, a Sydney suburb that is home to four of the beaches, said preliminary test results showed that the blobs were tar balls, formed when oil comes into contact with debris and water. “We don’t yet know what has happened to produce the debris washing up on our beaches,” Mayor Dylan Parker said in a statement Thursday. The regulator said it was investigating the origin of the debris and whether it posed any risks to the community and environment.

Persons: Bronte, Tamarama, Dylan Parker Organizations: City Council of, ”, Environment Protection Authority Locations: Bondi, Coogee Beach, Gordons, Clovelly, Maroubra Beach, City Council of Randwick, Sydney, New South Wales, Congong, Little Bay, Malabar

☆ Meet Jeff Smith, the hedge-fund investor taking on Pfizer
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-07 | by ( Alex Morrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Starboard Value has taken a $1 billion stake in drugmaker Pfizer. The hedge fund, headed by Jeff Smith, has become one of the most feared activist investors. AdvertisementPharmaceuticals giant Pfizer got a wake up call Sunday evening when one of Wall Street's most feared activist investors revealed a stake in the company. AdvertisementPfizer, with a market cap north of $160 billion, is among the largest companies Starboard's Smith has ever targeted. With less than a 10% stake Smith replaced the entire 12-person board and assumed the role of chairman.

Persons: Jeff Smith, —, Smith, Starboard's Smith, Ian Read, Frank D'Amelio, Ken Squire, Paul Singer, Elliott, Carl Icahn, Dan Loeb, Peter Feld, Olive Garden's, Marc Benioff, Brontë Wittpenn, Brontë, Squire, they're, Albert Bourla, Bourla, wagered Organizations: Pfizer, Service, Pharmaceuticals, 13D, Investor, Lazard, Elliott Management, Icahn Enterprises, Cowen Group, AOL, Darden Restaurants, Olive Garden, Longhorn, Darden, Wall, San Francisco, Getty, Smithfield Foods, Bristol, Myers Squibb, Celgene, Autodesk, Starbucks Locations: Olive Garden, Fortune, America, Olive, Washington

☆ Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi to star in Emerald Fennell’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ film
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-24 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Variety-Live-Blog-Byline-Image.Png | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Academy Award winner Emerald Fennell‘s anticipated “Wuthering Heights” adaptation just got buzzier with Academy Award nominee Margot Robbie and BAFTA nominee Jacob Elordi attached to star as Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff. MRC has tapped LuckyChap to produce the upcoming feature film — written, directed and produced by Fennell, based on the classic romance novel by Emily Brontë. Robbie has also been vocal in championing Fennell’s unique sensibilities after producing both the filmmaker’s movies. She’s so masterful at tone and plot,” Robbie said reflecting on “Saltburn’s” more shocking scenes in a January interview with Variety. Deadline was first to report news of Robbie, Elordi and LuckyChap’s involvement in the project.

Persons: Emerald Fennell‘s, Margot Robbie, Jacob Elordi, Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff, Fennell, Emily Brontë, Oscar, ” Fennell, Barbie, Robbie, “, Elordi, Saltburn, Barry Keoghan, Variety he’s, ”, ” Robbie, Carey Mulligan, Mulligan, Rosamund Pike, Kogonada’s, Tom Ackerley, Josey McNamara, “ Saltburn ”, Elvis Presley, Sofia Coppola’s “ Priscilla, ” Elordi, Justin Kurzel, Guillermo del Toro’s, Michael Management, Jeff Bernstein, Gersh . Fennell Organizations: MRC, Variety, Entertainment, CAA, Gersh, UTA Locations: Wuthering, I’m

☆ Five things to watch from the swimming competition at this year’s Olympic Games
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-28 | by ( Kyle Feldscher | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Paris CNN —The first week of the Olympics and with it comes one of the Games’ signature events: Swimming. Here are five things to watch from this year’s swimming competition in Paris. The back-and-forth will take on new life as Aussie and American swimmers take to the pool and compete to take home the most medals. Bronte Campbell, swimming on the Australian’s 4x100-meter freestyle relay team, told reporters: “I really respect our American competitors. “So that was a really, really special event tonight.”

Persons: Paris CNN —, Katie Ledecky, Jean Catuffe, Ledecky, She’ll, She’s, hasn’t, she’s, Titmus, Ledecky’s, Summer McIntosh, Rob Koehler, ”, “, ” CHINADA, Witold Bańka, Caeleb Dressel, ” Dressel, Cate Campbell –, Michael Phelps, Phelps, Campbell, “ It’s, ” Campbell, I’ve, Ian Thorpe of, Chad le Clos, …, ” Phelps, USA’s, Phelps ’, Bronte Campbell, ” Leon Marchand, Leon Marchand, Sarah Stier, Marchand, It’s, Dressel, he’s Organizations: Paris CNN, Team USA, Olympic Games, Paris La Defense, La Défense, New York Times, Tokyo Olympics, Global, CNN, Tokyo, Doping Agency, CHINADA, NBC, USA, Team France, Olympic Locations: Paris, Nanterre, France, Tokyo, La, American, USA, Australian, Ian Thorpe of Australia, South Africa

☆ Alice Munro, Nobel Prize winner and ‘master of the short story,’ dies aged 92
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( Yahya Salem | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —Alice Munro, the Nobel Literature Prize winner best known for her mastery of short stories and depictions of womanhood in rural settings, has died in Ontario, Canada, at the age of 92. The news was confirmed to CNN “with great sadness” by a spokesperson at her publisher, Penguin Random House. It largely sets the tone for Munro’s prose; semi-autobiographical in nature and exploring the universality of the human urge for self-discovery, love, and independence, through the mundanity of everyday life in small, rural communities. Alice Munro, left, and Margaret Atwood at the National Arts Club in February 2005. Munro’s mastery of short stories and literature has been lauded by many of her contemporaries.

Persons: Alice Munro, Munro, “, Emily Brontë, Charles Dickens, Lucy Maud Montgomery, ”, ” Stephen Pearson, James Munro, Catherine, Eudora Welty, Flannery O’Connor, Carson McCullers, —, General’s, ” Munro, Margaret Atwood, Atwood, Diane Bondareff, James Wood Organizations: CNN, Penguin Random, “ The Paris, Guardian, Fairfax Media, University of Western, CBC, Yorker, National Arts Club, Literature Locations: Ontario, Canada, Wingham , Ontario, ”, University of Western Ontario, Vancouver, Victoria, Canadian, Russian

It is the ideal way to celebrate the musician and civil rights activist, and the ideal gift for a music fan of any walk. Cost: $135SAY CHEESE: This one might give an audiophile a heart attack, but that doesn't make it any less adorable. The “Turntable Cheese Board" from Uncommon Goods is exactly what it sounds like — a cheese board designed to look like the most expensive, slick turntable, featuring a slate platter and hidden slicer in the one arm. Cost: $78HEAR IT LOUD: There's never a wrong time to upgrade headphones — in fact, it makes for a great gift. Cost: $47K-POP COOL: Far too often, holiday gift guides — even those specifically catering to music enthusiasts — fail to account for dedicated, artist-specific fandoms.

Persons: It'll, SIMONE, Nina Simone, Simon, Marc Masters, Harry Styles, Styles, ”, “, It's, Sony's, Barbra Streisand, ” She'd, Jimmy Fallon, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Streisand, ” Streisand, I’m, Lol Tolhurst, Tim Burton, Edgar Allan Poe’s, Mary, Emily Brontë, Questlove, Tariq Trotter, a.k.a Organizations: ANGELES, Philips, Doubleday, Associated Press, Division, Bauhaus, Los Tigres Del, Grupo Frontera Locations: They're, longhand, Austin , Texas, Los Angeles, Los Tigres Del Norte, Banda

For Lol Tolhurst, co-founder the influential “goth” band The Cure, it's all of the above. He explores what he calls “the last true alternative outsider subculture” in a new book titled, “Goth: A History,” published late last month by Hachette. From there, the book dives into gothic literature and the French existentialists, whom Tolhurst considers formative to the subculture. LA was also home to the psych rock band the Doors, who were the first group described as “gothic rock" — by critic John Stickney in 1967. Elsewhere, he draws connections between goth and Catholicism, a relationship Tolhurst believes goes beyond a shared iconography and morbidity.

Persons: Tim Burton, Billie Eilish, Edgar Allan Poe's, Mary, Emily Brontë, Lol Tolhurst, “, ”, Tolhurst, It's, Joan Didion —, Nico, David Bowie, Molchat, Iggy Pop, Peter Murphy, tickling, John Stickney, everything's Organizations: ANGELES, Hachette, Joy Division, Bauhaus Locations: Southern California, London, Belarusian, New York City, England, Los Angeles, LA

☆ The university hosting an academic conference on Taylor Swift hopes that 'TayTay' will make an appearance
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-22 | by ( Kai Xiang Teo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The University of Melbourne is hosting an academic conference on Taylor Swift in 2024. They're seeking paper submissions on topics like "one single symbolic dollar" or Taylor Swift, #metoo, and the law. "And when you can't sleep at night (you hear my stolen lullabies)" — Taylor Swift, streaming platforms, and intellectual property (Taylor's version). "If I was a man, then I'd be The Man" — Taylor Swift, and gender and sexuality. AdvertisementAdvertisementSwift's Eras Tour is on track to break records to become the highest-grossing concert in the world, according to analytics firm QuestionPro.

Persons: Taylor Swift, Swift, Jennifer Beckett, they've, Beckett, — Taylor Swift, Shakespeare, Charlotte Brontë, Larry Adam, Raymond James, Taylor Swift's Organizations: University of Melbourne, Service, BBC, —, USA, Federal Reserve Locations: Australia, Wall, Silicon, Belgium

☆ ‘Swifterature:’ Belgian university launches course to analyze Taylor Swift lyrics
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Leah Dolan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Poetry, prose and now songwriting: Ghent University in Belgium is launching a new literature course dedicated to the literary merit of Taylor Swift’s discography. “Highly prolific and autobiographical in her songwriting, Swift makes frequent allusions to canonical literary texts in her music,” the class syllabus explains. “Using Swift’s work as a springboard, we will explore, among other topics, literary feminism, ecocriticism, fan studies, and tropes such as the anti-hero. In 2016, the University of Texas launched an English Literature course unpacking Beyoncé’s visual album “Lemonade” and its relationship to Black feminism. “But if anyone can teach you a lesson in how to respond to trolls, it’s Taylor Swift,” she concluded.

Persons: Taylor, Elly McCausland, McCausland, Sylvia Plath, Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare —, Geoffrey Chaucer’s “, Criseyde, Charlotte Brontë’s “, Margaret Atwood, Simon Armitage, “, Swift, Taylor Swift, ” McCausland, ”, Sylvia Plath’s, —, I’ll, “ I’m, There’s, it’s Taylor Swift Organizations: CNN, Ghent University, Oxford University, University of York, University of Oslo, New York University, Arizona State University, Berklee College of Music, Rice University, University of Texas, University of Copenhagen Locations: Belgium, Charlotte Brontë’s “ Villette, ”, ’, United Kingdom, Norway, Europe, United States, Houston

☆ Mushrooms are flourishing in the Abu Dhabi desert
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-10 | by ( Sarah Lazarus | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Now, a startup in Abu Dhabi has found a way to grow them in the middle of the desert. Below Farm is producing “specialty mushrooms” such as oyster, king oyster, shiitake and lion’s mane. Managing director Bronte Weir says the indoor farm, about 45 minutes’ drive from downtown Abu Dhabi, is the first in the region to grow and sell high-end mushrooms. He now orders 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of oyster mushrooms a week from the company. Neighborhood pizzeria Marmellata uses Below Farm's produce on one of its most popular dishes: the kale and mushroom pizza.

Persons: Bronte Weir, ” Weir, Liliana Slowinska, Wojciech Slowinski, Weir, isn’t, Abu, we’ve, ”, “, we’re, Dagstani Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, CNN Business, Business Research Company Locations: Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, Europe, United States, UAE

☆ Opinion | Jane Austen’s English Countryside Is Not Mine
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-29 | by ( Rebecca Smith | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

My childhood was spent making dens in the hidden corners of the landscaped gardens of a grand country estate in the Lake District. I wandered woods full of baby pheasants being fattened up for the shoot. I had lakes to paddle in and a dinghy that we bumped down the path to a private beach. First in Yorkshire, then in Bedford, then on Graythwaite Estate, in Cumbria in the Lake District. For centuries, it was not uncommon for the offer of a job in the English countryside to include accommodation.

Persons: —, didn’t Locations: Lake, England, Yorkshire, Bedford, Cumbria, Graythwaite

☆ Prestigious Rose Breeder Names Its New Bloom for a Black Gardener
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-17 | by ( Remy Tumin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For more than 60 years, David Austin Roses has bred the world’s most prestigious blooms. They are the Air Jordans, the Birkin bags, the Steinway pianos of roses, and have become what we know, smell and delight in as the modern English rose. And every year for more than 60 years, David Austin Roses has named one or two new varieties after historical British figures, including Queen Elizabeth II, Emily Brontë, Roald Dahl and Charles Darwin. At the Chelsea Flower Show in London last month, David Austin Roses introduced the Dannahue, an apricot-colored English shrub rose named after Danny Clarke, a gardener known to his social media followers and to television viewers in Britain as the Black Gardener. The shrub is available only in Britain for now but will be sold to American gardeners next year.

Persons: David Austin, Birkin, Queen Elizabeth II, Emily Brontë, Roald Dahl, Charles Darwin, David Austin Roses, Danny Clarke, Clarke, ” Organizations: Chelsea Locations: London, Britain

☆ Analysis: Heroes or villains: Short sellers' role in the U.S. bank crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Lawrence Delevingne | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

How much short sellers contributed to the downward spiral reprises the debate about whether so-called shorts are market watchdogs or opportunistic investors who profit from others’ misery. In the case of the banking crisis, a review of data and interviews with short sellers and their critics show, the answer may be both. Some high profile short sellers were later celebrated as making prophetic calls about the U.S. housing market. Even so, interviews and public postings show at least some short sellers had placed bets against regional banks well before the crisis hit. SHORT POSITIONSSuch early short sellers, however, were in the small minority.

☆ ‘Emily’ Review: Imagining the Origin of ‘Wuthering Heights’
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Kyle Smith | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

The biographical drama “Emily” contains a wonderful moment—spooky, disturbing, as chilling as a November wind sweeping across the Yorkshire hills—when the young Emily Brontë is playing a silly party game with her sisters and summons the Gothic spirit before their panicked and needy eyes. The game involves putting on a mask and inviting others to guess which prominent figure one is pretending to be. Charlotte and Anne are both horrified and ensorcelled, begging for any kind of contact with the departed and overcome with emotion at how Emily channels their mother’s kind thoughts. So movies about writers tend to fall into the trap of depicting them as glorified transcribers of things they happened to see. Gilbert getting the idea for “The Mikado” from an exhibition on Japan, a legend that has been discredited.

☆ Girl killed in shark attack on Australia's west coast
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Police believe the victim was with friends and jumped off a jet ski to swim with a pod of dolphins in the river when the shark attack occurred. People were being urged to take extra caution in the Swan River around Fremantle in the wake of the mauling. The last fatal shark attack in Western Australian waters was in November 2021 when a 57-year-old man was killed by a great white shark at Perth's Port Beach. A man was severely injured by a bull shark while swimming in the Swan River in January 2021. Australia ranked behind only the United States in the number of unprovoked shark bites on humans in 2021, according to the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File.

☆ Australia's radioactive capsule: searching scientists were quietly confident
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Lewis Jackson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] A view shows the area where a radioactive capsule was found, near Newman, Australia, February 1, 2023. Western Australian Department Of Fire And Emergency Services/Handout via REUTERSSYDNEY, Feb 3 (Reuters) - The task was daunting: find a tiny radioactive capsule that had fallen off a truck somewhere in Western Australia's vast outback sometime in January. Western Australia is buzzing with low-level rays thanks to its A$230 billion ($160 billion) mining industry. The Australian Radiation Incident Register reported six incidents of material being found, lost or stolen in 2019. That year, a radioactive gauge was stolen in Queensland state, according to police reports.

☆ 'Sex Education' co-stars Wood and Mackey among BAFTA Rising Star nominees
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Emma Mackey and Aimee Lou Wood, who rose to fame on hit Netflix show "Sex Education", and historical epic "The Woman King" actor Sheila Atim are among the nominees in the rising star category in the BAFTA Film Awards. Mackey and Wood play close friends in the Netflix comedy drama about teenagers trying to figure out their love lives. Wood, who has previously won a BAFTA TV award for Female Performance in a Comedy Programme for "Sex Education", was recognised on Tuesday for her role in drama "Living". Mackey was nominated for her portrayal of "Wurthering Heights" novelist Emily Bronte in biographical drama "Emily". The EE Rising Star Award is the only category voted for by the public at the annual British Academy of Film and Television Arts Film Awards, which this year will take place on Feb. 19 in London.

STOCKHOLM, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Philip Morris International (PMI) (PM.N) said on Monday it now owned a big enough stake in Swedish Match (SWMA.ST) to initiate a compulsory redemption of remaining shares in its Swedish peer and would take it off the stock market. Marlboro maker PMI in May launched a $16 billion takeover bid for the Swedish tobacco and nicotine products company. Buying Swedish Match, with its popular wet snuff "snus" products and tobacco-free nicotine "ZYN" pouches, will aid PMI in its stated ambition to move away from health-harming cigarettes and eventually become a smoke-free company. Swedish Match was not immediately available for comment. ($1 = 10.3774 Swedish crowns)Reporting by Marie Mannes and Anna Ringstrom, editing by Essi Lehto and Susan FentonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The deadline for shareholders to tender shares in support of the bid was 1600 GMT on Friday. Protean Funds had said previously it wanted to fight for Swedish Match and thought PMI's bid undervalued the company. It is still not known what activist investor Elliott Management, which owns over 10% in Swedish Match, has done. Under Swedish law, PMI needs 90% of shareholders to agree to the deal to get full control of Swedish Match. PMI bid lights up Swedish Match stock($1 = 10.9446 Swedish crowns)Reporting by Marie Mannes; Editing by Jane Merriman, Josephine Mason, Kirsten DonovanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Philip Morris (PM.N) increased its bid by more than 9% to 116 Swedish crowns per share and said that the offer was its "best and final price". Philip Morris made an all-cash offer of 106 crowns per share for Stockholm-based Swedish Match in May. By Swedish law, 90% of Swedish Match shareholders need to approve the offer before Nov.4. Pontus Dackmo, CEO of Protean Funds who has 500,000 shares in Swedish Match, said he was still not impressed by the sweetened offer from Philip Morris. The company had earlier said it was expecting EU antitrust approval for its Swedish Match bid in late October.

☆ Philip Morris sweetens buyout bid for Swedish Match to $15.8 bln
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Philip Morris raised its bid by more than 9% to 116 Swedish crowns per share, although it said that the offer was its "best and final price". Swedish Match did not immediately respond to Reuters's request for comment on the revised offer. Philip Morris has announced that they are not waiving the 90 percent acceptance condition. The deal will fail and Swedish Match will remain an independent company," Hempton said. The company had earlier said that it was expecting EU antitrust approval for its Swedish Match bid in late October.

☆ Philip Morris’ Swedish bet may take multiple tokes
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Oct 20 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Philip Morris International (PM.N) may need to show more flexibility. PMI Chief Executive Jacek Olczak has strengthened his hand by sealing a $2.7 billion deal with Altria to buy the rights to sell IQOS heated tobacco products in the United States, giving him an alternative way to grow in smokeless tobacco products. Still, it may be hard to get the Swedish Match deal over the line, given PMI’s ambitious 90% acceptance rate. That’s probably why the shares are currently trading close to the offer price at 112 crowns. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

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