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Nebius spikes after announcing $2 billion investment from Nvidia

Nebius is soaring in premarket trading after deepening its partnership with the world’s most valuable company.

Nvidia will invest $2 billion in the neocloud to help “develop and deploy the next generation of hyperscale cloud for the AI market, from AI natives to enterprises,” according to the press release. “To enable Nebius to deploy more than 5 gigawatts of capacity by end of 2030, NVIDIA will support Nebius’s early adoption of the latest generation of NVIDIA’s accelerated computing platform.”

The chip designer already held roughly $100 million in Nebius stock as of the end of 2025, per a filing.

Nvidia has actively sought out $2 billion equity stakes via partnerships with smaller publicly traded AI plays as of late. Earlier this month, Nvidia said it would take $2 billion positions in advanced optics firms Lumentum and Coherent. In late January, the chip designer announced an investment of the same amount in CoreWeave, the neocloud whose IPO it also anchored.

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Matt Phillips46m

AI “bottleneck” stocks are the big winners halfway through a tumultuous week

Memory stocks and chip-machinery companies are bouncing Wednesday, following a strong Oracle earnings report that bolstered confidence in the durability of the AI datacenter build out.

In fact, Sandisk is the top performer of the S&P 500 so far this week, rising more than 21% from Friday’s close, as of shortly after 2 p.m. ET. Memory chip maker Micron is second in line, up more than 13% in weekly gains, and hard disk drive maker Western Digital is also getting a lift.

Other big winners so far this week are some of the so-called semicap shares — makers of the ultraprecise machines that turn silicon into actual semiconductors — with Lam Research and KLA Corp both racking up gains of about 10% on the week. Applied Materials is up about 8% this week.

Thematically speaking, both memory stocks like Sandisk and Micron, and semicap shares like KLA, have been part of the “buy-the-bottleneck” trade, in which investors buy companies they believe sit at key pinch points in the AI supply chain and therefore have pretty tremendous pricing power. Through that lens, the stocks’ bounce might reflect some additional excitement about the durability of the data center boom after Oracle’s results, which included a larger-than-expected capex number as well as sales guidances that was higher than Wall Street was forecasting.

But the bounce also may be the less-interesting market phenomenon of mean reversion rearing its head, as these stocks were also some of the most beaten down in the S&P 500 last week, when Sandisk lost 17% and Lam lost about 15%, for example. So, some snapback may merely be a market reflex.

Oracle jumps after Q3 results exceed expectations, boost to sales guidance

Oracle jumps after Q3 results exceed expectations, boost to sales guidance

Other big winners so far this week are some of the so-called semicap shares — makers of the ultraprecise machines that turn silicon into actual semiconductors — with Lam Research and KLA Corp both racking up gains of about 10% on the week. Applied Materials is up about 8% this week.

Thematically speaking, both memory stocks like Sandisk and Micron, and semicap shares like KLA, have been part of the “buy-the-bottleneck” trade, in which investors buy companies they believe sit at key pinch points in the AI supply chain and therefore have pretty tremendous pricing power. Through that lens, the stocks’ bounce might reflect some additional excitement about the durability of the data center boom after Oracle’s results, which included a larger-than-expected capex number as well as sales guidances that was higher than Wall Street was forecasting.

But the bounce also may be the less-interesting market phenomenon of mean reversion rearing its head, as these stocks were also some of the most beaten down in the S&P 500 last week, when Sandisk lost 17% and Lam lost about 15%, for example. So, some snapback may merely be a market reflex.

markets

Max Knoblauch3h

Papa John’s spikes following report of a $47-per-share take-private offer from Qatari investment fund Irth Capital

A few weeks after announcing it would close 300 stores by the end of next year, Papa John’s is drawing fresh take-private interest from Irth Capital, an investment fund backed by a member of the Qatari royal family.

Papa John’s shares were up 19% on Wednesday afternoon, on pace for their best day since February 2025.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Irth is offering $47 per share for PZZA, valuing the company at about $1.5 billion. The fund currently holds a roughly 10% stake in Papa John’s, according to the report.

Irth has tried to take Papa John’s private before, offering $60 per share in a joint bid with Apollo Global in June last year. In October, Apollo Global again offered to take the company private at $64 per share. That offer was later withdrawn.

Broadly, the pizza category is being increasingly dominated by Domino’s, which opened 700 stores globally last year and has a market cap nine times greater than Irth’s latest reported offer for Papa John’s.

Exclusive | Papa John’s Draws Fresh Takeover Interest

Exclusive | Papa John’s Draws Fresh Takeover Interest

According to the Wall Street Journal, Irth is offering $47 per share for PZZA, valuing the company at about $1.5 billion. The fund currently holds a roughly 10% stake in Papa John’s, according to the report.

Irth has tried to take Papa John’s private before, offering $60 per share in a joint bid with Apollo Global in June last year. In October, Apollo Global again offered to take the company private at $64 per share. That offer was later withdrawn.

Broadly, the pizza category is being increasingly dominated by Domino’s, which opened 700 stores globally last year and has a market cap nine times greater than Irth’s latest reported offer for Papa John’s.

How Oracle is de-risking its AI boom

Oracle released its third-quarter earnings yesterday, and the company is making it clear that its ambitious AI growth is grounded in reality and cold hard cash.

BATTLE ROYALE

“This is not how they got rich and happy.”

Tech giants competition with one another

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Max Knoblauch7h

CarMax rises after activist investor Starboard takes $350 million stake

Online car retailer CarMax is climbing in premarket trading on Wednesday following reports that activist investor Starboard Value has taken a $350 million stake in the company.

Starboard nominated two directors to CarMax’s board, including its own CEO, Jeff Smith, and Frontdoor CEO Bill Cobb.

According to a letter sent by Starboard to CarMax, the hedge fund thinks the company can improve performance by adopting more dynamic pricing, reconditioning vehicles more efficiently, and reducing admin and other costs by more than $300 million.

Per Starboard’s letter: “If the experience is superior, CarMax does not need to be the lowest-priced provider to win. We strongly encourage you to be hyper-focused on the digital end-to-end consumer experience. We believe there is an ample amount of low hanging fruit; so much fruit that it may even be touching the ground.”

CarMax is the largest US used car retailer, but rival Carvana has closed the retail sales gap between the two companies to about 6,000 vehicles as of the two most recent comparable quarters.

Activist Starboard Is Said to Build $350 Million Stake in CarMax

Activist Starboard Is Said to Build $350 Million Stake in CarMax

According to a letter sent by Starboard to CarMax, the hedge fund thinks the company can improve performance by adopting more dynamic pricing, reconditioning vehicles more efficiently, and reducing admin and other costs by more than $300 million.

Per Starboard’s letter: “If the experience is superior, CarMax does not need to be the lowest-priced provider to win. We strongly encourage you to be hyper-focused on the digital end-to-end consumer experience. We believe there is an ample amount of low hanging fruit; so much fruit that it may even be touching the ground.”

CarMax is the largest US used car retailer, but rival Carvana has closed the retail sales gap between the two companies to about 6,000 vehicles as of the two most recent comparable quarters.

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