Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) has unveiled its first smart glasses, marking the e-commerce giant’s entry into the growing wearable technology market and stepping up competition with rivals like Meta and Xiaomi.
The Quark AI Glasses, introduced at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, are powered by Alibaba’s proprietary Qwen large language model and Quark AI assistant.
First National Financial (TSE:FN) announced that it has agreed to be acquired by a consortium led by Birch Hill Equity Partners and Brookfield Asset Management (TSX:BAM, NYSE:BAM) in a transaction valued at C$2.9 billion (US$2.1 billion).
Under the terms of the agreement, shareholders will receive $C48 in cash per common share, representing a premium of approximately 15.2% over its 30-day volume-weighted average trading price.
NiCE Ltd (NASDAQ: NICE) said on Monday it will acquire German conversational AI firm Cognigy in a $955 million deal, a move aimed at strengthening its AI-powered customer experience platform, CXone.
The deal brings together NiCE's CXone Mpower platform with Cognigy’s enterprise-grade conversational and agentic AI, enabling organizations to orchestrate AI agents across both front and back office operations.
ChargePoint (NYSE:CHPT) shares fell almost 15% after the provider of EV charging solutions announced a reverse stock split at a ratio of 1-for-20, effective as of Monday’s market open.
The company said the reverse stock split aims to increase its share price to remain compliant with New York Stock Exchange listing standards.
Mill City Ventures (NASDAQ:MCVT) shares surged after the specialty finance company announced a $450 million private placement to support its adoption of a treasury strategy centered on the Sui blockchain's native cryptocurrency, Sui.
The company plans to use approximately 98% of the net proceeds to acquire Sui tokens, which will serve as its primary treasury reserve asset.
US liquefied natural gas (LNG) producers were boosted on Monday by a new trade agreement between the EU and the US, under which the EU has pledged to purchase $750 billion of US energy products.
The EU will spend $250 billion per year over the next three years on energy products, including LNG, as it seeks to reduce its dependence on Russian gas.
Shares in GSK PLC (LSE:GSK, NYSE:GSK) rose in morning trading after the pharmaceutical group announced a $500 million collaboration with Hengrui Pharma to co-develop up to 12 experimental medicines, in a deal that could be worth as much as $12 billion.
The agreement includes global rights (excluding China and a few territories) to HRS-9821, a potential new treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Shares in Ceres Power Holdings PLC (LSE:CWR, OTC:CPWHF) surged 44% on Monday after its South Korean partner Doosan Fuel Cell began mass production of power systems using Ceres’ solid oxide fuel cell technology.
The move marks the first time one of Ceres’ strategic partners has brought its clean energy technology into full-scale commercial production.