MORNING NEWS

Netflix Chairman and co-founder Reed Hastings will step down from the company’s board after his term expires in June, the streaming giant said Thursday, ending a nearly three-decade run at the direct-to-consumer pioneer.

Shares of Bank of America rallied Wednesday, after the banking giant reported first-quarter profit and revenue that rose more than expected, boosted by strength in its sales and trading business. Boosted by recent volatility as a result of the Iran conflict, BofA’s BAC equities business saw revenue soar 30% to record levels. An easier regulatory environment, which has boosted merger and acquisition activity, helped drive a 21% increase in investment-banking fees. “[W]e saw healthy client activity, including solid consumer spending and stable asset quality, indicating a resilient American economy,” said CEO Brian Moynihan.

Amazon.com is buying satellite operator Globalstar in a deal the companies estimated at about $10.8 billion, seeking to build a business connecting consumer smartphones with satellite internet connections. The deal would give Amazon’s Leo satellite venture a boost as it vies with SpaceX’s dominant Starlink network. The Elon Musk -controlled satellite business has been launching satellites designed to connect consumer devices and signing agreements with mobile carriers.

Goldman Sachs said its profit jumped 19% in the first quarter, powered by a resurgence in deal activity and volatile markets. But the bank’s stock fell around 3% as investors worried the war in Iran would slow Wall Street’s performance for the rest of the year. Chief Executive David Solomon said he expected companies would still push ahead on plans for dealmaking despite the war-related volatility. Solomon said that the executives he has spoken with “believe they have an opportunity to drive scale and consolidation” that wasn’t possible under the Biden administration.

Porsche car deliveries fell 15% in the first quarter as the end of production of its petrol-powered 718 range and the discontinuation of tax incentives for electric and hybrid vehicles in the U.S. dented sales. Strong deliveries of the fully electric Macan model following its market launch in the first quarter last year also skewed this year’s figures, it said. The German luxury sports-car maker said Friday that it delivered 60,991 cars in the first three months of the year, down from 71,470 in the same period last year.

Lindt & Sprüngli has already completed its share buyback program, which began in August 2024, ahead of schedule on April 9, 2026. A total of 601 registered shares and 39,420 participation certificates with a combined value of 499.3 million Swiss francs were repurchased.

Arcline Investment Management-backed Arxis plans to raise roughly $1 billion in an initial public offering that could value the maker of electronic and mechanical components for aerospace and defense at more than $11 billion. Arxis - Arcline’s first portfolio company to file for an IPO - is one of several aerospace and defense companies expected to hit the public markets this year as investors move to capitalize on heightened interest in the sector amid conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. Madison Dearborn Partners-backed drone manufacturer Aevex Aerospace, for example, has also filed for an IPO. In January, European defense company Czechoslovak Group, or CSG, went public in Amsterdam at an initial valuation of roughly €25 billion, or around $29.2 billion.

Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Seyed Abbas Araghchi said on X Tuesday that the country's Supreme National Security Council agreed to cease attacks and allow "safe passage" of ships through the Strait of Hormuz coordinated by Iran's Armed Forces for two weeks. Just minutes earlier, President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that he would suspend attacks on Iran for two weeks, subject to Iran reopening of the strait.

Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest memory-chip maker, forecast a more than eightfold jump in first quarter operating profit, signaling continued record earnings amid the artificial-intelligence boom despite uncertainties fueled by the Middle East conflict. In preliminary results Tuesday, the South Korean technology company said its operating profit likely reached 57.200 trillion won, equivalent to $37.91 billion, for the January-March period. That would be 755% higher than the year-earlier figure, topping a FactSet-compiled consensus estimate of 39.140 trillion won.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is one step closer to staging what could be the largest initial public offering of all time. The satellite builder and rocket operator has confidentially filed IPO paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to people familiar with the matter. SpaceX is aiming for an IPO that could raise between $40 billion and $80 billion, The Wall Street Journal has reported. The filing puts the company on track to potentially list shares by July, as Musk has told people is his goal.