MORNING NEWS

SoftBank Group agreed to buy DigitalBridge Group for $4 billion, including debt, part of the Japanese conglomerate’s strategy to take advantage of an AI-driven boom in digital infrastructure. Under the terms of the deal, SoftBank will purchase all of DigitalBridge’s outstanding shares for $16 apiece. The price represents a 15% premium to DigitalBridge’s closing share price Friday, and a 50% premium to its unaffected 52-week average closing price as of Dec. 4, the companies said. Shares of DigitalBridge jumped 9.8%, to $15.28, in premarket trading Monday.

BP said it is selling a 65% stake in its Castrol lubricants business for $8 billion, as part of a plan to simplify the business following a review that started under former Chief Executive Officer Murray Auchincloss. The oil major said that it was selling the shareholding to investment firm Stonepeak and that the two companies would form a joint venture in which it will own 35%. BP has an option to sell its stake in the joint venture after a two-year lockup period. BP said the deal has an enterprise value of $10.1 billion, which includes $1.8 billion in joint-venture minority interests and $0.3 billion of debt.

Italy’s competition watchdog fined Apple more than 98 million euros ($114.8 million), saying the company abused its dominance in the digital economy through its app-tracking transparency policy. The AGCM said Monday that Apple imposes unfair privacy rules on app developers by requiring them to gain users’ consent to collect and use data for advertising through a specific prompt. The watchdog said the prompt essentially forces app developers to ask for consent twice for the same purpose. It said Apple’s app-tracking transparency terms harm the interests of Apple’s commercial partners.

Nine pharmaceutical companies agreed to lower the prices that certain federal government programs and patients pay, in a new round of industry pacts with the Trump administration. The companies said they would reduce U.S. prices on drugs to levels comparable with prices charged in other wealthy countries, which are generally much lower. In return, the companies get administration-backed reprieves from potential new U.S. tariffs for three years.

Medical-supplies distributor Medline has raised $6.26 billion in an initial public offering, taking the title of biggest IPO of the year and a valuation of more than $50 billion. The U.S.-based company backed by private-equity giants Blackstone and Carlyle sold 216 million shares at $29.00 each in an upsized offering, it said.

Pfizer issued its 2026 guidance, expecting its adjusted earnings per share to come in below this year’s figures, and revised its 2025 revenue outlook. The company reiterated its 2025 adjusted earnings guidance of $3 to $3.15 a share. It guided for 2025 revenue of $62 billion, compared with its previous forecast of $61 billion to $64 billion.

Ford Motor said it expected to take about $19.5 billion in charges, mainly tied to its electric-vehicle business, a massive hit as the automaker retrenches in the face of sinking EV demand. The sum is among the largest impairments taken by a company and marks the U.S. auto industry’s biggest reckoning to date that it can’t realize its electric-vehicle ambitions anytime soon.

BNP Paribas said it has begun exclusive talks with Holmarcom Group to potentially sell its stake in Moroccan subsidiary BMCI. The French financial services group said Friday that it was in discussions to sell its 67% stake in BMCI to Holmarcom, which already is a shareholder in the Moroccan bank.

Broadcom reported rapid revenue growth on Thursday as demand continues to rise for chips to fill data centers that power artificial-intelligence models. But shares fell in after-market trading as analysts raised questions about the company’s sales forecasts, contracts backlog and anticipated future margins.

Federal Reserve officials cut interest rates for a third straight meeting but signaled they might be done for now in the midst of unusual divisions over the path forward. The decision Wednesday to reduce the benchmark federal funding rate by a quarter point - to between 3.5% and 3.75%, a three-year low - is aimed at protecting against a sharper than anticipated slowdown in hiring. The Fed voted 9-3, the first time in six years that three officials cast dissent.