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TechnologyGetty Images Terminates $3.7 Billion Shutterstock Merger After U.K. Regulator Demands Editorial Divestiture
Getty Images killed its $3.7 billion Shutterstock merger after rejecting the U.K. CMA's demand that Shutterstock divest its editorial business — walking away just days after landing a transformative AI licensing deal with OpenAI.
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CultureGoogle and Idris Elba to Fund AI Tool Access for African Creators
Alphabet's Google and actor Idris Elba are partnering to fund African creators' access to AI production tools, part of Elba's broader push to build creative infrastructure across the continent.
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Daily RoundupThe Daily Roundup: Free The Youth's Air Jordan 16 Drops July 17 at $255, the Liberty Win a Second Commissioner's Cup, CAA and TPG Launch a $250M Creator Rollup, and Stripe-Visa-Coinbase Back Open USD — July 1, 2026
Free The Youth's Air Jordan 16 drops July 17 at $255, the New York Liberty beat the Aces 93-85 for a second Commissioner's Cup, and Stripe, Visa and Coinbase back the new Open USD stablecoin.
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TechnologyBending Spoons Prices $1.6 Billion Nasdaq IPO at $19 Billion Valuation
Milan software roll-up Bending Spoons priced its Nasdaq IPO at $29 a share, raising $1.68 billion, then jumped nearly 40% on its July 1 debut to a $25.7 billion market value.
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TechnologyUber-Backed Lime Raises $174 Million in Nasdaq IPO
Lime, the Uber-backed e-scooter and e-bike company, raised $174 million in its Nasdaq IPO at $25 a share and a valuation near $1.6 billion — with Uber buying $20 million of stock — despite a $64.6 million annual loss.
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TechnologyStripe, Visa, Coinbase and 140 Firms Launch Open USD to Challenge Circle and Tether
A consortium of more than 140 firms — including Stripe, Visa, Mastercard, Coinbase, BlackRock and BNY — unveiled Open USD, a dollar stablecoin built to challenge Circle and Tether and share reserve revenue with partners. Circle shares fell more than 17%.
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TechnologyAnthropic Launches Claude Science, an AI Workbench for Researchers
Anthropic launched Claude Science, an AI workbench for scientists, in beta on June 30, pairing a coordinating agent with 60-plus curated skills across genomics, proteomics and more, plus a reviewer agent that checks citations and calculations.
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TechnologyAnthropic Launches Claude Sonnet 5 as Default Model for Free and Pro Users
Anthropic launched Claude Sonnet 5 on June 30 as the default model for Free and Pro users, priced at an introductory $2 per million input and $10 output tokens, with performance it says approaches Opus 4.8.
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TechnologyUS Lifts Export Controls on Anthropic's Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5
The US Commerce Department lifted its export controls on Anthropic's Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5 on June 30, reversing a June 12 order that had barred foreign access to the two models over a jailbreak claim.
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CultureTidal Says It Won't Monetize AI-Generated Music
Tidal says fully AI-generated music will no longer be eligible for monetization, royalties, or direct-to-fan sales starting July 15, will carry an 'AI' badge, and will be removed if it impersonates a real artist.
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Technology
Comcast to Split Into Two Companies, Spinning Off NBCUniversal and Sky
Comcast will split into two public companies, spinning off NBCUniversal and Sky into a standalone media-and-parks business and leaving Comcast a pure-play broadband and wireless firm, the second such carve-out after January's Versant spin-off.
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Technology
Verizon and BT Form a $4 Billion International Enterprise Joint Venture
Verizon and BT will merge their international enterprise operations into a 50:50 joint venture serving 3,000+ customers across 180+ countries at about $4 billion in revenue, with Verizon paying BT a $625 million equalization payment.