All three major US indexes were down in late-morning trading on Wednesday, as Wall Street awaits the Federal Reserve's major decision on interest rates in the afternoon.
In company news, Alphabet's Google (GOOG, GOOGL) won its appeal against a 1.49-billion-euro ($1.66 billion) fine imposed by the European Commission roughly five years ago for alleged abusive practices in online advertising. The European Union's General Court on Wednesday annulled a 2019 decision by the commission to penalize the tech giant for breaching antitrust rules. At the time the EU's executive arm claimed that Google imposed several restrictive clauses in contracts with third-party websites. The General Court upheld the majority of the commission's findings in the case, but it noted that it "failed to take into consideration all of the relevant circumstances" in its assessment of the duration of the contract clauses that it deemed abusive. Google shares were down 0.1% near midday.
Hackers of Cencora (COR) received a total of $75 million, paid in three installments of bitcoin in March, the largest known cyber extortion payment made to date, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The initial ransom demand was $150 million, two of the people reportedly told Bloomberg. The company learned the data was stolen from its systems in February, Bloomberg reported, citing a Cencora regulatory filing. Cencora shares were down 2.3%.
Rogers Communications (RCI) said Wednesday it has agreed to acquire BCE's (BCE) 37.5% stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment for CA$4.7 billion ($3.48 billion). Financing for the deal will include private investors and will not affect Rogers' debt leverage, the company said. Shares of Rogers were down 1.8%, while those of BCE were up 2.8%.
Alaska Air Group (ALK) said Wednesday it has completed its $1.9 billion acquisition of Hawaiian Holdings (HA). Alaska Air said it plans to work toward a single operating certificate for both subsidiaries -- Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines -- with the Federal Aviation Administration, but it will maintain separate brands and operations in the meantime. Alaska Air shares were down 1.6%.
Qualcomm's (QCOM) fine over predatory pricing and abuse of its dominant position in the market has been largely upheld by the General Court, the Court of Justice of the EU said Wednesday. The General Court has set the fine at about 238.7 million euros ($265.9 million), compared with about 242 million euros imposed by the commission previously. The announcement comes after Qualcomm requested in 15 pleas that the court annul or substantially reduce the imposed fine. Qualcomm shares were up 0.2%.
Boeing (BA) and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers will restart contract talks Wednesday in the presence of federal mediators as the two sides have failed to agree on wages and pensions, the union said in a post on X Wednesday. Boeing shares were up 0.4%.
23andMe Holding's (ME) independent directors resigned after receiving an unsatisfactory take-private offer from Chief Executive Anne Wojcicki, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing an internal document. Wojcicki offered $0.40 per share for all outstanding shares, Reuters reported. Shares of the company were up 1.7%.
Price: 159.81, Change: -0.47, Percent Change: -0.30
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