The latest Market Talks covering Technology, Media and Telecom. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.
0259 GMT - NetEase's 1Q results are likely to come in slightly above market expectations, say Nomura analysts in a note. While the quarter was relatively quiet in terms of new releases from the Chinese technology company's gaming business, demand for its legacy titles likely stayed resilient, they say. They estimate overall top line growth at 4% while adjusted earnings per American depository receipt likely falling 7%, both beating consensus estimates. Game business growth could accelerate to a 10% gain in 2H on the release of its new game "Sea of Remnants." Nomura retains its buy rating and $155 target price. ADRs last closed 1.5% lower at $116.25. (megan.cheah@wsj.com)
2311 GMT [Dow Jones]--The demand for Palantir's technology from the U.S. defense industrial base is so intense that the company has had to redirect resources from its commercial business, Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar says, adding that the release of new, powerful artificial-intelligence models from OpenAI and Anthropic will lead to soaring rates of new vulnerabilities in critical technology. "This is the Sputnik moment in the AI arms race," he says. Beyond the company's flagship Maven and Titan defense systems, the company is also working on production "across major weapons systems" for the Pentagon. "When the stakes are highest, when failure is measured in lives and readiness, this is where we are uniquely positioned on the factory floor side." (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
2303 GMT [Dow Jones]--The advancement of artificial-intelligence and the falling costs of AI tokens has led to a proliferation of AI "slop" within business software, Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar says. "More tokens means more slop, and the more commodity cognition you consume, the more you need a system that can prevent the economic harm so you can harness the economic value," Sankar says. Palantir's Artificial Intelligence Platform, he adds, "is the no-slop zone, the platform where every agent action is governed, attributed and auditable." (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
2210 GMT - Palantir's Artificial-Intelligence Platform, or AIP, has boundless potential to automate enterprise workflows, Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar says on an analyst call, adding that this is "why we are seeing the death of legacy software." He says Palantir internally has switched from an old and costly customer relationship management platform to an AI-first platform built using AIP, and cites the example of one client where 97% of employees use Palantir's Foundry every day. "AIP replaces static workflows not by replicating the playbook, but by eliminating the need for one," Sankar says. "Every other piece of software must now justify its existence. And so far, they haven't been able to." (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
2105 GMT - Palantir's record 1Q results include a substantial contribution from the U.S. government. Revenue from U.S. government contracting was $687 million in the company's most recent quarter, up 84% year-over-year and accounting for nearly 54% of Palantir's total revenue in the U.S. Palantir's government contracting has been a source of some controversy, but CEO Alex Karp dismisses criticism of its work for the government in a letter to shareholders. "It is worth noting there is really nobody making the case that the U.S. military should have second-rate AI capabilities or lackluster software," he writes. "If we are going to ask someone to step into harm's way on behalf of our country, they deserve the best." (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
2104 GMT - IAC says print revenue for People declined again in its latest quarter, down 16%, as audience and advertising spend continues to shift from print to digital. The metric was also hurt by ongoing portfolio optimization, the company says. People's digital revenue, meanwhile, rose 8%, boosted by higher premium advertising sales and performance marketing growth. People's digital sales were also helped by an increase in licensing and other revenue due to improved performance from Apple News+ and content syndication partners as well as the company's Meta content partnership, IAC says. The results come after IAC said last week it would cut staff and change its name to People Inc. as part of its shift to focus more on its core publishing operations.(kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)
2056 GMT - Investors are looking to understand where and how rampant investments in artificial-intelligence are generating returns. Palantir CEO Alex Karp has an answer. "We believe it is not hyperbolic to say that nearly all AI workflows that actually create value-especially on the battlefield-are built on Palantir," Karp opens his letter to shareholders. "We are an N of 1." The company reports a record $1.63 billion in sales during the first quarter, with profit about tripling to $876 million. Palantir also lifts its outlook to project 71% growth this year, 10 percentage points ahead of its previous guidance. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
2020 GMT - Paramount's results are reaping the benefits of continued growth for the company's Paramount+ streaming service. In the latest quarter, Paramount+ revenue climbed 17% as the service's subscriber base grew to 79.6 million, up 2% from a year ago. Paramount says its direct-to-consumer business has had a strong start to the year, pointing to the success of series like "Landman" and the debuts of "The Madison" and "Marshals." The company says "Landman" is now the most-watched series in Paramount+ history, while "The Madison" has attracted 12.5 million viewers in its first month on the service. Both series have been renewed for subsequent seasons, Paramount says. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)
2018 GMT - Paramount's traditional TV division continues to weigh on its results. The company's TV media segment recorded another decline in the first quarter, with revenue down 6%, hurt by decreases in both advertising and affiliate revenue, while its direct-to-consumer and studios segments both posted growth. The company says its affiliate trends were weighed down by continued pay TV subscriber erosion, a trend it expects to continue this year. Paramount expects its linear advertising declines to moderate a bit this year compared with 2025, including with expected political spending this year, it says. (kelly.cloonan@wsj.com)
1635 GMT - Even as businesses face obstacles in effectively deploying AI throughout their organizations, they are ramping up their spending on the technology, Blackstone President and COO Jon Gray says in a CNBC interview. "If you look at our companies, their spend on large language models was up fifteenfold over the last year--now off a low base, but the direction of travel is toward more use, to more use cases," he says. A new Anthropic joint venture with Blackstone and other Wall Street firms is meant to help businesses translate this spend into meaningful productivity gains through consulting on the best ways to implement AI. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1626 GMT - Anthropic's joint venture with Blackstone and other Wall Street firms is designed to address the "key gap" between the capabilities of artificial-intelligence models and their diffusion throughout the economy, Blackstone President and COO Jon Gray says on CNBC. "You have these super powerful models that Anthropic has created. And then on the other side, you've got all these companies who want to get this technology into their business," Gray says in a CNBC interview. "We've got 275 companies, they're very interested in using Anthropic's enterprise technology, but they're saying, 'Can you help me get there?'" The new AI deployment company is meant to help businesses capitalize on the possibilities of these powerful models, Gray says. (elias.schisgall@wsj.com)
1526 GMT - BlackBerry's shares rise and one analyst says a widely shared feature story may have helped push the stock higher. The Wall Street Journal article highlights how QNX-BlackBerry's behind-the-scenes automotive and industrial software now powers 275 million vehicles and has become the company's main growth driver. Shares are up 9% to C$8.02. Kingsley Crane, a Canaccord Genuity analyst who follows the stock, says the coverage likely contributed to the rally. "To be honest, I think the article is a meaningful contributor," he says in an email. The renewed attention comes as BlackBerry has posted a good run profitable quarters and emphasized QNX's expanding role across cars, medical machinery and factories, suggesting also its turnaround efforts are gaining traction. (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 05, 2026 04:20 ET (08:20 GMT)
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