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Moncler Group Reports Strong Q1 Sales

Asia and the direct-to-consumer channel helped boost the performance in the three months ended March 31.

MILAN — The performance of Moncler Group in the first three months of the year beat analysts’ expectations, lifted by strong double-digit growth in Asia and gains at its direct-to-consumer channel.

In the period ended March 31, group revenues rose 6 percent to 880.6 million euros compared with 829 million euros in the same period last year. At constant exchange rates, sales rose 12 percent.

“What clearly emerged in the first quarter of this year goes beyond a strong revenue performance: it is the depth of the relationships that our brands continue to build with their communities around the world. In a global context shaped by conflicts and instability, both Moncler and Stone Island have shown strong energy and cultural relevance,” stated executive chairman Remo Ruffini. “This does not happen by chance. It reflects a clear mindset: valuing what makes each brand unique, while constantly evolving and pushing boundaries across products and experiences.”

Ruffini pointed to the arrival of Leo Rongone from Bottega Veneta as chief executive officer, moving into a new phase for the group while maintaining a “very sharp focus,” and “keeping our brands’ integrity firmly at the center of every decision. In an increasingly complex external environment, we remain committed to staying agile and responsive, guided by our clear strategic vision.”

Luciano Santel, group chief corporate and supply officer, and Elena Mariani, group strategic planning and investor relations director, held a conference call with analysts at the end of trading on Tuesday.

“We are happy with the performance in the U.S., where we are still under-penetrated,” said Santel, citing the show of Moncler Grenoble in Aspen, which delivered a good return, opening a store in the town, and the upcoming opening in New York of a sprawling Moncler flagship on Fifth Avenue. “We have great expectations, and it will be a long journey, but we are confident.”

While Asia-Pacific and China were strong for the group, Santel was cautious, saying that he was “not sure the problems in China are over,” impacted by the real estate and available income issues, “but we see more vibe than in the past. China and the Chinese cluster are performing very well for us.” He also cited the group’s “very strong retail organization in China.”

Moncler Revenues

In the first quarter, Moncler revenues were up 6 percent at 766.5 million euros, compared with 721.8 million euros in the first quarter a year ago. At constant currency, sales grew 12 percent.

Revenues in Asia, which includes Asia-Pacific, Japan and Korea, rose 14 percent to 433 million euros (or 22 percent at constant currency), with all countries growing in the quarter and improving sequentially, with China and Korea outperforming.

The Europe, Middle East and Africa region was down 2 percent to 238.5 million, dented by softer tourism and a weak online performance.

Santel and Mariani underscored that March was softer in the EMEA region due to a decline in flights as a consequence of the war in the Middle East, preventing Asians from traveling to Europe, and a natural slower business with the Chinese cluster after Chinese New Year.

Regarding the Middle East, Santel said the region accounts for less than 2 percent of the brand’s revenues and was “significantly down” in light of the war, but that “it did not materially impact overall business.”

Moncler revenues in the Americas decreased 2 percent to 95 million euros, but were up 7 percent at constant exchange, supported by local growth and a good performance at wholesale.

The DTC channel was up 7 percent to 674.5 million euros (or up 14 percent at constant currency).

The wholesale channel reported sales of 92.1 million euros, up 1 percent, supported by a good performance of the spring collection and despite further network optimization.

As of March 31, there were 342 Moncler stores.

Stone Island

Stone Island revenues rose 6 percent to 114.1 million euros, compared with 107.3 million euros. At constant currency sales were up 11 percent.

The brand rose 17 percent in the DTC channel at constant currency, driven by positive organic growth in all regions, with the Americas and Asia outperforming.

The wholesale channel was up 4 percent, supported by a very good reception of the spring 2026 collection.

Stone Island sales in Asia climbed 14 percent to 35.5 million euros, with strong double-digit growth registered in all main countries. At constant currency, revenues in the market rose 25 percent. Santel said this was the third quarter in a row that the brand showed double-digit growth.

Mariani said that the Ghost line that is Stone Island’s “most elevated,” marked by tone-on-tone designs, had grown to reach 10 percent of sales.

EMEA was up 2 percent to 71.1 million euros, with Italy outperforming the rest of the region.

Revenues in the Americas climbed 14 percent to 7.5 million euros, or 24 percent at constant currency.

The DTC channel was up 10 percent to 60.6 million euros, driven by positive growth in all regions, with the Americas and Asia outperforming. The physical channel continued to outperform the online channel across all regions.

The wholesale channel recorded revenues of 53.5 million euros, up 3 percent.

As of March 31, there were 105 Stone Island stores, which included the opening of a store in Naples, Italy, in the quarter.

Piral Dadhania at RBC Europe said Moncler Group revenues were 5 percent ahead of consensus estimates, and, in a first-quarter earnings season for luxury “that has so far been lackluster,” citing LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Kering and Hermès, “Moncler remains a high quality luxury business brand with category-leading credentials in outerwear and apparel. Its execution track record is arguably sector leading, whilst its more recent focus on technical outerwear (Grenoble) should allow it to better participate in the growing outdoor sports segment at the luxury end of the market.”

Referring to Stone Island, the report stated that the brand “appears to have laid the groundwork in recent years to now set the business up for consistent retail driven growth, supported by a credible leadership team and lean business model.”

In terms of the impact of foreign exchange, Santel said he expected an impact of between 3 and 4 percent on the top line by yearend compared with 6 percent so far.

But with war in the Middle East and an AI-dependent stock market, it remains to be seen how solid the market really is.

With the Middle East mired in war, China stuck in recovery mode and Europe showing only middling performance, the luxury sector is building its immediate future on the U.S. market.

But how strong of a foundation is it working with?

Despite a host of troubles — from President Donald Trump’s trade war with the world last year to an actual war in Iran — luxury spending in the U.S. has been holding up pretty well.

The first quarter extended the U.S. luxury rebound that started in mid-2025 and the latest callouts from the big players were good.

Cécile Cabanis, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s chief financial officer, described the trend with American clients as “quite homogeneous,” with improvement throughout the quarter. “We are quite happy with the performance,” he said.

And Kering, which seems to be struggling almost everywhere, marked the U.S. as a bright spot for its Gucci brand. Chief executive officer Luca de Meo told investors, “In the U.S., Gucci regained momentum because the brand is understood. Its identity resonates strongly and its fashion authority remained relatively intact. Clients there instinctively grasp what Gucci stands for. And this clarity fuels both engagement and cultural relevance.”

While the high and mighty — and those working their way back to that status — are feeling OK with the U.S. right now, any outlook for American luxury has to be qualified by some pretty big “Ifs.”

If the stock market holds… If the fallout from the Middle East oil shock doesn’t continue to spread… If the ceasefire with Iran leads to an end of hostilities… If nothing else goes wrong…then the U.S. luxury rebound remains on a solid footing.

And asking the world to stay still for a moment is asking it to break with its recent past.

“It’s important to look at the history a little bit because U.S. demand had been extremely strong immediately post-pandemic,” said Jelena Sokolova, an analyst at Morningstar Equity Research.

From 2019 through 2022, U.S. luxury sales grew by 25 percent annually, a big step up from the historical midsingle-digit rate of expansion, Sokolova said.

“People had extra money, stock markets were good, they couldn’t travel, they couldn’t go out and eat,” she said. “All the savings went into splurging on luxury goods.”

Then came the post-COVID-19 hangover of 2024 and 2025, which reset the market and, helpfully, has made for a much easier set of comparisons for companies looking forward to touting growth again.

And the stock market — a key predictor of luxury spending given the oodles of shares the affluent hold — is seemingly going from strength to strength. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is bumping up against its all-time high and traded above 49,000 on Tuesday.

Still, the stock market is a question mark, especially as it’s been driven by the ravenous spending related to AI, which one way or another promises more disruption in the future.

“The whole AI story, it’s pretty volatile,” Sokolova said. “For now it’s doing well, but a lot of this investment’s also underpinning the economic growth. You’re over-relying on one theme, which is a little bit shaky in terms of generating profits and very, very concentrated. There could be vulnerabilities here in the system for sure.

“It’s a very strong, very consistent recovery” for the luxury consumer in the U.S., she said. “It still remains a young recovery, still a little bit fragile.”

If there’s a canary in the coalmine for the U.S. luxury market — that one indicator that signals where it’s all headed — it’s the stock market, said consultant Nora Kleinewillinghoefer, luxury and fashion lead in Kearney’s consumer practice.

“If we start seeing the markets do something really drastic, that kind of volatility would be where high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth [shoppers] get impacted,” Kleinewillinghoefer said.

Right now, it’s so far, so good.

“I don’t see too much of a swing in the next few months,” she said. “I would say from a global story perspective, that is not the case. Everybody’s still waiting for the China recovery, and I don’t think it’s coming. We’re just settling into a new place where they have their own local brands. They have shifted their consumption patterns.”

The U.S. luxe shopper has also evolved, with aspirational consumers becoming choosier.

“Our ultra-high-net-worth and our high-net-worth individuals definitely are going to continue to be the focus, but in that K-shaped economy, we do still have an aspirational consumer,” Kleinewillinghoefer said.

“Our aspirational consumer is trading up and down depending on the category to be able to survive this sort of next window,” she said. “Also when things get difficult, luxury … On one hand it seems frivolous. On the other hand, it seems like the one reward you can give yourself to make it OK or to make yourself feel good. If you look at Sephora’s Q1 results, they’re growing. They’re doing phenomenally well because people are trading down. It’s still seen as a luxury. It’s buying a $200 beauty product, but it’s not buying a $1,000 handbag.”

Betting on the U.S. might be luxury’s only real opportunity right now — but it’s still a bet.

“The best thing [luxury brands] can do is give people a reason to come to you. The luxury houses need to double down on service and that dream” of luxury, Kleinewillinghoefer said. “Make people feel special, give them a reason to come to you. In the last few years with luxury, the regular price increases, the lack of innovation in the market has sort of made people a little bit disenchanted with the industry.

“Everybody has replaced their creative directors and they’ve made such big investments in sort of repositioning themselves,” she said. “And I think they need to double down on that. Once that bubble of the dream pops, then people just see [luxury] as higher cost goods. And if luxury starts feeling just like higher cost goods, then you’ve lost that edge.”

Without big Medicare insurers, future of program to cover popular obesity drugs had been in question

The Medicare agency will extend a short-term program that will pay for weight-loss drugs such as Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s NOVO.B -4.19%decrease; red down pointing triangle Wegovy, guaranteeing access to the popular medications will continue for seniors next year.

The decision by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services comes after big Medicare insurers signaled that they didn’t initially plan to join a separate, longer-term payment model for the drugs that was supposed to launch at the start of 2027, throwing its future into question.

Instead, the interim Medicare program, which starts in July and was expected to run only until the end of 2026, will continue until the end of 2027. Under this program, the government effectively pays for the medications, rather than adding them to Medicare insurers’ drug plans, which forces the insurers to account for the cost.

A CMS spokeswoman said the agency was extending the short-term program “after listening to stakeholder feedback.” The change will “allow data collection that will support a more effective potential implementation” of the longer-term model.

The decision is good news for manufacturers such as Lilly and Novo Nordisk, which are counting on Medicare coverage to boost sales of their weight-loss drugs. Previously, Medicare Part D plans have been barred from covering weight-loss drugs, which means seniors who want to take them have had to pay several hundred dollars a month out of pocket.

In deals with the Trump administration late last year, both Lilly and Novo Nordisk agreed to provide their weight-loss drugs at a discounted price for Medicare, with eligible beneficiaries paying a $50 monthly copay. The companies expect Medicare coverage will increase the volume of prescriptions, helping to offset the price discounts.

Applications for insurers to join the longer-term Medicare obesity drug program were due Monday. The program was only supposed to launch if plans enrolling about 80% of Medicare beneficiaries joined it. The biggest Medicare insurer, UnitedHealth Group, said Tuesday it had concerns about the model. CVS said Tuesday that it didn’t opt to participate.

CMS still plans to implement the longer-term payment model in Medicaid, and said it was accepting applications from states through the end of July.

Members can get Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Foundayo GLP-1 pills starting at $25 a month with insurance, or $149 a month for cash-pay options

Amazon.com AMZN 0.66%increase; green up pointing triangle is launching a program that provides access to GLP-1 treatments through its One Medical primary care arm.

The company said Tuesday the new program is designed to provide continuing medical supervision—allowing clinicians to monitor progress, adjust treatments and address related health conditions—compared with one-off weight-management solutions from other providers.

With the program, customers can get Novo Nordisk’s NOVO.B -4.19%decrease; red down pointing triangle Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s LLY -1.83%decrease; red down pointing triangle Foundayo GLP-1 pills for weight management starting at $25 a month with insurance coverage, or $149 a month for cash-pay options.

The $149 cash-pay price for a starter dose aligns with those offered through programs from the likes of Hims & Hers Health HIMS -4.03%decrease; red down pointing triangle, Walgreens and Weight Watchers.

Amazon One Medical membership is not required to explore or enroll in the program, including for in-person care or scheduled remote visits, the company said.

Amazon Pharmacy also provides injectable versions of Wegovy and Lilly’s Zepbound. It currently offers same-day delivery for all medications to nearly 3,000 cities and towns, and said it plans to expand to nearly 4,500 by the end of 2026.

“By expanding access to the latest GLP-1 medications with upfront, clear pricing, we’re making it easier for customers to get the treatments their health care providers prescribe and to stay on those medications because they are delivered reliably directly to patients,” said Tanvi Patel, vice president and general manager of Amazon Pharmacy.

Several companies in the booming weight-loss market saw some of their stocks pull back after Amazon’s announcement.

Shares of Hims & Hers closed down 4% at $29.76 on Tuesday. Weight Watchers declined 8.8%, and Novo Nordisk fell 2.6%.

Under Amazon’s new GLP-1 program, patients would receive pre-visit screening, consultations and follow-up visits with integrated monitoring, standardized documentation and treatment algorithms. It is available at Amazon One Medical locations across the U.S., the company said.

Customers who aren’t Amazon One Medical primary care patients can also get prescription renewals through on-demand telehealth services, starting at $29 for message consultations or $49 for video care.

With incoming chief John Ternus, Apple is doubling down on hardware in the age of AI

Apple’s AAPL -2.52%decrease; red down pointing triangle chief-executive-to-be, John Ternus, is a hardware guy. Though we can’t say for sure what his tenure will bring, there seems to be consensus: putting the focus back on the devices.

On Monday, the company said Ternus will take over the top spot from Tim Cook in September.

Ternus joined as a mechanical engineer in 2001, before ascending to the leadership team in 2013. Yet even in the subsequent years, as software ate the world, Apple built its preeminence in consumer electronics on hardware. You might use services from Google, Meta, Amazon.com, Netflix and Microsoft, but there’s a good chance you access them on an Apple phone, laptop or tablet—or all three. And now, with artificial intelligence at every turn, Apple is showing that its own emphasis on hardware will keep it in the game.

Hence putting the hardware guy in charge. Even if Apple’s software guy, Craig Federighi, has the charisma (and the hair). In a world where you can vibe-code software in minutes, Apple entrenching its market position as a maker of first-rate physical things makes sense.

But Ternus will need to do more than just keep the iPhone machine running. Like Cook, Ternus will have to navigate complex geopolitics threatening Apple’s supply chain and face regulatory battles around the world. And he’ll have to figure out how Apple hardware fits in the AI-enabled future.

Here’s what we can glean about Apple’s next chapter from Ternus’s past roles and his impending ascension.

The hardware moat

The generative-AI revolution has transformed nearly every aspect of our lives, yet Apple has been slower on the uptake, with meh Apple Intelligence features and a delayed smarter Siri.

However, as AI companies feud, Apple is doubling down on its strength in premium hardware with Ternus’s selection. The company’s CEO-succession press release touted the budget-friendly, $599 MacBook Neo as a recent Ternus accomplishment.

As rivals in the PC category faced memory-chip shortage pains, Apple leveraged an old iPhone chip and its supply-chain clout to gain ground, offering its own cheap and cheerful products for the masses. The Neo is so popular you currently have to wait a couple of weeks to get one.

The company has been running the table on the low-end and the high-end. Ternus was also responsible for the latest iPhone 17 lineup, where the most expensive Pro and Pro Max models sold faster than in previous years, according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners.

It’s not all roses, though. The iPhone Air was a sales disappointment. And another product that pointed to a promising future—the Vision Pro augmented-reality headset—has yet to wow the masses.

Apple has some big bets coming up, including a folding iPhone, a dedicated smart-home hub and—eventually—smart glasses, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities. (Apple declined to comment on future products.)

Ternus will have to channel the same product vision that produced the company’s biggest hits. It’s hard to look to a future beyond the iPhone, but the person taking the helm will have to.

“The question is not about the short- and medium-term business, but how will Apple pivot to new growth engines when the steam from the iPhone begins to fade,” says Francisco Jeronimo, vice president at research firm IDC.

AI in your hand

Ternus has an opportunity to take a lead where others haven’t: private, on-device AI.

Apple silicon employs what’s called “unified memory,” which puts the main processor, graphics card and RAM on a single chip, reducing lag and increasing bandwidth. This architecture makes Macs an ideal host for running AI’s large language models locally.

The cost and capability advantages of the efficient chips is what turned the Mac Mini into a hit with AI zealots.

Johny Srouji, who was previously in charge of Apple’s silicon efforts, is moving up to oversee all hardware engineering, effective immediately. Compared with the Ternus promotion, securing Srouji for the foreseeable future is “as or more important,” says Patrick Moorhead, an industry analyst. “Silicon is Apple’s biggest current differentiator.”

There are worthy adversaries, including Apple’s own ex-design chief Jony Ive, who is working on a device for OpenAI. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported it won’t be a phone, and will help wean users from screens. It’s unlikely that OpenAI will be able to conjure Apple’s semiconductor operation overnight, though perhaps it will lean on its partnership with Nvidia—which makes well-regarded mobile AI processors.

The next big test will be when Siri gets new smarts later this year, due in part to a collaboration with Google that Apple announced in January.

The company has long touted privacy as a defining value, particularly in its health and messaging apps. Privacy is something that AI living in the cloud can’t easily offer. If Apple can run a Siri with Google’s Gemini smarts right on its Macs, iPhones and iPads, that could set the company on the right path toward AI success—with Ternus carrying the banner.

We might not have to wait long to find out: Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, where it shows off its next operating systems, kicks off June 8.

The Trump administration also suspended security cooperation with Baghdad in an escalating pressure campaign

WASHINGTON—The Trump administration has suspended U.S. dollar shipments to Iraq and frozen security cooperation programs with its military, escalating the pressure on Baghdad to dismantle powerful Iranian-backed militias, said Iraqi and U.S. officials.

A cargo-plane delivery of nearly $500 million in U.S. banknotes, the proceeds from Iraqi oil sales from Federal Reserve Bank of New York accounts, was blocked recently by Treasury Department officials because of U.S. concerns about the militias, some of the officials said.

It was the second scheduled shipment of dollars to the Central Bank of Iraq delayed by the U.S. since the start of the Iran war in late February, the U.S. and Iraqi officials said. It came after weeks of militia attacks on American facilities in Iraq and neighboring countries in a show of support for Tehran.

The U.S. has informed Baghdad that it was also suspending funding for some counterterrorism and armed forces training programs until the militia attacks stop and Iraqi officials take steps to dismantle the armed groups, the U.S. and Iraqi officials said.

The moves highlight the pressure on Baghdad to align itself more closely with Washington and downgrade its close ties with Tehran since the beginning of the nearly eight week U.S. and Israeli war against Iran.

In a statement Tuesday that didn’t allude to the suspended deliveries, the Central Bank of Iraq said it wasn’t short of U.S. currency. It had “fulfilled all requests from banks and exchange companies for U.S. dollars,” the bank said.

After the invasion of 2003, Washington agreed to hold Iraq’s earnings from oil sales—tens of billions a year—at the New York Fed. To circulate the proceeds back into Iraq, the Fed began shipping as much as $13 billion a year in cash to Baghdad to keep its heavily cash-based economy functioning.

The U.S. shut off the cash deliveries briefly in 2015 over concerns that dollars were being funneled to Islamic State militants and has threatened to suspend the shipments in the past. Though Baghdad has reduced its reliance on dollars, cargo planes still deliver pallets of U.S. currency to the Iraqi central bank, giving the U.S. leverage to try to force Baghdad to reckon with the militias.

U.S. officials say the hold on Iraq’s dollar shipments is temporary, but they didn’t say what specific steps Baghdad needs to take for the deliveries to resume.

“The Iraqi government’s failure to prevent these attacks while some elements associated with the Iraqi government continue to actively provide political, financial and operational cover for the militias adversely impacts the U.S.-Iraq relationship,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said. “The United States will not tolerate attacks on U.S. interests and expects the Iraqi government to immediately take all measures to dismantle the Iran-aligned militia groups in Iraq.”

Iraqi militias have attempted hundreds of small-scale drone and rocket attacks since the war began, including against a U.S. military base and consulate in northern Iraq and a State Department facility at the Baghdad International Airport. U.S. officials blamed pro-Iran groups in Iraq for an attempted drone ambush on a U.S. security convoy involved in transporting a freed American hostage out of the country earlier this month.

The U.S. has been conducting airstrikes against militia groups in Iraq since the Iran war began.

The Pentagon has substantially reduced its military footprint in Iraq in recent years, moving most of its remaining forces to bases in northern Iraq. But the U.S. has continued to provide intelligence about Islamic State to the Iraqi military and to assist Iraq’s armed forces with training and equipment.

Iraq’s most potent militias, including the Badr Brigade, Kataib Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl al-Haq, have enormous influence within Iraq’s government and financial sectors. Baghdad is in the midst of choosing a new prime minister, and the militias, as well as Tehran, are pressing for candidates who will maintain close ties with Iran. Some militia units have been incorporated formally into Iraq’s armed forces, making it hard for any prime minister to challenge them.

Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who has served as prime minister since 2022, has sought Washington’s backing for a second term but has also been careful about not assailing the militias power.

The militias are also beneficiaries of Iraq’s access to U.S. dollars. More than two dozen Iraqi banks, many with close ties to the militias, were banned in 2023 and 2024 by the Treasury for siphoning off dollars from Iraq’s Fed accounts, using fraudulent wire transfers.

The militias were later involved in acquiring huge quantities of MasterCards and Visas loaded with funds in Iraq. They arranged to transport the cards to the United Arab Emirates and other neighboring countries and withdraw the money as dollars. The armed groups then transferred the cash back to Iraq, exchanged it for dinars and profited from the currency arbitrage, Treasury said.

Iraq’s Shia militias grew out of the chaos after the U.S. invasion more than two decades ago. They defended Shia areas against attacks by Sunni militants and fought American forces that their leaders denounced as occupiers. Iran funneled arms to many of the groups, which later took on a role in fighting Islamic State fighters who swept into Iraq from Syria in 2014.

In January, President Trump warned that he would cut off U.S. assistance to Iraq if Nouri Al-Maliki, a former prime minister with close ties to Iran, returned to the job. Maliki recently withdrew his candidacy and his coalition, a group of Shia parties with varying degrees of allegiance to Iran called the Coordination Framework, has put forward another candidate, Bassem al-Badri, a senior member of Maliki’s Dawa Party.

Deutsche Telekom examines merger with T-Mobile US

Combined company might seek a listing in the US and Europe

Deutsche Telekom is considering a merger with its American mobile arm T-Mobile US in a move which would create one of the world’s largest telecoms groups and strengthen its hand in future dealmaking.

Deutsche Telekom has been discussing the idea of establishing a new holding company which would make an all-stock bid for shares of both its existing operations and those of New York-listed T-Mobile US, said two people familiar with the matter. The German telecoms group is already the largest shareholder in T-Mobile US, with a 53 per cent stake.

The deal under consideration — which could potentially rank as one of the largest pieces of public market dealmaking — would create a corporate entity controlling Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile US.

The holding company would likely be headquartered in a European country other than Germany, one of the people briefed on the situation said.

The company might seek a US and a major European stock exchange listing. Bloomberg first reported that Deutsche Telekom was considering a full combination with T-Mobile US.

Deutsche Telekom, Europe’s largest telecoms group with a market capitalisation of more than €142bn, has relied heavily on the growth of T-Mobile US, which merged with rival Sprint in 2020.

T-Mobile US, which has a market value of $215bn, was once a smaller player in America but now competes directly with market leaders Verizon and AT&T.

Discussions about combining Deutsche Telekom and T-Mobile US are at a preliminary stage, one person with knowledge of the talks said.

Another said the two companies have considered a full tie-up for years and there was no certainty a deal would proceed.

Any transaction may require political and regulatory approval in Germany and the US, other people said.

The German government owns about 14 per cent of Deutsche Telekom, while the country’s state development bank KfW controls a similar shareholding, giving officials a significant voice in any transaction.

The two companies jointly said: “As per our usual practice, T-Mobile and [Deutsche Telekom] do not comment on speculation regarding our corporate activity, nor are there specifics to comment on.”

Deutsche Telekom chief executive Tim Höttges, who also chairs T-Mobile US, has regularly touted the American market as being more favourable to mobile operators because of its consolidated nature compared with European equivalents.

James Ratzer, analyst at New Street Research, said any tie-up involving T-Mobile US would give Deutsche Telekom “more control over future [mergers and acquisitions] in the US”.

“This deal strengthens DT’s long-term position as a European shareholder in the US as it also makes it harder for anyone to ever make an offer to buy out T-Mobile in future US consolidation,” he added.

Anthropic investigating unauthorised access of powerful Mythos AI model

Start-up has limited the release of the new tool because of concerns about its hacking abilities

Anthropic is investigating whether a group of users gained unauthorised access to its Claude Mythos model, which was only released to a handful of trusted companies because of its advanced cyber security capabilities.

The AI lab on Tuesday said it was looking into reports that a group of people had accessed the model through a system set for third-party companies doing work for Anthropic.

The company said: “We’re investigating a report claiming unauthorised access to Claude Mythos Preview through one of our third-party vendor environments.”

The incident raises concerns about whether the $380bn AI lab can keep the technology it develops out of the hands of bad actors.

Anthropic limited the release of Claude Mythos Preview to a small group of trusted tech companies, citing the risk of people misusing the model to conduct cyber attacks at a scale and speed beyond human capabilities.

The risk of unauthorised access will add to anxiety about Mythos, which has sent shockwaves through the markets and prompted high-level discussions among financial institutions and global regulators.

One of the people who gained unauthorised access was able to use their permissions as a contractor for Anthropic to tap into Mythos, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the incident.

Anthropic said it had no evidence of activity extending beyond the “vendor environment”, which third parties use to access systems for model development.

AI labs commonly use third-party contractors for tasks such as model testing, although it was not clear which vendor was involved in the incident.

Anthropic launched Mythos earlier this month to companies including Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Cisco and CrowdStrike.

The San Francisco-based company said these partners would be able to detect and secure cyber vulnerabilities using Mythos’s advanced capabilities before the model was released to the public.

Security experts have cautioned that, in the wrong hands, hackers could exploit bugs faster than organisations can fix them.

Anthropic’s security processes have been under intense scrutiny after descriptions of the model, including its name, were discovered in a publicly accessible data cache in March. The AI lab blamed human error.

Earlier this month, internal source code for the company’s coding assistant Claude Code was also made public in a second incident.

SpaceX obtains right to buy AI start-up Cursor for $60bn

Elon Musk’s rocket and AI conglomerate is seeking to catch up to rivals OpenAI and Anthropic

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has struck a deal for the right to acquire code-editing start-up Cursor for $60bn in an attempt to catch up with AI rivals months before the rocket maker’s initial public offering.

SpaceX said the companies were working together “to create the world’s best coding and knowledge work AI” and that it had an option to buy Anysphere, Cursor’s parent company, for $60bn this year.

If SpaceX decides not to proceed, it would pay $10bn “for our work together” — which would in effect be among the largest termination fees in history.

Cursor was valued at $29bn in November and has been one of the fastest-growing start-ups in Silicon Valley since it launched in 2022.

Musk is hoping Cursor’s customer base of software engineers and expertise in AI coding tools will help him reel in AI rivals whose models have outstripped those produced by his xAI lab.

The billionaire founded xAI in 2023 to take on OpenAI and Anthropic, and has since merged the group with SpaceX, which is gearing up for a record-breaking IPO this summer.

The Tesla chief executive has embarked on a dealmaking spree over the past year, melding parts of his disparate business empire into a single entity spanning space exploration, infrastructure, social media and AI.

He merged his social media platform X with xAI in an all-stock deal in March last year, before rolling both into SpaceX in February in a deal valuing the combined entity at $1.25tn.

The flurry of deals over the past 12 months — including Tuesday’s announcement — adds to the challenge for public market investors and underwriters appraising the combined group’s valuation.

SpaceX’s IPO is expected to value the group at $1.75tn, the largest flotation of all time.

Acquiring xAI has complicated SpaceX’s financial picture. The AI lab lost $6.4bn in 2025, up from $1.56bn in 2024, according to a person with knowledge of the company’s financials.

Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet business, posted operating profit of $4.42bn last year, up from $2bn in 2024, they added.

Musk has proposed maintaining control over the entire group via special voting shares, the person added.

The deal with Cursor would bring SpaceX a “leading product and distribution to expert software engineers”, the company said.

Cursor will make use of SpaceX’s massive computing resources to continue developing its own coding model Composer, launched late last year.

Oskar Schulz, Anysphere’s president, said: “We think SpaceX is basically the best company in the world when it comes to building out compute. The feats they have been able to pull off are extraordinary.”

Musk has been behind some of the most ambitious infrastructure projects of recent years, including the supercomputer Colossus in Memphis, which was developed in 122 days.

He has staked SpaceX’s future on developing data centres in space, arguing that satellites fed by solar energy and naturally kept cool in orbit will be the cheapest way to power AI.

Cursor’s annualised revenue surpassed $2bn earlier this year on the strength of its tools designed to increase the productivity of software engineers. The company uses AI models built by OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI and Google to power these products.

Its business has been squeezed as these leading labs rapidly rolled out new versions of their own coding models, such as OpenAI’s Codex and Anthropic’s Claude Code.

Cursor has developed its own Composer model. It emerged last month that the newest version of Composer was built on top of an open-source model from Chinese start-up Moonshot AI.

Mining company firms up copper guidance in Mike Henry’s final results as chief executive

BHP has struck a deal with China’s powerful state-owned minerals buyer after months of intense talks that barred Chinese steel mills from purchasing some of its iron ore.

The Australian mining company said on Wednesday that talks with China Mineral Resources Group, the centralised purchasing agency that controls most of the country’s metals imports, had been “concluded” without providing more detail on the agreement.

Mike Henry, BHP’s outgoing chief executive, and Brandon Craig, who takes over in July, travelled to China this month to meet officials and steel industry partners.

The deal, which is expected to run to 2027 according to one person familiar with the arrangement, resolves a key uncertainty for BHP.

Its third-quarter production report showed that Jimblebar iron ore shipments — the grade targeted by China Minerals Resources — almost halved compared with the second quarter and had declined by 10 per cent in the first nine months of the year.

However, that shortfall was made up by a stronger performance at BHP’s other iron ore mines, with overall production up 2 per cent. 

JPMorgan said in a note that the China Minerals Resources deal was a “key positive” given iron pricing had remained “solid” during the quarter. 

The results, which also showed strong copper and gold production, were the final set of numbers delivered by Henry, who has run the world’s largest mining company since 2020. BHP said that copper production — a key part of Henry’s growth strategy — would be at the upper end of its guidance.

Henry said the refocusing of the business, including the sale of some coal mines and striking offtake deals for precious metals, had strengthened its balance sheet at a time of global uncertainty. 

“Our centralised procurement capability and our low-cost operations have positioned us advantageously in the face of industry-wide pressure on the cost of energy and consumables as a result of the conflict in the Middle East,” he said.

The war has hit the mining sector in countries including Australia as supplies of diesel and other vital ingredients including sulphuric acid have been constrained. The largest companies have thus far been able to absorb the impact though. 

Rio Tinto said this week that its copper production had risen 9 per cent and that the direct impact of higher fuel and supply costs had been “limited”.

BHP shares were almost 1 per cent higher in Sydney on Wednesday and have gained more than 22 per cent this year, valuing the company at A$284bn.