France’s TotalEnergies Walks Away From U.S. Offshore Wind in Boost to Trump’s Push Against Windpower
The energy company says it will instead invest in the development of oil and gas production in the U.S.
- TotalEnergies will no longer develop U.S. offshore wind projects, citing the Trump administration’s opposition and high costs.
- TotalEnergies will invest around $1 billion from relinquished lease fees into U.S. oil and gas production.
- Offshore wind projects faced challenges in 2023, with Orsted, Equinor, and BP booking nearly $5 billion in impairments.
TotalEnergies TTE -1.25%decrease; red down pointing triangle said it would no longer develop any offshore wind-power projects in the U.S., bowing to efforts by the Trump administration to curtail a sector the president opposes.
The French energy major said Monday that it had reached agreements with the U.S. Department of the Interior to relinquish its leases at Carolina Long Bay and New York Bight.
“As a result, TotalEnergies will no longer develop offshore wind projects in the United States,” it said.
The decision aligns with the Trump administration’s energy policy, said Patrick Pouyanne, the company’s chief executive.
“Considering that the development of offshore wind projects is not in the country’s interest, we have decided to renounce offshore wind development in the United States,” Pouyanne said.
President Trump has long opposed offshore wind developments and his administration last year ordered a halt to construction on all projects in the sector, many of which are operated by European energy firms. Denmark’s Orsted, a major developer, and Norwegian oil-and-gas giant Equinor have both been granted legal approval to continue construction after filing an injunction against the order at the start of the year.
TotalEnergies will be repaid the lease fees it paid, and will invest an equal amount in the development of oil and gas production in the U.S., it said. The funds will be used in part to develop a plant producing liquefied natural gas at Rio Grande in Texas, Pouyanne said.
The redirected investment is worth around $1 billion, the Interior Department said.
“We welcome TotalEnergies’ commitment to developing projects that produce dependable, affordable power to lower Americans’ monthly bills while providing secure U.S. baseload power today-and in the future,” Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said.
Even before Trump returned to office last year, offshore projects had proved a headache for many energy firms. In 2023, Orsted, Equinor and British major BP booked impairments totaling nearly $5 billion as costs spiraled, suppliers lagged and regulators refused to allow firms to haggle for higher power-purchase prices.
The costs for development of offshore turbine farms now look too high to be worth continuing, TotalEnergies said.
“Since other technologies are available to meet the growing demand for electricity in the United States in a more affordable way, TotalEnergies considers there is no need to allocate capital to this technology in the U.S.,” the company said.
Porsche Planning New Flagship Models Above 911 and Cayenne Lines
With operating profits crumbling, Porsche is turning to higher-margin products to help reverse its falling revenue.
Porsche
- Porsche is planning to launch new flagship models above the 911 and Cayenne lineups, CEO Michael Leiters hinted at an annual press conference.
- The automaker is chasing higher-margin vehicles to slow its falling revenue, which saw a huge drop in operating profit last year.
- The flagship SUV will likely be the three-row K1 model that Porsche first spoke about in 2022, with the other model serving as a successor to the 918 Spyder.
Have you ever started on a project, bought all the tools and materials you needed to complete it, gotten 90 percent of the way there, and then decided to scrap it and start all over again? Suddenly, the project that was supposed to take one week and cost $200 will now take you three weeks and cost $400.
Porsche just went through something similar, but instead of losing a few hundred bucks, the automaker recorded 5 billion euros (about $5.8 billion U.S.) less profit in 2025 than it did in 2024. Because of that, new Porsche CEO Michael Leiters is looking at higher-margin vehicles to get profits back where they used to be.
"We are looking at models and derivatives both above our current two-door sports cars and above the Cayenne," Leiters said at Porsche's annual conference. Unfortunately, the executive didn't get much more specific than that, and a spokesperson for Porsche declined a request from Car and Driver to expand on Leiters' comment. The potential new model above the Cayenne is pretty clearly the three-row K1 SUV that Porsche has been talking about for several years, but a new model above the two-door sports car lineup is more open-ended.
That could mean a more expensive and exclusive variant of the 911. We're due for a GT2 RS, after all. But Leiters's comments could also hint at something more akin to a 918 Spyder successor. With Ferrari launching the F80 and McLaren building the W1, it's now Porsche's turn to create the sort of tantalizing halo car that leaves jaws on the floor and sends the inner ear running for help.
Porsche hasn't left us many clues about what that potential halo model could be. The automaker has patented several new engine technologies in the past two years, first a six-stroke design in 2024, followed by a tri-turbo W-18 with three cylinder banks. Neither appears to be poised for production, but Porsche's been known to throw a curveball before.
The electric Mission X concept from 2023 could point to Porsche's plans, but given the lack of interest in ultra-high-end electric cars, it seems like an unlikely candidate for production. If the automaker was willing to pull any old ideas off the shelf, Porsche could also revive the twin-turbo 5.0-liter flat-eight engine that it was developing for use in a 918 successor. Unfortunately, Porsche said that the powertrain wasn't right for the company at the time and suddenly canceled the project during development. Given its current financial situation, perhaps Porsche will find it more economical to dust off a half-developed engine than to design something from the ground up.
Details surrounding the K1 are light, but they're clearer than anything we have on Porsche's next supercar. Rather than launching with an electric powertrain as originally planned, the K1 will arrive with both gasoline and plug-in hybrid setups. We know the new SUV will feature three rows, and while it was initially supposed to launch in 2027, the extra development time needed to convert the K1 from an EV could have pushed that arrival time back.
Gilead nears up to $2bn deal for autoimmune biotech Ouro Medicines
California-based drugmaker takes advantage of surging share price to strike takeovers after a quiet couple of years
Gilead Sciences is nearing an acquisition of autoimmune disease-focused biotech Ouro Medicines for up to $2bn, as the California-based drugmaker kick-starts a dealmaking spree emboldened by a near-record high share price.
Under the terms of the deal being discussed, Gilead will pay privately held Ouro’s investors roughly $1.5bn upfront in cash and at least an extra $500mn if certain clinical trial milestones are hit, said people familiar with the matter.
Talks are at an advanced stage and a deal could be announced in the coming days, the people said. However, the terms and timeline could shift.
Gilead and Ouro did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
If a deal materialises, it will be Gilead’s second acquisition in the past month following its $7.8bn takeover of biotech Arcellx, with which it had an existing partnership to develop a novel cell therapy for patients with the blood cancer multiple myeloma.
Unencumbered by imminent drug patent expirations and emboldened by the strong performance of its HIV medicines franchise, Gilead is positioning itself to strike more biotech deals under chief executive Daniel O’Day after a quiet couple of years.
O’Day in February said before the Arcellx deal that while Gilead “may not have the urgency of other companies in the sector . . . that we very much want to continue to add to our pipeline with appropriate [mergers and acquisitions] over the course of the coming years as well”.
Shares in Gilead are up 28 per cent over the past year, giving the drugmaker a market capitalisation of $170.5bn, eclipsing that of rival pharmaceutical group Pfizer.
Ouro is testing an antibody treatment in early-stage trials that could be used to combat major autoimmune diseases such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. The biotech’s investors include private equity group TPG, UK drugmaker GSK and venture capital firm Monograph Capital. The company raised $120mn in a private funding round in January 2025.
Biotech dealmaking has been booming in recent months as the wider pharmaceutical industry grapples with hundreds of billions of dollars of medicines collectively coming off patents in the next few years.
Under the leadership of O’Day, Gilead, best known as an innovator in the treatment of HIV with Biktarvy and Yeztugo, has focused its dealmaking strategy on acquisitions that boost its oncology portfolio, including its $21bn purchase of Immunomedics in 2020 and $4.3bn takeover of CymaBay Therapeutics in 2024.
Tech M&A Chilled by AI, Inflation Fears
The Takeaway
- Tech M&A is depressed by AI, debt turmoil, stock sell-off
- SpaceX acquisition of xAI is more than half of quarterly volume
- Activism, AI were hot topics at annual deal conference at Tulane University
This year hasn’t lived up to the high expectations of the bankers and lawyers that advise tech companies on acquisitions. One major culprit is fear of AI-driven irrelevance, which has paralyzed corporate CEOs, according to some bankers and lawyers gathered in New Orleans for the annual Tulane Corporate Law Institute conference.
“I have a lot of clients who are not doing M&A right now because of all the uncertainty around how AI is going to affect their business and the business of potential targets,” said Scott Barshay, chairman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, on a panel. The New York–based law firm advises large companies, including some tech businesses.
There’s one area, however, where AI has been a boon to mergers and acquisitions: the increased interest in buying companies that aim to solve the technology’s seemingly insatiable demand for energy and computing power, bankers said. Some recent deals include those for data center developers.
So far this year, the volume of tech acquisitions announced or closed so far in the first quarter totalled $375 billion. But about two-thirds of that figure was due to one large deal: the acquisition by Elon Musk’s SpaceX of his AI lab, xAI, for $250 billion.
The number of deals, meanwhile, is on pace to fall from last year’s total. So far in the quarter, 735 companies have made acquisitions in which the buyer, the seller or both were in tech; for all of last year, there were more than 4,133 tech acquisitions.
Of course, it isn’t just AI that’s stalling dealmaking. Stock market volatility has made it difficult to price potential acquisitions. Plus, potential buyers are worried that the war in Iran, which has caused oil prices to spike, could lead to higher interest rates—making it more expensive to borrow for funding acquisitions.
They’ve already seen some debt-backed deals run into trouble. For instance, software firm Qualtrics’ planned acquisition of data analytics firm Press Ganey Forsta looks to be stalled after banks led by JPMorgan Chase halted talks with investors to lend $5.3 billion for the acquisition, according to Bloomberg.
What’s more, troubles at Blue Owl have rattled another class of big buyers of tech companies: private equity. Blue Owl and other private credit companies are lenders to private equity buyouts, but a rush of redemptions at some of their funds has limited their financing abilities.
But there are bright spots. The area of power production is ripe for plenty of M&A action as the industry is “massively short of electricity,” said Stephan Feldgoise, head of global M&A at Goldman Sachs, in a keynote speech at the Tulane conference.
Already this year, U.K.-based cloud provider Nscale agreed to buy American Intelligence & Power, a company that is developing a data center complex in West Virginia. Earlier in March, an investor consortium including BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners and Swedish private firm EQT agreed to buy energy provider AES for about $10.7 billion in cash.
And bankers and lawyers at the conference expect several more acquisitions of companies that support AI data centers, from energy providers to real estate firms to those that provide liquid cooling, in the months ahead.
The AI-fueled software crash has boosted demand for bankers and lawyers for another purpose: to defend businesses against activist investors. These investors, smelling blood in the water after some companies’ stocks dropped 70% or more in a year, are expected to take stakes in enterprise software companies to pressure them to sell.
In early December, Starboard Value took a 5% stake in Clearwater Analytics, a provider of tech for investment professionals, and urged the company to sell itself. Later in the month, Permira and Warburg Pincus took Clearwater Analytics private for $8.4 billion.
Bankers said the vulnerable targets include HubSpot, which was down more than 50% over the past 12 months, though its shares have recovered a bit in the past month.
OnlyFans owner Leonid Radvinsky dies at 43
Ukrainian-American billionaire bought majority stake in controversial porn streaming platform in
OnlyFans owner Leonid Radvinsky has died aged 43 after a long battle with cancer, the UK company said on Monday.
The Ukrainian-American entrepreneur acquired Fenix International, the company that owns and operates the UK porn streaming platform, in 2018.
He remained a director and the majority shareholder of the company, whose strong performance has been fuelled by demand for its adult content, making it one of the UK’s biggest but most controversial tech successes.
OnlyFans has transformed the porn industry by offering content creators a platform to reach their audience directly and taking a 20 per cent cut of the revenues. The content creators, mostly adult entertainers, keep the remaining 80 per cent.
Florida-based Radvinsky was regularly paid one of the largest dividends issued by any private company in the UK, where OnlyFans remained based despite making the bulk of its profit in the US. The reclusive Ukrainian acquired the business from British father and son Guy and Tim Stokely, who founded the platform in 2016.
OnlyFans paid out a record $701mn in dividends last year alone to the Ukraine-born billionaire. It also pays corporation tax in the UK.
Radvinsky had been in talks over a potential multibillion-dollar sale of a majority stake in the streaming platform. In 2022, he considered taking OnlyFans public via a blank-cheque vehicle, although the deal was never completed.
Since 2024, his shares in the company have been held in a trust.
“We are deeply saddened to announce the death of Leo Radvinsky. Leo passed away peacefully after a long battle with cancer,” the company said. “His family have requested privacy at this difficult time.”
Since the site was founded in 2016, OnlyFans has paid out more than $25bn to creators. Last year, it generated $7.2bn from the “fans” that use their site, which pay subscriptions to the content creators as well as offer tips and payment for special requests.
Celebrities also use the platform to make money from their fans, including the tennis player Nick Kyrgios and the singer Kate Nash.
In 2022, OnlyFans backed down from a plan to ban porn from its platform to focus on its “safe for work” content from sports stars and celebrities, with many workers in the adult industry relying heavily on it to make their living.
Gapping down
Other news:
- VALN -31.1% (Pfizer and Valneva (VALN) report Phase 3 VALOR Trial)
- USO -7.5% (Crude oil falling after President Trump says US and Iran have had, over the last two days, very good and productive conversations)
- PBR -4.6% (announces results in the third Capacity Reserve Auction)
- FUBO -2.7% (discloses that its Board approved a 1-for-12 reverse stock split)
- VCTR -2% (Victory Capital sets the record straight on actionability of its clearly superior proposal to acquire Janus Henderson (JHG))
- PRTA -1.1% (partners present data supporting next generation treatments for Parkinson's and Alzheimer's Disease at AD/PD 2026)
Gapping up
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
- IDR +3.1%, LAR +1.7%
Other news:
- APGE +16.8% (reports Phase 2 Part A 52-Week Data of Zumilokibart (APG777), demonstrating maintenance and deepening of responses with Every 3- and 6-Month Dosing in Moderate-to-Severe Atopic Dermatitis3)
- INSM +10.2% (announces positive topline results from phase 3b ENCORE study of ARIKAYCE)
- USAR +5.1% (USA Rare Earth, Compass unit team up to boost domestic magnet supply chain)
- IWM +3.8% (President Trump says US and Iran have had, over the last two days, very good and productive conversations)
- BANC +3.6% (Board of Directors approved an extension of the Company's existing stock repurchase program, which was originally announced on March 17, 2025 and subsequently upsized from $150 mln to $300 mln on April 23, 2025)
- KNF +3.5% (expands Montana footprint with third 2026 acquisition, deepens aggregates position)
- BITF +3.2% (shareholders approve U.S. redomiciliation plan)
- COCO +3.1% (Vita Coco (COCO) will replace TEGNA (TGNA) in the S&P SmallCap 600)
- PNR +2.9% (David Jones, Chair of the Board, to retire; T. Michael Glenn named as next Chair)
- J +2.9% (completes acquisition of the remaining stake in PA Consulting; Continues to expect transaction to be accretive to adjusted EPS in the first 12 months after close) SLS +2.7% (files mixed securities shelf offering)
- ANPA +2.6% (files for 3,751,755 ordinary share offering by selling shareholders)
- GRAB +2.5% (to acquire Delivery Hero's foodpanda delivery business in Taiwan in cash for $600 million)
- BZ +2.3% (expands buyback program, boosts shareholder return commitment)
- QQQ +2.2% (President Trump says US and Iran have had, over the last two days, very good and productive conversations)
- PPHC +2.1% (to acquire WPI Strategy Limited; announces share cancellation and executive appointment)
- SPY +2.1% (President Trump says US and Iran have had, over the last two days, very good and productive conversations)
- DIA +2.1% (President Trump says US and Iran have had, over the last two days, very good and productive conversations)
- JHG +2% (Victory Capital sets the record straight on actionability of its clearly superior proposal to acquire Janus Henderson (JHG))
- VTRS +2% (secures Japan approval for Effexor in GAD, unlocking new mental health market)
- ALAB +1.9% (files for 5,578,474 share common stock offering by selling shareholders)
- AVAV +1.9% (awarded a $117.3 mln US Army contract for P550 Long Range Reconnaissance systems)
- NBIS +1.8% (closes $4.3 bln convertible notes offering)
Early premarket gappers
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Gapping up:
- APGE +18.1%, PPHC +5.8%, COCO +2.1%, BZ +1.8%, KRG +1.6%, IDYA +1.5%, NVGS +1.3%, PNR +1.2%, GT +0.8%, RGNX +0.6%
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Gapping down:
- FUBO -6.2%, MUX -5.5%, EVO -5.3%, UEC -4.9%, ALMU -4.7%, STM -4.6%, SMCI -4.5%, PRTA -4%, NBIS -3.9%, ELE -3.6%, PHG -3.4%, ALAB -2.7%, USGO -2.7%, GSK -2.2%, VCTR -2%, BITF -1.8%, NUS -1.7%, NVS -1.6%, SLS -1.5%, OMER -1.3%, GRAB -1.1%, KNF -1%
Research Calls I
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Upgrades:
- AeroVironment (AVAV) upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at Raymond James
- APA Corp. (APA) upgraded to Equal Weight from Underweight at Barclays, tgt $35
- Banco Santander (SAN) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley
- Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (BIP) upgraded to Overweight at Morgan Stanley, tgt $45
- Celldex Therapeutics (CLDX) upgraded to Outperform from Peer Perform at Wolfe Research, tgt $44
- Cheniere Energy (LNG) upgraded to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley, tgt $313
- Colony Bankcorp (CBAN) upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Brean Capital
- MongoDB (MDB) upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Mizuho, tgt $325
- MoonLake Immunotherapeutics (MLTX) upgraded to Outperform from Underperform at Wolfe Research, tgt $24
- Valvoline (VVV) upgraded to Buy from Hold at Stifel, tgt $42
- Venture Global (VG) upgraded to Overweight from Underweight at Morgan Stanley, tgt $22
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Downgrades:
- AvePoint (AVPT) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair
- Backblaze (BLZE) downgraded to Underperform from Outperform at William Blair
- Beiersdorf (BDRFF) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Berenberg
- Box (BOX) downgraded to Mkt Perform from Outperform at William Blair
- Brookfield Infrastructure (BIPC) downgraded to Underweight at Morgan Stanley, tgt $45
- Brookfield Renewable (BEPC) downgraded to Underweight at Morgan Stanley, tgt $42
- China Eastern Airlines (CEA) downgraded to Underweight from Neutral at JPMorgan
- Commvault Systems (CVLT) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair
- Crown Castle (CCI) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Wells Fargo, tgt $85
- Dropbox (DBX) downgraded to Underperform from Mkt Perform at William Blair
- GitLab (GTLB) downgraded to Underperform from Outperform at William Blair
- Gossamer Bio (GOSS) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at Cantor Fitzgerald
- ING Groep (ING) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Morgan Stanley
- Mereo BioPharma (MREO) downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at JPMorgan
- N-able (NABL) downgraded to Underperform from Outperform at William Blair
- National Grid (NGG) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman
- Nutanix (NTNX) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair
- PG&E (PCG) downgraded to Hold from Buy at Jefferies, tgt $19
- SSE (SSEZY) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at Goldman
- Super Micro Computer (SMCI) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Northland, tgt $22
- Thomson Reuters (TRI) downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Wells Fargo, tgt $95
- Varonis Systems (VRNS) downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at William Blair
- XPeng (XPEV) downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Macquarie, tgt $19
- Zimmer Biomet (ZBH) downgraded to Neutral from Buy at BTIG Research
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Others:
- Climb Global Solutions (CLMB) initiated with an Outperform at Northland Capital; tgt $32
- Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals (EPRX) initiated with an Outperform at William Blair
- Hut 8 Mining (HUT) initiated with a Buy at Arete; tgt $136
- Jasper Therapeutics (JSPR) assumed with a Neutral at UBS, tgt $1.50
- MTN Group (MTNOY) initiated with a Buy at UBS
- Odysight.ai (ODYS) initiated with a Buy at Benchmark, tgt $10
- Red Rock Resorts (RRR) initiated with a Buy at Benchmark, tgt $67
- TeraWulf (WULF) initiated with a Buy at Arete, tgt $30
- Vodacom (VDMCY) initiated with a Neutral at UBS