FT : Apple faces new tensions with Trump administration

Apple faces new tensions with Trump administration
US regulator issues warning to iPhone maker about its News platform following controversy over Super Bowl half-time show

Apple has been warned by the Federal Trade Commission not to stifle conservative content on its Apple News platform, as tensions rise between the smartphone maker and the Trump administration.

In a letter to chief executive Tim Cook, FTC chair Andrew Ferguson cited recent press coverage of a report from conservative media watchdog Media Research Center which claimed that Apple has promoted “leftist outlets” in its news feed.

Federal Communications Commission chair Brendan Carr, a fellow Trump appointee and vocal critic of Big Tech, applauded Ferguson’s move on Wednesday, saying that “Apple has no right to suppress conservative viewpoints in violation of the FTC Act”.

The public rebukes for Apple from top US enforcers came the day after President Donald Trump shared coverage of the MRC report on Truth Social.

“Any act or practice by Apple News to suppress or promote news articles based on the perceived ideological or political viewpoint of the article or publication . . . may violate” US laws that prevent businesses from misleading consumers, Ferguson said. 

Ferguson, who Trump appointed to lead the US competition and consumer protection watchdog, said that Apple should carry out a “comprehensive review” of its terms of service and take corrective action if its content curation is not in line with them.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The letter marks an escalation in public tensions between Apple and members of the Trump administration in recent days.

Trump has attacked Big Tech companies over claims they have suppressed conservative voices and has targeted Apple over its heavy reliance on manufacturing in China and India.

But the president has generally refrained from criticism of Apple since Cook moved to mend fences with the administration in August.

Cook pledged to spend $600bn in the US over the next four years, while Trump promised Apple an exemption from planned electronics tariffs.  

Tech bosses have been at pains not to provoke the president since he returned to office. But Cook last week posted a selfie with Bad Bunny, the star of the Super Bowl halftime show, which was sponsored by Apple Music and had drawn criticism from Trump.


Trump called the performance on Sunday by Bad Bunny, who has been critical of the president’s immigration crackdown, an “affront to the greatness of America”.

It came shortly after the Apple boss held an all-hands meeting with staff in which he promised to urge the administration to change its approach to immigration enforcement, according to people familiar with the matter, in the wake of the shootings of two people by federal agents during the crackdown in Minneapolis.

Cook faced an online backlash for attending a viewing of Melania Trump’s Amazon Prime documentary at the White House hours after Border Patrol agents killed ICU nurse Alex Pretti.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also shared coverage of the MRC report on X on Wednesday.

The report claimed that none of the 620 top stories featured on Apple’s news app in the first month of 2026 was from a “right-leaning media outlet” such as Fox News, The Daily Mail or Breitbart. 

“These reports raise serious questions about whether Apple News is acting in accordance with its terms of service and its representations to consumers, as well as the reasonable consumer expectations of the tens of millions of Americans who use Apple News,” Ferguson wrote. 

He added that “the FTC is not the speech police” but that free speech protections do not extend to “material misrepresentations made to consumers”.

Ferguson was appointed as chair of the FTC in January last year, replacing Joe Biden-appointee Lina Khan. The following month, the FTC announced that it was launching an inquiry into Big Tech censorship. 

In March, Trump fired the two Democratic commissioners at the agency, Rebecca Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya. Slaughter’s legal challenge of that decision is pending at the Supreme Court.

Republican commissioner Melissa Holyoak resigned in November, bringing the agency down to just two commissioners out of the usual five.

>>> US After Hours Summary: CSCO -7.1%, ROL -14.7%, QS -11.6%, PAYC -7.6%, INSP

After Hours Summary: CSCO -7.1%, ROL -14.7%, QS -11.6%, PAYC -7.6%, INSP -7.3% lower on earnings; FSLY +32.5%, CGNX +23.9%, PRCH +18.9%, MH +18.3%, EQIX +9.9% higher on earnings; NVCR +56.8% as FDA approves Optune Pax; coal stocks strong;

After Hours Gainers:

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: FSLY +32.5%, CGNX +23.9% (also increases share repurchase authorization by $500 mln), PRCH +18.9%, MH +18.3%, EQIX +9.9% (also increases dividend), VKTX +8.6%, AR +3%, PRI +2.9% (also new $475 mln share buyback program; increases dividend), CXW +2.8%, MSI +2.8%, WTS +2.8%, CW +2.3%, HUBS +1.8% (also authorizes new $1 bln share repurchase program), SLF +1.7%, SAFE +1.6%, RYN +0.7%, AM +0.3%, ASND +0.2%

Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news: NVCR +56.8% (FDA approves Optune Pax), MMS +4.6% (CEO/President discloses purchase of 3,175 shares worth $249K), BTU +4.2% (President Trump to direct DoE to issue funds to coal plants; also directs Pentagon to purchase electricity from coal-fired power plants), CNR +2.5% (President Trump to direct DoE to issue funds to coal plants; also directs Pentagon to purchase electricity from coal-fired power plants), HCC +2.4% (President Trump to direct DoE to issue funds to coal plants; also directs Pentagon to purchase electricity from coal-fired power plants), NAVN +2.3% (names new CFO), ARLP +2.1% (President Trump to direct DoE to issue funds to coal plants; also directs Pentagon to purchase electricity from coal-fired power plants), METC +1.8% (President Trump to direct DoE to issue funds to coal plants; also directs Pentagon to purchase electricity from coal-fired power plants), AMR +1.4% (President Trump to direct DoE to issue funds to coal plants; also directs Pentagon to purchase electricity from coal-fired power plants), AIR +1.1% (names new CFO), FLR +0.8% (awarded contract by LEU), AB +0.5% (reports January AUM), MELI +0.5% (forms commercial partnership with Assaí, according to Reuters), LUV +0.3% (brings Starlink ultra-fast wifi onboard), TPG +0.2% (TPG and JXN launch strategic partnership), BIIB +0.2% (names new Chair of the Board)

After Hours Losers:

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to earnings/guidance: ROL -14.7%, QS -11.6%, VNDA -9.7%, TYL -7.7%, PAYC -7.6%, INSP -7.3%, CSCO -7.1% (also increases dividend), GRAB -7.1% (also to acquire Stash Financial; also authorizes new $500 mln share repurchase program), FBRT -6.6%, PPC -6.5%, NE -6.1%, APP -6%, NBR -5.9%, QTWO -5.5%, ALMU -5.2%, QDEL -4.9% (also CFO to retire), DAR -3.5%, NBIX -3.2%, ALB -3.1% (also will idle Train 1 at its Kemerton lithium hydroxide processing plant), CRK -2.6%, LPTH -2.6%, WCN -1.8%, AUR -1.8%, CPA -1.7%, SCI -1.6%, CXT -1.2% (also increases dividend), LEG -1.2%, MCD -0.4%, MFC -0.4% (also increases dividend; also new NCIB program that permits repurchase of 2.5% of shares), CFLT -0.2%, IRT -0.2%, AEE -0.1%

Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to news: NRGV -17.5% ($125 mln convertible notes offering; also provides guidance), ASTS -10.2% ($1 bln of convertible notes offering; also proposed repurchases of up to $300 mln convertible notes), WRN -5.2% (C$50 mln bought deal financing), BMM -3.9% (advances four core assets), CMS -0.9% (files mixed securities shelf offering), SWKS -0.8% (QRVO and SWKS shareholders approve merger), GLUE -0.5% (files mixed securities shelf offering), GLPI -0.4% (acquires real estate assets of Bally's Lincoln from BALY for $700 mln), PTLO -0.2% (names new CEO), QRVO -0.1% (QRVO and SWKS shareholders approve merger)

WSJ : Bill Ackman Makes a Big Bet on Meta

Bill Ackman Makes a Big Bet on Meta
Pershing Square disclosed a roughly $2 billion position in Facebook’s parent

  • Pershing Square, led by Bill Ackman, revealed a new stake in Meta Platforms, amounting to 10% of its capital at the end of 2025.
  • Pershing Square attributes Meta’s 13% share decline over six months to investor concerns about AI spending.
  • The firm initiated its Meta bet in November at $625 per share, believing Meta’s business model benefits from AI integration

Hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman likes Mark Zuckerberg’s chances in the artificial-intelligence race.

Ackman’s Pershing Square revealed a new stake in Meta Platforms META -0.11%decrease; red down pointing triangle at the annual meeting of one of its funds on Wednesday. The position amounted to 10% of the firm’s capital at the end of 2025, or roughly $2 billion based on past disclosures.

Meta shares are down about 13% over the past six months, a decline that Pershing Square attributes to investor concerns about the sums the company is spending on AI initiatives. Pershing Square’s thesis revolves in part around AI boosting Meta’s content recommendations and personalized ads and potentially unlocking new opportunities in wearables or AI digital assistants for businesses.

“Meta’s business model is one of the clearest beneficiaries of AI integration,” Pershing Square said in its presentation.

Ackman tends to concentrate his stock portfolio in a small number of high-conviction bets. Pershing Square held only 13 different positions at the end of 2025, including other big tech companies Alphabet and Amazon.

The firm initiated its bet on Meta in November at an average cost of $625 per share, according to an investor presentation. Meta’s stock gained 11% from that date through the end of 2025 and another 3% in early 2026.

The Information : A SpaceX IPO Would Be a Tailwind for SPVs

A SpaceX IPO Would Be a Tailwind for SPVs

Maybe the “dumb money” isn’t so dumb after all.

Over the last two years, Silicon Valley has been flooded with special purpose vehicles that promise individual investors a way to own shares in OpenAI, Anthropic and other buzzy startups. These often seemed like a sure way for individuals to lose money, thanks to exorbitant fees and the funds’ sometimes dubious claims of share ownership. But a SpaceX initial public offering could make these funds look like a smart bet after all.

If the stock market ends up valuing SpaceX at $1.25 trillion—the valuation Elon Musk recently said the rocket ship company was worth after combining with his xAI—the price would be 10 times the $125 billion valuation the company had in mid-2022. This far exceeds the roughly 60% increase the DJIA has had in the same time frame.

These SPVs, marketed to amateur investors as a way to buy private shares before a public offering, are riskier than buying shares in a stock index fund. There are currently over 1,000 unicorns, many from the 2021 boom, that have yet to do an IPO and might never do so, which could mean there will never be a return on those investments. A dentist in Iowa who bought a lot of these “billion-dollar startup” shares could lose their shirt.

The funds also don’t have the kind of information about business performance a public company discloses. And they sometimes carry heavy fees, as my colleague Sri wrote in this deep dive in late 2024. One fund, Sand Hill Road Technologies Fund (which is based in Miami, not Silicon Valley), told prospective investors they could get access to shares of SpaceX for $258 a share, roughly double the $135 institutional investors at the time were expected to pay. That markup got them ownership of a fund that was investing in another SPV buying the shares. In a SpaceX IPO, the SPV investors would also pay 20% of the profit on the investment.

However, the IPO valuation Musk and many investors expect is so stratospheric that ordinary investors could make the kind of return only Silicon Valley insiders typically brag about. That could be true even if they bought shares when SpaceX was already valued above $100 billion, instead of $100 million, and have to give up more of the payout.

“There’s this whole industry that supports everything Musk and hypes it,” said Max Wolff, co-founder at Systematic Ventures, which advises investors on SPVs. But the reality is this groupthink might have paid off, at least for now, he said. His companies have “been a reliable returns machine in a low-growth environment.”

Wolff added that he’s seen the industry shift its mentality about SPVs over the years. They were once seen as a way for Silicon Valley insiders to sell their shares to outsiders, but he says that many firms now see them as a way to come up with the large checks needed to compete with the strategic investors and sovereign wealth funds. Venture capitalists “aren’t big enough” to write the billion-dollar checks by themselves.

We’ve seen established firms such as Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures, Menlo Ventures and others set up SPVs as they participate in huge funding rounds, sometimes selling the shares to limited partners.

It remains to be seen whether the public market agrees with the $1.25 trillion valuation for SpaceX. But if those investors get on board with that figure, expect SPV managers to be touting this as a success story for years to come.

>>> US Gapping down

Gapping down
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
  • MAT -26.7% (also to acquire full ownership of Mattel163; licensing deal with Paramount for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles brand), RPD -23.9%, U -22.7%, ANGI -19.3%, LYFT -17.3% (also authorizes new $1 bln share repurchase program), MBC -16.9%, VPG -16%, ALAB -11.6% (also enters transaction with AMZN under which Amazon may acquire up to 3,262,299 shares; also names new CFO), AVTR -10.6%, CRTO -8.9%, PEGA -8.4%, LEU -8%, HOOD -7.9% (also names new CFO), HUM -7.1%, SAIC -7% (guidance), KHC -6.8%, OI -6.3%, ZG -4.2%, MIR -4%, MLM -3.8%, SITE -3.7%, LAD -3.5%, R -3.4%, NTES -3.3%, PSN -3.1%, FRSH -2.7%, GILD -2.6% (also increases dividend), SOLS -2.6%, RMBS -2.4%, UPST -2.4% (also names new CEO), IVT -2% (also increases dividend), THC -1.6%, PAG -1.6%, CHEF -1.3%, FLNG -1.2%, EXEL -1.1%
Other news:
  • UPB -22.8% (top-line results from the Phase 2 VALIANT clinical trial)
  • MRNA -10.2% (receives FDA refusal-to-file for influenza vaccine)
  • GLTO -5.7% (prices offering of 14,473,685 shares of common stock at $19.00 per share)
  • CURB -2.3% (prices offering of 8.0 mln shares of common stock for gross proceeds of ~$204 mln)
  • RILY -2% (stock offering by selling shareholders, relates to warrants)
  • PLTR -1.3% (extends collaboration with Airbus)
  • TIGO -1.2% (acquires Telefonica operations in Chile jointly with NJJ)
  • ZENA -1% (files for $250 mln mixed securities shelf offering)
Analyst comments:
  • NCLH -0.9% (downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays)

>>> US Gapping up

Gapping up
In reaction to earnings/guidance:
  • MNTN +31.1%, STIM +26%, TDC +16.1%, NET +14.4%, HNGE +13.8%, VRT +13.7%, LSCC +11.1%, SHOP +10.8%, JHX +10%, DIOD +9.9%, CLBT +9.8%, GFS +7.4%, AEIS +6.4%, KVYO +5.3%, UFCS +5.1%, VERX +5.1%, GNRC +5%, TSEM +4%, SUZ +3.2%, OTLY +2.8%, RDWR +2.7%, KRNT +2.5%, VREX +2%, F +1.8%, TTE +1.8%, DAO +1.6%, WELL +1.5%, BL +1.5%, BWA +1.4%, EW +1.3%, RRR +1.2%, TEX +1.2%, AIG +1.1%
Other news:
  • BETA +18.4% (AMZN discloses new poisiton in BETA)
  • RBKB +11.3% (adopts plan of conversion and reorganization)
  • NKTR +5.4% ($300 mln stock offering)
  • FRMI +3.8% (secures $500 mln MUFG financing to fund gas turbine purchases)
  • CAMT +3% (received a $25 mln Hawk systems order)
  • RZLV +2.3% (to acquire Reward for $230 mln in all-cash deal)
  • TFPM +1.5% (to unlock the gold-dominant E44 deposit at Northparkes)
  • APAM +1.3% (reports January AUM)
  • FLYX +1.1% (at the market offering agreement with Lucid Capital)
Analyst comments:
  • KC +7.7% (upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Goldman)
  • MNRO +5.6% (upgraded to Outperform from Perform at Oppenheimer)
  • MT +3.4% (upgraded to Buy from Hold at Jefferies)

>>> Shopify reports, beats on revs; authorizes new share buyback program up to $

Shopify reports, beats on revs; authorizes new share buyback program up to $2 bln (127.24 +8.84)
  • Reports Q4 (Dec) revenues rose 30.6% year/year to $3.67 bln vs the $3.59 bln FactSet Consensus.
  • For the first quarter of 2026, we expect:
    • Revenue to grow at a low-thirties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis, similar to Q4 2025;
    • Gross profit dollars to grow at a high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis;
    • Operating expenses as a percentage of revenue to be 37% to 38%;
    • Stock-based compensation to be $140 million; and
    • Free cash flow margin to be in the low-to-mid teens, slightly below Q1 of 2025.
  • Shopify's Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program of up to $2 billion

>>> Warner Bros. Discovery: Ancora Holdings Group releases an extensive present

Warner Bros. Discovery: Ancora Holdings Group releases an extensive presentation regarding its strong opposition to the currently proposed merger involving WBD and Netflix (NFLX)
  • Contends the Netflix Proposal Includes Inferior and Uncertain Cash Consideration, the Likely Debt-Laden Discovery Global Spinoff and a "Hail Mary" Path to Regulatory Approval
  • Details the Risks to Creative Production, Jobs and the Future of Human Talent in the Film and TV Industries Under a Seemingly Monopolistic WBD-Netflix Behemoth
  • Makes Clear the Paramount Offer Includes Significantly More Cash, the Backing of the Proven Ellison Trust and a Viable Path to Regulatory Approval Thanks to Modest Size and Studio Legacy
    Urges the WBD Board to Determine that Paramount's Revised Offer Could Reasonably Be Expected to Result in a "Superior Proposal" and Engage with Paramount to Secure a Value-Maximizing Outcome for All Shareholders
  • Ancora Holdings Group, LLC, a nearly $11 billion firm with an approximately $200 million economic interest in Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.

>>> US Early premarket gappers

Early premarket gappers
  • Gapping up:
    • MNTN +37.4%, STIM +28.4%, BETA +19.6%, TDC +15.6%, NET +14.3%, VRT +13.9%, HNGE +13.2%, RBKB +11.3%, LSCC +10.5%, AEIS +7.1%, JHX +6.6%, KVYO +6.1%, UFCS +5.1%, NKTR +4.2%, DIOD +4.2%, FRMI +4%, GNRC +3.7%, CAMT +3.4%, SUZ +3%, VREX +2%, RZLV +1.9%, TMHC +1.9%, TTE +1.7%, NOG +1.6%, F +1.5%, BL +1.5%, APAM +1.3%, EW +1.2%, RRR +1.2%, WELL +1.1%, AIG +1.1%, SAM +1%
  • Gapping down:
    • UPB -29.9%, MAT -27.3%, RPD -24.2%, ANGI -19.7%, LYFT -17.4%, MBC -16.9%, ALAB -12.1%, AVTR -12.1%, VPG -10.4%, MRNA -10%, LEU -8.1%, PEGA -8.1%, HUM -8%, HOOD -7.8%, GLTO -6.6%, MIR -6.1%, OI -5.1%, ZG -4.4%, LAD -4%, SITE -3.7%, GILD -3.3%, PSN -3.1%, RMBS -2.8%, NTES -2.5%, SW -2.5%, FRSH -2.4%, EXEL -2.3%, RILY -2%, IVT -2%, LTM -1.9%, CURB -1.4%, FLNG -1.4%, PLTR -1.3%, SOLS -1.2%