Costco delivered strong fiscal fourth quarter results that beat expectations, supported by robust membership growth. In corporate tech and media, Qualcomm extended a key patent licensing deal with Apple, while Paramount advanced its mega-merger plans with Warner Bros. Discovery through a state antitrust settlement. However, market sentiment faced pressure from security setbacks at Bitget, operational delays at Oracle, and a competitive block on Meta's AI shopping agent by Amazon.
01Market mover
Oracle Shares Drop Following Report of Force Majeure Notice on Data Center
Oracle issued a force majeure notice to Stack Infrastructure regarding the massive Project Jupiter campus in New Mexico, seeking to protect itself from financial exposure if the facility misses its planned 2028 opening. Shares of Oracle fell approximately 4% to around $139 following the report, while trading volume reached 56.2 million shares, about 68% above its three-month average of 33.4 million shares. The legal maneuver aims to defer payments if construction delays hit the site, which is designed for 2.45 gigawatts of capacity to provide computing power to OpenAI as part of the broader Stargate initiative. Development of the campus has encountered hurdles, including a nearly six-month delay to February 1, 2027, for an Energy Transfer pipeline intended to deliver gas after regulators denied previous route permits, alongside a pending air-quality permit facing a November 23 deadline from the state environment department. The rising strain also hit credit markets, where the on Oracle's 6.7% due 2056 climbed above 8% for the first time, and the cost of insuring its reached a record high. The friction rippled across partners, as Bloom Energy shares declined 5% and Blue Owl , whose company Stack Infrastructure is developing the project, dropped roughly 4%.
Ando Launches AI Agent-Integrated Messaging App to Challenge Slack
Ando launched an agent-native messaging platform on 24 September 2026 alongside a $20 million pre-seed and seed funding round from Accel, Ventures, and Emergence . The startup aims to replace corporate chat applications like Slack by treating software agents as workspace members with their own identities, inboxes, and permissions rather than as external integrations. The platform supports channels, direct messages, group chats, and transcribed live calls where human colleagues and workers collaborate directly. Founder and CEO Sara Du built the service to eliminate the need for human intermediaries to relay agent outputs across teams. Ando is agent-agnostic, allowing teams to connect software built using Codex, Claude, Grokbot, and Devin alongside its own hosted harness. The product targets teams of two to 40 humans initially, with larger deployments planned toward the end of 2026. Customers span software, real estate, and finance across 15 countries.
Ando Seed Funding By Investor ($M)
Three venture firms backed Ando's launch funding round.
Costco reported total of $95.72 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, topping the $94.85 billion consensus estimate and rising 11.1% from a year earlier. came in at $6.75, beating the $6.53 expected by analysts and exceeding the $5.87 reported in the same period last year. Net sales for the 16-week quarter reached $93.87 billion, up from $84.4 billion in the prior-year period. Comparable sales grew 9.4% on a reported basis, while adjusted comparable sales excluding gas and rose 6.7%. The quarter included a $184 million refund, part of which management directed toward lowering member prices. Non-food categories performed strongest during the period, helped by demand for discretionary items. Digitally enabled sales grew 19.5% year-over-year, and total warehouse count reached 939 locations worldwide. Costco enters fiscal 2027 planning to open 30 new warehouses per year, targeting international expansion in markets such as Asia.
Amazon Restricts Internal Use of Meta's Muse AI Agent Over Security Concerns
Amazon blocked Meta Platforms from accessing its retail site with the Muse agent over security concerns. Amazon stated that Muse browsed without identifying itself and raised unresolved issues regarding customer credentials, while Meta countered that the agent cannot view user passwords or payment details. The restriction erects a barrier between Amazon and Meta's fast-growing personal assistant, which has secured commerce integrations with rival retailers including Walmart, Best Buy, and Shopify. Amazon instead opened its seller platform to Anthropic's Claude via a new Selling Partner plugin that grants merchants direct access to inventory and pricing tools. Amazon has invested $13 billion in Anthropic with potential for another $20 billion, while Anthropic has committed over $100 billion to AWS infrastructure over the coming decade.
Costco Wholesale Reports Q4 and Full-Year Fiscal 2026 Results
Costco Wholesale Corporation reported fourth-quarter of $2.998 billion, or $6.75 per diluted share, as sales rose 11.2% to $93.87 billion for the 16 weeks ended August 30, 2026. Net income for the same period a year earlier was $2.610 billion, or $5.87 per diluted share, on net sales of $84.43 billion. The fourth-quarter results included a nonrecurring benefit of $0.15 per diluted share from refunds under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, net of partial reinvestment in lower prices for members. Excluding that benefit, net income increased 12.3% and diluted rose 12.4%. For the full fiscal year, net sales increased 10.1% to $297.2 billion from $269.9 billion, while net income reached $9.226 billion, or $20.76 per diluted share, compared to $8.099 billion, or $18.21 per diluted share, in the prior fiscal year. Comparable sales for the fourth quarter rose 9.4%, or 6.7% after adjusting for gasoline-price and . Digitally enabled comparable sales increased 19.5% in the quarter and 20.9% for the full fiscal year. Membership-fee income rose 7.3% to $1.849 billion, driven by higher executive membership penetration and growth in the membership base. Paid executive members reached 42.3 million, up 9.4% from a year earlier, while total paid members reached 84.1 million. The U.S. and Canada renewal rate was 92.3%, and the worldwide renewal rate was 89.8%. expenditures totaled $2.21 billion in the fourth quarter and $6.4 billion for the fiscal year, with Costco expecting approximately $7.5 billion in capital expenditures in fiscal 2027. The company opened 28 warehouses during the fiscal year to bring its global total to 939 locations, and plans to open 33 warehouses during fiscal 2027.
Net Sales by Period ($B)
Net sales rose 11.2% in Q4 and 10.1% for the full fiscal year.
exchange Bitget suffered a $351.6 million security breach on Thursday, prompting the platform to temporarily suspend withdrawals while it completes a security review. CEO Gracy Chen announced that unauthorized transfers affected a portion of the exchange's hot and warm wallet layers, though cold wallets and user funds remain secure. The compromised were consolidated into a single address across multiple blockchains, including ETH, BNB, AVAX, and USDT0. Bitget maintains a user protection fund holding over $464 million to cover the affected amount. and trading continue to operate normally during the investigation. Arkham Intelligence analyst Emmett Gallic initially flagged unusual wallet movements involving three hot wallets and one cold wallet. The company promised to publish a full incident report within 24 hours. Bitget's native token, BGB, fell 2.9% following the news, while and ether dropped 0.29% and 0.2% respectively over a 24-hour period. The incident follows a $320 million hack of the Liquid Network earlier in the month.
Token Price Changes (%)
BGB fell 2.9% following the hack, while bitcoin and ether dropped slightly.
RedBird Reaches Deal to Become Lead Investor in Media Startup Puck
RedBird Partners has acquired a majority stake in digital media company Puck at a of approximately $250 million. Under the agreement, existing early investors TPG and Standard Investments will exit their positions, while RIT Capital remains as a minority shareholder. Employees holding vested stock or will receive a combination of and continued ownership, alongside a newly created incentive plan. The transaction is expected to close in approximately one month, pending anticipated regulatory approval. Puck leadership stated that the capital infusion will fund new hiring, , and expansion into new formats and channels without altering the publication's editorial independence.
Paramount Accelerates California Settlement Talks Near Warner Bros. Merger
Paramount agreed to settle an lawsuit brought by 12 state attorneys general, clearing the final major legal hurdle for its $111 billion of Warner Bros. Discovery. California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the agreement on Monday, removing a trial that had been scheduled for a future date. The settlement averts the prospect of Paramount moving operations out of California, a threat CEO David Ellison raised during negotiations that drew concern from Governor Gavin Newsom over potential job losses. Under the five-year consent decree, Paramount must invest $1.5 billion in domestic film production above its 2025 baseline, averaging $300 million annually. The combined company must release at least 30 theatrical films a year for the first two years and 32 annually for the following three years, while maintaining its Los Angeles studio lots. Failing to meet the production quota triggers a $30 million per film penalty and puts Paramount's stake in Miramax in play. The agreement also establishes a five-member independent board to oversee editorial standards at CNN and CBS News, a workforce training fund for laid-off employees, and separate basic-cable negotiations for five years. Paramount expects the transaction to close in about two weeks.
Qualcomm and Apple Extend Global Patent License Agreement for Chips
Qualcomm renewed its global patent licensing agreement with Apple, securing a long-term stream starting April 1, 2027. The agreement extends a commercial relationship previously established by a 2019 settlement that ended a two-year global legal battle over wireless-patent royalties and modem-chip supply. Apple is currently transitioning to its own in-house cellular chips to reduce reliance on external hardware, but Qualcomm owns foundational patents for modern cellular connectivity. This extension ensures Qualcomm will continue collecting intellectual property fees even as future iPhones adopt Apple silicon. Qualcomm shares ticked up 0.2% in the prior session following the announcement.
Paramount Explores Bringing Elon Musk Into Warner Bros. Discovery Deal
Paramount chief executive David Ellison is considering approaching Elon Musk to join the syndicate supporting its $110 billion of Warner Bros. Discovery. Larry Ellison, the Oracle founder and father of David Ellison, has guaranteed $47 billion in equity financing for the transaction, complemented by $24 billion from Saudi, Qatari, and UAE sovereign wealth funds. Foreign investors will control 49.5 percent of the combined company's non-voting equity, with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund holding 15.1 percent, the UAE's L'imad Holding Company holding 12.8 percent, and the Qatar Investment Authority holding 10.6 percent. Bank of America, Citigroup, and Apollo have committed $54 billion in financing to the deal. Paramount agreed in February to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in an all-cash transaction at $31 per share. The acquisition cleared a major hurdle this week when Paramount settled an lawsuit brought by California and 11 other states. A judge will hear the settlement on Thursday, and Ellison expects the transaction to close within weeks.
Corporate expansion and strong retail earnings contrast sharply with rising cybersecurity risks and major project delays. As tech giants realign partnerships and push into new media ventures, market participants must monitor whether executing these massive integration deals will prove sustainable.
This, every morning.
SuMarket writes Market Overview every morning, along with every other section of the market and the companies and topics you follow. Free to read.