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Top Midday Stories: Paramount Skydance Settles With US States to Pave Way for Warner Bros. Deal; Anthropic Now Eyeing November IPO

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All three major US stock indexes were up in late-morning trading Monday, as oil prices and Treasury yields fell to kick off a new week of trading.

In company news, Paramount Skydance (PSKY) has reached a settlement agreement with California and other states that sued to block the company's proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), Bloomberg reported Monday, citing a person familiar with the matter. Four states that had opposed the terms of a deal that California had outlined with Paramount conceded over the weekend, paving the way for the settlement, the report said, citing the person. The settlement is expected to be announced later on Monday, the report said. Separately, Warner Bros. unit CNN, Versant Media (VSNT) unit MS Now and Politico said Monday they are suing President Donald Trump and his administration to reverse the administration's move to ban the media outlets from the White House. Shares of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. were up 8.5% and 10%, respectively, around midday.

Amazon-backed (AMZN) Anthropic is now targeting an initial public offering in November, later than the previously expected launch in October, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter. Anthropic plans to meet prospective investors in the coming days to evaluate interest in the potential IPO, the report said, citing the sources. Amazon shares were up 0.6%.

Novo Nordisk (NVO) outlined long-term financial and pipeline targets on Monday, including plans for 150 billion Danish kroner ($23.04 billion) in pipeline sales in 2035 and the launch of at least five multi-blockbusters by 2030. Novo said it is targeting compounded annual revenue growth rates in line with industry peers from 2026 to 2030. The Danish drugmaker also said it is aiming to scale capacity to serve 10 times more people with obesity on oral GLP-1s and over 60 million patients by 2030. Separately, Novo Nordisk said Monday its investigational once-weekly weight-loss and diabetes treatment CagriSema was superior to Eli Lilly's (LLY) tirzepatide and met its primary superiority endpoint in two phase 3 trials. Novo Nordisk shares were down 8.0%, while Eli Lilly shares were up 1%.

JPMorgan's (JPM) asset management division and Qatar Investment Authority have signed a memorandum of understanding to establish a $20 billion partnership, spanning public and private markets in both equities and credit, the parties said Monday. The arrangement includes a $15 billion public equities mandate and a $5 billion private markets initiative focused on middle-market companies in the US, according to a statement. JPMorgan shares were up 0.3%.

Halliburton (HAL) said Monday it has signed memorandums of understanding with Eneva and WESCA to support oil and gas sector development in Venezuela. Halliburton shares were down 1.4%.

Price: $11.08, Change: $+0.86, Percent Change: +8.47%

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VerifyMe Declares Special Dividend Tied to Open World Deal; Shares Rise After Hours

VerifyMe (VRME) declared a special cash dividend of $0.15 a share, contingent on the closing of its proposed merger with Open World.The dividend would be paid to holders of common stock and Series B convertible preferred stock on an as-converted basis, the company said Friday in a statement.If the merger closes, VerifyMe expects to pay the dividend on Oct. 2 to shareholders of record Sept. 29.VerifyMe shares rose 23% in after-hours trading.

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Wire

Roundtable Shares Fall After Clarifying Paradium.AI Deal

Roundtable (RTB) shares fell 7.7% in Friday trading after the company issued a statement on its 10-year agreement with Paradium.AI (PAAI), formerly Arena Group, to clarify the accord isn't an acquisition or tender offer.Roundtable announced the strategic deal on Thursday to migrate, operate, and monetize Arena's media portfolio on the company's AI and DeFi-powered MediaOS. Roundtable said it expects $100 million in annualized revenue,Roundtable said Friday it will acquire a minority stake directly from Paradium.AI's largest shareholder, with no plans to take majority control, and closing is expected in Q4, conditional on a required capital raise.The platform agreement includes $11.5 million of Roundtable stock for technology license transfer and other considerations, the company said Friday.Price: $8.02, Change: $-0.67, Percent Change: -7.71%

$PAAI$RTB
Wire

Donald Trump Bans CNN, MS NOW From White House

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD)-owned CNN, Versant Media-owned MS NOW, and Politico were banned from the White House, effective immediately, US President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social Post on Friday.Trump asserted that media outlets shouldn't be able to constantly report false news when covering the US President, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America, according to the post.The President also indicated in his post that more news outlets could face a similar outcome.CNN and MS NOW did not immediately respond to a request for comment from.Price: $27.78, Change: $-0.46, Percent Change: -1.63%

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