Bayer has offered $7.25 billion to settle U.S. weedkiller cancer claims, while venture capital firm Thrive Capital raised $10 billion for a new fund, and Mistral AI acquired Koyeb to bolster its cloud ambitions. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. Discovery is considering a deal with Paramount, and luxury car theft is on the rise, according to multiple reports.
Bayer, the German bio-tech giant, proposed paying $7.25 billion to resolve a legal battle in the U.S. over claims that its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer, according to BBC Business. The settlement, which would need judge approval, is part of a broader effort to close the claims that have weighed on the company since its acquisition of Monsanto. Bayer has already paid approximately $10 billion to resolve litigation related to Roundup. The company maintains the product is safe and stated the latest settlement has support from several key plaintiffs' groups.
In the world of finance, Thrive Capital raised $10 billion for a new fund, its largest yet, TechCrunch reported. Of this, $1 billion is dedicated to early-stage investments, with the remainder for growth-stage investments. The firm's tenth fund, called Thrive X, comes as some of its biggest investments, including OpenAI, Stripe, and SpaceX, continue to soar in value. Thrive told Bloomberg the fundraise was oversubscribed.
Mistral AI, the French company last valued at $13.8 billion, made its first acquisition, buying Koyeb, a Paris-based startup that simplifies AI app deployment at scale, according to TechCrunch. This move confirms Mistral AI's ambitions to become a full-stack player. The company hopes Koyeb will accelerate its AI cloud infrastructure offering, Mistral Compute, announced in June 2023. Koyeb, founded in 2020, aimed to help developers process data without worrying about server infrastructure.
Warner Bros. Discovery is giving Paramount one more week to make its best and final offer, leaving the door open for a deal that could upend its merger agreement with Netflix, Ars Technica reported. Officially, Warner Bros. is still committed to Netflix and scheduled a special meeting date of March 20, recommending that shareholders vote for the Netflix merger. However, Warner Bros. is simultaneously opening negotiations with Paramount despite calling all previous offers deficient. Netflix has provided WBD a limited waiver, permitting WBD to engage in discussions with Paramount Skydance for a seven-day period.
Finally, a new type of organized criminal enterprise is on the rise: luxury car theft, according to MIT Technology Review. Crooks are using email phishing, fraudulent paperwork, and other tactics to impersonate legitimate transport companies and steal luxury vehicles. They divert the shipment away from its intended destination before using technology and old-school techniques to erase traces of the vehicle's original ownership and registration. In some cases, the car has been resold or is out of the country before the theft is discovered.
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