Plus: AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb shares swing on reports of a potential tie up. And Nissan reports its first quarterly profit in two years. Imani Moise hosts.
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[00:00:01] Here's your morning TNB Tech Minute for Monday, August 3rd. I'm Imani Moise for The Wall Street Journal. Visa is acquiring fraud reduction platform BioCatch for $2.4 billion in cash. The Israeli company uses AI to detect fraud and distinguish legitimate users from attackers in real time, and says it protects 1.8 billion devices and 760 million users globally.
[00:00:27] Visa has been increasing its use of AI to fight fraud, spending $13 billion on fraud technology and infrastructure over the past five years. The deal is expected to close by the end of Visa's fiscal second quarter of 2027. Shares in AstraZeneca tumbled while Bristol-Myers' Squibb stock climbed after reports that the two drug makers held merger talks. The Financial Times reported that AstraZeneca held discussions with Bristol about a tie-up in recent months, citing unnamed sources.
[00:00:57] A potential deal between the two companies would create a pharma giant with a combined market value of roughly $400 billion and more than $100 billion in annual sales. And AstraZeneca's spokesman declined to comment, while Bristol didn't respond to a request to comment. And Nissan has reported its first quarterly net profit in two years. The Japanese car makers said today sales grew in U.S. and Japanese markets, while cost cuts and foreign exchange gains helped boost its bottom line.
[00:01:27] However, the company is now projecting an 11% drop in sales in China, steeper than the 8.7% decline it had previously forecast. Nissan attributed weaker Chinese sales to slowed economic growth and an accelerated shift to electric vehicles due to higher fuel costs caused by the Iran war. Its CEO said elevated logistics costs and continued geopolitical uncertainty will likely moderate profitability until supply chains normalized. And that's your TNB Tech Minute.
[00:01:57] We'll be back this afternoon with more.