Aggregator

Tensions are scorching hot in Game 4 of the NBA Finals.

SoftBank Attempt To Get Downsized $6 Billion OpenAi Margin Loan Stalls

One month ago, Japanese tech giant SoftBank Group, was forced to downsize plans for a $10 billion margin loan backed by its OpenAI stake after facing hesitation from some creditors. Today, it couldn't even get that done after talks with potential creditors to raise the downsized $6 billion stalled amid rising concerns about the collateral value, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter. 

As a result, the company is now considering various different fundraising options, although it could still move forward with the margin loan at a later stage, they added.

It’s unclear why the margin loan discussions stalled. SoftBank had allegedly secured some $5 billion for the loan before the development, although it was unclear if those were verbal or written commitments. Judging by the outcome, the commitments were tenuous at bet. 

According to the report, the current inaction on the margin loan comes even after some of the potential lenders who had been pitched on it - and who did not view it in an all too favorable light to start - said that they’d started to consider it in a more favorable light, after news last month that the ChatGPT creator was preparing to file for an initial public offering.

Previously some of the potential creditors pitched on the margin loan had expressed concerns about the difficulty of reaching a valuation for an unlisted company like OpenAI. As noted above, SoftBank downsized the loan’s initial target size by 40% after facing pushback from some of the potential lenders. 

“The margin loan is just one piece of a much larger puzzle, and unless we see a clear deterioration in their ability to raise funds this way, we don’t view it as a standalone red flag,” said Hua Cheng, head of Asia credit research at AllianceBernstein. “The best‑case scenario is an OpenAI IPO this year, with SoftBank offloading part of its stake to pay down debt. That would be consistent with what credit investors want.”

OpenAI filed confidentially for an IPO in the US, joining artificial intelligence rivals in tapping public markets to fund ambitious growth plans. The firm is working with Goldman  and Morgan Stanley on a potential listing as soon as in the fall. 

Loan aside, markets have witnessed a broader debate in recent months about SoftBank’s commitments of more than $60 billion to OpenAI at a time when recent breakthroughs by resurgent rival Anthropic PBC have raised doubts for some investors about the business. Within SoftBank itself, some officials had grown anxious about that commitment, according to Bloomberg.

Never one to back down, Masa Son - who nearly went broke after the dot com bubble burst - has been ramping up its broader AI plans. Late last month, it said that SoftBank plans to invest as much as €75 billion - which it does not have - to build artificial intelligence data center capacity in France, saying the country is poised to become a top European hub for AI infrastructure (narrator: it's not). 

But storm clouds are gathering again for Masa: looming in the background is a $40 billion bridge financing that supported the conglomerate’s investments in OpenAI, and which SoftBank must repay in March 2027. SoftBank has said that borrowing would likely be repaid “through the utilization of existing assets and other financing measures.”

While SoftBank has a number of potential fundraising options, it’s unclear if it would opt to use any of them. Those include potential issuance of more bonds, or possibly borrowing against other listed holdings in its portfolio, although if it can't get a margin loan against its portfolio crown jewel, one wonders what terms its other assets would garner. Its stakes include ones in Arm Holdings and Intel, whose shares have jumped 197% and 192%, respectively, so far this year amid the AI boom. 

Following the news, Softbank shares tumbled as much as 9.7% Wednesday. Even after declines, SoftBank’s stock was still up about 45% for the period, extending gains in recent weeks after the company reported a jump in quarterly profit due largely to valuation gains on its OpenAI investment. On June 1, SoftBank overtook Toyota Motor Corp. as Japan’s most valuable company by market capitalization. 

Tyler Durden Wed, 06/10/2026 - 21:31

Ever since the 2022 World Cup, Timothy Weah’s status as a starter for the U.S. men’s national team has rarely been in question. Except now.

"The View" co-hosts debated over Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner's support after his Democratic primary victory amid several controversies that came out.

Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns have developed a close friendship during these past two years as Knicks teammates.

A lifestyle and travel expert shares how the ultra-wealthy keep up with the stylish stars on "Celebrity Row."

A lifestyle and travel expert shares how the ultra-wealthy keep up with the stylish stars on "Celebrity Row."

JPM Says US Defense Base Faces 'Evolve Or Die' Moment As Warfare Forever Changes

For several quarters, we have described the Trump administration's massive push to reshape the military-industrial complex, from DOGE-driven efforts inside the Department of War to reset the procurement process, to a broader pivot toward fast-moving "war unicorns," like Anduril, rather than bloated legacy defense primes.

The urgency of that transition is now capturing Wall Street's attention. JPMorgan analysts frame it as a major inflection point: America's defense industrial base must shift away from slow-moving, costly production and toward one built around speed, scale, technology, low-cost, attritable systems, and rapid battlefield iteration to preserve America's status as the world's dominant military power. 

Analyst Jahangir Aziz pointed out: 

The U.S. defense-industrial enterprise now stands at a decisive inflection point.

Success in the era ahead will be determined by its ability to deliver on three tightly interlocking imperatives: integrating the defense and commercial industrial bases, unlocking genuine mass-scale production, and unleashing innovation across the entire ecosystem.

Together, these are the enabling conditions for a force capable of meeting the relentless operational and technological pressures revealed in Ukraine, exposed by China's fusion model, and only latently present in the U.S. system today.

Aziz wrote that the post-Cold War model, centered on highly capable systems such as the F-35 stealth fighters, aircraft carriers, and advanced missile platforms, has been rendered obsolete in a world defined by China's anti-access strategy, Russia's war in Ukraine, the Iran conflict, suicide drones, cyber warfare, electronic warfare, and other low-cost precision weapons.

He said that modern warfare is increasingly defined by the ability to "sense, make sense, and act," relying on the processing of vast amounts of data and translating it into timely decisions. Such as AI 'kill chains'… 

The four major vulnerabilities in the U.S. defense industrial base that he outlined include shallow supplier depth, slow acquisition timelines, prime-contractor concentration, and fragile global supply chains, including exposure to China-linked inputs.

U.S. Defense Base Supply Chain 

He warned that major defense programs can take years to field, while critical electronics may be obsolete before they ever reach the modern battlefield.

U.S. Military's procurement process timeline

Capacity constraints notable among the primes

That lag has become a major problem as modern warfare quickly evolves across Eurasia and the Middle East, from Ukraine to the Gulf, where drones, robotics, electronic warfare, and AI-enabled kill chains are transforming how conflicts are fought. The battlefield of the 2030s will be defined less by slow-cycle platforms and more by high-speed, low-cost, increasingly automated weapons.

For the U.S. military to remain dominant on the global stage, the analyst laid out a clear framework for how that advantage must be secured: 

Our broader take, however, is that the direction of travel is likely to be shaped by the following factors. First, as mentioned, the nature of war has changed and communication and control capabilities will be fundamental in the digital age. Second, that successful defense industrial bases elsewhere, each in their own way, have largely based their success on the integration of their defense and commercial industrial bases. Third, and related to the two above, the U.S. possesses a technological edge in the digital space that is largely in the commercial sector, and integrating it into the defense ecosystem is crucial for the U.S. to maintain its military dominance.

To maintain military dominance, the U.S. defense base must secure enduring advantages by:

• Integration: Forge deeper links between defense and commercial sectors, leveraging shared platforms, open standards, and continuous feedback.

• Scale: Build modular, manufacturable systems for rapid mass production, lower barriers for new entrants, and foster a networked industrial base.

• Innovation: Drive software-led transformation, iterative hardware development, and commercial digital integration. Emerging tech leaders are reshaping autonomy, hypersonics, advanced manufacturing, satellite communications, and mission resilience.

• Policy reforms like NDAA and Modular Open Systems Architecture (MOSA) are promising, but must overcome entrenched acquisition processes, PPBE constraints, and persistent friction over intellectual property and data rights—barriers that can either enable competition and modularity or reinforce vendor lock-in and exclude new entrants.

America's defense industrial base stands at a crossroads. Adapting to persistent competition, rapid technological change, and mass-scale attrition warfare is not optional; it's essential. Enduring advantage will depend on integrating commercial and defense sectors, scaling production, and accelerating innovation, while dismantling deep-seated institutional and structural barriers. Failure to act risks eroding deterrence and long-term military effectiveness, with consequences for national security and global leadership.

None of this should surprise readers. We have repeatedly highlighted the rise of "war unicorns" such as Anduril and other defense-tech startups that are building affordable, scalable, and software-defined weapons systems for the modern battlefield.

pic.twitter.com/maeU5jrpDv

— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) May 9, 2026

Beyond Anduril in the war unicorn sphere, there's DZYNE Technologies developing autonomous defense systems... 

BLITZ (Attritable System)

🇺🇸 DZYNE Technologies unveiled BLITZ, a low-cost and fully autonomous Group | UAS platform. A modular system light enough for hand launch, rail launch or containerized launch such as BlitzBox.

"The Blitz platform features a foldable, packable design… pic.twitter.com/llQxsZRBEt

— Counter Unmanned Systems (@CUAS_NEWS) May 15, 2026

Anduril's rapid ascent has already captured Wall Street's attention. Goldman analysts recently sat down with company executives to better understand the story, the business model, and the role Anduril could play in the next phase of rebuilding America's next-generation defense-industrial base. The takeaway is increasingly clear: the future of U.S. military power will not be defined by legacy primes alone, but by war unicorns.

Tyler Durden Wed, 06/10/2026 - 21:20

Since leaving the CFPB in 2020, Johnson worked at Patomak Global Partners and was most recently a senior executive at the credit card giant Capital One.

Highly questionable from the beginning.

Mayor Mamdani was set to meet Colombian President Gustavo Petro while he was in the Big Apple for United Nations events this week, but the meeting was scrapped.

The couple showed their love for the NYC team — and each other — in high-fashion Canadian tuxedos.

The couple showed their love for the NYC team — and each other — in high-fashion Canadian tuxedos.

Some big-name Giants are at Madison Square Garden for the Knicks-Spurs Game 4 of the NBA Finals.

Shopping for the man in your life who has it all? Check out our long list of luxe gifts.

Page Six exclusively reported that the singer would be in attendance for Wednesday's game just hours before tip-off.

Page Six exclusively reported that the singer would be in attendance for Wednesday's game just hours before tip-off.

Authorities are searching for two kids who tore through the aisles of an Orange County Walmart on a pair of e-bikes Sunday, sparking concern after reportedly weaving through the store and nearly hitting customers before disappearing before deputies arrived.

California Gets 80% Of All Federal Cash For Illegal Immigrant Families: Report

Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times,

California is home to the lion’s share of illegal immigrant families in the United States with children who received federal welfare assistance in 2024, according to a federal report published on June 10.

More than 80 percent of all nationwide cash assistance allocated to such households was spent in California. The report tracked $759 million in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) spent in 2024 on families headed by a parent living in the country illegally.

In those cases, the child qualified for federal welfare, even though the parent was excluded from the federal program because of immigration status.

“These cases receive relatively little public attention, yet ... data show that they are far from a negligible part of the program,” wrote authors David Swegle, director of the Office of Family Assistance at the Administration for Children and Families under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Alex J. Adams, assistant secretary at the Administration for Children and Families, in the report.

Nationally, the federal government paid 85,000 households with qualifying children receiving assistance who were living with their illegal immigrant parents in the U.S. in 2024.

“Although the benefit is formally paid on behalf of the child, it still supports a household that includes an immigration-status-ineligible parent,” the authors stated. “The significance of these cases therefore cannot be judged solely by the fact that the adult is not the formal recipient.”

The cases are also significant because they don’t have to adhere to the TANF rules requiring work expectations, such as regularly applying for jobs, and the payments aren’t limited to the federal 60-month lifetime limit, according to the report. The illegal immigrant families, therefore, can receive federal welfare until the child turns 18 years old.

Low-income American families are held to the federal welfare restrictions that require work participation and are restricted to a 60-month lifetime limit, the authors said.

The number of TANF cases involving an illegal immigrant parent reached nearly 850,000—or 10 percent of all cases—in 2024, up from nearly 6 percent in 2001.

Of those, nearly 78,000 households—or about 91 percent—also received federal food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the report revealed.

Most of the illegal immigrant parents—over 106,000—identified as Hispanic, while 5.3 percent were White, 4.3 percent were Black, and 2 percent were Asian, the report stated.

California was the primary driver of the national totals, according to the report.

In 2024, the state accounted for nearly 60,000 affected households, or about 70 percent of the national total of the illegal immigrant-headed households.

The state’s annual cash assistance paid to those homes reached about $618 million, or about 81 percent of nationwide spending on these cases, the authors reported.

The average monthly benefit in California for child-only households with illegal immigrant parents increased from an estimated $408 in 2013 to $875 in 2024—an increase of 114.5 percent, according to the report.

“No other state approached California’s combination of scale, concentration, and fiscal impact,” the authors stated in the report.

The next-largest states were New York, with about 7,635 households and about $47.5 million in annual cash assistance, followed by Massachusetts at about 3,777 households and about $27.3 million, and Washington at about 1,796 households and about $12.2 million, the report found.

From 2001 to 2024, the U.S. spent about $18.3 billion in TANF cash assistance on these cases involving illegal immigrant parents with welfare-recipient children, according to the report.

Tyler Durden Wed, 06/10/2026 - 20:55

Harbaugh and Schoen did not really know each other before they were united with the Giants.