☕️ Anthropic revenue jumps 14-fold to $11.5B

Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Finpresso.

In today's newsletter:

📈 Anthropic revenue jumps 14-fold to $11.5B

🍎 Apple taps Alibaba for China AI model

🚢 Iran and Oman near Hormuz shipping deal

💳 Stripe buys AI startup OpenRouter for $7B

🏛️ Trump to host crypto CEOs next week

Plus: 🌍 9 macro news, 🏢 10 corporate news, 💰 9 deal flow, and 📑 5 research & reports.

📊 Before The Bell

• Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, told prospective investors that second-quarter revenue reached more than $11.5 billion, roughly 14 times the $787 million it booked a year earlier and up from $4.73 billion in the first quarter.
• The surge, driven by professionals adopting Claude for tasks such as coding, pushed Anthropic to positive adjusted operating income and lifted its annualized revenue run rate past $47 billion in May, ahead of rival OpenAI's $40 billion-plus.
• Anthropic has filed confidentially for a potential fall IPO with Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan, aiming to tap public funding to outspend competitors, in a market where listings have raised $256.4 billion this year, the most since 2021.

• Apple has developed a custom AI model for China with help from Alibaba, clearing the way to launch its Apple Intelligence features on Chinese iPhones as it competes to reach local customers.
• China's internet regulator registered Apple's generative AI service last month, a clearance that OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude still lack, with the features expected via an iOS update "in the coming months."
• The move follows a costly year for Apple's AI push, including a $250 million settlement in May over claims it misled iPhone buyers about features that were unavailable, leaving it trailing Chinese rivals such as Huawei.

• Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz nearly stopped over the weekend as a 60-day U.S.-Iran ceasefire neared its Monday expiry with no deal in sight, leaving the vital oil route effectively idle.
• Only five cargo ships crossed the passage on Saturday and none on Sunday, versus 31 the prior weekend, capping a slide that has cut shipping 90% since the war began February 28 on a route carrying about a fifth of the world's oil.
• Oil barely moved despite the disruption, with Brent crude down 0.15% to $88.45 a barrel and U.S. WTI off 0.74% to $81.79, as HSBC's Parash Jain said investors should treat "chaos" as the industry's baseline.

• Stripe has agreed to buy OpenRouter, a startup that lets companies switch between AI models to find cheaper options, for more than $7 billion, pushing the payments firm deeper into the artificial intelligence market.
• The price marks a steep markup from the $1.3 billion valuation OpenRouter reportedly commanded just months earlier, and sits below the roughly $10 billion the Wall Street Journal had earlier reported Stripe was discussing.
• Founded in 2023 and backed by Alphabet's CapitalG, Andreessen Horowitz and Menlo Ventures on more than $150 million raised, OpenRouter serves 8 million developers accessing over 400 AI models, riding growing corporate pressure to cut AI spending.

• President Trump is expected to attend a White House meeting on Wednesday with chief executives from crypto, prediction-market and AI firms, a session meant to open a policy dialogue with the administration.
• The CEOs, from Coinbase, Ripple, Gemini, Robinhood, Polymarket and Kalshi, sit on a new Innovation Advisory Committee at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and hold their first committee meeting Thursday, a day after the White House gathering.
• The meeting, set for the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, is expected to include CFTC Chairman Mike Selig, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick possibly attending, signaling high-level engagement on crypto policy.

🌍 Macro News

• US drafts letter forcing 35 countries to choose AI coalition allegiance. LINK
• Lutnick tells Apple to avoid Chinese memory chips, blocking its workaround. LINK
• Global bond yields hit highest level since the 2008 financial crisis. LINK
• China's July retail sales and investment growth slowed sharply, pressuring stimulus calls. LINK
• Goldman says September Fed rate hike unlikely, boosting bitcoin's outlook. LINK
• US retail sales fell 0.6% in July, the steepest drop since May 2025. LINK
• Yen gains as traders push back Fed rate-hike expectations. LINK
• Court upholds Trump's power to end tariff-free status for cheap imports. LINK
• BP to develop Venezuela's Loran gasfield with Trump-linked oil firms. LINK

🏢 Corporate News

• Nubank's quarterly profit tops $1 billion for the first time. LINK
• Crypto traders value Unitree at $38 billion, far above its IPO price. LINK
• OpenAI hires former Wiz executive Dali Rajic as chief revenue officer. LINK
• JPMorgan cut Polymarket's banking access last year over regulatory concerns. LINK
• US states seek $200 billion from Meta over child-addiction claims. LINK
• Apple shares rose after opening new Houston manufacturing center. LINK
• Gemini posted a $107.7 million quarterly loss despite revenue growth. LINK
• Kraken parent Payward's quarterly revenue rose 17% to $508 million. LINK
• RedotPay delays its $1 billion US IPO until at least 2027. LINK
• AMD targets over half of the $220 billion server-chip market by 2030. LINK

📈 Stocks

📑 Research & Reports

• SemiAnalysis says flawed models led PJM to overcharge customers $12 billion. LINK
• Goldman finds AI spending has yet to boost corporate profits meaningfully. LINK
• Study warns AI use in fossil fuels could add 1.8 billion tons of CO2. LINK
• Grayscale sees Ether, Solana supply growth falling below gold's by 2031. LINK
• US corporate equity value surges past 400% of GDP, JPMorgan finds. LINK

💰 Deal Flow

• Nvidia may invest $3 billion in SoftBank's SB Energy data-center project. LINK
• SpaceX completes its $60 billion acquisition of AI startup Cursor. LINK
• IonQ closes $1.8 billion acquisition of chipmaker SkyWater Technology. LINK
• Ingenico secures €150 million investment led by PIMCO to strengthen finances. LINK
• Datavault AI shares fell after its $94.5 million CyberCatch acquisition deal. LINK
• Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners closes $3 billion renewable energy growth fund. LINK
• California regulator approves Charter's $34.5 billion purchase of Cox Communications. LINK
• Jeff Bezos group buys stake in Liverpool FC worth $7.1 billion. LINK
• Saputo agrees to sell its UK dairy business for $1.86 billion. LINK

📅 Market Calendar

📚 Finance Resources

💬 How did you find today's edition?

We read every reply — just reply to this email and let us know how we can improve!