Business

May 16 (Reuters) – Tesla raised the prices of its Model Y cars in the United States on Saturday, according to its website.

The company increased the price of its Model Y premium all-wheel drive and Model Y premium rear-wheel drive by $1,000 to $49,990 and $45,990 respectively.

The company also raised the price of its Model Y Performance all-wheel drive to $57,990 in the United States, up $500 from earlier, the website showed.

In August last year, the company raised the price of its most-expensive Cybertruck pickup truck model by $15,000 in the United States despite softer-than-expected sales and recalls.

Tesla did not provide a reason for the price increase.

The last time the company increased the price of Model Y cars was two years in 2024 ago when it raised the prices of all Model Y cars by $1,000.

(Reporting by Angela Christy in Bengaluru; Editing by Louise Heavens)

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By Nate Raymond

May 15 (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc was sued on Friday by consumers seeking refunds for costs passed on to them in the form of higher prices as a result of tariffs the U.S. Supreme Court later concluded had been unlawfully imposed by President Donald Trump.

Consumers in a proposed class action filed in federal court in Seattle alleged that the e-commerce giant collected hundreds of millions of dollars in unlawful tariff costs by raising prices on imported goods before the Supreme Court had ruled.

The U.S. Supreme Court in February concluded in a 6-3 decision that Trump overstepped his authority by using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose his sweeping tariffs.

Thousands of companies have begun to seek billions of dollars in refunds from the government following the ruling. 

But Amazon has not, which the lawsuit alleged was “not because it lacks a legal basis to do so, but because it seeks to curry favor with Trump by allowing the federal government to retain the funds.”

“The problem is that the funds Amazon is using to stay in the President’s good graces do not belong to Amazon,” the lawsuit says. “These funds were wrongfully taken from consumers to cover IEEPA Tariffs that have since been invalidated.”

The lawsuit asserts claims of unjust enrichment and violation of Washington state’s consumer-protection law.

Amazon did not respond to a request for comment. 

The lawsuit follows several earlier cases filed by consumers accusing companies ranging from Costco to Nike to FedEx of failing to pass on tariff refunds to consumers. 

Unlike companies that imported goods, consumers are not eligible to seek tariff refunds from the government for the higher costs they incurred while they were in effect, Friday’s lawsuit notes.

To support its claim that politics were behind Amazon’s actions, the lawsuit notes that in April 2025, the company faced White House blowback after a report that it was considering displaying how much of a product’s cost came from the IEEPA tariffs.

Amazon denied the story and said it never considered listing tariff prices on its main retail site. But the report prompted Trump to call Amazon Executive Chairman Jeff Bezos to complain, the lawsuit says.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Tom Hogue)

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By Eduardo Baptista and Che Pan

BEIJING, May 16 (Reuters) – As U.S. President Donald Trump showered praise on his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Friday, the CEOs of several U.S. aviation, commodities, technology, and finance conglomerates looked to advance their business interests by meeting the heads of powerful Chinese regulators and ministries.

These include GE Aerospace, Boeing, Qualcomm, Cargill, Visa, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup, who held talks with the leading officials of Chinese government agencies such as the commerce ministry, state planner, securities regulator, and central bank, according to official government statements and state-backed media reports published on Friday and Saturday.

The U.S. executives travelled to Beijing as part of the business delegation Trump brought to China. They stood behind Trump’s cabinet on Thursday morning as they were each introduced to Xi, and later in the evening mingled with Chinese officials and businesspeople at a state banquet.

The executives are hoping the political goodwill generated by the bonhomie between the two leaders can trickle down to China’s bureaucratic apparatus and unlock regulatory approvals, lucrative purchase deals, and even solve thorny issues in the world’s second-largest economy.

The corporate diplomacy push came as analysts questioned the effectiveness of Trump’s strategy to woo Xi into opening up China for U.S. companies, as he seemingly left Beijing with far fewer trade and investment deals than in 2017.

“The summit served as a crucial window for attending U.S. CEOs to reinforce corporate diplomacy and directly position their strategic asks with top Chinese authorities,” said Alfredo Montufar-Helu, a Beijing-based managing director at Ankura China Advisors.

POST-SUMMIT MEETINGS IN BEIJING

The chairman of China’s securities regulator and Beijing’s party secretary held talks with Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser in China and discussed enhancing cooperation in wealth management and cross-border financing, state-backed media said on Saturday.

Beijing Party Secretary Yin Li said China welcomed Citigroup to expand its business further and help attract more international companies and investment to the country, the state-backed Beijing Youth Daily reported.

Wu Qing, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), also met Fraser, the regulatory body said in a statement. The two exchanged views on issues including the global economic and financial environment and the opening up of China’s capital markets.

Citi has been trying to deepen its onshore China capital-markets presence after exiting a joint venture and applying in 2023 to set up a wholly owned securities brokerage firm, which is still awaiting regulatory approval.

Separately, the vice governor of the People’s Bank of China and the director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange met with David Solomon, chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, the foreign-exchange regulator said in a statement.

Meanwhile, China’s commerce minister Wang Wentao met with Visa’s Ryan McInerney, Cargill’s Brian Sikes, and Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon, though details about the discussions were not disclosed in official Chinese communication.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, known for engaging with locals on overseas business trips, strolled around central Beijing on Friday, trying local food and taking pictures with scores of fans.

After leaving Beijing on Friday, Trump told reporters on board Air Force One that China had agreed to buy 200 Boeing jets and 400-450 GE Aerospace engines, with a potential for the order to rise to as many as 750 planes. The orders, if finalised, would mark Boeing’s first major Chinese deal in nearly a decade.

As Trump and Xi exchanged pleasantries over tea at the Chinese leader’s Zhongnanhai residence, the CEOs of Boeing and GE Aerospace met with the heads of China’s state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), in a move analysts said was likely aimed at securing a delivery timeline for the jet and engine purchase orders.

(Reporting By Eduardo Baptista and Pan Che; Additional reporting by Selena Li in Hong Kong; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree, William Mallard, Tom Hogue and Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Berkshire Hathaway more than tripled the size of its investment in Google’s parent company and bought over $2.6 billion worth of Delta Airlines stock as Greg Abel settled into the CEO job after taking over from Warren Buffett at the start of the year.

The conglomerate also dumped a number of other stocks, including Visa, Mastercard, Domino’s Pizza, Amazon and United Healthcare after the departure late last year of Todd Combs, who was one of the two investment mangers Buffett hired to help manage the portfolio.

Buffett was always reluctant to invest in tech companies because he said he didn’t understand them well enough to predict the long-term winners. Buffett did make an exception to that rule near the end of his career by buying a massive Apple stake after he recognized how devoted consumers are to that company’s iPhones and computers.

Abel appears to be more comfortable because by the end of March Berkshire owned nearly 58 million Alphabet shares worth almost $17 billion. Just three months earlier, Berkshire held only 17.8 million Alphabet shares worth $5.6 billion.

Berkshire picked up nearly 40 million shares of Delta stock during the first three months of the year. Buffett has something of a sordid history with airline investments over the years after having bought their stocks heavily more than once before eventually dumping them.

Buffett told shareholders in 2008 that “if a farsighted capitalist had been present at Kitty Hawk, he would have done his successors a huge favor by shooting Orville down” because every airline has struggled to maintain a competitive advantage ever since the Wright brothers took to the air.

Berkshire also established a small new stake in Macy’s that was worth nearly $55 million at the end of March.

Berkshire never comments on the moves it makes to its $280 billion stock portfolio from quarter to quarter because it doesn’t want to discuss what it is buying and selling. Earlier this month, Abel just led his first shareholders meeting as CEO while Buffett sat on the floor with the rest of the board of directors.

Many investors have followed Berkshire’s portfolio closely over the years because they liked to copy Buffett’s moves. That may not be the case going forward at least until Abel establishes more of a record as a stock picker. He has spent his career operating companies like Berkshire’s collection of major utilities.

But a couple of the stocks that Berkshire just revealed new stakes in Friday did jump after the conglomerate detailed its investments in a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Macy’s and Delta stock prices both popped after Berkshire’s disclosure, but Alphabet’s stock price hardly changed.

The Omaha, Nebraska-based company also owns dozens of other businesses including major insurers like Geico, BNSF railroad, huge manufacturers like Precision Castparts and an assortment of retail and service businesses that includes such well-known brands as Helzberg Diamonds, See’s Candy and Dairy Queen.

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By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) – Two of Wall Street’s most closely watched billionaire stock pickers, both once voluble activist investors, took opposite tacks this year when Bill Ackman bet on Microsoft and exited Google parent Alphabet and Daniel Loeb did the opposite.

Ackman said on X his firm Pershing Square began building a new position in software giant Microsoft in February after shares dropped, saying investors weren’t giving it enough credit for its Microsoft 365 office suite and artificial intelligence investments.

Loeb’s hedge fund Third Point, on the other hand, sold 925,000 shares of Microsoft during the first quarter, liquidating a position the firm had held since late 2022, according to a new regulatory filing. 

Ackman and Loeb once ranked among Wall Street’s loudest activist investors, pushing companies to perform better with suggestions ranging from selling off divisions to firing CEOs.

In recent years, both have adopted a quieter tone, sidestepping public fights that generated headlines, and instead making stock picks and riding along. Picks by the two are closely followed by investors parsing their quarterly filings.

Loeb’s Third Point reported it bought 175,000 shares in Google parent Alphabet in the first quarter, while Ackman sold down most of his position in the company, according to a regulatory filing. A source said Ackman exited the rest of his Alphabet holding in the second quarter.

Also during the first quarter, both Pershing Square and Third Point established new positions in Meta Platforms, their filings show. Reuters first reported the position in February when Ackman told clients the technology and social media heavyweight will benefit from artificial intelligence. 

The regulatory filings showed Loeb and Ackman and other big investors who filed their quarterly 13F holding data with the Securities and Exchange Commission are being more selective in investing in the “Magnificent Seven” AI giants, a group that includes Meta, Microsoft and Alphabet.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Additional reporting by Suzanne McGee; Editing by Tom Hogue)

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GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — The U.S. announced Friday it is turning its attention toward Guyana’s abundant bauxite and other resources for business opportunities at a time when the Trump administration is increasingly eyeing Latin American energy and minerals.

U.S. Under Secretary for Economic Affairs Jacob Helberg held talks this week with top Guyanese officials, including President Irfaan Ali, in the South American country experiencing an oil boom.

The country’s mass oil reserves discovered in the last decade have increased Guyana’s geopolitical importance, which has been further amplified by a global energy crisis caused by the Iran war. Its bauxite reserves are critical for producing aluminum.

The Trump administration has more aggressively focused on Latin America’s resources, from pushing to expand oil production in Venezuela following the U.S. military invasion in January, to pursuing cooperation with Brazil over critical minerals.

In a region where energy production seemed to be declining, Latin America is now seeing a reversal of that trend, according to Benjamin Gedan, senior fellow and the director of the Stimson Center Latin America program.

“In times of global energy scarcity, there’s a great deal more focus on Latin America as an alternative stable source of supply,” said Gedan. “And Guyana is the leader of that story.”

The visit comes amid concerns in the U.S. government about the Chinese government and mega companies cashing in on multimillion dollar state contracts at the expense of U.S. companies.

Guyanese officials have argued that U.S. firms have not been as aggressive as the Chinese, who often offer financing and cater to labor needs for mega projects.

Helberg told officials that bauxite reserves are already known so the U.S. will be interested in the sector. Currently, Chinese operator Bosai Minerals is the dominant player in the local bauxite sector.

“Generally speaking, we both understand that Guyana is a country with a lot of natural resources,” Helberg said of the bilateral talks.

He suggested that the U.S. can also assist Guyana in conducting high-tech surveys to determine what other minerals lie under the surface for development later on.

The U.S. is looking to learn from past mistakes of allowing China to gain a foothold in the region, according to Jason Marczak, vice president and senior director for the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center at the Atlantic Council.

While Guyana is likely trying to diversify its trade relationships, including with China, the visit shows that the country remains a strong U.S. partner in the region.

“President Ali in particular is very close to the United States and in general recognizes the importance of the U.S. as a key partner for Guyana,” Marczak said. “That’s reflected by Helberg’s visit to Guyana.”

Guyana’s Foreign Secretary Robert Persaud told The Associated Press on Friday that Guyana is interested in attracting U.S. investors to the mineral, oil and gas-rich country in the coming months.

“The U.S. is our strategic partner and we made that clear to them but we would want value added to bauxite and other products. We are interested in processing and with improvements in energy generation,” he said.

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Associated Press writer Anna-Catherine Brigida reported from Mexico City.

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May 15 (Reuters) – A majority of SpaceX shareholders have approved a 5-for-1 stock split recommended by the company’s board, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.  

Shareholders of IPO-bound SpaceX were informed via email that the stock’s fair market value was adjusted to $105.32 per share from $526.59 following the split, the report said. 

The stock split will be processed during the week of May 18 and is expected to be completed by May 22, Bloomberg reported.

Reuters exclusively reported on Friday that Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite maker SpaceX is aiming to list its shares as early as June 12 and has picked the Nasdaq as the trading venue for its blockbuster market debut.

The company is likely to seek to raise about $75 billion at a valuation of roughly $1.75 trillion, which would make it the largest stock market flotation of all time, Reuters has previously reported.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours. 

(Reporting by Mihika Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Tom Hogue)

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By Isla Binnie, Suzanne McGee and Akash Sriram

NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) – Institutional investors broadly raised their exposure to some of the private credit funds that have been battered by growing risk aversion during the first three months of the year, according to a Reuters analysis of filings with U.S. securities regulators.

Major alternative asset managers with large private credit businesses, including KKR and Blue Owl, have said in recent weeks that institutional investors are showing renewed interest in direct lending, an area of private credit that attracted intense scrutiny following a handful of high-profile bankruptcies.

The 13F filings, which are one of the few ways to get a partial glimpse into how institutions position their portfolios, show data as of March 31 and do not reflect portfolio changes since then.

Reuters reviewed institutional holdings in business development companies (BDCs), debt vehicles aimed at retail investors, but available to institutions as well. Institutions only report certain holdings, and most private credit sits in non-traded vehicles and accounts so the 13Fs show just a small slice of their potential exposure. 

The Reuters review of filings showed 11.5% of more than 6,000 filers increased their holdings in a universe of 45 publicly traded funds during the quarter that ended March 31, 2026. Only 3.2% of filers cut their stakes in one or more of those private credit vehicles, the data show. A total of 279 institutional investors initiated new positions in the space during the first quarter.

Returns from private credit have cooled, quarterly data from the big managers showed according to their recent earnings. Credit strategies dipped into negative territory at KKR and Blue Owl, while Apollo’s direct lending funds returned 0.5% compared with 8.5% over the last 12 months.

‘VERY SMALL DOLLARS’

Alternative asset managers have pushed to raise funds from wealthy individuals in recent years, seeing it as a path to growth.

But several emphasized a renewed institutional investor appetite for private credit in recent calls with analysts.  

KKR co-chief executive Scott Nuttall said there had been a “shift in the last several weeks” in which he had seen institutions “coming back to direct lending a bit”, as they decided that the risk to reward ratio was getting better on new deals. 

He said the wealth space represented “very small dollars in the grand scheme of things”.   

At Blue Owl, Chief Financial Officer Alan Kirshenbaum said “institutions are actually seeing that this is an appealing time to look at credit. In fact some who perhaps had paused credit might be very well coming back.”

Indeed, the 13F filings showed that buyers outpaced sellers of stock in Blue Owl as a group, with 10.3% of all institutions that had submitted their reports to the SEC buying the company’s stock. Of that total of 611 buyers, more than half, or 335, were initiating a position in Blue Owl.

(Reporting by Isla Binnie; Additional reporting by Suzanne McGee and Akash Sriram; Editing by Megan Davies and Daniel Wallis)

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GENEVA (AP) — FIFA finally sealed a World Cup broadcast rights deal for China on Friday, just 27 days before the opening game and at a much lower reported price than the soccer body wanted.

The overall agreement with China Media Group covered the next four World Cups — two each of the men’s and women’s — through 2031, FIFA said in a statement. It includes the 48-team, 104-game men’s tournament in North America starting on June 11 that China did not qualify for.

Chinese state-affiliated media reported on Friday the 2026 World Cup rights were valued at $60 million.

FIFA originally sought $300 million, Chinese media reported in recent weeks as the deadline to strike a deal drew closer.

A rights deal for India has not been confirmed.

“It’s a real pleasure that we have found an agreement with CMG,” FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafström said in the soccer body’s statement. He was in China this week, also for meetings with officials from the Chinese soccer federation.

FIFA’s leverage in China was less because of the time difference of up to 15 hours from Beijing to the 16 host cities spread across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Chinese companies have already made a big investment in the 2026 World Cup which is set to earn FIFA more than $11 billion.

Technology firm Lenovo is one of FIFA’s eight top-tier sponsor partners, and second-tier deals were signed by dairy firm Mengniu and electronics manufacturer Hisense.

Chinese conglomerate Wanda signed a long-term deal with FIFA in 2016 which was terminated two years ago.

The value of the TV rights were not disclosed for the 2030 World Cup, which once might have been hosted by China and which Wanda said was part of its strategy with FIFA. The country’s ambitions to host international soccer competitions stalled during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 2030 men’s tournament will be mostly hosted in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with single games currently scheduled to be played in Argentina, Paraguay and the original 1930 World Cup host Uruguay.

The 2027 Women’s World Cup will be played in Brazil and the 2031 World Cup mainly in the United States, along with Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica.

That hosting decision with no rival candidate is due to the confirmed in November by FIFA member federations.

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AP Writer Didi Tang in Washington, D.C., contributed.

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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

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By Amy-Jo Crowley and Richa Naidu

LONDON, May 15 (Reuters) – Blackstone and CD&R are among private equity firms in the early stages of exploring bids for Magnum Ice Cream Company, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, less than six months after the owner of Cornetto and Ben & Jerry’s was spun out of Unilever.

The firms are monitoring Magnum’s share price before deciding whether to make a move, the two people said.

Magnum’s shares have fallen from a high of 16.5 euros ($19.19) earlier this year to trade close to their debut price at about 13 euros. The ice cream maker listed on December 8 with a valuation of about 7.8 billion euros, below analyst expectations of up to 10.8 billion euros. The shares have traded as low as 11 euros.

British consumer goods giant Unilever, which took nearly two years to list its ice cream brands, retains a 19.9% stake in Magnum and plans to exit within five years.

Deliberations are at an early stage, and both firms are waiting for Magnum to report summer sales before making a decision, one of the sources said. Magnum makes a large share of its revenue during that period. Other private equity firms are also interested, the people added.

Magnum, Unilever, Blackstone and CD&R declined to comment.

Magnum shares jumped nearly 16% after the Reuters report and were on track for their biggest ever daily increase.

Analysts at JPMorgan said tax constraints made the chance of a takeover remote. “Since the separation of Magnum was a tax-free de-merger, the company has agreed to refrain from actions that could create a tax liability,” the analysts said in a note, including for two years being restricted from engaging in transactions such as certain acquisitions or mergers.

A deal to take Magnum private would be the latest in Europe as private equity firms seek to deploy funds after several years of subdued dealmaking.

Magnum is trading in an environment where some shoppers are opting for healthier choices amid a boom in GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.

However, the company could offer buyout firms a turnaround opportunity through cost cuts and margin expansion, bringing it closer to rival Froneri, the two sources said.

Magnum says it holds about 21% of the $87 billion global ice cream market, ahead of Froneri’s 11%.

Froneri, a joint venture between PAI Partners and Nestle, secured an investment in October that valued the company at 15 billion euros.

($1 = 0.8597 euros)

(Reporting by Amy-Jo Crowley and Richa Naidu in London. Editing by Anousha Sakoui, Lisa Jucca and Mark Potter)

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