SoftBank is said to weigh buying top U.S. security firm allied SoftBank head Masayoshi Son is exploring the use of AI-powered robots across various industries. SoftBank Group is considering an acquisition of Allied Universal, the largest security services company in the U.S., people familiar with the matter said, as founder Masayoshi Son explores ways to deploy AI-powered robots across industries. The potential transaction may give closely held Allied an equity value of as much as $18 billion, said some of the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. The security company, whose backers include private equity firm Warburg Pincus and Canadian pension fund La Caisse, also has about $12 billion of publicly traded debt, across loans and bonds, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That could bring a total deal value close to $30 billion.

CoreWeave's slump fueled a global rout in AI stocks, underscoring investor doubts about whether future revenue from the technology can keep pace with the spending. Shares of Nvidia-backed CoreWeave steadied on Thursday after a sharp slump, as investors worried about the debt financing behind the artificial intelligence build-out. The loss-making cloud company has about $50 billion in debt and has become a focus of concerns that the data-center boom is being fueled by credit, straining newer players and pressuring cash flows even at giants such as Alphabet and Meta Platforms. CoreWeave's slump fueled a global rout in AI stocks, underscoring investor doubts about whether future revenue from the technology can keep pace with the spending. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.