Main by morning: Google invests in Anthropic, Snap and Robinhood beat forecasts

Google is in talks for a new round of investment in artificial intelligence developer Anthropic, which could give the startup a valuation in excess of $350 billion and strengthen its position in the generative AI race against OpenAI. Social network owner Snapchat surprised Wall Street with revenue growth and a 15% jump in shares after announcing a partnership with AI startup Perplexity AI, which will integrate a search chatbot into Snapchat. On these and other topics, check out our roundup of key events for the morning of Nov. 6.

Google is in talks for a new round of investment in Anthropic that could value the company at more than $350 billion, Business Insider reports. The deal is at an early stage and could take the form of a strategic partnership involving additional Google cloud capacity or a convertible note.

Google has already invested over $3 billion in the company: it owns 14% of Anthropic, recalls Business Insider. In the fall, the startup said it had raised $13 billion at a valuation of $138 billion. The new round comes amid a race between Anthropic and OpenAI for leadership in large language models, with Google and Amazon backing Anthropic and Microsoft and Nvidia supporting OpenAI.

Shares of Snap jumped 15% in extended trading after the company released its quarterly report: revenue reached $1.51 billion, adding 10% and exceeding analysts' forecasts, and the number of daily active users rose to 477 million, CNBC reports. The company also announced a $500 million share buyback and a new partnership with Perplexity AI, which will integrate its search chatbot directly into Snapchat.

Perplexity will pay Snap $400 million in cash and stock within a year. The integration will begin in 2026 and will be part of Snapchat's strategy to become a platform for leading AI companies. Amid growing regulatory pressure and declining user engagement in certain regions, Snap forecasts revenue for the next quarter of up to $1.71 billion and expects EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) to grow to $310 million.

Trading service Robinhood reported strong results for the third quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations: net income totaled $556 million, or $0.61 per share, on revenue of $1.27 billion versus expectations of $1.19 billion, CNBC reports. Year-on-year, the company's revenue doubled and net income almost quadrupled.

Transaction revenue was slightly below forecasts ($730 million vs. $739 million), but the company said it is actively diversifying its business. In the third quarter, Robinhood launched its Prediction Markets and Bitstamp businesses, which are already generating about $100 million in annual revenue. The broker continues to strengthen its position in wealth management, closing the gap with Coinbase and poaching customers of large competitors like Fidelity and Schwab.

Shares of Chinese companies Pony.ai and WeRide fell 14% and 12% respectively on the first day of trading in Hong Kong, CNBC writes. The two companies, already listed in the U.S., have raised about $860 million and $305 million, putting the funds toward developing Level 4 autonomous driving technologies (where a car can basically move itself without driver input) and scaling operations.

Guangzhou-based Pony.ai and WeRide plan to expand into the Middle East, Europe and Asia despite regulatory restrictions, including the recent U.S. ban on the use of Chinese technology in smart transportation systems. Analysts said the dual listing in Hong Kong was a way for the startups to diversify risk and raise Asian capital, amid increasing competition from Baidu's Apollo Go and Waymo, CNBC points out.

- Japan's broad Topix index was rising 1.38%. The benchmark Nikkei 225 was rising by 1.28%.

- Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 1.64 percent, while mainland China's CSI 300 Index added 1.42 percent.

- In South Korea, the Kospi index was up 0.67 percent, while the Kosdaq was down 0.36 percent.

- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.3 percent.

- Futures on the Nasdaq 100, S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were little changed.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor