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Media mogul Barry Diller’s People offers to buy MGM Resorts for over $18bn
Europe
The Guardian•6/1/2026

Media mogul Barry Diller’s People offers to buy MGM Resorts for over $18bn

Aerial view of the south Las Vegas Strip, including the MGM Grand, Excalibur and New York-New York casinos, in 2022. Photograph: Michael Quine/Las Vegas Review-Journal via Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenAerial view of the south Las Vegas Strip, including the MGM Grand, Excalibur and New York-New York casinos, in 2022. Photograph: Michael Quine/Las Vegas Review-Journal via Getty ImagesBusinessMedia mogul Barry Diller’s People offers to buy MGM Resorts for over $18bnFocus on casino operator is sharp departure from media for Diller as markets remain volatile Media mogul Barry Diller’s People Inc said on Monday it had proposed to buy MGM Resorts, valuing the casino operator at more than $18bn. The offer comes just weeks after Diller, the digital media company’s chair, told shareholders in a 28 April letter that People would sharpen its focus on its MGM stake, calling the stock “wildly undervalued”. People currently owns 26.1% of the outstanding common stock of MGM. It is planning to bid $48.30 a share in cash for the remaining company, representing a premium of about 10.6% to MGM’s Friday close of $43.67. MGM’s shares rose more than 10% in premarket trading, while those of People – renamed from IAC in April – rose nearly 3%. Diller’s interest in MGM dates back to the Covid-19 pandemic, when he began accumulating shares in the casino operator when its shares were battered by closures and travel restrictions. MGM owns marquee properties that account for roughly 40% of the Las Vegas Strip. However, the casino operator has been struggling with sluggish footfalls in Las Vegas, and in recent quarters has relied on growth in its China properties, including Macau, and digital operations. The company’s BetMGM venture has also emerged as one of the leading US online sportsbooks, giving higher exposure to a digital gambling market that analysts have been bullish on. For Diller, MGM is a sharp departure from digital media, giving his group access to an industry focused on travel and tourism at a time when markets remain volatile. The offer also marks another major takeover attempt in the casino sector. Last week, the hospitality billionaire Tilman Fertitta’s firm announced the takeover of Caesars Entertainment in a $17.6bn deal.

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Nvidia launches ‘superchip’ putting AI power into laptops and PCs
Europe
The Guardian•6/1/2026

Nvidia launches ‘superchip’ putting AI power into laptops and PCs

A new front has opened up in the battle for dominance in AI chips, as Nvidia said its latest development could replace the mouse and keyboard in how people use computers. The $5tn (£3.7tn) US semiconductor company has launched a “superchip” that puts AI capabilities into laptops and desktop computers, a move that will pit it against Intel, Apple, Qualcomm and AMD. The RTX Spark chip will be launched this year, and will be used by computer makers including Dell, Lenovo, Asus and HP, paired with Microsoft’s Windows software, according to the Nvidia chief executive, Jensen Huang. Speaking at the Computex conference in Taiwan, Huang said the chip would “reinvent the PC” for the AI era, after three years of collaboration between Nvidia and Microsoft. A combination of a microprocessor and a graphics chip, developed with help from Taiwan’s MediaTek, it is designed to run AI agents locally rather than relying on cloud computing. It will allow agents to navigate PCs autonomously, replacing humans’ traditional mouse and keyboard interactions. Because the chip is very powerful, computers will still be thin and light, the company said. The company’s foray into the consumer PC industry will open up a new business line, but this will take time, analysts said. Nvidia, which dominates the booming AI semiconductor market, is pushing beyond graphics cards into integrated chips that power the whole computer. Neil Shah, a co-founder of Counterpoint Research, compared the “RTX Spark moment” with the advent of the iPhone, ChatGPT and DeepSeek. “The RTX Spark looks to transform the traditional app-centric PC to a real useful agentic AI personal computer which will eventually be in every home in coming years as private edge AI agents become pivotal,” he said. The new chip and Nvidia’s Vera central processing unit (CPU) demonstrate the company’s growing focus on PC and CPU products. The Vera CPU is designed for AI agents and early adopters, including OpenAI, Anthropic and SpaceX. Susannah Streeter, the chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said: “Nvidia’s latest push into AI-powered personal computers marks a bold attempt to extend its dominance beyond datacentres and into consumers’ everyday lives. The unveiling of the RTX Spark chip reinforces Jensen Huang’s vision of PCs evolving from simple productivity tools into hyperintelligent digital co-workers. “While strategically significant, investors are likely to view the move as a longer-term growth opportunity rather than an immediate earnings driver. For now, Nvidia’s fortunes still depend overwhelmingly on relentless global demand for AI infrastructure and datacentre computing power.”

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