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A group of countries that are part of the OPEC+ alliance of oil-exporting countries has agreed to a small boost in oil production, citing a steady global economic outlook. The group said after a virtual meeting on Sunday that it will raise oil production by 137,000 barrels per day in November, the same amount it announced for October. The group has been raising output slightly in a series of boosts all year, after announcing cuts in 2023 and 2024. In a statement, the group said the move was due to a steady global economic outlook and current healthy market fundamentals. It added the production adjustments may be paused or reversed as market conditions evolve. Saudi Arabia holds significant influence in OPEC+ as the dominant member of the OPEC producers cartel, and Russia is the leading non-OPEC member in the 22-country alliance. Along with Saudi Arabia and Russia, the group that met Sunday is made up of Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, and Oman. Their next meeting is scheduled for Nov. 2.
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The AI arms race turned a new page on Monday, as OpenAI and chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announced that the two have agreed to a new partnership to create new data centers powered by AMDs chips. The deal could also see OpenAI take a roughly 10% stake in AMD. Specifically, the partnership sees OpenAI committing to buying 6 gigawatts of AMD GPU chips, with the initial gigawatt deployment scheduled for the second half of 2026. The deal will ultimately see OpenAI deploy the remaining gigawatts over multiple years and multiple hardware generations. The deal also sees AMD issuing a warrant for as many as 160 million shares of AMD stock to OpenAI. Those shares are structured to vest in the event that specific milestones are achieved, the company said. The deal was a hit on Wall Street, as AMD shares hit the stratosphereat the market open on Monday, shares briefly topped $220.44, an increase of more than 34% from pre-trading. As of roughly 11 am ET, however, shares had fallen slightly but were still up more than 27%. This partnership is a major step in building the compute capacity needed to realize AIs full potential, said Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, in a company release. AMDs leadership in high-performance chips will enable us to accelerate progress and bring the benefits of advanced AI to everyone faster. AMDs leadership echoed the sentiment. We are thrilled to partner with OpenAI to deliver AI computers at a massive scale, said Dr. Lisa Su, chair and CEO of AMD, in a corresponding release. This partnership brings the best of AMD and OpenAI together to create a true win-win, enabling the worlds most ambitious AI buildout and advancing the entire AI ecosystem. The partnerships announcement arrives as the AI arms race continues to heat up. AMD finds itself playing catch-up with Nvidia, which has taken a dominant role in the space, particularly as it comes to developing, manufacturing, and deploying AI chips. But there is a clear hunger in the market for more computing power. As such, Nvidia and AMD could feel pressure from other burgeoning players, such as Google and Amazon, who are working on AI chips of their own. OpenAI also partnered with Broadcom to build in-house chips starting next year. Notably, OpenAI also recently announced a deal with Nvidia, which called for Nvidia to invest as much as $100 billion in OpenAIbut that deal has not yet been completed.
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E-Commerce
Verizon just announced that its current CEO, Hans Vestberg, is stepping downand the wireless carrier is pulling another seasoned leader out of retirement to take its helm. In a press release published on October 6, Verizon announced that former PayPal CEO Dan Schulman will be leading the company, effective immediately. In the meantime, Vestberg (who has held the title since 2018) will stay on as a special adviser at the company until October 4, 2026. Schulman has served on Verizons board of directors since 2018, and was elected lead independent director in December 2024. Dan is a seasoned and decisive leader with a unique set of experiences, and a proven record of transformative leadership and operational excellence, Mark Bertolini, Verizons board chair, said in the press release. He is the right leader to chart Verizon’s next phase of increased customer focus and financial growth. The leadership change comes during a promising moment for Verizon: This July, the company raised its annual profit forecast from $0.15 billion to $2 billion thanks to a favorable U.S. tax reform. Currently, Verizons main focus is on bulking up its internet services to compete with rivals like AT&T and T-Mobile. Heres what to know about Schulman as he steps in at Verizon. His most recent job was CEO of PayPal Schulmans most recent high-profile gig was at PayPal, where he served as president and CEO from 2014 to 2023. During that time, he tripled the companys revenue from $8 billion to $30 billion, all the while advocating for Wall Street leaders to use their financial power for good. If you look at the state of our country today, its clear that capitalism needs an upgrade, Schulman told attendees at a gala in 2020, per a Fast Company profile at the time. People dont believe that the system is working for them. For democracy to flourish, you need to rise above your own self-interest. But how can you rise above your own self-interest when you are struggling to make ends meet every day? The solution, he argued, was for business leaders to stand for more than just making money on behalf of shareholders. He runs a ranch in his off-time In February 2023, Schulman announced his retirement and officially moved on from PayPal in December of that year. Since then, hes served on various companies boardsincluding Cisco, Lazard, and JUST Capitalpositions that, per his LinkedIn, hes balanced with plenty of off-time at his familys Montana ranch, which is home to more than 500 cattle. Now, it seems, hes walking back his retirement to take the lead at Verizon. He has a long history in the C-suite Before his legendary run at PayPal, Schulman spent decades rising through the executive ranks at various other companies. He held leadership positions at AT&T, Priceline.com, Virgin Mobile USA, and American Express, to name a few. He has a recognizable uniform Plenty of CEOs have a go-to outfit. Schulmans is a bit different from the black turtleneck variety: He’s most commonly seen in a pair of light-wash jeans and cowboy boots.
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