Market-moving news for Friday, September 25, 2026

What happened

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, September 24 that MGM Resorts International is discussing making a bid to purchase Barry Diller's People Inc. (PPLI), reversing the roles from a months-long takeover dance in which People Inc. had tried to buy MGM. The report came a day after People withdrew its June proposal to take MGM private. People Inc. — which owns People magazine, Food & Wine, Southern Living, Investopedia, The Daily Beast and other media brands — holds a ~27% stake in MGM worth roughly as much as its own market cap. MGM could make its proposal in the coming days, though the report noted the talks could still fall apart. MGM did not respond to comment requests; People declined to comment.

What happened

Johnson & Johnson reported five-year follow-up data from the initial 20-patient Cohort A subgroup of the Phase 2 CARTITUDE-2 study, presented as Abstract PA-288 at the 2026 International Myeloma Society Annual Meeting. At a median follow-up of 60.7 months, half of the patients (10 of 20) with early-line relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma remained alive and progression-free at five years after a single CARVYKTI (ciltacabtagene autoleucel) infusion with no maintenance therapy. The five-year overall survival rate was 69.2% and median progression-free survival was 60.5 months.

What happened

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on September 25, said Iran had formally delivered a seven-day plan to the US via Qatari mediators to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume nuclear talks. Under the proposal, Washington must accept Iran's conditions — lifting the US naval blockade of Iranian ports, waiving sanctions on Iranian oil sales, releasing frozen Iranian assets estimated above $12 billion, and observing a ceasefire that includes Lebanon — after which the US-side steps take 4-5 days, the strait reopens on day six, and US-Iran talks on a final nuclear deal begin on day seven.

What happened

Dell Technologies director Lynn Vojvodich Radakovich sold 2,022 shares on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, at an average price of $565.28, for total proceeds of $1,142,996.16, disclosed in an SEC filing. Following the sale she directly owned 25,267 shares (~$14.28M), a 7.41% reduction in her position. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

What happened

Costco reported fiscal Q4 2026 results after the close on September 24 (the 16 weeks ended August 30, 2026): diluted EPS of $6.75, ahead of the ~$6.52 consensus, and total revenue of $95.72 billion, up 11.1% and ahead of the ~$94.8B consensus. However, $0.15 of the EPS figure was a non-recurring benefit from tariff refunds under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act — removing it leaves $6.60, only about $0.07 above consensus. Net sales rose 11.2% to $93.9B, membership fees rose 7.3% to $1.85B (notably slower than recent quarters), comparable sales rose 9.4% — or 6.7% excluding gasoline and currency — and digitally enabled comps jumped 19.5%. Shares traded roughly flat after hours.

What happened

Akamai Technologies announced on September 25, 2026 that it will supply Anthropic with $11.6 billion of Akamai Cloud capacity over seven years, focused on CPU workloads for AI at scale. The commitment could expand by up to another $9 billion, bringing the total potential value to about $20 billion. As part of the agreement, Akamai issued Anthropic a warrant for non-voting convertible preferred stock equal to 7.7 million common shares — up to roughly 5% of Akamai's common stock outstanding — at an exercise price of $111.33 per share, with about 2% vesting on the $11.6B commitment and the rest vesting in ~1% increments per additional $3 billion.