Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world Americas+1 212 318 2000 EMEA+44 20 7330 7500 Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000 Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world Americas+1 212 318 2000 EMEA+44 20 7330 7500 Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000 Brightline Trains Florida LLC — the struggling private rail line connecting Orlando to Miami — was downgraded five notches by S&P Global Ratings, citing a “material deviation” from growth expectations in the second half of this year and higher probability of default by January 2027. S&P loweredBloomberg Terminal the unenhanced and underlying ratings on $2.2 billion of senior secured debt to CCC from BB-. About $1.1 billion of those bonds are insured with an AA rating, based on Assured Guaranty's credit grade.

Palo Alto Networks will migrate key internal workloads to Google Cloud as part of a new multibillion-dollar agreement, the companies announced on Friday. The companies said the deal is an expansion of their existing strategic partnership and will deepen their engineering collaboration. Palo Alto Networks is now using Google's Gemini artificial intelligence models to power its copilots, and it is also using Google Cloud's Vertex AI platform, according to a release. "Every board is asking how to harness AI's power without exposing the business to new threats," BJ Jenkins, president of Palo Alto Networks, said in a statement. Palo Alto Networks, which offers a range of cybersecurity products, already has more than 75 joint integrations with Google Cloud and has completed $2 billion in sales through the Google Cloud Marketplace. As part of the new phase of the partnership, Palo Alto Networks customers will be able to protect live AI workloads and data on Google Cloud, maintain security policies, accelerate Google Cloud adoption and simplify and unify their security solutions, the companies said. Shares of Palo Alto Networks were up 1% on Friday. "This latest expansion of our partnership will ensure that our joint customers have access to the right solutions to secure their most critical AI infrastructure and develop new AI agents with security built in from the start," Google Cloud President Matt Renner said in a statement. WATCH: Google unveils ‘Gemini 3 Flash' AI model focused on speed and cost We want to hear from you. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Oracle's stock jumped 7% Friday after the cloud provider joined a group of investors slated to lead TikTok's U.S. operations. In a memo to employees Thursday, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said the social media company's U.S. division will be run by a joint venture that includes Oracle, Silver Lake and Abu Dhabi-based MGX. The deal is expected to close on Jan. 22. The agreement prevents the popular social platform from getting banned after President Joe Biden signed a law requiring a divestiture of the company's U.S. unit due to national security concerns. President Donald Trump extended the deadline for a deal on multiple occasions and signed an executive order in September that approved a potential plan for China-based ByteDance to divest. Oracle will be tasked with auditing and validating that TikTok follows "agreed upon National Security Terms," according to the memo. China has not publicly confirmed the investment deal, but reports in Chinese state media suggest that the deal will go through, CNBC's Eunice Yoon said. Oracle's cloud-based computing centers will also house sensitive U.S. data. In a note to clients on Friday, Evercore ISI called the news a "nice win" for the cloud company with upside potential. "We continue to believe the recent pullback represents an interesting entry point with investors that can take a 6-12 month view," analysts wrote. The deal comes at the end of what has been a chaotic 2025 for the cloud provider and a massive pullback in shares in recent months over concerns about its AI infrastructure spending. That exacerbated concerns over the massive — and potentially risky — funding plans behind the artificial intelligence data center buildout. Oracle shares are up 8% this year and have pulled back more than 20% over the last month. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

BioMarin Pharmaceutical said on ⁠Friday it would acquire Amicus ‍Therapeutics ‍for about $4.8 ‍billion, expanding its presence in rare metabolic diseases. The ‍drugmaker will ‍pay $14.50 per share for Amicus, a premium of 33.1% to the stock's last close. Shares of Amicus surged 30%, ‌while ‌BioMarin rose nearly 5% in ​premarket trading. The deal strengthens BioMarin's portfolio with Amicus' approved genetic disorder treatments, including Galafold, an oral drug for Fabry disease, which is ⁠caused by a faulty gene that leads to a buildup of fatty substances in cells. Amicus also markets a combination therapy, Pombiliti and Opfolda, for Pompe disease, a genetic condition in which a complex sugar called glycogen builds up in the body's cells. Amicus also has U.S. rights to DMX-200, a potential treatment for a type of kidney disease known as focal segmental glomerulosclerosis. BioMarin intends to finance the deal through a combination of cash on hand ‍and about $3.7 billion of non-convertible debt financing. The deal is also expected to add to adjusted profit in the first 12 months after close and be substantially accretive beginning ⁠in 2027, the company said. We want to hear from you. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox Get this delivered to your inbox, and more info about our products and services.

Every time Geoff publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Capital One is concerned about AI costs rising via its cloud-computing relationship with Amazon and may be looking for alternatives, according to an internal Nvidia document obtained by Business Insider. In the document, an Nvidia employee wrote that the chip giant talked with Capital One about AI infrastructure alternatives to Amazon Web Services, as the bank was "looking to control costs." The Nvidia staffer was recapping discussions with Capital One in an internal email after meeting representatives from the bank at a recent tech conference. "They see their need for GPUs and reasoning models growing and the costs in AWS will soon get out of hand," the Nvidia employee wrote, referring to Capital One. Financial institutions can use this infrastructure for tasks such as fraud detection, customer support, and algorithmic trading, according to Nvidia. Neoclouds are upstart cloud providers, often powered by Nvidia hardware, that focus on AI workloads, whereas AWS supports a much broader range of computing needs. Top neocloud players include CoreWeave, Lambda, Crusoe, and Nebius. Nvidia has been working closely with several of these players, in part to reduce its reliance on established cloud giants as customers. Large companies also regularly assess their cloud spending, including varying setups that increasingly incorporate multiple providers. Forty-three percent of companies use more than two public cloud providers, according to a recent RBC Capital report. "We continue to be committed to AWS as our predominant strategic cloud partner," a Capital One spokesperson wrote in a statement. Capital One isn't the only company taking issue with AWS costs. Business Insider's Eugene Kim reported in October that AI startups are increasingly delaying traditional AWS spend in favor of AI model and developer tools, according to internal Amazon documents from March and July. The documents said that 90% of startups in Radical Ventures' portfolio were building primarily on rival clouds due to AWS costs. Amazon also noted internally that there was increasing demand from customers for neocloud providers, which let them rent GPU power in small chunks and only pay for what they use. When that story published in October, an AWS spokesperson said Business Insider was "using old data to reach outdated conclusions," noting that "AWS remains the top choice for startups to build because we offer the best core services as well as the most innovative and powerful generative AI offerings."

The United States has sharply criticised South Africa over what it described as the detention, harassment and “doxxing” of American officials linked to a controversial refugee programme involving white Afrikaners, escalating a diplomatic row that has already drawn international attention. The statement follows an earlier report by Business Insider Africa that Kenyan nationals were caught in the middle of a growing dispute between South African authorities and U.S.-linked actors over the Afrikaner refugee programme, which has become a flashpoint in broader political tensions between Pretoria and Washington. According to the report, the South African Department of Home Affairs conducted a raid in Johannesburg following intelligence reports that some Kenyans had recently entered South Africa on tourist visas but were found performing paid work at a centre handling applications for "so-called Afrikaner refugees.” According to the U.S. government, South African authorities recently detained American officials engaged in lawful humanitarian work, while also publicly releasing their passport details. “This can only be seen as an attempt to intimidate U.S. government personnel in South Africa on official business,” the statement said, adding that the United States would not tolerate threats or intimidation directed at its officials or citizens operating legally abroad. According to the CNN, two US government employees were briefly detained during the raid, though South Africa's statement said no American officials were arrested The episode deepens already strained relations between South Africa and the United States, which have faced friction in recent years over foreign policy alignment, human rights positions, and Pretoria's stance on global geopolitical conflicts. The Afrikaner refugee programme has become particularly sensitive, with South African officials pushing back against narratives they argue misrepresent domestic conditions, while Washington frames its involvement as humanitarian. However, the unusually direct language from Washington suggests growing impatience and raises the stakes for bilateral relations at a time when both countries are navigating an increasingly tense global diplomatic environment. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected!