Google parent Alphabet on Monday announced it will acquire Intersect, a data center and energy infrastructure company, for $4.75 billion in cash in addition to the assumption of debt. Alphabet said Intersect's operations will remain independent, but that the acquisition will help bring more data center and generation capacity online faster. In recent years, Google has been embroiled in a fierce competition with artificial intelligence rivals, namely OpenAI, which kick-started the generative AI boom with the launch of its ChatGPT chatbot in 2022. OpenAI has made more than $1.4 trillion of infrastructure commitments to build out the data centers it needs to meet growing demand for its technology. With its acquisition of Intersect, Google is looking to keep up. "Intersect will help us expand capacity, operate more nimbly in building new power generation in lockstep with new data center load, and reimagine energy solutions to drive US innovation and leadership," Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, said in a statement. Alphabet said Monday that Intersect will work closely with Google's technical infrastructure team, including on the companies' co-located power site and data center in Haskell County, Texas. Google previously announced a $40 billion investment in Texas through 2027, which includes new data center campuses in the state's Haskell and Armstrong counties. Intersect's operating and in-development assets in California and its existing operating assets in Texas are not part of the acquisition, Alphabet said. Intersect's existing investors including TPG Rise Climate, Climate Adaptive Infrastructure and Greenbelt Capital Partners will support those assets, and they will continue to operate as an independent company. Alphabet's acquisition of Intersect is expected to close in the first half of 2026, but it is still subject to customary closing conditions. WATCH: Here's what's happening to electricity bills in states with the most data centers Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

The administration also paused leases for Vineyard Wind 1 off Massachusetts, Revolution Wind off Rhode Island, Sunrise Wind off Long Island and New England, and Empire Wind 1 south of Long Island. Norway's Equinor, the developer of Empire Wind 1, was down less than 1%. Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind is a 176 turbine project project that would provide enough power for more than 600,000 homes, according to Dominion. The project was expected to be complete next year. Dominion said the massive project is essential for U.S. national security and Virginia's dramatically growing energy needs. Growing demand from artificial intelligence is contributing to higher electricity prices in the state. "Stopping CVOW for any length of time will threaten grid reliability for some of the nation's most important war fighting, AI, and civilian assets," Dominion said in a statement. "It will also lead to energy inflation and threaten thousands of jobs," the utility said. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, supports the project. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, won the gubernatorial election in November on a promise to address rising electricity costs in part by expanding renewable energy. Interior said the U.S. government found that turbine blades and "highly reflective towers" create radar interference risk. "The clutter caused by offshore wind projects obscures legitimate moving targets and generates false targets in the vicinity of the wind projects," Interior said. President Donald Trump has targeted the U.S. wind industry since his first day in office. Trump on Jan. 20 ordered a halt to all new leases and permits for onshore and offshore wind pending federal review. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., condemned Trump's campaign against wind projects as "irrational." The senate minority leader said Interior's decision would spike energy bills. "Trump's obsession with killing offshore wind projects is unhinged, irrational, and unjustified," Schumer said in a statement Monday. "At a time of soaring energy costs, this latest decision from DOI is a backwards step that will drive energy bills even higher." Judge Patti Saris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled on Dec. 8 that Trump's order was "arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law." 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.

The administration also paused leases for Vineyard Wind 1 off Massachusetts, Revolution Wind off Rhode Island, Sunrise Wind off Long Island and New England, and Empire Wind 1 south of Long Island. Norway's Equinor, the developer of Empire Wind 1, was down less than 1%. Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind is a 176 turbine project project that would provide enough power for more than 600,000 homes, according to Dominion. The project was expected to be complete next year. Dominion said the massive project is essential for U.S. national security and Virginia's dramatically growing energy needs. Growing demand from artificial intelligence is contributing to higher electricity prices in the state. "Stopping CVOW for any length of time will threaten grid reliability for some of the nation's most important war fighting, AI, and civilian assets," Dominion said in a statement. "It will also lead to energy inflation and threaten thousands of jobs," the utility said. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, supports the project. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, won the gubernatorial election in November on a promise to address rising electricity costs in part by expanding renewable energy. Interior said the U.S. government found that turbine blades and "highly reflective towers" create radar interference risk. "The clutter caused by offshore wind projects obscures legitimate moving targets and generates false targets in the vicinity of the wind projects," Interior said. President Donald Trump has targeted the U.S. wind industry since his first day in office. Trump on Jan. 20 ordered a halt to all new leases and permits for onshore and offshore wind pending federal review. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., condemned Trump's campaign against wind projects as "irrational." The senate minority leader said Interior's decision would spike energy bills. "Trump's obsession with killing offshore wind projects is unhinged, irrational, and unjustified," Schumer said in a statement Monday. "At a time of soaring energy costs, this latest decision from DOI is a backwards step that will drive energy bills even higher." Judge Patti Saris of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled on Dec. 8 that Trump's order was "arbitrary and capricious and contrary to law." 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.

Instacart said Monday it will cease the use of artificial intelligence-driven pricing tests on its grocery delivery platform after the practice was scrutinized in a wide-ranging study and rebuked by lawmakers. The company said in a blog post that retailers will no longer be able to use its Eversight technology to run pricing experiments on its platform, effective immediately. "At a time when families are working exceptionally hard to stretch every grocery dollar, those tests raised concerns, leaving some people questioning the prices they see on Instacart. That's not okay – especially for a company built on trust, transparency, and affordability." Instacart acquired Eversight for $59 million in 2022. Earlier this month, a study by Consumer Reports and other organizations found that Instacart's algorithmic pricing tools caused shoppers to pay different prices for identical items from the same store. The total cost for the same basket of goods at a single store varied by about 7%, which can result in more than $1,000 in extra annual costs for customers. Instacart responded by saying that retailers determine prices listed on the app. The company also rejected characterizations of the technology as surveillance pricing or dynamic pricing, and said the tests were never based on personal, demographic or individual-level user data. Reuters reported last week that the Federal Trade Commission had sent a civil investigative demand to Instacart about its pricing practices. Separately, Instacart last week was ordered to pay $60 million in refunds to customers to settle claims raised by the FTC that it used deceptive tactics in its subscription sign-up, "satisfaction guarantee" advertising and other processes. Instacart denied any allegations of wrongdoing. The company said it answered questions from the FTC about its AI pricing tools as part of that settlement. We want to hear from you. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Instacart said Monday it will cease the use of artificial intelligence-driven pricing tests on its grocery delivery platform after the practice was scrutinized in a wide-ranging study and rebuked by lawmakers. The company said in a blog post that retailers will no longer be able to use its Eversight technology to run pricing experiments on its platform, effective immediately. "At a time when families are working exceptionally hard to stretch every grocery dollar, those tests raised concerns, leaving some people questioning the prices they see on Instacart. That's not okay – especially for a company built on trust, transparency, and affordability." Instacart acquired Eversight for $59 million in 2022. Earlier this month, a study by Consumer Reports and other organizations found that Instacart's algorithmic pricing tools caused shoppers to pay different prices for identical items from the same store. The total cost for the same basket of goods at a single store varied by about 7%, which can result in more than $1,000 in extra annual costs for customers. Instacart responded by saying that retailers determine prices listed on the app. The company also rejected characterizations of the technology as surveillance pricing or dynamic pricing, and said the tests were never based on personal, demographic or individual-level user data. Reuters reported last week that the Federal Trade Commission had sent a civil investigative demand to Instacart about its pricing practices. Separately, Instacart last week was ordered to pay $60 million in refunds to customers to settle claims raised by the FTC that it used deceptive tactics in its subscription sign-up, "satisfaction guarantee" advertising and other processes. Instacart denied any allegations of wrongdoing. The company said it answered questions from the FTC about its AI pricing tools as part of that settlement. We want to hear from you. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Asset manager Janus Henderson has agreed to be acquired by investors Trian Fund Management and General Catalyst, CNBC first reported on Monday. Trian and General Catalyst will pay $49 per share in cash, valuing Janus at about $7.4 billion. That represents a 6.5% premium to Janus' Friday's close and is about 18% above the stock's closing level on Oct. 24. The Wall Street Journal reported on Oct. 27 that Trian and General had approached Janus about a takeover. The deal is expected to close in mid-2026, they said. Trian has been an investor in Janus since late 2020. In that time, the stock has roughly doubled. Trian also has two representatives on the company's board. With the acquisition, "we see a growing opportunity to accelerate investment in people, technology, and clients," Trian CEO Nelson Peltz said in a statement. Janus Henderson CEO Ali Dibadj said, "With this partnership with Trian and General Catalyst, we are confident that we will be able to further invest in our product offering, client services, technology, and talent to accelerate our growth. Janus shares ticked more than 3% higher on the news. An earlier version misstated the company name. Sign up for free newsletters and get more CNBC delivered to your inbox

Every time Theron 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. "Exactly and sadly," Burry wrote on X late Saturday, responding to another user's comment that called Nvidia the "gangster of the AI neighborhood" as it has "shut down any narrative that even hints at reducing GPU demand." In another post over the weekend, Burry shared a chart showing China has more than double America's electric generation capacity, and is expanding its energy infrastructure at a much faster rate. Nvidia has framed AI innovation as "just figuring out how to power and to cool bigger, hotter silicon," Burry said. But China's huge lead in building out power sources means companies in the US are "plowing capital into a race it is structurally positioned to lose." Burry said the US needs to shift its focus from developing more and more "power hungry" chips toward advancing "AI-tuned ASICs" — application-specific integrated circuits that are designed to do a particular task quickly and efficiently. But he said Nvidia has a "death grip on development" thanks to its deals with many key players in the AI industry. Nvidia did not immediately reply to a request for comment from Business Insider about Burry's posts. Nvidia stock has surged more than 12-fold since the start of 2023, making it the world's most valuable public company, with a market capitalization of $4.4 trillion. "Blackwell sales are off the charts, and cloud GPUs are sold out," Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in the third-quarter earnings release. He has made the case to his readers that Nvidia and other AI companies are inflating a historic tech bubble. He has said that Nvidia's customers have exaggerated the lifespan of its chips to drag out depreciation and boost short-term earnings. Burry fired back that the document featured "one straw man after another" and he stood by his analysis. While the company's response did make him "think to look a little deeper," he said it was a "relatively small short" for him. "I believe it will fall, and is a pure play on my overall thesis, but it is not the worst out there."

Every time Theron 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. "Exactly and sadly," Burry wrote on X late Saturday, responding to another user's comment that called Nvidia the "gangster of the AI neighborhood" as it has "shut down any narrative that even hints at reducing GPU demand." In another post over the weekend, Burry shared a chart showing China has more than double America's electric generation capacity, and is expanding its energy infrastructure at a much faster rate. But China's huge lead in building out power sources means companies in the US are "plowing capital into a race it is structurally positioned to lose." Burry said the US needs to shift its focus from developing more and more "power hungry" chips toward advancing "AI-tuned ASICs" — application-specific integrated circuits that are designed to do a particular task quickly and efficiently. Every time Theron publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! Stay connected to Theron and get more of their work as it publishes. By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. But he said Nvidia has a "death grip on development" thanks to its deals with many key players in the AI industry. Nvidia did not immediately reply to a request for comment from Business Insider about Burry's posts. Nvidia stock has surged more than 12-fold since the start of 2023, making it the world's most valuable public company, with a market capitalization of $4.4 trillion. He has made the case to his readers that Nvidia and other AI companies are inflating a historic tech bubble. He has said that Nvidia's customers have exaggerated the lifespan of its chips to drag out depreciation and boost short-term earnings. Burry fired back that the document featured "one straw man after another" and he stood by his analysis. While the company's response did make him "think to look a little deeper," he said it was a "relatively small short" for him. "I believe it will fall, and is a pure play on my overall thesis, but it is not the worst out there."

Every time Polly 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. "Effective immediately, all onsite-classified sales team members are expected to be in the RR, NV, and OKC offices five days a week for at least eight hours per day," Jackie Miller, Dell's vice president of North American commercial sales, said in an email sent to enterprise sales staff on November 5, which Business Insider has seen. Miller's email came over a year after Dell first told its global sales teams to be "on-site five days a week," in September 2024. Every time Polly publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! Stay connected to Polly and get more of their work as it publishes. By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. "I want to reinforce our expectations regarding onsite office presence," she said. Employees should use personal business allowance or vacation hours for time spent away from the office, Miller said. "And as we have said, our team members are expected to work a regular working day in the office, but have flexibility as needed." "Also, team members in global roles may need to take late evening calls and can adjust their in-office hours accordingly," the spokesperson added. Following in the footsteps of corporate giants like JPMorgan, Amazon, and Starbucks, more companies are steadily tightening work-from-home rules. Dell's RTO policy has not changed since it was first implemented, but there's been a disconnect between leaders and employees over whether coming to the office five days a week also requires spending eight hours there. Some managers understood "regular working day" to mean eight hours a day, while others allowed their teams to badge in and leave soon after without repercussions. "Expectations for our team members have not changed," Dell told Business Insider in June, adding that employees were "expected to work a regular working day in the office, but have flexibility as needed" for things like late evening calls on global teams. An internal FAQ obtained by Business Insider listed examples of when employees may be permitted to work from home, provided they have approval from a leader. These included a temporary medical condition, needing to provide care on a temporary basis, or adjusting in-office hours to avoid peak traffic. "A lot of parents previously were told they can leave around 2 p.m. to pick up school-age kids and can finish the day at home," said one of the sales employees. Miller's email meant having to "rearrange the home life to accommodate, yet another, Dell change in policy," the person said. Since November, sales leaders have clarified that there are no exemptions for children's school schedules, the two sales employees told Business Insider. Are you a Dell employee with insight to share?

Every time Jordan 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. Nike CEO Elliott Hill inherited an uphill battle when he took over at the sports giant in October 2024. Since then, Hill has made changes — both big and small — to the company as part of its turnaround strategy. After retiring from Nike in 2020, the former president of consumer and marketplace returned to guide the company amid declining sales, sluggish growth, and increased pressure from upstart rivals. Nike shares jumped about 8% on the day Hill's appointment was announced in September. "We lost our obsession with sport," Hill said on a December 2024 earnings call. Last week, during the company's most recent quarter, Hill told investors that the comeback "won't be a straight line." Nike's "win now" strategy — Hill described it on last week's earnings call as Nike's "immediate response to our biggest challenges and opportunities" — focuses on five key areas: culture, product, marketing, marketplace, and in-person presence. The plan leans on a sports-driven reset that has "realigned" about 8,000 employees around its core sports categories, the company said. Nike said its running business grew by more than 20% last quarter, which ended in November, marking the second consecutive period of comparable growth. As part of that overhaul, Nike's former president of consumer, product, and brand retired, and Hill promoted four other Nike insiders to senior roles reporting to him: president of Nike (Amy Montagne), chief innovation, design, and product officer (Phil McCartney), chief marketing officer (Nicole Graham), and chief growth initiatives officer (Tom Clarke). Hill also hired a new communications chief this year, Michael Gonda. And he made another round of changes in December, eliminating the roles of chief technology officer and chief commercial officer. The new job's function is to "integrate technology more seamlessly into our sport offense," Hill said in a note to employees that Nike released publicly. Venkatesh Alagirisamy, a 20-year veteran of Nike, transitioned into the role on December 8. As part of the shake-up, general managers in all regions now report directly to Hill. "It's clear how important it is to stay closely connected to what's happening on the ground, from intern to CEO, and every role I've held in between, I've felt that way," Hill said on last week's earnings call. Hill said Nike's ties with wholesalers such as Foot Locker and Dick's Sporting Goods had frayed amid its aggressive shift toward direct-to-consumer sales. Hill said that Nike would strive to provide a more "elevated" experience for consumers, speaking in a January interview with Fortune. He said Nike had become "too promotional" on its own site. "Being premium also means full price," Hill told Fortune. The cutback on promotions came alongside "surgical" price increases Nike made to mitigate tariffs in 2025. Nike's 68,000-square-foot House of Innovation is the blueprint for its stores. It's a six-story flagship store that opened in 2018, showcasing the company's most advanced products. Hill has frequently pointed to the revamped store in his first year as a model for Nike's move to sports-driven retail layouts. "It's an immersive sport experience, and the refresh has already led to double-digit revenue increases," Hill told investors in September.

Ghana has deported 68 foreign nationals from the Ashanti Region following court rulings linked to organised crime, prostitution, and other offences, reflecting the growing tension between border security and Africa's long-stated ambition of freer movement. In a statement published on his Facebook page, Amoakohene praised the GIS for what he described as “professionalism, diligence, and firm commitment to enforcing our immigration laws,” while stressing that due process and human dignity were observed throughout the exercise. He added that cooperation between immigration officers, the courts, and other security agencies was critical to maintaining public safety and protecting vulnerable persons in the region. While Ghanaian authorities did not provide a detailed breakdown of individual cases, officials confirmed that the deportations followed convictions and court orders related to Q-Net-linked fraud, prostitution rings, and other criminal activities. Although frameworks such as the African Continental Free Trade Area and the African Union's free movement protocols aim to ease cross-border mobility, many countries remain unable to fully implement them. Criminal networks, human trafficking rings, and migration-related fraud have increasingly exploited porous borders, making governments more cautious about liberal entry policies. As a result, security concerns often override integration goals. In recent months, authorities there have intensified mass deportations of undocumented migrants, many of whom are Africans using the country as a transit route to Europe. These actions highlight how instability, limited regional coordination, and criminal exploitation of migration routes have pushed states toward restrictive, enforcement-heavy approaches. For countries like Ghana, the challenge lies in balancing regional solidarity with domestic security. While deportations are framed as lawful responses to criminality, they also expose how fragile border governance has become across the continent. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected!

Every time Pranav 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. The world's largest technology companies are scrambling to manage a growing crisis affecting thousands of their employees on work visas, as new social media screening requirements trigger delays at US embassies and consulates worldwide. Google, Apple, Microsoft, and ServiceNow have all sent advisories to visa-holding employees in recent days, warning them against international travel and describing appointment delays stretching up to a year. The memos, sent by immigration law firms representing these companies or by their internal legal teams, paint a picture of mounting uncertainty for foreign workers who form a critical part of the tech industry's workforce. The warnings come as American embassies have postponed routine visa stamping appointments, leaving some employees already abroad unable to return to work in the US for extended periods. If their visa stamp expires and they travel abroad, they must obtain a new stamp at a consulate before re-entering the US. Every time Pranav publishes a story, you'll get an alert straight to your inbox! Stay connected to Pranav and get more of their work as it publishes. By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. The department said it may move appointments as resources change, with applicants able to request expedited slots on a case-by-case basis. Appointments in Ireland and Vietnam have also been postponed, according to immigration firm Reddy Neumann Brown PC. Below is the text of a memo sent by Jack Chen, Microsoft's associate general counsel for immigration. Below is the text of an email sent by Apple's immigration team. Below is the text of an email sent by ServiceNow's Global Mobility Team.

Every time Lauren 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. When a power outage hit San Francisco on Saturday, local drivers had to navigate more than just darkened roads and inactive stoplights. Footage shared on social media shows some Waymo robotaxis stalled in traffic, clogging roadways and causing disruptions. One video on X showed at least five Waymos crowding an intersection, forcing human drivers to maneuver around them. Waymo suspended its ride-hailing services on Saturday in response to the power outage, which affected about 130,000 Pacific Gas & Electric customers. "Yesterday's power outage was a widespread event that caused gridlock across San Francisco, with non-functioning traffic signals and transit disruptions," the spokesperson said. On X, Tesla CEO Elon Musk used the incident to promote his company's own robotaxis. "Tesla Robotaxis were unaffected by the SF power outage," he wrote. Tesla robotaxis use cameras and AI to find their way around. The company has expanded its services to other cities, including Austin and Atlanta, through a partnership with Uber, but it hasn't all been smooth sailing. In May, Waymo recalled the software for more than 1,200 cars after some collided with "chains or gates."