World Street | Nvidia nears Apple's mcap; Former FTX exec sentenced; GameStop surges 20%; Porsche unveils hybrid 911 Carrera GTS, and more

World Street offers a sneak peek into the world of business and the economy.

Ryan Salame, a former FTX executive, faces a 7.5-year prison term. Nvidia's shares surge 6 percent, nearing Apple's value. T-Mobile plans a $4.4B acquisition of US Cellular. GameStop stock resumes upmove. OpenAI initiates AI model training, aiming for AGI capabilities. Porsche unveils its hybrid 911 Carrera GTS. All this and more on this edition of World Street.

Crypto Crook

Ryan Salame, formerly a key associate of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, has been sentenced to seven and a half years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Additionally, he must pay over $6 million in forfeiture and more than $5 million in restitution.

This sentence exceeds the five to seven years proposed by prosecutors and is significantly harsher than the 18 months requested by Salame’s defense team.

Nvidia Nova

Nvidia's shares rallied around 6 percent to hit a record high on Tuesday, positioning the AI chipmaker's market value just $100 billion shy of surpassing Apple's in a major reshuffle of Wall street's biggest players.

The stock surged nearly 13 percent since Nvidia projected second-quarter revenue above Wall Street expectations last week and announced a stock split, generating excitement among investors who are betting heavily on the AI darling.

Cellular Scoop

Telecom major T-Mobile has announced plans to acquire most of US Cellular, including the wireless operator’s stores, some of its spectrum assets and its customers in a deal worth $4.4 billion. The deal includes cash and up to $2 billion of debt, according to a press release.

Up to $100 million of the deal’s cash portion depends on certain financial and operating metrics being met between its signing and closing, according to a separate release from US Cellular.

GameStop Gold

GameStop shares soared over 20 percent on Tuesday after the company announced that it had made around $933 million from a stock sale. The meme stock fell more than 14 percent last week, but month to date, it’s still up more than 90 percent.

The company last week made close to $933.4 million by selling 45 million common shares. However, it did not disclose what price the shares were sold at but said the transaction was an “at-the-market” offering.

OpenAI Odyssey

OpenAI said on Tuesday that it had begun training a new flagship artificial intelligence (AI) model that would succeed the GPT-4 technology that drives its popular chatbot, ChatGPT.

The San Francisco-based startup said in a blog post that it expected the new model to bring “the next level of capabilities” as it strove to build “artificial general intelligence,” or AGI, a machine that can do anything the human brain can do. The new model would be an engine for A.I. products including chatbots, digital assistants like Apple’s Siri, search engines and image generators.

Acquisition Adventure

Shareholders of Hess Corporation have given their approval for the pending acquisition by Chevron, the New York-based oil company. The acquisition is valued at $53 billion. However, uncertainties loom over the closing timeline due to a dispute between the involved companies, including Exxon Mobil.

While a majority of outstanding Hess shareholders voted in favor of the merger agreement, specific vote tallies were not immediately disclosed by the company.

Volt Vroom

On Tuesday, Porsche unveiled the inaugural production hybrid iteration of its legendary 911 sports car, priced at $164,900. The debut of the 2025 911 Carrera GTS hybrid signifies a notable evolution for the renowned German sports car, reflecting the automotive sector's emphasis on expanding electrified options and adhering to stricter fuel efficiency regulations.

Executives at the Volkswagen-managed firm have indicated that the 911 may be the final vehicle in its lineup to introduce an all-electric version, if it does so at all, to preserve the model's celebrated driving characteristics, which they assert the hybrid successfully maintains.

Yuan Yikes

China’s onshore yuan dropped to the weakest level since November as signs mount that policymakers are letting the currency decline against a resilient dollar, reported Bloomberg. The onshore yuan fell to as low as 7.2485 per dollar. The currency has been trending weaker as the People’s Bank of China gradually cut its daily fixing to a level unseen in four months.