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💸 Google's $32B Acquisition

+ Nvidia Unveils Blackwell Ultra and Rubin Chips to Power the Next AI Boom

March 18, 2025

Good afternoon! Harvard is making a big financial aid push, announcing that starting next year, students from families earning less than $100,000 will have their entire cost of attendance covered—including tuition, housing, food, health insurance, and travel. Families making up to $200,000 will have tuition waived, making the Ivy League giant more affordable for middle-income students. The move follows last year’s Supreme Court decision banning race-based admissions, which has pushed elite schools to diversify through financial aid instead.

Harvard’s annual cost of attendance is nearly $83,000, so this is a serious financial break. It also puts Harvard in line with peers like Princeton and MIT, which have recently expanded their aid packages. While fewer than 1% of four-year college students end up at an Ivy League school, Harvard’s move could pressure other top universities to follow suit.

MARKETS

*Stock data as of market close*

  • Wall Street’s two-day winning streak came to a screeching halt Tuesday as tech stocks dragged down the broader market. The Nasdaq fell 1.7%, with Nvidia dropping around 3% after its GTC event underwhelmed investors. The S&P 500 lost 1%, closing just shy of correction territory, while the Dow slid 260 points, or 0.6%. High-growth names were the biggest losers, as investors turned cautious ahead of the Fed’s policy update.

  • Tech stocks led the slump, with the ‘Magnificent Seven’ having their worst quarter in over two years. Communication-services and information-technology stocks were hit hardest as traders pulled back from pricey names.

STOCKS
Winners & Losers

What’s up 📈

  • FinVolution jumped 17.54% after the fintech company posted strong growth last quarter, increased its dividend by 17%, and authorized a new share repurchase program. ($FINV)

  • Elbit Systems climbed 10.63% to a record high after the Israeli defense company reported strong earnings and forecasted more growth in 2025 due to rising geopolitical tensions. ($ESLT)

  • Lucid rose 8.80% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the EV maker to equal weight, citing potential upside tied to the company’s artificial intelligence strategy. ($LCID)

  • Peabody Energy gained 6.22% after President Trump said he is authorizing energy production using coal. ($BTU)

  • Willis Towers Watson added 2% following an upgrade from UBS to buy from neutral, with analysts citing improved operating and cash flow margins. ($WTW)

What’s down 📉

  • Sarepta Therapeutics plummeted 27.44% after the company disclosed the death of a patient with Duchenne muscular dystrophy treated with its Elevidys gene therapy. ($SRPT)

  • BigBear. ai sank 14.90% after the company requested an extension to file its latest earnings and said it needs to restate several years of quarterly reports. ($BBAI)

  • Hims & Hers Health dropped 9.22% after the FDA raised concerns about compounded GLP-1 drugs used for weight loss, which Hims & Hers has been prescribing. ($HIMS)

  • XPeng slipped 7.82% despite beating earnings forecasts, as investors appeared to react to the company’s high valuation. ($XPEV)

  • Tesla slid another 5.34%, adding to month-to-date losses of around 23%, after Zeekr announced a new driver-assistance system and RBC Capital lowered its price target. ($TSLA)

  • Eastman Kodak fell 6.45% after the company posted mixed earnings, with revenue exceeding estimates but net income coming in below expectations. ($KODK)

  • Palantir dropped 3.96% after Jefferies reiterated an underperform rating, citing valuation concerns. ($PLTR)

  • Alphabet declined 2.2% after Google announced a $32 billion all-cash deal to acquire cloud security startup Wiz, marking its largest-ever acquisition. ($GOOGL)

  • Nvidia retreated 3.43% ahead of CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote at the company’s GTC AI Conference. ($NVDA)

ACQUISITION
Google Agrees to Buy Cloud Security Firm Wiz for $32 Billion

Google is making its largest acquisition ever, agreeing to buy cybersecurity firm Wiz for $32 billion in cash. The deal, announced Tuesday, will fold Wiz into Google Cloud, strengthening its security offerings as it tries to catch up with Amazon and Microsoft in the cloud business. The transaction is expected to close next year, pending regulatory approval — which could get tricky given Google’s ongoing antitrust battles.

Wiz Walked Away Once

Google first approached Wiz last year with a $23 billion offer, but Wiz turned it down, opting to pursue an IPO instead. At the time, CEO Assaf Rappaport said the company could be worth more as a public company and cited concerns over regulatory scrutiny. Fast forward to today, and a sluggish IPO market combined with Google's sweetened offer seems to have changed Wiz’s mind.

Strategic Play for Google Cloud

Wiz’s platform offers real-time threat detection and security across all major cloud providers — including Amazon and Microsoft — making it a valuable tool for businesses operating in multi-cloud environments. Google is betting that Wiz’s technology will help it stand out in a highly competitive cloud security market. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai framed the deal as a way to "improve cloud security and span multiple clouds" as AI increases cybersecurity risks.

Regulatory Hurdles Ahead? Google is no stranger to antitrust scrutiny — it’s already dealing with two major cases tied to its dominance in search and advertising. The Wiz deal, at this size, is bound to attract attention from regulators, especially since Google’s $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola in 2012 faced heavy pushback. If the deal falls through, Google would owe Wiz a $3.2 billion breakup fee — roughly 10% of the deal value.

Cloud Wars Heat Up: Google’s move highlights how competitive the cloud security race has become. Microsoft has been ramping up its security offerings, and Amazon isn’t far behind. For Wiz, the deal means a massive payday for early investors like Sequoia Capital and Insight Partners — and for Google, it’s a high-stakes bet that securing the cloud will give it an edge in the AI-driven future.

NEWS
Market Movements

NEWS
Nvidia Unveils Blackwell Ultra and Rubin Chips to Power the Next AI Boom

Nvidia is pushing deeper into AI with a bold new playbook. At its annual GTC conference, CEO Jensen Huang unveiled a lineup of projects including humanoid robots, personal AI supercomputers, and a next-gen AI chip called Blackwell Ultra. The company also announced a robotics platform, Isaac GR00T N1, developed in partnership with Disney and DeepMind to “supercharge humanoid robot development.”

AI Everywhere

Huang wasn’t just focused on chips. Nvidia is teaming up with General Motors to bring AI to self-driving cars, factories, and robots. It’s also working with T-Mobile and Cisco to develop AI-native hardware for future 6G networks. And for the AI developers at home, Nvidia’s new personal supercomputers, built with Dell and HP, aim to bring high-powered AI tools straight to the desktop.

Facing New Competition

Nvidia’s dominance isn’t guaranteed. Chinese startup DeepSeek recently claimed its AI model is faster and cheaper than other rivals using less of Nvidia’s chips— sparking investor concerns. Nvidia’s stock has fallen 14% this year and dropped another 3.43% after the GTC announcements. But Huang shrugged off the threat, pointing to record demand for Nvidia’s chips from major cloud players like Microsoft and Amazon.

Despite market jitters, AI spending is still soaring. Hyperscalers are expected to pour $371 billion into AI infrastructure this year — up 44% from last year. Huang noted that Nvidia sold 1.3 million Hopper AI chips last year and has already sold 3.6 million Blackwell chips in 2025 alone.

What’s Next: Nvidia isn’t slowing down. The company plans to roll out a more powerful chip called Vera Rubin in late 2026, with a follow-up called Rubin Ultra already in the works. Huang called AI the new industrial revolution — and Nvidia intends to stay at the center of it.

Calendar
On The Horizon

Tomorrow

Tomorrow, Jerome Powell will step into the spotlight, and Wall Street will hang on every word. The Fed is widely expected to keep rates unchanged, with markets pricing in a 99% chance of no cuts. Sticky inflation and early signs of labor market weakness have given the Fed little reason to ease up just yet. Powell’s tone will be key—if he signals that rate cuts are further off than expected, markets could wobble.

On the earnings front, a few retailers will report tomorrow, and the outlook could be rough. Williams Sonoma ($WSM), Five Below ($FIVE), and Ollie’s Bargain Outlet ($OLLI) are set to share their latest numbers. If the trend holds, expect warnings about cautious consumers tightening their wallets—retailers have been bracing for softer spending all season.

Before Market Open:

  • Signet Jewelers has had a brutal 2025, with shares down over 40% this year alone. Younger consumers are cooling on pricey diamonds, lab-grown gems are taking market share, and fewer mall visits are cutting into sales. Jewelry tends to be one of the first luxuries axed in a downturn, which makes Signet’s holiday performance even more critical. If the company misses estimates, the selloff could get even uglier. ($SIG)

NEWS
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