Paramount’s Naveen Chopra to Lead Finance at Roblox Amid Growth and New Revenue Push

/in /tarafından

Naveen Chopra, currently finance chief at Paramount Global, will join video gaming firm Roblox as its new Chief Financial Officer, the companies announced Monday. Chopra takes the role as Roblox expands its engagement with Gen Z users and diversifies into new revenue streams like advertising.

Chopra has been CFO at Paramount since 2020, guiding the company’s shift from traditional media to streaming. Prior to that, he led finance for Amazon’s Devices and Services division. His move comes as Paramount aims to finalize its $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media, pending U.S. FCC approval.

At Roblox, Chopra will succeed Michael Guthrie, who is stepping down after announcing his departure last year to pursue personal interests. Guthrie will remain through June to ensure a smooth handover and then serve as a consultant.

Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter praised Chopra as a “seasoned professional” and “capable replacement,” highlighting the opportunity to influence Roblox’s growth trajectory.

Roblox has seen a 26% jump in average daily active users, reaching 97.8 million in the quarter ending March 31, leading the company to raise its annual bookings forecast despite economic uncertainties. To attract older gamers and increase spending on virtual items, Roblox is exploring new game genres, including horror.

Andrew Warren, Paramount’s strategic advisor to the CEO, will act as interim CFO during the transition.

Apple Unveils Major Software Upgrades and New AI Features at WWDC

/in /tarafından

At its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on Monday, Apple revealed extensive updates across its device operating systems, introducing a fresh design language, a revamped naming system, and new AI-powered capabilities under its Apple Intelligence suite.

Liquid Glass Design
Apple introduced a new “Liquid Glass” design language that brings translucent, glass-like visuals to app interfaces, inspired by the visionOS on its Vision Pro augmented reality headset. The design adapts to light and dark modes and features real-time dynamic reactions to movement. Elements like buttons, sliders, tab bars, sidebars, toolbars, and navigation will be redesigned. Updated developer APIs were also released to help app makers prepare for the new look rolling out later this year.

Operating Systems and Naming Convention
Instead of continuing the traditional numeric sequence (e.g., iOS 19 after iOS 18), Apple announced that future iOS versions will be named after their release year—similar to how car models are named. This year’s release will be iOS 26. The update includes significant visual changes and new features:

  • The Phone app adds call screening to answer or hold calls automatically.

  • Messages supports customizable chat backgrounds.

  • Xcode, Apple’s developer tool, will now include generative AI to assist with coding, testing, and debugging, also allowing integration of external models like ChatGPT.

Apple Intelligence Enhancements
New AI-powered features include Live Translation, which uses on-device AI models to translate conversations in real time across messages, calls, and FaceTime. Apple Pay integrates with Apple Intelligence to track orders even outside of Apple Pay transactions. The Image Playground app gains AI-assisted image generation powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Apple will open its on-device foundational AI models to developers through a new Foundation Models framework, enabling creation of privacy-focused, offline-capable intelligent apps.

Visual Intelligence Features
A new Visual Intelligence tool will allow iPhone users to explore more about what’s on their screens. It can search platforms like Google and Etsy for visually similar images or products, and suggest calendar entries when viewing events. This feature is accessible using the same button combination as taking a screenshot.

Qualcomm to Acquire Alphawave for $2.4 Billion to Boost AI Data Center Expansion

/in /tarafından

U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm announced on Monday that it will acquire British semiconductor firm Alphawave for approximately $2.4 billion, signaling Qualcomm’s strategic push into the rapidly growing AI data center market. Alphawave’s shares surged over 22% following the announcement.

Alphawave specializes in high-speed semiconductor technologies for data centers, an area that complements Qualcomm’s existing portfolio and helps diversify its reliance beyond the smartphone sector. Qualcomm, a leading supplier of chips for major smartphone brands including Apple and Xiaomi, is increasingly focusing on data centers and personal computers, partly due to Apple’s shift toward in-house processors for iPhones.

Alphawave shareholders will receive 183 pence per share, representing a nearly 96% premium over the company’s closing price on March 31, just before Qualcomm revealed its interest. Qualcomm’s shares rose about 4% on the news.

The deal includes two alternative all-share offers following extensions by the UK takeover panel, but Alphawave’s board plans to recommend the cash offer as fair and reasonable.

Jefferies analysts expect no significant regulatory hurdles, citing Alphawave’s recent exit from its Chinese joint venture, WiseWave.

Qualcomm President and CEO Cristiano Amon emphasized that Alphawave’s advanced connectivity and compute technologies will enhance Qualcomm’s power-efficient CPU and neural processing units.

The acquisition is slated to close in the first quarter of 2026. Notably, SoftBank-owned Arm had considered acquiring Alphawave but ultimately chose not to proceed.