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FTC investigates Google and Amazon over ad pricing transparency

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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has opened probes into Google and Amazon, examining whether the tech giants misled advertisers about the terms and costs of placing ads on their platforms, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The investigations, led by the FTC’s consumer protection unit, focus on whether the companies properly disclosed pricing structures and auction practices. Regulators are scrutinizing Amazon’s use of “reserve pricing”—a minimum price advertisers must accept before buying an ad—and whether those rules were clearly communicated. Google is being investigated for whether it raised ad costs internally without disclosing the changes to advertisers.

Both companies declined to comment on the probe.

The news comes as the two firms face mounting legal challenges. On September 22, trials are set to begin in separate federal cases:

  • The FTC vs. Amazon in Seattle, alleging the company enrolled consumers into Prime without consent and made cancellations excessively difficult.

  • The DOJ vs. Google in Virginia, where regulators are seeking the breakup of its advertising technology business, after a judge ruled the company illegally monopolized digital ads.

The FTC is also pursuing a broader case accusing Amazon of holding illegal monopolies in online marketplaces.

With the U.S. already pursuing multiple landmark antitrust and consumer protection cases, the latest probe further underscores regulators’ intensified scrutiny of Big Tech’s advertising power, a market worth hundreds of billions annually.

Oracle’s Record-Breaking Surge Highlights AI Trade’s Dominance in Markets

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Wall Street’s AI-driven rally hit another milestone this week as Oracle’s shares soared 36%, pushing its market value to $922 billion and reinforcing artificial intelligence as the defining force behind 2025’s equity boom.

Oracle’s AI Catalyst

  • The surge followed Oracle’s disclosure of four multi-billion-dollar cloud contracts driven by demand from AI companies such as OpenAI and xAI.

  • The move places Oracle among the 10 most valuable U.S. companies, overtaking names like Eli Lilly, JPMorgan, and Walmart.

  • Oracle’s stock has nearly doubled in 2025, making it one of the top S&P 500 performers.

AI Trade in Context

  • Nvidia, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Palantir, Broadcom, Meta Platforms, and Oracle together have accounted for about half of the S&P 500’s 11% gain this year.

  • Nvidia remains the world’s most valuable company at $4.3 trillion, despite a minor pullback after its August sales forecast.

  • The technology sector overall is up 16% year-to-date, with forward P/E ratios at 28x earnings — well above the 10-year average of 22x.

Broader Market Impact

  • AI-linked stocks now dominate trading activity: 9 of the 10 most traded companies this week were AI-related (Apple being the lone exception).

  • The enthusiasm has spread beyond tech: utilities and industrials like GE Vernova, Constellation Energy, and Vistra are gaining on expectations of higher energy demand to fuel AI infrastructure.

  • This has lifted the S&P 500’s overall valuation to 22x forward earnings, near a four-year high.

Investor Sentiment

Despite concerns about overheating, analysts see Oracle’s surge as proof that capital continues flowing heavily into AI plays.

“I was very surprised by the magnitude of the (Oracle) jump and it shows there is still a lot of life left in the AI trade,” said Chuck Carlson of Horizon Investment Services.

Oracle Stock Soars on AI Cloud Deals as Ellison Nears Musk in Wealth Rankings

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Oracle shares rocketed nearly 43% to a record high on Wednesday, putting the software giant within reach of the $1 trillion market cap club. The surge comes after Oracle unveiled four multi-billion-dollar contracts, positioning itself as a rising force in the global AI cloud race.

The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI has signed a staggering $300 billion contract with Oracle for computing power over five years — one of the largest cloud deals ever inked. Most of Oracle’s newly announced revenue gains stem from this partnership, analysts said.

The stock hit a high of $345.69, set for its biggest one-day percentage gain since 1992. If momentum holds, Oracle will add $234 billion in market value, bringing it to about $913 billion. Shares are already up 45% this year, outperforming the Magnificent Seven tech stocks and the broader S&P 500.

Ellison Closes in on Musk

The rally boosted co-founder Larry Ellison’s net worth by nearly $100 billion, to $392.6 billion, according to Forbes. Ellison, 81, is now within striking distance of Elon Musk, whose wealth stands at $439.9 billion.

AI Cloud Momentum

Oracle’s cloud business has seen explosive growth thanks to partnerships with Amazon, Microsoft, and Alphabet, which now allow customers to run Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) alongside their native services. Revenue from these collaborations rose 16-fold in Q1.

CEO Safra Catz told investors: “Over the next few months, we expect to sign up several additional multi-billion-dollar customers, and RPO is likely to exceed half-a-trillion dollars.”

Oracle is also a participant in Stargate, the $500 billion AI infrastructure project backed by SoftBank and OpenAI, which analysts say could provide revenues well into the next decade.

Market Impact

The earnings also lifted semiconductor suppliers Nvidia, Broadcom, and AMD, whose shares climbed 2–8% on expectations of higher demand for data center chips. Rival CoreWeave saw its stock jump about 15%.

With Oracle trading at 33.34x forward earnings, it now commands a valuation premium over Amazon (32.34x) and Microsoft (30.83x), underscoring how investors see its AI-driven growth story as one of the strongest in tech.