FTI Consulting News Bytes – 10 April 2026

FTI Consulting News Bytes

This week, we kick off with news of Samsung’s record quarterly profits. Next, big moves are happening in the music industry as Universal Music Group receives a takeover offer of €55bn. We then explore Greece’s announcement of a social media ban for under-15s effective 2027. Lastly, we take a look at news that OpenAI is pausing its Stargate project in the UK, as well as Meta’s new model – Muse Spark.  

This week’s news

Samsung shares jump on AI chip boom

Samsung Electronics’ shares rose nearly 5% after the company forecast record quarterly profits which it said would exceed its entire profit for last year, CNBC reports. The strong performance was driven by the booming demand for AI-related memory chips and, in particular, the high-bandwidth memory chips used in data centres. The ongoing AI surge is rapidly accelerating growth in the semiconductor sector, with Samsung emerging as a key beneficiary.

Bill Ackman offers €55bn for Universal Music Group

Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital has offered to buy Universal Music Group (UMG), which represents the likes of Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish, for €55bn. The Financial Times writes that the offer comes as the explosive growth of AI reverberates across the music industry with investors fearful the technology could threaten copyrights and reduce profits. Having fallen by more than 30% over the past 6 months, UMG shares rose 11.4% in reaction to the offer. Pershing already owns a stake in the company and its offer values UMG at €30.40 a share. Announcing the offer, Ackman declared “UMG’s stock price has languished due to a combination of issues that are unrelated to the performance of its music business, and, importantly, all of them can be addressed with this transaction.” 

Greece to ban social media for under-15s

Another country has followed in Australia’s steps, with Reuters reporting that Greece is set to introduce a ban of social media platforms for under-15s in 2027. Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsoktakis, cited rising anxiety, sleeps disorders and the addictive nature of social media apps as the leading drivers of the Greek government’s decision to clamp down on youth access to the social networking sites. Whilst the practicalities of such a ban remain a point of contention in the UK, in Greece, a significant 80% of those surveyed approved of the ban. With Greece calling on wider EU action and adoption, is it only a matter of time until this approach becomes the status quo?

OpenAI puts UK Stargate project on hold

OpenAI is pausing its Stargate infrastructure project in the UK, citing the high cost of energy and the uncertain regulatory environment, Bloomberg reports. It announced plans for the major infrastructure project in September, saying it would deploy up to 8,000 GPUs in partnership with Nscale and Nvidia. “We continue to explore Stargate UK and will move forward when the right conditions such as regulation and the cost of energy enable long-term infrastructure investment,” an OpenAI spokesperson said. CNBC contextualizes that industrial energy prices in the UK are among the highest in the world and that critics of the UK’s AI infrastructure buildout previously said the high cost of energy and delays in accessing the national grid were key stumbling blocks. 

Meta’s Muse Sparks the market 

Meta has announced its first major model since CEO Mark Zuckerberg rebooted the company’s AI efforts last year under a new division called Meta Intelligence Labs. The model, called Muse Spark, is a step toward Zuckerberg’s vision of “personal superintelligence,” the company says, and for now, it will remain closed source. WIRED opines that it gives Zuckerberg a “seat at the big kid’s table” adding that Muse Spark “certainly appears to be a major upgrade” over Meta’s last big release, Llama 4, which came out in April 2025 and was viewed in the tech industry as a disappointment with middling performance. Artificial Analysis, an AI benchmarking company, said the new model is one of the best it has tested: “Muse Spark scores 52 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, placing it within the top 5 models we have benchmarked.” 

Top Tweets of the Week

• OpenAI: “Introducing the OpenAI Safety Fellowship, a new program supporting independent research on AI safety and alignment—and the next generation of talent.”
• Financial Times: “Nasa has launched four astronauts on a 1mn km flight around the Moon and back, a mission described as the farthest humans have ever travelled into space. John Reed unpacks what’s behind the record-breaking trip.”
• Mark Gurman, Bloomberg Managing Editor: “Apple’s foldable iPhone is – as of now – on track for a September debut with the iPhone 18 Pro. While supply could be limited initially, it’s also on track to go on sale at the same time – or soon after – the Pro models. Nikkei report is off base.”

Number of the week

€10.8bn The gross value of merchandise achieved by Vinted in 2025, reflecting a 47% increase YoY, as more customers shift to online pre-loved shopping  (The Times)