Berkshire’s $397B cash pile, data center power shift, Samsung dethrones Apple

Berkshire’s $397 B cash pile, its largest ever, shows Buffett betting the market is overheating and primed for a pull‑back. The reserve gives Berkshire firepower for opportunistic buys while warning investors that equity valuations may be unsustainably high.

A PJM market regulator says data‑center growth has pushed residential electricity bills up by $23 billion so far this year, calling it a "massive wealth transfer" to tech firms. The surge stems from a peak‑demand loophole that lets data centers recover costs, leaving ratepayers to foot the bill. Regulators fear the trend will deepen as more servers crank up power use.

Counterpoint Research reports Samsung’s Q2 2026 share rose to 18.2%, slipping Apple to 17.8% for the first time since 2015. Global shipments fell 7% YoY to 300 million units, the deepest decline since 2013, tightening profit pressures for Apple and reshaping carrier negotiations.

Volkswagen says it may scale back its workforce to as many as 100,000 jobs as profit margins tumble. CEO Oliver Blume framed the move as essential to cover a €5 billion earnings gap and preserve the group's competitiveness, warning the cuts could double the current roll‑out.

JPMorgan, Chase, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America are on track for their strongest Q2 ever, boosted by underwriting the massive SpaceX IPO, heightened trading fees from Iran‑related volatility, and a comeback in commercial lending. The surge reshapes Wall Street’s profit mix, hinting at higher fees even as rate cuts loom.

De Beers announced it will close its Jwaneng mine, its highest‑output operation, after slashing prices to align with market rates and abandoning its historic premium. The shutdown compresses global supply, forces buyers to renegotiate contracts, and highlights the weakening luxury‑diamond market.

A new WSJ‑Economists survey shows the Iran conflict is hard‑wiring higher costs into the U.S. economy, pushing the odds of a recession lower but keeping inflation elevated longer. Policymakers may face a tighter balancing act as price pressures resist easing even after hostilities end.

The Federal Reserve announced that Xbox chief Asha Sharma will chair its new task force on employment, even though she oversaw a recent cut of 3,200 jobs at Microsoft. Critics argue her layoff record undermines the effort to boost hiring, raising questions about the Fed’s choice.

After years of subsidizing Google with free content, leading news outlets are weighing a coordinated exit from Google’s index. The shift reflects a breaking point in ad‑revenue economics, forcing publishers to rethink dependence on search traffic and explore direct‑to‑reader models.

Alibaba Cloud’s flagship model has overtaken U.S. leaders in benchmark scores while costing a fraction of the price. The cheap‑by‑design LLM is now the world’s top performer, threatening OpenAI’s market dominance and giving enterprises a lower‑cost AI alternative.

After a wave of free‑spending on AI services, firms are slashing budgets because token costs have spiraled out of control. The reversal, dubbed the “Tokenpocalypse”, forces HR and finance teams to tighten controls, and it may curb the rapid expansion of AI‑driven workflows.