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  Bloomberg Microsoft Corp said it’s buying Activision Blizzard Inc in a $68.7 billion deal, uniting two of the biggest forces in video games to create the world’s third-biggest gaming company. In its largest purchase ever, Microsoft will pay $95 a share in cash for one of the most legendary gaming publishers, known for titles like Call of Duty and …

  Bloomberg GlaxoSmithKline Plc said it rejected an offer from Unilever Plc for the drugmaker’s consumer healthcare unit last year that valued the business at about 50 billion pounds ($68 billion). Glaxo in a statement said that it had received three unsolicited offers from Unilever for its consumer healthcare business, the final one on Dec. 20 for 41.7 billion pounds …

  Bloomberg Oil headed for a fourth straight weekly gain, the longest streak since October, on signs that the market is tightening as global consumption withstands the impact of the Omicron virus variant. Brent crude traded above $85 after rallying more than 4% this week. The global crude benchmark has made a strong start to the year, which has been …

  ABU DHABI / WAM The European Commission hopes to attract more GCC investors and financial institutions to fund its €800 billion NextGenerationEU programme, than the current one percent, said Johannes Hahn, EU Commissioner for Budget and Administration. NextGenerationEU is a temporary recovery instrument to help Europe repair the immediate economic and social damage brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. …

  Bloomberg The conglomerate led by Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man, announced plans to invest $76 billion towards clean energy projects, dwarfing an earlier commitment of $10 billion by the world’s biggest fossil-fuel billionaire. Reliance Industries Ltd., controlled by Ambani, has signed pacts with the state government of Gujarat for a total investment of 5.96 trillion rupees ($81 billion), according …

  Bloomberg India is pushing for a valuation of about $203 billion for a state-owned insurer that’s soon expected to file for the nation’s biggest initial public offering, even as arrangers awaited a final report on the firm’s estimated worth. The so-called embedded value of Life Insurance Corp. of India is likely to be more than 4 trillion rupees, and …

  Bloomberg Oil climbed to its highest level since November as two major agencies indicated that markets may be tighter than previously forecast. West Texas Intermediate traded above $82. On Wednesday, the International Energy Agency’s Fatih Birol said the relatively small hit to demand from omicron means consumption has been stronger than many observers had expected. That followed a monthly …

  Bloomberg Oil rises as traders looked ahead to clues on US stockpiles, while monitoring China’s efforts to contain the spread of Omicron. West Texas Intermediate added 0.9% after capping a two-day drop. The industry-funded American Petroleum Institute releases its weekly report on US inventories. Nationwide holdings have sunk for the past six weeks to the lowest since September, official …

  Bloomberg Covid-19 flare-ups, diminished policy support, and lingering supply-chain bottlenecks will see the global economic recovery cool more than previously estimated in 2022, after last year’s expansion clocked the fastest post-recession pace in eight decades, the World Bank said. Global gross domestic product will probably increase 4.1% this year, less than a 4.3% forecast in June, the Washington-based development …

  Bloomberg Moderna Inc said it has signed vaccine purchase agreements worth $18.5 billion for this year, along with options for another $3.5 billion, including booster shots. In a statement on Monday, the company also said 2021 product sales would be $17.5 billion, slightly higher than the average analyst estimate of $17 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Additionally, …