The latest Market Talks covering Technology, Media and Telecom. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.

1152 ET - Paramount Skydance says in a letter to the Warner Bros. Discovery board that it will offer Warner flexibility and security to refinance its existing $15 billion bridge loan. Warner Bros. Discovery is worried that if a sale to Paramount fails to close, it will face uncertain refinancing costs and terms. But Paramount says that if Warner's lenders don't extend the loan, Paramount's lenders have agreed to step in and also reimburse shareholders. The company also says it will allow Warner Bros. Discovery to structure permanent financing in any way it chooses "so long as the debt is redeemable at a commercially reasonable cost upon the close of the Paramount transaction." (nicholas.miller@wsj.com)

1136 ET - Paramount Skydance says in a letter to the Warner Bros. Discovery board that it is willing to continue working with Warner to ease fears about its proposed acquisition. Paramount says that to the extent that Warner Bros. Discovery is concerned about the financial under-performance of its at Global Networks leading to termination of the deal, "Paramount is prepared to discuss contractual solutions to address this concern." Paramount also says it will provide Warner Bros. Discovery with flexibility between signing and closing, "including by matching any comparable Netflix interim operating covenants," while adding, "Paramount will be constructive and flexible to provide WBD significant latitude to run its business." (nicholas.miller@wsj.com)

1110 ET - Paramount Skydance says it will eliminate Warner Bros. Discovery's potential $1.5 billion financing cost associated with its debt exchange offer. In a letter to the Warner Bros. Discovery board, Paramount says it will agree to fully backstop an exchange offer that relieves WBD of its contractual bondholder obligations. "This backstopped exchange results in no risk and no value leakage to WBD shareholders while delivering substantial value to WBD bondholders," Paramount says. If the exchange is not successful, or the transaction doesn't close, Paramount says it would reimburse Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders for the $1.5 billion fee, without reduction to its separate $5.8 billion reverse termination fee. "We believe bondholders will strongly prefer our proposal, which is supported by $43+ billion of new cash equity in a scaled and broadly diversified media enterprise," Paramount says. (nicholas.miller@wsj.com)

1059 ET - Shopify is uniquely positioned to benefit from AI without the heavy spending that is pressuring the rest of the software sector. Martin Toner of ATB Cormark Capital says "structural operating leverage" is a key driver, noting that while others face margin compression, "we see upside to SHOP's high teens free cash flow margins." Toner upgrades the stock to outperform from sector perform and reiterates his C$250 price target, calling Shopify "the de facto winner in ecommerce" with more than 25% growth and a strengthening free-cash-flow trajectory. Toner says Shopify's capital-light model and early lead in agentic commerce create a cleaner, more attractive setup than peers weighed down by AI-related capex. Shares are up 8.1% to C$173.65. (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)

1046 ET - Paramount Skydance is offering to pay Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders 25 cents a share for each quarter its deal hasn't closed, starting in January 2027. The "ticking fee" shows the company's "confidence in the speed and certainty of our regulatory pathway," Paramount Skydance says in a letter to the Warner Bros. Discovery board. Paramount says the fee would be equivalent to about $650 million a quarter. Paramount also says it has made substantial progress in its efforts in securing clearances for the deal, including having held meetings with and providing customary information to, authorities in the U.S., the European Commission and the U.K., among others. (nicholas.miller@wsj.com)

1020 ET - Alphabet's new 100-year maturity sterling bond is likely to attract buyers due to the company's high credit rating, Premier Miton's Simon Prior says in a note. The targeted investors of U.K. pension funds and insurance companies are likely to buy the bond given Alphabet's good credit metrics, Prior says. S&P Global Ratings rates Alphabet at AA+, while Moody's rates the U.S. tech giant at Aa2. (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)

1016 ET - The sterling bond market is favorable for long-term bond issuers due to consistent demand from U.K. pensions and insurance companies, eToro analyst Lale Akoner says. The comment comes as U.S. tech giant Alphabet on Tuesday is selling a 100-year maturity sterling bond. "The sterling market is one of the few places where 50-year to 100-year bonds consistently find buyers," she says. "Issuing in sterling allows Alphabet to diversify its funding base" Akoner says. (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)

0948 ET - Moneysupermarket.com owner Mony Group's shares hit a 12-year low after U.S.-based Insurify launched a car insurance comparison service through OpenAI's ChatGPT app. Shares of Mony are down 13% at 144.90 pence, having hit a low of 137.90 pence earlier in the session. Go.Compare owner Future's shares are down 4.1% at 438.60 pence. "Getting an insurance quote through ChatGPT makes perfect sense as many people are now using chatbots to obtain information on products and services," AJ Bell's head of markets, Dan Coatsworth, writes. Comparison portals will need to think about embedding their services into ChatGPT or offer bigger incentives to potential clients to compete, Coatsworth says. (ian.walker@wsj.com)

0914 ET - U.S. tech giant Alphabet is tapping U.K. insurance and pensions funds with its sale of a 100-year sterling bond, Federated Hermes' Nachu Chockalingam says in a note. Alphabet is seeking new sources of funding outside the U.S. market due to rising corporate debt supply in the U.S., Chockalingam says. (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)

0903 ET - Investors are likely to demand cheap pricing on Alphabet's 100-year sterling bond being marketed on Tuesday due to the bond's long maturity period, Premier Miton's Simon Prior says in a note. "Given the untested waters of 100-year issuance, they will need to keep this cheap at final pricing to ensure it entices a decent buyer base," Prior says. U.K. pension funds are likely to be the main buyers of the long-maturity bond, he says. (miriam.mukuru@wsj.com)

0851 ET - Investors are overestimating the disruption that artificial intelligence will cause to software stocks, analysts at J.P. Morgan write. "The market is pricing in worst-case AI disruption scenarios that are unlikely to materialize over the next three to six months." A rebound for software stocks is more likely than not, with opportunities particularly in AI-resilient companies, the analysts say. The longer-term underperformance of software stocks represents the largest one-year fall outside of a recession in over 30 years, the analysts say, wiping around $2 trillion off stock prices. European software stocks--particularly data vendors--fall further in afternoon trade, with London Stock Exchange Group down 5.6%, extending losses of over 20% in 2026 to yesterday's close. Experian falls 2.8%, while Relx drops 1.5%. (josephmichael.stonor@wsj.com)

0751 ET - Thomson Reuters is in an "asymmetric set-up now to the upside," says RBC's Drew McReynolds in a report. The analyst believes the media and technology conglomerate's growth ceiling has risen, and the risk-reward profile has improved. He says that "total addressable market evolution is the most important determinant in assessing the growth and risk profile of the stock," and he says that over the past 6 months his belief has grown that the firm will sustain or strengthen its competitive position within legal and tax verticals over the next 3-5 years with agentic AI. McReynolds adds that the potential upside versus downside trade-off in the stock has become more attractive following the pullback. RBC upgrades Thomson Reuters to outperform from sector perform. (adriano.marchese@wsj.com)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 10, 2026 12:20 ET (17:20 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.