Novo Nordisk bids $9bn for obesity drug maker Metsera in challenge to Pfizer
Novo Nordisk has launched a surprise $9bn (£6.9bn) offer for the US obesity-focused biotech firm Metsera that could gazump an existing bid from Pfizer as the pharmaceutical giants fight for dominance in the weight-loss market.The bid comes weeks after Metsera agreed to a $7.3bn takeover from the US group Pfizer.Denmark’s Novo Nordisk, which owns the weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, lost out in a competitive auction processin September.
Pfizer criticised the unsolicited bid, accusing Novo Nordisk of making a “reckless” offer and claiming it was “an attempt by a company with a dominant market position to suppress competition in violation of law by taking over an emerging American challenger”.Pfizer now has just four business days to sweeten its offer for the American upstart, which listed on the Nasdaq index earlier this year.Metsera is seen as a lucrative takeover target in part because of its promising pipeline of obesity drugs.The company has four ongoing clinical trials, including a weight-loss pill, a monthly injection, and two drugs that promote feelings of fullness using the hormone amylin.Some researchers say amylin could avoid the kind of muscle loss that has been a problem with existing medications.
Novo Nordisk has offered $56,50 a share for Metsera, valuing the company at about $6,5bn,It offered a further $21,25 a share, worth about $2.
5bn, if Metsera hits specific clinical and regulatory targets.Novo Nordisk said in a statement that the takeover “would be in line with Novo Nordisk’s long-term strategy of developing innovative and differentiated medicines and treating millions more people living with obesity and diabetes and their associated comorbidities”.Metsera said Novo Nordisk’s bid was “superior” to the existing bid from Pfizer, which offered $47.50 a share, and a further $22.50 for hitting additional milestones.
But Pfizer said the Danish firm’s offer was set up in a way that was intended to “to circumvent antitrust laws” and “carries substantial regulatory and executional risk”.It also rejected the suggestion that the bid was superior to its own, calling it “illusory”.Pfizer said it was “prepared to pursue all legal avenues to enforce its rights under its agreement”.Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionNovo Nordisk has been battling a slowing rate of profit growth and a drop in its share price, particularly after losing ground to its US rival Eli Lilly, which makes the Mounjaro and Zepbound injections.Clinical studies have shown that Mounjaro is more effective in causing weight loss than Wegovy.
Eli Lilly raised its own full-year guidance on Thursday, as third-quarter revenue from those weight-loss and diabetes drugs beat forecasts,The company said it was still planning to put forward its own weight-loss pill to regulators by the end of the year,
Teenage boys using ‘personalised’ AI for therapy and romance, survey finds
The “hyper-personalised” nature of AI bots is drawing in teenage boys who now use them for therapy, companionship and relationships, according to research.A survey of boys in secondary schools by Male Allies UK found that just over a third said they were considering the idea of an AI friend, with growing concern about the rise of AI therapists and girlfriends.The research comes as character.ai, the popular artificial intelligence chatbot startup, announced a total ban on teens from engaging in open-ended conversations with its AI chatbots, which millions of people use for romantic, therapeutic and other conversations.Lee Chambers, the founder and chief executive of Male Allies UK, said: “We’ve got a situation where lots of parents still think that teenagers are just using AI to cheat on their homework
Microsoft reports strong earnings as Azure hit by major outage
Microsoft blew off concerns of overspending on AI on Wednesday, reporting elevated earnings even as it faced an outage of its cloud computing service, Azure, and its office software suite, 365. The strong earnings report comes a day after a deal with OpenAI pushed the value of the tech giant to more than $4tn.After its Xbox and investor relations pages went down, the company issued a statement that said: “We are working to address an issue affecting Azure Front Door that is impacting the availability of some services.”The outage did not dampen the software giant’s financial outlook. The company reported first-quarter earnings of $3
Meta reports mixed financial results amid spree of AI hiring and spending
Meta reported mixed financial results for the third quarter of 2025. The company brought in record quarterly revenue but reported a major tax bill that dampened earnings per share, the company announced on Wednesday. The financial results come as Meta ends a multibillion-dollar hiring spree focused on artificial intelligence talent.The tech giant earned $51.24bn in quarterly revenue, beating Wall Street expectations and the company’s own projections for third-quarter sales
Google parent Alphabet beats forecasts with first $100bn quarter
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, displayed steady growth in its core advertising business and cloud computing division as it reported third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, beating Wall Street estimates as it reported its first quarter of $100bn in revenue.The company thrilled Wall Street – shares rose in after-hours trading – even as it announced that it would spend billions more than previously predicted. Alphabet raised its capital expenditure guidance in financial filings, declaring it would spend between $91bn and $93bn in the upcoming year, nearly all of it on infrastructure like datacenters to support artificial intelligence products, which are becoming an integral part of the company’s business. That estimate is up from an original declaration of $75bn in February and a revised figure of $85bn announced in July.The company reported total revenue of $102
Nvidia becomes world’s first $5tn company amid stock market and AI boom
Nvidia has become the world’s first $5tn company as the artificial intelligence industry and wider US stock market boom. Just three months ago, the Silicon Valley chipmaker was the first to break through the barrier of $4tn in market value.In comparison, Nvidia’s value is greater than the GDP of India, Japan and the United Kingdom, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It has far outgrown its competitors in the chip industry, gaining momentum as numerous tech stocks have surged in recent days.Shortly after US stock markets opened on Wednesday, Nvidia’s shares touched $207
Character.AI bans users under 18 after being sued over child’s suicide
The chatbot company Character.AI will ban users 18 and under from conversing with its virtual companions beginning in late November after months of legal scrutiny.The announced change comes after the company, which enables its users to create characters with which they can have open-ended conversations, faced tough questions over how these AI companions can affect teen and general mental health, including a lawsuit over a child’s suicide and a proposed bill that would ban minors from conversing with AI companions.“We’re making these changes to our under-18 platform in light of the evolving landscape around AI and teens,” the company wrote in its announcement. “We have seen recent news reports raising questions, and have received questions from regulators, about the content teens may encounter when chatting with AI and about how open-ended AI chat in general might affect teens, even when content controls work perfectly
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