{"id":72202,"date":"2026-09-24T16:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T20:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/blue-origin-secures-10-billion-in-first-outside-funding-akamai-and-anthropic-ink-massive-ai-deal\/72202\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T16:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T20:38:15","slug":"blue-origin-secures-10-billion-in-first-outside-funding-akamai-and-anthropic-ink-massive-ai-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/blue-origin-secures-10-billion-in-first-outside-funding-akamai-and-anthropic-ink-massive-ai-deal\/72202\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Origin Secures $10 Billion in First Outside Funding; Akamai and Anthropic Ink Massive AI Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Blue Origin<\/strong> raised <strong>$10 billion<\/strong> at a <strong>$140 billion valuation<\/strong> in its first-ever outside capital round, with founder <strong>Jeff Bezos<\/strong> contributing <strong>$2 billion<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Akamai Technologies (<a href=\"\/stock\/AKAM\">AKAM<\/a>)<\/strong> signed a multi-year agreement with <strong>Anthropic<\/strong> worth up to <strong>$20 billion<\/strong> to support distributed AI computing and CPU workloads.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Costco (<a href=\"\/stock\/COST\">COST<\/a>)<\/strong> beat Q4 earnings expectations with an <strong>EPS of $6.75<\/strong> on net sales of <strong>$93.87 billion<\/strong>, driven by a <strong>6.7% increase<\/strong> in adjusted comparable sales.<\/li>\n<li><strong>U.S. President Trump<\/strong> and <strong>Chinese President Xi Jinping<\/strong> agreed to mutually support each other\u2019s hosting of the <strong>2026 APEC and G20 summits<\/strong>, signaling a rare moment of diplomatic coordination.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Delta Air Lines (<a href=\"\/stock\/DAL\">DAL<\/a>)<\/strong> declared a quarterly dividend of <strong>$0.215 per share<\/strong>, maintaining its commitment to shareholder returns.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Blue Origin Breaks 26-Year Streak of Internal Funding<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Blue Origin<\/strong> has successfully raised <strong>$10 billion<\/strong> in a landmark funding round that values the aerospace company at <strong>$140 billion<\/strong>. This marks the first time the company has accepted outside capital since its founding in 2000, ending <strong>Jeff Bezos\u2019s<\/strong> long-standing practice of self-funding the venture through <strong>Amazon (<a href=\"\/stock\/AMZN\">AMZN<\/a>)<\/strong> stock sales.<\/p>\n<p>Bezos personally contributed <strong>$2 billion<\/strong> to the round, which reportedly saw overwhelming demand and may close above its initial <strong>$10 billion target<\/strong>. The company is projecting a massive revenue surge to over <strong>$30 billion by 2030<\/strong>, a significant jump from the <strong>$1.4 billion<\/strong> expected this year and the <strong>$800 million<\/strong> generated in 2025.<\/p>\n<h2>Akamai and Anthropic Forge $20 Billion AI Partnership<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Akamai Technologies (<a href=\"\/stock\/AKAM\">AKAM<\/a>)<\/strong> announced a strategic multi-year agreement with AI lab <strong>Anthropic<\/strong> worth an initial <strong>$11.6 billion<\/strong>, with potential expansion up to <strong>$20 billion<\/strong>. The deal focuses on leveraging <strong>Akamai\u2019s<\/strong> distributed cloud infrastructure to handle <strong>Anthropic\u2019s<\/strong> rapidly growing CPU workload demands.<\/p>\n<p>To cement the partnership, <strong>Akamai<\/strong> issued <strong>Anthropic<\/strong> a warrant for up to <strong>7.7 million shares<\/strong> (approximately 5% of outstanding stock) at a price of <strong>$111.33 per share<\/strong>. While <strong>Akamai<\/strong> kept its 2026 revenue guidance unchanged, it expects to increase its <strong>2026 capital expenditures by $1.7 billion<\/strong> to secure critical supply chain components for the project.<\/p>\n<h2>Costco Delivers Strong Q4 Performance<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Costco Wholesale (<a href=\"\/stock\/COST\">COST<\/a>)<\/strong> reported robust fourth-quarter results, posting net sales of <strong>$93.87 billion<\/strong> and total revenue of <strong>$95.72 billion<\/strong>. The retail giant\u2019s <strong>EPS of $6.75<\/strong> handily beat the <strong>$6.56<\/strong> consensus estimate, aided in part by a <strong>$0.15 per share benefit<\/strong> from IEEPA tariff refunds.<\/p>\n<p>The company&#39;s adjusted comparable sales grew by <strong>6.7%<\/strong>, reflecting continued consumer resilience and membership loyalty. These results come as investors closely monitor <strong>Costco\u2019s<\/strong> ability to maintain margins amidst global geopolitical uncertainty and shifting trade policies.<\/p>\n<h2>Geopolitical and Market Updates<\/h2>\n<p>In a significant diplomatic development, <strong>President Trump<\/strong> and <strong>President Xi Jinping<\/strong> have agreed to support each other in hosting the <strong>2026 APEC Economic Leaders\u2019 Meeting<\/strong> and the <strong>G20 Summit<\/strong>. During the discussions, <strong>Xi<\/strong> also called for the U.S. and China to ensure <strong>AI technology remains under human control<\/strong>, highlighting a shared concern over the rapid advancement of autonomous systems.<\/p>\n<p>On the domestic front, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/exchanges\/nyse\/today\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"NYSE Today\">NYSE<\/a> short interest<\/strong> rose <strong>2.7%<\/strong> to <strong>22.78 billion shares<\/strong> in mid-September, indicating a slight increase in bearish sentiment or hedging activity among market participants. Meanwhile, <strong>Delta Air Lines (<a href=\"\/stock\/DAL\">DAL<\/a>)<\/strong> reinforced its financial stability by declaring a quarterly dividend of <strong>$0.215 per share<\/strong>, payable in November to shareholders of record as of mid-October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Blue Origin raised $10 billion at a $140 billion valuation in its first-ever outside capital round, with founder [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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