BUSINESS

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Google disclosed that YouTube generated more than $60bn in revenue in 2025, combining advertising income and paid subscriptions. That total outstrips streaming rival Netflix, which reported about $45bn in revenue. Google’s announcement appears to be the first time it has separately published an annual revenue figure for YouTube since acquiring the platform in 2006.

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Walmart Inc. reached a landmark valuation this week, becoming the first retailer ever to surpass a $1 trillion market capitalization, a level typically reserved for the world's most powerful technology companies.

Shares of the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer climbed to fresh records in early New York trading, extending a rally that has lifted the stock roughly 26% over the past year and more than quadrupled its value over the last decade. The move places Walmart alongside companies such as Nvidia, Alphabet, Apple and Microsoft in the trillion-dollar club.

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The Nintendo Switch has become the company’s best-selling console, surpassing 155 million units since its 2017 launch. Propelled by a major sales surge during the pandemic, the hybrid system has overtaken the Nintendo DS as Nintendo’s all-time hardware leader. Globally, the Switch now ranks second among all home and handheld consoles, trailing only Sony’s PlayStation 2, which sold more than 160 million units after its 2000 debut.

But Nintendo's latest financial report, where it announced the news, also saw shares in the company fall 11% following investor concerns over software sales and memory chip prices.

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Spotify said on Thursday it will start offering physical books for purchase inside its app through a partnership with online retailer Bookshop.org, pushing the music streaming giant further into the book business beyond audiobooks.

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The assembly lines that launched the electric vehicle revolution are being repurposed for the age of robotics. Elon Musk announced Wednesday that Tesla will cease production of its Model S and Model X lineups this year to facilitate a "major retooling" of its California facility for humanoid robot manufacturing. The two vehicles were

introduced in 2012 and 2015, respectively. By retiring the vehicles that fueled its initial rise to dominance, Tesla is betting its future on a transition from a vehicle manufacturer to a leader in autonomous robotics.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday that the company would begin phasing out its Model S and Model X electric vehicles this year and retool a California factory to produce humanoid robots instead. The announcement signals an end of an era. — helped to move electric cars from the consumer fringe into the mainstream. They also fueled Tesla’s rise from a startup into the world’s most valuable automaker.

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Samsung Electronics delivered a sharp earnings surprise after reporting that its fourth-quarter operating profit more than tripled, powered by a surge in demand for memory chips used in artificial intelligence systems.

The South Korean technology giant said profit climbed to 20.1 trillion won for the October-to-December period, exceeding market expectations and marking its strongest quarterly result on record. Revenue rose 24% from a year earlier to 93.8 trillion won, also setting a high.

The results reflect mounting pressure on global chip supply as companies race to build AI data centers. Samsung said its memory division was the primary driver of earnings, benefiting from higher prices and booming sales of high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, which is essential for AI accelerators.

HBM demand has surged as major chip designers compete for limited supply, pushing memory manufacturers to redirect capacity toward higher-margin products. That shift has tightened availability across the broader market, lifting prices for chips used in smartphones, personal computers, and other consumer devices.

Samsung said its Device Solutions division recorded all-time highs in both quarterly revenue and operating profit, with HBM and other premium memory products accounting for a growing share of sales. The company added that AI-related server demand is expected to remain strong into early 2026.