Finance

Warren Buffett speaks during the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, Nebraska on May 3, 2025.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway revealed a new position in Alphabet, making the Google parent the conglomerate’s 10th largest equity holding at the end of September, according to a regulatory filing.
Berkshire disclosed a $4.3 billion stake in Alphabet at the end of the third quarter, a surprising move given Buffett’s traditional value investing philosophy and reluctance toward high-growth, tech names. While Berkshire has owned Apple for years, Buffett has called it more of a consumer products company than a pure tech play.

The purchase was also likely made by Berkshire investment managers Todd Combs or Ted Weschler, who have been more active in technology names. One of them initiated an investment in Amazon back in 2019, and Berkshire still owns $2.2 billion worth of the e-commerce shares.
Alphabet has been the market’s standout winner this year with shares rallying 46%. Strong demand for artificial intelligence has driven solid momentum in Alphabet’s cloud business.
Buffett previously admitted that he “blew it” by failing to invest early in Google even though he had insight into its advertising potential. Berkshire’s auto insurance unit Geico was an early customer of Google, paying the search engine 10 bucks every time someone clicked on the ad at the time.
“I had seen the product work, and I knew the kind of margins [they had],” Buffett said in 2018. “I didn’t know enough about technology to know whether this really was the one that would stop the competitive race.”

Arrows pointing outwards

Trimming Apple
Berkshire continued paring back its massive Apple stake, trimming the position by another 15% in the quarter to $60.7 billion.

Buffett went on a head-turning selling spree in Apple in 2024, slashing two-thirds of the shares Berkshire held in a surprising move for the famously long-term-focused investor. Berkshire also cut the holding in the second quarter of this year.
Even with the continuous sales, the iPhone maker remains Berkshire’s biggest equity holding.
The conglomerate also dialed back its Bank of America stake by 6% to a bet worth just under $30 billion. Berkshire reduced holdings in Verisign and DaVita as well in the third quarter.
Berkshire has been a net seller of stocks for 12 straight quarters as valuations continued to climb in the tech-driven bull market.
The 95-year-old Buffett is stepping down as CEO at the end of the year, with longtime lieutenant Greg Abel set to take the reins. Investors have been watching Berkshire’s positioning closely for clues about the next era of leadership and how its investment approach may evolve. More

JPMorgan Chase, the biggest U.S. bank by assets, has secured deals ensuring it will get paid by the fintech firms responsible for nearly all the data requests made by third-party apps connected to customer bank accounts, CNBC has learned.
The agreements are with fintech middlemen including Plaid, Yodlee, Morningstar and Akoya, according to JPMorgan spokesman Drew Pusateri.
After weeks of negotiations between JPMorgan and the middlemen, the bank agreed to lower pricing than it originally proposed, and the fintech middlemen won concessions regarding the servicing of data requests, according to people with knowledge of the talks.

An exterior view of the new JPMorgan Chase global headquarters building at 270 Park Avenue on Nov. 13, 2025 in New York City.
Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images

JPMorgan Chase has secured deals ensuring it will get paid by the fintech firms responsible for nearly all the data requests made by third-party apps connected to customer bank accounts, CNBC has learned.
The bank has signed updated contracts with the fintech middlemen that make up more than 95% of the data pulls on its systems, including Plaid, Yodlee, Morningstar and Akoya, according to JPMorgan spokesman Drew Pusateri.

“We’ve come to agreements that will make the open banking ecosystem safer and more sustainable and allow customers to continue reliably and securely accessing their favorite financial products,” Pusateri said in a statement. “The free market worked.”
The milestone is the latest twist in a long-running dispute between traditional banks and the fintech industry over access to customer accounts. For years, middlemen like Plaid paid nothing to tap bank systems when a customer wanted to use a fintech app like Robinhood to draw funds or check balances.
That dynamic appeared to be enshrined in law in late 2024, when the Biden-era Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized what is known as the “open-banking rule” requiring banks to share customer data with other financial firms at no cost.
But banks sued to prevent the CFPB rule from taking hold and seemed to gain the upper hand in May after the Trump administration asked a federal court to vacate the rule.
Soon after, JPMorgan — the largest U.S. bank by assets, deposits and branches — reportedly told the middlemen that it would start charging what amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars for access to its customer data.

In response, fintech, crypto and venture capital executives argued that the bank was engaging in “anti-competitive, rent-seeking behavior” that would hurt innovation and consumers’ ability to use popular apps.
After weeks of negotiations between JPMorgan and the middlemen, the bank agreed to lower pricing than it originally proposed, and the fintech middlemen won concessions regarding the servicing of data requests, according to people with knowledge of the talks.
Fintech firms preferred the certainty of locking in data-sharing rates because it is unclear whether the current CFPB, which is in the process of revising the open-banking rule, will favor banks or fintech companies, according to a venture capital investor who asked for anonymity to discuss his portfolio companies.
The bank and the fintech firms declined to disclose details about their contracts, including how much the middlemen agreed to pay and how long the deals are in force.

Wider impact

The deals mark a shift in the power dynamic between banks, middlemen and the fintech apps that are increasingly threatening incumbents. More banks are likely to begin charging fintech firms for access to their systems, according to industry observers.  
“JPMorgan tends to be a trendsetter. They’re sort of the leader of the pack, so it’s fair to expect that the rest of the major banks will follow,” said Brian Shearer, director of competition and regulatory policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator.
Shearer, who worked at the CFPB under former director Rohit Chopra, said he’s worried that the development would create a barrier of entry to nascent startups and ultimately result in higher costs for consumers.

Source: Robinhood

Proponents of the 2024 CFPB rule said it gave consumers control over their financial data and encouraged competition and innovation. Banks including JPMorgan said it exposed them to fraud and unfairly saddled them with the rising costs of maintaining systems increasingly tapped by the middlemen and their clients.  
When Plaid’s deal with JPMorgan was announced in September, the companies issued a dual press release emphasizing the continuity it provided for customers.
But the industry group that Plaid is a part of has harshly criticized the development, signaling that while JPMorgan has won a decisive battle, the ongoing skirmish may yet play out in courts and in the public.
“Introducing prohibitive tolls is anti-competitive, anti-innovation, and flies in the face of the plain reading of the law,” Penny Lee, CEO of the Financial Technology Association, told CNBC in response to the JPMorgan milestone.
“These agreements are not the free market at work, but rather big banks using their market position to capitalize on regulatory uncertainty,” Lee said. “We urge the Trump Administration to uphold the law by maintaining the existing prohibition on data access fees.”

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Representation of Bitcoin cryptocurrency in this illustration taken Sept. 10, 2025.
Dado Ruvic | Reuters

Bitcoin dipped below $95,000 on Friday, pushing the world’s oldest cryptocurrency further into the red and continuing its four-day decline amid a broader artificial intelligence-linked stock pullback.
The digital asset hit $94,491.22 early Friday, marking its lowest level since May 7. Bitcoin is down nearly 9% week to date, despite briefly reclaiming $107,000 at one point on Tuesday and then rolling over.

The token was last trading at $97,163.99, or 1% lower on the day, as it regained some of its morning losses.
The largest crypto by market capitalization attracts many of the same investors that have poured funds into BigTech stocks, linking the two trades. Several of those stocks are falling this week amid a resurfacing of concerns over Silicon Valley giants’ astronomical spending on AI initiatives.
“There’s less money in the system,” Yat Siu, co-founder of crypto investment and blockchain development firm Animoca Brands told CNBC. That leads to investors “selling certain things off in order to basically deal with other shortfalls or concerns that they might have because there’s a retraction broadly.”

Stock chart icon

Bitcoin, 5 days

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell about 0.6% on Friday, with Meta, Alphabet, Intel, Nvidia and Tesla shedding between roughly 1% and 2%.
Crypto-linked stocks also fell Friday. Software firm and bitcoin treasury Strategy, formerly Microstrategy, dipped 6%. Trading platforms Gemini Space Station and Bullish’s stocks shed 2%, while Coinbase shares edged down 1%. Digital asset mining firm Bitmine Immersion Technologies was also trading 3% lower.

Siu noted that this crypto market cycle could differ from past ones, particularly due to the relatively recent influx of institutional capital into digital assets. Institutions don’t typically follow major, long-time bitcoin holders’ almost “religious” belief in the token’s four-year price cycle, he said. That could help bitcoin and other digital assets remain somewhat resilient to recent and soon-to-come headwinds.
“People think bitcoin is going to go down to $60,000 because of the four year cycle [and the token’s history of] drops and corrections,” Siu said. “But, I don’t believe that because the institutions are not going to follow that particular cycle. They’ll look at [the market downturn] as more as a buying opportunity.” More

Thematic ETFs tied to trends like artificial intelligence and quantum computing have drawn billions in new money into the market, and the portfolios have been rewarding investors with big gains.
But ETF Action’s Mike Akins warns that investors need to be mindful of significant risks within these newer portfolio categories, such as similarly branded AI funds, where performance differs by as much as 60% this year.

Artificial intelligence has become one of the biggest investment stories in the market, helping drive a surge of assets into thematic exchange-traded funds that let retail investors bet on major technology trends. But experts warn that these funds can fall as quickly as they rise. It’s a simple yet important point for investors to keep in mind as tech stocks look more vulnerable, and are leading the market lower in recent days. The Nasdaq has been flirting with a fall below its 50-day moving average for the first time since the April downturn and posted its third-straight losing session on Thursday.
“We have nearly 400 ETFs at ETF Action that we classify as thematic,” Mike Akins, founding partner at research firm ETF Action, said on CNBC’s “ETF Edge” on Monday. “The top performer is up over 150% year to date … there’s several negative 10%,” he said.

Investors are drawn to thematic ETFs covering trends from AI to quantum computing, clean energy and defense technology, but they often overlook the risks, including how volatile the portfolios can be. Because thematic ETFs focus on specific sectors or technologies rather than just tracking broad indexes, they can deliver strong gains when a theme is in favor, but momentum may fade.
ETF Action divides the thematic ETF universe into 12 major categories with many subgroups. Within the disruptive technology category alone, which includes artificial intelligence, flows have been enormous this year. “AI disruptive tech has seen almost $20 billion in flows year to date,” Akins said. Roughly $15 billion of that, he said, has “AI” in the ETF name.
The surge has helped lift funds like the Global X Artificial Intelligence & Technology ETF (AIQ) which has grown to about $7 billion in assets, attracting about $3 billion in net flows since the beginning of the year, according to ETF.com. Its top holdings are Advanced Micro Devices, Alphabet, Samsung, Tesla and Alibaba. Another example from Global X is the Robotics & Artificial Intelligence ETF (BOTZ), which has around $3 billion in assets under management. Its top holdings are Nvidia, ABB, Fanuc, Intuitive Surgical and Keyence.
Thematic ETFs do require more research than traditional funds. Case in point: among the 18 ETFs that ETF Action classifies as AI-focused, Akins said there is a performance spread of 60% this year.
“Every time you see a new ETF come to market, it introduces significant tracking error from just investing in the market,” he said.

Through the first nine months of 2025, close to 800 ETFs were launched, besting a record for ETF launches set just last year, according to Reuters. Morningstar data indicates there are now more ETFs (over 4,300 U.S. listed ETFs) than individual stocks traded in the U.S.
Akins described the growth of the ETF market as “overwhelmingly positive” to the investor experience, but added that the growing number of opportunities also implies more risk.
Some of the themes that led the early wave of thematic investing can lose momentum as stand-alone investment stories even as the trends remain fundamental to the technology sector and market, Akins said. ETFs constructed around the themes of cloud computing and next-generation connectivity, for example, have seen billions of dollars in outflows over the past few years as the companies that were top holdings matured and became part of broad-based stock market indexes already held by investors.
He stressed that is not a statement about whether cloud computing or connectivity are good or bad investment themes right now, but simply that there is a “lifecycle” to a theme which can lead to less attention and less flows as the theme matures. Ultimately, that can mean themes don’t offer the same high-growth opportunities as they did when they first became popular.
But Akins added that the timeline for each trend’s momentum is hard to pin down.
“I think every theme is unique to itself, so some are going to play out longer than others,” Akins said. “That’s part of the story with this space … there’s definitely the idea I’m going to invest in this because I believe it’s going to play out over the next three to seven years.”
Despite the recent jitters in the stock market and tech stocks specifically, it is important to note that the Nasdaq is less than 5% off an all-time record level and has gained close to 250% since its Covid low point. Akins said thematic investing is worthwhile for investors who understand what they are buying and can tolerate short-term volatility.
Seizing moments of opportunity in the market can also be key with thematic strategies. “Themes can run very, very quickly, so you should be taking advantage,” Akins said. Significant gains in a short period of time may lead investors to consider taking some profits. “You still want to have an allocation to the theme, but maybe take some off the top,” he added.
Top 10 disruptive tech ETFs
First Trust Nasdaq Cybersecurity (CIBR)Assets: $11.5 billionExpense ratio: 0.59%YTD performance: 20%iShares AI Innovation and Technology (BAI)Assets: $7.6 billionExpense ratio: 0.68%YTD performance: 30.5%Global X Artificial Intelligence & Technology ETF (AIQ)Assets: $7.2 billionExpense ratio: 0.68%YTD performance: 33.6%Roundhill Magnificent Seven (MAGS)Assets: $4 billionExpense ratio: 0.29%YTD performance: 22.2%First Trust Cloud Computing (SKYY)Assets: $3.3 billionExpense ratio: 0.60%YTD performance: 14.4%Defiance Quantum ETF (QTUM)Assets: $3.2 billionExpense ratio: 0.40%YTD performance: 37%JPMorgan U.S. Tech Leaders (JTEK)Assets: $3.1 billionExpense ratio: 0.65%YTD performance: 22.8%Amplify Cybersecurity (HACK)Assets: $2.3 billionExpense ratio: 0.60%YTD performance: 15.5%
ARK Next Generation Internet (ARKW)Assets: $2.2 billionExpense ratio: 0.75%YTD performance: 51.2%Roundhill Generative AI & Technology (CHAT)Assets: $1.1 billionExpense ratio: 0.75%YTD performance: 55%Source: ETFAction.com More

Billionaire investor Ron Baron isn’t flinching during the latest tech selloff, and he’s certainly not touching his own Tesla shares, he said.
The longtime growth investor said he sees the pullback as a chance to spot bargains, even as volatility has rattled the biggest names in tech recently.

“Not very much,” Baron said Friday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” when asked what he’s doing amid the drawdown. “Just looking and trying to understand where opportunities are and try to take advantage of them.”
His conviction is especially intense when it comes to Tesla, one of his signature bets. He recalled selling a third of Baron Funds’ Tesla holding a few years ago due to criticism from his clients and the media about the significant concentration in a single stock. Baron emphasized that his personal position remains entirely intact.
“We sold 30% for clients. I did not sell personally a single share,” he said.
Roughly 40% of his personal net worth is invested in the electric-vehicle maker, alongside 25% in SpaceX and about 35% in Baron mutual funds.
Tesla shares are down 18% from their 52-week high and were on track to open 5% lower on Friday as investors this week rethink the AI-related shares that have led the bull market.

Baron said he’s already made about $8 billion from Tesla over the years, and he believes he could make five times that over the next decade.
Baron recounted a promise he made to the board of his mutual funds when he sought approval decades ago to invest in public stocks, a pledge that effectively binds him to Tesla and SpaceX for life.
“I told the board, ‘If you let me invest a certain amount of money, then I will promise that I won’t sell any of my stock. I will be the last person out of the stock,'” he said. “I will not sell a single share of my shares until my clients sold 100% of their shares. … And I don’t expect to sell in my lifetime Tesla or SpaceX.” More

DBS CEO Tan Su Shan expects AI to result in an overall revenue bump of more than 1 billion Singapore dollars (about $768 million) this year, compared to S$750 million in 2024.
“The proliferation of generative AI has been transformative for us,” Tan said, adding that the company was experiencing a “snowballing effect” of benefits thanks to machine learning. 

Tan Su Shan, chief executive officer of DBS Group Holdings Ltd., speaking at the Singapore Fintech Festival in Singapore, on Nov. 12, 2025.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

SINGAPORE – Amid fears of an artificial intelligence bubble, much has been made of recent reports suggesting that AI has yet to generate returns for companies investing billions into adopting the tech. 
But that’s not what the chief executive of Southeast Asia’s largest bank is seeing — she says her firm is already reaping the rewards of its AI initiatives, and it’s only just the beginning. 

“It’s not hope. It’s now. It’s already happening. And it will get even better,” DBS CEO Tan Su Shan told CNBC  on the sidelines of Singapore Fintech Week, when asked about the promise of AI adoption.  
DBS has been working to implement artificial intelligence across its bank for over a decade, which helped prepare its internal data analytics for recent waves of generative and agentic AI. 
Agentic AI is a type of artificial intelligence that relies on data to proactively make independent decisions, plan and execute tasks autonomously, with minimal human oversight.
Tan expects AI adoption to bring DBS an overall revenue bump of more than 1 billion Singapore dollars (about $768 million) this year, compared to SG$750 million in 2024. That assessment is based on about 370 AI use cases powered by over 1,500 models throughout its business. 
“The proliferation of generative AI has been transformative for us,” Tan said, adding that the company was experiencing a “snowballing effect” of benefits thanks to machine learning. 

A major area in which DBS has applied AI is in its financial services to institutional clients, with AI used to collect and leverage data for clients in order to better contextualize and personalize offerings. 
According to Tan, this has resulted in “faster and more resilient” teams. The CEO believes that these uses of AI have contributed to a recent uptick in the bank’s deposit growth as compared to competitors’.
The company also recently launched a newly enhanced AI-powered assistant for corporate clients known as “DBS Joy,” which assists clients with unique corporate banking queries around the clock. 

ROI concerns 

Despite Tan’s strong convictions about AI, recent evidence suggests that many companies are struggling to turn their AI investments into tangible profits. 
MIT released a report in July that found 95% of 300 publicly disclosed AI initiatives, encompassing generative AI investments of $30–$40 billion, had failed to achieve real returns. 
However, at least in the banking sector, there are signs that the tides are turning. 
While DBS doesn’t differentiate spending in generative AI from other in-house investments, other major banks have recently offered this comparison. 
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon stated in an interview with Bloomberg TV last month that the bank is already breaking even on its approximately $2 billion of annual investments in AI adoption. That represents “just the tip of the iceberg,” he added.
Those expectations are shared by DBS, which plans to continue to accelerate its AI development to become an AI-powered bank.
The ultimate goal, according to Tan, is for its generative AI to develop into a trusted financial advisor for clients, including retail users who are expected to interact with personalized AI agents through the DBS banking app. 
The bank already has over 100 AI algorithms that analyze users’ data to provide them with personalized “nudges,” such as alerts on incoming shortfalls, product recommendations, and other insights. 

Continued AI investments 

While DBS may already be reaping rewards from its AI adoption, Tan acknowledged that it will require continued investments, not only in capital, but in the time needed to reskill employees. 
The company has launched several AI reskilling initiatives across departments this year and has even deployed a generative AI-powered coaching tool to support these efforts. 
This will help the company automate mundane work and refocus its staff on building and maintaining human-to-human relationships with customers, rather than reducing headcount, Tan said. 
“We’re not freezing hiring, but it does mean reskilling. And that’s a journey. It’s a never-ending journey … a constant evolution.” More

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell wasn’t kidding a couple weeks ago when he said a December rate cut wasn’t in the bag.
Whereas traders as recently as a few days ago were pricing in at least a 2-to-1 probability of a quarter percentage point cut, that’s now flipped to a coin toss.
As markets grew much less confident about a December cut, stocks slumped Thursday while Treasury yields moved higher.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference following a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee at the Federal Reserve on Oct. 29, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Alex Wong | Getty Images

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell wasn’t kidding a couple weeks ago when he said a December rate cut wasn’t in the bag.
Recent remarks from Powell’s colleagues point to plenty of apprehension over whether the central bank should deliver its third consecutive easing of policy when it meets Dec. 9-10.

As a result, markets have recalibrated their expectations. Whereas traders as recently as a few days ago were pricing in at least a 2-to-1 probability of a quarter percentage point cut, that’s now flipped to a coin toss, according to futures markets readings tabulated by the CME Group in its FedWatch tool.
“These developments chip away at our confidence the Fed will cut in [December] without giving us any more confidence a skip to [January] is a better bet,” Krishna Guha, head of global policy and central bank strategy at Evercore ISI, said in a note. “This leaves us still seeing a [December] cut more likely than not but only 55-60 per cent.”
As of Thursday afternoon, the implied probability of a rate cut was at 49.4%, according to the CME gauge that uses prices on 30-day fed funds futures contracts to interpolate probabilities for rate moves. Futures prices pointed to a funds rate of 3.775% by the end of 2025, compared to the current level of 3.87%.
A month ago, the market was assigning a 95% probability of a reduction.
So what changed? Primarily, uncertainty at a time when the official data flow came to a halt due to the now-resolved government shutdown. Some Fed officials worry about flying blind on data at a time when the most recent readings point to a softening labor market but inflation that, while ebbing slightly, is still considerably above the Fed’s 2% target. Moreover, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that some of the data, particularly for October, may never come out.

An unexpected voice
Those reservations showed up in an uncharacteristically blunt assessment Wednesday from Boston Fed President Susan Collins.
During her time with the Fed, Collins has used cautious language to express her opinion on policy. But a speech she delivered in her home district left little doubt regarding her misgivings about inflation and the importance of the Fed to hold steady, at least for now, until there’s greater economic clarity.
“Given my baseline outlook, it will likely be appropriate to keep policy rates at the current level for some time to balance the inflation and employment risks in this highly uncertain environment,” Collins said. “I see several reasons to have a relatively high bar for additional easing in the near term.”

A central part of her case is that the economy generally looks solid even with the slowdown in hiring. Cutting rates more, Collins reasoned, risks pushing inflation higher at a time when the impact from tariffs is still uncertain.
“The current level of policy rates, in my view, leaves policy well positioned to address a range of potential outcomes and balance risks on both sides of our mandate,” she said, referring to the Fed’s dual mandate to maximize employment and keep prices stable.
Collins’ position puts her in a hawkish group that includes regional presidents Jeffrey Schmid of Kansas City who, unlike Collins, voted against the October cut, along with Beth Hammack of Cleveland and possibly Alberto Musalem of St. Louis and Lorie Logan in Dallas.
On the opposite side of the rate fence are Governors Stephen Miran who, in his two meetings, has voted against quarter-point cuts in favor of half-point reductions, as well as Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman.
Chair Powell, then, is left to build consensus following his comments after the October rate cut that “a further reduction in the policy rate at the December meeting is not a foregone conclusion—far from it.” There is no Fed policy meeting in November.
Taking sides
As markets grew less confident about a December cut, stocks slumped Thursday while Treasury yields moved higher.
Powell’s dilemma at a time of uncharacteristic dissent on the Federal Open Market Committee is intensifying.
“We do not think Powell wants the Committee to break apart deeply and publicly with mass hawkishdissents at this institutionally perilous moment,” Guha said. “This in our view is why he and his top deputies [FOMC Vice Chair Philip] Jefferson and [New York Fed President John] Williams have adopted a conciliatory posture, respecting hawks’ arguments and insisting the market view [December] as a 50-50 call.”
One middle ground for the Powell would be a “hawkish cut,” in which the committee would agree to one more reduction while the chair communicates that further moves lower are unlikely. The FOMC’s makeup changes in January when a new crop of regional presidents will move into voting roles, and as Powell’s term as chair nears its end in May. Gone will be hawks like Collins and Schmid, though both Hammack and Logan will move into voting roles.
“With all this in mind, we think that it is possible that Powell is forced into a compromise by which the Fed either (1) stays on hold in December, or (2) if it does cut, is obligated subsequently to signal that the rate cutting cycle may be over,” wrote Thierry Wizman, global FX and rates strategist at Macquarie Group.
Traders are anticipating the committee softens its stance come January. Futures pricing indicates about a 70% probability of a cut to kick off the new year should the FOMC decide to skip December. More

The deal makes UFC and Zuffa Boxing the first sports organizations to incorporate prediction market technology into live events.
Polymarket will provide real-time data visualizations of fan sentiment and momentum during fights, offering an additional layer of engagement alongside traditional sports betting.

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – FEBRUARY 01: (R-L) Michael Page of England punches Shara Magomedov of Russia in a middleweight fight during the UFC Fight Night event at anb Arena on February 01, 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
Chris Unger | Ufc | Getty Images

TKO Group Holdings — the parent company of UFC and Zuffa Boxing — has signed a multiyear partnership with Polymarket to bring real-time prediction markets into live combat sports.
The deal makes UFC and Zuffa Boxing the first sports organizations to incorporate prediction market technology into live events. Polymarket will provide real-time data visualizations of fan sentiment and momentum during fights, offering an additional layer of engagement alongside traditional sports betting.

“By partnering with Shayne and his team at Polymarket, we’re unlocking a new dimension of fan engagement,” said Ariel Emanuel, executive chair and CEO of TKO, in a statement. “Integrating Polymarket with the UFC and Zuffa Boxing live experience will help fans interact with these events in real time, transforming passive viewership into active participation.”
The deal follows Polymarket’s recent partnerships in the sports world, including collaborations with the NHL and PrizePicks, as the company continues to expand beyond politics and global events into live entertainment.
Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan said the technology gives fans an entirely new storytelling lens.
“Few sports generate emotion and debate like the UFC,” he said. “By bringing prediction markets to the broadcast and arena, we’re giving fans a new way to be part of the action — not just watching outcomes but watching the world’s expectations evolve with every round.”
Beginning in 2026, all UFC and Zuffa Boxing events will stream exclusively in the U.S. on Paramount+. More