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For years, France’s Eutelsat has tried to position itself as Europe’s answer to Elon Musk’s Starlink—a satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX that has rapidly become the global leader in low-Earth orbit (LEO) broadband coverage.

With Starlink’s more than 7,600 satellites already blanketing much of the globe, Europe has struggled to mount a competitive alternative. Now, with a €1.35 billion ($1.58 billion) investment led by the French government, Eutelsat is getting a fresh push, one that reflects not just commercial ambition but also geopolitical urgency.

CNBC reports that the capital injection, which makes France the largest shareholder with about a 30% stake, marks a strategic shift in how Paris views Eutelsat—not merely as a commercial operator, but as a critical infrastructure provider vital to European technological sovereignty.

“This is no longer just about telecoms,” said Luke Kehoe, an analyst at Ookla. “France is treating Eutelsat like a strategic asset—part of a broader European push to reduce dependency on U.S. platforms.”

The merger with British LEO operator OneWeb in 2023 was already a key part of this vision. Eutelsat aimed to pool resources and scale up faster by consolidating Europe’s satellite capabilities under one roof. But even with these efforts, the company faces a brutal uphill battle.

A Matter of Scale—and Time

With only 650 LEO satellites in orbit through OneWeb, Eutelsat’s constellation is barely a tenth the size of Starlink’s. Many of these satellites are already nearing the end of their operational lifespan, forcing the company to prioritize replacement before it can even consider scaling up meaningfully.

“To offer greater capacity and coverage, [Eutelsat] needs to increase the number of satellites in space,” Joe Gardiner, an analyst at CCS Insight told CNBC. “But replacing aging satellites while expanding the network is a massive challenge.”

Even with the French state’s backing, the infrastructure gap remains daunting. Starlink, supported by SpaceX’s powerful in-house manufacturing and launch capabilities, is able to produce and deploy satellites at a scale and pace that Europe cannot currently match. Eutelsat still relies on external launch providers, many of them American, in a market dominated by SpaceX itself.

Starlink’s aggressive expansion has also driven up its market value. While Eutelsat’s market cap hovers around €1.6 billion, SpaceX has been valued at around $350 billion, with analysts projecting that Starlink alone could be worth over $80 billion in the coming years.

A Different Kind of Battle

Still, Eutelsat isn’t trying to beat Starlink at its own game—at least not entirely. While Starlink is focused on consumer broadband and high-speed global connectivity, Eutelsat’s architecture leans toward enterprise and government sectors. It combines geostationary orbit (GEO) satellites with its growing LEO fleet to serve specialized use cases like Arctic connectivity and secure communications for governments and militaries.

According to Cisco’s Joe Vaccaro, “Eutelsat’s GEO satellites are leveraged for specialized use cases, such as polar coverage for companies and research facilities in remote regions like Greenland and Alaska.”

Starlink uses a regenerative architecture, meaning it processes and routes signals on the satellite itself, enabling faster and more autonomous operation. In contrast, OneWeb’s satellites currently use a bent-pipe architecture, which requires ground stations to relay data. This limits performance and flexibility, although second-generation satellites could close the gap.

Ookla’s Kehoe noted that, despite the capital boost, Eutelsat remains behind Starlink in “capital, manufacturing throughput, launch access, spectrum, and user terminals.” However, he pointed out that Eutelsat is “well positioned to succeed in European-sovereign, security-sensitive and enterprise segments that prioritize jurisdictional control.”

The stakes go beyond market share. French President Emmanuel Macron recently framed the push into space as a litmus test of global power, declaring, “space has in some way become a gauge of international power.” With growing concern over Europe’s dependence on U.S. firms like SpaceX, Eutelsat is being recast as a symbol of European autonomy.

When the French-led investment was announced last week, Eutelsat highlighted its role as “the only European operator with a fully operational LEO network” and stressed its importance in France’s model for sovereign defense and communications.

The company was even rumored as a potential replacement for Starlink in Ukraine, where Musk’s system has played a critical role in supporting military and civilian communications amid Russia’s invasion. Tensions between Ukraine and the U.S., particularly after Donald Trump returned to the presidency, had raised fears that Starlink’s support could be scaled back. In April, Germany deployed 1,000 Eutelsat terminals in Ukraine, offering an alternative—though not a replacement—for Starlink’s 50,000 terminals in the war-torn country.

Still, Eutelsat’s own leadership is clear-eyed about the gap. In April, then-CEO Eva Berneke admitted, “If we were to take over the entire connectivity capacity for Ukraine and all the citizens — we wouldn’t be able to do that. Let’s just be very honest.”

Berneke was replaced in May by Jean-Francois Fallacher, formerly of Orange, signaling a new phase focused on operational execution and market expansion.

Looking Into Eutelsat’s Future

Eutelsat’s strategy now hinges on building what it calls a “differentiated go-to-market model” rooted in European needs, enterprise customers, and secure communications. The company hinted that the U.K. government could follow France’s lead with a larger stake in the near future.

But the question remains whether financial support and political backing will be enough. Experts say that catching up to Starlink—even within Europe—will require not just billions more in capital, but also industrial alignment across the continent to build launch, satellite manufacturing, and ground station capacity at scale.

Nigeria recorded a balance of payments (BoP) surplus of $3.73 billion in the first quarter of 2025, a development economic experts have linked to the weakening of the naira and the increase in domestic fuel production from the Dangote Refinery.

This is the second consecutive quarter of surplus, underscoring a notable shift in Nigeria’s external position despite lingering structural challenges.

The data, released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), showed that the Q1 2025 surplus was only slightly lower than the $3.80 billion recorded in the final quarter of 2024 and marginally higher than the $3.69 billion recorded in the same period last year. This comes months after Nigeria posted a significant $6.83 billion surplus at some point in 2024.

According to the CBN, the goods account surplus rose significantly to $4.16 billion, up from $2.62 billion in Q4 2024. The improvement was driven by a 30.39% increase in non-oil exports to $2.66 billion and a rebound in gas exports, which also rose to $2.66 billion. Simultaneously, non-oil imports declined from $7.37 billion to $6.77 billion, reflecting the combined effects of naira depreciation and a shift toward local sourcing.

Total exports for the quarter climbed to $13.91 billion, marking a 9.79% increase from the previous quarter. Imports, on the other hand, dropped to $9.75 billion from $10.05 billion, largely due to reduced imports of petroleum products—a trend directly linked to output from the Dangote Refinery. The secondary income account also remained strong, maintaining a surplus of $5.29 billion.

Analysts’ View: Depreciation and Domestic Output Key to Gains

Dr. Muda Yusuf, CEO of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE), noted that the naira’s continued depreciation is making it harder for businesses to import non-oil goods.

“Our largest imports in recent times have been the non-oil. Import is dropping because of exchange rate depreciation,” he said.

He added that the increased output from Dangote Refinery is discouraging reliance on foreign petroleum products: “With the full commencement of the Dangote Refinery, a lot of fuel importers are beginning to look inwards.”

Though there was a slight dip in the BoP surplus compared to the previous quarter, Yusuf dismissed it as marginal.

“For me, the decrease between the last quarter and this in the balance of payment surplus is quite marginal,” he said.

Another expert, Dr. Adam Abudu of the Society for Peacebuilding and Economic Advancement, emphasized the need for policy consistency to support domestic production.

“If you have a policy to encourage domestic investors, you should be consistent with it,” he said.

He praised Dangote’s refinery as a model for import substitution, suggesting that similar large-scale industrial ventures are key to sustaining BoP surpluses.

“Government needs more Dangote Refineries to have a continuous balance of payment surplus,” he stated.

Dr. Abudu also credited the Tinubu administration’s economic reforms for laying the foundation for back-to-back BoP surpluses.

“The ongoing reforms are also showing results,” he said. “We have to sustain the momentum for the next few quarters too.”

Financial Account and External Pressures

Despite the headline surplus, Nigeria’s financial account balance slightly declined to $7.58 billion, down from $7.82 billion in Q4 2024. The drop was attributed to significant divestments, the reversal of non-residents’ investments in CBN instruments, and a fall in loan liabilities from other depository corporations. In addition, the country continued servicing high external debt, which also weighed on the financial account.

Another concern is the sharp drop in external reserves, which fell to $37.82 billion at the end of March 2025, down from $40.19 billion in December 2024. The decline suggests ongoing currency support operations and external obligations are drawing heavily on reserves despite trade surpluses.

Meanwhile, net errors and omissions—used to track unrecorded financial flows—stood at $3.85 billion, a slight improvement from $4.02 billion in the previous quarter, but still indicative of unaccounted transactions.

Trade Surplus and Crude Oil Production

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reinforced the CBN’s findings, showing a trade surplus of N5.17 trillion in Q1 2025—up 51.07% from N3.42 trillion in Q4 2024. Total trade climbed to N36.02 trillion, a 6.19% increase year-on-year.

A key contributor was the sharp decline in petrol import bills, which dropped to N1.76 trillion from N3.81 trillion in Q1 2024, reflecting the ongoing ramp-up in local supply by the Dangote Refinery.

However, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) reported that crude oil production fell to 1.45 million barrels per day in May 2025, indicating the country is still grappling with production challenges and possibly pipeline issues, oil theft, or underinvestment in the upstream sector.

While Nigeria’s back-to-back BoP surpluses are encouraging, they are being propped up by a mix of naira depreciation, lower imports, and an unusually strong surge in non-oil and gas exports. Analysts say the current trajectory is promising, but sustaining it will require more strategic investments in local manufacturing, aggressive support for non-oil exports, and steady policy execution.

Nvidia executives have sold more than $1 billion worth of stock over the past year, including a staggering $500 million in the last month alone, according to a Financial Times report citing data from VerityData.

The bulk of the sales occurred as Nvidia’s share price crossed $150, triggering pre-arranged sales by top insiders—including CEO Jensen Huang—who are cashing in on the company’s record-breaking valuation driven by unrelenting demand for AI chips.

The sales come as Nvidia briefly reclaimed its spot as the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, eclipsing both Microsoft and Apple with a market capitalization nearing $3.77 trillion.

CEO Jensen Huang Leads the Sales

Jensen Huang, the public face of Nvidia’s AI ascendancy, has accounted for the lion’s share of the insider activity. In March 2024, Huang implemented a 10b5-1 trading plan to sell up to 6 million shares of Nvidia stock, potentially netting $900 million by the end of the year. Securities filings show that Huang recently executed sales worth roughly $15 million under this arrangement.

The CEO’s net worth now stands at approximately $138 billion, placing him 11th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. In 2023 alone, he sold over $700 million in Nvidia stock—also through pre-planned transactions—marking one of the largest insider cash-outs in the S&P 500.

Huang is not alone. Other top insiders, including board members Mark Stevens, Tench Coxe, Brooke Seawell, and executive Jay Puri, have also sold tens of millions of dollars in stock, collectively bringing the 12-month total above the $1 billion mark.

Stock Surge Fuels Sell-Off

The insider sales occurred against a backdrop of explosive gains in Nvidia’s stock, which is up more than 17% year-to-date and over 44% in the past three months alone. The surge is largely credited to the company’s dominance in AI hardware, particularly its data center GPUs, which have become foundational to generative AI models from companies like OpenAI, Meta, Google, and Amazon.

Despite geopolitical tensions and export restrictions imposed by the Biden administration on advanced AI chip shipments to China, Nvidia’s momentum has barely slowed. The company recently introduced its next-generation Blackwell AI chips, further solidifying its lead in the sector and dampening hopes from rivals like AMD, Intel, and custom chip projects by Microsoft and Google.

Nvidia Eyes Robotics as Next Trillion-Dollar Frontier

At its annual shareholder meeting in June, Huang pointed beyond AI, declaring robotics as Nvidia’s next “multitrillion-dollar opportunity.” The company reported $567 million in revenue from its automotive and robotics segment in the last quarter, up 72% year-over-year.

“Robotics is going to be the next AI-level disruption,” Huang said, noting that Nvidia’s chips are increasingly being adopted in autonomous driving, factory automation, and medical robotics applications.

Why Insider Sales Don’t Necessarily Spell Trouble

While $1 billion in insider selling may seem alarming, analysts note that these transactions are primarily governed by SEC Rule 10b5-1, which allows insiders to schedule stock sales in advance to avoid accusations of market manipulation. VerityData confirmed that most of the recent sales aligned with these legally established plans.

However, the timing of the sales—coinciding with Nvidia’s rally to historic highs—has not gone unnoticed. Some market watchers view it as a prudent financial move by executives aware of peak valuations, while others raise questions about future growth sustainability in a rapidly evolving AI race.

Market Remains Bullish

Despite the insider activity, Wall Street remains overwhelmingly bullish on Nvidia. Analysts continue to upgrade price targets, citing strong earnings, unparalleled dominance in AI infrastructure, and a growing software ecosystem including its CUDA platform and Omniverse simulation tools.

Investor confidence is also bolstered by Nvidia’s strategic role in shaping the future of AI development. The company is already a key supplier for frontier AI systems being developed by OpenAI’s GPT-5, Meta’s Llama 5, and Google’s Gemini series, with demand expected to stay red-hot for the foreseeable future.

Nvidia’s insider sales mark a financial windfall for its top brass, but they do not appear to dent investor enthusiasm for what many consider to be the most pivotal technology company of the AI era. As Nvidia expands beyond data centers into robotics, automotive, and next-gen computing, its position atop the tech world seems—at least for now—secure.

OpenAI is in damage control mode after losing a string of top researchers to rival Meta, in what is fast becoming one of the fiercest talent wars in the artificial intelligence industry.

Over the past week, Meta has hired at least eight researchers from OpenAI—including some deeply involved in its foundational AI reasoning models—prompting an unusually emotional internal response from OpenAI leadership and triggering a comprehensive review of compensation and retention strategies.

“Like Someone Broke Into Our Home”: Internal Memo Reveals Alarm

In a Slack memo obtained by Wired, OpenAI’s Chief Research Officer Mark Chen did not mince words describing what the situation feels like.

“I feel a visceral feeling right now, as if someone has broken into our home and stolen something,” Chen wrote.

The memo acknowledged the wave of high-profile exits and reassured employees that the leadership team—including CEO Sam Altman—has been working “around the clock” to stop the bleed. Chen said they were “recalibrating compensation,” and exploring “creative ways to recognize and reward top talent.”

The response came after reports that Meta had hired eight researchers from OpenAI in recent weeks, with recruitment efforts reportedly involving personal outreach from Mark Zuckerberg and offers reaching as high as $100 million—though Meta executives later said the figure had been exaggerated and mischaracterized as a simple signing bonus.

The departures are substantial in both number and profile. They include:

• Trapit Bansal, a central figure in OpenAI’s reinforcement learning and AI reasoning efforts
• Lucas Beyer, Alexander Kolesnikov, and Xiaohua Zhai, known for their work in computer vision and multimodal AI
• Four additional researchers—Shengjia Zhao, Jiahui Yu, Shuchao Bi, and Hongyu Ren—whose expertise spans foundational model training and alignment

According to The Information and WSJ, the new hires are now part of Meta’s AI Superintelligence division, an ambitious unit set up to build general-purpose reasoning models that can rival OpenAI’s own GPT line and Google’s DeepMind efforts.

Meta has made no secret of its desire to dominate the next wave of AI innovation. Since launching its Llama 4 model in April—which reportedly fell short of internal expectations—Zuckerberg has doubled down, aggressively poaching talent and even attempting to acquire startups like Safe Superintelligence, Thinking Machines, and Perplexity AI.

Meta’s goal is to match and potentially surpass OpenAI and Google by developing cutting-edge reasoning models that can power enterprise tools, consumer products, and AI agents. The newly assembled team also includes former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman. Zuckerberg is said to be personally involved in some of these recruitment conversations, reportedly offering multimillion-dollar packages that include equity, long-term performance incentives, and high autonomy.

OpenAI’s Counteroffensive: Pay, Purpose, and Retention

In the face of these high-profile losses, OpenAI is revamping its internal compensation structure. Mark Chen’s memo acknowledged that staff felt demoralized, especially during the company’s designated “recharge week.” Still, he urged employees not to let “out-of-band offers” pressure their decisions, promising fairness and transparency in forthcoming changes.

The company’s leadership team is now engaging with employees who have received external offers, while also reviewing how to retain those who remain.

Chen said: “We’re recalibrating comp, and we’re scoping out creative ways to recognize and reward top talent… But I won’t do so at the price of fairness to others.”

A Deeper Power Struggle in the AI World

This talent war is not simply about salaries—it reflects a deeper rivalry between companies vying for supremacy in what is now the world’s most important and competitive technology race.

OpenAI, known for pioneering generative AI with ChatGPT, is under pressure to maintain its lead, especially as Google, Anthropic, and now Meta all move aggressively into the same space. Meta’s hiring spree comes at a time when AI expertise is in short supply and those who can build, align, and reason with frontier models are commanding extraordinary influence—and pay.

Meanwhile, Sam Altman has accused Meta of exploiting the open-source ethos while quietly attempting to gut rival teams. In a recent podcast, he lamented: “They’re trying to poach our people with crazy offers… but none of our best people have taken them up.”

However, with eight confirmed departures and morale shaken, that claim is now under scrutiny.