Atlassian’s largest-ever $1.5b deal to boost AI developer tools

Good morning. Here's what happened overnight and what you need to know today.

1.

AI outlays: Atlassian will buy US software provider DX in a USD1 billion ($1.5 billion) deal to incorporate its developer productivity tools, bolstering its AI offering. The cash and restricted stock deal is the largest made by Atlassian to date, and follows the company’s purchase of The Browser Company for approximately USD610 million earlier this month. DX is a five-year-old developer intelligence platform designed to help companies better understand their software development lifecycle. DX’s offerings would fit naturally alongside Atlassian’s suite of products including Jira and Confluence, which are also designed to assist software developers. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of Atlassian’s fiscal year 2026. Atlassian CTO Rajeev Rajan told the AFR that the company saw a faster path to market by acquiring DX rather than building the capability itself and that a huge portion of DX’s existing customers were also Atlassian clients, presenting an obvious cross-selling opportunity. (Atlassian DX)(Atlassian blog)(Mike Cannon-Brookes) (Capital Brief)(AFR)

2.

AI frenemies?: Shares in Intel surged over 22% on news that Nvidia will invest USD5 billion ($7.5 billion) in its US rival, with the companies agreeing to co-develop chips for PCs and data centres. Nvidia shares rose 3.49%. Nvidia will invest USD5 billion in Intel’s common stock at a price of USD23.28 per share, subject to closing conditions and approvals, marking a 6.5% discount to Intel’s closing price on Wednesday. The companies said that Intel will use Nvidia’s graphics technology for its data centre products that are built around Nvidia hardware. The deal pushes the US Government’s 10% stake in Intel to around USD14 billion, per Bloomberg. Meanwhile, Huawei broke its silence to reveal its long term plans to compete with Nvidia, pushing China toward semiconductor self-reliance. (Capital Brief)(Nvidia Intel)(Bloomberg)(Huawei)(Reuters)

3.

Staking claim: Stake co-founder Matt Leibowitz will return to lead the Sydney-based investing platform less than two years after stepping down as chief executive. Capital Brief can reveal that Leibowitz will replace Jon Howie, who was hired as his successor in January last year. “Stake believes the time is right for its founder to step back in and unleash Stake’s potential and impact even further,” the company said. Since relinquishing his CEO duties, Leibowitz remained an active adviser to Howie as executive director and part of the board. Howie, who joined Stake as chief commercial officer in 2023 after stints at BlackRock, Macquarie Bank and GI Partners, is set to leave the company. Established by Leibowitz and co-founder Dan Silver in 2017, Stake emerged as one of the largest online broking services in Australia. (Capital Brief)

4.

Penalties push: Investor groups criticised the Albanese government’s 62% to 70% by 2035 emissions target as too broad, amid calls for an expanded safeguard mechanism to capture a greater share of industry. Investor Group on Climate Change policy analyst Frankie Muskovic told Capital Brief that while the government viewed its target as “ambitious and achievable”, she doubted its current energy efficiency and electrification policies would be enough to reach the upper end of the range. "Australia should work towards an economy-wide carbon price and a lowering of the safeguard mechanism emissions threshold [the tonnes of emissions that companies can collectively emit] to 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, down from the current 120,000,” she said. Lowering the threshold would effectively extend carbon pricing across more of the economy, including sectors with more diffuse emissions such as heavy trucking, which currently lacks incentives to reduce emissions as fuel efficiency standards only apply to passenger vehicles. (Capital Brie)

5.

Media heeled: The Trump administration escalated efforts to crack down on political speech it deems objectionable in the aftermath of the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, with President Donald Trump suggesting that US broadcast networks should face scrutiny over their licences if their content is overwhelmingly critical of him. FCC Chair Brendan Carr said ABC could face consequences for remarks made by Jimmy Kimmel about the killing, calling them “an intentional effort to mislead the American people.” After Carr’s warning, two major owners of ABC affiliates — Nexstar (which is seeking FCC approval for a USD6.2 billion merger) and Sinclair (a conservative-leaning broadcaster) — said they would stop airing Jimmy Kimmel Live! Hours later, ABC suspended the show indefinitely. Trump celebrated the suspension, urging NBC to cancel other late-night hosts including Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers. Prominent Democrats including Barack Obama condemned the suspension as the result of government coercion, with Obama warning of “a new and dangerous level” of pressure against media companies. The Writers Guild of America and PEN America called it an unconstitutional attack on satire and dissent. (WSJ)(Bloomberg)(Politico)(Donald Trump)(NYT)

6.

State lines: Trump told UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to “call out the military” to stop illegal migration to Britain, during a joint news conference at Chequers marking the end of the US president’s second state visit. "You have people coming in and I told the prime minister I would stop it, and it doesn't matter if you call out the military, it doesn't matter what means you use," Trump said. Starmer said the government was already taking action on illegal immigration. The leaders also disagreed on Starmer’s plan to imminently recognise a Palestinian state, which Trump described as “one of our few disagreements.” He criticised wind power (championed by Starmer) as “a very expensive joke” and urged the UK PM to maximise exploitation of North Sea oil. Starmer said the state visit had secured GBP150 billion in promised investment from US companies, including Blackstone, which would create 7,600 jobs across the UK. Trump said Vladimir Putin had “really let me down” but did not say how he would pressure the Kremlin to end the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed sources, that the European Commission is considering a provision in its new sanctions package to phase out imports of Russian liquefied natural gas earlier than 2027. Elsewhere, the Trump administration outlined a new global health aid strategy that will bypass nongovernmental organisations and prioritise direct agreements with governments in the Western Hemisphere and Asia Pacific. (FT)(NYT)(Bloomberg)

7.

Fed fight: Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court to let him fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook while she challenges his attempt to remove her, drawing the justices into a high-profile legal fight with major implications for central bank independence. The Justice Department submitted an emergency request on Thursday (Friday AEST), after a federal appeals court on Monday upheld a lower court’s decision allowing Cook to remain in her post. The Trump administration accuses Cook of falsely listing two homes as “primary residences” in 2021 mortgage documents, before she joined the Fed in 2022. Cook denies wrongdoing and has not been charged. A US District Court judge ruled the allegations didn’t meet the legal standard to remove a governor “for cause” and found Cook likely to win her claim. That ruling kept her in place for the Fed’s September meeting this week, where she voted with the majority for a 25 basis point rate cut that Trump had pushed to be deeper. (Capital Brief)(AP)(Bloomberg)

8.

Triple dipping: The US Federal Trade Commission and seven states sued ticketing giant Ticketmaster and parent company Live Nation, accusing them of “tacitly coordinating with brokers” to allow large-scale resales that have cost fans millions. Filed in California federal court, the suit alleges the companies failed to enforce ticket limits, allowed bots to unlawfully buy tickets, and profited by charging fees on both primary and secondary sales. The FTC said Ticketmaster can “triple dip” on fees and collected USD3.7 billion ($5.6 billion) in resale fees and USD11 billion in total fees between 2019 and 2024. The complaint also alleges “bait-and-switch pricing” and violations of the FTC Act and the Better Online Ticket Sales Act. Ticketmaster controls about 80% of primary ticketing for major venues. A 2024 DOJ lawsuit also seeks to break up the companies. Ticketmaster and Live Nation have not commented. (Capital Brief)(US FTC)(FTC complaint)(Bloomberg)(Reuters)