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CD Projekt Shares Slump After It Says ‘Witcher IV’ Won’t Come Out in 2026 

A bird flies in front of the CD Projekt logo at its headquarters in Warsaw, Poland January 21, 2020. Picture taken January 21, 2020. (Reuters) 
A bird flies in front of the CD Projekt logo at its headquarters in Warsaw, Poland January 21, 2020. Picture taken January 21, 2020. (Reuters) 
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CD Projekt Shares Slump After It Says ‘Witcher IV’ Won’t Come Out in 2026 

A bird flies in front of the CD Projekt logo at its headquarters in Warsaw, Poland January 21, 2020. Picture taken January 21, 2020. (Reuters) 
A bird flies in front of the CD Projekt logo at its headquarters in Warsaw, Poland January 21, 2020. Picture taken January 21, 2020. (Reuters) 

Shares of CD Projekt fell nearly 13% in early trading on Wednesday after the game developer said the premiere of "Witcher IV" was scheduled for after 2026, fueling fears of an even longer wait for the new instalment in the blockbuster series.

Analysts had previously said they expected the game to debut anywhere between 2026 and 2028.

"The Witcher IV", developed under code name Polaris, is the first instalment in a new trilogy expanding the universe of CD Projekt's blockbuster medieval fantasy franchise that has sold more than 75 million copies to date.

Finance chief Piotr Nielubowicz said the video game maker would not announce a precise launch date yet, but indicated the post-2026 timeframe "to give more visibility to investors".

The confirmation that the game will not be released before 2027 is "not a big surprise", analyst Grzegorz Balcerski from Trigon said in a note, adding the brokerage's previous forecast assumed a premiere in the second quarter of 2027.

Shifting expectations for the premiere beyond 2026 may also raise speculation that the game might debut even after 2027, considering postponements of new releases are common in the industry, Balcerski added.

"Lack of management confidence to commit to 2027 should also disappoint, even though we believe that the actuary assumptions used in the annual report suggest that this is currently the internal base case," JPMorgan analysts said in a note.

The stock was down 11% as of 0940 GMT, on track for its biggest one-day drop in two years and the worst performer on Europe's benchmark STOXX 600 index.

Up to Tuesday's close, it was up 20% since the beginning of 2025.

CD Projekt said in November that "Witcher IV" had entered full-scale production. The company's joint CEO Michal Nowakowski said at the time that it typically takes five to six years to develop a big ticket AAA game from the time early ideas are first discussed.

It had announced the works on the new "Witcher" saga back in March 2022.

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Technology

Musk’s Social Media Firm X Bought by His AI Company, Valued at $33 Billion

xAI and X logos are seen in this illustration taken, March 28, 2025. (Reuters)
xAI and X logos are seen in this illustration taken, March 28, 2025. (Reuters)
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Musk’s Social Media Firm X Bought by His AI Company, Valued at $33 Billion

xAI and X logos are seen in this illustration taken, March 28, 2025. (Reuters)
xAI and X logos are seen in this illustration taken, March 28, 2025. (Reuters)

Elon Musk's xAI has acquired X in a deal that values the social media platform at $33 billion and allows the value of his artificial intelligence firm to be shared with his co-investors in the company formerly known as Twitter.

The deal could also help xAI's ability to train its chatbot known as Grok.

"xAI and X's futures are intertwined," Musk, who also heads automaker Tesla and SpaceX, wrote in a post on X: "Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent."

He said the combination values "xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion ($45B less $12B debt)".

Representatives for X and xAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Much of the deal's specifics remain unclear, such as how X's leaders would be integrated in the new firm or whether there would be regulatory scrutiny.

Musk, the world's wealthiest man, is also a close ally of US President Donald Trump and heads the Department of Government Efficiency.

D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria said the price tag for X of $45 billion when debt was included was not a coincidence. "It is $1 billion higher than the take-private transaction for Twitter in 2022."

An investor in xAI who declined to be identified said they were not surprised by the deal, viewing it as Musk consolidating his leadership and management at his own companies.

Musk did not ask investors for approval but told them that the two companies had been collaborating closely and the deal would drive deeper integration with Grok, the investor said.

OPENAI RIVALRY

Musk's xAI startup was launched less than two years ago and recently raised $10 billion in a funding round that valued the company at $75 billion, according to a media report.

It competes with the likes of Microsoft-backed OpenAI as well as with Chinese startup DeepSeek.

In February, Musk, 53, made a $97.4 billion bid with a consortium for OpenAI, which was rejected and he has sued to prevent the ChatGPT maker from converting from a non-profit to a for-profit business. A judge this month denied Musk's request for a preliminary injunction that would prevent the changeover.

As competition in AI intensifies, xAI has been ramping up its data center capacity to train more advanced models, and its supercomputer cluster in Memphis, Tennessee, called "Colossus," is touted as the largest in the world.

xAI introduced Grok-3, the latest iteration of its chatbot, in February.

The X platform could serve to further distribute xAI products, while also providing a real-time feed of users' musings, screenshots and other data.

After buying Twitter, Musk gutted the company's workforce, prompting advertisers to flee the platform and a rapid decline in revenue. Recently, brands have been returning to X as Musk's influence in the Trump administration grows.

The seven banks that extended $13 billion in loans to Musk to buy X kept the debt on their books for two years until they were able to sell it all at once last month, according to a source familiar with the transactions.

This was made possible after a surge in investor interest for exposure to AI companies along with X's improved operating performance over the previous two quarters, among other factors, according to two people familiar with the matter.

After the merger, investors who bought the debt from the banks will profit, said Espen Robak, founder of Pluris Valuation Advisors, which specializes in illiquid assets. "For sure the debt is worth more now, if not fully paid off."

Separately, a US judge on Friday rejected a bid by Musk to dismiss a lawsuit claiming he had defrauded former Twitter shareholders by waiting too long to disclose his initial investment in the company.