DEALS
NextEra Energy to acquire Dominion, creating a utility giant
NextEra Energy, one of the largest power companies in the United States, on Monday announced plans to acquire Dominion Energy in an all-stock deal that could transform the power industry as it races to supply electricity needed to fuel the booming growth of artificial intelligence. Technology giants are vigorously building data centers to provide the computing power for AI. Peak electricity demand in coming summers and winters is expected to jump more than 20 percent nationwide through 2035, in part because of data centers. NextEra, whose shares have climbed 15 percent this year, has been looking to capitalize on what CEO John Ketchum has called “America’s golden age of power demand.” Last year, it struck deals with Google in Iowa and Meta in New Mexico. According to the terms of the deal, NextEra, which is based in Florida and has market value of about $194 billion, would exchange about eight-tenths of a share of its stock for each outstanding share of Dominion, which has a market value of $54 billion. NextEra shareholders would ultimately own about 75 percent of the combined company, and Dominion shareholders would get a $360 million cash payment when the deal closes. Including debt, the deal values Dominion at more than $120 billion. The agreement with Dominion would need approval from federal regulators. The deal also requires local approvals, including in Virginia, whose governor, Abigail Spanberger, has pledged to lower energy bills and make data centers pay more for electricity. Dominion operates retail utilities in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. It serves the largest cluster of data centers in the world, known as Data Center Alley, in Virginia. The companies said they are proposing offering $2.25 billion in bill credits to Dominion Energy’s customers in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina over two years after the deal closes. That would work out to around $562 in total for each of Dominion’s roughly 4 million customers. The combined company would serve roughly 10 million utility customers across Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. — NEW YORK TIMES
LEGAL
US prosecutors drop fraud charges against billionaire Indian businessman Gautam Adani
US prosecutors asked a judge Monday to dismiss criminal fraud and conspiracy charges against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, who had been accused of duping Wall Street investors who poured billions of dollars into a massive solar project in India. Adani, one of the world’s richest people, was accused in 2024 of paying massive bribes to ensure the project’s success. He was indicted in federal court in Brooklyn on charges of conspiracy, securities fraud, and wire fraud charges in connection with a lucrative arrangement for Adani Green Energy Ltd. and another firm to sell 12 gigawatts of solar power to the Indian government to light millions of homes and businesses. The Adani Group denied the allegations at the time, calling them baseless. “The Department of Justice has reviewed this case and has decided, in its prosecutorial discretion, not to devote further resources to these criminal charges against individual defendants,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing. The filing bore the names of Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter and Brooklyn US Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. Judge Nicholas Garaufis must still approve the request. Lawyers for Adani and his co-defendants consented to the request, prosecutors said. Adani’s lawyer, Robert Giuffra, declined to comment. Lawyers Timothy Sini and Sean Hecker, who represent Adani’s nephew and co-defendant Sagar Adani, also declined comment. Adani was never arrested in the case or brought to the US to face trial and some in India long expected the case would be shelved after President Trump last year suspended enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a US law banning business bribes overseas. The move to drop the charges comes after the Securities and Exchange Commission said it was settling a related lawsuit against Adani. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEDIA
New York Times sues Pentagon for a second time
The New York Times on Monday accused the Defense Department of violating the First Amendment by requiring journalists to have an official escort at all times when visiting the Pentagon. The suit, filed in US District Court in Washington, is the second time the newspaper has sued over the Trump administration’s restrictions on reporters who cover the military complex. The new lawsuit says the Pentagon escort policy is unconstitutional because it imposes unreasonable burdens on reporters. Journalists must, under the policy the department adopted in March, “call or email for an appointment, wait for a response, get an escort, ask their question” and then leave the building. The suit asks the court to force the Pentagon to lift the restriction. The Pentagon did not immediately return a request for comment. The Times’ case is the latest salvo in a legal battle over the Pentagon’s escalating efforts to restrict reporters who cover the military complex. Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, has repeatedly curtailed journalists’ access within the Pentagon, including an escort requirement for certain Pentagon corridors. In October, the department imposed a comprehensive set of restrictions that let the agency designate journalists as “security risks” and revoke their press passes. The Times in December sued the Pentagon on the grounds that the restrictions violated the First and Fifth Amendment rights of its journalists. In March, Judge Paul Friedman of US District Court ruled in favor of the Times, tossing out major parts of the October policy. Shortly after, the Pentagon released an “interim” policy that mandated official escorts for every visit, among other changes. The department also closed the long-standing workspace for journalists in the Pentagon. Friedman tossed out the heart of the interim policy as well, but the Pentagon asked an appeals court to allow the escort requirement to remain in place while it appealed both rulings by the judge. In April, a divided three-judge panel for the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit allowed the escort requirement to remain in place during the appeal. In its latest lawsuit, the Times said that the interim policy was “patently retaliatory” and that the escort requirement rendered the press passes of Times journalists “essentially worthless.” The point of the new suit, the complaint says, is to challenge the interim policy “on its own terms.” — NEW YORK TIMES
AIR TRAVEL
Summer travelers who relied on Spirit Airlines may struggle to find budget alternatives
Days after Spirit Airlines shut down in the middle of the night, a lawyer for the defunct budget carrier stood before a bankruptcy judge and apologized to the price-conscious customers who might struggle to find affordable flights in its absence. “We apologize most specifically to those Americans who may now be priced entirely out,” Spirit lawyer Marshall Huebner said in court, thanking all the passengers who relied on the airline during its 34-year run, many of whom, he said, “could not otherwise have afforded air travel.” Spirit’s May 2 demise is not the only curveball confronting people planning trips a week before the summer travel season has its traditional US launch on Memorial Day. Rising jet fuel costs tied to the Iran war have pushed up airfares and associated fees across the commercial aviation industry. Two of the remaining US budget carriers just finalized a merger. The uncertain outlook for economical air travel reflects how difficult it has become for low-cost, no-frills airlines to operate while squeezed by volatile fuel prices, inflation and increasingly fierce competition. While budget airlines appeal to customers motivated by fare prices alone, traditional carriers can more easily generate revenue to offset fuel costs through premium cabins, membership rewards, corporate travel programs, add-on charges, and pricing algorithms. “Dynamic pricing has taken away one of the last structural advantages that low-cost carriers had,” said Shye Gilad, a former airline captain who now teaches at Georgetown University. For decades, low-cost carriers thrived by offering fares that traditional airlines often couldn’t match without losing money. But that edge has weakened as the “big three” — American, Delta, and United — got better at tailoring prices to different travelers, and as JetBlue, Southwest, and other airlines that long positioned themselves as less expensive alternatives began chasing higher-paying customers. Today, big airlines can sell a handful of bare-bones seats at Spirit-level prices while still charging more for standard and premium tickets elsewhere on their planes. That has made it harder for budget airlines to compete solely on price. “They can’t just be the cheapest airline anymore,” Gilad said. “They have to be the smartest low-cost airline.” — ASSOCIATED PRESS