Good morning and welcome to Markets Desk, your midday read on the stories moving markets right now.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella took home a record ninety-six point five million dollar pay package last fiscal year, with the bulk tied to equity and performance metrics linked directly to the company's artificial intelligence buildout. That structure matters to shareholders because it means Nadella's personal wealth rises and falls with execution, not just tenure.
Shifting to reinsurance, Hannover Re posted stronger first-half profit in two thousand twenty-six even as gross reinsurance revenue slipped year over year. The German giant is holding its full-year outlook steady, suggesting management sees the revenue softness as transient rather than structural, and the market will be watching whether pricing discipline holds through the back half.
And in biotech deal flow, RTW Biotech's private portfolio company Avere Therapeutics has agreed to merge with NextCure in an all-stock transaction. NextCure trades on Nasdaq under the ticker NXTC, and the all-stock structure tells you both sides are betting on combined pipeline value rather than cashing out at current prices.
That's the tape. Markets Desk, signing off the floor.
