TURIN, Italy (AP) — Juventus’ owners publicly rejected a buyout offer from a cryptocurrency firm on Saturday — ensuring that the most successful club in Serie A history will remain controlled by the Agnelli family.
Tether, the cryptocurrency firm, made an offer worth about 1 billion euros (nearly $1.2 billion) for the Agnelli family's majority shares in the record 36-time Italian champion.
“Juventus, our history and our values are not for sale,” said John Elkann, chief executive of Exor, the Agnelli family’s holding company, in a video message posted on Juventus’ website.
“Juve has been part of my family for 102 years,” Elkann added. “Over the course of a century, four generations have emboldened it, made it strong, taken care of it in tough times, and celebrated it in the many festive moments.
“We continue to support our squad and are looking toward the future in order to build a winning Juve,” added Elkann, the grandson of Fiat tycoon Giovanni “Gianni” Agnelli.
Juventus has not won Serie A since taking nine straight titles between 2012 and 2020. The Turin club fired Igor Tudor and hired Luciano Spalletti last month after a difficult start to the season.
Former Juventus president Andrea Agnelli and the club's entire board of directors resigned in 2022 amid a false accounting inquiry.
Several of Italy’s other major clubs — AC Milan, Inter Milan, Roma — are owned by foreign investment firms. Juventus and defending Serie A champion Napoli, which is owned by Italian film producer Aurelio De Laurentiis, are the main holdouts.
“Exor reaffirms its previous, consistent statements that it has no intention of selling any of its shares in Juventus to a third party, including but not restricted to El Salvador-based Tether,” Exor said in a statement.
“Juventus is a storied and successful club, of which Exor and the Agnelli family are the stable and proud shareholders for over a century, and they remain fully committed to the club, supporting its new management team in the execution of a clear strategy to deliver strong results both on and off the field.”
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uventus's Weston McKennie celebrates after scoring the opening goal during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Juventus and Pafos in Turin, Italy, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)
Juventus's Mattia Perin celebrates with teammates after scoring their side's second goal of the game during the Italian Serie A soccer match between Juventus and Cagliari in Torino, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse via AP)
The economy, inflation and how those forces could impact the lives of Americans were front and center over the past week. Trips to the grocery store or gas station are more painful than they were last year, and that is impacting the decisions of both households and businesses.
Here’s a snapshot of prominent economic data and news that occurred over the past week and what it potentially means for you.
The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate climbed this week to its highest level in nearly nine months, driving up borrowing costs for homebuyers during what’s traditionally the housing market’s busiest time of the year.
The benchmark 30-year fixed rate mortgage rate rose to 6.51% from 6.36% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. Despite the sharp increase, the average rate remains below 6.86%, where it was a year ago.
Rates have been mostly trending higher since the war with Iran began. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has roiled energy markets, sending crude oil prices sharply higher — a key driver of inflation.
Expectations of higher oil prices and worries about big and growing debts for the U.S. government and others have pushed up long-term bond yields, causing mortgage rates to head higher.
U.S. retailers have spent months navigating an uncertain economic environment, from President Donald Trump’s tariffs to the impact of soaring gasoline prices due to the Iran war. The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline rose again this week, ending at about $4.55 per gallon on Friday, according to AAA. Gasoline prices are about 45% above where they were at this time last year.
Based on quarterly financial reports from Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowe’s and TJX, shoppers are cautious but still spending, helped by more generous tax refunds. Yet there is a widespread belief among economists that once those refunds dry up, shoppers will pull back on spending. Consumer spending is the dominant economic engine for the U.S., and retreat would have broad implications for the U.S.
Walmart issued a forecast for the current quarter on Thursday that was weaker than what Wall Street had been expecting. Target raised its annual revenue outlook on Wednesday, saying it expected momentum to continue the rest of the year. Yet the upgraded sales expectations were still below the pace of the first quarter.
Fewer Americans filed for jobless aid last week as layoffs remain low despite a number of uncertainties that continue to cloud the economy.
U.S. applications for unemployment benefits for the week ending May 16 fell by 3,000 to 209,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. That’s fewer than the 213,000 new applications analysts surveyed by the data firm FactSet had forecast.
Weekly filings for unemployment benefits are considered a proxy for U.S. layoffs and are close to a real-time indicator of the health of the job market.
Despite historically low layoffs, the labor market appears to be stuck in what economists call a “low-hire, low-fire” state. That’s kept the unemployment rate low at 4.3%, but left many of those out of work struggling to find new employment.
The split between Wall Street and most U.S. households grew even wider Friday, as U.S. stocks rose toward the finish of an eighth straight winning week, their longest such streak since 2023. That’s even though a survey showed on the same day that U.S. consumers are feeling worse about the economy.
Shares of Workday and Zoom Communications rose after both delivered better profit reports for the latest quarter than analysts expected.
They’re the latest companies to top analysts’ expectations for profits for the start of 2026. And the cavalcade of such reports has helped U.S. stocks remain near their records. Stock prices tend to follow the path of corporate profits over the long term.
A hiring sign is displayed at a restaurant in Niles, Ill., Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Drones operated by Zipline leave base to make deliveries from a Walmart store in Pea Ridge, Ark., Friday, Sept. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Options trader Anthony Spina works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader Robert Arciero works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, May 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
