CNBC

This report is from this week's CNBC's UK Exchange newsletter. Like what you see? You can subscribe here. It is just over three years since Wael Sawan succeeded Ben van Beurden as chief executive of Shell. While there has been much background noise, not least about a possible takeover bid for BP, a less remarked-upon aspect of Sawan's time at the helm to date is just how often the oil major has beaten expectations on results day.

UBS reported its fourth quarter results on Wednesday, with net profits beating analysts' forecasts. The Swiss banking giant's fourth-quarter results statement showed net profit attributable to shareholders came in at $1.2 billion in the final three months of the year. That was up on analysts' estimated $919 million, and was a decrease from the previous quarter's net profit of $2.5 billion. Overall, its group revenues were $12.1 billion for the final quarter of the year, which was in line with the $12.1 billion forecast by analysts. It was also down from $12.8 billion in the previous quarter, and up from $11.6 billion for the same period a year ago.

Wall Street's fears around artificial intelligence-driven disruption affecting software companies made their way into Asia on Wednesday, with tech stocks in the region tracking declines overnight in U.S. peers. Japanese software firms in Asia led declines in the region. TIS, a major Japanese information technology services provider and systems integrator, plunged over 15%. Trend Micro lost over 8%, while NS Solutions declined nearly 7%. Shares of IT companies in India also dropped, with the the Nifty IT index down nearly 6%. Major IT firms Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys dropped 5.8% and 6.2%, respectively.

Nintendo shares plunged more than 10% on Wednesday as the gaming giant faces headwinds from an unprecedented memory shortage, and missed market estimates for quarterly revenue on Tuesday. The company beat profit estimates though, clocking a 24% jump year on year, bolstered by sales of its Nintendo Switch — now the company's best selling console ever following its release in 2017. Revenue rose 86%. Nintendo is facing several headwinds this year, including a shortage in memory chips — a key component in Nintendo's consoles — that has resulted in surging prices.

Pfizer on Tuesday said its experimental obesity drug, which it acquired through Metsera, drove solid weight loss when taken once a month in a mid-stage trial. Patients with obesity or who are overweight lost up to 12.3% of their weight compared with placebo at week 28 in the ongoing phase two study. The injection’s weight loss was up to 10.5% when analyzing all patients regardless of discontinuations. Read more on how Pfizer is trying to enter the weight-loss drug market: cnb.cx/45OUacG

Advanced Micro Devices reported fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday after the bell. The chipmaker beat Wall Street's revenue and profit estimates, but shares plunged more than 8% in extended trading because its guidance came up short of some expectations. AMD's main rival, Nvidia, is facing difficulties of its own. CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC's Jim Cramer on Tuesday that there's "no drama involved" between the company and OpenAI. "Everything's on track," he added. Huang was referring to Nvidia's $100 billion investment in OpenAI, struck in September, which is "on ice," reported The Wall Street Journal on Saturday. Nvidia shares fell more than 3.4% on Tuesday.

Pinterest CEO Bill Ready rebuked staffers who created an internal tool to track layoffs at the company, and fired those involved. "Healthy debate and dissent are expected, that's how we make our decisions," Ready said at a companywide meeting last week, according to audio obtained by CNBC. "But there's a clear line between constructive debate and behavior that's obstructionist." Pinterest announced on Jan. 27 that it would lay off less than 15% of its workforce and cut back on office space as part of a broader restructuring aimed at directing resources toward artificial intelligence projects. The company said it expects the layoffs will be complete by the end of September.

Elon Musk's move to combine SpaceX with his cash-burning artificial intelligence venture xAI signals a changing of the guard within his corporate empire. Tesla has been the source of Musk's liquid wealth, and much of his fame. But following Monday's merger, Tesla's market cap of about $1.58 trillion is only 26% higher than SpaceX's stated private market valuation of $1.25 trillion. Musk owns an estimated stake of 43% in SpaceX, compared to his 13% ownership of Tesla. That means SpaceX represents more than half of Musk's paper wealth, which has ballooned past $852 billion, according to the Forbes Real Time Billionaires index.

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OpenAI and Nvidia, the two companies at the center of the AI boom, have yet to make progress on a $100 billion agreement from September.