PRESS DIGEST-Financial Times - February 18

The following are the top stories in the Financial Times. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Headlines

- Reform UK pledges to keep fiscal watchdog if it wins power

- Berkshire Hathaway energy unit sells power assets in rare disposal

- CBS turmoil deepens as Cooper quits, and Colbert defies lawyers

- Nvidia secures multibillion-dollar Meta deal as it battles chip rivals

Overview

- Reform UK will keep Britain’s fiscal watchdog and maintain the Bank of England’s independence if it wins power, the party’s new “shadow chancellor” will say on Wednesday, in a push to calm City of London nerves.

- Berkshire Hathaway BRKa.N on Tuesday took the rare step of offloading part of its utility business, selling nearly $2 billion of power assets in Washington state after wildfires caused billions of dollars in damages.

- Paramount Skydance's PSKY.O CBS is facing fresh turmoil after anchor Anderson Cooper announced his exit and host Stephen Colbert said the network stopped him from airing an interview with a Democratic politician amid concerns about political repercussions.

- Meta META.O has agreed to spend billions of dollars on millions of Nvidia’s NVDA.O chips in a multiyear deal, as the world’s biggest chips group tries to maintain its dominance of the market for AI data centre hardware.