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RIYADH: Six Kings Slam is set to return this year as part of the opening week of Riyadh Season 2025 in October, with all six of the current Men’s PIF ATP-ranked players confirmed to compete.

Having recently secured his first Wimbledon title just last month, Jannik Sinner will return to Riyadh to defend his Six Kings Slam title when it gets underway, with the second edition of the tournament set to commence on Oct. 15 and the final being staged on Oct. 18.

ANB Arena will play host once again, where last October the World No. 1 came from a set down in a thrilling encounter to overcome five-time Grand Slam winner Carlos Alcaraz 6-7, 6-3, 6-3, and win the inaugural tournament.

The current top two players in the world, both confirmed to play in ��������’s capital again this year, have since won all three of this year’s Grand Slams between them so far, with Sinner taking the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles and Alcaraz claiming victory at Roland Garros.

Last October’s Six Kings Slam was also memorable for staging the match of the great sporting rivalry between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal before the Spaniard’s retirement, with Djokovic triumphing in their third-place match 6-2, 7-6.

The record 24-time men’s singles Grand Slam champion Djokovic, currently ranked No. 6 in the world, will return this year as he bids to claim his first Six Kings Slam trophy, while making their first appearances at the Riyadh showpiece this year will be three-time Grand Slam finalist Alexander Zverev, 2024 US Open finalist Taylor Fritz and Great Britain’s World No. 5 Jack Draper.

Full lineup based on PIF ATP Ranking order:
1. Jannik Sinner
2. Carlos Alcaraz
3. Alexander Zverev
4. Taylor Fritz
5. Jack Draper
6. Novak Djokovic

FRANKFURT: Investor concerns that Bayer’s earnings were inflated by soccer player transfer fees rather than supported by its core health care and agriculture businesses helped send its shares plummeting nearly 5 percent to a one-month low on Wednesday.

The German maker of pharmaceuticals and crop protection products reported in unscheduled preliminary results last week that second-quarter operating income, adjusted for some items, came in at a better-than-expected 2.1 billion euros ($2.43 billion).

In a more detailed disclosure on Wednesday, however, it said those results included higher revenue from its German Bundesliga team Bayer Leverkusen resulting from player transfers.

Bayer shares were down 4.7 percent at 0958 GMT.

Fresh details in Wednesday’s disclosure indicating that Bayer’s performance was also more the result of established blood thinner Xarelto than newer drugs with longer patent protection contributed to the stock selloff as well.

“The detail of the beat being somewhat related to Xarelto and the sale of a footballer could be disappointing to some,” JPMorgan analysts said in a note.

British media reported in June that Premier League champions Liverpool had agreed a fee of 136.3 million euros to sign Bayer Leverkusen attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz.

Bayer’s finance chief Wolfgang Nickl, however, would not provide details on the transfer earnings on Wednesday.

“If we have these transfers, we need to compare the book value with the prices that we get, and that can lead to an extraordinary result on several players, and that was just recorded last quarter,” he said during a call with journalists.

JOB CUTS, ROUNDUP PROVISIONS
Bayer also said it has now cut around 12,000 full-time positions since the start of a restructuring program aimed at speeding up decision-making and reducing managerial and administrative positions.

A previous tally for jobs slashed in 2024 was at 7,000.

The total number of global employees at the end of June stood at close to 90,000 when counted in full-time equivalents, according to its quarterly report.

Bayer, which is burdened by US lawsuits claiming its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer, has said it is holding off on breaking up the diversified group even as some investors call for a sale of the consumer health unit or separate stock market listing for its crop science division.

It reiterated that it would have to stop US production of key Roundup ingredient glyphosate unless lawmakers, courts or regulators help it further stave off the costly litigation.

Bayer said last week it had added 1.2 billion euros to its provisions for the Roundup litigation.

Total Roundup litigation provisions totalled $7.4 billion, or 6.3 billion euros, it said on Wednesday.