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Business news from Australia and around the world: companies, deals, earnings, regulation and the people running them.

1818 articles · page 29 of 38

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Business

Paramount-WBD Merger Settlement Faces Judicial Scrutiny as Advocacy Groups Condemn Conditions

A coalition of free speech and media advocacy groups has urged a federal judge to reject a California-brokered settlement that would allow Paramount to finalize its $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, arguing the deal's conditions offer the public “virtually nothing.” The filing comes ahead of a decision by U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, who previously ruled the combination would substantially reduce competition.

Business

Manchester City found guilty of almost all 115 financial charges in historic Premier League ruling

English football giant Manchester City has been found guilty of arranging 'sham' contracts as part of financial breaches that have become the biggest scandal in Premier League history. An independent panel found City guilty of almost all 115 unprecedented charges against it, covering a nine-year period during which the Abu Dhabi-backed team transformed into a global superpower. The Premier League said it will decide sanctions in a separate hearing, with punishments ranging from a hefty points deduction to expulsion from the league.

· 12 sources
Business

Manchester City Found Guilty of 114 Premier League Financial Breaches, Reports Say

Manchester City have been found guilty of 114 of 115 charges of breaching Premier League financial rules, according to multiple reports, a landmark ruling that could lead to penalties ranging from fines and points deductions to expulsion from England's top flight. The punishment has yet to be determined, and the club — which has consistently denied wrongdoing — is expected to appeal.

· 2 sources
Business

Waymo scales robotaxi fleet to 4,000 vehicles, but growth concentrated in two states

Waymo, the Alphabet-owned autonomous vehicle company, now operates roughly 4,000 robotaxis across 15 U.S. cities and averages 500,000 paid rides per week, according to fleet data. However, about 80% of its vehicles are concentrated in California and Texas, with the majority of recent growth driven by a new Chinese-built minivan called the Ojai — a modified Zeekr RT that carries tariffs that are raising costs.

Startups

Databricks Acquires Spreadsheet Startup Row Zero, Signals Aggressive Acquisition Strategy

Databricks announced on Thursday it has acquired Row Zero, an early-stage startup building cloud-based spreadsheets capable of handling over 1 million live rows, as part of a broader push to merge business intelligence, AI agents, and the familiar spreadsheet interface. Terms were not disclosed, but CEO Ali Ghodsi told TechCrunch the company intends to do many more such deals in the future.

· 2 sources
Business

Birmingham City Council Faces Three More Years Without Clean Audit as Oracle Hangover Persists

Europe's largest local authority, Birmingham City Council, will go at least another three financial years without auditors being able to certify its accounts, despite finally reimplementing its Oracle Fusion system, according to a report from auditor Grant Thornton. The council will receive 'disclaimer opinions' for the 2025/26, 2026/27, and 2027/28 financial years due to ongoing problems with historic data, and is not expected to regain a clean audit until 2028/29 — roughly a decade after the Oracle programme began.

Business

ASML sold 'absolutely nothing' in Europe in 2026, calls for EU to boost chip demand

ASML, the world’s only supplier of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems and Europe’s largest company by market capitalisation, has reported that it earned nothing from sales in Europe during the first two quarters of 2026. The company is urging EU authorities to help aggregate and guarantee demand for locally produced chips, arguing that subsidies alone have failed to attract semiconductor manufacturing to the continent.

Business

Vistry slashes profit forecasts as losses balloon, new CEO unveils turnaround plan

Vistry Group, one of Britain's largest housebuilders, has slashed its annual profit expectations after half-year losses ballooned, as the company grapples with a £600m pile of unsold homes. New chief executive Adam Daniel has outlined a turnaround plan that includes pulling out of private sales in south-east England and reducing operations to focus on building 12,000 homes a year, with job losses expected as part of a further cost-cutting drive.

Business

Collapsed caravan manufacturer Australian Off Road referred to ASIC

Administrators for collapsed Queensland caravan manufacturer Australian Off Road (AOR) have referred the company's conduct to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) as details of a $9 million debt were laid bare at the first creditors meeting. The Sunshine Coast company, which shut its doors earlier this month after 26 years in business, owes nearly 50 customers $2.25 million in progress payments for unfinished caravans, while about 70 employees are owed $2.16 million in unpaid wages, superannuation and leave.

· 2 sources
Startups

Enveda raises $311M to push AI-discovered natural drugs into clinical trials

Enveda, a biotech startup using AI to find new medicines in plants and microbes, has raised $311 million in a Series E round at a $2 billion valuation. The funding, led by Catalio Capital Management with participation from Iconiq and others, doubles the valuation the company achieved 12 months ago and will support its push to bring nature-derived, AI-discovered drug candidates into human trials.

· 3 sources
Startups

Modal Motors aims to break China's grip on electric motors by ditching rare-earth magnets

As the push to reshore critical manufacturing accelerates, startup Modal Motors is taking a different approach: building electric motors that don't rely on rare-earth magnets at all. Founder Michael Van Steenburg, who will pitch the company at TechCrunch Disrupt next month as part of the Startup Battlefield 200, argues that current reshoring efforts are doomed until a domestic rare-earth supply chain matures — something he says is years away.

· 2 sources
Business

Zoox Grounds Atlanta Test Fleet After Workers Report Toxic Gas Exposure

Zoox has grounded its autonomous vehicle test fleet in Atlanta after safety drivers were potentially exposed to gases including carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, or hydrogen sulfide inside its vehicles last month, TechCrunch has learned. As many as 40 workers may have been exposed according to an OSHA letter, though Zoox says the number is lower. The company has since quarantined test vehicles and is adding CO₂ monitors, while OSHA has closed its inquiry.

Startups

PitPro’s Tire-Changing Robot Goes Live in Calgary, Aiming to Fix Auto Shop Labor Woes

San Francisco-based PitPro Automation has installed its first automatic tire-changing system at a Kal Tire shop in Calgary, Alberta, marking the commercial debut of a robot it says can swap a full set of four tires in under 15 minutes. The startup, co-founded by CEO Jeremy Conrad, hopes the deployment will prove its technology can ease a chronic labor shortage that makes tire service “backbreaking” work — a problem one shop manager told Conrad had already driven employees to a neighboring Panda Express.

· 2 sources
Business

ByteDance accessed Nvidia B200 AI chips via Norway data center, exploiting US export control loopholes

UK-based neocloud provider Nscale has revealed that a subsidiary of ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, accessed over 2,000 Nvidia B200 AI accelerators through its data center in Glomfjord, Norway, according to documents filed for Nscale's initial public offering. The deal, which was reportedly legal and exploited gaps in US export controls, exposes Nscale to regulatory and reputational risk as Washington continues to tighten restrictions on Chinese access to advanced chips.

Business

Dolly Parton's estate files restraining order against nephew over alleged threats to 'ruin' her empire

The estate of Dolly Parton has asked a Nashville court for a temporary restraining order against her nephew, accusing him of an escalating campaign of threats and intimidation aimed at destroying the late singer's brand and business empire. The filing, made by Parton's management company She's Alive, reveals for the first time the depth of a family feud that erupted shortly before her death from cancer last month.

· 4 sources
Business

AI data centre funding surges to record $35 billion, RBA warns of inflationary pressure

Australian data centre operators have raised at least $35 billion in funding so far this year, a record driven by surging demand for AI infrastructure, according to a new Reserve Bank staff note. The figure marks a 46 per cent increase on the $24 billion raised in all of 2025, but the RBA warns the construction boom is adding to inflationary pressures in an already stretched economy.

· 2 sources