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Business news from Australia and around the world: companies, deals, earnings, regulation and the people running them.
1818 articles · page 30 of 38
Billionaire industrialist Sir Jim Ratcliffe is pausing production at three chemical plants in Hull, blaming the UK's 'ridiculously high' gas prices for making the sites uncompetitive in the global market.
· 2 sourcesMicrosoft is consolidating its racing game development by merging Playground Games and Turn 10 Studios into a single unit, as part of a broader restructuring of Xbox. The combined studio will work on the Forza Horizon and Fable franchises.
Microsoft has laid off approximately 268 Xbox employees, targeting Halo Studios, other first-party studios, and the central management layer. The cuts are part of a broader restructuring of its gaming business that already saw 1,600 jobs eliminated in July, and bring the company closer to a previously announced target of 3,200 roles cut over its 2027 financial year. According to a report from The Verge, the job reductions may also involve the closure of developer Ninja Theory.
· 3 sourcesMicrosoft is announcing a major restructuring of its Xbox gaming division, handing control of the Halo, Sea of Thieves, and Age of Empires franchises to Activision while laying off approximately 268 employees. Halo Studios will continue supporting existing titles, but the next flagship Halo installment will be developed by Activision. The changes follow earlier layoffs of 1,600 Xbox employees and the sale of several studios earlier this year.
· 2 sourcesAustralian shares are poised to open higher after Wall Street rallied overnight, buoyed by a pullback in oil prices and bond yields that had spiked last week. The positive momentum comes as a major $154 billion media merger between Paramount and Warner Bros cleared a significant regulatory roadblock, adding to investor optimism.
· 3 sourcesTreasurer Jim Chalmers has revealed that surging bond yields will punch a multibillion-dollar hole in the government's finances when the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) is released in December, warning the blowout in debt servicing costs will be the most problematic influence on the budget update.
· 2 sourcesAnalyst firm Gartner predicts that by 2029, 55 percent of enterprises will begin proofs of concept for alternative hybrid cloud platforms to replace their VMware-based deployments, up from 25 percent in 2026, according to its newly released Magic Quadrant for Distributed Hybrid Infrastructure. The forecast comes as Broadcom-owned VMware continues to face customer backlash over pricing, contract flexibility, and support delays, yet still ranks as a leader in both virtualisation and hybrid cloud markets.
The UK government borrowed £18.3 billion in August, a higher-than-expected figure that increased pressure on Chancellor John Healey as he seeks to calm jittery bond markets before next month's budget, according to official figures released Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics.
· 2 sourcesAMD’s market capitalization briefly crossed $1 trillion on Monday, a historic milestone that cements the perpetual underdog as a legitimate rival to Nvidia in the AI computing boom — though it remains far behind the world’s most valuable company, and only modestly ahead of long-time rival Intel.
A federal judge on Monday refused to block the Trump administration from transferring more than 700 acres of wildlife refuge land to Elon Musk's SpaceX as part of a land swap in Texas, ruling that environmental groups failed to show the exchange would worsen ecological risks to the Gulf coast region.
Isis Central Sugar Mill, Australia's last grower-owned sugar mill, is seeking a multi-million-dollar loan from the Queensland government to stay afloat as it battles mechanical breakdowns and weak global sugar prices, with its chief executive urging the federal government to match the state's contribution to secure the mill's future and support diversification into bioenergy.
· 2 sourcesParamount has reached a settlement with California and 11 other US states that sued to block its proposed merger with Warner Bros Discovery, removing a key legal obstacle to combining two of Hollywood's largest legacy studios. The agreement, announced Monday, comes after the $81bn-to-$110bn deal had already received federal antitrust approval in June.
· 4 sourcesElectric vehicle maker BYD has removed all references to 'China' and 'surveillance' from its Australian privacy policy, days after being questioned by ABC's Four Corners program, but experts say the changes do little to address broader concerns about how the company handles customer data.
· 2 sourcesTaiwanese prosecutors raided the headquarters and a manufacturing plant of Unimicron, a major circuit board supplier to Nvidia, Intel, Google, and Amazon, on August 28 over allegations that it relabeled China-made PCBs as Taiwanese to evade U.S. tariffs. The investigation could expose American customers to a 40% additional tariff penalty if any shipments reach the U.S.
· 8 sourcesSmart ring maker Oura is seeking to raise as much as $2.2 billion in its initial public offering, but according to its updated filing with the SEC, most of the proceeds will go to existing shareholders rather than the company. Of the 50 million shares offered at a price range of $40 to $44, 36.5 million shares — nearly two-thirds — are being sold by shareholders, leaving the company with net proceeds of around $532.6 million at the midpoint, virtually all of which will be used to pay accumulated tax obligations related to employee share grants.
Local opposition blocked or delayed $68 billion worth of data center projects across the United States between April and June 2026, according to a September 21 report from Bloomberg citing research group Data Center Watch, underscoring a growing grassroots challenge to the AI buildout even as hyperscalers continue massive infrastructure spending.
Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) has fined Google €403 million ($463 million) for multiple violations of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) related to its processing of users' location data, the regulator announced Monday. The fine follows a four-year investigation that began in February 2020 after complaints from consumer rights organisations.
· 2 sourcesApple has agreed to pay $250 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging the company failed to deliver promised artificial intelligence upgrades for Siri on certain iPhone models. Eligible US customers who purchased an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, or any iPhone 16 model between June 10, 2024, and March 29, 2025 can file a claim on the settlement website for an estimated $25 per device, with the potential to receive up to $95 depending on the number of claims filed.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg used the company's annual Connect event on Wednesday to announce a wave of new features for its personal AI agent Muse, including a digital avatar and deeper integration across devices, even as the agent remains blocked from shopping on Amazon.com following a dispute over terms of use and account security.
· 7 sourcesGoogle has been fined €403 million (£345 million) by the Republic of Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) following a six-year inquiry into its processing of location data, with regulators finding the tech giant violated the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by processing data in a manner that was not 'lawful', 'fair' or 'transparent'.
· 2 sourcesIn a wide-ranging interview, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said new Apple CEO John Ternus's debut of the foldable iPhone Duo earlier this month was no coincidence — it was a carefully orchestrated signal that Apple is pivoting from the iPhone era into an AI-driven future, even as the company grapples with internal culture changes set in motion by former CEO Tim Cook.
· 2 sourcesThe Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has issued a stark warning that the private credit sector is showing 'the first significant cracks' and that the 'clock is ticking' on whether broader credit stress emerges. Speaking today at a Sydney event hosted by the Commercial and Asset Finance Brokers Association (CAFBA), ASIC commissioner Simone Constant said the collapse of NSW property developer Bathla has exposed how non-bank lenders are vulnerable to financially strained construction companies, and that many funds have failed to improve governance and disclosure despite repeated regulatory calls.
· 2 sourcesA federal jury in Texas has found Bambu Lab liable for infringing Stratasys patents on prime tower and bed-leveling technology, awarding $27.6 million in damages. The verdict covers Bambu Lab's first-generation X1, P1, and A1 series of 3D printers, though no injunctions have been issued against the machines.
OpenAI expects to burn $278 billion more than it generates between 2026 and 2030, driven by massive spending on computing infrastructure, according to a Financial Times report on a company presentation. The projection underscores the enormous capital required to maintain leadership in artificial intelligence, even as the company forecasts revenue growth from $36 billion in 2026 to $350 billion by the end of the decade.
Dozens of flights were cancelled and many more severely delayed on Monday after National Air Traffic Services (Nats) experienced its second technical issue in two weeks, this time at its Prestwick centre, affecting airports across Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England. Nats has said the fault has been fixed.
· 3 sourcesAmazon Web Services has informed customers that data stored exclusively in parts of its Middle East regions damaged during the conflict with Iran is unrecoverable, marking a rare admission that its multi-AZ redundancy design was insufficient against the scale of the attack.
The Bank of Korea has launched a pilot of a 24-hour won settlement network for foreign investors, enabling transactions to be settled during business hours in their home countries. The trial, announced on Monday, involves four domestic lenders and is expected to expand ahead of full operations scheduled for January 2027.
A growing number of seasoned founders — including former Mirror CEO Brynn Putnam and Walker & Company Brands founder Tristan Walker — are building new startups explicitly designed to get people out from behind their screens and into the same room, tapping into a loneliness epidemic that the World Health Organisation has classified as a global health challenge.
· 2 sourcesUnit1, a UK music technology startup founded by former Andrew Lloyd Webber group CEO Barney Wragg, has secured nearly £15 million ($20 million) in funding to develop hyper-realistic digital avatars of musicians, promising a cheaper alternative to shows like Abba Voyage that could feature both living and deceased artists in any venue.
· 2 sourcesFour major AI companies—Anthropic, OpenAI, SpaceXAI, and Google—have been hit with a proposed class-action antitrust lawsuit alleging they illegally coordinated to slow artificial intelligence development, harming consumers who pay for their subscription services.
· 2 sourcesThe US Environmental Protection Agency asked Bayer to select from a menu of regulatory options for the controversial weedkiller dicamba, then incorporated those choices into a proposed federal rule, according to newly released internal agency documents reported by The Guardian.
A trademark dispute has emerged over the 'Terafab' name used by Elon Musk's companies for a planned high-volume chip factory, with a small U.S. firm called Tera-Print sending a cease-and-desist letter in May and now preparing to defend its registered Tera-Fab trademark, which it has used for about a decade on tabletop lithography tools.
Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh on Wednesday presided over a unanimous decision to raise interest rates for the first time in three years, a move that signals a return to economic orthodoxy even as the White House waged an intense campaign against it.
· 2 sourcesSteven Kolb, chief executive and president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), has resigned after footage showed him physically restraining two animal rights activists during an altercation at New York fashion week.
Nearly 70 students in Dundee have been forced to scramble for alternative housing just as the academic term begins, after the collapse of the owner of the Marketgait Apartments, a city centre block. The case is the latest in a string of university housing scheme failures across the UK, underscoring severe financial strain on the sector.
· 2 sourcesMore than 1.1 million low-income families in rented homes face a “cost of housing” crunch unless the government acts in next month’s budget, the Resolution Foundation thinktank has warned, as the local housing allowance remains frozen.
· 2 sourcesHarrods is attempting to recover the cost of compensation paid to women allegedly sexually abused by the late Mohamed Al Fayed from his estate, according to evidence seen by the Guardian. The move has been criticised by survivors who say it undermines the store's public acceptance of responsibility for the abuse.
· 2 sourcesIndia's telecom regulator has amended its commercial communications rules to require caller-ID and call-management apps to share users' spam reports with telecom operators via a blockchain-based platform, a move Truecaller — which counts India as its largest market — has branded anti-competitive.
· 2 sourcesThe board of Tata Sons, the holding company of India's oldest conglomerate, has defied its largest shareholder Tata Trusts by reappointing N Chandrasekaran as chairman and backing a public listing, setting the stage for a prolonged legal and governance battle.
The Federal Reserve raised its key interest rate on Wednesday for the first time since 2023, ending a prolonged period of monetary stability, and major U.S. banks quickly followed by increasing their prime rates, signaling higher borrowing costs for consumers and businesses.
· 2 sourcesThe Federal Communications Commission has approved Paramount Skydance’s request to sell a 49.5% equity stake to the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, waiving the usual 25% foreign-ownership cap for broadcast license holders.
US government officials on Wednesday removed a Chinese AI search tool that had been briefly deployed on the Federal Register website, after social media users flagged an apparent contradiction with FBI accusations that Alibaba's models illegally copy American frontier AI. The National Archives, which operates the Federal Register, offered visitors a Qwen model to search public comments on proposed regulations — the same Alibaba technology that the FBI earlier this month named among six Chinese firms allegedly conducting 'industrial-scale distillation' of US models.
The administrators of embattled property developer Bathla Group have been granted a year-long extension by the NSW Supreme Court to run the voluntary administration, as they grapple with more than $3.4 billion in creditor claims and continue negotiations for longer-term funding.
· 2 sourcesDisney has named Karandeep Anand as its first-ever chief technology officer, a hire that brings the former CEO of AI startup Character.AI into the Magic Kingdom just months after Disney accused the company of infringing on its intellectual property.
· 2 sourcesJoby Aviation has completed a landmark 3,100-mile autonomous flight across the United States, the company announced Friday, using a converted Cessna Caravan that performed all phases of operation — taxi, takeoff, navigation and landing — without a human pilot taking control. The flight, which ran from an undisclosed East Coast origin to California, was remotely supervised from Joby’s headquarters and Shaw Air Force Base, marking what the company calls the first-ever autonomous crossing of the country.
Warren Buffett has stepped down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, ending his more than 50-year tenure at the helm of the conglomerate he built from a struggling textile mill into a $1.1 trillion global powerhouse. The company announced Friday that Buffett, 96, will become chairman emeritus and remain on the board, while his son Howard G. Buffett—a director since 1993—assumes the role of chair effective immediately.
· 10 sourcesChinese AI startup Manus, which earlier this year was forced to abandon a $2 billion merger with Meta after Beijing blocked the deal, is in discussions to raise $500 million at a $4 billion valuation as it resumes independent operations, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company is also weighing a restructuring to prepare for an initial public offering in Hong Kong.
· 2 sourcesThe U.S. House of Representatives has passed the Ratepayer Protection Act, a bill that would require large data centers—particularly those powering AI—to pay the full incremental costs of grid upgrades necessitated by their electricity demand. The legislation, which amends a 1978 utilities law, also directs states and non-regulated utilities to consider adopting the measure within two years.