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Business news from Australia and around the world: companies, deals, earnings, regulation and the people running them.
1814 articles · page 31 of 38
Workers at an AutoZone in White Plains, New York, are poised to become the first store at the US's largest auto parts retailer to unionize, with a union election set to begin September 25. The company has reportedly spent an estimated $200,000 opposing the effort at the store, where 11 employees are eligible to vote to join the United Auto Workers Local 259.
· 2 sourcesWarwick Levy, the owner of Sydney-based clothing label Lonely Kids Club, has accused Chinese e-commerce marketplace Temu of selling thousands of counterfeit T-shirts bearing his original designs, with Levy saying artificial intelligence may have been used to scrape his entire website and reproduce the artwork without permission.
· 3 sourcesRetail sales across Great Britain rose unexpectedly in August, with the volume of goods sold increasing 0.5% month on month, according to the Office for National Statistics, defying analyst expectations of a 0.2% decline.
· 2 sourcesTom Watson, the former Labour deputy leader and current peer, has taken a full-time position at Palantir, the US data analytics company, as it battles pressure from Labour figures including Prime Minister Andy Burnham and London Mayor Sadiq Khan over major public sector contracts.
· 2 sourcesThe Bank of Japan has raised its benchmark interest rate to 1.25 per cent, the highest level since 1995, in a widely anticipated move to combat inflation driven by high energy costs. The September hike follows a June increase to 1 per cent, marking the shortest interval between rate rises in 36 years and accelerating Japan's exit from a prolonged era of ultra-low borrowing costs.
· 2 sourcesJapan's central bank has raised its main interest rate to a fresh 31-year high, increasing the benchmark from 1% to 1.25% on Friday in a widely expected move to counter persistent inflation, with borrowing costs now at their highest level since 1995.
· 6 sourcesA cross-party group of MPs has called on ministers to halt negotiations with US hedge funds and take Thames Water into public control, warning that emergency legislation may be required to stabilise the company, which is burdened with £20bn in debt and effectively run by more than 100 hedge funds and distressed-debt investors.
· 2 sourcesReserve Bank governor Michele Bullock and senior officials appeared before federal parliament today, prompting a wave of economists to declare a September interest rate hike all but certain. Financial markets now assign a 95% probability to a rise in the cash rate to 4.6% at the end of the RBA's two-day meeting on September 29, with some economists forecasting further tightening to 4.85%.
· 6 sourcesFederal health authorities have linked a cluster of poisonings to intravenous drips administered at wellness clinics, with more than 30 people across four states suffering bacterial toxin exposure after receiving glutathione infusions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said the incidents stem from compounding pharmacies using dietary-supplement-grade glutathione powder—not the sterile, injectable-grade product required for intravenous use.
Hang Ten Systems, the AI startup founded by former Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka just four months ago, has raised another $53 million in seed funding led by Temasek's early-stage platform Xora, bringing its total to $85 million. The Palo Alto-based company advises large enterprises on AI strategy and builds production software using its own AI framework.
· 4 sourcesThe International Monetary Fund has called on Australia’s federal and state governments to cut spending, warning the Reserve Bank may need to raise interest rates further to bring inflation under control. The warning came as the IMF downgraded its forecast for Australia’s economic growth in 2027, citing concerns over rising debt and persistent price pressures.
· 3 sourcesWaymo has announced that Singapore will be its next international robotaxi destination, with plans to begin autonomous ride-hailing to the public by 2028. The company said its vehicles will arrive in the city-state in the coming months, followed by mapping and testing with human safety drivers in 2027, pending approval from Singapore's Land Transport Authority.
Lyft has crossed a major threshold in its autonomous vehicle strategy: Waymo robotaxis are now available to hail through the Lyft app in Nashville, marking the company's first commercial driverless ride-hailing service without a human operator behind the wheel.
The Federal Trade Commission has issued a five-year ban on General Motors selling customer data to consumer reporting agencies and third-party data brokers, marking one of the most aggressive federal actions yet against automakers' data collection practices.
Central bankers in the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom face a moment of truth this week as surging inflation raises the prospect of higher interest rates, with all three countries set to announce rate decisions against a backdrop of turbulent global bond markets and the ongoing Iran war.
· 2 sourcesTesco has reported to City of London police after its brand was used without permission in advertisements for unlicensed casinos on Facebook and Instagram, becoming the latest in a string of high-profile companies and sports stars to fall victim to the scam.
· 2 sourcesReform UK has been given a record £36 million ($49 million) donation by British cryptocurrency billionaire Ben Delo, the co-founder of the BitMEX exchange, marking the largest single donation ever made to a UK political party and making Delo the country's biggest political donor.
· 3 sourcesOpenAI CEO Sam Altman has said the company will not go public in 2026, calling it an 'ill-advised moment' given the current state of AI safety. The remarks, made in a Fortune interview, come as the firm navigates fallout from the OpenAI-HuggingFace hack and broader industry debates about the pace of AI development.
· 5 sourcesFrench champagne producers have been granted permission to temporarily raise the alcohol content of bubbly to 15%, exceeding the usual 13% cap, following record heatwaves and drought that produced grapes with exceptionally high sugar levels, the Comite Champagne industry association announced.
The US Department of Justice has launched an antitrust probe into Nvidia's $20 billion licensing deal with AI accelerator startup Groq, according to reports. The deal, structured as a technology license and talent acquisition rather than a full merger, left Groq's core inference-as-a-service business intact but stripped it of key engineering staff, leading senators and regulators to question whether it was engineered to avoid regulatory scrutiny.
Victoria Police has conducted dozens of welfare checks after an Optus outage on Friday caused some callers to struggle to connect to the national Triple Zero emergency line, with 41 calls referred to police for follow-up.
· 5 sourcesThe Federal Reserve appears increasingly likely to raise interest rates next week, as new data shows annual inflation remaining stubbornly high and a strong jobs report adding to pricing pressures. The combination has shifted market expectations toward a rate hike, even as President Trump pushes for lower rates amid the ongoing war with Iran.
· 2 sourcesNscale, the UK-based AI data center startup, has appointed former OpenAI executive Fidji Simo to its board, joining a roster that already includes Sheryl Sandberg, Susan Decker and Nick Clegg. The appointment comes as the two-year-old company reportedly prepares for an IPO this fall and seeks up to $3.5 billion in pre-IPO financing.
· 2 sourcesAutomattic has officially confirmed that Matt Mullenweg has returned as chairman and CEO, ending a chaotic 48-hour period during which the board had voted to place him on paid leave and install CFO Mark Davies as interim CEO. The confirmation, issued Saturday evening, states Mullenweg has "full support of the board," though the events of the past week have raised questions about the company's governance.
· 5 sourcesThe UK economy grew by 0.4% in July, defying City forecasts of zero growth, as the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence services offset the economic fallout from the Iran war, according to official figures that offer a welcome boost to Chancellor John Healey ahead of next month’s budget.
· 2 sourcesThe UK public spending watchdog, the National Audit Office (NAO), has warned that unless the government accelerates its £70bn programme to upgrade the electricity grid, consumers will face an additional £7.8bn in energy costs annually by 2030, while economic growth will also be held back.
· 2 sourcesLinkedIn has beat two proposed class-action lawsuits accusing the Microsoft subsidiary of scanning users' browser extensions, after a federal judge ruled the plaintiffs failed to establish legal standing. The decision, handed down Tuesday by Judge Vince Chhabria in US District Court for the Northern District of California, dismissed the cases but granted leave to amend — while expressing doubt the claims can ever succeed.
Mark Wahlberg, the Oscar-nominated actor and serial entrepreneur, is set to appear at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, where he will discuss his business ventures rather than his Hollywood career. He will join Keebeck Wealth Management founder and CEO Bruce K. Lee for a main stage fireside chat at the conference.
· 3 sourcesProxima Fusion announced plans Wednesday to build a €140 million (US$162.6 million) factory to produce fusion-grade high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tape, a critical component for its reactor design. The move is intended to reduce the startup's dependence on Asian suppliers, which currently dominate HTS tape production.
Woolworths increased the prices of at least four popular items — including a 33% mark-up on chicken fillets — within days of launching a three-month 'Price Freeze' promotion on 300 family staples, according to pricing data provided to Guardian Australia.
· 3 sourcesDefense tech startup Mach Industries has raised $600 million in a Series C extension, doubling its valuation to $3.7 billion in just three months, the company announced Thursday. The round follows a $300 million Series C in June that valued it at $1.8 billion, which itself represented a quadruple increase from a $470 million valuation in June 2025.
· 2 sourcesGoogle has agreed to buy 1 million carbon credits from Indian climate-tech startup Mitti Labs through 2030, in what the companies say is the largest publicly announced deal to date for credits generated from cutting methane emissions in rice farming.
· 2 sourcesBending Spoons, the Italian serial acquirer of software companies, has agreed to buy workplace collaboration platform Miro for $1.36 billion in cash — a fraction of the $17.5 billion valuation the company commanded during the pandemic-era SaaS boom of 2021. The deal, announced Thursday, represents a 92% decline in value and follows the same pattern as Bending Spoons' purchase of Airtable for $1.28 billion last month.
· 2 sourcesJohn Healey, the UK Chancellor, is facing mounting pressure to reform the £100,000 childcare threshold—dubbed a ‘cliff edge’—that strips families of 30 hours of weekly state-funded care when a parent’s income exceeds that level, leading some to reduce their working hours or stop working entirely.
· 2 sourcesGoogle has announced plans to invest at least €13 billion ($15 billion) in digital infrastructure and supporting projects in Finland over the next two years, including new datacenters, a landmark nuclear power purchase agreement with Fortum, and additional onshore wind and battery storage capacity.
Massachusetts has become the third state in three months to tighten rules on data center development, with Governor Maura Healey signing an executive order requiring new facilities larger than 25 megawatts to supply their own clean power or pay into a ratepayer protection fund. The mandate, which also directs local communities to avoid nondisclosure agreements and pauses a sales tax exemption, reflects growing public opposition to the energy demands of the expanding industry.
· 2 sourcesFour former Amazon warehouse employees have filed a class-action lawsuit against the company, alleging that it discriminated against pregnant workers by refusing accommodations such as bathroom breaks and chairs, and then unlawfully terminated them for taking medically necessary absences.
Al Jazeera's business programme Counting the Cost has turned its attention to rising borrowing costs across the world, a trend affecting households, businesses and governments. The programme offers analysis of why interest rates and bond yields are climbing and what it means for the global economy.
John Ternus, Apple's new chief executive, helmed the company's annual product showcase on Wednesday, marking the first time the public has seen the executive lead a major event since succeeding Tim Cook. The $4.5tn tech giant is widely expected to unveil a folding iPhone, among other products.
· 2 sourcesAutonomy, the California vehicle-subscription startup that nearly collapsed after pledging to buy 23,000 electric vehicles in 2022, is adding internal combustion engine (ICE) cars to its fleet for the first time. The company said on Wednesday it will offer gas-powered Ford models including the Mustang, Ranger, F-150, Bronco Sport, Escape and Explorer, sourced from Los Angeles-based Galpin Motors, in a bid to attract customers who have so far resisted electric-only subscriptions.
Sequoia Capital is doubling down on Cymphony, a two-year-old startup that raises $30 million to help enterprises manage the security risks posed by AI agents that access sensitive corporate data. The Series A round, co-led by Sequoia and SMBC Fin Atlas Beyond Fund, values the New York- and Tel Aviv-based company at over $100 million.
· 3 sourcesA report released Tuesday by the AFL-CIO Tech Institute warns that universal adoption of electronic shelf labels in US grocery stores could eliminate between 44,000 and 191,000 jobs and cost workers up to $6.9 billion in annual lost wages, while also potentially increasing grocery prices through surveillance pricing.
· 2 sourcesBattery installations in the US hit a new record in the second quarter of 2026, with 20.2 gigawatt-hours of new capacity coming online, according to a report from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence and the Solar Energy Industries Association. The surge puts the country on track to add 71 gigawatt-hours of batteries this year, 20% more than in 2025.
A South Korean court has ordered Kwon Hyuk-bin, founder of video game company Smilegate, to pay his ex-wife Lee Hwa-jin a record 2.55 trillion won ($1.87 billion) in assets, the largest divorce settlement ever awarded in South Korea.
· 2 sourcesMicrosoft's Edge team has become the second group inside the company to admit it is struggling to keep up with a surge of code generated by AI tools, revealing that the rapid adoption of AI-assisted coding has led to a flood of browser extension submissions that its review process is struggling to handle.
The boss of National Air Traffic Services (Nats), Martin Rolfe, has apologised to passengers and ruled out a cyber-attack as the cause of widespread flight disruption that has entered its second day, with more than 1,300 flights cancelled to and from UK airports.
· 3 sourcesFusionality, a Lausanne-based startup founded by former Google DeepMind researchers Federico Felici and Jonas Buchli, has raised $3.7 million (CHF 3 million) in a pre-seed round led by Founderful and Playfair. The company plans to develop standardised control systems and simulation environments for magnetic confinement fusion reactors, addressing what it says is a common need across the industry.
UK-based manufacturing software startup CloudNC announced a $20 million Series B extension on Wednesday, bringing its lifetime total raised to $128 million and signaling continued investor appetite for AI tools that automate CNC machining workflows.
· 2 sources