WRITER Appoints Mina Alaghband as First Chief Customer Officer to Accelerate Enterprise Transformation with Agentic AI Alaghband will lead global customer operations as demand intensifies among Fortune 500 organizations for agentic platforms that accelerate business impact and deliver ROI at scale
Uber drivers plot exodus as platform swerves ‘taxi tax’ Transport and infrastructure Uber is staring down the barrel of a potential driver exodus as members of its fleet threaten to jump ship to rival apps or return to black cabs, following a new year contractual overhaul designed to swerve a huge VAT bill. Documents seen by City AM show a wave of fury in private messaging groups, [...]
OpenAI could face more hurdles for IPO than Anthropic Tech As artificial intelligence giants inch towards the public markets, copyright litigation is becoming an increasingly influential factor in how investors assess risk. And with that in mind, Anthropic appears to be starting from a less complicated position than its larger rival, OpenAI. Analysts at Bloomberg Intelligence have said the Claude founder faces “significantly less legal [...]
Microsoft rides the Wayve as self driving cars hit London streets January 8, 2026 Microsoft announced its strengthened partnership with British born autonomous driving startup Wayve on Thursday, in a move set to bring the tech into commercial use. This collaboration, based largely on Microsoft Azure, provides its infrastructure to both train and operate the AV firm’s AI into complex urban environments such as London. Founded in 2017 in [...]
Robotaxis are coming – how will London respond? January 7, 2026 The planned launch of autonomous ride services, starting with Uber in 2026, marks a major shift for London’s streets, repositioning mobility as a software-governed infrastructure that will redistribute control over pricing, liability and data, says Paul Armstrong A structural shift is forming on London’s streets, and too many businesses are still treating it as a [...]
Uber’s robotaxi launch and the end of the chatty driver January 6, 2026 There is a weird kind of intimacy in the back of a London black cab, or in a San Francisco Uber. It’s the shared silence, the occasional grumble about the traffic on Oxford Street, or the often unsolicited life advice from a driver named Gary. But at this year’s annual CES conference, the annual consumer [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Shell and BP lead index near 10,000 amid oil tensions January 5, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM morning liveblog. The FTSE 100 kicked off the new year on the front foot marking an intraday high of 10,046.25p on Friday in the first trading session of 2026. Whilst it slipped back in later trading, strong performances across blue-chip heavyweights including Rolls-Royce and Fresnillo, led [...]
Uber prices set to soar as ministers introduce VAT crackdown January 2, 2026 Prices on ride hailing apps like Uber are set to soar, after the government ploughed ahead with a promise to apply VAT to online mini cab companies despite warnings from the industry that the move would worsen the cost of living. From Friday, private hire vehicle operators in London will no longer be able to [...]
Legacy banks must ‘radically modernise’ or lose to fintech stars, says former Barclays boss January 1, 2026 A decade ago, Antony Jenkins was ousted from his role as chief executive of Barclays and months later warned the banking sector was reaching an “Uber moment”. Jenkins declared technology would be an “unstoppable force” in the banking sector and could lead to hundreds of branch closures and potentially slash the industry’s workforce by half. [...]
Exclusive: O2 Arena open to hosting NBA Europe after record-breaking year December 30, 2025 The owners of London’s O2 Arena have insisted they have enough days in their calendar to host a NBA Europe franchise in the capital should the league launch in 2027. The US basketball league is exploring the possibility of setting up a European equivalent, tapping into major football club brands this side of the pond. [...]