US markets rally as tech stocks look to boost AI capabilities February 19, 2026 US markets closed higher on Wednesday, as tech stocks reaped the benefits of investors once again brushing off fears of an AI bubble. Tech stock share prices boomed, following reports from Bloomberg that Open AI is close to finalising the first phase of a new funding round, which is expected to bring in more than [...]
Tesco snaps up shuttered Amazon Fresh sites in convenience store push February 9, 2026 Tesco plans to open over 70 Express stores across the country by March next year, including at least five new sites in London. In a statement released today, the supermarket chain confirmed it had acquired five former Amazon Fresh stores across the capital. These sites – in Kensington High Street, Hounslow, Moorgate, Aldgate East, and [...]
Amazon and Alphabet’s AI spending faces billion-dollar litmus test February 2, 2026 Investors will get a clearer read this week on whether Big Tech’s vast AI spending is turning into real returns, as Alphabet and Amazon report earnings amid heightened market sensitivity to cloud growth, margins and costs. Both tech giants sit at the centre of the AI boom, but recent volatility in US tech stocks has [...]
Billion-dollar regulatory fines fail to dent Big Tech January 29, 2026 For the world’s biggest tech firms, regulatory penalties are no longer a consequential financial event. Alphabet, Apple, Meta and Amazon were fined a combined $7.8bn (£6.2bn) in 2025 for breaches of competition and privacy rules, according to a new Proton report. And while that sounds like a hefty number, in practice, it would have taken [...]
Amazon confirms 16,000 job cuts after internal email error January 28, 2026 Amazon has confirmed it will cut 16,000 jobs globally, just hours after staff were mistakenly alerted to the redundancies in an internal email that was not meant to be sent. The latest round of layoffs follows the 14,000 corporate roles Amazon said it would axe in October, taking total white-collar cuts to around 30,000 in [...]
Big Tech’s AI borrowing boom tests US bond market January 27, 2026 Big Tech is on track to become the dominant force in the US corporate bond market, as the race to build AI infrastructure drives an unprecedented surge in borrowing that is beginning to worry investors. By the end of the decade, around half of the 10 largest borrowers in the US bond market will be [...]
Amazon plans new round of job cuts as IMF chief warns of AI ‘tsunami’ January 23, 2026 Amazon prepares a new round of job cuts amid growing use of automation across corporate roles, following a round of redundancies just months ago. The move comes as the head of the International Monetary Fund warned that AI is set to hit the global labour market like a “tsunami”. Speaking at the World Economic Forum [...]
The Magnificent 7 in 2025 – and the survival of the richest December 31, 2025 In the spirit of end-of-year round-ups, it is worth scrutinising the fortunes of the so-called Magnificent Seven: Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Nvidia, and Tesla and their dominance of global equity markets, which shows no signs of abating. Yet 2025 was a year that highlighted both the extraordinary influence and the vulnerabilities of these mega-cap [...]
Big Tech cashes in on £1 trillion ad market boom December 11, 2025 The global ad market is booming, with spend forecast to reach $1.19 (£1.04) trillion in 2025, up 8.9 per cent from last year, according to WARC’s recent report. Growth is projected to accelerate to $1.30 trillion in 2026 and $1.40 trillion by 2027, a doubling in size since the pandemic. But while the market is [...]
Is Microsoft becoming the new Vodafone? December 11, 2025 America’s biggest tech firms – Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Google – have thrown the kitchen sink at becoming leaders in AI. They have forked out whatever is necessary to get to the front of the race. The four firms spent a combined $16bn on capex in the first quarter of 2020. Fast-forward to the third quarter [...]