World Cup boost fails to land UK services sector on front foot Economics A World Cup boost failed to drag the UK’s services sector to growth last month after it recorded its fastest rate of decline in three-and-a-half years as businesses braced for the Andy Burnham coronation. The latest Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) from S&P Global showed a reading of 48.8 in June, falling from 49.3 in May. [...]
Volkswagen’s China crunch deepens as Europe’s biggest carmaker weighs 100,000 job cuts Transport & Infrastructure Volkswagen is weighing up to 100,000 job cuts as Europe’s biggest carmaker accelerates a sweeping overhaul after admitting the manufacturing model that underpinned decades of German industrial success can no longer compete in a market reshaped by Chinese rivals. The German automotive giant is reportedly considering almost doubling previously announced workforce reductions while shutting four [...]
BBC News faces hundreds of job cuts in major downsizing drive Media The BBC is expected to announce hundreds of job cuts across its core news division next week, as the broadcaster begins a sweeping cost-cutting programme ahead of crunch talks with ministers over its future funding. The corporation’s news operation is set to be the first part of the BBC to reveal detailed redundancy plans, according [...]
BT boss bags pay rise despite £3.7bn cost-cutting drive June 11, 2026 BT chief executive Allison Kirkby received a £5.6m pay package last year, more than double the £2.5m she earned a year earlier, as the telecoms giant accelerated a sweeping cost-cutting programme designed to strip billions from the business. According to the FTSE 100 group’s annual report, Kirkby was paid £5.58m for the year to 31 [...]
‘AI is not killing all these jobs’: LinkedIn boss on UK hiring slump June 10, 2026 Hiring in the capital is down 32 per cent from January 2019, a steeper fall than in any other region tracked by LinkedIn, as higher interest rates and corporate cost-cutting weigh on firms that dominate London’s labour market. Across the UK, hiring has slowed by 24 per cent on pre-pandemic levels and 10 per cent [...]
Fintech boss defends sacking entire HR department for ‘creating problems that didn’t exist’ May 20, 2026 US fintech Bolt has become the latest company to openly link job cuts and restructuring to AI, after chief executive Ryan Breslow defended scrapping the firm’s HR department during a recent round of layoffs. Speaking at a Fortune event Breslow said Bolt’s HR function had become counterproductive as the company attempted to streamline operations. “We [...]
Channel 4 puts HQ up for sale as London footprint shrinks May 5, 2026 Channel 4 has formally placed its long-standing Horseferry Road headquarters on the market, as the broadcaster presses ahead with a major overhaul of its London footprint under new chief executive Priya Dogra. The move marks the broadcast giant’s latest step in a long-term transformation strategy designed to modernise the organisation, cut costs and reflect changing [...]
Food prices set to soar 50 per cent since cost-of-living crisis began May 4, 2026 UK food prices are on track to be 50 per cent higher by November compared to levels at the start of the cost-of-living crisis, piling fresh pressure on households already struggling with rising bills. New analysis from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) warns the surge would mark a “grim milestone”, with price growth [...]
AI job cuts top 50,000 in 2026 as Snap, Oracle, Meta slash roles April 16, 2026 More than 50,000 tech jobs have been cut in 2026 as tech behemoths such as Snap, Oracle and Meta link layoffs to AI and a shift in spending towards AI infrastructure. Recent figures from Challenger, Gray & Christmas show over 52,000 roles were eliminated in the sector in the first quarter alone, with AI cited [...]
Oracle chops headcount as AI reshapes Big Tech workforce April 1, 2026 Oracle has begun a new round of global job cuts, as the software giant ramps up spending on AI infrastructure and follows a broader wave of layoffs across Big Tech. Employees across multiple divisions, including cloud, health, sales and Netsuite, were informed on Tuesday that their roles had been eliminated with immediate effect. In a [...]