OpenAI, SpaceX, Anthropic: the tech giants lining up blockbuster IPOs December 28, 2025 For more than a decade, Silicon Valley’s most powerful companies have stayed private for longer than ever before, buoyed by deep pools of capital and sovereign wealth funding. But, as interest rates remain higher, AI infrastructure costs balloon and some of the world’s largest private firms mature into businesses of national, and increasingly geopolitical, importance, [...]
Ticket touts exploit Coldplay, Oasis, Billie Eilish demand December 28, 2025 Coldplay, Oasis and Billie Eilish were the most touted artists of 2025, with fans paying up to £800 per ticket on resale sites, according to new research from O2. The telecoms giant, which sold 1.7 million live event tickets via its ‘Priority’ platform last year, warned that the booming secondary market is leaving millions of [...]
Who still gets hired in the 2026 workplace? December 28, 2025 Britain’s labour market has probably never felt more precarious than it does now, as the struggling economy and the rapid rise of AI take effect. Redundancies are at their highest since the pandemic, unemployment has risen to 5.1 per cent, and entry-level opportunities, the traditional stepping stones for grads and young workers, have all but [...]
How AI took the wheel in 2025 December 27, 2025 2025 was the year artificial intelligence (AI) took the driver’s seat, literally. Not just in boardrooms or on trading floors, but increasingly on the tarmac, in showrooms, and behind the wheel itself. From record-breaking EV sales in the UK and Europe to autonomous taxis navigating San Francisco streets and preparing to arrive in London next [...]
The great high street outage of 2025 December 24, 2025 On paper, British high streets have seen worse. Footfall has survived recessions, pandemics and price shocks before, and tills were just about still ringing. But this year it flickered, stalled and, in some cases, went dark – brought to its knees by a wave of cyber attacks that exposed the fragility of retail in the [...]
Bet365 boss banks £260m payout despite profit slide December 23, 2025 Billionaire founder and chief executive of Bet365, Denise Coates, saw her pay surge last year, despite the firm’s profit going south. Coates was paid a salary of £104m in the year to March, according to newly filed accounts, while cash dividends to family shareholders tripled to £313.6m. As the firm’s majority owner, Coates was entitled [...]
TikTok owner eyes $23bn AI spend amid Nvidia chip uncertainty December 23, 2025 ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, is set to significantly ramp up its investment in AI next year, as access to Nvidia’s chips once again becomes a key fault line in the global race. ByteDance is reportedly targeting around RMB160bn (£17bn) in capital expenditure in 2026, up from roughly RMB150bn (£15.7bn) this year, with the bulk [...]
Pressure mounts as Ellison stakes $40bn for Warner Bros December 23, 2025 In the latest twist in Hollywood’s own corporate soap opera, tech billionaire Larry Ellison has personally guaranteed $40.4bn (£30bn) to support Paramount Skydance’s $108.4bn bid for Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), in a bid to outflank Netflix in the fight for the entertainment giant. Warner Bros urged shareholders last week to reject Paramount’s all-cash offer, citing [...]
Tech hiring set to spike despite dire UK job market December 22, 2025 The UK labour market may be flashing warning signs, but demand for IT and tech professionals seems to be moving in the opposite direction. Over half of British businesses plan to expand their permanent IT and tech teams in the first half of next year, according to new research from recruitment firm Robert Half, a [...]
Big Tech braces as Keir Starmer flirts with Australia-style social media ban December 22, 2025 According to reports, Keir Starmer is weighing up an Australia-style ban on social media for under-16s, as ministers reassess how far the UK should go in regulating online platforms for kids. The prime minister has previously said he was “personally” opposed to a blanket ban, arguing that the focus should be on controlling content instead. [...]
