Closing post
Time to wrap up…
Sky has announced a long-awaited £1.6bn deal to buy ITV’s broadcasting and streaming arm to create the UK’s biggest commercial broadcaster.
Sky, which is owned by the US telecoms company Comcast, will pay £1.2bn in cash initially for ITV’s media and entertainment business, which includes its free-to-air TV channels in the UK and ITVX streaming platform. It has agreed to pay a further potential £200m in the second half of 2028, depending on 2027 advertising revenues.
Sky, which described the deal as a chance to create a “UK-focused national streaming champion”, hopes it will help it compete for viewers with US streaming platforms including Netflix, YouTube and Amazon Prime Video.
Ocado’s co-founder and chief executive, Tim Steiner, will stand down in 2028 after weeks of speculation over the online grocer’s leadership.
Steiner, who co-founded Ocado in 2000 with two other former Goldman Sachs bankers, will continue to serve as chief executive until the start of the 2028 financial year, which begins in December 2027, by which point the company hopes to have a successor in place.
Steiner, 56, will then stay on for another year in a “founder role” providing “strategic guidance, deep market expertise and support” to the board through to 2029, the company said.
A once-a-day Wegovy weight-loss pill has gone on sale at high street and online pharmacies in the UK, but is not yet available on the NHS.
Thousands of people began receiving their first deliveries of the pill, made by the Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, on Monday. It contains the same active GLP-1 ingredient as the Wegovy jab, semaglutide, and is similarly effective, according to studies.
The pill, which was approved by the UK’s medicines regulator on 11 June, can be prescribed privately to overweight or obese people, subject to a medical consultation, alongside a healthy diet and exercise. Unlike the injected version, it is not yet available on an NHS prescription.
Ministers have been urged to toughen the City regulator’s powers to protect consumers against the potential risks of AI, according to a landmark review.
The Mills review by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which looked at how AI will reshape financial services from 2030 onward, found that companies are already starting to shift from human-led activities towards AI-enabled services for everyday consumers.
It found the move could support customers and make financial advice more accessible to lower-income households, but it also increased the risk of fraud, cyber threats and harm to consumers.
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Key events
Microsoft to cut 4,800 jobs, 2.1% of its global workforce
A Microsoft logo at Microsoft offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France, March 25, 2024 Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters
Microsoft has said it will cut 4,800 jobs, representing about 2.1% of its global workforce, in the latest wave of tech layoffs as the Windows maker grapples with its expensive bets on AI.
Of these, 3,200 jobs will be cut from its gaming Xbox business. Around 1,600 people will lose their jobs today, the company said in a statement, and four studios will leave the business to go to new management.
In an memo to staff, Amy Coleman, executive vice president and Microsoft’s chief people officer, said the cuts were due to a changing technology industry and the “need to adjust resources and roles and shift how we operate”.
double quotation markI also want to be direct that the roles eliminated today are not being replaced by AI.
At the same time, what is true is that AI is changing how work gets done.”
Asha Sharma, the boss of Microsoft’s struggling Xbox division, said in a note to staff on Monday that “our business today is not healthy” and that “we must reset”.
The restructuring will aim to streamline and reinvest in biggest projects, said Sharma, who became chief executive of the business in February.
In April, there were reports that Microsoft offered voluntary redundancy to about 7% of its US workforce, as the tech giant grapples with its headcount and expensive AI investments.
Shares in the business have lost about 19% of their value in the year to date. It is down about 1.6% in US trading this afternoon.
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Updated at 10.07 EDT
US stock market opens higher
The US stock market has opened the week higher, with the blue chip S&P 500 index rising by 0.45% in early trading. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is up 0.8%, and the Dow has nudged up 0.25%.
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Wegovy weight-loss pill goes on sale on UK high street and online pharmacies
Julia Kollewe
A once-a-day Wegovy weight-loss pill has gone on sale at high street and online pharmacies in the UK, but is not yet available on the NHS.
Thousands of people began receiving their first deliveries of the pill, made by the Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, on Monday. It contains the same active GLP-1 ingredient as the Wegovy jab, semaglutide, and is similarly effective, according to studies.
The pill, which was approved by the UK’s medicines regulator on 11 June, can be prescribed privately to overweight or obese people, subject to a medical consultation, alongside a healthy diet and exercise. Unlike the injected version, it is not yet available on an NHS prescription.
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US stock market set to rise at the open
We are less than 30 minutes away from the opening bell for the US stock market, and futures so far suggest that markets will start off the week broadly higher. Futures for the S&P 500 are uo 0.4%, while futures for the Nasdaq are up 1.2%. Futures for the Dow however are down 0.09%.
The chip designer and manufacturer Broadcom is up 4.2% in pre-market after it agreed with Apple to exand their partnership through to 2031 to develop and supply a range of custom chips.
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Boost City regulator’s powers to help protect UK consumers from AI, says watchdog
Kalyeena Makortoff
Closer to home, ministers have been urged to toughen the City regulator’s powers to protect consumers against the potential risks of AI, according to a landmark review.
The Mills review by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which looked at how AI will reshape financial services from 2030 onward, found that companies are already starting to shift from human-led activities towards AI-enabled services for everyday consumers.
It found the move could support customers and make financial advice more accessible to lower-income households, but it also increased the risk of fraud, cyber threats and harm to consumers.
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Lockheed Martin to buy naval tech group Ultra Maritime in $3.45bn deal
The US defence group Lockheed Martin has agreed to buy the naval tech group Ultra Maritime owned by the private equity firm Advent, in a $3.45bn (£2.6bn) deal.
Ultra Maritime is being sold via a subsidiary in Advent’s Cobham Ultra, which it formed after it took the British defence group Cobham private for £4bn in 2019 and later combined it with Ultra Electronics.
The company specialises in anti-submarine warfare, including torpedo defence, sonar systems and sonobuoys – submarine detection and tracking products.
Shonnel Malani, a managing partner at Advent and chair of the board at Ultra Electronics, said:
double quotation markWhen we invested in Ultra Maritime in 2022, we saw a business with mission-critical technology and a vital role in protecting allied nations from undersea threats, but one that had been underinvested and was not yet fully delivering for its customers. Over the past four years, we have changed that.
Ultra Maritime is now a stronger, more innovative partner to allied navies – with improved execution, greater industrial capacity and next-generation autonomous solutions that position it well for future warfare.”
Stephanie C. Hill, president at Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems, said:
double quotation markUndersea superiority belongs to those who move fastest and work together best. By joining forces with Ultra, we’re accelerating our commitment to deliver the most advanced undersea and anti-submarine warfare capabilities to our US and allied partners across the globe.”
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Updated at 08.49 EDT
European stock markets slip
European stock markets have turned negative this afternoon – the UK’s FSTE 100 is now down 0.3%, led by the tech solutions group Halma, which is down by about 3%.
The French Cac 40 is down slightly by 0.04%, while the German Dax is down 0.09%. The Stoxx Europe 600 is down 0.4% – some of the worst performers today include the Dutch chip equipment company BE Semiconductor Industries, which has dropped 6.8%.
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Billionaire Zuber Issa strikes deal to buy former Prax Group petrol stations
Zuber Issa, the Blackburn-based billionaire, has agreed a deal to buy 85 petrol stations previously owned by the collapsed Prax Group.
Issa’s EG On The Move has said it is planning further investment following the purchase of the sites, which are managed by independent operators. The company now owns around 285 locations across the UK.
Issa said in a statement:
double quotation markOur business is built on strong partnerships with not only retail brand partners but now independent commission operators.
We are delighted to welcome the Prax network into our UK site portfolio. We look forward to working alongside each operator to build on the strengths of their businesses, helping make every site more effective, more competitive, and even more attractive to customers.”
Prax was once a huge oil group, which included a portfolio of petrol stations as well as an oil refinery that was a major supplier of the country’s fuel. However, it collapsed into administration last year.
EG’s investment in the former Prax sites could include enhancing motorist welfare services, expanding foodservice offers, exploring grocery and merchandise ranges, and introducing fast electric vehicle charging and car wash solutions, the company said.
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Updated at 07.15 EDT
Novartis to buy UK cancer treatment group Myricx Bio in $1.5bn deal
Swiss pharmaceutical group Novartis has agreed to buy the British cancer treatment developer Myricx Bio, in a deal worth up to $1.5bn (£1.1bn).
Novartis, which is one of the biggest pharma companies in the world by sales, has said it will pay $1.1bn upfront, with a further $400m in potential milestone payments.
Myricx Bio, which is headquartered in London, was founded in 2019 after spinnning out from Imperial College and the Francis Crick Institute.
The company is developing a new class of antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), a cancer treatment that delivers more targeted treatment to affected cells.
It is the latest in a long series of takeovers by big pharma in smaller UK start-ups. Last year the US giant Merck paid $10bn for the London-based Verona, a respiratory drugs company. In January, Amgen bought the cancer biotech Dark Blue Therapeutics in a $840m deal.
Fiona Marshall, president of biomedical research at Novartis, said:
double quotation markADCs have become an important part of cancer treatment, but there remains a clear need for new payload mechanisms to overcome resistance and expand their impact for patients..
Myricx Bio has developed a promising NMTi payload platform with a differentiated mechanism that could broaden the use of ADCs across multiple tumor settings. This proposed acquisition reflects our strategy to scale innovative platforms, as we have with radioligand therapies, to deliver more durable, transformative treatments for patients.”
Shares in Novartis have slipped 0.7% this morning. The deal is expected to close in the second half of this year.
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Updated at 06.43 EDT
Sky’s £1.6bn takeover of ITV broadcasting will trigger some job losses, CEO says
Sky’s £1.6bn deal to takeover ITV’s broadcast and streaming business will result in some job losses, its chief executive Dana Strong has said.
While she did not give a number of possible job cuts, she told Sky News that there would reductions in commercial and corporate functions. She said:
double quotation markThere is some duplication in roles in corporate functions and commercial functions as there is when you bring, inevitably, two organisations together. But it’s the minority of the synergy.”
Sky has said it could generate £200m in annual cost savings as a result of the purchase.
Strong added:
double quotation markWe need to get a little bit closer to the businesses to look at where exactly the overlaps are.”
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