Companies

Cohere, an artificial intelligence company, has raised $500mn through a new round of funding, making it the most valuable start-up in the world. This will help the Canadian firm to compete with rivals such as OpenAI and Anthropic. The…

Evelyn Partners is one of Britain's biggest wealth management firms. The private equity company that owns it, Evelyn Partners PLC, is looking at options to reduce its £1.5 billion investment. Permira has begun contacting advisers in…

Rentokil Initial, a FTSE 100 pest-control empire owned by Rentokil Initial's former boss at BT, is being targeted for a takeover bid backed by private equity. Philip Jansen has been in discussions with private equity firms about a plan…

Grant Thornton’s US business is in talks to buy the UK and Irish affiliates of the accounting group. This would be the largest M&A transaction in the industry to date. Grant Thornton US announced a transatlantic merger after selling…

Facebook's Meta explored the possibility of investing multi-billions in EssilorLuxottica as it intensifies its efforts to develop smart eyewear. Multiple people familiar with the company's thinking have confirmed that it has considered a…

Netflix's second-quarter revenue and earnings exceeded Wall Street expectations thanks to the success of shows like Bridgerton and Baby Reindeer . The number of new subscribers was the highest in a quarter two since 2020 when Netflix…

Elon Musk announced on Tuesday that X and SpaceX would be moving their headquarters to Texas in response to a gender identity law passed by California. This is a major blow to Silicon Valley, as the billionaire has been at odds with…

Ocado's boss said that the company is committed to its London listing, even though it was relegated earlier this year from the FTSE 100. Tim Steiner said that he did not plan to take the online grocery group private or move its listing…

Carpetright is for sale, which could result in hundreds of closures of stores and the loss thousands jobs. PwC has been appointed to launch the formal sale process by the flooring retailer. The company, which has over 3,000 employees and…

Water companies and regulators are at odds over a £16-billion cut in infrastructure spending, while households see their water bills rise by £94. Ofwat is accused of sabotaging efforts to clean waterways, after it trimmed investment…

Shein, an online fast fashion group planning to list in London, has launched a €200mn “circularity fund” that, according to its executive chair, will address fashion waste. This comes amid concerns over the sustainability of the brand.…

Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest oil company, is betting that the internal combustion engines will last for "a very, very long time". The company sees a potential business opportunity in the growth of electric cars. Last month, the…

Ocado Group is planning to build a robotic third warehouse with its Japanese retail partners. The online supermarket group and technology company announced that it would expand its partnership with Aeon - Japan's largest grocery retailer…

Royal Mail is preparing to reduce more freight flights this month. Martin Seidenberg is the CEO of International Distribution Services and plans to "make the biggest network change in twenty years" for Royal Mail deliveries, despite the…

The employee share scheme of Britain's largest supermarket chain is set to pay out more than £30million in total. Tesco announced that over 20,000 employees, who work mainly in its stores and warehouses, will benefit from the growth of…

Marks & Spencer faces shareholder concerns over its annual dividend of just 3p, despite paying millions of pounds to its top executives in bonuses. At the retailer's annual meeting, held on Tuesday evening, several investors…

Boeing has agreed with Spirit AeroSystems to purchase the company in an all-shares deal worth $4.7 billion as it attempts to overcome its production crisis. Spirit, a Boeing spin-off from 2005, manufactured the door plug on a 737 Max 9…

The proposed Japanese takeover by Graphcore of the British artificial-intelligence company is being reviewed for national security reasons amid concerns that foreign investors are targeting UK technology. SoftBank, a Tokyo-based…