Author: Jaxon Bennett

Xavier Niel, one of Europe’s top technology investors, believes the region can succeed in creating leading artificial intelligence companies even without the billions in capital raised by US competitors — as long as founders are not tempted to cash out too early. “I think we can create big things with a few hundred million euros,” the French billionaire who made his fortune in telecoms with operator Iliad and now invests broadly in start-ups. This includes backing Paris-based AI group Mistral which has soared to a €6bn valuation within a year of being founded.“Europe can create competitive AI models today,” he…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the worldElon Musk likes to flex his sense of humour. The Tesla boss’s new US government leanness committee, greenlit by president-elect Donald Trump, shares an acronym with a novelty shiba inu-themed cryptocurrency. But the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) might end up answering serious questions. Among them, whether it is possible to cut and grow at the same time.Companies generally prioritise one or the other. Leaders tend to focus on expanding revenue when times are good or boosting margins when growth…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The Post Office has halted development of a replacement to its scandal-hit Horizon software, as it struggles to overhaul its operations in the wake of one of the UK’s biggest miscarriages of justice.The state-owned mail group is preparing to install computer equipment across its branches. This was supposed to run on new software from next year, but will now continue to use the old Horizon software developed by Japanese group Fujitsu.In a long-running scandal that led to a public outcry this year,…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Two of Elon Musk’s private companies are set to secure multibillion-dollar jumps in valuation through new deals, as investors race to back the sprawling business interests of the world’s richest man.SpaceX, the largest private company in the US, is preparing to launch a tender offer in December that will sell existing shares in the business at about $135 each, according to people with knowledge of the discussions. That would value the rocket builder at more than $250bn, up from about $210bn during…

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the worldTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Joe Biden’s administration have finalised more than $11bn in grants and loans to support the company’s US chipmaking plans, as the White House pushes to distribute subsidies before Donald Trump takes office. The deal with the world’s biggest chipmaker, which includes up to $6.6bn in grants and up to $5bn in loans, is the first major award under the Chips Act to be finalised. It is also the largest foreign investment in a new manufacturing…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The founder of Grubhub said he twice attempted to buy back the food delivery business from Just Eat Takeaway for more than $1bn, making the revelation days after the Dutch group announced a deal to sell its US subsidiary at a huge loss for just $650mn. Matt Maloney, who co-founded Chicago-based Grubhub in 2004, told the Financial Times that he led an effort to buy the US unit around the start of this year and in early 2022, with backing from “internationally…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The Federal Trade Commission is preparing to launch an investigation into anti-competitive practices at Microsoft’s cloud computing business, as the US regulator continues to pursue Big Tech in the final weeks of Joe Biden’s presidency.The FTC is examining allegations that Microsoft is abusing its market power in productivity software by imposing punitive licensing terms to prevent customers from moving their data from its Azure cloud service to competitors’ platforms, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.Tactics being examined include substantially…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Artificial intelligence may represent the biggest opportunity in tech since the arrival of the internet, but it also poses fundamental questions over how some of the industry’s most powerful companies make money.Apple, which began rolling out Apple Intelligence last month, looks as well-placed for the AI era as anyone. In this field context is all. The data that Apple has about its users puts it in a powerful position. But it has yet to show how adding AI to its devices can meaningfully…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the US & Canadian companies myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.A quarter of a century ago, Scott McNealy, then chief executive of Sun Microsystems, famously dismissed consumer privacy in the internet age as an anachronistic distraction. “You have zero privacy anyway,” he said. “Get over it.” Judging by the way in which consumers have since posted details of their private lives all over social media and breezily ticked the intrusive terms and conditions boxes of many online companies, McNealy may have had a point.But how we act and what we…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Meta has been fined nearly €800mn by Brussels after regulators accused Facebook’s parent company of stifling competition by “tying” its free Marketplace services with the social network. Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s outgoing competition chief, said on Thursday that by linking Facebook with its classified ads service Meta had “imposed unfair trading conditions” on other providers. She added: “It did so to benefit its own service Facebook Marketplace, thereby giving it advantages that [others] could not match. This is illegal.” Meta said it…