Tesla shares have surged almost 50% since the company was rocked by a very public clash between CEO Elon Musk and US President Donald Trump in June. On June 5, 2025, the feud sent Tesla stock tumbling 14% in a single session, wiping $150 billion off its market value. The sell-off drove shares to an intraday low of $284.70 amid fears that Musk’s political fallout with Trump could dent the company’s growth prospects. Instead, the...
If 2024 was the year when artificial intelligence dominated the headlines, then 2025 has been the year of the cyberattack. From luxury fashion houses to high-street retailers and car manufacturers, businesses across the UK and beyond have found themselves under siege from hackers. The scale, frequency and audacity of these attacks raise urgent questions about how well user data is being protected – and what risks lie ahead for millions of consumers. The biggest breaches...
Cyber criminals have stolen the personal details of potentially millions of Gucci, Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen customers in a ransomware attack on their parent company, Kering. The luxury group confirmed that in April hackers gained “temporary access” to its systems and accessed customer records, though it insists no financial information such as card or bank details was stolen. The compromised data includes names, email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses and the total amount customers spent...
Women in the UK are on track to lose out on more than £93,000 in earnings over a 40-year career because of the gender pay gap, new analysis reveals. Research by Instant Offices shows how inequalities between men and women in the workplace compound over time, leaving women with a significant lifetime shortfall that directly impacts pensions, savings and long-term financial security. The average UK salary for full-time employees was £37,430 in 2024, up £2,467...
Ocado has begun using zero-emission refrigeration units across its flagship double-deck trailer fleet as part of efforts to cut emissions and reduce costs. The online grocer confirmed that Sunswap’s Endurance units — powered by batteries and solar panels — are now fitted to its double-deck trailers, keeping fresh and frozen produce chilled without using diesel. Each Endurance unit eliminates diesel consumption completely, cutting up to 20.5 tonnes of CO2 per year and reducing operating costs...
Microsoft has unveiled its largest ever UK investment, committing £22 billion over the next four years to build Britain’s biggest artificial intelligence supercomputer and expand its data centre network. The announcement, timed to coincide with President Trump’s state visit, dwarfs other Big Tech pledges and forms the centrepiece of £31 billion in new US-led tech investment. Half of Microsoft’s spend will go towards capital expansion, while the other half will bolster its UK operations, which...
When ministers and tech executives hailed Microsoft’s £22 billion UK investment package, one project stood out from the dense jargon of “compute capacity” and “data infrastructure”: Stargate UK. The name might sound like a science fiction franchise, but Stargate UK is in fact Britain’s most ambitious supercomputing initiative to date — a programme designed to provide the raw computing power needed to train the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) models on British soil. Stargate...
Lynn Forester de Rothschild is preparing to sell her 20 per cent interest in The Economist, paving the way for the most significant change in the 182-year-old publication’s ownership since 2015. The British-American financier, 71, has appointed investment bank Lazard to oversee the process, which remains at an early stage. The stake, made up of voting shares, could fetch as much as £400 million based on current valuations of the premium media group. It would...
Inflation in the UK remained stuck at 3.8% in August, the highest level in 19 months, reinforcing expectations that the Bank of England will keep interest rates unchanged when it announces its latest decision tomorrow. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) confirmed on Wednesday that consumer prices rose at the same pace as in July, broadly in line with forecasts from analysts and the Bank itself. While price growth has not accelerated, inflation remains nearly...
Susie Ma, the former Apprentice finalist who went on to build one of Britain’s biggest independent beauty brands, has rewarded herself with a £20 million payday after a stellar year for her Tropic Skincare business. The 36-year-old entrepreneur, who bought back Lord Sugar’s 50 per cent stake in 2023, paid herself dividends totalling £18.2 million in 2024, with a further £2 million distributed in April this year. The bumper payout followed a strong trading performance...
