News

The House of Representatives has narrowly approved a Republican plan to raise the debt ceiling in a legislative victory for Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy that will do little to break the stalemate with the White House. Amid fears the stand-off between Republicans and Democrats will plunge the US government into default as soon

Meta’s virtual reality business, Reality Labs, is spending money like a start-up. Unfortunately, it lacks the 10x growth to match. The company’s R&D spend in the first three months of the year exceeded $9bn, equal to 33 per cent revenues. That’s twice as high as Alphabet and Microsoft. The tech sell-off last year has prompted

Meta issued sales guidance above expectations and reported a small uptick in revenues after three consecutive quarters of declines, as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s “year of efficiency” begins to bear fruit. First-quarter revenues rose 3 per cent to $28.6bn, above analyst expectations for a slight decline to $27.7bn. The company also pointed to second-quarter revenues

Meta shares rose 10 per cent after it reported better than expected sales guidance and a small uptick in revenues after three quarters of decline as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s “year of efficiency” began to bear fruit. Revenue in the first three months of the year was up 3 per cent from a year ago

The UK government overcame opposition from within the ruling Conservative party on Wednesday to drive divisive new legislation aimed at deterring asylum seekers from crossing the Channel to the UK through the House of Commons. The bill will bar from claiming asylum almost anyone entering Britain on small boats or without prior permission, imposing a

No matter how hard it tries, a company worth more than $2tn cannot position itself as the plucky underdog. Especially when it is able to write a $75bn cheque with ease. On Wednesday, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority declared that it would not approve Microsoft’s blockbuster acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Both companies make noises

The UK must overhaul its approach to executive pay, stock market risk and other “cultural issues” if it wants to arrest a sharp decline in the City of London’s initial public offerings, the author of a landmark report on listings reforms said on Wednesday. Lord Jonathan Hill told the House of Commons Treasury select committee

Hiking in Tibet a few years ago, Amanda Hall encountered a group of monks who, she was surprised to note, were all clutching mobile phones. The experience proved to be an epiphany for the geophysicist, then working in the oil and gas sector. “I realised that [the need for] lithium is everywhere,” she told me,

Staff at the CBI are facing the prospect of job cuts within months unless the British business lobby group can head off a looming financial crunch triggered by more than 50 members either cutting or suspending ties, insiders have warned. The organisation is facing an uncertain future following the exodus of businesses whose subscriptions provide

The UK competition regulator has blocked Microsoft’s $75bn acquisition of the Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard, in a possibly fatal blow to the software giant’s biggest-ever deal. The Competition & Markets Authority said on Wednesday it believed the company would be commercially motivated to make Activision’s games exclusive to its own cloud gaming service.

Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said he faced life in prison after being charged with terrorism, an escalation of Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on dissent following last year’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian investigators had told Navalny he would be tried by a military court for alleged terrorist attacks he is accused of committing while in

The writer is chief executive of the think-tank Demos The UK state is stuck in firefighting mode. Brexit, the pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the cost of living crisis have bent it into an entirely reactive mindset, responding frenziedly to whichever new disaster is tearing through the country. The state is now wired to

China’s president Xi Jinping held a phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday, the first conversation between the leaders since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Zelenskyy described the almost hour-long call as “long and meaningful”. He has for some time wanted direct talks with Xi to seek China’s help in ending the war, which follows

After Antony Jenkins took over as Barclays chief executive in 2012 following the Libor scandal, he moved quickly to axe the bank’s structured capital markets unit, responsible for controversial tax avoidance strategies. “I felt [the division] was clearly inconsistent with the values we were trying to set,” Jenkins, who now runs financial technology company 10x

The UK will on Wednesday continue rescue flights for thousands of citizens trapped by an outbreak of fighting in Sudan, as ministers seek to capitalise on a partially holding three-day ceasefire that is due to end within 36 hours. Three flights carrying several hundred British nationals arrived overnight at a Royal Air Force base in

The US is significantly stepping up its commitment to use its nuclear arsenal to defend South Korea, as it seeks to reassure Seoul about the strength of their alliance in the face of threats from North Korea. President Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk Yeol are set to announce on Wednesday that

Without fanfare, Rishi Sunak celebrated six months in office this week. The prime minister is a man in a hurry. Taking over a party and a country in a mess, he has defined himself as problem-solver in chief. One senior Tory describes his operating model as “Rishi arrives; Rishi delivers; Rishi moves on”. He is,

European stocks sank at the open on Wednesday as weaker-than-expected earnings from ASM International, the Dutch chip tool manufacturer, reawakened investors fears of a coming economic slowdown. Europe’s region-wide Stoxx 600 and France’s CAC index both fell more than 1.1 per cent in the first hour of trade. ASMI dropped 11.8 per cent in Amsterdam

Good morning. On a day when a bunch of huge, important companies reported results for the three months to the end of March — Microsoft, Alphabet, PepsiCo, UPS, McDonald’s — it was the news from First Republic, a bank with a market value of just a few billion dollars, that dominated the headlines. The squeaky

Tencent is ramping up overseas investment in gaming assets, seeking to diversify away from China even as Beijing lifts punishing restrictions on the industry. China’s largest listed company by market capitalisation is aiming to invest in or purchase gaming studios after slowing the pace of new investments towards the end of 2022, according to four