Business

The owners of Asda and petrol stations giant EG Group were on Thursday applying the finishing touches to a £10bn merger of their operations in Britain. Sky News has learnt that the billionaire Issa brothers – Mohsin and Zuber, who launched EG Group – and TDR Capital are aiming to announce the tie-up on Friday.

Rishi Sunak has met leaders of the tech industry to discuss the “existential threats” artificial intelligence could pose. The prime minister met CEOs of OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic today to share ideas about how to manage the technology as it grows in sophistication. Mr Sunak praised AI as “the defining technology of our time

Microsoft will on Wednesday lodge a formal appeal against British regulators’ decision to block its $75bn takeover of Activision Blizzard, the Call of Duty maker. Sky News understands that the technology behemoth will file its complaint with the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) within hours, sparking the next phase of its fight to secure one of

Netflix has expanded its crackdown on password sharing, telling users worldwide their accounts cannot be shared for free outside their households. The streaming service has been looking for new revenue streams amid fears of market saturation, with efforts including limits on password borrowing and a new advert-supported option. On Tuesday, the company said it was

Britain is no longer expected to suffer a recession this year, nor will it have the weakest economic growth in the group of seven leading industrialised economies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said today. Unveiling a dramatic upgrade to its outlook for Britain, the Fund, which previously predicted Britain would face the worst 2023 of

A growing number of skilled workers from Africa and Asia are moving to Britain to plug crippling staff shortages, according to new figures that reveal the changing picture of migration. Businesses are making use of the new post-Brexit migration system to bring in IT professionals, nurses and accountants. Since January 2021, the new system has

The owner of WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook has been slapped with a record fine of €1.2bn (£1.04bn) by the Irish data protection regulator. It’s the biggest fine ever levied for breach of the general data protection regulations (GDPR). Meta has incurred the fine for transferring EU citizens data to the United States for processing and

Meta is expected to face a record fine later over its transfer of Facebook’s European user data to US servers, according to reports. Reuters news agency cited two anonymous sources familiar with the matter as saying that the penalty from EU regulators will be higher than the previous record – a €746m (£647m) fine for

The government is to begin the hunt for a new boss of its flagship trade and cultural promotion campaign after the incumbent decided to step down after two years in charge. Sky News understands that Andy Pike OBE resigned as director of GREAT earlier this month, and will leave the post in September. Mr Pike

Executives including a former director of world motorsport’s governing body and the Nectar loyalty scheme founder Sir Keith Mills are in talks to raise $100m (£80m) to finance the rebirth of A1GP, the motor racing series contested by national teams from around the globe. Sky News has learnt that heavyweight names from the sporting and

The energy price cap is set to remain more than £1,000 higher than the average bill before the COVID pandemic, according to a closely-watched forecast. Ahead of the industry regulator’s determination on the price cap level due next week, energy research specialist Cornwall Insight said it saw the cap for a typical household at the

Tesco chair John Allan is to leave next month after the supermarket giant said allegations over his personal conduct “risk becoming a distraction” to the chain. The UK’s largest retailer said he would be “stepping down” from his role as chair of the board and as a director at the company’s AGM on 16 June.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife lost an average of £500,000 a day over the past year, according to The Sunday Times Rich List. The couple are estimated to be £201m poorer due a fall in the value of Akshata Murty’s stake in her father’s IT firm – but are still worth a reported

Employees are more fearful and distrustful of artificial intelligence in the workplace than their employers – as businesses see cost savings as the main benefit of the technology. A UK-wide survey of attitudes and preparedness for AI, by recruitment giant Hays, found close to a third of employees say they don’t have the right skills

The online party goods supplier founded by the Princess of Wales’s parents has been sold after it failed to avoid collapsing into administration. Sky News has learnt that Party Pieces Holdings, which was launched by Carole and Michael Middleton in 1987, was bought on Thursday by James Sinclair, an entrepreneur. Sources said the sale had

It is hardly surprising that, confronted with the highest levels of food and drink inflation since 1977, some people have concluded that supermarkets are “profiteering”. Those people, apparently, include Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, and the Unite union’s general secretary Sharon Graham. Both have used that incendiary term over the past week, with Sir

Britain has now missed its window of opportunity to build a battery industry, and the government, including Rishi Sunak, is largely to blame, the head of collapsed cell manufacturer Britishvolt has told Sky News. The company was feted as the jewel in Britain’s manufacturing crown – the first home-grown gigafactory, co-financed by the government and

Almost 11 million people are battling to keep up with bills and credit repayments, new figures have revealed. Around one in five adults have found financial commitments to be a heavy burden from the start of the year, according to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The number of people struggling soared from 7.8 million last

The owner of the largest pipeline system in the North Sea has warned the future of domestic production is in doubt due to the severity of UK windfall taxes. Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who is Britain’s richest man and whose Ineos business owns the Forties oil and gas pipeline, said the tax rate applied to North

One in five taxpayers will be paying higher-rate income tax by 2027, in what the Institute for Fiscal Studies describes as a “seismic shift” since the 1990s. Higher rates of tax were previously thought of as being for the most wealthy, but the six-year freeze in income tax allowances and thresholds that began last month

Supermarket fuel prices were roughly 5p more expensive per litre in 2022 than pre-pandemic levels, an investigation by the competition watchdog has found. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has said that factors beyond the invasion of Ukraine have impacted the price customers are paying at the pumps and weak competition has helped drive increases.

Britain is at risk of forgetting “how to do things for ourselves”, the home secretary will warn, as she increases pressure on Rishi Sunak to cut net migration. The home secretary will use a speech at the National Conservatism Conference today to call for the Conservatives to renew their 2019 manifesto commitment, which promised “fewer

A retirement savings platform which previously secured backing from Legal & General will this week unveil a $95m (£76m) fundraising led by a New York-based private equity investor. Sky News has learnt that Smart, which was founded in 2014, will announce the capital raise on Monday. It will be led by Aquiline Capital Partners, which

Lord Tyrie, the former chair of the competition watchdog and architect of many of Britain’s post-financial crisis banking reforms, is among the candidates vying to head Ofgem, the under-fire energy regulator. Sky News has learnt that Lord Tyrie has put his name forward to replace Professor Martin Cave, who is due to step down as

Striking rail workers have vowed to continue walking out until the government “unblocks” their pay dispute on the second day in a row of cancellations. There are 14 rail operators affected by strike action by the RMT union on Saturday – the day of the Eurovision finale in Liverpool – after a separate walkout by

Virgin Orbit has pushed back the deadline for rescue bids as the commercial satellite venture founded by Sir Richard Branson scrambles to avert bankruptcy. Sky News has learnt that the company and its advisers have told would-be buyers of the company that they must now submit final offers by May 19, several days later than

The Royal Mail chief executive is to step down, parent firm International Distributions Services has announced. As first reported by Sky News, Simon Thompson had been in talks to leave the company after his credibility was challenged by MPs who recalled him for questioning at the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) committee. The company

Mike Lynch, the British software tycoon, has been extradited to the US weeks after losing a long-running legal battle against the move. Sky News understands that Mr Lynch arrived in San Francisco on a United Airlines flight on Thursday lunchtime, paving the way for the former Autonomy chief to be tried on criminal charges. One

The UK economy grew slightly in the first three months of the year, according to official figures – but contracted in March. Growth of 0.1% was recorded by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) in the three months up to March, the lowest amount possible to still be classed as growth as IT and construction

Almost two thirds of young women have experienced sexual harassment, bullying or verbal abuse at work, according to a new poll. Some 62% of those in the 25-to-34 age group reported being pestered or persecuted on work premises – as well as during virtual meetings, over email and on the phone, the survey by the TUC found.

Prices have increased at the world’s largest holiday company and are now “notably higher” than just three months ago. The average selling price at Tui has increased 5%, which the company has described as “notably higher” than the 2% price increase reported in the first three months of its 2023 financial year. In its half-year

Ryanair has ended a price feud with Boeing to confirm a deal for 300 new planes which, the no frills carrier said, was a record US order by an Irish company. Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers said it was buying 150 737 MAX 10 aircraft with an option for a further 150 for delivery

One of Britain’s biggest companies has warned that the UK risks squandering its lead in one of the most important green technologies because of the government’s reluctance to support its companies. Johnson Matthey, the chemicals and metals company which is currently responsible for most of the world’s catalytic convertors, told Sky News it has intellectual