Business

Warner Bros is reportedly set to reject a hostile $108bn (£81bn) takeover bid from Paramount, with one of the prospective buyer’s financing partners confirming it’s pulled out of the offer. A spokesman for investment firm Affinity, owned by Donald Trump‘s son-in-law Jared Kushner, told Sky News’ US partner network NBC News “the dynamics of investment

Thames Water has opted not to pay more than £2m in retention awards to more than 20 of its top executives this month amid a political outcry over the payments. Sky News has learnt that the embattled utility’s remuneration committee has decided to defer roughly £2.46m in payouts until further notice following deliberations among directors

Some drivers have been incorrectly fined for speeding due to an issue with variable speed cameras in England, National Highways has said. The government agency said it was implementing a fix to address an anomaly detected in the way some variable speed cameras interact with signs on some A-roads and motorways. This has resulted in

A British professional wrestler is in talks with potential backers to secure millions of pounds in funding for a revamped European series that will aim to capitalise on the sport’s British fan base. Sky News has learnt that Ben Webb, who participated in the WWE franchise under the name Trent Seven, is working with advisers

Nationwide has been fined £44m for failing to do enough to combat financial crime. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued the penalty after criticising the building society’s “inadequate” efforts at tackling offences such as money laundering. The regulator said this included Nationwide having ineffective policies and procedures for monitoring personal current accounts. The fine relates

A division of Blackrock, the world’s biggest asset manager, is in talks to provide hundreds of millions of pounds of funding to a company which owns stakes in Six Nations Rugby and the women’s professional tennis tour. Sky News has learnt that HPS, the global private credit giant, is among the parties negotiating with CVC

Companies generate massive profits from people’s information, with experts describing user data as “the new oil”. Some of these companies are household names but many are unknown, with one analyst comparing the relationship between companies and users as “David vs Goliath”. Is there anything you can do about it, or are you resigned to having

Next, the high street fashion giant, is plotting a swoop on Russell & Bromley, the 145 year-old shoe retailer. Sky News has learnt that Next, which has a market capitalisation of £16.6bn, is among the parties in talks with Russell & Bromley’s advisers about a deal. City sources said this weekend that a number of

The British economy has been slowing since the summer but the long wait for a late-November budget applied an extra touch to the brakes, according to the latest growth figures from the Office for National Statistics. A monthly contraction in GDP of 0.1% in October, and a similar fall in the three-month trend, was attributed

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s holding company has axed a fifth of its workforce, even as he plots a high street restaurant comeback six years after his Jamie’s Italian chain collapsed into administration. Sky News has learnt that Jamie Oliver Group – which is not connected to the newly revived restaurant business – is making 25

The first-ever Capture case has been delayed at the Court of Appeal as the Post Office asks for an extension to respond, Sky News has learned. Pat Owen, a former sub postmistress who has since passed away, was convicted of stealing in 1998 based on evidence from computer software. The system, known as Capture, was

OpenAI has signed its first major licensing deal to bring well-known characters to life on its Sora video generation tool. The company said the agreement with Walt Disney was part of a push to ensure the rights of creators in the generative artificial intelligence (AI) space amid growing concerns over copyright, fakes and misinformation. It

Tax changes announced in the budget could have “devastating, unintended consequences” on live music venues, including widespread closures and job losses, trade bodies have warned. The bodies, representing nearly 1,000 live music venues, including grassroots sites as well as arenas such as the OVO Wembley Arena, The O2, and Co-op Live, are calling for an

The fast food chain LEON has taken a swipe at “unsustainable taxes” while moving to secure its future through the appointment of an administrator, leaving hundreds of jobs at risk. The loss-making company, bought back from Asda by its co-founder John Vincent in October, said it had begun a process that aimed to bring forward

A former Unilever executive whose consumer insight platform is used by nearly a dozen of the world’s largest packaged goods companies has raised millions of pounds to fund its expansion. Sky News understands that Bolt Insight, which counts Unilever, Reckitt and Danone among its clients, will this week announce a £7m funding round led by

A legal technology start-up which was feted as one of the industry’s most promising players after raising tens of millions of pounds from blue-chip investors is on the brink of selling the bulk of its operations to a rival. Sky News understands that Robin AI, which was forced to lay off a big chunk of