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Venture capital giant Sequoia Capital is closing its London office and cutting staff, saying it no longer requires a physical presence in the city, despite only expanding into Europe in 2020. Sequoia said it remains committed to supporting European start-ups but will manage investments from its Silicon Valley headquarters. The decision comes amid a broader restructuring, including the scrapping of its Arc accelerator and a shift towards a more selective investment strategy.

 

City AM

The Daily Telegraph

The Times

UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has referred Sky’s proposed £1.6bn takeover of ITV’s broadcasting business to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Ofcom, citing concerns over media competition and news diversity. The regulators must report on the proposed deal by January 27, after which date Nandy will decide whether to launch a further investigation. Sky, which says the merger will strengthen British broadcasting against global streaming rivals, has pledged to protect ITV's free-to-air services and public-service broadcasting obligations. It says it will also keep ITV News and Sky News editorially separate.

 

City AM

Daily Mail

The Daily Telegraph

The Times

The European Commission plans to downgrade money laundering and terrorist financing risks in the art market, despite ongoing high-profile museum heists highlighting security vulnerabilities.

 

Financial Times

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham is being urged to use the UK’s proposed new EU trade deal as a stepping stone towards rejoining the bloc. The agreement will remove food and drink border checks, introduce a youth mobility scheme and strengthen defence and trade cooperation. Labour has ruled out rejoining the single market, customs union or EU during the current parliament, but plans to discuss closer ties ahead of the next election. Tom Brufatto, policy and research director at Best for Britain, says the new deal must be a "launch pad" to rejoining the EU, while Mike Galsworthy, chair of European Movement UK, says that the deal "tees up . . . ideal circumstances for negotiations on full EU membership."

 

The Independent

German auto supplier Schaeffler is to cut 3,460 jobs in reductions that would affect 16 sites, including the shutting of four plants in Germany and one in Belgium. The company said the cuts are a response to slowing demand for combustion-engine vehicles, weaker-than-expected electric-vehicle adoption and intense competition. "Our personnel costs in Germany are ​around 2.5 times higher than in other European countries," Schaeffler chief executive Klaus Rosenfeld told Reuters.

 

Reuters

JD.com has received European Commission approval for its €2.2bn acquisition of German electronics retailer Ceconomy, which operates more than 1,000 stores across Europe under the MediaMarkt and Saturn brands. The approval follows an investigation under the EU’s foreign subsidies regulation, which found that JD.com had benefited from preferential financing, tax incentives and grants from Beijing, potentially allowing Ceconomy to undercut European competitors. To address these concerns, JD.com has committed to providing technology and logistics services, including warehousing, to rival retailers on the same terms as Ceconomy, while ensuring intragroup transactions and financing are conducted on market terms. These commitments will remain in place for 10 years.

 

China Daily

Financial Times

Reuters

UN experts have said that states and businesses must ensure corporate governance that respects human rights is a core element of implementing the corporate responsibility for human rights. “The effectiveness of the application of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights by companies relies on good corporate governance and executive leadership to ensure that decision-making and corporate culture are aligned with respect for people and the planet, and that these are embedded throughout operations,” said Robert McCorquodale, chair of the Working Group on Business and Human Rights. “Poor corporate governance concerning human rights matters can lead to many human rights abuses, affecting workers, communities and other rights holders. It can also have significant adverse consequences for companies, directors and executives,” McCorquodale said.

 

Jurist

OHCHR

Lindt & Spruengli is facing growing shareholder pressure to overhaul its board and reduce the influence of executive chair Ernst Tanner following the departure of chief executive Adalbert Lechner and two sales warnings, which have contributed to a 25% decline in its share price this year. Price increases of 19% in 2025 and a further 12% in the first half of 2026 have weakened consumer demand, prompting Lindt to cut its organic sales growth forecast to 0%-2%, against a five-year average of 10.9%. Investors have also raised concerns over board independence and Mr Tanner’s 32-year tenure as chair. Former CEO Dieter Weisskopf has returned as interim chief executive; a permanent successor is expected to be appointed in the second quarter of 2027.

 

Reuters

BMW has issued its second profit warning this year, citing restructuring costs and job losses amid fierce competition from Chinese manufacturers. The company now expects a profit margin between -0.5% and 0.5%, down from an earlier forecast of 4-6%. In the third quarter, pre-tax earnings fell by 11% to £1.75bn.

 

The Guardian

Dutch supermarket chain Ahold Delhaize has lowered financial forecasts after the cyber attack that affected most of its brands across Europe and the US, expecting €200-250m in lost sales.

 

Financial Times

An air traffic control failure in September resulted in an estimated £33m loss for the UK economy, according to a Cyber Monitoring Centre report. The incident at National Air Traffic Services caused over 2,000 flight cancellations. Global financial losses, when including the impact on overseas airlines, were estimated to be between £48m and £76m.

 

The Independent

Accenture will correct an AI report containing false citations and apparently invented case studies. GPTZero attributed the errors to AI hallucinations, while Accenture blamed human error.

 

Financial Times

Growth in the UK's services sector has reached an eight-month high, with the S&P Global UK services PMI index reporting a score of 52.8 in October, up from 52.1 in September. Any score above 50 signifies expansion. October's score is the highest since February, prior to the onset of the conflict in the Middle East. Higher workloads prompted firms to increase recruitment, ending two years of continuous job cuts. However, input price inflation accelerated to a five-month high, with around four in 10 businesses reporting rising costs. Tim Moore, the economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said the survey suggested an "increase in economic resilience despite challenges from geopolitical tensions, elevated cost pressures and subdued consumer confidence."

 

The Guardian

The Times

The Daily Telegraph

Research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York indicates that many in-office workers feel isolated, in contradiction to corporate claims about the benefits of in-person collaboration. The study found that nearly half of the surveyed college-educated workers reported that their office days were filled with Zoom calls and Slack messages rather than meaningful interactions. “Days in the office often lack human contact,” the researchers observed, highlighting that 48.8% of respondents had no in-person meetings on their last office day. The disconnect is attributed to remote colleagues, geographical team spread, and lax enforcement of in-office mandates.

 

CNBC