Business, in sixty words

Japan saw approximately 483,157 visits from British tourists in 2025, a 40.8% increase compared to 2019. Social media is a significant influence, with Maitri Sanghvi, 24, and Aden Ibrahim, 29, citing TikTok and Instagram. A weakening yen also makes travel cheaper, with Faye Jawad, 26, noting ramen costs £3-£4 there.

The cash will go to British developers who sold apps to Android users from August 2018 onwards. Competition law professor Barry Rodger launched the claim, arguing the tech firm forced unfair commissions onto businesses. Both sides agreed the compensation package shortly before court hearings were scheduled to begin at the Competition Appeal Tribunal on 15 September.

Food companies have spent years re-engineering snacks like Ritz crackers and BelVita bakes to meet strict UK government limits on fat, sugar and salt. However, the government is now examining the method used to determine which foods are classified as "less healthy". Makers warn this could mean 80% of their reformulated products fail the new model, particularly on sugar content.

Households across the UK can cut annual energy expenditure by as much as £173 by opting for a fixed-rate tariff. Ofgem, the energy regulator, says some fixed tariffs are over £100 cheaper than the October cap. The cheapest fixed deal from Fuse Energy is £1,550 a year, £173 below the new cap.

Hundreds of easyJet passengers flying from Manchester to Antalya faced long delays and ended up stranded in Milan. Their initial flight on Friday, August 28, was cancelled on the runway due to air traffic control and weather. A replacement flight then diverted to Milan as that crew also reached its duty limit, leaving families 1,200 miles from their holiday destination.

Donald Trump announced on Friday that the US has secured majority control of over 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil, calling it "THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY". He asserted this agreement, involving interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez, would incur no cost for American taxpayers. The White House has not released details of the agreement, including participating companies or how "control" is defined.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to remove a federal rule requiring public notice for certain industrial air permits. The proposed change would let data centre developers and other industries build without telling nearby residents about potential pollution. Environmental groups argue that even "minor" pollution sources can have big local impacts, and the EPA is currently reviewing over 4,900 public comments on the proposal.

Apple has increased the monthly cost of its streaming service to $14.99 for both new and existing customers. The yearly subscription fee has risen to $119, having previously been $99, and the individual Apple One bundle also increased to $21.95 each month. Notably, all other major premium video-entertainment streamers have also raised their prices in the last two years.

Meta is updating its AI smart glasses to stop people recording after covering the front-facing LED light. Alex Himel, the company's vice president of augmented reality, stated that the camera would cease to function if its light became obstructed while recording. The change comes after some users found they could bypass restrictions by covering the LED after starting to record.

Elon Musk's xAI is facing a lawsuit claiming it used child sex abuse material (CSAM) to train its Grok AI models. A plaintiff, identified as Jane Doe, says her childhood abuse images were used, and that Grok also generated new CSAM depicting her. The lawsuit seeks to stop Grok from creating harmful outputs and asks xAI to destroy any stored CSAM.

A new report established that the average CEO working for America's 100 lowest-paying corporations earned 614 times the amount of their average employee last year. The pay gap has grown, with CEO pay rising 41.4% between 2019 and 2025, double the 20.7% increase for median workers.

America's Trump administration settled to cancel offshore wind projects, paying German company RWE about £945 million to give up leases. RWE will then spend around £709 million to buy part of a natural gas project in Louisiana. The stake is from Stonespeak, a private equity firm run by Michael Dorrell, a billionaire neighbour of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate.

People living near new data centres in Wales are worried about the noise, visual impact, and potential effect on house prices. These buildings, full of powerful computers, are increasing across the UK due to AI growth and need large amounts of electricity and water. Local councils and companies say they are working to manage these impacts and consider environmental and community concerns.

Mike Ashley, who founded Sports Direct, expressed criticism of Prime Minister Andy Burnham's recent retail policies in a letter to him, labelling them as "populist reactions". Ashley said "disastrous" business rates and rising employment costs are hurting businesses, calling a plan to tax warehouses more to cut rates for pubs "delusional".

Nvidia has agreed to acquire Hugging Face, a platform for open-source AI models, in a deal worth $12.9 billion. Nvidia's financial strength grows, with its data centre division generating $89 billion in the last quarter. The acquisition is expected to give Nvidia more direct access to a large developer and corporate customer base. Nvidia can leverage the platform's business model to deploy its GPU infrastructure more effectively.

Salesforce stock saw its second-best day ever on Thursday, driven by better-than-expected second-quarter earnings. The company also announced an expanded partnership with AI startup Anthropic, creating "Claudeforce" to help salespeople use the Claude chatbot. Salesforce's news boosted other software company shares, easing fears that AI would disrupt the software-as-a-service business model.

The High Court in London ordered the closure of Cask Spirits Global on Tuesday 25 August, following complaints from customers who had paid for whisky casks they never received. The Insolvency Service, part of the British Government, found only 4 of 17 customers investigated had valid ownership documents. The company also used high-pressure sales tactics and failed to provide 27 of 29 requested accounting documents.

The first extended look at GTA 6 gameplay premieres on Netflix at 8pm UK time tonight, exclusive to subscribers for six hours. Rockstar then releases the same footage free on YouTube and its website at 2am on Friday, days after leaked clips gave fans an unofficial glimpse. The game itself lands on 19 November for PlayStation 5 and Xbox, with UK pre orders at £69.99.

Share prices for beverage, chemical, and real estate companies dragged the wider London market down on Thursday. The blue-chip FTSE 100 dropped to about 10,821 points, even though UK technology firms climbed 1% following strong artificial intelligence forecasts from the American chipmaker Nvidia. In other financial news, traders now expect the Bank of England to wait until February 2027 before raising interest rates.

The currency dropped against the dollar and euro on Thursday after financial markets decided borrowing costs probably won't increase in 2026. Traders now share the view of economists that the Bank of England will hold steady, avoiding extra strain on the UK economy. Attention is also shifting to parliament next week, where Andy Burnham's administration must figure out funding for its October budget.

The American chipmaker recorded a 106% revenue jump, taking in £71bn during the quarter leading up to July. Chief executive Jensen Huang noted that market demand keeps accelerating, describing this current era as a golden age for artificial intelligence startups. Shares in the technology firm climbed 4% after it signed a fresh deal to provide Amazon Web Services with two million graphics units.

The Leeds-based fitness chain brought in £393m over the first six months of 2026, helped by a successful turnaround at its American branches. Chief executive Alex Wood believes the company can launch another 750 locations, including opening its first Irish gyms early next year. Total membership has reached 2,442,000 people, as industry leaders notice young adults drinking less and exercising more.

Eurostar has been the only company offering direct passenger services from London through the Channel Tunnel for three decades. Italy's state-owned railway, FS Group, is currently leading the race to launch its London to Paris route by 2029. Virgin Trains also plans to start services to Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam in 2030, after getting UK track access last week.

Gold is losing ground after a US inflation report, the PCE Price Index, came in higher than expected for July. Traders are worried that the Federal Reserve might raise interest rates again soon. Higher Treasury yields and a stronger US dollar are also adding pressure on gold, which pays no interest.

Salesforce and Anthropic have expanded their partnership, allowing users to access Salesforce's customer relationship management platform directly within Anthropic's Claude AI. The new "Claudeforce" plugin enables sales teams to interrogate, modify, and respond to real-time CRM information without launching the Salesforce application. Select pilot customers can currently access the product, and a broader beta release is scheduled for September.

The Chinese-founded fast-fashion giant Shein will float in Hong Kong next week, having bypassed a potential London stock market debut. London was previously seen as an option after Shein rejected New York due to US lawmaker questions about its supply chain labour practices in China. The company's valuation has also fallen significantly from £50bn to $27bn (£20bn).

The US chipmaker, central to the AI boom, reported its second-quarter results on Wednesday after the US market closed. Analysts had expected revenue of around $91.9 billion, but Nvidia's actual revenue significantly exceeded these forecasts doing $96.2 billion. Nvidia's performance is closely watched as its chips power much of the AI infrastructure built by major tech companies.

Pre-tax profits at Britain's second-largest airport took an 18% hit, dropping to £137 million over six months. Bosses said travellers are avoiding holiday spots they link to the conflict, like Turkey and Cyprus, driving total flyer numbers down to 19.1 million. Higher staff wages and rising utility bills also pushed the hub's operating costs up to £318 million.

The high-end device, which marks Apple's very first folding model, is expected to launch this September with a steep price. Market researcher IDC says the upcoming release should save the broader folding phone industry from a recent downturn. Samsung originally invented this handset style seven years ago, but analysts think plenty of consumers are now ready to buy a fresh alternative.

Vistry, a house builder, will receive £350m in government funding from Homes England for social and affordable housing projects. It's one of 33 strategic partners chosen for the £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme over ten years. Vistry's chief executive, Adam Daniels, said this reflects their two-decade track record in delivering affordable homes.

US stocks are heading higher on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing at 53,495.83, up from 53,417.16 on Monday. Falling Treasury yields and a recovery in semiconductor stocks boosted the rise. Investors are now looking ahead to Nvidia's earnings and the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole symposium later this week.

Overall revenue grew 21% between January and June, helped by strong demand for officially licensed tournament trophies and figures of Lionel Messi. The Danish company also reported huge interest in its KPop Demon Hunters line, based on the hit Netflix film. However, the toymaker expects its shipping bills to rise later this year because of the ongoing US-Iran war.

Just 8,383 graduate jobs were advertised across the UK in July, down 45% in a year and the lowest since Adzuna began tracking in 2016. The figures land as a record 262,820 students prepare to start university, with employers blaming hiring costs and AI. One expert cautions the fall may partly reflect fewer roles labelled graduate, calling the market weak but not collapsed.

Cheap imported steel is flooding the UK market, cutting demand and prices for domestic producers like Tata Steel. Workers at their Llanwern plant are now on lighter duties due to production lines not running constantly. The UK government said it aims to balance protecting local steel with maintaining supply, but a review of import quotas could take 12 months.

A new study reveals a medium Costa cappuccino contains 325 milligrams of caffeine, vastly more than Starbucks. Consumer champion Which? analysed coffee shop drinks to find huge variations in caffeine levels. Costa also leads in espresso and flat white caffeine, while Caffe Nero's cappuccino levels have doubled.

Yorkshire and the Humber fitted 9,700 solar installations in the first six months of this year, a record for the region. The 9,700 solar panels are sufficient to supply electricity to as many as 16,300 homes. Rooftop solar could save a typical UK home £500 annually, according to estimates from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

Traders are currently waiting to see if new American sanctions on Iran's trade partners will disrupt vital oil supplies. A weaker US dollar pushed up metal values on Monday, boosting shares in mining giants Rio Tinto and Anglo American. The wider stock market gains happened even though energy companies BP and Shell dropped as crude prices fell.

The UK currency dropped about 0.1% on Monday just days after reaching a six-month high. Financial markets are feeling jittery over how Tehran might respond when America imposes fresh penalties on Iranian trading partners. Despite this minor wobble, sterling remains a top-performing major currency this year because investors think the Bank of England will increase borrowing costs.

Donald Trump made over 1,000 stock portfolio trades during June, buying at least $49 million and selling at least $28.5 million in securities. This activity comes as Congress debates a ban on stock trading for those in power, although the legislation was trimmed to exclude the president. Critics suggest Trump's actions show a conflict of interest, but a White House spokesperson denies any such conflicts.