S4 Capital sales fall as tech clients divert cash to AI build-out March 24, 2026 Sir Martin Sorrell’s S4 Capital has been hit with sliding sales as its biggest clients spend less on advertising and more on building AI. The digital advertising group behind Monks reported revenue of £754.8m for 2025, down 11 per cent from £848.2m a year earlier. Net revenue fell 10.8 per cent to £673m, reflecting weaker [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks dip; Reeves give energy update as oil prices jump March 24, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the CityAM liveblog. Oil is back on the rise this morning following a series of mixed messages on Monday that brought forward a day of whiplash for global markets. The trading session started with nosedives into the red as markets digested President Trump’s 48 hour ultimatum on Iran, [...]
Half of AI’s most expensive chips are sitting idle, says tech expert March 23, 2026 The artificial intelligence boom, so far, has been defined by a single instinct: build more. More chips, more data centres, more power. Capital expenditure from the world’s largest tech firms is running into the hundreds of billions as they race to scale AI systems. Analysts expect global data centre investment to continue rising sharply, with [...]
Investors eye farming as AI’s latest cash cow March 23, 2026 A startup fitting livestock with AI-powered collars is closing in on a $2bn valuation, as investors turn their attention to a less obvious frontier for AI. New Zealand-based Halter is in talks to raise fresh funding led by Founders Fund, the Silicon Valley firm backed by Peter Thiel. The round is understood to be heavily [...]
Cabbies face robotaxi squeeze as Addison Lee boss warns of ‘predatory pricing’ March 23, 2026 London’s cabbies could be priced out of the market unless regulators step in to curb “predatory pricing” from deep-pocketed tech giants, the boss of Addison Lee has warned. Chief executive Liam Griffin said companies like Waymo, Wayve or Tesla risk undercutting traditional operators by subsidising fares to win market share, echoing concerns from the early [...]
Worried about AI taking your job? Zuckerberg is building one to do his March 23, 2026 While much of the debate around AI has swirled around which jobs it may inevitably replace, Big Tech behemoth Mark Zuckerberg is placing the technology at the helm of his trillion dollar business. The Meta chief executive is developing a personal AI agent designed to assist with his role, retrieving information, and cutting through layers [...]
FCA hands Palantir sensitive data in AI crime push March 23, 2026 Britain’s financial watchdog is turning to AI to hunt down fraud, raising security questions over who gets to see and use sensitive data. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has awarded Palantir a three-month contract to analyse its internal intelligence systems which notably contain highly sensitive case files, in a bid to sharpen fraud detection. The [...]
Ministers are sacrificing growth for votes, say top business bosses March 23, 2026 Government ministers have undermined the UK’s long-term economic interests by becoming “trapped” into making poor short-term policy decisions to appease voters, Britain’s top business bosses have warned. The group of corporate leaders, which include Natwest chair Rick Haythornthwaite, Heathrow chair Philip Jansen and Barratt Redrow chair Caroline Silver, said successive governments have failed to prioritise [...]
Businesses set to reclaim £1.8bn in rates appeals as tax overhaul bites March 23, 2026 Businesses are expected to claw back around £1.8bn in business rates payments through appeals, according to government modelling. The figures, disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act to tax firm Ryan, suggest the Treasury expects a sizeable volume of successful challenges to new rateable values when the latest business rates lists come into force in [...]
Reeves faces £20bn fiscal hole as energy crisis drives up costs March 22, 2026 Rachel Reeves is facing a potential £20bn shortfall in her spending plans as the Middle East energy crisis pushes up inflation, borrowing costs and pressure on public sector pay. The warning from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) comes as surging oil and gas prices begin to feed through into the wider economy, threatening to [...]