Axel Springer's Leap to buy Telegraph Media Group

European media firm Axel Springer is buying TMG (Telegraph Media Group), owner of Telegraph brands including the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, for £575m (beating a previous attempt by DMGT to acquire TMG for £500m). Matias Dopfner committed to "preserve the distinctive character and legacy" of his latest acquisition. Part of the strategy will be to expand the Telegraph's reach to the US. This is Axel's largest acquisition since 2021 when it acquired Politico for roughly $1bn.

Private Credit in Check as Blackstone Faces Withdrawals

Blackstone, the New York based investment behemoth, faced surging withdrawals in Q1 2026 from BCRED, its flagship $82bn fund. 

Clients pulled $3.7bn though new commitments came in at $2bn, leaving net withdrawals at $1.7bn (a 2% net reduction).

BCRED is the largest fund of its kind that doesn't trade on the market. This is the first quarter it has faced withdrawals. 

Wall Street was also jittery Friday from the collapse of UK mortgage lender Market Financial Solutions Ltd. (MFS)This builds on concerns arising since the collapse of First Brands. Jefferies stock has been hit this year due to exposure to both businesses.

Private credit is a $2tr industry which has grown rapidly over the past decade. Questions over valuation and transparency have hit recently, culminating in impact to BCRED.

AI "fundamentally changes what it means to build and run a company" - Dorsey

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey's technology firm Block (formerly known as Square) is cutting almost half of its workforce in the wake of AI (reducing its headcount by almost 4,000).

Stock price surged by 20%-24% in wake of the announcement, reflecting confidence in the restructuring.

Sidebar - Square is now part of Block's portfolio of products, which include Cash App, Clear Pay and Tidal - the latter which portrays as a premium music streaming service competing with Spotify.

Dorsey predicts more change to companies is on the way - and added "I think most companies are late" (to to the realisation of AI's impact).

Some pundits have accused Dorsey of "AI washing" - using AI as a cover for managerial failures including over-hiring - citing the restructuring of Twitter by Musk as a case in point. Others have pointed to "crypto winter" with Bitcoin losing a quarter of its value since the start of the year.

Block's investor relations website can be found here.  Its stock price history can be found here.

Ellison backed Paramount in Pole Position for $111bn Takeover for Warner Bros

Warner Bros was put up for sale last year. 

In light of Paramount's new bid, Netflix has dropped out of the bidding race citing the transaction was a "nice to have" not a "must have" at all costs. 

Rob Bonta, California Attorney General (the State's "top legal boss"), warned the transaction was "not a done deal".

HSBC targeting cost savings of £1.5bn in 2026 and increasing bonuses by 10%

The cost saving drive is being led by CEO Georges Elhedery who stepped into the job in 2024. These savings may be achieved 6 months ahead of schedule.  

£2.9bn of bonuses were paid to staff in 2025, with the CEO taking home £11.4m in total compensation.  

HSBC's pay committee said it intends to give the CEO the maximum long-term incentive award at 600% of salary for 2026-2028. 

However profits were down 7% year-on-year for 2025, suggesting a focus on costs rather than revenues.

Anthropic's Series G Raises $30bn led by GIC and Coatue

The raise values Anthropic at $380bn post money (accounting for the fresh capital). Co-leaders of the round were DE Shaw Ventures, Dragoneer, Founders Fund, ICONIQ and MGX. But many other funds put up money too. Money will go into frontier research, product development and infrastructure expansion.

Qualcomm Investing in Indian Startups

Technology pioneer Qualcomm has announced it will invest up to $150m though Qualcomm Ventures to support India based startups focused on AI in areas like robotics, automotive, IoT and mobile.