{"id":98899,"date":"2025-10-02T11:04:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T11:04:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/98899\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T11:04:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T11:04:15","slug":"openai-overtakes-spacex-with-500bn-valuation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/98899\/","title":{"rendered":"OpenAI overtakes SpaceX with $500bn valuation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daniel Kretinsky, the Czech billionaire who owns Royal Mail<\/a>, is selling his 20 per cent stake in Thyssenkrupp\u2019s steel business, ending lengthy talks that could led to the creation of a German-Czech steel and energy giant.<\/p>\n

The discussions had not made any measurable progress since Kretinsky\u2019s EP Group bought the stake in Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe (TKSE) last year.<\/p>\n

It leaves Thyssenkrupp free to pursue talks with India\u2019s Jindal Steel International, which last month presented an indicative bid for the steel business, which it has sought to divest for years.<\/p>\n

Steel producers in Europe are facing difficulties from cheap Chinese imports and high energy costs.<\/p>\n

No more taxes on business, Tesco boss urges Reeves\"The<\/p>\n

The chancellor told the Labour conference this week that Britain \u201cwill face further tests, with choices to come, made all the harder by harsh global headwinds\u201d<\/p>\n

RASID NECATI ASLIM\/ANADOLU VIA GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

The boss of Tesco has warned Rachel Reeves that \u201cenough is enough\u201d amid fears of furtehr tax rises in her November budget.<\/p>\n

Ken Murphy, chief executive of Britain\u2019s largest supermarket chain, said of the chancellor\u2019s budget: \u201cOur one ask is, don\u2019t make it harder for the industry to deliver great value for customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the last budget the industry and the sector incurred substantial additional operating costs. We\u2019re doing our best to deal with them, but enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy said that Tesco would like to see \u201cpro-growth and pro-jobs\u201d in the budget, \u201cwhich as a result will help customers with the cost of living\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added that households were currently \u201cworried about what lies ahead and we\u2019re seeing that in the consumer sentiment\u201d.<\/p>\n

ICG raises guidance for performance fees<\/p>\n

ICG shares climbed 4.3 per cent this morning after the FTSE 100 alternative asset manager raised its guidance for the performance fees it expects to earn.<\/p>\n

The company, which oversees $123 billion across asset classes including private equity, private debt and infrastructure, said it was changing the way it recognised performance fee revenues to \u201cremove certain elements of management judgment\u201d and make the fees \u201cmore visible than under the current approach, in particular in the early years of a fund\u2019s life\u201d.<\/p>\n

This will result in a one-off gain of between \u00a365 million and \u00a375 million in its first-half results for 2026 and has also prompted an upgrade to its medium-term financial guidance.<\/p>\n

It now expects performance fees to account for between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of its total fee income, an improvement on its previous forecast of 10 per cent to 15 per cent.<\/p>\n

Dr Martens expands in UAE and Latin America\"a<\/p>\n

The Dr Martens chief executive previously said: \u201cWe need to become a business that is no longer reliant on any single market, product or channel\u201d<\/p>\n

BEN GURR FOR THE TIMES<\/p>\n

The FTSE 250 bootmaker is expanding into the United Arab Emirates and increasing its presence in Latin America.<\/p>\n

Dr Martens<\/a> announced a distribution partnership agreement with Beside Group in the United Arab Emirates, entering the country for the first time.<\/p>\n

The retailer has also partnered with Crosby in Latin America, which opened a store in Santiago, Chile, this week \u2014 its second in the region after the opening of a store in Argentina in August.<\/p>\n

Ije Nwokorie, the chief executive, said: \u201cThese exciting partnerships are consistent with our strategy of entering new growth markets to reach more consumers than ever before through a capital-light approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Martens shares, which have risen more than 80 per cent over the past year, gained 1 per cent, or 1p, to 99p.<\/p>\n

OpenAI overtakes SpaceX as most valuable start-up\"Sam<\/p>\n

Sam Altman, the chief executive<\/p>\n

KIM KYUNG-HOON\/REUTERS<\/p>\n

OpenAI has reached a valuation of $500 billion after a deal in which current and former employees sold roughly $6.6 billion worth of shares.<\/p>\n

It means the ChatGPT owner has overtaken Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX \u2013 valued at $400 billion \u2013 to become the world\u2019s largest startup.<\/p>\n

As part of the deal, OpenAI employees sold shares to a consortium of investors including Thrive Capital, SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi\u2019s MGX and T Rowe Price, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n

In the first half of the year, OpenAI reported revenue of about $4.3 billion, a 16 per cent increase on its total revenue for the whole of last year. The company is on track to reach a full-year revenue target of $13 billion. However, high research and development costs have meant OpenAI has made a $7.8 billion operating loss.<\/p>\n

Government may exempt UK IPOs from stamp duty\"Stock<\/p>\n

Dozens of companies worth more than \u00a3100 million have left London\u2019s market this year<\/p>\n

CHRIS RATCLIFFE\/BLOOMBERG\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

The Treasury is looking to give a stamp duty holiday to companies that list on the London Stock Exchange, the Financial Times has reported.<\/p>\n

The measure is expected to help bolster London\u2019s stock market and make it a more attractive place to list. A number of companies have opted to list in America<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Investors would be exempt from the 0.5 per cent tax on buying the shares of newly listed companies in Britain. It could be announced as a measure in next month\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n

London\u2019s leading share index has extended its recent rally, helped by pharmaceutical and mining stocks.<\/p>\n

The FTSE 100 rose 6 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 9,452.72, adding to yesterday\u2019s closing high \u2014 the second consecutive record high<\/a> this week. Pharmaceutical companies have risen after a US agreement on pharmaceutical prices with Pfizer on hopes that other big pharma companies will follow suit.<\/p>\n

The investment company 3i Group was the biggest riser after a report of its possible \u00a31.3 billion exit from the French IT company Evernex. AstraZeneca rose, and Anglo American was lifted by higher metal prices.<\/p>\n

Tesco, up 1.5 per cent, was not among the main risers but its upbeat results buoyed the rest of the sector, with Marks & Spencer higher.<\/p>\n

The pound was helped by a weak dollar, rising to $1.3493. Gold dipped to $3,86566 an ounce but remains close to its high. British government bond yields fell.<\/p>\n

Thames Water creditors submit revised rescue plan\"Thames<\/p>\n

The creditors believe they can cut gross debt from over \u00a320 billion to \u00a314.5 billion, making Thames Water resilient<\/p>\n

MINA KIM\/REUTERS<\/p>\n

Thames Water\u2019s creditors have submitted what appears to be a take-it-or-leave-it final rescue plan to recapitalise the company.<\/p>\n

They have submitted the improved plan for the takeover of the stricken utility to regulators, offering a \u00a34 billion write-off of their debt in return for renegotiated targets on pollution incidents and mains water leakage.<\/p>\n

They have pledged \u00a320.5 billion of investment in catch-up infrastructure in the five years to spring 2030, with a further \u00a324.9 billion of capital expenditure in the subsequent five-year regulatory period.<\/p>\n

In the plan, the creditors say Thames Water would eventually return to the public markets through a London Stock Exchange listing once the turnaround is complete and the company is financially stable.<\/p>\n

The crisis at Britain\u2019s largest privatised water utility has been going on for 18 months since its previous shareholders walked away<\/a>. Rejection of the creditors\u2019 plan would inevitably lead to the government being forced to call in administrators and the company being put into a \u201cspecial administration regime\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Read in full: <\/b>Thames Water creditors make \u2018take it or leave it\u2019 rescue offer<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Fit-out business drives Morgan Sindall profit growth<\/p>\n

The FTSE 250 construction group Morgan Sindall has said it expects full-year results \u201cwill be significantly ahead of its previous expectations\u201d after a strong performance from its office fit-out division.<\/p>\n

The group said that Overbury, the largest office fit-out business in Britain, had continued to strengthen significantly. Shares in the company rose more than 40 per cent over the past year.<\/p>\n

South West Water appoints chief executive\"People<\/p>\n

South West Water covers areas in Cornwall, such as the Roseland Peninsula<\/p>\n

TRAVELLINGLIGHT\/ALAMY<\/p>\n

Pennon Group, the owner of South West Water, has appointed Keith Haslett as its next chief executive to replace Susan Davy.<\/p>\n

Davy said she was stepping down in July, a day after the company agreed to pay \u00a324 million in settlements<\/a> for wastewater failures. She had been in the role for five years and had spent 18 years at the London-listed utility.<\/p>\n

Haslett is the chief executive of Affinity Water and is expected to join Pennon in 2026, after his notice period. He has held executive roles at Northumbrian Water Group and United Utilities.<\/p>\n

Tesco budget full-year profits forecast higher<\/p>\n

Tesco has nudged full-year profit forecasts higher as it reported \u201cstrong trading\u201d in the first half of its financial year.<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s largest supermarket chain, which also owns the Booker cash and carry business, said it now expected full-year operating profit of between \u00a32.9 billion and \u00a33.1 billion. The group had previously forecast profit of between \u00a32.7 billion and \u00a33 billion.<\/p>\n

Tesco reported that interim operating profit was a fraction lower at \u00a31.6 billion in the six months to the end of August, from \u00a31.61 billion over the same period last year. Sales across the group rose 5.1 per cent over the period to \u00a333.05 billion as UK like-for-like sales rose by 4.9 per cent.<\/p>\n

Ken Murphy, the chief executive, said: \u201cI am pleased with our first half performance, which builds on already strong momentum. Our market share gains in the UK are a particular highlight and reflect the decisive action we took at the start of the year to further invest in value, quality and service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fermi shares expected to jump in London\"Toby<\/p>\n

Rick Perry, right, the former US energy secretary and co-founder of Fermi, and Toby Neugebauer, the chief executive<\/p>\n

VICTOR J BLUE\/BLOOMBERG\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

London-listed shares in the data centre property start-up co-founded by the former US energy secretary Rick Perry will be in sharp focus when they start trading.<\/p>\n

The shares rose 55 per cent above the offer price on their Nasdaq debut last night, valuing the company at $19.3 billion amid surging investor enthusiasm for AI infrastructure stocks. It is the first Nasdaq-LSE dual listing in decades.<\/p>\n

The company, founded in January this year, is aiming to build the world\u2019s largest energy and data complex, powered by nuclear, natural gas and solar. It said it is \u201cfocused on developing electric grids that deliver on-demand power at gigawatt scale, required to create next-generation artificial intelligence\u201d.<\/p>\n

In its financial filings, Fermi has reported zero revenue in its first few months and has incurred operating losses of around $6.4 million. Projects are not expected to begin collecting meaningful revenues until about 2027.<\/p>\n

White House drops Antoni as new labour statistics chief\"EJ<\/p>\n

The White House has pulled the nomination of the economist EJ Antoni to replace Erika McEntarfer, the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) fired by President Trump after he claimed jobs data had been \u201crigged\u201d to suggest the economy was performing worse than expected.<\/p>\n

Antoni, a controversial conservative economist, was to appear before a Senate committee for a confirmation hearing for the BLS commissioner role. However, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a briefing yesterday: \u201cIt became clear, unfortunately, that he was not going to have the votes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The withdrawal came after a CNN report that Antoni operated a since-deleted Twitter account that featured sexually degrading attacks on Kamala Harris, derogatory remarks about gay people, conspiracy theories and crude insults aimed at critics of Trump.<\/p>\n

The White House said it would announce a replacement nominee very soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Daniel Kretinsky, the Czech billionaire who owns Royal Mail, is selling his 20 per cent stake in Thyssenkrupp\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[63075,79,18,19,17,20391,188,307,63074,2731,9495,2046],"class_list":{"0":"post-98899","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-markets","8":"tag-500bn","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-live","14":"tag-markets","15":"tag-openai","16":"tag-overtakes","17":"tag-spacex","18":"tag-valuation","19":"tag-with"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}