Business
Search Firm Pathfinders Breached, Exposing Board-Level Candidate Files for Clients
Pathfinders, an UK executive search and board advisory firms led by Bruce and Penelope Wright is reported to have suffered a significant cyberattack in which intruders accessed and exfiltrated confidential candidate records, including succession plans and compensation data tied to some of its largest corporate clients.
The breach is notable less for its scale than for the sensitivity of what was taken. Executive search firms sit on some of the most closely guarded information in corporate life — confidential dossiers on who might next run a major company, what they are paid, and which directors are quietly being moved on. A leak of that material strikes directly at the discretion these firms sell.
What is known
Although significant amounts of data from Pathfinder has been published on the darkweb, the company has done no disclosure of the breach and none of the affected clients and individuals have been notified.
People familiar with the investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss it, said the intrusion appeared to have begun with compromised credentials which were then used to reach the firm’s candidate-management system. The attackers are believed to have had access for several weeks before detection — a dwell time the firm has not publicly confirmed.
A ransomware group operating under the name “BlackVellum” has claimed responsibility on the dark web. Whether a ransom had been demanded or paid is not known. The claim could not be independently verified, and attribution at this stage remains tentative.
Whose data was exposed
The exposed material include candidate CVs, references, psychometric and leadership assessments, interview notes, and compensation details, as well as confidential board succession plans prepared for client companies.
For candidates, the exposure carries a particular sting: there is more than one senior cybersecurity executive whose personal data is now in circulation on the dark web and several other candidates had off-market conversations their current employers do not know about. For client companies, the leak risks revealing internal succession thinking — including which incumbents are being lined up to replace, and on what terms.
Regulatory and legal exposure
There is no indication that Pathfinder had notified the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK’s data protection regulator. Under UK GDPR, organisations must report a qualifying personal-data breach within 72 hours of becoming aware of it, and can face fines of up to 4 percent of global annual turnover for serious failings. Legal specialists said the firm could also face claims from affected individuals and contractual disputes with clients whose data-handling expectations were not met.
The incident is likely to draw scrutiny of what security assurances Pathfinder gave clients in its engagement contracts, and whether its actual controls matched them — a gap that has proven costly for other professional-services firms.
What the experts say
Security analysts said the case fits a wider pattern in which attackers increasingly target professional-services firms not for their own sake but as a route to their high-value clients. “A search firm is a concentration point,” one cyber risk consultant said. “Compromise one boutique and you potentially gain intelligence on dozens of major companies at once.”
Others pointed to the supply-chain entry point as the recurring weak link. Smaller advisory firms often hold exceptionally sensitive data while running leaner security operations than the corporations they serve, making them an attractive target.
What remains unresolved
Key questions are still open: how the credentials were obtained, exactly how long the attackers were inside, the full list of affected clients, and whether the stolen files will be published.
Business
US appeals court blocks Trump admin from enacting new plans to slash consumer watchdog staff

US appeals court blocks Trump admin from enacting new plans to slash consumer watchdog staff
Business
Trump’s 100% French Wine Tariff Threat Over Digital Tax
President Trump has reopened his long-running feud with Paris, warning that he will slap a 100 per cent tariff on French wine and champagne unless President Macron abandons France’s digital services tax, the 3 per cent levy that falls most heavily on America’s biggest technology firms.
The threat lands just as Trump prepares to travel to France for the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, setting up a tense encounter between two leaders who have spent years alternately courting and clashing with one another. Macron’s response was blunt. Told of the ultimatum, he said simply: “That’s not how it works.”
In an interview with the New York Post, Trump framed the matter as a straightforward act of retaliation. “I asked him not to charge American companies and if they do, I have no choice but to charge a 100 per cent tariff on all champagnes and all wines coming out of France,” he said. “All he has to do is get rid of the sales tax and he wouldn’t have that kind of pressure.”
Speaking to the French broadcaster TF1, Macron argued that any fresh increase on French wine would breach the trade settlement struck between Trump and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission. “We have just concluded an agreement between Europe and the US on tariffs. Now we need stability,” he said. “This digital services tax, the Europeans decided it and several countries have implemented it. It’s part of our law. It is not for the US to decide on French and European law.”
He added that he was prepared for “a respectful but firm discussion”, while insisting France would not be bounced into rewriting its own statute book. Tariffs, he said, “are no good for anyone”, least of all between G7 partners, because they fail to fix America’s trade position and push up prices for consumers on both sides of the Atlantic.
For France’s winemakers and distillers, the stakes are anything but abstract. Producers shipped €2.9 billion of wines and spirits to the United States in the 12 months to April, making America comfortably the sector’s largest single market — worth 18 per cent of all French wine and spirit exports, ahead of the United Kingdom on 11 per cent and Germany on 6 per cent. Alcohol remains a meaningful contributor to the national accounts, adding €14.3 billion to France’s trade balance in 2024, according to French Customs.
That exposure helps explain the alarm in the trade. Gabriel Picard, chairman of the French Federation of Wine and Spirits Exporters, called for the preservation of a “balanced and constructive trading relationship between France and the US in the interests of both economies”. His caution is well founded: French wine and spirits exports have already lost their fizz, with sales to the US falling sharply through 2025 as successive rounds of duties bit. A jump to triple-digit tariffs would turn a difficult year into an existential one for many smaller châteaux and négociants that depend on American distributors.
None of this is new. Trump first reached for the wine bottle as a weapon in 2019, during his first term, when France introduced the digital services tax. “It might be on wine, it might be on something else,” he warned at the time, before threatening duties on €2.4 billion of French imports including cheese, champagne and handbags. In January he floated a 200 per cent levy on French wine after Macron declined to join the so-called Board of Peace, the US administration’s vehicle for rebuilding Gaza and brokering an end to conflicts elsewhere.
There is already a 15 per cent tariff on French wine and champagne, in line with the wider trade deal agreed between Washington and Brussels that capped duties on most EU goods. The repeated escalation, from threats of 200 per cent earlier in the year to this latest 100 per cent salvo, is becoming a recognisable pattern, one British exporters have learned to read closely given how often Trump’s wine threats spill into the broader transatlantic trade picture.
The digital services tax that so irritates Washington is narrowly drawn but pointedly aimed. It obliges firms with digital-services sales of at least €750 million worldwide, and at least €25 million in France, to hand over 3 per cent of their French revenue under a levy designed to capture the largest technology platforms. The intended targets are American giants such as Google and Amazon, though the net also catches non-US operators including the Netherlands’ Booking.com and China’s Alibaba.
For Macron, the principle matters as much as the money. Several European governments have adopted similar measures, Britain’s own version has drawn hundreds of millions of pounds from US tech groups since its introduction, and conceding to Washington over French law would set an awkward precedent for the bloc as a whole. With both leaders dug in and the G7 cameras about to roll, the champagne corks in Evian may stay firmly in place.
Business
Thailand’s Solar Boom Risks Leaving a Toxic Legacy for Future Generations
Summary
Thailand’s rapid solar energy expansion has grown from 2.5 megawatts to nearly 5,000 megawatts, supported by government policy and falling costs. However, end-of-life panel management remains largely unaddressed, with projections estimating between 431,000 and 728,000 tonnes of solar waste by 2050.
Discarded panels contain hazardous materials including lead and antimony, posing environmental and public health risks under current disposal guidelines. Researchers recommend Extended Producer Responsibility laws, a national panel registry, recycling standards, and long-term investment in circular economy infrastructure to prevent a toxic legacy.
Solar power is Thailand’s master key in the fight against global warming. It is cheap, popular, and promoted by the state. But beneath the success story lies a big question: what happens when millions of panels begin to die?
Without proper measures, Thailand’s clean energy rush risks dumping a toxic legacy on the next generation.
Under pressure from climate change, the government has accelerated its push towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving carbon neutrality. Solar energy sits at the centre of this strategy. With falling costs and policy support, installed capacity has grown at remarkable speed—from just 2.5 megawatts two decades ago to nearly 5,000 megawatts today—and continues to expand across all sectors.
The latest tax incentives for rooftop solar reinforce this momentum, signalling another push into the clean energy era.
The problem is that the policy conversation still ends at installation. What comes after—the full life cycle of solar panels—remains largely unplanned.
Policymakers must look beyond installation, or Thailand’s clean energy dream will drown the country in waste.
For solar to be genuinely clean and sustainable, the country must look beyond how many panels are installed. It must pay equal attention to what happens when those panels reach the end of their life.
Promoting mass adoption without a clear system for managing old panels may help tackle climate change in the short term. In the long term, it creates a new environmental problem—one that future generations will be forced to clean up.
Most solar panels last around 25 to 30 years before efficiency drops and they must be removed. Under current installation trends, Thailand’s solar waste will continue to rise steadily.
By 2030, cumulative discarded panels could reach around 9,900–57,200 tonnes. By 2032, this will increase to 17,900–78,100 tonnes. By 2050, the figure is expected to surge to between 431,000 and 728,000 tonnes.
The annual burden is no less alarming. Because of the installation boom between 2010 and 2020, Thailand is likely to face 18,700–28,900 tonnes of solar waste per year by 2040. A decade later, this could rise to 44,600–66,200 tonnes annually.
Alongside the sheer volume, there is the problem of what these panels contain. By 2040, accumulated solar waste is expected to hold significant amounts of heavy metals, including 3.0–17.2 tonnes of lead and 6.9–40.0 tonnes of antimony. Without a clear and effective management system, these substances pose real risks to both the environment and public health.
Yet Thailand still lacks a clear framework for end-of-life solar management. Existing guidelines focus on landfill, incineration, or exporting waste abroad. These options are risky, environmentally harmful and offer little protection against toxic leakage.
At present, Thailand has no clear system for managing end-of-life solar panels. There are only guidelines from the Energy Regulatory Commission that are limited to landfill, incineration, or exporting waste for treatment abroad. These options carry high risks of pollution from heavy metal leakage, especially lead and antimony.
The problem is not only ecological. It has an economic cost. Uncertainty over solar waste disposal has become an investment risk. The CASE Thailand Report (2024) notes that the lack of a clear policy framework on disposal forces solar rooftop projects to add a “risk premium” of around 0.5–0.6% to cover future waste management costs, for which responsibility mechanisms remain unclear.
There is also a quieter loss. Without recycling, Thailand is throwing away valuable resources. Discarded panels contain copper and silver worth hundreds of millions—and potentially billions—of baht. By 2040, the value of materials lost in solar waste could range from 281 million to 3.7 billion baht.
The climate cost is just as troubling. Studies show that failing to recycle solar panels almost doubles the carbon footprint of solar electricity itself. In other words, a technology meant to cut emissions ends up carrying a much heavier climate burden than it should.
So what can Thailand do?
The problem is not a lack of technology. It is a lack of policy.
First, responsibility must be clearly defined for producers and polluters. Laws based on Extended Producer Responsibility or the Polluter Pays Principle should spell out who pays for what—from collecting old panels to reuse, recycling, and final disposal. Without clear rules, everyone benefits from solar, but no one takes responsibility for its waste.
Second, Thailand needs to know what it owns. A national tracking system should record every panel from import to decommissioning. Without a central registry, planning is guesswork and accountability is impossible.
Third, dead panels should not all be treated as rubbish. Many can still be reused. Proper collection and sorting systems would keep usable panels in circulation and reduce the volume sent for recycling.
Fourth, recycling itself needs proper rules. Domestic plants require clear environmental, technological, and safety standards, backed by certification and incentives to invest in better recovery technologies.
Finally, Thailand must invest in the long game. That means supporting research and development in new recycling technologies, designing panels that are easier to dismantle, and building the industries needed to manage solar waste over decades, not just the next few years.
Only then can solar power be considered truly clean—not just when it is switched on, but when it is finally switched off. This would also open new opportunities for Thailand to build a recycling and circular economy. Both are vital to the energy transition and carbon neutrality.
Whether Thailand gets there depends on decisions made now. The energy transition will be judged not only by how much clean power it produces but also by how responsibly it deals with the waste it leaves behind.
Nattaphorn Buayam ,PhD, is a researcher fellow and Pitnaree Polsomboon is a researcher at the Thailand Development and Research Institute (TDRI). Policy analyses from the TDRI appear in the Bangkok Post on 11 March 2026.
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Business
Nasdaq Surges 1.91% to Close at Record 26,517.93 Before Holiday as Intel-Apple Deal Ignites Chip Rally
The Nasdaq Composite surged 1.91% on Thursday, closing at a record 26,517.93, up 496.28 points, as a blockbuster semiconductor partnership announcement and easing Middle East tensions combined to power one of the tech-heavy index’s strongest single-day rallies in recent weeks heading into the three-day Juneteenth holiday weekend.
U.S. equities closed higher on Thursday, as tech strength and optimism over the U.S.-Iran deal offset concerns over a hawkish Federal Reserve. The S&P 500 advanced 1% and the Nasdaq 100 gained 1.9%, while the Dow rose by 72 points.
Intel’s Surprise Apple Partnership Drives the Rally
The single most significant catalyst behind Thursday’s tech-sector surge was a surprise announcement involving two of the most closely watched names in American semiconductor and consumer electronics manufacturing. Intel surged 10.6% after President Trump announced that the semiconductor giant would produce chips for Apple in the U.S.
The announcement sent ripples across the entire chip sector, lifting a broad swath of semiconductor names that had struggled earlier in the month. The news lifted the broader chip sector, with Nvidia up 2.8% and Micron Technology climbing 8.5%.
AI powerhouse Nvidia continued its upward trajectory, gaining 1.77% to reach $225.01 on news of increased infrastructure spending. The stock’s continued strength reflected ongoing investor enthusiasm for companies positioned at the center of the artificial intelligence buildout, even amid broader market uncertainty tied to monetary policy.
Easing Middle East Tensions Add Further Support
Beyond the chip sector catalyst, broader market sentiment continued to benefit from the formal signing of an interim peace agreement between the United States and Iran, which has helped calm fears of sustained volatility in global energy markets. The interim peace agreement signed by the U.S. and Iran, which includes the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, raised hopes for an end to the conflict and eased concerns about volatile energy prices.
That improved geopolitical outlook extended its benefits beyond the technology sector and into other parts of the market sensitive to energy costs and global stability. Airlines also saw strong gains, with American Airlines rising 3.3%.
The Hawkish Fed Backdrop That Preceded the Rally
Thursday’s gains came as markets continued working through the implications of a notably hawkish signal delivered by the Federal Reserve just one day earlier. The Federal Reserve kept rates steady, with half of officials signaling that at least one rate increase may be warranted this year.
That hawkish dot plot had triggered a sharp selloff in the prior session, making Thursday’s recovery all the more notable. Equity indexes rose and yields were flat Thursday ahead of the open as investors recovered some of the ground lost after the Federal Reserve, in Kevin Warsh’s first meeting as chair, indicated the possibility of a rate hike this year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average had lost more than 500 points Wednesday and the S&P 500 slumped 1.2% as hopes for a more dovish Fed were quickly dashed, with all 11 of its sectors closing in the red.
Volatility Eases Sharply
The combination of the Intel-Apple announcement and the formalized Iran peace deal appeared to substantially calm investor anxiety that had built up earlier in the week. The CBOE Volatility Index, often referred to as Wall Street’s fear gauge, fell sharply by 11.06% to 16.40, a notable decline that reflected renewed confidence among traders heading into the long holiday weekend.
Strength Extended Across Major Indexes
Thursday’s rally was not confined to the Nasdaq alone, with virtually every major U.S. benchmark posting solid gains during the session. The S&P 500 closed up 1.08% at 7,500.58, while the Russell 2000 Index, which tracks smaller companies, gained 2.12%.
Dow Futures also trended higher throughout the session, rising 95.00, or 0.18%, to reach 52,039.00, signaling continued optimism among traders looking ahead to the next full trading session.
International Markets Largely Joined the Advance
The positive sentiment driving U.S. markets Thursday extended to several major international exchanges as well, though the response was not uniform across every region. Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 1.65%, Germany’s DAX rose 0.37%, and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.44%.
Not every overseas market participated in the rally, however. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 1.59%, and London’s FTSE 100 fell 1.04%, illustrating that the optimism driving U.S. trading was not universally shared across global markets, with some regions continuing to grapple with their own distinct sets of economic and geopolitical pressures.
A Narrow but Powerful Rally
Despite the strength of Thursday’s headline numbers, market analysts noted that the rally’s underlying composition was relatively concentrated rather than broad-based. The primary narrative driving the market on Thursday was the resilience of industrial manufacturing and AI-driven hardware, which managed to offset broader weakness in enterprise software and consumer retail. While the index reached new heights, the narrow breadth of the rally suggested selective investor sentiment as the market digested new economic data.
That narrow breadth was reflected in the mixed performance among individual technology and consumer names even as the overall index surged. Software giant Salesforce fell 1.64% to $168.45 during the session, demonstrating that not every corner of the technology sector shared in the day’s broader enthusiasm, even as semiconductor and AI infrastructure names led the charge higher.
Markets Now Closed for the Juneteenth Holiday
With Thursday’s record-setting session now complete, U.S. markets will remain closed for the remainder of the week in observance of a federal holiday. The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq will be closed for trading on June 19, 2026, in observance of the federal holiday of Juneteenth. Both major stock exchanges first closed for the holiday in 2022, after Juneteenth was designated as a federal holiday in 2021.
The stock and bond markets will reopen Monday, June 22, and it will be business as usual on Wall Street for a few days, with the next scheduled market closure coming Friday, July 3, in observance of Independence Day.
Heading into the long holiday weekend, Thursday’s powerful close leaves the Nasdaq at a fresh record high, with investors set to return Monday to assess whether the combination of strong AI and semiconductor momentum, improving geopolitical conditions in the Middle East, and lingering uncertainty over the Federal Reserve’s rate path can sustain the index’s recent upward trajectory. Given the narrow, hardware-and-chip-concentrated nature of Thursday’s advance, market watchers will be closely monitoring whether sectors like enterprise software and consumer retail — which lagged notably during the session — can join the rally once trading resumes next week, or whether Thursday’s gains prove to be a more selective, short-lived response to a single high-profile corporate announcement.
Business
Is the Stock Market Closed Today? Juneteenth 2026 Hours for Banks, USPS, FedEx and UPS
Stock markets, most banks, and the United States Postal Service are closed Friday in observance of Juneteenth, the federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States, while private shipping carriers like FedEx and UPS continue operating on their normal schedules.
Juneteenth’s Status as a Federal Holiday
Juneteenth is specified by law to be a federal holiday for federal employees in the U.S., according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Juneteenth was officially recognized as a federal holiday by President Joe Biden in 2021, making it one of the newest additions to the official federal holiday calendar.
The holiday commemorates June 19, 1865, when news of the abolition of slavery finally reached enslaved people in Texas, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had taken effect. The date has been celebrated informally within Black communities across the country for generations, long before its formal federal recognition five years ago.
Stock Markets Are Closed
The stock markets on the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq are closed for trading on Juneteenth, Friday, June 19, 2026. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association also recommended bond markets close for the holiday.
This marks the fifth year that Wall Street has formally observed the holiday with a full market closure, following its initial federal recognition in 2021. Trading is scheduled to resume as normal on Monday, June 22, when both major exchanges reopen for regular business hours.
Most Banks Will Be Closed
Most banks will be closed on Juneteenth, or Friday, June 19, 2026, according to the Federal Reserve. That closure affects the vast majority of major financial institutions across the country, meaning customers seeking in-person banking services, loan processing, or other branch-based transactions should expect delays until the next business day.
Customers needing to perform basic transactions can typically still access ATM services during the holiday, though any deposits or withdrawals made on Friday generally will not post to accounts until the following business day at the earliest.
No Mail Delivery From USPS
The United States Postal Service will be closed, and mail will not be delivered on Juneteenth, Friday, June 19, 2026. As a federal agency, USPS observes all official federal holidays with a full closure of post office locations and a pause in regular mail delivery routes. Customers expecting mail deliveries on Friday should anticipate that service resuming once normal operations restart following the holiday.
FedEx Remains Open
In contrast to the Postal Service, FedEx will be open on Juneteenth, Friday, June 19, 2026, with all delivery options expected to operate as normal. As a private shipping company rather than a federal agency, FedEx is not required to observe federal holidays in the same manner as government entities, and the company has continued normal operations on Juneteenth since its federal designation in 2021.
UPS Also Operating Normally
The UPS Store is open, and UPS delivery and pickup services are available on Juneteenth, Friday, June 19, 2026. Like FedEx, UPS operates as a private company and has maintained regular service schedules on the holiday, giving customers continued access to shipping, package pickup, and delivery services without disruption.
A Patchwork of State-Level Recognition
While Juneteenth carries the same status as other established federal holidays at the national government level, its recognition varies considerably from state to state, creating a patchwork of observance across the country. While a federal holiday, Juneteenth is not recognized as a state holiday in Indiana, meaning state government offices and operations within that state may continue functioning normally even as federal offices, the stock market, and the Postal Service observe the closure nationwide.
That variation between federal and state-level recognition has remained a point of ongoing discussion since Juneteenth’s elevation to federal holiday status, with some states formally adopting it as an official state holiday with corresponding government office closures, while others, including Indiana, have not extended that same level of recognition at the state government level.
What This Means for Planning Around the Holiday
For anyone navigating Friday’s holiday schedule, the basic pattern follows a familiar structure seen across other federal holidays throughout the year: government-run institutions and federally regulated markets close, while privately operated shipping and retail businesses largely continue normal operations.
Specifically, that means anyone with banking needs, mail to send or receive, or stock trades to execute should plan around Friday’s closures and expect those services to resume Monday. Meanwhile, anyone needing to ship a package through FedEx or UPS, or simply needing to run errands at most retail stores and restaurants, should encounter business largely as usual.
Looking Ahead to the Next Holiday Closure
With Friday’s Juneteenth closures now in effect, the next scheduled disruption to the federal holiday calendar and corresponding market closures will not arrive until Independence Day. Markets, banks, and the Postal Service are scheduled to observe their next federal holiday closure on Friday, July 3, 2026, in recognition of the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
In the meantime, Monday, June 22, will mark a full return to normal operations across financial markets, banking services, and postal delivery, bringing the brief three-day holiday weekend disruption to a close as the new trading week begins.
Business
Italy has performed better this decade than pre-2020. How long will this last?

Italy has performed better this decade than pre-2020. How long will this last?
Business
American Express buys TheFork in $700m Tripadvisor deal
American Express has agreed to buy TheFork, the restaurant booking app owned by Tripadvisor, for $700 million, in a move that hands the card giant one of Europe’s largest dining platforms and a firmer foothold in its fastest-growing market.
The all-cash deal, announced by American Express, will lift the group’s bookable dining network to 75,000 venues and reinforce an international business that has outpaced the rest of the company for years. The transaction is expected to complete by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approval.
For Amex, dining has become far more than a perk. Rafa Marquez, president of international card services, said owning TheFork would strengthen the group’s ability to put its members in front of the restaurants they want. “Dining is one of the most important ways people engage with our brand,” he said. “TheFork has built a successful platform across Europe with strong relationships throughout the restaurant industry that would complement our existing capabilities.”
The purchase is the latest step in a dining strategy that Amex has been building for the best part of a decade. It bought the reservations platform Resy in 2019, which now offers cardholders early notifications and access to hard-to-get tables, and two years ago completed a $400 million acquisition of Tock, a booking business first launched in 2014. The group has also been broadening its small-business proposition and, through its restaurant grant programme, has positioned itself as a backer of independent operators at a difficult moment for the sector.
Founded in Paris in 2007, TheFork lets diners find and book tables online and works with more than 50,000 restaurants across 11 European countries, including the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. Almir Ambeskovic, its chief executive, said the company was created “to help restaurants thrive and to make it easier for diners to discover and enjoy great restaurants”. He added: “American Express shares our commitment to innovation, service and hospitality. Together, we have a unique opportunity to accelerate our mission, bringing even more value to restaurants while creating richer and more seamless experiences for millions of diners across Europe.”
The sale comes after sustained pressure on Tripadvisor, which has struggled to shake off pandemic-era disruption and competition from rivals such as Booking Holdings and Airbnb, as well as newer entrants reshaping the online booking market, including Google’s AI-powered reservation tool. The activist investor Starboard Value had pushed the company to sell TheFork, which it has owned since 2014. Jeff Smith, Starboard’s chief executive, argued last October that TheFork was the least-integrated and easiest part of the business to break off, before the hedge fund grew more agitated in February, criticising the pace of Tripadvisor’s strategic review and urging management to explore a sale of the whole company.
Stephen Squeri, chairman and chief executive of American Express, said he was “excited about the opportunity to deepen our relationship with Tripadvisor”, adding that the two firms could “create even greater value for customers and partners” across dining, travel and experiences. Matt Goldberg, Tripadvisor’s chief executive, said the deal reflected “the tangible value” across the group’s portfolio.
The market reaction was positive on both sides. Tripadvisor shares, which have fallen more than 65 per cent over five years, closed up 1.2 per cent in New York on Monday night, while American Express shares ended the day 3.1 per cent higher.
Business
Rubio plans Middle East trip next week, Axios reports

Rubio plans Middle East trip next week, Axios reports
Business
Mark Dixon Steps Down as IWG Chief Executive After Nearly 40 Years
Mark Dixon, one of Britain’s most enduring entrepreneurs, is to step aside as chief executive of International Workplace Group nearly four decades after he founded the company.
Christian Schmitz, a former McKinsey partner and onetime director at the private equity firm KKR, will succeed Dixon in the top job, IWG confirmed in a statement to the stock market. Schmitz joined the group last year as chief transformation officer before being promoted to global head of all regions.
Dixon, 66, will move up to executive chairman, a role in which he will “continue to provide strategic guidance to the board and act as an advisor to the CEO”, the company said. He still owns just over a quarter of the shares in IWG, and the board framed his new position as a way to “maintain Mark Dixon’s unrivalled industry knowledge, experience and long-term strategic perspective through an orderly CEO transition process”.
IWG is the world’s largest provider of flexible workspace and sits behind a stable of brands including Regus, Spaces and Signature. The group operates more than 4,000 locations across some 120 countries, a footprint that has expanded sharply as employers have embraced hybrid working. The shift has been good for business: demand for flexible space recently drove IWG’s revenues to a record £3.3 billion.
Dixon founded the business in Brussels in 1989, at the age of 29. The idea came to him after watching businesspeople hold meetings in coffee shops and concluding that the traditional office was overdue for a rethink. That hunch has since reshaped how millions of people work, and the rise of serviced offices built for hybrid working has kept the model firmly in fashion.
He is one of the few people in Britain to have built a business worth more than £1 billion, and one of the longest-serving chief executives across the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250, of which IWG is a constituent. The company is valued at about £1.8 billion on the stock market. Dixon’s stake leaves him with a personal fortune of £931 million, according to the latest Sunday Times Rich List.
His route to the top was anything but conventional. Dixon left school at 16 to start a business, and by the time he launched IWG, then called Regus, he had already tried his hand at selling sandwiches and running a bakery.
The company he created has weathered more than one storm. After rapid growth through the 1990s, it was badly hit by the dotcom crash in the early 2000s, when many of the start-ups renting its desks went bust. Its US arm entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy and Dixon was forced to sell a stake in the UK business, though he later regained control and bought the operations back. More recently he has trimmed his holding, selling £68.5 million of shares to repay a bank loan.
Dixon cast the leadership change as a long-term bet on the company’s future rather than a retreat. “This is an investment in the future. I am a very significant investor in the business and I want to get the right management to take it forward to the next stage,” he said. “It’s about succession planning, doing the right thing for the company and for the company’s future. We are doing very well. There is lots of opportunity, but you need the right management team and the right leadership to take it to the next level.”
He praised Schmitz for his “superb leadership skills and lots of experience”.
Asked what had been the key to building IWG, Dixon returned to a single word: perseverance. “You’ve got to persevere. If you look at the history of the company, it’s the management of capital and perseverance from the beginning,” he said. “It’s also about hiring the right people. That’s what we’re doing here with the investment in Christian. It’s not a one-man activity, it’s always about people.”
Business
CME Sues U.S. Regulator to Stop Kalshi From Offering Popular ‘Perp’ Futures
CME Group sued the top U.S. derivatives regulator Thursday to thwart Kalshi, an upstart prediction-markets platform, from encroaching on its turf as the nation’s leading futures exchange.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission recently approved Kalshi’s plan to list perpetual futures contracts, known as “perps,” a trendy flavor of derivative that never expires and trades 24/7. In its suit, filed in federal court in Washington, CME argued that the CFTC violated U.S. law by classifying Kalshi’s perps as futures and not swaps. In doing so, the CFTC decision allows Kalshi to sidestep rules intended to protect the economy from the “special dangers that unregulated swaps posed,” lawyers for the exchange operator wrote.
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