ABC’s “The View” is under Federal Communications Commission (FCC) review after Chairman Brendan Carr said the long-running talk show faces an “uphill climb” in proving it qualifies as a legitimate news program.

“The View” is at the center of an investigation by the FCC over the agency’s equal-time rules, which prevent media from favoring certain political candidates. The investigation follows increased FCC scrutiny of political segments on entertainment programs.

“When you look at the lineup of guests that have typically been on ‘The View,’ I think it’s an uphill climb for Disney to make the case that they’re just a straight news program,” Carr said Friday on “Mornings with Maria.”

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The dispute stems from an appearance by Texas Senate candidate James Talarico, while his primary opponent, Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, was not offered a slot. Crockett has previously appeared on the program but said those appearances were not related to her current Senate campaign.

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“Bona fide” newscasts and interviews are typically exempt from the equal-time rules, but Carr said it may be tough for the show to prove that’s what they are.

“Disney’s ‘The View’ is now asserting to the FCC that they are a bona fide news program. And we started an enforcement action there. We’ve issued letters of inquiry, which are versions of subpoenas,” Carr said.

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He added that dozens of Disney-affiliated TV stations disagree with the company’s claim that “The View” qualifies as exempt news programming under the equal-time rule. Carr said the FCC has received several equal-time notices from the affiliate stations, which could allow Crockett to request airtime.

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“Congress passed a law, and they didn’t want media gatekeepers to be deciding the outcomes of elections by having exclusively one political candidate or one political party on all the time,” added Carr.

Earlier this month, CBS’s “The Late Show” declined to air a segment with Talarico over equal-time concerns. CBS released a statement denying it censored host Stephen Colbert, saying the show instead chose to post the interview on YouTube to avoid triggering the rule.

OpenAI said on Friday it is raising $110 billion in a blockbuster funding round that would value the ChatGPT maker at $840 billion, in a deal that signals the feverish pace of investment in artificial intelligence.

The funding round — one of the largest private capital raises on record — includes a $30 billion investment from SoftBank, $30 billion from Nvidia, and $50 billion from Amazon, and comes ahead of the AI startup’s expected mega-IPO later this year.

More investors are expected to join the round as it progresses, OpenAI said.

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Big Tech companies and large tech investors such as SoftBank are racing to forge partnerships with OpenAI — which is spending heavily on data centers — betting that closer ties with the company would give them a competitive edge in the AI race.

For OpenAI, the fresh cash will help secure advanced AI chips and the computing capacity that it needs to maintain its pole position in the AI industry, especially as competition heats up from rivals such as Claude chatbot maker Anthropic and Google’s Gemini.

OpenAI is targeting roughly $600 billion in total compute spend through 2030, a source told Reuters last week.

AMAZON PARTNERSHIP

Along with the $50 billion investment, OpenAI and Amazon have also struck a deal in which OpenAI will utilize 2 gigawatts of computing capacity powered by Amazon’s in-house Trainium AI chips.

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The companies are also expanding their $38 billion cloud deal signed last year, with OpenAI saying it would spend an additional $100 billion on Amazon Web Services over the next eight years. As well, OpenAI will work with Amazon to develop customized models for the e-commerce giant’s engineering teams.

Amazon will start with an initial $15 billion investment, followed by another $35 billion in the coming months when certain conditions are met, the companies said.

Ticker	Security	Last	Change	Change %
AMZN	AMAZON.COM INC.	207.92	-2.72	-1.29%
NVDA	NVIDIA CORP.	184.89	-10.67	-5.46%
SOBKY	SOFTBANK CORP.	13.635	+0.15	+1.15%

Amazon Web Services will also be the exclusive third-party cloud provider for OpenAI Frontier, the ChatGPT maker’s enterprise platform for building and running AI agents.

The partnership does not change OpenAI’s existing relationship with Microsoft, with Microsoft Azure still remaining the exclusive cloud provider for OpenAI’s APIs that provide access to OpenAI’s models, the companies said.

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OpenAI’s first-party products will continue to be hosted on Azure, and Microsoft holds its exclusive license and access to intellectual property across OpenAI models and products.

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Nvidia’s investment in OpenAI gives the chip giant a financial stake in one of its largest customers, amplifying the already intertwined relationship between two of the highest-profile players in the AI industry.

It also underscores a growing trend in the tech and AI industry where firms invest in and sign supply deals with each other, raising concerns about “circular” financing deals.

It was not immediately clear whether Nvidia’s $30 billion investment replaced its earlier commitment announced in September under which Nvidia was set to invest up to $100 billion in the startup.

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OpenAI and Nvidia did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for clarification.

ChatGPT now serves more than 900 million weekly active users, OpenAI said, adding that it has now surpassed 50 million consumer subscribers. January and February are on track to become the largest months for new subscriber additions, it said.

Its AI-assisted coding product, Codex, has also scaled — weekly Codex users have more than tripled since the start of the year to 1.6 million, the company said.

The Government of Singapore and HDFC Mutual Fund acquired promoter stakes worth Rs 1,485 crore and Rs 1,100 crore, respectively, in Vishal Mega Mart through separate bulk deals on Friday. The Monetary Authority of Singapore also emerged as a key buyer, picking up shares worth Rs 858 crore in the grocery-to-fashion retailer.

Promoter entity Samayat Services LLP offloaded a 14% stake representing 65.25 crore shares in two tranches that were together valued at Rs 7,636 crore.

The Government of Singapore bought 12.69 crore shares at a price of Rs 117 apiece. Meanwhile, HDFC MF executed a couple of deals to acquire over 9.40 crore shares in the company. The Monetary Authority of Singapore purchased 7.33 crore shares.

Shares of Vishal Mega Mart today ended at Rs 117.85 on the NSE, down by Rs 9.68 or 7.59% over the Thursday closing price.

Samayat Services held 54.09% (252.74 crore) in Vishal Mega Mart as of December 31, 2025. Under the stake sale, 3.05 crore shares will be offloaded, the report said.

Vishal Mega Mart shares have gained 14% over a one year period, which is a slight outperformance over Nifty’s 12% and BSE Sensex’s 9% in the same period.
The stock is currently trading below its 50-day and 200-day simple moving averages (SMA) of Rs 127 and Rs 136, respectively according to Trendlyne data.
The company’s consolidated net profit for the December ended quarter stood at Rs 313 crore, which is a growth of 19% over Rs 263 crore in the year ago period. Its total revenue in the quarter under review stood at Rs 3,695 crore, up 17% 3,155 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last financial year.
Vishal Mega Mart is one of the leading Indian fashion-led hypermarket chain with over 780 stores, focusing on affordable fashion, general merchandise, and grocery for middle-income customers.

(Disclaimer: The recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times.)

The Business Barometer from Lloyds Bank points to signs of a turnaround in the region’s economy

Business confidence in the North East rose significantly in February amid growing signs of a turnaround in the region’s economy.

The latest Business Barometer from Lloyds Banks suggests that companies in the region are reporting higher confidence in their own business prospects, as well as the wider UK economy. That saw overall confidence levels increase 15 percentage points to 55%, while a majority of businesses (57%) said they expect to increase staff levels over the next year. That finding was up 13 points on last month.

Looking ahead to the next six months, North East businesses identified their top target areas for growth as investing in their team or evolving their offering, either by introducing new products and services or entering new markets. The North East outperformed other areas of the country and scored well above national confidence levels of 44%.

The construction sector saw the strongest gains in overall confidence nationally, while manufacturing also saw a boost. But confidence for retail and service sector firms softened slightly, down two and three points respectively.

Martyn Kendrick, regional director for the North East at Lloyds, said: “It’s encouraging to see a rise in North East business confidence, with firms in the region feeling more positive about their own trading prospects as well as the economy itself.

“It’s particularly good to see hiring and training so high on many firms’ agendas. This month, it was announced that a new MTC Training advanced manufacturing training centre was coming to Tyneside, which will play a major role in strengthening the region’s capability in a key local sector. This centre is an initiative that we’re backing, and just one of the ways we’ll be offering our support to North East businesses, of all sizes and sectors, as they continue to grow.”

Last week a separate survey suggested that growth in the UK’s private sector had gained further momentum this month, as manufacturers were boosted by the biggest surge in export orders since 2021. But the S&P Global flash UK composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI), which is watched closely by economists, also pointed to continuing job losses. Unemployment recently reached a 10-year high in the North East.

Hann-Ju Ho, senior economist at Lloyds Commercial Banking, said: “It’s encouraging to see optimism in the wider economy returning, although with a small reduction in firms’ confidence in their own trading prospects. The majority of the survey results were collected following the Bank of England’s close decision to hold interest rates at its February meeting, signalling potential easing ahead, which may have alleviated business concerns, including those around cost pressures.

“While the rise in pricing expectations to a six-month high may indicate firms are looking to rebuild their margins in 2026. It’s also great to see confidence increase for manufacturers and construction firms as they are key for UK growth.”

The Cardiff-based firm has been acquired by New York based iAltA

Welsh fintech venture Delio Wealth has been acquired by New York-based private markets infrastructure venture iAltA Holdings.

The value of the deal has not been disclosed, but will see the existing management team of Delio remaining in place to drive the next growth phase of the business with plans to double headcount to 50. It has also moved to larger offices at Windsor Place in the centre of Cardiff next to its previous location.

Delio provide operating systems and investment structures that enable asset managers, wealth firms and other distributors to digitize, distribute, and report on private market products.

Founder and co-chief executive of Delio, Gareth Lewis, said: “Private markets have seen tremendous growth over the past few years, but the infrastructure has not kept up the demand for access and offerings. iAltA is our ideal partner since both our organisations were founded on the principle that the markets need more seamless and effective solutions to meet the challenges of demand. This partnership will increase both our reach and our impact.”

Launched in 2025 by founding partners Scott Ganeles, Bill Sherman, Bill Crager and Laurence Tosi, iAltA operates under a holding structure that blends core shared capabilities with foundational technologies and strategic partnerships with industry leaders. Each subsidiary operates independently while collectively contributing to the holding company’s larger cross-functional strategy and unified digital ecosystem.

Chief executive Mr Ganeles said: “We founded iAltA because we saw a tremendous market need to solve systemic issues within the private market landscape for general partners and distributors.

Delio has emerged as a digital infrastructure provider of choice for financial institutions seeking to integrate alternatives into their offerings while maintaining control over client experience.”

Trusted by more than 50 global financial institutions across 18 regulatory jurisdictions, Delio’s infrastructure supports more than 12,000 end clients worldwide, reinforcing its position as the leading industry utility for digital private markets capability. The company has been a cornerstone of fintech growth in Wales.

Its expansion in Cardiff has been supported by Cardiff Council.

Russell Goodway, cabinet member for investment and development, said: “Cardiff Council is delighted to have worked with the local Delio team to support their plans to create more business space in the centre of Cardiff. Given the opportunity for expansion locally we help this acquisition will lead to further growth in employment in the city and a strengthening of Cardiff’s leading role as a leading fintech cluster for Wales and the UK.”

In their most simple forms, expense policies are designed to control costs, ensure fairness and reduce financial risk. On paper, most organisations already have these documents in place, often reviewed annually and signed off by finance and HR teams. In theory, they should provide clarity and consistency.

In practice, however, many expense policies fail to deliver the control they promised at the offset. Spend becomes unpredictable, enforcement slips into inconsistency, and finance teams are left responding to problems rather than preventing them.

It’s easy to assume that this failure stems from careless or dishonest employees. Humans are, after all, only human. In most cases, however, expense-related issues are far more likely to be the result of policies built around assumptions that do not reflect how people actually think, decide, and behave in real working environments.

To understand why expense policies break down, we need to look beyond the documents themselves, and examine the psychological and social forces shaping everyday spending decisions at work. That’s quite a hefty task, so we’ve parachuted in the aid of expense management software specialists at Webexpenses to assist with exploring this topic further.

Flawed assumptions lead to flawed systems

Most company policies are written for a hypothetical, “best-case” employee: rational, attentive, well-rested, and operating in a low-pressure environment. They assume employees will read the rules carefully, remember them, and apply them consistently at the point of purchase.

As appealing as this assumption may be, it bears little resemblance to how real workplaces operate. Expense decisions are frequently made at the end of long days, during travel, or between meetings, when time and attention are limited. By the time an expense is submitted, the decision has already been made – often quickly, with incomplete information and little cognitive bandwidth.

Behavioural economics describes this pattern as bounded rationality. When mental resources are constrained, people simplify decisions rather than optimise them. They rely on habits, prior approvals, and social cues instead of consulting formal policy documents. The gap between assumption and reality is reflected in the data.

From a governance perspective, this is important because expense policies aren’t operating in isolation. Instead, they’re competing with faster, more intuitive decision-making processes that often win.

Vaguery creates fragmentation, not flexibility

Many expense policies hinge on terms such as “reasonable”, “appropriate”, or “within limits”. These “legalese” buzzwords are intended to provide flexibility, but in reality, they invite ambiguity. Ambiguity forces interpretation, and interpretation is shaped by context rather than policy wording.

When boundaries are unclear, employees will start looking for guidance elsewhere: what their manager approved previously, what colleagues typically submit, or what appears acceptable within their team. Phrases like “I just submit it like this” override the written rule.

Over time, these informal cues become the “street” rules your employees – both old and new – will follow. Your policy documents may say one thing, but in the face of ambiguity, different teams will inevitably develop different interpretations of the same rules, influenced by culture, seniority, and precedent.

For finance teams, this fragmentation has tangible consequences. Inconsistent interpretation makes spending harder to forecast, harder to benchmark across departments and harder to challenge without appearing arbitrary. In plain terms, ambiguity does not allow for flexibility, and it does not reduce disputes; it simply pushes them downstream, after the money has already been spent.

Social pressure outweighs financial rules

Expense decisions are rarely confined to the consistent sphere of cold, mathematical calculations – emotions and social elements also play a part.

Choices around travel, accommodation, and client entertainment are tied to perceptions of professionalism, competence, and status. In many roles, particularly client-facing ones, employees feel pressure to meet (or exceed) unspoken benchmarks about what is “appropriate” for the situation. People use money to signal competence, generosity, seniority, or professionalism – especially around clients and travel.

Being forced to book the cheapest option can lead employees to feel as though they’re undervalued. If they have the ability to apply upgrades, this can be done with a sense of feeling like they’ve earned the right. Picking a nicer venue for a client lunch may be justified as “representing the brand” in the best possible light.

When expense policies fail to acknowledge these social dynamics, employees are left balancing formal rules against informal expectations. In these moments, the immediate risk of appearing unprofessional or out of step can feel more pressing than the abstract risk of breaching policy.

This dynamic shows up in reported behaviour. Surveys indicate that nearly one in four employees admit to having misreported or bent an expense claim, while broader reviews of improper claims suggest that around 13% involve deliberate reimbursement irregularities, often in socially sensitive categories such as travel and entertainment.

It might be easy to boil this down to opportunistic and dishonest behaviours, and while that may be the driving factor behind a small number of cases, it’s not typically the underlying issue.

Inconsistent enforcement undermines policy legitimacy

Even well-designed policies struggle when enforcement is unpredictable.

If similar claims receive different outcomes depending on who approves them, employees quickly conclude that the system is inconsistent. Once that perception takes hold, behaviour changes; claims become more defensive, more heavily justified, or disengaged altogether.

Reimbursement delays compound this effect, and when employees are regularly left out of pocket, expense processes stop feeling administrative and start feeling adversarial.

From a governance standpoint, trust functions as an informal control mechanism. When employees believe the system is fair and predictable, they are more likely to self-regulate. When trust erodes, formal rules lose authority and administrative costs increase.

Policies fall behind modern working practices

Many expense policies fail not because they are ignored, but because they are outdated.

Hybrid working, remote travel, and digital-first transactions have introduced new scenarios that older policy frameworks were never designed to address. Grey areas multiply, and employees are forced to rely on judgement rather than guidance.

At the same time, technological change has reshaped the risk landscape. Digital documentation and AI-generated receipts have made manual verification less reliable. In 2025, industry reporting found that AI-generated fake receipts accounted for around 14% of flagged fraudulent documentation, a rapid shift that legacy control processes were not built to handle.

In this context, policy failure is often a matter of misalignment rather than misconduct. Controls that do not reflect how work is actually done lose relevance, and relevance is a prerequisite for compliance.

Adding more rules often makes things worse

When expense issues arise, the instinctive response is to tighten control: more rules, more exceptions, more detailed guidance. While understandable, this approach often backfires.

Long, complex policies increase cognitive load. Faced with dense documentation, employees are less likely to consult it in real time. Instead, they rely on memory, precedent, or judgement. Attempts to cover every edge case can make everyday decisions harder rather than clearer.

Effective policies focus on clarity where it matters most: common scenarios, clear examples, and predictable outcomes. Simplicity, in this context, is not a lack of rigour but a deliberate design choice.

What makes an expense policy effective?

Expense policies work best when they are designed around real – rather than idealised – behaviour. This means recognising cognitive limits, social pressures, and the realities of modern working environments.

Clear examples outperform abstract rules, consistent enforcement builds legitimacy, and predictable reimbursement reinforces trust. Systems that support judgement, rather than relying solely on manual oversight, reduce friction and error.

Ultimately, expense policies are not just financial controls. They are signals about how an organisation balances trust, accountability, and practicality. When they align with how people actually operate, they become effective tools for cost control. When they do not, they risk becoming well-written documents that fail quietly in practice.

E-commerce giant eBay announced Thursday it is slashing hundreds of jobs, just days after the company dropped $1.2 billion in cash to acquire a trendy Gen Z fashion app and settled a federal stalking lawsuit involving former executives.

Multiple outlets have reported that eBay will cut a total of 800 roles, or 6% of its workforce, as company documents indicated about 12,300 employees worldwide as of Dec. 31, 2025.

eBay did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

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The company told Reuters, “We are taking steps to reinvest across our business and align our structure with our strategic priorities, which will affect certain roles across our workforce.”

Just hours before the layoff news, eBay settled a civil lawsuit against the couple and newsletter writers David and Ina Steiner. Reuters detailed how former employees sent the Steiners live cockroaches, spiders, a funeral wreath and a bloody pig mask to allegedly silence their reporting.

Former eBay executives were sentenced to prison in 2022, and this week’s settlement was reached for an undisclosed amount.

Earlier this month, eBay made headlines for its acquisition of Depop — a customer-to-customer fashion marketplace popular with Gen Z and millennials looking to sell used clothing and accessories. eBay purchased the platform for approximately $1.2 billion in cash.

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Depop’s user base is 90% under age 34, according to a press release, meaning eBay is positioning itself to reach younger consumers who have largely moved away from the traditional auction model.

“Fashion represents more than $10 billion in annual gross merchandise volume (GMV) for eBay and delivered 10% year-over-year GMV growth in the U.S. in 2025,” CEO Jamie Iannone said in a statement. “This acquisition presents an opportunity to advance one of our newest and fastest-growing Focus Categories with a marketplace that complements our existing presence, and enables us to reach a younger demographic across the expanding recommerce landscape.”

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