Google Ads Tests Blue Dotted Underlines Sitelinks On Sponsored Listings
Google Ads is piloting a new visual style for sitelinks in paid search results, adding a blue dotted underline beneath each link. The change was first identified by X users gaganghotra_ and b4k_khushal and later shared publicly. By mimicking the familiar hyperlink cue, Google aims to make ads feel less intrusive while still signaling sponsorship. The company has not disclosed a timeline for a broader rollout, keeping the test limited to a subset of advertisers.
Columbia Study Flags Potential Understatement of Risk in Private Credit Ratings
A Columbia Business School study warns that private‑letter credit ratings may significantly understate risk in the $1.8 trillion private credit market. The research finds that assets with private ratings experience roughly twice the credit‑loss rate of similarly rated public securities, effectively...
Newly Minted Perez Extends Real Madrid’s Adidas Partnership with €1bn Deal
Real Madrid has secured an eight‑year extension of its partnership with adidas, now running through 2034 and valued at €1 billion (about $1.09 billion). The deal pays roughly €120 million ($131 million) annually and includes a share of merchandise sales, building on a relationship...
HSR Filings Hit 235 in May 2026, the Highest Monthly Total Since December 2021
In May 2026 the FTC recorded 235 Hart‑Scott‑Rodino pre‑merger notifications, a 58.8% increase over May 2025 and the highest monthly total since December 2021. The surge pushes the fiscal‑year‑2026 filing pace to about 2,500 transactions, well above the 2,031 reported...
France: La Chaîne L’Équipe Channel Now on Disney+
Disney+ France has added the French sports channel La chaîne L’Équipe to its ESPN lineup, giving subscribers live access to events such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers, the Dakar Rally and the Diamond League....
Markets Brace for an Inflation Surprise
Investors are bracing for a surprise in U.S. inflation as the Consumer Price Index is projected to rise to 4.2%, the highest level in over three years. The uptick, driven largely by higher energy costs amid renewed Middle East tensions,...
China Oil Imports Collapse; Down 29%
China's crude oil imports plunged 29% in May to 7.79 million barrels per day, the lowest in eight years. The drop follows the Iran‑Israel conflict that shut the Strait of Hormuz, spiking physical crude premiums and pushing Brent futures from $126...
Zee Signs 12+ Brands for FIFA World Cup 2026 Across TV and Digital
Zee Entertainment has secured sponsorships from more than 12 brands—including Mahindra, Diageo, Apple, Pernod Ricard and Mondelez—for its FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage across television and digital platforms. The network will deliver cross‑platform advertising packages that span its Unite8 Sports linear channels, the...
Nowcast Data Suggest US Growth Is Accelerating In Q2
Nowcast models released in early June indicate that U.S. real GDP growth is picking up in the second quarter, revising the pace upward from earlier estimates. The acceleration appears to be driven by stronger consumer spending and a rebound in...
Paramount-WBD Merger Cleared By Australia
Paramount Global announced that Australia’s competition regulator has cleared its $110 billion enterprise‑value merger with Warner Bros. Discovery. The deal, announced at $31 per share and valued at $81 billion equity, still requires approvals from the U.S. Department of Justice, the European Union and...
GLP-1 Benefits Are Growing Fast: The Follow-Up Problem Nobody Talks About
GLP‑1 and hormone therapies are moving into mainstream employer health plans, with 19% of large firms and 43% of employers with over 5,000 workers now covering these drugs. However, research from Maven shows that more than a third of female...
Octopus Asked Ministers to Cover EV Losses
Octopus Energy’s electric‑vehicle leasing unit, Octopus Electric Vehicles (OEV), is pursuing a fresh debt raise of several hundred million dollars to cover a £111 million ($141 million) net liability recorded in 2025. The loss, up from £76 million ($97 million) the year before, reflects...
Five Laid-Off Eater Journalists Are Betting on a Different Future for Food Media
Five former Eater journalists—Ashok Selvam, Courtney Smith, Jaya Saxena, Frances Dumlao and Amy McCarthy—launched Ravenous in May as a subscriber‑supported food and culture publication. The venture follows a wave of layoffs at Eater and a broader industry shift away from...
Fitch Downgrades Outlook on Philippine Banks to ‘Deteriorating’ as US-Iran War Threatens Lending Growth
Fitch Ratings has moved its outlook for the Philippine banking sector from neutral to deteriorating, citing heightened exposure to the US‑Iran conflict that threatens oil supplies. The Philippines imports 98% of its crude from the Middle East, pushing inflation to...
SBJ Morning Buzzcast: June 10, 2026
The SBJ Morning Buzzcast recapped day one of the Brand Innovation Summit, highlighting how sports teams lag in social media innovation (as noted by Dude Perfect’s CEO) and the need for more creative sponsorships, exemplified by Sephora’s recent entry into...
Ant Group Looks to Raise $1 Billion For International Growth
Ant International, the overseas arm of Ant Group, is exploring a $1 billion fundraising round that could value the unit at $10 billion or more. The capital is intended to accelerate expansion across Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle East and may...
Warburg Pincus and KKR Explore Exits From UK Fibre Assets
Warburg Pincus and KKR are probing sales of their UK broadband fibre assets, Community Fibre and Hyperoptic, respectively. Community Fibre, serving about 450,000 homes, could fetch roughly £2 billion (≈$2.5 billion) according to market estimates. Hyperoptic reaches over 400,000 customers, with both...
Brussels' Datacenter Efficiency Scorecard May Come with a Credit Warning
The European Commission’s draft A‑to‑G datacenter efficiency rating, aimed at boosting sustainability, could become a credit factor for operators and lenders once enacted. Although the rollout, originally slated for August 2027, has been delayed after industry pushback, Moody’s warns the...
CICT’s S$3.9 Billion Paragon Buy Draws Scrutiny over Timing, Funding at EGM
CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (CICT) secured unitholder approval for its S$3.9 billion ($2.9 billion) acquisition of the free‑hold Paragon mall, with 99.96% of votes in favour. The deal, discussed at a June 10 extraordinary general meeting, pairs the purchase with a planned S$2.48 billion...
Compensation in Flux: Crypto Pay, EU Transparency, and the Latest U.S. State Laws
Employers are increasingly testing cryptocurrency as a payroll option, but the Fair Labor Standards Act and state statutes still require wages in U.S. currency, leaving crypto compensation in a legal gray area. In Europe, the EU Pay Transparency Directive, due...
When All the Capital Lands in Singapore and Goes Nowhere Else
In the first half of 2025 Singapore attracted roughly 92% of all venture capital raised across Southeast Asia, climbing to over 96% by January 2026. By contrast, Indonesia’s share fell from 42% in 2021 to just 8% in H1 2025, and Vietnam’s...
I Was Fired by a Big European Tech Company. Here’s My Advice if It Happens to You
Rizwan Mahmood was dismissed from Estonian ride‑hailing firm Bolt in March 2025 and refused a two‑month severance offer. He leveraged ChatGPT to craft a legal argument and filed a claim with Estonia’s Labour Dispute Committee, which ruled in his favor...
Telenor Snaps up Norwegian Fibre Operator Enivest
Telenor announced the acquisition of Enivest’s fibre network, adding roughly 28,000 residential customers and a 34 % stake in Årdalsnett, which serves about 3,000 users. The deal includes a NOK 150 million investment for network integration and upgrades, valuing Enivest at an EV/EBITDA...
Law Firm Employee Retention: What a Fully Remote Agency Can Teach You About Keeping Good People
Juris Digital, a fully remote marketing agency named a 2026 Inc. Best Workplace, shares the retention tactics that helped it keep staff happy. The firm discovered that generic check‑in tools, forced virtual socials, and vague bonus targets failed, while weekly...
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How a Ghanaian Side Hustle Became a Webby-Winning AI Success Story
Ghanaian‑born entrepreneur Dominic Damoah turned a side‑hustle into Human in the Loop (HITL), a platform that adds human oversight to AI‑driven workflows. HITL earned the 2026 Webby People’s Voice Award for Best Responsible AI Implementation, highlighting its safety‑first design. The...
Low and No Drinks Fuel Food and Beverage Dealmaking as Asia Pacific Leads Global M&A Market
Demand for low‑ and no‑alcohol as well as functional beverages is reshaping the food‑and‑beverage M&A landscape, according to a Baker Tilly and Mergermarket report. While food companies still dominate, the beverage segment is attracting more strategic buyers seeking health‑focused growth. Asia‑Pacific...
Sycamore Mulls $10bn Boots Sale, London Float Slows
Sycamore weighs $10bn Boots sale, cooling on a London float Read the full story here: https://t.co/sv9d6fRidm https://t.co/EQztE85Cv5
Why Europe Has the Dream, but Struggles to Build Freight-Tech Giants
Europe’s freight‑tech scene boasts innovative founders and early‑stage capital, but growth‑stage funding remains scarce. CEOs like Sennder’s David Nothacker note that once companies reach Series B‑C, European investors retreat, forcing firms to seek U.S. capital where exit routes are clearer. The...
From a College Dorm Room to Aerospace Manufacturing, the RVCE Duo Is Building India's Precision Future
Ethereal Machines, founded by RVCE alumni Kaushik Mudda and Navin Jain, has evolved from a dorm‑room five‑axis CNC prototype to a Bengaluru‑based precision‑manufacturing platform serving aerospace, defence and healthcare clients. The company’s Halo machine, the world’s first desktop five‑axis CNC...
Raising Money? Here’s What that Funding Round Could Really Cost Your Business
European SMEs are urged to treat fundraising as a strategic, long‑term decision rather than a one‑off cash infusion. The article outlines how banks, venture capital, corporate investors and regulated private platforms each reshape ownership, growth expectations, and future fundraising. It...
AI Stack Boosts Retention, Unlocks Over Half Profit
My AI retention stack: Klaviyo → email + SMS automation Claude → write all flow copy (welcome, abandoned cart, post-purchase, win-back) Smartreply → 24/7 AI customer support on Shopify Aftersell → post-purchase upsells Retention is where 50%+ of brand profit gets made. Most people leave...
The Lean AI Plan for Action at VietBank
VietBank’s CIO, Nghia Tran, has built a lean, in‑house AI engine that powers a Smart Office Tracking system and an Intelligent Management System using a self‑hosted LLM. The AI suite cut document approval cycles by 35% and earned a 2025...
6/10/26 - NBA Finals Ticket Swings, Pat McAfee's Record Deal, Sorsby Appeal, Josh Allen Tops NFLPA Sales
The episode covers a rapid swing in NBA Finals ticket prices, with Knicks–Spurs Game 4 tickets dropping below $4,000 and potential Game 6 tickets soaring to $12,000. It highlights FIFA’s last‑minute ticket giveaways amid supply issues, including a $1 million prize...
WK Kellogg Chief Growth Officer Doug VandeVelde On Transforming From Breakfast to Functional Wellness Focus
Doug VandeVelde, Chief Growth Officer at WK Kellogg, discusses the brand’s shift from traditional breakfast marketing to a functional wellness focus, highlighted by a Super Bowl campaign promoting fiber and gut health through Raisin Bran. He explains how the campaign...
Christopher Bailey Turns His Attention to Britain’s Storied Pottery, and Other News.
Former Burberry chief creative officer Christopher Bailey has spearheaded the acquisition of Burleigh, the historic Stoke‑on‑Trent ceramic maker, rescuing the 175‑year‑old brand after Denby Pottery’s collapse. Burleigh remains the world’s last pottery using hand‑applied tissue‑transfer printing, a technique prized by...
EU Imports of Russian Arctic LNG Surge Despite New Restrictions, Spain Leads May Buying
EU imports of Russian Yamal LNG climbed 17.9% year‑over‑year to 8.37 million metric tons between January and May 2026, despite new EU bans on short‑term contracts and re‑exports. A total of 114 cargoes arrived, averaging one tanker every 1.3 days, with Europe...
From Bangladesh Lockers to Hong Kong Loyalty: Meet Accelerating Asia’s Most Global Cohort Yet
Accelerating Asia announced its 13th cohort, selecting five startups from a record 724 applications across 20 countries, yielding an acceptance rate of under 1%. All chosen companies were already generating revenue or active usage, a rare benchmark for early‑stage accelerators....
What Are the Most Important Business Functions as You Scale? Using the Standard Model for Business
Edward Rowe’s guest post explains that scaling a business is less about chasing top‑line growth and more about maturing the internal functions that keep growth sustainable. He argues that product and operations are the lifeblood of early‑stage firms, while finance,...
VCs Can't Get Enough of Legal Startups. Andreessen Horowitz Just Invested in One Taking Work From Patent Lawyers.
Fearn, an AI‑driven patent‑drafting startup, closed a $5.5 million seed round led by Kindred Ventures with participation from Andreessen Horowitz and others. The platform lets inventors generate a complete patent application in minutes for a flat $2,000 fee, scoring quality and...
Topps Adds Saudi Football Rights as Collectibles Expansion Accelerates
Topps has signed an exclusive, long‑term licensing agreement with the Saudi Arabian Football Federation that takes effect in 2028, granting the company rights to produce official trading cards, stickers, games and match‑worn memorabilia featuring Saudi men’s, women’s and youth national...
Research: Record World Cup Revenue Masks 19% Per-Game Rights Value Fall
Caretta Research projects a record $8.9 bn (≈ €7.7 bn) total revenue for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, a 54% jump from 2022, driven mainly by the tournament’s expansion to 48 teams and 104 matches. Matchday revenue is set to explode 220% as...
How Cascade Became One of Luxembourg’s Top Employers
Cascade, a Luxembourg‑based firm with more than 20 staff from 13 nationalities, earned the Great Place To Work certification for 2026 with a 98% overall score. The rating sits 13 points above the average for small companies in Luxembourg, reflecting...
L’Oréal Launches Sixth Employee Share Plan
L’Oréal has launched its sixth employee share‑ownership programme, extending the offer to staff in 63 countries. Up to 300,000 shares will be made available, matching the scale of the previous year, with a subscription window from 10 June to 24 June 2026 and...
The Agentic AI Flywheel Is Coming for Your Budget - Celonis Field CTO on Token Economics
Celonis Field CTO Manuel Haug warns that enterprise adoption of agentic AI is triggering an exponential rise in token consumption, especially as agents move from human‑in‑the‑loop to near‑autonomous operation. He argues that token‑based pricing, akin to cloud compute costs, clashes...
When a Lean Leader Admits He Doesn’t Know What He’s Doing, with Gary Peterson
Gary Peterson, former EVP of Supply Chain at O.C. Tanner, recounts how he spearheaded a Lean transformation before the methodology was widely known, shrinking order batches, installing one‑piece flow, and cutting lead time from 28 days to 20 minutes. He...
Asics To Spin Off Onitsuka Tiger Sneaker Brand
Asics Corp. approved an absorption‑type spinoff of its heritage Onitsuka Tiger brand, moving it into a wholly‑owned subsidiary, OT Group Corp, with completion slated for Jan. 1 2027. The brand projects annual sales of about $1.3 billion after the split, following a 34%...
Carbon13 Launches Its Tenth Fund for Climate Startups
Carbon13 has launched its tenth Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) fund, Carbon13 SEIS Fund X, granting exclusive rights to invest in startups created through its Cambridge‑based venture builder. The fund targets a climate horizontal that includes energy, AI, materials, food security...
In Internal Meeting, Amazon Cloud Executive Asked Employees to Recruit Laid Off Meta Workers
In a recent internal meeting, AWS chief marketing officer Julia White asked employees to help recruit recently laid‑off Meta workers. The call comes as AWS’s marketing division faces about 160 open positions and higher‑than‑desired attrition. Despite Amazon’s broader workforce reductions—over...
Oatly Executives Said to Be Weighing Buyout of Greater China Business
Oatly’s Greater China executives are weighing a management buyout that could close before the end of 2026. The Swedish oat‑milk maker has been reviewing the region since mid‑2025, noting a 2.1% revenue dip to $29.3 million and an EBITDA loss that...
Dealmakers Hold Their Nerve on M&A Despite Tariff Turbulence, Deloitte Finds
Deloitte’s mid‑year M&A Trends Pulse Survey of 500 senior dealmakers shows 67% expect the number of deals and 69% anticipate higher total deal value over the next six months, indicating continued momentum despite a more disciplined tone. Expectations for deal‑volume...