News•Feb 19, 2026
Starbreeze Revenue Rises 19% to $24.5m in 2025
Starbreeze Entertainment reported a 18.8% rise in 2025 revenue to SEK 221 million ($24.5 million), yet the company posted a larger net loss of SEK 402.7 million ($44.6 million). Quarterly sales slipped 10.7% in Q4, driven by a decline in third‑party publishing and mixed performance of its Payday titles. Payday 2 surged 43.6% YoY, while Payday 3 fell 45.5%, and the firm announced cost‑base adjustments and further layoffs to improve financial resilience. CEO Adolf Krist Jansson emphasized a focus on stabilising the business and delivering sustainable growth into 2026.
By GamesIndustry.biz
News•Feb 19, 2026
Plato Closes $14.5M to Bring AI Automation to Wholesale Trade
Plato, a Berlin‑based startup, secured a $14.5 million seed round led by Atomico to embed generative AI into wholesale distribution. The company links AI directly to legacy ERP systems, turning historical sales data into automated quotes, revenue alerts, and risk flags....
By The Next Web (TNW)
News•Feb 19, 2026
Nestlé Bets on Four Key Categories as It Separates Ice Cream
Nestlé reported 3.5% organic growth for 2025, with real internal growth rising 0.8% and free cash flow reaching CHF 9.2 bn. CEO Philipp Navratil outlined a sharpened portfolio strategy centered on coffee, petcare, nutrition and food‑&‑snacks, while preparing to spin off the remaining...
By FoodNavigator
News•Feb 19, 2026
Africa's Water and Sanitation Access Gap Is Constraining Economic Growth
Limited access to water and sanitation continues to hamper Africa’s development, with one‑third of the population lacking basic drinking water and two‑thirds without proper sanitation. The African Union estimates the WASH shortfall costs the region about 4.3 % of GDP each...
By African Business
News•Feb 19, 2026
UAE Data Centers: Powering the Middle East’s AI and Cloud Revolution
The United Arab Emirates is rapidly emerging as a pivotal data‑center hub for the Middle East and Africa, with live capacity surpassing 376 MW in 2025. Hyperscale players such as Microsoft, G42, and OpenAI are expanding AI‑focused facilities, targeting an additional...
By Data Center Knowledge
News•Feb 19, 2026
Walmart’s Ad Business Grew 46% in 2025, Hitting Nearly $6.4B
Walmart’s advertising arm surged 46% in 2025, generating nearly $6.4 billion, while the broader company posted $713.2 billion in revenue. Walmart Connect alone grew 41% in Q4, and the Vizio acquisition added high‑minimum‑price inventory. AI chatbot Sparky, now tested with ads, drives...
By Adweek
News•Feb 19, 2026
I Founded 1-800-Flowers.com 50 Years Ago. This Is the Secret to Business Success
The founder of 1‑800‑Flowers.com marks a 50‑year milestone, attributing the company’s endurance to deep, trust‑based relationships rather than just capital or strategy. Starting as a modest Manhattan flower shop in 1976, the business expanded into a national brand by consistently...
By Fast Company — Leadership
News•Feb 19, 2026
Bloomberg Indices Expands Futures-Based Index Offering
Bloomberg announced the Bloomberg Eris SOFR Swap Futures Tracker Indices, a suite of 11 new rules‑based indices that track the performance of Eris SOFR swap futures across the U.S. dollar interest‑rate curve. The indices span tenors from one‑year to 30‑year...
By ETF Express
News•Feb 19, 2026
Florida Investor’s Guide to Premium Financing Risks 2026
Florida’s insurance market is stabilizing, but high‑net‑worth investors face a new danger from premium‑financed life insurance. The strategy, once attractive because cheap borrowing let the ultra‑wealthy keep assets liquid, now collides with sharply higher interest rates. Federal Reserve hikes pushed...
By Finance Monthly
News•Feb 19, 2026
Boeing Moves Its Defense HQ Back to St. Louis
Boeing announced it will move the headquarters of its Defense, Space & Security division from Arlington, Virginia back to St. Louis, Missouri, ending a nine‑year stint on the East Coast. The relocation positions senior leaders alongside roughly 18,000 employees at...
By Defense One
News•Feb 19, 2026
Former US Presidential Candidate Has an Alarming Prediction for Your Job — Salaries Are About to Go Down
Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang warned that artificial intelligence will sharply reduce salaries across the workforce, affecting both white‑collar and service‑sector jobs. In a Substack post he cited examples from dry cleaning to coding, predicting millions of layoffs within 12‑18...
By Mint (India) – Economy
News•Feb 19, 2026
ZoomInfo vs UpLead: 2026 Data Comparison
ZoomInfo and UpLead are the two leading B2B data platforms, each catering to different buyer priorities. ZoomInfo boasts the largest U.S. contact database, intent signals, and deep workflow integrations, but its pricing is custom, contract‑based, and credit‑heavy. UpLead offers real‑time...
By Cognism Blog
News•Feb 19, 2026
Emergent Launches Vibe Coding App, Reaches $100M ARR in 8 Months
Emergent announced its AI‑powered mobile app, Emergent AI, as the company hit a $100 million annual run‑rate in just eight months, doubling from $50 million in a single month. The platform now supports over six million builders across 190+ countries who have created...
By Startups Magazine
News•Feb 19, 2026
How Do You Fund Your Own LLC?
Launching an LLC begins with a clear picture of how much capital is required, often starting with personal savings or bootstrapping. Entrepreneurs then evaluate external sources such as SBA‑backed loans, grants, and alternative platforms like crowdfunding or credit cards. Adding...
By Finance Monthly
News•Feb 19, 2026
Roam Interior Design Announces Leadership Appointments
Roam Interior Design announced three senior appointments: Deanne Teeter was promoted to Principal, Jenny Holt to Vice President and Senior Project Manager in Dallas, and Gareth Payne joined the Los Angeles office as Vice President and Regional Design Director. The...
By Sleeper
News•Feb 19, 2026
Europe’s Next War
The war in Ukraine has dominated transatlantic policy for four years, prompting massive U.S. and European aid to Kyiv and severe sanctions on Moscow. Even if a cease‑fire is reached, the article warns that Russia will continue rearming while Europe...
By RAND Blog/Analysis
News•Feb 19, 2026
Bank of Ireland UK Fined for Late Security System Implementation
The UK arm of Bank of Ireland was fined £3.78 million by the Payments Systems Regulator for a 14‑month delay in deploying the Confirmation of Payee (CoP) system. The lapse left 1.14 million new payees and roughly £7 million in payments without fraud‑prevention...
By ComputerWeekly – DevOps
News•Feb 19, 2026
Why Traditional Upskilling Strategies Fall Short in Cybersecurity
Traditional cybersecurity upskilling programs are losing relevance as threats and technologies evolve rapidly. Ha Hoang, CIO of Commvault, argues that organizations now need hybrid talent that blends security fundamentals with automation, cloud, and data‑governance expertise. Conventional certification‑centric paths are too...
By Security Magazine (Cybersecurity)
News•Feb 19, 2026
A Public-Private Partnership: Central Banks as a Funding Backstop
The authors analyze the Bank of England’s 2012 Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) and find that central‑bank liquidity acts as a backstop that improves private wholesale funding conditions rather than merely substituting for them. By lowering banks’ wholesale funding costs,...
By Bank Underground (Bank of England blog)
News•Feb 19, 2026
Carbon-Aware Scaling: The Next Competitive Edge in SaaS
SaaS founders must now measure the energy and emissions each customer generates, not just revenue and cloud spend. Continuous workloads, AI inference, and data pipelines are turning software into a major energy consumer, making carbon a direct cost driver. Tools...
By Startups Magazine
News•Feb 19, 2026
Neom Partners with DataVolt on $5bn Hyperscale Datacentre Project for Digital Infrastructure
Neom has signed a landmark $5 billion agreement with Saudi‑based DataVolt to build the Kingdom’s first green‑AI hyperscale data centre in Oxagon. The facility will operate at net‑zero, powered entirely by renewable energy and equipped with advanced cooling to support generative...
By ComputerWeekly – DevOps
News•Feb 19, 2026
Kumba Upbeat on Iron Ore Contract Talks with China
Kumba Iron Ore says it will wrap up contract negotiations with Chinese steelmakers this year, despite the ongoing dispute between China Minerals Resources Group and major miners. China now represents 56% of Kumba’s 2025 export sales, up from 54% in...
By Miningmx
News•Feb 19, 2026
Where Purpose Meets Performance: Elutia Earns 2026 Great Place to Work Certification
Elutia Inc., a drug‑eluting biomatrix pioneer, earned the 2026 Great Place to Work certification, confirming a high‑trust, high‑engagement culture. The company highlights a workforce that is 54% women, with 62% of leadership roles held by women, and a median employee...
By HR Tech Series
News•Feb 19, 2026
UKG and Ellucian Announce Strategic Higher Education Technology Partnership
UKG and Ellucian announced a strategic partnership that links UKG’s Workforce Operating Platform with Ellucian’s ERP and student information systems. The integration enables real‑time data exchange, streamlined workforce operations, and AI‑driven insights for faculty, staff, and student employees. Mutual customers,...
By HR Tech Series
News•Feb 19, 2026
Denis Beau: The Regulatory Framework for Securitisation
Denis Beau, representing Banque de France and ACPR, highlighted the strategic role of asset‑backed securities (ABS) in the euro‑area monetary‑policy framework, noting they account for roughly 30% of collateral despite representing less than 5% of eligible securities. He stressed that...
By BIS – All (News/Publications)
News•Feb 19, 2026
Swaminathan J: Values in Action - the Making of a Strong Institution
Axis Bank honored 100 employees as "Champions" for embodying five core values—customer centricity, ethics, teamwork, transparency, and ownership—highlighting culture as a strategic asset. The speech stressed that success hinges on how results are achieved, not just the results themselves. By...
By BIS – All (News/Publications)
News•Feb 19, 2026
Dayforce Unveils New Brand Campaign That Shrinks the Weight of Work
Dayforce, a global HCM provider, launched the “Tiny Briefcase” brand campaign to illustrate how its AI‑powered platform reduces the burden of fragmented HR systems. The visual metaphor shows professionals weighed down by oversized bags that transform into a tiny briefcase,...
By HR Tech Series
News•Feb 19, 2026
40% of Professionals Struggle with Accountability When Reputational Risk Rises, New Research Finds
Interactive EQ’s 2026 Behavioral Intelligence Index, based on 5,000 simulations with 1,700 professionals, reveals that 40% of workers shy away from accountability when reputational risk rises. The study shows middle‑manager performance can plunge up to 70% in high‑pressure, visibility‑heavy scenarios....
By HR Tech Series
News•Feb 19, 2026
With the U1, LiberLive Aims to Address Music Instrument Dropout
LiberLive launched the U1, a stringless guitar that instantly generates chords with a magnetic pick, topping Tmall’s sales rankings on day one. In its first month the U1 and C2 series claimed three of the category’s top bestseller spots, while...
By KrASIA
News•Feb 19, 2026
Cinnamon Life Names Kamal Munasinghe as GM
Cinnamon Life at City of Dreams has appointed Kamal Munasinghe as its General Manager while he continues as Senior Vice President for Colombo hotels at Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts. Munasinghe brings over three decades of hospitality experience, most recently serving...
By TTG Asia
News•Feb 19, 2026
ARK Invest Europe's Rahul Bhushan: Defence Edges Into Core Portfolio Allocation Status
ARK Invest Europe’s Rahul Bhushan announced that the defence sector has been elevated to a core‑allocation status within the firm’s European thematic funds. The upgrade follows a surge in investor interest, with total European thematic ETF net inflows reaching $15.8 bn...
By Investment Week – ETFs
News•Feb 19, 2026
Swedish CubaseBio Emerges From Stealth with €5.9 Million to Scale Volumetric DNA Microscopy
Swedish startup CubaseBio has emerged from stealth after raising €5.9 million in blended financing – a €2 million European Innovation Council grant plus €3.9 million from Voima Ventures, Nordic Science Investments, Illumina Ventures and other life‑science investors. The capital will accelerate development of...
By ArcticStartup
News•Feb 19, 2026
Middle East Weekly: Baidu’s Apollo Go Operates Driverless Fleet at WGS, QIA Commits USD 2 Billion to Startups, Qatar Signs...
At the 2026 World Governments Summit in Dubai, Baidu’s Apollo Go deployed the event’s only fully autonomous ride‑hailing fleet, showcasing Chinese driverless technology on a high‑profile international stage. Meanwhile, Qatar Investment Authority announced a $2 billion expansion of its fund‑of‑funds program to...
By KrASIA
News•Feb 19, 2026
Philippines’ Central Bank Delivers Expected Rate Cut Paired with Uncertain Guidance
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas trimmed its policy rate by 25 basis points to 4.25%, matching market expectations. However, the central bank softened its forward guidance, dropping language that it was nearing the end of easing and emphasizing lingering confidence...
By ING — THINK Economics
News•Feb 19, 2026
Taylor Wessing Hunts for Investors to Back Start-Up Funding Platform Outpace
Taylor Wessing is actively courting investors to fund Outpace, a new start‑up financing platform it helped launch. The firm aims to leverage its legal expertise and client network to accelerate capital access for early‑stage companies. Outpace will provide a tech‑driven...
By The Lawyer (UK)
News•Feb 19, 2026
ISDA’s Amy Hong: ‘North Star’ Is Safe and Efficient Markets
ISDA’s new board chair Amy Hong reaffirmed the association’s 40‑year mission to keep derivatives markets safe and efficient, while charting a 2026 agenda focused on technology and regulatory alignment. She highlighted the continued push to finalize Basel III trading‑book rules and...
By Traders Magazine – Options/Derivatives
News•Feb 19, 2026
9 Companies Hiring Now in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania’s Greater Philadelphia corridor remains a biotech hotbed, housing over 1,200 life‑science firms including AstraZeneca, GSK and Johnson & Johnson. Eli Lilly announced a new injectable weight‑loss manufacturing plant in the Lehigh Valley, projected to create roughly 850 jobs by 2031....
By BioSpace
News•Feb 19, 2026
TBWA Alum Launch AI-Native Shop with Hitachi as Founding Client
Two former Omnicom executives, James Sparano and Kevin O’Sullivan, are launching JK, an AI‑native creative and strategy shop that promises to shrink traditional planning cycles from months to days. The boutique is self‑funded and begins operations on Feb. 19. Hitachi has...
By Adweek
News•Feb 19, 2026
Why HR Leaders Can No Longer Ignore AI Search and Brand Visibility
HR leaders must adapt to AI‑driven search as generative large language models reshape how candidates and buyers discover HR solutions. Hallam’s new whitepaper shows that brands in the top half of traditional Share of Search are 2.5 times more likely to...
By Employer News (UK)
News•Feb 19, 2026
Gold Fields Delivers on New Power Dividend
Gold Fields announced a final dividend of R18.5 per share, a 164% increase year‑over‑year, and added a special dividend of R4.5 per share. Including the interim payout, the total regular dividend of R25.5 represents 35% of free cash flow, aligning...
By Miningmx
News•Feb 19, 2026
How AI Is Rewriting the Rules of Consulting
AI is fundamentally reshaping consulting by replacing lengthy analysis and PowerPoint‑heavy engagements with faster, outcome‑focused projects. Firms are leveraging in‑house and public AI tools to accelerate insight generation, while clients increasingly use the same technology, shifting value from “what is”...
By TechCentral (South Africa)
News•Feb 19, 2026
NRW's Diversification Drive Pays Off
NRW Holdings announced that its acquisition of Fredon Industries for $200 million is driving a significant upgrade to its FY2025‑26 outlook. The diversified service capabilities are expected to boost revenue guidance by roughly 12% and lift earnings per share by about...
By Australia’s Mining Monthly
News•Feb 19, 2026
AI Adoption Is Rising in Retail, but Efficiencies Remain Surprisingly Underwhelming
AI adoption is accelerating in retail, with roughly 70% of firms reporting use of some AI technology. Despite this uptake, more than 80% of senior executives say AI has not noticeably affected employment or productivity over the past three years....
By Retail Gazette
News•Feb 19, 2026
Accenture Links Promotion Prospects to Employees’ Use of AI
Accenture announced that regular use of artificial‑intelligence tools will be a visible factor in promotion decisions for senior roles. The firm is now logging weekly AI‑tool access, including its proprietary AI Refinery, as part of talent discussions. It has already...
By Personnel Today
News•Feb 19, 2026
The Rule of 100: Why the “Long Tail” Is Your Greatest Unlocked Profit Lever
The article introduces the "Rule of 100," urging retailers to price‑manage 100% of their assortment rather than focusing only on the top 5% of high‑visibility SKUs. It argues that the long‑tail 95% of products, though slower moving, contain the bulk...
By QuickLizard
News•Feb 19, 2026
How to Build a Repeatable Sales Process That Works
Many organizations invest heavily in building repeatable sales processes, yet adoption often stalls as teams revert to old habits. Research shows that 95% of high‑performing teams stick to a defined process, but only when it is simple, customer‑focused, and seamlessly...
By The Brooks Group
News•Feb 19, 2026
Paytently Strengthens Regulatory Compliance and Fraud Defence with SEON Partnership
Paytently, a Malta‑licensed payment institution, announced a partnership with fraud‑prevention specialist SEON to embed the latter’s command‑centre technology into its orchestration platform. The integration brings real‑time AML screening, risk scoring, device intelligence and centralized case management to the core of...
By The Fintech Times
News•Feb 19, 2026
Phoenix Tailings Completes $40.2M Series B-3
Phoenix Tailings closed an oversubscribed $40.2 million B‑3 amplification round, lifting total Series B capital to $116.6 million. The financing comprised $30.2 million in equity and $10 million of venture debt supplied by Nomura. New strategic partners such as Traxys, Eni Next and Geodesic Alliance Fund...
By VC News Daily
News•Feb 19, 2026
Majority Of PR Agency Leaders Forecast Growth After Torrid 2025 – CPRA Survey
PR and communications agency leaders are optimistic about 2026 after a challenging 2025. The CPRA survey of 56 agency heads shows 70% expect revenue growth, with 62% targeting more than a 5% lift, and 74% anticipate profitability gains, 58% above...
By B&T (Australia)
News•Feb 19, 2026
More Than 40% of South Africans Were Scammed in 2025
South Africa experienced a staggering 77% scam victimization rate in the 12 months to early 2025, with 42% of adults losing money, averaging $130 per incident. GASA estimates scammers extracted roughly $2.3 billion from over 17.5 million South Africans, equating to about...
By Dark Reading