DOJ, Halkbank Agree to End Iran Sanctions Case
The U.S. Justice Department and state‑owned Halkbank have reached a deferred prosecution agreement, ending a five‑year case alleging the bank helped Iran evade sanctions. Under the deal, Halkbank must stop any Iran‑benefiting transactions and submit to an independent compliance monitor. Prosecutors linked the settlement to Turkey’s diplomatic role in the Gaza cease‑fire negotiations. Halkbank says the resolution will improve its access to global banking networks without admitting wrongdoing.
RocketReach Pricing Explained: Plans & Costs 2026
RocketReach’s pricing structure is split between Individual and Team plans, with monthly rates ranging from $80 to $300 per user for individuals and $83 to $207 per user for teams when billed annually. The service operates on a credit‑based model,...
Perion’s AI Agent Outmax Now Available for TikTok, Delivering up to 25% Greater Media Performance in Early Results
Perion Network announced the launch of its Outmax AI agent on TikTok, reporting up to a 25% lift in media performance during early trials. The integration brings Perion’s AI‑native infrastructure to TikTok’s 1.6 billion‑user ecosystem, allowing advertisers to move beyond platform‑standard...
Japan Cloud ERP Market Growth Propelled by Digital Transformation, AI
Japan’s cloud ERP market is projected to grow at a 20.1% compound annual rate through 2032, positioning the country to capture roughly one‑third of global demand. Government‑backed digital transformation programs and subsidies are accelerating adoption across manufacturing, IT, telecom, finance...
Bank Of America Lends A Hand To Nexstar
Bank of America, alongside undisclosed lenders, has arranged a leveraged loan to finance Nexstar Media Group’s proposed acquisition of TEGNA. The financing is intended to help Nexstar secure the deal that would make it the nation’s largest single owner of...
Digital Realty Trust: A 34% Dividend Buffer Meets AI Data Center CapEx Cycle
Digital Realty Trust posted 2025 Core FFO of $7.39 per share, delivering a roughly 34% dividend buffer against its $4.88 payout. The REIT maintains a 4.9× leverage ratio and BBB ratings from S&P, Moody’s and Fitch, keeping credit risk low....
The AlleyWatch February 2026 New York Venture Capital Funding Report
New York City’s venture capital market posted a record February 2026, raising $2.53 billion across 76 deals—a 180.9% year‑over‑year increase and 50.6% month‑over‑month jump. The surge was driven by a handful of late‑stage mega‑rounds, which lifted the average deal size to...
Citi CEO Jane Fraser Has a Warren Buffett-Approved Trick for Dealing with a Toxic Boss or Difficult Colleague: ‘Never in Anger,...
Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser said Warren Buffett taught her to never answer a hostile email while angry and to praise individuals while criticizing issues, not people. She applied the advice during a tense activist‑investor episode, emphasizing empathy as a competitive...
Automate CRM Data Hygiene with ETL Pipelines
Clean, reliable data is the foundation of any effective CRM, yet most organizations watch their records degrade as leads flow in, updates occur, and integrations sync. Manual de‑duplication and field fixes are slow, error‑prone, and unsustainable at scale. Leveraging ETL...
159 – the Three-Digit Number that Could Stop You From Being Scammed
The three‑digit hotline 159, launched by Stop Scams UK in 2021, gives UK consumers a fast way to verify suspicious banking calls or texts. It links callers to the fraud teams of more than 99% of retail bank accounts, and over...
Snelling: Decades of Recruiting Show Today’s Labor Market Isn’t ‘Unprecedented’
Snelling’s 75‑year anniversary survey of more than 100 U.S. markets reveals that soft‑skill attributes—adaptability, reliability, work ethic, emotional intelligence—are now the primary predictors of long‑term employee performance, with 50 %‑75 % of recent hires driven by attitude and growth potential rather than...
Citi Stock Rebounds As CEO Jane Fraser Paints A Bullish Picture
Citigroup’s shares jumped 2.5% after CEO Jane Fraser outlined a bullish outlook at an RBC conference. She said investment‑banking fees and markets revenue should grow in the mid‑teens year‑over‑year, and reaffirmed a target of 10‑11% return on tangible common equity...
Airbnb Appoints Former Uber Safety Exec as Global Head of Operations
Airbnb has hired former Uber safety chief Gus Fuldner as its new global head of operations, succeeding retiring executive Tara Bunch. Fuldner, who oversaw Uber’s safety and core services, starts on March 16 as Airbnb expands beyond home rentals into...
Meta Hikes Fees for Advertisers to Cover Europe's Digital Taxes
Meta Platforms will begin charging advertisers a "location fee" to offset Europe’s digital services taxes, starting July 1. The fee mirrors each country’s tax rate—3% in France, Italy and Spain; 5% in Austria and Turkey; and 2% in the U.K.—and...
Middle East Crisis: The 4 Most Important Employment Law Questions for HR in Germany
The Middle East escalation forces German employers to reassess travel, duty‑of‑care and compensation policies. Employees can lawfully refuse business trips to regions flagged as dangerous by the Federal Foreign Office. Companies must intensify monitoring of staff on overseas assignments and...
Google Adds Automatic End Screens to Video Ads
Google Ads is rolling out automatic end screens that attach an interactive card to the end of eligible in‑stream video ads. The feature pulls app name, icon, price and install link from campaign data and is enabled by default for...
How a Strategic Shift Helped Anheuser‑Busch Beat the Beer Market Slump
Anheuser‑Busch has mitigated the industry‑wide beer slump by expanding into non‑beer categories, notably non‑alcoholic beer and ready‑to‑drink cocktails. Michelob Ultra became the top‑selling U.S. beer, while its spirits‑related portfolio now accounts for 3% of revenue and is growing twice as...
The 5 Women Reshaping How We Work in 2026
The 2026 Female Founders 500 honors five women transforming modern workplaces, spotlighting HR‑tech innovators like Diana HR and Career Group Companies. Susan Levine’s recruitment firm has expanded into Canada and Mexico while maintaining a 95 percent retention rate on direct‑hire placements. Upeka Bee’s AI‑backed HR‑as‑a‑service...
CPP Investments Comes to Market with Multi-Billion-Dollar PE Portfolio
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) has launched Project Ember, a secondary market sale of a private‑equity portfolio valued at over $3 billion. The transaction includes a tranche of equal‑strip positions tied to prominent buyout funds, signaling a sizable liquidity...
Kenya’s Parliament Committees Back $1.5 Billion Safaricom Stake Sale
Kenyan parliamentary Public Debt and Privatisation Committees have endorsed the government's plan to sell 15% of its Safaricom stake for KES204 billion ($1.5 billion). Proceeds will be funneled into a National Infrastructure Fund to finance roads, energy and other projects, easing fiscal...
South-South Trade with China Is the Future of Global Trade
China is rapidly expanding its south‑south trade, with the Belt and Road Initiative now responsible for roughly 52% of its foreign trade. Between 2007 and 2023, south‑south commerce grew from $2.3 trillion to $5.6 trillion, accounting for over a third of global...
Intelligo Launches the Intelligo Compliance MCP Server, Bringing Deterministic Due Diligence Into Autonomous AI Investment Workflows
Intelligo announced the launch of its Compliance MCP Server, a new infrastructure layer that embeds deterministic due‑diligence into autonomous AI investment workflows used by limited partners. The MCP server delivers verifiable, auditable risk intelligence, enabling real‑time background checks, firm‑specific thresholds,...
Buildout Launches CRM, Completing the Industry’s First AI-Powered End-to-End Deal Engine for CRE
Buildout Inc. has launched Buildout CRM, the final component of its AI‑powered, end‑to‑end deal engine for commercial real‑estate brokerages. The new CRM integrates with the existing Buildout Suite, creating a single shared workflow and data layer that spans the entire...
What if Your Corporate Tax Team Could Focus on Strategy Instead of Spreadsheets?
Corporate tax departments are bogged down by manual spreadsheet‑based compliance, leading to costly errors and diverting talent from strategic work. Each phase—data gathering, exemption handling, and return processing—creates risk and consumes hours that could support growth initiatives. Intelligent automation promises...
Edinburgh Worldwide Seeks End to Saba Saga by Offering Shareholders Cash Exit and SpaceX Upside
Edinburgh Worldwide (EWIT) has tabled a 100% tender offer that would let shareholders cash out at roughly 85% of net asset value, with the remaining 15% deferred until SpaceX’s anticipated IPO. The proposal does not require support from activist hedge...
Banks Failing to Screen for Illegal Mining Risks
A Reuters‑cited study by WWF and Themis finds that roughly 40% of banks and investors do not screen for illegal mining risks, despite 84% operating in high‑risk sectors such as transport and trade. Illegal mining generates at least $48 billion in...
Shippers ‘Despair’ as Carriers Hit Trade with Flurry of New Surcharges
Ocean carriers and airlines have announced a wave of new surcharges, prompting the Global Shippers Forum to warn that operating costs for exporters could more than double. An Australian exporter cited an additional $250,000 expense, which rose to $600,000 after...
Hormuz Closure Would Cost Gulf States Average 3.8% of GDP, Marex Warns as Bahrain Most Exposed
Marex warns that a three‑month shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz would erode the average current‑account balance of Gulf states by 3.8% of GDP. Bahrain, lacking alternative export routes, would see its surplus flip to a 3.2% deficit, while Saudi...
RAAS LAB & The Trade Desk Partner to Bring Real-Time Relevance to Programmatic Advertising
RAAS LAB announced a partnership with The Trade Desk, integrating its AI‑driven contextual intelligence into the demand‑side platform. The joint solution lets advertisers evaluate tone, sentiment and placement environment at the impression level, backed by URL‑level reporting. Brands and agencies...
AD&C Loan Volume Falls Despite Declining Financing Costs
Single‑family acquisition, development and construction (AD&C) loan stock slipped 1.5% in Q4 2025, reaching $456.3 billion despite two Fed rate cuts. While overall AD&C volume fell, 1‑4‑family residential construction loans rose 1.7% year‑over‑year, marking a second consecutive YoY gain. Nonaccrual and...
EU, Thailand Must Address Migrant Worker Rights in Trade Talks
The European Union is fast‑tracking free‑trade agreements with Thailand, but migrant‑worker rights remain a critical blind spot. Thailand relies on millions of migrant laborers—many undocumented—and bars them from forming unions while still not ratifying core ILO conventions. EU trade deals...
The Hidden Cost of Every Card Swipe – Understanding Interchange Fees
Interchange fees are the charges that a merchant’s bank pays to the card‑issuing bank for each card transaction, typically ranging from 0.2% to 2% of the purchase amount. In the European Economic Area, regulation caps these fees at 0.2% for...
Old Spice Reworks Boyz II Men Song for Sequel to Clingy Moms Campaign
Old Spice has launched “The End of Adolescents,” a sequel to its 2014 “Mom Song” campaign, featuring a reworked Boyz II Men classic in an R&B‑styled spot. The 60‑second commercial promotes the brand’s new Swagger Signature Scent Control system, which lets users...
Dify Secures $30M Series Pre-A to Power Enterprise-Grade Agentic Workflows
Dify announced a $30 million Series Pre‑A round at a $180 million valuation, led by HSG with participation from GL Ventures, Alt‑Alpha Capital, 5Y Capital, Mizuho Leaguer Investment and NYX Ventures. The open‑source platform enables enterprises to design, deploy and operate production‑grade AI...
Why Clients Should Care About Capex
Capital expenditures have surged as AI drives massive data‑center builds, pushing big‑tech capex to its highest share of revenue in a decade. The Mag 7 and other hyperscalers are allocating roughly 100% of operating cash flow to capex in 2026, far...
Embridge Consulting Appoints Alex Ashley-Roberts and Lucy Fox to Strengthen Leadership Team
Embridge Consulting announced the appointment of Alex Ashley‑Roberts and Lucy Fox to its board, bolstering senior leadership as the firm targets the next growth phase in technology‑enabled business transformation. Ashley‑Roberts, former interim head of marketing, will guide sales and marketing...
Walmart Is Making a Big Change to Vizio TVs Now That Vizio Is a Walmart Private Label Brand
Walmart has fully integrated Vizio into its private‑label portfolio, making the brand exclusive to Walmart and Sam’s Club stores. New Vizio smart TVs now require a Walmart account during setup to unlock full streaming and personalization features, while existing owners...
Cresset Promotes President Susie Cranston to CEO
Cresset, the $235 billion multi‑family office, announced that President Susie Cranston will assume the chief executive officer role on April 15, joining the board of directors. Co‑founders Avy Stein and Eric Becker will step down as co‑CEOs and transition to executive co‑chairs,...
Why Tecovas Made a Short Film About Texas Instead of a Traditional Ad
Western bootmaker Tecovas is shifting its marketing play by releasing a 14‑minute short film titled “Love Letter to Texas,” written and directed by Jeff Nichols and starring Ryan Bingham with narration by Sissy Spacek. The film premiered at the South‑by‑Southwest...
General Mills Taps Interim CSCO for Top Supply Chain Post
General Mills has confirmed Jonathan Ness as its permanent chief supply chain officer, effective March 16, after serving in an interim capacity since January. Ness, a 20‑year veteran of the company, will oversee manufacturing, logistics, sourcing and planning and report...
Albert Hirschman Strikes Back
Albert O. Hirschman's 1945 work *National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade* was largely ignored when published, but its analysis of how states engineer trade for strategic advantage is resurfacing amid today’s intensifying geoeconomic conflict. The book argued that...
Amazon Reportedly Targeting Up To $42 Billion In Bond Sale
Amazon filed a preliminary prospectus to raise between $37 billion and $42 billion in a mixed‑currency bond offering, the largest since its $15 billion sale in November. The proceeds are earmarked for Amazon’s aggressive AI push, including massive data‑center construction and a recently...
Serval's Path to Product-Market Fit — Win Enterprise Buyers by Treating Them Like Consumers
Serval, an AI‑powered IT automation platform founded by former Verkada product leader Jake Stauch, hit a $1 billion valuation within two years of its April 2024 launch. By reframing discovery to ask IT leaders what work they would offload, the team uncovered...
Wow: IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers Resigns, Effective Immediately
IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers announced his immediate resignation, officially citing personal reasons. Elbers, a former KLM chief, has led the airline since September 2022, overseeing long‑haul expansion and a premium cabin launch. His departure comes weeks after IndiGo’s December 2025...
Meta Acquires Moltbook, the Reddit-Style Platform Built for AI Agents
Meta has acquired Moltbook, a Reddit‑style platform designed for AI agents, and will integrate its founders into the company’s Superintelligence Labs. The purchase price remains undisclosed, with the transaction slated to close in mid‑March. Moltbook launched in late January to...
HRForecast 2026: Skills Mobility Will Become FMCG’s Core Capability – Tarun NP Varma, CHRO, Tata Consumer Products
Tarun N.P. Varma, CHRO of Tata Consumer Products, warns that by 2026 the FMCG sector’s competitive edge will hinge on rapid internal skill mobility rather than external hiring. He outlines three signals: talent marketplaces as strategic infrastructure, AI serving as...
Fiscal Deficit as Percentage of GDP Revised Upwards for FY'23 to FY'25 After GDP Base Revision
India’s fiscal‑deficit ratios have been revised upward for FY 2022‑23 to FY 2024‑25 after the government adopted a 2022‑23 GDP base year. The new series shows deficits of 6.7 % in 2022‑23, 5.7 % in 2023‑24 and 4.9 % in 2024‑25, compared with earlier estimates...
Africa CDC Eyes Debt Swaps to Plug Health Financing Gaps
Facing steep foreign‑aid cuts and high sovereign debt, Africa CDC is turning to debt‑for‑health swaps to bridge financing gaps. The agency has hired Christoph Benn, a veteran of the Global Fund’s Debt2Health mechanism, to spearhead matchmaking between debtor nations and...
Modernizing From the Inside Out: Nokia’s Brownfield Network Transformation
Nokia undertook a brownfield transformation of its global data‑center network, replacing legacy gear with a unified, automated fabric while keeping services live. The migration was staged, using parallel deployment, digital‑twin validation and intent‑based configuration to avoid downtime. At the first...
Augury Names New Product and Engineering Leadership to Accelerate Progress in Industrial AI
Augury announced the appointment of Anoop Mohan as Chief Product and Technology Officer, bringing a former Google Cloud AI leader to steer its product and engineering strategy. Mohan will head a newly formed leadership team that includes veterans from Meta,...