WWD : Beauty and Home Care Are Starting to Merge

Beauty and Home Care Are Starting to Merge
Diptyque dish soap, anyone?

Chores are about to get a whole lot chicer.

High-end beauty brands are infiltrating the homewares market with new products meant to elevate everything from washing laundry to doing dishes, and make sure things smell good along the way.

There’s an ultra-luxe laundry detergent from LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-backed Maison Francis Kurkdjian, a room spray meant to purify the air from Courteney Cox’s Homecourt, plus an intention-oriented fragrance diffuser from Kris Jenner’s Safely.

There’s a strong business case behind the bevy of new products — Fortune Business Insights reports the market for household cleaning products will reach over $334 billion by 2029.

Here, some of the products cashing in on the buzz.

Maison Francis Kurkdjian Aqua Universalis Scented Laundry Detergents, $45.
Maison Francis Kurkdjian Aqua Universalis scented laundry detergents.
Aqua Universalis, one of the brand’s bestsellers, features notes of bergamot, lemon and lily-of-the-valley, and has been born as a fabric softener and two respective detergents for bright and dark colors.
Homecourt Room Deodorant, $30.
Homecourt Room Deodorant.
Homecourt offers its signature scents as a room spray, with added charcoal meant to purify air and zinc ricinoleate to neutralize odors. Fragrances include Steeped Rose, Neroli Leaf, Cipres Mint and Cece – founder Courteney Cox’s signature scent.
Safely Scent Diffuser Starter Kit, $6.29.
Safely Scent Diffuser.
Kris Jenner’s new launch for home-care brand Safely takes notes from daughter Kourtney Kardashian, a longtime proponent of clean living. Safely’s latest manifestation, scent diffusers, comes in three scents: Bright, Rise and Calm.
Dirty Labs Bio Enzyme Laundry Detergent in Murasaki, $14.
Dirty Labs Bio Enzyme Laundry Detergent.
SCOTT SNYDER
Hypoallergenic laundry brand Dirty Labs has added notes of jasmine, matcha and vetiver to its hero detergent.
Diptyque La Droguerie Collection. Prices range from $15 to $72.
Diptyque La Droguerie Collection.
PHOTO COURTESY OF DIPTYQUE
The home fragrance heavyweight has coupled complex fragrances in a host of cleaning products, such as dish soap, surface cleaner and a basil-scented odor-reducing candle.

WWD : Galeries Lafayette Franchises To Enter Safeguard Procedure, Not Receiversh

Galeries Lafayette Franchises To Enter Safeguard Procedure, Not Receivership
A spokesperson for embattled businessman Michel Ohayon amended an earlier interview regarding the future of the 26 stores owned by Hermione People and Brands.

PARIS – Contrary to an earlier interview of French businessman Michel Ohayon, the 26 Galeries Lafayette franchises owned by Hermione People & Brands will be placed under safeguard proceedings.

On Friday, the embattled businessman had told French regional newspaper Sud Ouest that while the “situation is healthy,” the Galeries Lafayette retail franchise would be placed under receivership “to protect [it] from any attacks.”

A spokesperson for the businessman told the AFP on Saturday that this was “an error” and that “a petition to for safeguard proceedings at the commercial court in Bordeaux” had been filed on Friday and that there was “no defaulting on payments.”

The ‘safeguard’ status will allow Hermione People & Brands to negotiate a restructuring plan under the court’s direction.

The interview had been published following a court hearing in the southern French city of Bordeaux that saw Ohayon’s retail property investment and development group Financière Immobilière Bordelaise go into receivership earlier in the week.

Financière Immobilière Bordelaise, or FIB Group, is involved in high-end hotels and wine production. It is the owner of properties such as the Sheraton hotel at Paris’ Charles-de-Gaulle airport, the Waldorf Astoria Trianon Palace in Versailles and the Grand Hôtel de Bordeaux, operated by the IHG hospitality group.

The three holding companies that own the hotel premises were placed into administration by the Bordeaux commercial court for defaulting on a 201-million-euro loan from Bank of China to finance these acquisitions “from the first instalments of the funding plan.”

In 2018, FIB’s retail arm Hermione People & Brands had bought an initial 22 stores across France, grouped and operated under the Hermione Retail umbrella. Most recently, it took over a further French three stores and an outlet, following the Galeries Lafayette Group’s decision to push further into the franchise model in 2021.

This is a fresh blow for the embattled group and its HPB retail arm. The 2022 bankruptcy of high street retailer Camaïeu, resulting in the closure of over 500 stores across France and the loss of some 2,600 jobs, had created a country-wide furor.

In January, it placed sports equipment store chain Go Sport under receivership and there are indications that Gap France, the entity born from the 2021 purchase of Gap’s activities in France and operating its French stores under a franchise agreement, could follow suit in the short term.

Mounting concerns saw employees of the 26 Galeries Lafayette impacted stores stage walkouts on Tuesday, to protest the lack of transparency on the financial situation of Hermione Retail, where several stores are said to be in “great difficulties” according to AFP reports.

In response, Hermione People & Brands had told the French news agency that “no layoff plan or store closure is programmed at Hermione Retail,” adding that “the company is healthy, supported by a marketing strategy that demonstrated its pertinence,” and a 2022 turnover “rising 4.1 percent and January sales “rising 9.8 percent” against the same period last year.

WSJ : U.N. Inspectors Detect Near-Weapons-Grade Enriched Uranium in Iran

U.N. Inspectors Detect Near-Weapons-Grade Enriched Uranium in Iran
Diplomats say they have been informed that Tehran doesn’t appear to be accumulating a stockpile of the 84%-purity material

United Nations atomic agency inspectors have detected uranium that has been enriched to near weapons-grade in Iran in recent weeks, three senior diplomats said Sunday, a finding that will deepen concerns about Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

Iran has been producing highly enriched, weapons-grade material of 60% purity since early 2021, but the material found was of 84% purity, according to the diplomats. Weapons-grade enriched uranium is generally considered to be from around 90%-enriched uranium.

The diplomats said they had been informed that Iran doesn’t appear to be accumulating a stockpile of the 84% material.

Bloomberg News earlier reported the International Atomic Energy Agency findings.

The IAEA said late Sunday it was aware of media reports about the findings and “is discussing with Iran the results of recent agency” work to verify Iran’s nuclear activities.

It hasn’t yet issued a report on the findings to member states, something it usually does when Iran makes advances in its nuclear activities. The agency said in its statement that it will inform member states as appropriate.

Iran has greatly expanded its nuclear work since 2019, a year after the Trump administration took the U.S. out of the 2015 nuclear accord. President Biden’s efforts to revive the agreement, which lifted most international sanctions on Tehran in exchange for strict but temporary limits on Iran’s nuclear work, have so far failed.

Under the 2015 agreement, Iran was only supposed to enrich uranium up to 3.67% for 15 years.

Were Iran to deliberately start producing weapons-grade material, it could spark a major crisis over the country’s nuclear activities. European diplomats have said that would be the trigger for them to move to formally kill the 2015 nuclear agreement. Western officials also say it could prod Israel to pursue a military attack on Iran’s nuclear program. Israeli officials haven’t been public about their plans.

“We are in close contact with our partners following reports that Iran may have enriched uranium to levels over 80%,” said a senior diplomat from one of the three European countries that negotiated the nuclear deal. “If confirmed, this would be an unprecedented and extremely grave development.”

Iranian officials say they are still interested in reviving the accord but have placed conditions that the U.S. and its European partners have said are unacceptable.

IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi has said Iran has a stockpile of enriched uranium now that would allow it to fuel several nuclear weapons if the material were turned into weapons-grade uranium. Tehran has also laid out ambitious plans to scale up its nuclear-fuel production in the absence of a nuclear deal.

Sunday’s news comes as Western concerns build about Iran’s possible nuclear-weapon ambitions. Tehran says its nuclear work is purely peaceful.

On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with his British, French and German counterparts at the Munich Security Conference to discuss Tehran’s “nuclear escalation,” the State Department said.

People familiar with the talks said the discussions were prompted in part by concerns over whether Iran was considering producing weapons-grade material.

The news comes after the IAEA reported in early February that Iran had conducted nuclear work that wasn’t reported to it at the country’s heavily fortified Fordow underground enrichment facility. At the time, two Western diplomats said they believed that work involved speeding up the production of highly enriched uranium and experimenting with ways they could produce weapons-grade material.

Iran told the IAEA it hadn’t intended to carry out the work.

Iran has in the past undershot or overshot the purity of enriched uranium it intended to produce but only by a few percentage points. There has been no recent case reported by the agency where Iran has accidentally produced material far more enriched than intended.

On Sunday, Iran’s atomic energy agency spokesman, Behrouz Kamalvandi, told state-run news agency IRNA that the “presence of uranium particles above 60% in the enrichment process does not mean enrichment above 60%.”

FT : Early bidders pitch competing visions for Manchester United

Early bidders pitch competing visions for Manchester United
Jim Ratcliffe and son of former Qatari PM are pursuing one of the world’s most valuable sporting teams

Three months after the Glazer family put Manchester United up for sale, two bidders have so far emerged with competing visions for one of the world’s most valuable sporting teams and a British cultural asset with huge global reach.

On Friday evening, the first bidder went public as Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, the son of Qatar’s former prime minister, announced his intention to buy the club he claims to have supported since the age of 10.

Sheikh Jassim’s father, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, is one of the tiny Gulf state’s richest men. Known to many as HBJ, he was the face of a Qatari investment spree in the UK that included Harrods department store and the Shard building, and was previously head of the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the country’s sovereign wealth fund.

Within hours, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire founder of UK chemicals group Ineos, confirmed he too had made an offer to buy the Glazers’ controlling stake in his boyhood club.

Raine, the investment bank running the sale process on behalf of the Glazers, has remained tight-lipped on whether there are other bidders in the running. The bank, which handled the record-breaking auctions for both Chelsea FC and Olympique Lyonnais last year, had set Friday as a soft deadline for those seeking to put forward investment proposals. It declined to comment on any bids.

Any interested parties looking for funding will have plenty of options. MSD Partners, Oaktree and Elliott Management have all expressed an interest in providing financing for potential suitors, according to people familiar with the matter.

The price is likely to surpass the $4.6bn spent on the Denver Broncos NFL franchise last year, the current record paid for a sports team. Since plans for a possible sale were announced in November, United’s New York-listed shares have doubled, giving the club an enterprise value of about $5bn. However, the Glazers have not committed to a full sale, leaving open the possibility of taking in minority investment.

While both Sheikh Jassim and Ratcliffe voiced their determination to win over supporters with their initial public pitches, both drew clear dividing lines related to the perceived shortcomings of the Glazers’ tenure.

Sheikh Jassim, chair of Qatar Islamic Bank, emphasised plans to bolster Manchester United’s balance sheet and ageing infrastructure. He promised a “debt free” purchase via his previously unknown Nine Two Foundation, “which will look to invest in the football teams, the training centre, the stadium and wider infrastructure”.

The Qatari bid is likely to have deep pockets, although the precise source of funding remains unclear. Those working on Sheikh Jassim’s bid insist no money is coming from QIA.

The Qatari state already owns French champions Paris Saint-Germain through Qatar Sports Investments. Uefa, football’s governing body in Europe, bars clubs owned by the same entity from competing against each other.

The Glazer family has been criticised by United fans for burdening the club with acquisition debt and extracting hundreds of millions of pounds in dividends since their leveraged buyout in 2005.

Meanwhile United’s infrastructure, including Old Trafford, its 74,000-seater stadium and the Carrington training ground are no longer the envy of the football world. In an open letter to potential investors in December, the Manchester United Supporters Trust said the club needed “urgent capital investment” in the stadium and training ground.

While also acknowledging the need for investment, Ratcliffe’s opening pitch hinged more on rebuilding fractured ties with the United fan base and halting the march of foreign ownership in English football. Just a handful of the Premier League’s 20 teams are British-owned.

In a statement released on Saturday, Ineos said: “We would see our role as the long-term custodians of Manchester United on behalf of the fans and the wider community.”

Ratcliffe’s company also nodded to the pending release of a UK government white paper — due this week — which will outline the scope of a new football regulator. The push for an independent body to oversee the game came after the attempt two years ago to launch a breakaway competition, the European Super League, which the Glazers were part of along with owners of five other Premier League teams.

“Football governance in this country is at a crossroads”, Ineos said. “We would want to help lead this next chapter, deepening the culture of English football by making the club a beacon for a modern, progressive, fan-centred approach to ownership.”

While Ratcliffe has hired JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs as advisers, he has not yet outlined how a bid would be financed. He will also have to address his own potential conflict as Ineos already owns French club Nice.

Ratcliffe may also have to shake off lingering doubts about his seriousness. He attempted to gatecrash the auction for Chelsea last year, launching a last-gasp offer for the London club once the formal process had already whittled down the bidders to a shortlist of two.

Then too he leaned heavily on the notion of a British bid during a sale process forced on the club after its Russian owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK government.

However, within a month the club had been sold to a consortium led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital for £2.5bn, a record for a football club that is likely to be smashed if a full sale of Manchester United goes ahead.

>>> Barron’s Weekend Summary

Barron’s Weekend Summary: The world thrives on plastic—one of the most enduring, versatile materials ever invented

Cover Story:
-The world thrives on plastic—one of the most enduring, versatile materials ever invented. Extracting ourselves from plastic-land is tough. The cost seems negligible—a penny in a $20 takeout order. But a global addiction to plastic is turning into an environmental disaster, challenging goals to curb greenhouse-gas emissions and reduce the 354M tons of waste that’s landfilled or incinerated, or that drifts out to sea, each year. It’s also a quandary for the consumer packaged-good industry. Under pressure from activist shareholders and governments, companies like Coca-Cola, Mondelez International and Nestlé have promised to cut back on new plastic and use more recycled content. Yet progress reports show many companies using more plastic and falling short of sustainability targets—colliding with market forces that are making it tougher to cut back.

Interview:
-For some perspective on the bond market, and a 2023 forecast, Barron’s has interviewed Gibson Smith, a seasoned fixed-income investor who founded Denver-based Smith Capital Investors in 2018. His 30-plus years in the business also include 15 years at nearby Janus Capital Management, where he served as chief investment officer of the fixed-income division and a fund manager. Smith’s firm sub-advises about $3B of mutual funds, including the $1.9B ALPS/Smith Total Return Bond fund, which returned minus 12.4% last year, but which has bounced back this year with a gain of 2%.

Tech Trader:
-Microsoft’s Bing Chat is a big leap ahead from the already remarkable capabilities of the recently launched ChatGPT, which can answer questions and create original materials like poems, essays, and computer code. But ChatGPT doesn’t have access to the open internet like a search engine—it has no sense of current events. It can’t tell you the weather, or what’s up with the UFO balloons, or who won the Super Bowl. The new Bing doesn’t have that limitation—and talking to Bing Chat is a world-shaking experience. Yusuf Mehdi, a Microsoft corporate vice president who runs Bing, says there are millions of people on the waiting list to try out the new experience.

The Trader:
-Investors have heard the dictum “sell in May and go away.” This year they might want to consider selling in March. The May adage follows from market seasonality. Historically, investors have realized about 75% of annual yearly returns in the fall and winter. Explanations for why that’s the case vary. Perhaps it’s because investors start looking out to the next year around that time, though they don’t have much information about how the year will turn out. Perhaps they’re just enjoying the warmer weather. The selling period could come early this year; because, the rally that has pushed stock prices up roughly 15% from October lows is running out of steam as the narrative that has led it starts to shift. The market has been driven by the hope that inflation would slow and allow the Federal Reserve to stop raising interest rates—and maybe even start cutting them. Not anymore.
-Walmart may have an earnings surprise. Walmart reports its fiscal fourth-quarter numbers on Tuesday. Wall Street is looking for earnings per share of $1.52 from just under $160 billion in sales, roughly flat with the year-ago quarter. Those numbers look more than achievable, and its same-store sales—a common industry metric that, for Walmart, tracks revenue at stores that have been open the previous 12 months—could really pack a punch. While the Street expects them to grow at a 3.6% clip, Gordon Haskett analyst Chuck Grom expects them to jump 6.5%. Holiday sales were likely stronger than what analysts had called for, he says. If Grom is right, the quarter will be much better than expected—but in the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately world of Wall Street, it’s the fiscal 2024 guidance that will really matter.

Features:
-If you are interested in preserving brain function as you age, some of the clearest benefits come from staying socially connected, scientists have found. That means getting a hearing aid if you can’t hear what people around you are saying. People with untreated hearing loss have a 90% higher rate of dementia than others in their age group, according to the 2020 report of the Lancet commission on dementia prevention, intervention, and care. As Americans get older, seniors are looking for answers to make sure their cognitive abilities don’t expire before they do. They are told they should eat a Mediterranean diet. Get enough sleep. Avoid stress. Walk 10,000 steps a day. Lose weight.
Probably all of these help. Barron’s has been talking to brain scientists to learn what the research tells us about maintaining brain function. There is no one thing that protects against dementia, they tell us.
-Almost a full year of monetary-policy tightening by the Federal Reserve appears to be having little impact on price pressures, putting policy makers in danger of needing to do much more, according to former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. A steady stream of data from January underscores just how resilient the US economy—and, with it, inflation—remains, despite eight straight interest-rate hikes by the Fed since last March, which together have taken borrowing costs to their highest levels since 2007. Until recently, few could imagine that the U.S. would be able to withstand interest rates of close to 5% without tipping into a recession. In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Summers said that “we clearly have an economy where demand is superstrong,” and there’s a “possibility that we’re not landing at a terminal rate sometime in the next several months.”

European Trader:
-Many may dream of having a Porsche sports car in the garage, but owning the company’s stock could be just as rewarding. Shares of Porsche, maker of the iconic 911 since it made its debut in 1964, only recently came back on the market. Porsche was spun off by Volkswagen last year, and its stock has since risen 40%. The reason it has sped higher is because it trades more like a luxury good than a traditional car maker. Porsche trades at 20.6 times earnings. Volkswagen, the company with which it has deep business and historical ties, trades at 5.7 times earnings. Ford Motor is at 8.8 times.

Emerging Markets:
-Turks got used to living with low-double-digit inflation during Erdogan’s two decades in power, and before. Real incomes were cushioned by heavy indexation of wages and pensions, and easy access to hard-currency savings accounts. Then you have the worst earthquake with the death toll topping 40,000. And there’s an election in a few months. This balance didn’t withstand global post-pandemic inflation, aggravated by the 68-year-old president’s insistence that low interest rates would cure high prices. “Erdogan’s voodoo economic policy has really devastated middle-income Turks over the past year or two,” says James Jeffrey, a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey who now chairs the Wilson Center’s Middle East program. The earthquake could further damage confidence in Erdogan, who has pushed construction-led growth as an economic panacea. Collapsed buildings included some of the recently built ones. “A lot of the lives lost were an act of poor building,” says Emre Akcakmak, a senior consultant to emerging markets investor East Capital.

Commodities:
-Lithium is the metal at the center of the electric vehicle revolution and shares of lithium producers have beaten the market for years. Not so on Friday. Shares were down, a lot, leaving investors to wonder what was going on. But there doesn’t seem to be an obvious reason, other than investors getting too much of a good thing. Stock in Albemarle, the world’s largest lithium producer, was off 10% in midday trading Friday. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were down 0.8% and 1.1%, respectively.

Streetwise:
-Jack Hough is feeling an aviation vibe this week, describing the markets in terms that Maverick of Top Gun fame would find highly familiar. Financially speaking, he’s “keeping his flaps down and tray table up, and while I’m not sure about the landing, it’s safe to assume that we’re all spending the night together at O’Hare. Dibs on a lounge chair in Terminal 3.” A “soft landing for the US economy is still very much on the table,” writes the financial flight crew at UBS. But we can’t rule out a “hard-landing recession, induced by more than two additional Federal Reserve rate hikes.” That part makes my jumpsuit ride up. See, the Fed just raised interest rates at the fastest pace since it started its current targeting approach 40 years ago. But some economic measures remain stubbornly upbeat, like job gains. Strategists at LPL Financial recommend using a six-month average there: “Minimal turbulence in the trend line is consistent with a pathway to a smooth landing.” Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management, sees a “no-landing scenario” marked by sticky inflation, more tough action from the Fed, and poor performance for traditional 60/40 stock and bond portfolios. Northern Trust is a bit more optimistic, but views stock valuations as a “headwind,” whereas BofA Securities says that inflationary and deflationary “crosscurrents” call for better diversification.

>>> Weekend Papers Summary

Weekend Papers Summary

NEW YORK TIMES
-Satellite images and video reveal clues about stronger Iranian Air Force. Iran has publicly touted the supposed purchase of one of Russia’s most advanced combat aircraft, a deal Russia has not confirmed. But video and satellite images suggest Iran is preparing for the planes’ arrival, which would be most significant upgrade to its fighter jet fleet in decades.
-US calls off search for unidentified objects it shot down. The end of the search for objects downed over Alaska and Lake Huron raises the possibility that the devices will never be collected and analyzed.
-US and China vie in hazy zone where balloons, UFOs and missiles fly. American officials are worried China is far along in developing military technology that operates in the unregulated high-altitude zone of “near space.”
-Sen. John Fetterman’s disclosure of depression signals new openness on mental health. Fetterman is the latest public figure to disclose mental health struggles, an indication of growing acceptance. But some stigma remains.
-The owner of derailed Ohio train has seen rise in accident rates and profits. Experts say a focus on financial returns may be partly to blame for accidents like the one in Ohio, which still regularly occur on railroad networks.
-With GOP feeling heat, senator retreats from review of entitlements. The backtracking by Senator Rick Scott signaled how Republicans have pulled away from calls to overhaul Social Security and Medicare — at least for now.
-Western leaders pledge support for Ukraine ‘as long as necessary.’ As Russia’s war approaches its second year, Ukraine’s supporters faced questions at the Munich Security Conference about how long their resolve will last. Unlike others at the Munich conference, President Emmanuel Macron underscored that peace talks were the ultimate goal.
-President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine opened the Munich Security Conference on Friday with a video address pleading for faster weapons deliveries.
-Financial woes thrust Lyft, long in Uber’s shadow, into the spotlight. Lyft recovered from pandemic restrictions slower than Uber, and critics said it lacked ambitious investments to distinguish itself from its rival.
-Uproar Hits CNN as Don Lemon is rebuked for comments about women. Mr. Lemon’s assertion that Nikki Haley is not “in her prime” roiled the network and put a harsh spotlight on its struggling morning show.
-Man kills 6, including ex-wife, in rampage in Mississippi, officials say. The shooter is in custody after going on a killing spree in Arkabutla, a community of about 290.

THE FINANCIAL TIMES
-The White House will next week hold secret talks with Taiwan’s foreign minister Joseph Wu and national security adviser Wellington Koo as part of a special diplomatic dialogue intended to remain private to avoid sparking an angry reaction from China. Five people familiar with the secret talks — known as the “special channel” — said Wu and Koo would lead the delegation.
-“China is using all kinds of methods to gather intelligence, whether sending people into the US, investing in companies, or satellites,” says Michael Chertoff, a former homeland security secretary. “We shouldn’t be shocked if one of its tools involves aerial surveillance.” The US has been on higher alert as a result. In recent years, Washington has cracked down on Huawei, the Chinese telecoms firm that it believes helps China conduct electronic espionage.
-Chancellor Olaf Scholz has admonished Germany’s allies for failing to deliver tanks to Ukraine after having spent months urging Berlin to do so. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Germany’s leader who was long criticized for his hesitancy in arming Ukraine, was asked if he was now pushing other nations to provide the heavy weaponry they had promised.
-The price of European natural gas has fallen to its lowest level since the build-up to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, boosting the EU and UK economies and delivering a blow to President Vladimir Putin’s war effort.
-The former head of engineering at the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX is nearing a plea deal with federal prosecutors, according to people familiar with the matter, potentially bolstering the criminal case against founder Sam Bankman-Fried. Nishad Singh, who worked at FTX’s affiliated trading platform Alameda and then at FTX itself, would be the third high-level employee to co-operate with the government, after former Alameda chief Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang pleaded guilty to several charges in December.
-A son of Qatar’s former prime minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, one of the Gulf state’s richest men, has submitted an offer for Manchester United, as bidding gets under way for the Premier League club. The son, Sheikh Jassim, confirmed his bid for one of the world’s biggest and most prestigious football clubs to the Financial Times.
-Indian authorities have reported evidence of tax irregularities at a “prominent international media company” following a three-day search at the BBC’s offices in New Delhi and Mumbai this week.
The country’s finance ministry said on Friday that tax officials had uncovered “crucial evidence” of discrepancies between the broadcaster’s income from Indian operations and taxes paid, as well as failure to pay tax on money transfers.
-A human player has comprehensively defeated a top-ranked AI system at the board game Go, in a surprise reversal of the 2016 computer victory that was seen as a milestone in the rise of artificial intelligence. Kellin Pelrine, an American player who is one level below the top amateur ranking, beat the machine by taking advantage of a previously unknown flaw that had been identified by another computer. But the head-to-head confrontation in which he won 14 of 15 games was undertaken without direct computer support.
-Retail investors are pouring record amounts into US stocks, potentially giving small traders even greater sway over markets than at the height of the “meme-stock” mania two years ago.
Then, an army of bored amateur traders trapped at home during the pandemic drove up the share prices of several small, struggling consumer companies such as video games retailer GameStop, cinema operator AMC Entertainment and home goods chain Bed Bath & Beyond.
-Energy companies are making plans to go public in the US at the fastest rate in six years, as a sector that has long been out of favor benefits from renewed investor appetite for businesses that generate steady cashflows rather than prioritizing long-term growth.
-German gas importer Uniper, one of the biggest corporate casualties of the war in Ukraine, has taken a €4B hit on its Russian subsidiary after losing control over the company. The nationalized energy giant, rescued by Berlin in a multibillion-euro bailout last year, said it was given no access to information about its power generation subsidiary Unipro since the final three months of last year.
-The number of EU businesses filing for bankruptcy rose to the highest level for at least eight years in the fourth quarter, indicating that more of the struggling “zombie” companies kept afloat by government aid during the pandemic are starting to collapse.

NY POST
-Self-help guru Marianne Williamson appears to be readying to launch a 2024 primary challenge against President Biden, arguing that there is a disconnect between the 80-year-old commander-in-chief and average Americans.
“Apparently Biden’s going to run on a message that the economy is getting stronger. I think that speaks to the disconnect between the analysis of party elites versus the struggle of everyday Americans,” Williamson told Politico in an interview released on Friday.
-Gen Z workers are feeling burnout and stress on the job more than any other age group, new data finds. An estimated 91% of Gen Zers are reporting such stress, higher than the 84% average, according to stats from an annual well-being survey by insurance giant Cigna. The stress has become “unmanageable” for 23% of the demographic, and 98% say they’re feeling symptoms of burnout from their jobs.
-Artificial intelligence is on a rapidly aggressive pace to take over “clerical white collar work,” IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said. Amid the explosion of language-based AI ChatGPT, a “marketing moment” Krishna called “incredible” during an interview with the Financial Times, he also forecasted what sort of jobs the tech will likely be displacing. Fields like customer service, human resources, and positions within finance and health care could all see automation — not years from now but in the current day, according to Krishna.