Good morning. Today we're talking about Google’s landmark ruling, Amazon under UK investigation and the Hargreaves Lansdown takeover.

Big Stories

Google’s landmark ruling

In a landmark decision, a US federal court has ruled against Google, finding the company guilty of monopolising the search engine market. The ruling, which could have far-reaching implications for the tech giant, stems from allegations that Google abused its dominant position to stifle competition. The court determined that Google's exclusive contracts with device manufacturers and internet service providers to make its search engine the default option constituted anti-competitive behaviour. The case marks a significant victory for antitrust regulators and could lead to significant changes in the digital advertising landscape. The judge will now decide what to do with Google, a process likely to take months, if not years. Some potential solutions include prohibiting Google from paying billions of dollars to be the default search engine on a device and forcing Google to sell the search engine part of the company.

UK investigates Amazon

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is investigating Amazon's $4bn investment in AI startup Anthropic. The deal, which includes Anthropic's commitment to using Amazon Web Services as its primary cloud provider, has raised concerns about potential anti-competitive practices. The CMA is examining whether the partnership could stifle competition in the AI market. The investigation marks the latest regulatory scrutiny of Big Tech's involvement in the rapidly evolving AI landscape. Anthropic, founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees, has quickly become a key player in the development of large language models. The company has raised a substantial $10bn to date, reflecting the intense competition for dominance in the AI space.

Hargreaves Lansdown takeover

Hargreaves Lansdown, the UK's largest investment platform, is set to be acquired by a private equity consortium led by CVC Capital Partners in a £5.4bn deal. The decision comes after months of negotiations and follows a series of high-profile takeovers in the London stock market. Founded by Peter Hargreaves and Stephen Lansdown in 1981, the company boasts 1.9m customers and has been a staple on the FTSE 100 index since 2007. The two founders are set to take home £850m between them. The deal comes amid a wave of private equity interest in UK-listed companies, as buyers seek to capitalise on relatively low valuations. So far this year drinks maker Britvic accepted a £3.3bn approach from beer giant Carlsberg. That followed cyber-security group Darktrace's decision to back a £4.6bn takeover by US private equity firm Thoma Bravo.

Elsewhere...

RIP: Susan Wojcicki, the former boss of YouTube and one of Google's earliest employees, has died aged 56.

In the black: Food delivery app Deliveroo has reached a "major milestone" by achieving its first ever profit.

Regaining losses: US stock markets enjoyed their best day of trading in nearly two years, recovering most of the losses it suffered during a sell-off sparked by US economic fears earlier in the week.

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Number of the Day

$5 billion

How much Disney plans to spend on making blockbuster films and TV shows in regions including the UK over the next five years.

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