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Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has announced plans to raise up to $80 billion (£59 billion) in equity to finance its aggressive artificial intelligence infrastructure expansion. This monumental fundraising effort underscores the sheer scale of capital required to compete in the modern AI landscape and sets the stage for a transformative year in tech finance.Alphabet's Mega-Equity Raise and the Berkshire Hathaway BetThe fundraising initiative includes a notable $10 billion share sale to Berkshire Hathaway, the investment conglomerate long associated with the retired investment guru Warren Buffett. Historically, Berkshire has stepped in to provide crucial liquidity during pivotal market moments, such as the famous $5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs during the 2008 financial crisis. Alphabet stated the fresh capital will directly support its world-class AI compute infrastructure to meet unprecedented customer demand for its Gemini system and enterprise cloud services.Decoding the $80 Billion Capital DeploymentWhile the headline figure is staggering, the deployment strategy reveals a nuanced financial approach. The $80 billion package is structured to address both operational expansion and internal financial mechanics:$40 billion is explicitly dedicated to scaling AI infrastructure and global compute capacity.$40 billion is allocated to cover an administrative change regarding tax obligations for the vesting of employee equity awards.The raise features an initial $30 billion paired with the $10 billion from Berkshire, alongside a flexible $40 billion drip-feed mechanism to be used gradually over time.Although $80 billion represents one of the largest equity fundraisings globally, it amounts to less than 2% of Alphabet's massive $4.6 trillion market capitalization. This year alone, the company's total capital expenditure is expected to reach between $180 billion and $190 billion.The Shift from Capital-Light Tech to Infrastructure HeavyweightsThis move serves as a stark reminder to Wall Street that the era of tech giants operating as capital-light free cash flow machines is fading. Market strategists at Deutsche Bank note that funding the AI capital expenditure boom is becoming a central, pressing topic for global markets. However, analysts at Hargreaves Lansdown emphasize that Alphabet is spending from a position of strength rather than distress. With Google Cloud growth accelerating, search proving resilient, and AI compute demand vastly outstripping current supply, Alphabet's investment is backed by tangible business momentum.The Looming AI IPO Wave and Market ExpectationsAlphabet's aggressive capital raise precedes a highly anticipated wave of AI-driven public offerings. Anthropic, the creator of the Claude chatbot and currently the world's most valuable startup at a $965 billion valuation, has confidentially filed for an initial public offering. Furthermore, industry heavyweights like OpenAI and Elon Musk's SpaceX (which includes the xAI startup) are also preparing to go public. As these industry titans enter the public markets, investors will increasingly demand concrete proof that massive data center buildouts will translate into durable, long-term revenue growth.

A Critical Portrait of George MichaelIn 1998, George Michael was arrested for public lewdness in an LA lavatory, an incident that finally led the singer to publicly come out. The following day, Sathnam Sanghera found himself unable to leave his room at university: the doorway had been mockingly plastered with tabloid newspaper headlines – "ZIP ME UP BEFORE YOU GO-GO!" – by fellow students aware of his longstanding fandom. As a writer, Sanghera is best known for a series of award-winning books on the British empire, which he calls his "specialist subject". Judging by Tonight the Music Seems So Loud – not a biography so much as a miscellany, a set of themed essays that tend to digress in all kinds of intriguing directions – the life and work of one Georgios Panayiotou runs imperialism and its legacy a very close second.The Complex Legacy of a Pop IconIt is an unashamedly partisan book, although not an uncritical one. Sanghera is as alive to Michael's personal and professional failings (whether the naffness of some of his early work as one half of Wham! or his high-handed treatment of the duo's other half, Andrew Ridgeley) as he is in love with his artistic triumphs. These, of course, range from Careless Whisper and Wham!'s annually inescapable Last Christmas to the 1996 solo masterpiece Older, a peculiar and peculiarly effective cocktail of raw grief at the Aids-related death of his lover Anselmo Feleppa and unrepentant horniness.The Evolution of Critical ReceptionSanghera's love for his subject is evidently sharpened by the opprobrium of others. Indeed if the book has a flaw, it's that the author is old enough to remember an era when George Michael was deemed insufferably uncool by some arbiters of taste (incredibly, when Wham! performed at a 1984 benefit show for striking miners, the only mainstream pop act to show support for the cause, they were received stone-faced by the audience and savaged by the music press for their trouble), and thus has a tendency to underestimate how much both he and his music have been critically re-evaluated in the 21st century.The Artistic Journey of George MichaelHe says one of the spurs to write the book was his belief that "most truly popular music is not generally deemed worthy of serious analysis and George Michael's music most certainly is not". That might have been true once, but certainly not of late: when he died, this newspaper alone ran six features by critics analysing different aspects of his music. "He sang so exquisitely about the marrow of life, about the vital, corporeal things", wrote one, which definitely doesn't amount to taking George Michael insufficiently seriously.double quotation markEven as he skinned up in front of journalists and discussed his drug use and sex life, he was concealing the extent of the addictions that eventually killed himFamily Background and Cultural IdentitySanghera is very good on the climate of homophobia in the 80s, which might have given any gay public figure serious qualms about coming out, and fascinating on Michael's family background: how growing up embedded in north London's Greek Cypriot community impacted on everything from Wham!'s image – not camp, Sanghera suggests, but "the vision of two children of immigrants imagining a kind of glamour they had not actually experienced before" – to his work ethic and control freakery. His dad made good in England by working exceptionally hard, running such a tight ship at his restaurant that he summarily fired his only son for messing up the drinks orders. The fact that the same son went on to hire 12 different saxophonists before finding one that could play the solo on Careless Whisper to his satisfaction doesn't come as a huge surprise.The Perfectionist and Contradictory ArtistThis my-way-or-the-highway perfectionism could yield hugely impressive results – Careless Whisper's sax hook may well be the most famous in pop history – but it could equally lead to intransigence and self-sabotage. Michael worked incredibly hard to transform himself from a member of a teen pop band into a more adult-facing solo artist, but having sold a staggering 25m copies of his 1987 solo debut Faith, he refused to promote its follow-up Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1, or even make videos for its singles: a better album than its predecessor, it achieved only a fraction of its sales as a result. It was evidence of a deeply contradictory nature that occasionally has Sanghera throwing up his hands in bewilderment.The Public and Private Faces of George MichaelMichael was a polymath, keen to be duly credited as the sole singer, writer, producer and musician on a succession of tracks, but also had a weird habit of talking down his abilities, claiming he couldn't play instruments he was perfectly capable of playing. He was a Stakhanovite who increasingly worked at an agonisingly glacial pace, endlessly fussing over details, a state of affairs not much helped by his gargantuan appetite for marijuana: coupled with bouts of writers' block, it meant he released only six albums of original material in a career that lasted 34 years. He was a Labour voter, booster of the NHS and famously generous philanthropist who also engaged in tax avoidance. After being publicly outed, he became a notoriously frank interviewee ("as if nothing can embarrass him anymore" the Guardian's Simon Hattenstone suggested when he met him in 2009). But even as he skinned up in front of journalists and freely discussed his drug use and sex life, he was concealing the extent of the addictions that eventually killed him.The Decline and Final YearsMichael emerges as a messy, unpredictable but ultimately hugely likable figure, which makes the essay about his demise particularly tough reading. Listed starkly on the page, the facts of his final 10 years make it obvious that he was a deeply unwell man whose life had spun wildly out of control: drug busts, medical emergencies, visits to rehab, rumours of breakdowns and suicide bids and seven incidents in which he either crashed his car or was found comatose at the wheel.The Professional Mask of Personal StruggleThat it somehow didn't appear obvious at the time – that his death at 53 felt like a shock rather than a grim inevitability – seems remarkable, but as Sanghera points out, Michael's professionalism did a lot to paper over the cracks. He was always available to the media and always smart, funny and self-effacing: to use a modern turn of phrase, he controlled the narrative. He was punctilious about his appearance – the star certainly never looked like an ailing drug addict – and unfailingly superb onstage.The Hidden Realities Behind the FameBehind the scenes, it was a different story. He struggled to make new music: at one juncture he booked six months of recording sessions but never turned up to the studio once. His once-acute commercial instincts seemed to desert him: even Sanghera can't muster much enthusiasm for the handful of still-unreleased songs he completed in his final years. He cut off close friends and family who tried to intervene. No one who knew him seems to have been particularly surprised by his death: the list of adjectives used to describe him on his official website now includes not just "icon" "legend" "soul singer" and "philanthropist" but "addict" "repeat offender" and "depressive".An Imagined Alternative LegacyAs the book draws to a close, Sanghera offers a heartbreaking alternative history. He imagines Michael conquering his addictions, coming to a complete accommodation with his musical past (to the end of his life, he was dismissive of Wham!, describing their oeuvre as an exercise in "ignoring my own intelligence" and declining to play most of their hits live) and headlining Glastonbury, "getting pleasure from the audience reaction to Club Tropicana".The Enduring Power of George Michael's MusicIt's affecting because you can imagine it so vividly: the endless succession of hits that anyone with even a passing interest in pop music knows, the pandemonium in the crowd when he breaks out Careless Whisper, the encore of Freedom '90. You don't have to be a fan on Sanghera's level to understand what a triumph it would have been. Tonight the Music Seems So Loud: The Meaning of George Michael by Sathnam Sanghera is published by Picador (£22). To support the Guardian, buy a copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

The Lead Hungary is on the verge of launching a wealth tax aimed at oligarchs who accumulated wealth during Viktor Orbán's 16-year rule. The move is part of a broader effort to dismantle the System of National Cooperation (NER), which rewarded political loyalty with economic opportunities. The Event Details The proposed wealth tax, announced by Péter Magyar, leader of the Tisza party, would apply to individuals with assets exceeding 1 billion forints (£2.4m). The tax would be levied on the portion of their estate above that threshold, including property, shares in companies, and assets held abroad. This move is seen as a way to address social injustice and bring public money back into the public coffers. The Data Analysis According to Zoltán Pogátsa, a political economist, 38 of the 50 richest Hungarians acquired their wealth under Orbán's rule through public tenders or benefited extensively from public procurements. One of the best-known oligarchs is Lőrinc Mészáros, with an estimated net worth of $5bn. The wealth tax could impact prominent figures like Mészáros and István Tiborcz, Orbán's son-in-law. The Impact Analysis The wealth tax debate is a global one, with countries like Brazil and California pushing for similar legislation. In Hungary, the tax could have significant implications for the country's economic landscape and the fortunes of its oligarchs. The Tisza party's proposal has secured a two-thirds majority in parliament, paving the way for its implementation. The Prediction If implemented, the wealth tax could mark a significant shift in Hungary's economic policy, potentially setting a precedent for other European countries. As Magyar has promised to reform the public tender process and established a National Asset Recovery and Protection Office to pursue corruption, the wealth tax could be a crucial tool in dismantling the NER system and promoting social justice.

Profit Warning and Leadership Turmoil Trigger Market ShockIn early December Everyman issued a profit warning that erased nearly one‑fifth of its market capitalisation, followed days later by the departure of its finance director and the abrupt resignation of CEO Alex Scrimgeour. The upheaval left investors jittery and set the stage for what analysts dubbed “a year to forget”.Financial Losses, Debt Burden and Share‑Price VolatilityPre‑tax losses exceed £56 m over the past six years; no profit since 2019.Debt stands at roughly £21.6 m and has been rising.Impairment charges totalled > £6 m in the last three years.Share price fell ~80 % over five years but has rebounded 24 % to 36p since the start of 2026.Market value remains around £32 m, essentially unchanged since the 2013 IPO.Competitive Pressures and Shifting Consumer Preferences Undermine Premium Cinema ModelRivals Odeon and Vue have launched their own premium concepts, eroding Everyman’s first‑mover advantage. At the same time, industry‑wide challenges – post‑pandemic attendance slump, Hollywood strikes and an uneven film slate – have reduced footfall. The chain’s historic reliance on site expansion masked underlying operational inefficiencies, such as under‑performing venues and high food‑and‑drink costs.Turnaround Path: Operational Overhaul and Gen‑Z AppealInterim CEO Farah Golant froze expansion and is focusing on debt reduction, menu optimisation and a digital pre‑order system. Analysts see potential in leveraging the £95‑£680 membership scheme, which grew 18.5 % to 67 000 members, and in targeting the emerging Gen‑Z cinema boom. Enhancements to kitchen efficiency, family‑friendly programming and third‑space venue design are expected to boost ancillary revenues.Outlook: Can the New Strategy Restore Growth?With a supportive shareholder base – notably Blue Coast (Lewis family) now holding just under 30 % – and a clear mandate to “reset to drive growth”, Everyman could stabilise by mid‑2027 if cost controls and the membership push deliver incremental cash flow. However, the company must out‑innovate larger chains and sustain a compelling experience to justify its premium pricing.

The Lead: Market Skepticism on Takeout A share price gain of only 10% on a possible takeover approach is a meek reaction. If the stock market truly believed that Castlelake, a US investment fund, stood a decent chance of buying easyJet, you would expect the target's stock to fly significantly higher. Scepticism is the right stance until at least three factors become clearer. The Event Details: Castlelake's Opportunistic Approach EasyJet's description of Castlelake's timing as "highly opportunistic" was boilerplate rhetoric (all bids are opportunistic to a degree) but in this case it is clearly possible that all European airlines' prospects could be brighter within a couple of months. It all depends on the price of jet fuel, which itself depends on resolution of the Iran war, and also how the peak summer season shapes up. The conflict has knocked consumers' willingness to book ahead, but that does not mean they will not show up for overseas summer holidays if disruption is minimal. The Valuation Analysis: Premium Questions and Asset Value City analysts still estimate that easyJet's pre-tax outcome could be as low at £100m this year, which is virtually a wash-out against £665m a year ago. Yet the half-year numbers only a fortnight ago kept alive the "medium-term" target of more than £1bn "as conditions normalise". If the chair, Sir Stephen Hester, really believes £1bn is possible in time (despite persistent underperformance versus Ryanair) it is hard to see how he could credibly enter takeover talks at anything other than a very fat premium to the starting share price of 400p. Only a year ago the shares were approaching 600p under sunnier skies. An alternative metric is the value of the assets. As Goodbody's analyst puts it, easyJet "is effectively a bundle of aircraft assets, orderbook assets and airport landing slot assets". The broker puts the book value of the owned fleet at 615p a share; Bank of America thinks 650p. If Castlelake, mostly a lender to the airline industry rather than an owner, has spotted a way to exploit the discount to book value via, say, not taking delivery of some of the aircraft, the same technique is presumably available to easyJet in standalone form. You don't have to sell the entire company in order to sell a few aircraft. The Regulatory Hurdles: European Ownership Restrictions Second, how would Castlelake, as a US entity, get around European ownership restrictions? The rules say majority UK/EU ownership is required, so presumably the would-be bidder has some form of fancy footwork in mind. But what? A European partner? There would surely have to be clarity before any talks could start, otherwise what is the point? What easyJet calls the "deliverability" of any bid proposal is not a small consideration. The Founder Factor: Sir Stelios's Influence Third, what does Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou think? The founder doesn't lob as many insults at easyJet's board these days, but he and his family still have a 15% stake, which is enough to throw a spanner in the engine if that is how he is minded. Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the founder of easyJet, still owns a 15% stake with his family. The Industry Context: Consolidation Patterns and Likely Players None of which changes the fact that easyJet has been seen as a plausible takeover candidate for about a decade. The company is regarded as a loose piece in the pan-European jigsaw whenever aviation specialists plot ways in which the market could follow the US path of consolidation. It's just that actual airlines, as opposed to financiers like Castlelake, are seen as the most likely instigators. IAG, owner of British Airways, is usually seen as the natural long-term destination for easyJet. Certainly, Hester & Co would have to whip up some competitive tension if Castlelake can demonstrate how it would clear the regulatory hurdles. The would-be bidder says it has bought a 2% stake in easyJet, which demonstrates some level of seriousness. But that's about all Castlelake has said. The departure lounge for a bid still feels a way off.

The Bottom Line: Families Face Unprecedented Elder‑Care CostsAs the youngest baby boomers near retirement, adult children are grappling with monthly bills that can exceed $8,500 for memory‑care facilities, exposing a looming financial nightmare for millions of U.S. households.Escalating Out‑of‑Pocket Expenses and Sparse Insurance CoverageLong‑term care insurance remains a rarity, with only 3‑4% of adults over 50 holding a policy. Meanwhile, 46% of Americans have no retirement savings at all, and the average nest egg sits at just $955, far short of the estimated $1.5 million needed for a comfortable retirement.Hard Numbers: What the Data Reveal About the Financial GapMonthly memory‑care cost: $8,500Median day‑program cost: $100 per day (vs. $200+ for assisted living or in‑home care)Public LTC contribution in Washington: 0.58% of wages, yielding up to $36,500 in benefitsWealth disparity: White families in their 70s hold more than four times the wealth of Black familiesWhy This Matters: The “Forgotten Middle” and Systemic InequitiesHouseholds that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid yet too little to afford private care are forced to deplete savings, often ending up destitute to gain public assistance. This “forgotten middle” amplifies gender‑based poverty—women 65+ are about 80% more likely to live in poverty than men—while deepening racial wealth gaps.Looking Ahead: Policy Experiments and Cooperative Care as a Way ForwardThree emerging models could reshape elder care over the next two decades:Day programs: Community‑funded centers cost roughly half of assisted‑living rates and reduce caregiver burnout.Worker‑owned home‑healthcare cooperatives: Employee‑run agencies improve retention and provide higher‑quality, stable care.Public long‑term care insurance: Washington’s WACares pilot shows a modest payroll tax can secure up to $36,500 in benefits, offering a template for nationwide adoption.Scaling these collective solutions could alleviate the financial strain on families, create decent jobs for professional caregivers, and ensure a more equitable aging experience for future generations.

Australia’s 178 billionaires added $25.7 bn to their collective fortunes over the past year, yet Oxfam Australia estimates that 3.7 million Australians still live in poverty, underscoring a stark wealth divide.Record‑Breaking Billionaire Wealth Gains Driven by AI and DatacentresThe 2026 Australian Financial Review Rich List, analysed by Oxfam, shows the number of Australian billionaires rose to 178, up 17 from the previous year. A significant share of the new wealth stems from artificial intelligence ventures and the expansion of datacentres.New entrants include AI‑driven jobs platform founder Katrina Leslie, property developers Anthony El‑Hazouri and Charbel Hazzour, mining magnate Chris Ellison, fashion label White Fox founders Daniel and Georgia Contos, and luxury property developers Adrian and Peter Puljich, alongside long‑time rich list regular Gina Rinehart.$25.7 bn Wealth Increase Quantified: Numbers Behind the GapTotal billionaire wealth now exceeds $686 bn.The increase equals roughly $50,000 a minute over the year.Oxfam reports 3,706,000 Australians in poverty, including 757,000 children under 15.One in three households faced food insecurity in the past year.The 20 richest Australians hold more wealth than the bottom 3 million households combined.Deepening Inequality: How the Wealth Surge Contrasts with Rising PovertyOxfam Australia chief executive Jennifer Tierney warned that “extreme wealth keeps skyrocketing while so many people are struggling to afford the basics.” She noted that the billionaire wealth gain could have lifted nearly a million Australians out of poverty or covered every household’s electricity bill for over a year.The report highlights structural issues in the tax system, with modest reforms to capital gains tax and negative gearing deemed insufficient to curb the growing divide.Outlook: Policy Reforms and Tax Changes Needed to Bridge the DivideTierney calls for a “fairer approach to taxing extreme wealth” to fund affordable housing, healthcare, climate action and broader community support. Without substantive tax reform, the wealth gap is projected to deepen, further entrenching socioeconomic disparities.

The Surge in Tech Spending Tech billionaires have shelled out hundreds of millions of dollars ahead of the June 2 primary election in California, marking an unparalleled attempt to shape the state's political future. The tech industry's approach is comprehensive, funding candidates and ballot measures of all sizes, which is likely to make this the most expensive primary season in California's history. Key Players and Their Spending Google co-founder Sergey Brin has spent $66 million to fight a billionaire tax on the November ballot. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Matt Mahan has received the most donations, including from top executives at Google, Amazon, Snap, LinkedIn, Reddit, and Palantir. Crypto mogul Chris Larsen has funded three Super PACs with $26 million to influence campaigns across California. Google and Meta have collectively funded a Super PAC with $10 million to back assembly and senate candidates in local district races. The Impact on California Politics The influx of tech money has led to a barrage of TV ads, robotexts, and mailers promoting various issues and candidates. Experts warn that this spending will give tech companies political and regulatory leverage, allowing them to avoid stringent regulations and continue their rapid growth. The Tip of the Iceberg The disclosed spending likely represents only a fraction of the total, as some contributions are made through dark money entities that are not traceable. This has experts like Francesco Trebbi, a public policy professor at UC Berkeley, suggesting that the actual influence of tech money is far greater than what is publicly reported. Targeting State and Local Primaries The tech industry's influence extends beyond state-level races, with significant spending in local campaigns. Larsen, for example, has funded Super PACs aimed at various causes and candidates, including the state insurance commissioner race and state legislative primaries. The Future of Tech Influence in Politics The unprecedented spending by tech billionaires in California elections signals a new era of corporate influence in politics. As the tech industry continues to grow and shape the state's economy, its impact on the political landscape is likely to intensify, raising questions about the balance between economic power and democratic governance.

The LeadWhen Keir Starmer won a landslide Labour majority promising to pursue five governing "missions", the high-profile leftwing economist Mariana Mazzucato was credited as an inspiration. Two years on, her bracing new book helps shed light on why Labour in power has struggled to project the sense of direction that "mission-led government", as Mazzucato calls it, requires.A New Framework for Economic PolicySynthesising and extending her earlier work, here she proposes "a new economics of collective action around the common good". From this perspective, the economy is not a concatenation of rapacious independent forces, to be contained and offset by public policy, but a project – or rather a series of projects – with direction and purpose.The Five Principles of Common Good EconomicsThe "compass" in the title is really a set of five principles, all of which Mazzucato says such an economy should have: purpose and "directionality"; co-creation by citizens; collective learning; reward sharing; and accountability. Each of these principles is set out in detail. Co-creation implies grassroots participation in designing and redesigning government programmes, for example – because, "when people help define a problem and develop and implement solutions, they see them as theirs rather than something imposed on them".Reward Sharing and PredistributionReward sharing means ensuring the creators or rightful owners of economic value stand to benefit: from Indigenous people whose homes lie near raw material deposits, to social media users whose data fuels Big Tech's profits. That implies radical tax reform – including greater use of wealth taxes – and the robust use of conditions in public contracts, to make sure workers and taxpayers get their fair share: an approach she calls "predistribution".Critique of Labour's Economic ApproachAccording to Mazzucato's definition, Labour's attempt at mission-led government badly missed the mark. Its first and overriding goal – "kickstart economic growth" – cannot be a "mission" at all, because it lacks the necessary purpose. What, in other words, is that economic growth meant to be for? While her scope in this ambitious book is global, the analysis also dismantles Starmer's claim to be pursuing national "missions", by setting out just how radical – and radically different – that would look in practice.Practical Examples and Global Applications"The seeds of transformation are everywhere," she says, citing inspiring projects that range from delivering healthy and sustainable school meals in Sweden to the EU's mission to support cities to become climate-neutral, to the international Nagoya Protocol on sharing the benefits of genetic resources and traditional knowledge. Echoes of Mazzucato's mindset are detectable in some Labour policies – from using the threat of legislation to cajole pension funds to invest more in UK assets, to writing conditions on youth training into clean energy contracts.The Future of Economic DirectionEconomies work best, she believes, when they pursue grand collective goals – developing and distributing a vaccine for a pandemic; or confronting the climate emergency (or, though she doesn't lean on the example here, tooling up for a new and more frightening geopolitical era). We should ask, she says, "not which market failure do we want to be fixed, but what direction do we want the economy to sail in".