The Business

British tech billionaire Mike Lynch died in August 2024, on board The Bayesian, his luxury superyacht, sunk by a freak storm as it was moored off Sicily. He’d been there with his family and closest associates to celebrate his acquittal of criminal fraud charges in the US. It was a tragic end to the story of a self-made business man - a man who was one of Britain’s biggest titans of tech. So, who exactly was Mike Lynch? How did he m...

In space, a battle between big business is taking place as two of the world’s wealthiest men vie for dominance. Elon Musk’s Space X and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin have taken the space industry in the US out of the hands of government and into the hands of the private sector. But what are the consequences? Who will win the commercial race to extract crucial minerals from outer space? And who will police space if the rivalry between Ch...

2025 has been a wild ride of big pharma - driven by explosive use of revolutionary weight-loss medication - pushing one of the biggest manufacturers, Eli Lilly, to a trillion-dollar valuation. A dramatic takeover war also saw Denmark’s pharma darling Novo Nordisk trumped by US giant Pfizer. Now, while Novo’s share price is down 50% over the course of the year, Lilly is in the stratosphere normally reserved for the likes o...

Gold, the world's oldest asset, is experiencing a remarkable boom. Its value has surged from just over £2000 per ounce a year ago to well over £3000 today, reaching highs not seen since the 1970s. This rapid rise is unusual because gold typically peaks when stock markets decline, yet this rally has coincided with booming equity markets. So, what is driving the value up? Have we reached the peak, or is there more growth to come?

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This episode of The Business is sponsored by PwC.

As AI rapidly reshapes the world of work, businesses face the biggest transformation since the industrial revolution. While 90% of CEOs surveyed are investing in AI, only 15% are currently getting the value. So, what are the tools driving productivity gains? How can companies move AI from an IT project to one that’s truly integrated across the business? And how exactly are the UK...

Fried chicken is booming in Britain - the market is now worth over £3bn a year. Up and down high streets, a whole new generation of fast food chicken restaurants have sprung up, buzzy US imports like Wingstop and Dave’s Hot Chicken, putting pressure on the established brands.

In part, it’s down to Gen Z enthusiasm, driven by pop culture hits like Chicken Shop Date as well as viral ASMR videos of crunching, chewing and sizzling.&...

It’s being described as a "smorgasbord" of a budget - an offer from Rachel Reeves made up not of big, bold moves but of small, bite-sized titbits. But tax is up, spending is up and debt is still high - so do the measures add up to anything appetising for business at all? We pick over the details, from the big picture to the small tweaks in this budget special.

Guests: 

• Helen Miller, Institute for Fiscal Studies
• Steve Rigb...

More than $1 trillion has been wiped from the Crypto market in just six short weeks, but on The Business we hear from a man who still trusts Bitcoin more than any other currency. 

While many around the world fret about crypto crooks and markets that can be spooked by vibes alone, what’s it like to be ‘all in’ on Bitcoin? Andrew Webley, the founder and chief executive of the The Smarter Web Company, knows very well. He pivot...

There are few things that are as fascinating, thrilling - and sometimes as completely confounding - as the stock market. Right now, that's as true as ever. Consider Nvidia, which became the world's first $5 trillion company last month - putting its value higher than the GDP of every country except the US and China. 

Is there a logic to it, or is this plain madness? To get a grip on the forces at play, Dom and Hannah explore...

This episode of The Business is sponsored by PwC.

All eyes are on Chancellor Rachel Reeves as she prepares her autumn Budget. There have been hints at manifesto-breaking tax increases as she warns that everyone will have to do their “bit for the security of our country and the brightness of its future.” But what could all that mean in practice for business? 

Barret Kupelian, UK Chief Economist at PwC and Claire Blackburn...

What is it like to have a window into the spending habits of 80 percent of British households? Alex Baldock knows very well. As the chief executive of Currys, he leads one of the nation’s biggest retailers, a job that involves overseeing hundreds of bricks and mortar stores across six countries - and some 24,000 employees.

Alex joins Hannah and Dom to talk about how a retail business survives - and thrives - in the era of one-cl...

Labour has gone in hard with a big, bold promise - build 1.5 million homes over the course of this parliament. That means 300,000 homes a year, a target it is already failing to hit. In fact, just this week, Britain’s developers told the Office for Budget Responsibility the end-of-decade building goal will not be met, and its forecast for economic growth from homebuilding is far too optimistic. 

On this episode, Helen Gordo...

It’s widely acknowledged that diversity is good for business, but white men still dominate the top echelons of UK companies. The pay gap, though narrowing, persists - and, across the workforce, men outearn women by 13%. So, fifty years after the Equal Pay Act came into force, why are some businesses still not taking it seriously? And what can companies do to fix it?

Guest: 

• Edwina Dunn, entrepreneur, founder, The Female ...

Vishal Marria is a homegrown business success story; a Balham local who took the leap from his secure job to launch his own company that is now worth over £2B - achieving that mythical unicorn status. His firm Quantexa, which uses AI to help companies make sense of big data, raised £140M earlier this year to make acquisitions and fund further expansion in the US - and now may be on the cusp of going public. 

So just ho...

He's one of Britain's most successful industrialists and part-owner of Manchester United. Sir Jim Ratcliffe - regularly found near the top of the Sunday Times rich list with an estimated wealth of over £17bn - is the founder and CEO of the chemicals giant INEOS. So what's the future for his business? Why does he think Net Zero is a disaster? And how will he make Man United 'the most profitable club in the world'?

In the first ep...

A new weekly podcast all about the world of business starts on Thursday 9th October. 

Today's biggest companies wield more influence than many countries. The people who run them are visionaries, philanthropists - and sometimes crooks. With new technologies and business opportunities emerging daily, never before has navigating this ever-changing landscape been more important. Uncovering the personalities, power plays, boardr...