26/02/2026

BIZ & FINANCE THURSDAY | FEB 26, 2026

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Merz in China for talks on trade and security

Reddit fined £14.4m in UK over children’s data failures LONDON: Britain’s privacy watchdog on Tuesday fined social media platform Reddit £14.47 million (RM56 million) for using children’s data unlawfully and potentially exposing them to harmful content. The action comes as Britain considers tighter limits on children’s use of social media, with governments worldwide citing concerns about mental-health risks, cyberbullying and exposure to harmful content to justify new age restrictions and bans. The Information Commissioner’s Office said Reddit did not check children’s ages properly and therefore had no right to process their data. The watchdog said that although Reddit’s terms of service prohibited children under 13 from using its platform, effective age checks were not in place until July 2025. The ICO estimated a large number of under-13s were using the platform. “Children under 13 had their personal information collected and used in ways they could not understand, consent to or control,” UK Information Commissioner John Edwards said. “That left them potentially exposed to content they should not have seen.” The ICO also said Reddit had not carried out a data protection impact assessment before January 2025 covering the use of children’s personal information, even though the platform allows users aged between 13 and 18. Reddit said in an e-mailed statement it would appeal the ICO’s decision. “Reddit doesn’t require users to share information about their identities, regardless of age, because we are deeply committed to their privacy and safety,” the US-based social media firm said. “The ICO’s insistence that we collect more private information on every UK user is counterintuitive and at odds with our strong belief in our users’ online privacy and safety.” – Reuters AI self-driving startup Wayve worth US$8.6b after fresh funding LONDON: Wayve, a British startup specialised in artificial intelligence for self-driving vehicles, revealed yesterday a valuation of US$8.6 billion thanks to new investment from big companies including Uber, Microsoft and Nvidia. Wayve secured an additional US$1.5 billion following investment from also Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Jeep-maker Stellantis among other firms. Uber and Wayve plan this year to launch commercial trials of robotaxis in London. “This investment accelerates our path to widespread commercial deployment and positions us to build the autonomy layer that will power any vehicle everywhere,” Wayve co-founder and chief executive Alex Kendall said. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella added that its investment in Wayve is“helping accelerate the path from breakthrough research to scaled commercial deployment with automakers worldwide”. Founded in 2017, Wayve is a pioneer in the development of AI embedded in vehicles, which learns from the environment by processing data from sensors instead of relying on pre-mapped routes. Chinese Internet giant Baidu, in partnership with ride-sharing app Lyft, also plan to launch a driverless taxi service in the British capital. So, too, does Waymo, the world leader in driverless vehicles owned by Alphabet, Google’s parent company. Self-driving taxis are already in operation in the United States and especially in China, but a commercial deployment in London would be a first in Europe. – AFP

LONDON: Diageo cut its annual sales and profit forecast for the second time in four months and slashed its dividend, as its first results under new boss Dave Lewis showed weak US and Chinese demand still weighing on the world’s biggest spirits maker. “US spirits performance reflected pressure on disposable income, and competitive pressure from more affordable alternatives addressing a more stretched consumer wallet,” Lewis said in Diageo’s half-year results statement. Lewis, who took over the Johnnie Walker whisky and Guinness stout maker in January, BEIJING: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz touched down in China yesterday, beginning his inaugural visit to his country’s largest trade partner and a high-tech rival as Europe’s biggest economy struggles. Berlin and Beijing want to build on their decades-old economic ties at a time when US President Donald Trump has sparked global chaos with his tariffs blitz and other erratic foreign policy moves. But Merz is also expected to stress German and European interests in his talks with President Xi Jinping, including by urging him to put pressure on China’s ally Russia to end the war in Ukraine. China, the world’s number two economy, overtook the United States last year to become Germany’s biggest trade partner, but Berlin also regards the Communist Party-run state as a systemic rival to the West. Merz is the latest in a string of Western leaders courting Beijing in recent months, including Britain’s Keir Starmer, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Canada’s Mark Carney, as they recoil from the mercurial policies of Trump, who is also expected from March 31. Merz said on Friday he was going to Beijing, with a large business delegation in tow, in part because export-dependent Germany needs “economic relations all over the world”. “But we should be under no illusions,” he added, pointing out that China, as a rival to the United States, now “claims the right to define a new multilateral order according to its own rules”. Soon after landing, Merz met with Premier Li Qiang in Beijing’s opulent Great Hall of the People, where representatives from both sides signed agreements and memorandums including on climate change and food security. Merz stressed the importance of deepening relations, but added “we have very specific concerns regarding our cooperation, which we want to improve and make fair”. In an apparent allusion to the United States, Li noted that “unilateralism and protectionism have gained ground, and even become prevalent, in some countries and regions”. “Against such a backdrop, China and Germany, as two major economies in the world with significant influence, should ... o German chancellor wants deeper and fairer economic ties with Beijing

Merz and Li attend a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

Diageo said it now expects 2026 organic sales to fall 2%-3% and organic operating profit to be flat to up low-single-digits. It had earlier forecast flat to slightly lower sales and low to mid-single-digit profit growth. The company’s US sales declined 9.3%, with sales of tequilas such as Don Julio, which has been an important driver of growth, slipping more than 23%. It declared an interim dividend of 20 cents per share, down from 40.5 cents a year ago, and set a minimum floor for dividend of 50 cents per annum. – Reuters “stabilising anchor for strategic relations” in the European Union. Merz, like his predecessors Angela Merkel and Olaf Scholz, is joined by business leaders including executives of auto giants Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes. Today, Merz is to visit Beijing’s Forbidden City, then a Mercedes plant where autonomous driving vehicles will be presented. The chancellor will then travel to AI hub Hangzhou to visit the robotics group Unitree and German turbine maker Siemens Energy. German businesses have given Merz a to-do list on his trip. “We expect the chancellor to clearly address problems such as overcapacity, distortions of competition, and export controls on critical raw materials,” said Wolfgang Niedermark of the Federation of German Industries. German and European companies in China are not only “competing with highly innovative Chinese firms” but are also players in a “state-driven systemic competition”. Merz should advocate for “structural reforms to strengthen domestic demand and fairer competitive conditions” in China, he said, warning that without change there will be “new trade conflicts with the EU”. – AFP

faces the challenge of reducing debt and reviving growth amid tariff-related uncertainty in the US, slowing demand in China, fragile global consumer sentiment, and evolving drinking preferences among some consumers. His appointment followed the abrupt resignation of Debra Crew, under whom Diageo suffered a profit warning in Latin America, a significant slowdown in global growth and growing unease among investors who demand both debt reduction and a credible plan to reignite sales at the struggling drinks giant. jointly safeguard multilateralism and free trade,” Li said. China under Xi has grown far more assertive on the world stage, built up its military, stressed its claim to self-ruled Taiwan, and pushed back strongly against criticism of its human rights record. Flexing its muscle at times of tension, Beijing has restricted exports of critical minerals used in products from microchips and wind turbines to electric-car batteries and weapons systems. Last year, Beijing temporarily halted the export of Nexperia chips to Europe following a dispute with the Dutch government. More broadly, European businesses complain that China, with its low domestic demand, is flooding Europe with goods made cheap through state subsidies and an undervalued currency. Germany’s trade deficit with China hit a record €89 billion (RM408 billion) last year. As Trump has unsettled allies and rivals alike, China has nonetheless also sought to present itself as a reliable partner and defender of the multilateral order. China’s top diplomat Wang Yi told Merz at the Munich Security Conference this month that Beijing hoped to bring ties “to a new level” and wanted Germany to be a

Diageo cuts forecast again, slashes dividend