AstraZeneca boss ‘wants to shift stock market listing to US’
AstraZeneca’s chief executive, Pascal Soriot, has reportedly said that he would like to shift the company’s stock market listing from the UK to the US.The boss of Britain’s most valuable listed company has spoken privately about a preference to move the listing to New York, the Times reported.It added that he had also considered moving the company’s domicile.The FTSE 100 company’s share price rose by 2.8% on Tuesday, with most of the increase happening after the story was published.
A shift in AstraZeneca’s listing would deal a major blow to the London Stock Exchange, which has already had to deal with a series of departures by companies seeking higher valuations,Among those who have left the FTSE 100 in recent years are equipment rental company Ashtead, Paddy Power bookmaker owner Flutter Entertainment, building materials supplier CRH and packaging company Smurfit Westrock,A shift by AstraZeneca would almost certainly face opposition by the UK government, although it would not have the power to formally block a move,Labour made life sciences one of its key growth sectors in its industrial strategy published last month,A spokesperson for AstraZeneca declined to comment.
The government remains stuck in negotiations with the drug industry, including AstraZeneca, over rebates that pharmaceutical companies must pay on sales of new medicines to the NHS, under a voluntary agreement,Soriot has publicly expressed his frustration over the rejection of AstraZeneca’sbreast cancer drug Enhertu for use in the NHS on cost grounds,Earlier this year, the company, headquartered in Cambridge, caused consternation in government by pulling out of a £450m project to produce vaccines in Speke, Liverpool, while saying that the business case did not make sense without more financial support from government,Soriot has overseen the market value of AstraZeneca more than tripling since he took over in October 2012,The company has overtaken oil company Shell – also seen as a contender for a move to the US – and HSBC, a bank, with a market value of £157bn.
Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionThe US is the world’s biggest pharmaceutical market, with by far the highest spending per person on medicines despite having a lower life expectancy than several other countries.UK executives have long complained that their companies are undervalued compared with American counterparts.Soriot has emphasised the company’s ambitions to grow in the US.In November, he told investors that “we want to see even more growth in the US over the next few years as part of our 2030 ambition,” according to a transcript from data company Alphasense.The “US is, of course, a very important market and that supports innovation, and we will continue to invest to grow fast in this part of the world”, Soriot said.
The chief executive’s pay has increased in line with AstraZeneca’s market value.He has been the highest-paid chief executive on the FTSE 100 for two years running, receiving £16.85m for 2023, up from £15.3m in 2022.
AI companies start winning the copyright fight
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. If you need me after this newsletter publishes, I will be busy poring over photos from Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s wedding, the gaudiest and most star-studded affair to disrupt technology news this year. I found it a tacky and spectacular affair. Everyone who was anyone was there, except for Charlize Theron, who, unprompted, said on Monday: “I think we might be the only people who did not get an invite to the Bezos wedding. But that’s OK, because they suck and we’re cool
China hosts first fully autonomous AI robot football match
They think it’s all over … for human footballers at least.The pitch wasn’t the only artificial element on display at a football match in China on Saturday. Four teams of humanoid robots took on each other in Beijing, in games of three-a-side powered by artificial intelligence.While the modern game has faced accusations of becoming near-robotic in its obsession with tactical perfection, the games in China showed that AI won’t be taking Kylian Mbappé’s job just yet.Footage of the humanoid kickabout showed the robots struggling to kick the ball or stay upright, performing pratfalls that would have earned their flesh-and-blood counterparts a yellow card for diving
Whitehall’s ambition to cut costs using AI is fraught with risk
A Dragons’ Den-style event this week, where tech companies will have 20 minutes to pitch ideas for increasing automation in the British justice system, is one of numerous examples of how the cash-strapped Labour government hopes artificial intelligence and data science can save money and improve public services.Amid warnings from critics that Downing Street has been “drinking the Kool-Aid” on AI, the Department of Health and Social Care this week announced an AI early warning system to detect dangerous maternity services after a series of scandals, and Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said he wants one in eight operations to be conducted by a robot within a decade.AI is being used to prioritise actions on the 25,000 pieces of correspondence the Department for Work and Pensions receives each day and to detect potential fraud and error in benefit claims. Ministers even have access to an AI tool that is supposed to provide a “vibe check” on parliamentary opinion to help them weigh the political risks of policy proposals.Again and again, ministers are turning to technology to tackle acute crises that in the past might have been dealt with by employing more staff or investing more money
Musk vows to unseat lawmakers who support Trump’s sweeping spending bill
Elon Musk has vowed to unseat lawmakers who support Donald Trump’s sweeping budget bill, which he has criticized because it would increase the country’s deficit by $3.3tn.“Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame! And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth,” he wrote on his social media platform, X.A few hours later he added that if the “insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day”.With these threats, lobbed at lawmakers over social media, the tech billionaire has launched himself back into a rift with the US president he helped prop up
Gov.uk smartphone app to launch with limited functionality
A government app intended to “cut life admin” will be free to download by millions of UK citizens from Tuesday, but its functions will be limited and the cabinet minister in charge has admitted: “The design is not as we would like it to be.”The gov.uk app will be accessible on smartphones for people aged 16 and over and is intended to be the main mobile hub for many citizen interactions with the government, although not the NHS or HM Revenue and Customs.Peter Kyle, the secretary of state for science and technology, said the version launched this week would only steer users to existing government webpages, with more functionality to be added by the end of the year.A generative artificial intelligence chatbot trained on 700,000 pages of the gov
Microsoft says AI system better than doctors at diagnosing complex health conditions
Microsoft has revealed details of an artificial intelligence system that performs better than human doctors at complex health diagnoses, creating a “path to medical superintelligence”.The company’s AI unit, which is led by the British tech pioneer Mustafa Suleyman, has developed a system that imitates a panel of expert physicians tackling “diagnostically complex and intellectually demanding” cases.Microsoft said that when paired with OpenAI’s advanced o3 AI model, its approach “solved” more than eight of 10 case studies specially chosen for the diagnostic challenge. When those case studies were tried on practising physicians – who had no access to colleagues, textbooks or chatbots – the accuracy rate was two out of 10.Microsoft said it was also a cheaper option than using human doctors because it was more efficient at ordering tests
Georgina Hayden’s recipe for spiced crab egg fried rice
Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy recipe for courgette linguine with trout, lemon and dill | Quick and easy
Bangkok Diners Club, Manchester M4: ‘This will soon be one of Manchester’s hottest dining tickets’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants
How to make coffee and walnut cake – recipe | Felicity Cloake's Masterclass
From mochi ice cream to strawberry sandos, Japanese sweet treats are tickling UK tastebuds
My Glastonbury food odyssey: 10 of the best dishes – whether you’re feeling hungover or healthy