Activist investor Elliott builds up stake in London Stock Exchange Group
The activist investor Elliott Management has built up a “significant” stake in the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) and is engaging with the company to drive its performance at a time of reduced listings and concerns about disruption from artificial intelligence.Elliott’s exact shareholding in LSEG was unclear; the Financial Times, which first reported the stake, added that the fund had been in talks with LSEG to help it work on improvement, encourage the group to consider a fresh share buy-back and to try to narrow the gap with its rivals.Shares in LSEG climbed by as much as 6% in early trading on Wednesday before recovering some ground to close down 1%.LSEG is best known for operating the London Stock Exchange but has moved away from its traditional stock market activities and now derives almost half of its revenues from its data and analytics arm after its 2021 takeover of the financial data provider Refinitiv.The company’s share price has declined steadily over the past year amid investor concerns that its income will be squeezed by AI disruption at a time of growing competition.
LSEG’s shares have slid by more than 35% in the past 12 months and took a tumble of 13% at the start of the month after the US AI startup Anthropic launched a tool for use by companies’ legal departments that investors feared could dent LSEG’s data business.An LSEG spokesperson said: “LSEG maintains an active and open dialogue with our investors while remaining focused on executing our strategy.”LSEG is just the latest company targeted by the activist hedge fund.Elliott built a stake in BP worth almost £3.8bn, or 5% of its shares, in early 2025, becoming the oil company’s third-largest shareholder.
BP’s chief executive, Murray Auchincloss, was ousted in December after less than two years in the job, after pressure from Elliott, which also led a successful campaign against the oil company’s chair, Helge Lund, earlier in 2025.Elliott typically takes stakes in companies that it believes have lost value because of mismanagement, and demands changes that can improve their market value.It has previously agitated for a shake-up at the drugmaker GSK and the housebuilder Taylor Wimpey.The feared New York hedge fund is also the owner of the combined Waterstones and Barnes & Noble bookstore chains and is reportedly preparing to list them on the stock market.Elliott is thought to prefer London over New York for a listing, which would be seen as a welcome boost to the UK stock market.
There was a pickup in the rate of businesses choosing to list in London in the second half of 2025, although concerns remain that takeovers and delistings have reduced the number of the UK’s public companies.Elliott declined to comment.
Reeves appoints higher pay advocate to fight skills shortages as chief economic adviser
Rachel Reeves has appointed a labour market expert who has repeatedly called for better pay and conditions in key sectors, such as social care, to reduce the UK’s reliance on migrant workers as her new chief economic adviser.Prof Brian Bell, who chairs the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), which advises the government, has been announced as the new chief economic adviser in the Treasury – a senior civil service role.He will take up the post just as the UK economy is adjusting to a plunge in net migration, which fell by more than two-thirds, to 204,000, in the year to June 2025.Some economists have predicted a further decline, towards zero net migration – but Bell rejects that forecast, expecting it to bounce back towards 300,000 a year by the end of the decade.A professor of economics at Kings College London, Bell has used his role on the MAC to make the point that the “skills shortages” bemoaned by UK employers may often reflect the failure to offer good enough terms and conditions to domestic workers
Trump ‘plans to roll back’ some metal tariffs; US inflation weaker than expected in January - business live
Time to wrap up…US inflation moderated in January to 2.4%, an easing after Donald Trump’s tariffs triggered price fluctuations last year.Prices rose 0.2% from December to January, according to data released by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday measuring the consumer price index (CPI), which measures the price of a basket of goods and services. Core CPI, which strips out the volatile food and energy industries, went up 0
Anthropic raises $30bn in latest round, valuing Claude bot maker at $380bn
Anthropic, the US AI startup behind the Claude chatbot, has raised $30bn (£22bn) in a funding round that more than doubled its valuation to $380bn.The company’s previous funding round in September achieved a value of $183bn, with further improvements in the technology since then spurring even greater investor interest.The fundraising was announced amid a series of stock market moves against industries that face disruption from the latest models, including software, trucking and logistics, wealth management and commercial property services.The funding round, led by the Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and the hedge fund Coatue Management, is among the largest private fundraising deals on record.“Anthropic is the clear category leader in enterprise AI,” said Choo Yong Cheen, the chief investment officer of private equity at GIC
How to deal with the “Claude crash”: Relx should keep buying back shares, then buy more | Nils Pratley
As the FTSE 100 index bobs along close to all-time highs, it is easy to miss the quiet share price crash in one corner of the market. It’s got a name – the “Claude crash”, referencing the plug-in legal products added by the AI firm Anthropic to its Claude Cowork office assistant.This launch, or so you would think from the panicked stock market reaction in the past few weeks, marks the moment when the AI revolution rips chunks out of some of the UK’s biggest public companies – those in the dull but successful “data” game, including Relx, the London Stock Exchange Group, Experian, Sage and Informa.Relx, the former Reed Elsevier, whose brands include the Lancet and LexisNexis, is the most intriguing in that list. The company’s description of itself contains at least five words to provoke a yawn – “a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers” – but the pre-Claude share price was a thing of wonder
Winter Olympics 2026: Klæbo seals treble; Australian snowboarding gold; GB drought goes on – live
Klaebo is now the joint most decorated Winter Olympian in history! And there are three more chances of gold to come, in the men’s relay, men’s team sprint and 50k marathon.France’s Mathis wins silver, and Einar Hedegart bronze. Britain’s Andrew Musgrave finishes a fantastic sixth, bare arms and all.Speed skating: there’s a gold medal waiting for the fastest man to cover 10,000m of ice. It takes over 12 minutes to complete so a balm to those overstimulated by the scream of the sliding events
Itoje calls for ‘bulletproof’ England approach to slay their Murrayfield ghosts
Maro Itoje has called on his England side to be “bulletproof” as they seek to clinch a first win at Murrayfield in six years on Saturday. England can keep their grand slam pursuit alive by successfully defending the Calcutta Cup and Itoje has urged his side to create their own history despite their recent wretched form in Edinburgh.With England on a 12-match winning streak and Scotland suffering a shock defeat by Italy last week, Steve Borthwick’s side are clear favourites for victory. Their only victory at Murrayfield since Eddie Jones’ first game in charge came in miserable weather in 2020, however, with Scotland securing victories in 2022 and last time out in 2024.England have been regularly knocked from their stride on Scottish soil with a pre-match fracas in the tunnel preceding the 2018 defeat
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