Hollywood tycoon poised to swoop on Secret Cinema owner

Hollywood power broker Ari Emanuel is poised to acquire the parent company of Secret Cinema, the London-based immersive film and TV business that has put on shows themed on movies such as Star Wars and Stranger Things.Emanuel, who co-founded US entertainment group Endeavor and now runs the company behind World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), is to buy TodayTix Group, the Guardian understands.The US-based digital ticketing firm acquired Secret Cinema in a $100m (£90m) deal in 2022 and went on to expand the UK operation to the US and Australia.The deal is the second for Emanuel’s as-yet-unnamed global events company, which is backed by Apollo Global Management and Redbird Capital Partners, and likely to formally launch in the coming weeks.RedBird Capital has investments including Premier League team Liverpool FC, AC Milan and is trying to push through a deal to buy the Telegraph newspaper group

US created 911,000 fewer jobs through March 2025 than initially reported

The US added 911,000 fewer jobs than first estimated for the year to March 2025, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced on Tuesday, highlighting recent concerns about the health of the labor market.The revisions are 50% higher than last year’s adjustment and were on the higher end of Wall Street estimates between 600,000 and 1 million.The revision comes after a lackluster August jobs report, with only 22,000 jobs added in the US. That report too contained revisions and noted that 13,000 jobs were lost for the month of June 2025, the first negative jobs report survey since December 2020. The unemployment rate increased to 4

How Google dodged a major breakup – and why OpenAI is to thank for it

Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, writing to you as I finish the audiobook version of Don DeLillo’s White Noise, which I can’t say I found compelling.In tech – artificial intelligence is having its day in court with an 11th-hour appearance in Google’s landmark antitrust trial and Anthropic’s major settlement with book authors.Google dodged a catastrophic breakup, and it has its biggest competitor to thank for that, according to the judge who could have forced the tech giant to sell off Chrome, the most popular web browser in the world, and perhaps Android, the world’s most widely used mobile operating system.Amit Mehta, who ruled in 2024 that Google had built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the internet search business, said last week that he would not force the most drastic remedy on the tech giant

The women in love with AI companions: ‘I vowed to my chatbot that I wouldn’t leave him’

Experts are concerned about people emotionally depending on AI, but these women say their digital companions are misunderstoodThe Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.A young tattoo artist on a hiking trip in the Rocky Mountains cozies up by the campfire, as her boyfriend Solin describes the constellations twinkling above them: the spidery limbs of Hercules, the blue-white sheen of Vega.The Guardian’s journalism is independent

Somerset v Yorkshire, Leicestershire v Gloucestershire and more: county cricket, day two – live

If Somerset are still hoping to give Surrey and Notts a run for their money, and with rain forecast for much of tomorrow, they could do with getting a move on. Incidentally, Dom Bess has bowled 16 overs at his old ground.Tons up with a reverse sweep, fairs.#SOMvYOR#WeAreSomerset pic.twitter

AFL finals: where the Brisbane v Gold Coast semi-final will be won and lost

Brisbane have been here before. The reigning premiers are in their seventh consecutive AFL finals series and twice in that stretch have faced a straight-sets exit. The concern will be that on both of those occasions, in 2019 and 2021, the Lions were unable to lift themselves from a qualifying final defeat and were bundled out at the semi-final stage.The Lions have grown up since then to become an AFL heavyweight and after four straight finals victories last year were finally rewarded with a premiership. Brisbane must now stare down a new challenger to their crown as Gold Coast take their club-first finals campaign into a second week after a rousing elimination final win