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Good morning and welcome back. Today we will cover:
Chinese technology group expands AI business in Silicon Valley
Restructuring of KPMG’s UK division
Vanguard opens proxy voting to individual shareholders
Despite Washington’s efforts to rein in China’s cutting-edge technology development, China’s largest technology group is building an artificial intelligence team in Silicon Valley, aiming to hire top American talent.
Alibaba, ByteDance and Meituan have expanded their offices in California in recent months despite U.S. disruptions.
Alibaba is recruiting for an AI team in Sunnyvale in the San Francisco Bay Area, approaching engineers, product managers and AI researchers who have worked at OpenAI and the largest U.S. technology group, according to three people familiar with the matter. It is said that there is
Meituan, China’s largest on-demand distribution platform, is building a team in California after executives expressed concern that it was falling behind in the AI field, two people familiar with the matter said. It is said to be expanding. ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, has the most established AI footprint in California, with multiple teams working on various projects.
Even small Chinese AI startups are establishing footprints in the U.S. and hiring engineers with experience working at major labs and companies in the region. Read more about China’s efforts to hire American AI talent.
Here’s what else we’re looking at today:
On the second day of the G20: Rich Nations Summit in Rio de Janeiro, US President Joe Biden attends a working lunch with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The result: The world’s largest retailer Walmart and home improvement store chain Lowe’s Companies report earnings before the market opens.
U.S. economic data: Economists expect monthly new home construction to fall at an annual rate of 1.33 million in October from 1.35 million in September.
Israel: Local elections are being held in areas near the Gaza-Lebanon border for those who were unable to vote in February.
From December 4th to 6th, policy, business and financial leaders will join the Global Boardroom, the Financial Times’ award-winning digital conference, to discuss geopolitical, economic and technological disruption. Hear us discuss our growth strategies as we continue. Register for free here.
5 more top articles
1. Damage to a pair of submarine communications cables in the Baltic Sea was likely an act of sabotage, the German defense minister said. Boris Pistorius said it was unclear who was responsible for what he described as “hybrid” war tactics after two fiber optic cables were cut within 24 hours.
2. European leaders should be prepared to send troops to Ukraine to back up the peace deal between Kiev and Moscow brokered by Donald Trump, Estonia’s foreign minister said . The next U.S. president has vowed to quickly end the war in Ukraine after taking office. Read the full interview with Margus Tsachna.
3. Vanguard is doubling the size of its experiment to give more investors a say in proxy voting, giving individual shareholders the opportunity to vote in favor of putting profits above all else. The addition of about 4 million people to manage up to $250 billion in stocks in U.S. companies comes as Vanguard and other big asset managers try to weather a conservative backlash over environmental, social and governance factors.
4. President Trump’s social media company is in talks to buy Bakkt, a cryptocurrency exchange owned by Intercontinental Exchange, according to two people familiar with the negotiations. If the deal is successful, it would further deepen President Trump’s push into cryptocurrencies, whose value has soared since his election victory.
5. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said global investors remain reluctant to deploy capital to China, citing weak consumer confidence and the difficulty of capital outflows from China. “The vast majority are sitting on the sidelines,” he warned. He said investors “remain concerned” about liquidating their investments in the world’s second-largest economy. Read more about comments made at today’s event in Hong Kong.
Join us tomorrow for our Global M&A Outlook — Americas webinar. This webinar, hosted by the FT in collaboration with Datasite, brings together dealmakers to discuss M&A activity and trends in the Americas region.
today’s big reading
Howard Lutnick and Scott Bessent are at the center of an increasingly bitter battle to be Donald Trump’s Treasury secretary, as Wall Street factions fight to discredit each other’s candidates. A person familiar with the deepening rivalry described the contest as a “fierce game” between Lutnick’s and Bessent’s camps.
We also read and listen. . .
chart of the day
Volkswagen’s high-stakes attempt to woo American consumers with electric cars in a slowing market was a risky endeavor from the start. But with Donald Trump’s return to the White House and the president-elect pledging to end EV subsidies and impose tariffs on foreign-made cars, Europe’s largest automaker’s American dream is in more trouble than ever. There is.
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Take a break from the news
A major founder of the 19th century British Arts and Crafts movement, the work of William Morris has become a worldwide symbol of the authentically British style. But the London exhibition traces the deep influence of Iranian, Turkish and Syrian art on his geometrically precise designs.
