Friday newspaper round-up: Anthropic, NS&I, BBC

(Sharecast News) - The artificial intelligence company Anthropic said on Thursday it raised $30bn in its latest funding round that values the Claude maker and OpenAI rival at $380bn, underscoring the breakneck pace of AI investments. The round, led by the Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and hedge fund Coatue Management, is among the largest private fundraising deals on record and comes just five months after Anthropic closed its previous round at a $183bn valuation - meaning the company has more than doubled in value since September. - Guardian An attempt to modernise the state-owned savings bank NS&I has been a "full-spectrum disaster", parliament's spending watchdog has concluded in a damning report. NS&I (National Savings & Investments), which runs a popular monthly cash-prize draw for premium bond holders, has been criticised by a committee of MPs for exposing the taxpayer to "unacceptable risk" owing to the spiralling costs of its £3bn modernisation programme. - Guardian

Rupert Murdoch will take over printing The Guardian after the newspaper's current printer closes down most of its production sites. The newspaper is currently printed by Reach, which owns titles including the Mirror and Express. However, Reach this week outlined plans to shutter two of its three remaining print sites in an effort to cut costs. - Telegraph

The BBC plans to slash more than £500m from its annual budget in a move almost certain to involve job losses and programme cuts. The public service broadcaster told staff it was aiming to strip out a tenth of its annual costs over the next three years. The BBC's operating costs stood at just over £6bn last year, meaning the savings would amount to around £600m. - Telegraph

Four EY partners involved in an embarrassing mistake last summer that led to the Big Four firm losing one of its most lucrative and important clients have left the business. Companies House filings published this week show that the partners departed in early December, just before Britain's accounting industry regulator announced it was investigating a breach of "partner rotation" rules. - The Times

The Serious Fraud Office suffered another embarrassing blow to its reputation on Thursday after a bribery trial collapsed over failures to disclose evidence to the defence, forcing the agency to review up to 20 cases. In the case at Southwark crown court in London, David Graeme Hossie, the former chief executive of London Mining, and Rachel Rhodes, the company's finance boss, had faced corruption charges along with Ariel Armon, a consultant to the business. All three had pleaded not guilty. - The Times