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Friday newspaper round-up: Elliott Management, John Lewis, Specsavers

(Sharecast News) - The US hedge fund and notorious activist investor Elliott Management paid its 124 UK staff a combined £160m last year, after a 10% rise in annual profits. The pay pot is higher than the £137m shared by employees the previous year, and comes after its UK operation, Elliott Advisors UK, reported pre-tax profits up by a tenth to £10m. Turnover for the firm, which made headlines after throwing its hat into the ring to buy Manchester United earlier this year, rose 16% to £225m. - Guardian John Lewis is ditching its offer of free food for workers over the Christmas period, as the retail giant embarks on another round of cost-cutting. The retailer has offered seasonal workers free Sunday roasts and cooked breakfasts for the last two years running but confirmed that Christmas staff will not get the perk this year. - Telegraph

Governments spent $800bn (£633bn) more on energy subsidies last year than in 2020 in the wake of Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, as nations around the world opened the purse strings to limit the pain of higher bills. Direct subsidies for fossil fuels jumped to $1.3 trillion in 2022, according to the International Monetary Fund, up from $500bn in 2020. - Telegraph

The Specsavers chain has paid out a £15 million dividend to its parent company in Guernsey as the businesses sought to limit price rises for customers amid the cost of living crisis. Accounts for Specsavers Optical Superstores - whose ultimate controlling parties are Dame Mary Perkins and her husband, Doug - show a dividend was granted after no payouts were approved in the prior year. - The Times

The Serious Fraud Office has dropped two long-running, high-profile investigations in the latest blow to the agency's credibility before the arrival of its new director. A criminal investigation into Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) launched a decade ago and a separate corruption investigation into Rio Tinto, the FTSE 100 mining giant, have ended. - The Times

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(Sharecast News) - The UK government will "wait and see" whether tariffs announced by Donald Trump "actually come to pass", a senior minister said. The US president announced what he called "reciprocal tariffs" on all other countries on Thursday evening, claiming it was "fair to all". But it was unclear how this would apply to the UK, especially as Trump suggested his policy regarded VAT as a tariff. - Guardian
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(Sharecast News) - The British economy is on course to expand by 1.5% this year after the budget gave a boost to public spending but could be blown off course if Donald Trump goes ahead with threatened tariffs, a leading economic thinktank has warned. In a boost to Rachel Reeves after a bruising month of negative economic figures, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) upped its annual growth prediction from 1.2% to 1.5%. - Guardian
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(Sharecast News) - Elon Musk escalated his feud with OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman on Monday. The billionaire is leading a consortium of investors that announced it had submitted a bid of $97.4bn for "all assets" of the artificial intelligence company to OpenAI's board of directors. The startup, which operates ChatGPT, has been working to restructure itself away from its original non-profit status. OpenAI also operates a for-profit subsidiary, and Musk's unsolicited offer could complicate the company's plans. The Wall Street Journal first reported the proposed bid. - Guardian

Important information: This information is not a personal recommendation for any particular investment. If you are unsure about the suitability of an investment you should speak to one of Fidelity’s advisers or an authorised financial adviser of your choice. When you are thinking about investing in shares, it’s generally a good idea to consider holding them alongside other investments in a diversified portfolio of assets. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.

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