LVMH chief slams France’s planned billionaires tax
Paris — Bernard Arnault, the boss of luxury goods group LVMH and France’s richest man, has attacked a proposed 2% tax on billionaires as an assault on France's economy and denounced the plan's architect as a far-left ideologue.
The tax, which would target wealth above €100m, has gained political traction in France, where Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu faces pressure from the Socialist Party to include it in the 2026 budget or face a confidence vote that could topple his government.
“This is clearly not a technical or economic debate, but rather a clearly stated desire to destroy the French economy,” Arnault told Britain’s Sunday Times.
He accused the plan’s architect, economist Gabriel Zucman of being “first and foremost a far-left activist” who uses “pseudo-academic competence” to promote an ideology aimed at dismantling the liberal economic system, which Arnault described as “the only one that works for the good of all”. Reuters
Oracle, Meta in talks on $20bn cloud computing deal
Mexico City — Oracle is in talks with Meta for a multiyear cloud computing deal worth about $20bn, underscoring the social media giant’s drive to secure faster access to computing power, a person familiar with the matter said on Friday.
Oracle would provide Meta with computing capacity for training and deploying AI models, in addition to Meta’s existing cloud computing providers, the person said.
Meta declined to comment, while Oracle did not immediately respond when contacted by Reuters. Reuters
Trump wants return of Afghanistan airbase
Washington — US President Donald Trump on Friday said he was speaking with Afghanistan about regaining control of the Bagram air base.
“We should have never given it up,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
The comments come a day after Trump, in a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, said the US sought to regain control of the base used by American forces after the attacks of September 11 2001.
The withdrawal of American forces in 2021 led to a takeover of the base by the Islamist Taliban movement. Reuters
Andersen Group files for rare US IPO
Bengaluru — Andersen Group reported a 12.4% rise in revenue for the first half of 2025, the professional services firm disclosed on Friday in its US initial public offering filing, setting the stage for a rare listing by a consulting firm.
New listings have gained traction as buoyant equity markets and robust corporate earnings help investors navigate a persistently uncertain macroeconomic environment.
Crypto custody start-up BitGo and corporate travel and expense management firm Navan also filed IPO paperwork on Friday, seeking to go public in New York.
Andersen, which confidentially filed for a New York IPO in April, traces its origins to Wealth & Tax Advisory Services, founded in 2002 by 23 former Arthur Andersen partners. Arthur Andersen, once a member of the big five accounting firms, collapsed in the aftermath of the Enron scandal, leaving Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG as the surviving Big Four.
A potential listing by the company would mark a notable emergence from the legacy of Arthur Andersen, positioning it as one of the few publicly traded tax and consulting firms in the US. Reuters
China’s year-on-year exports to North Korea decline
Beijing — China’s exports to North Korea recorded their first year-on-year decline of 2025 in August, according to customs data released Saturday.
Outbound shipments to North Korea totalled $147.6m last month, down 0.05% from the same period a year earlier, data from China’s General Administration of Customs showed. On a month-on-month basis, exports fell 13.4%.
China remains the chief ally and economic lifeline for North Korea, especially as Pyongyang continues to face international sanctions over its nuclear weapons programme.
Chinese exports to the isolated country in August included processed hair and wool for wig making, soya bean oil and petroleum bitumen. Reuters
Novartis stockpiles products amid possible US tariffs
Zurich — Novartis has increased its stockpiles of pharmaceuticals in the US and is well prepared should its products be hit by President Donald Trump's tariffs, CEO Vas Narasimhan said in an interview published on Saturday.
Pharmaceuticals are exempt from the 39% tariffs Washington imposed on Switzerland last month, though the industry is awaiting the outcome of an investigation which could lead to sectoral import duties.
The US also reached a bilateral trade deal with the EU in July, which includes a 15% tariff on pharmaceuticals, except for some generic drugs.
“We have significantly increased our stockpiles in the US, so they will certainly last until mid-2026,” Narasimhan told Swiss newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung. Reuters
Iran president shrugs off ‘reimposition of sanctions’
Dubai — President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that Iran would overcome any reimposition of sanctions through a so-called “snapback” process, after the UN Security Council voted not to permanently lift sanctions on Tehran.
“Through the ‘snapback’ they block the road, but it is the brains and the thoughts that open or build the road,” Pezeshkian said in remarks carried by state television.
“They cannot stop us. They can strike our Natanz or Fordow (nuclear installations attacked by the US and Israel in June), but they are unaware that it is humans who built and will rebuild Natanz,” Pezeshkian said.
The Security Council move came on Friday after Britain, France and Germany launched a 30-day process last month to reimpose sanctions, accusing Tehran of failing to abide by a 2015 deal with world powers aimed at preventing it from developing a nuclear weapon. Reuters
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