In today’s digest, we look at RedBird’s agreement to acquire the Telegraph newspaper group, the latest in the UK's AI sector, and Alibaba's Taobao Instant Commerce Portal surpassing 40 million daily orders.

RedBird to Acquire Telegraph

A consortium led by RedBird Capital Partners has reached an agreement to acquire the Telegraph newspaper group in a deal valuing the title at approximately £500m. The deal ends two years of ownership uncertainty,  and is expected to usher in a new strategic direction. RedBird will assume direct control of the Telegraph, following their earlier attempts to secure ownership via the Abu Dhabi-backed RedBird IMI vehicle, a strategy previously blocked by the UK government. The company’s long term commitment to the UK was highlighted by Gerry Cardinale, founder and managing partner, who described the acquisition as a key addition to RedBird’s growing portfolio of media assets in the country.

European Alliances and Copyright Challenges in the UK AI Sector

The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) has opened applications for organisations to host the AI Factory Antenna, a new facility aimed at linking UK researchers to cutting edge supercomputing resources across Europe. As part of a broader effort to scale AI capabilities through international collaboration, the initiative will provide British research teams with access to enhanced compute power, addressing the growing infrastructure demands of modern AI development.

The move builds on the UK government’s AI Opportunities Action Plan, published in January, which outlines a three pronged strategy to boost national compute capacity. The plan identifies international partnerships as key to maintaining the UK’s competitiveness in the global AI landscape.

However, as collaboration across borders gains momentum, domestic debates over copyright and creative ownership are heating up. At a recent event promoting his new book, Nick Clegg, former UK deputy prime minister & Meta executive, warned that requiring artists’ consent before training AI models on their work would “basically kill” the industry.

According to The Times, Clegg stated:  “I think the creative community wants to go a step further, quite a lot of voices say, ‘You can only train on my content, [if you] first ask’. And I have to say that strikes me as somewhat implausible because these systems train on vast amounts of data.”

Alibaba’s Taobao Instant Commerce Portal Passes 40 Million Daily Orders

Alibaba has reported that Taobao Instant Commerce, its new one hour delivery portal, is processing over 40 million daily orders just one month after its launch. The service integrates Ele.me Alibaba’s food delivery platform directly into the Taobao app, enabling near instant fulfilment of groceries and daily essentials. The rapid growth highlights surging demand for “instant retail” in China, as e-commerce platforms pour billions into on demand logistics to drive consumer stickiness and monetise fast moving categories.