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Seoul, South Korea
 — 

Three billionaires surprised diners when they walked into a popular fried chicken restaurant on Thursday – and picked up everyone’s bill.

Jensen Huang, CEO of the world’s most valuable company, AI chip giant Nvidia, went to the Seoul chicken-and-beer joint with the leaders of two of South Korea’s global tech titans: Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Jae-yong and Hyundai Motor Group executive chair Chung Eui-sun.

Fried chicken paired with ice-cold draft beer, known as “chimaek,” is a must-have for anyone visiting South Korea, and the tech potentates got their fill at Kkanbu Chicken in the heart of the nation’s capital, ahead of the APEC summit in Gyeongju.

“I love fried chicken and beer with my friends, so Kkanbu is a perfect place, right?” Huang told live-streaming passersby as he arrived at the restaurant. As well as being the name of the restaurant chain, “Kkanbu” is a slang word for a very close friend.

The three ate cheese balls, cheese sticks, boneless chicken and a fried chicken along with Korean beer Terra and the local rice spirit soju, according to national news agency Yonhap.

Video from local news outlets showed the trio – combined net worth $195 billion – linking their drinking arms to take a shot of beer, a gesture that, in South Korea, cements friendship while drinking.

Huang, Lee and Chung stepped out to offer chicken and cheese sticks to the assembled crowd.

“The chicken wings was so good. Have you been here before? It’s incredible, right?” Huang said when asked about his favourite items.

“Anyone? Fried chicken?” he offered as he held chicken baskets up.

When Huang rang the “golden bell,” a gesture to pay the bill for everyone in the restaurant, people cheered — though Samsung’s Lee paid the bill and Chung paid for a second round, according to Yonhap.

Fresh from his high-stakes trade talks with US President Donald Trump, Chinese leader Xi Jinping is among Asian heads of government who have descended on Gyeongju, in southern South Korea, for the APEC summit.

Access to cutting-edge AI chips – such as those that have pushed Nvidia to a market cap of about $5 trillion – is among issues being thrashed out between the US and China.

After their dinner at Kkanbu Chicken, the three leaders headed to Nvidia’s GeForce Gamer Festival, where Huang – flanked by Lee and Chung – promised to make a big announcement at the APEC summit on Friday.

“My announcements include my friends and we’re going to do amazing things for the future of Korea,” he told the crowd.

“As we transition our portfolio, and connect our customers to a sustainable future, we need to ensure that today’s business remains productive and competitive in this changing market while we continue to invest in our business for tomorrow,” an AGL spokesperson said.

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Total cuts could be up to 300 roles, The Australian newspaper reported. The AGL spokesperson did not say exactly how many jobs out of its total workforce of about 4,200 would be cut.

“We understand this may be a difficult time for our people and we’re committed to communicating with transparency and respect and providing support throughout the consultation process,” the spokesperson said.

The company, which generates and sells power, has said previously that it plans to spend up to A$20 billion ($13 billion) in the next decade to build out clean energy and storage capacity to replace its ageing coal fleet.

AGL, which has the highest carbon emissions footprint in Australia, separately said on Friday it will buy four new gas turbines from Siemens AB for its Kwinana gas peaking power plant in Western Australia for A$185 million.

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Almost 2 million energy bill payers could be owed a share of £240m from old accounts that were closed while still in credit, according to the regulator.

The latest figures from Ofgem show that about 1.9m energy accounts were closed over the past five years, with outstanding credit balances totalling £240m left unclaimed.

The regulator is urging anyone who has moved in recent years to check whether they are owed a refund from their previous account. Some may be owed only a few pounds, but others could be owed more than £100, Ofgem said.

Tim Jarvis, Ofgem’s director general of markets, said that although suppliers “work very hard to return money to people” when they close an account, in line with industry rules, “without the right contact details, they’re stuck”.

“The message is clear – if you’ve moved in the last five years, reach out to your old supplier, provide them with the correct information, and you could be due a refund,” Jarvis said.

Energy bill payers face a difficult winter after the regulator lifted the maximum cap that suppliers can charge their 29 million household customers for each unit of gas and electricity from the start of this month.

The average price cap for households paying by direct debit increased by £35 to £1,755 for a typical annual dual-fuel bill, despite a 2% fall in the wholesale price in the energy markets over the summer, reigniting concerns about energy affordability in the UK.

Ofgem said on Thursday that it would move ahead with plans to clear £500m of debt from about 195,000 people on means-tested benefits who have built up debt of more than £100 during the energy crisis.

The first phase of its scheme could offer debt relief of about £1,200 per account, or about £2,400 per dual-fuel customer, to eligible bill payers. The cost of this policy would be paid for by adding about £5 a year on the average dual-fuel bill by 2027-28.

This measure is expected to make only a small dent in Britain’s deepening energy debt crisis, which reached a record £4.4bn in unpaid bills as of the end of June. The Office for National Statistics found that a record proportion of British households were unable to pay their energy bills by direct debt in April because there was not enough money in their bank accounts.