Category: 3. Business

Ahead of the film’s theatrical release in November, Volkswagen have released their co-branded campaign commercial. The 30-second spot builds anticipation for the new animated adventure and shows the Volkswagen models with a ‘Zootopified’ look to match the film as well as featuring Gazelle’s new song. The spot will run in theaters, on TV and across social media worldwide.

You can watch the spot here.

Part of the charm of “Zootopia” lies in its humorous reflection of our own world, from the characters’ human-like personalities to the animal-pun parodies of well-known brands. In “Zootopia 2,” audiences will see Volkswagen represented as ‘Wolfswagen’ in the movie, a tongue-in-cheek homage to the brand’s headquarters in Wolfsburg.

Christine Wolburg, Chief Brand Officer of Volkswagen, says: “Cooperation plays an important role when it comes to effectively implementing emotional storytelling for the Volkswagen brand and reaching new customer groups. ‘Zootopia 2’ shows how important it is to question prejudices and break new ground together in an entertaining way; these are values that Volkswagen also embodies. We are thrilled to collaborate with the Walt Disney Animation Studios to ‘Zootopify’ our brand in the film in a perfectly funny way.”

Volkswagen has collaborated with The Walt Disney Studios on several occasions, including working with the Star Wars series “Obi-Wan Kenobi” and with Marvel Studios on the film “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania” as part of the ID. Buzz market launch.

The advertising campaign is designed differently by Volkswagen companies depending on the country and includes various measures. In Germany, for example, the brand is using the campaign to promote attractive leasing offers for the Golf, ID.7 Tourer, and T-Cross.

About “ZOOTOPIA 2”
In Walt Disney Animation Studios’ “Zootopia 2,” rookie cops Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (voiced by Jason Bateman) find themselves on the twisting trail of a great mystery when Gary De’Snake (voice of Ke Huy Quan) arrives in Zootopia and turns the animal metropolis upside down. To crack the case, Judy and Nick must go undercover to unexpected new parts of town, where their growing partnership is tested like never before. The film also features the voices of Fortune Feimster, Andy Samberg, David Strathairn, Idris Elba, Patrick Warburton, Quinta Brunson, Danny Trejo, Nate Torrence, Jenny Slate, Alan Tudyk, Bonnie Hunt, Don Lake and Shakira, who returns as Gazelle. From the Oscar®-winning team of Disney Animation chief creative officer Jared Bush and Byron Howard (directors) and Yvett Merino (producer), “Zootopia 2” opens in theaters Nov. 26.

The all-new original song “Zoo” is performed by Shakira, who returns as the voice of Zootopia’s biggest pop star, Gazelle.

Video and visual assets: © 2025 Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Thailand’s beverage alcohol landscape is undergoing a period of change as imports of beer and whisky contract, with consumers showing a growing thirst for wine and cocktails based on Tequila, rum, vodka and gin.

According to IWSR data, total beverage alcohol (TBA) volumes in the country rose by +2% in 2024, but were flat over the 2019-24 period – but this apparently lacklustre performance conceals the opportunities in a country characterised by a robust tourist industry and a vibrant on-trade.

Beer and whisky are traditionally the dominant categories in Thailand. In the premium-and-above price bands beer accounted for over 80% of on-trade volumes in 2024, and blended Scotch was the most lucrative segment, contributing a third of the value generated by spirits sales in the country’s bars, according to IWSR’s on-trade value data.

But this picture is changing, with wine and white spirits (the latter boosted by a dynamic cocktail culture) becoming increasingly significant in recent years. At the same time, beer imports have fallen back as they struggle to compete with well-known local brands, and blended whisky is showing signs of falling out of fashion.

“Thailand’s beer category is remaining resilient as it is popular with locals and tourists alike, and home-grown brands are increasingly elevating their branding efforts,” reports Jalene Teng, IWSR Senior Market Analyst. “Wine is a growing category, with the market maturing and consumers gravitating towards it – and white spirits such as Tequila, rum, vodka and gin are fast becoming crowd favourites thanks to their huge popularity in cocktail bars.”

Wine: tax breaks and health attributes

Tax reductions introduced by the Thai government during 2024 have helped to boost wine sales further, while also opening the market to a broader selection of products and origins.

Imported still wine volumes rose by +3% in 2024, according to IWSR data, and are predicted to continue to expand to 2029, at a CAGR of +3%. Sparkling wine imports also grew by +3% last year, although future growth is forecast to moderate, with a 2024-29 CAGR of +1%.

The FCA’s latest proposals on non-financial misconduct (NFM) will add an additional factor to corporate transactions in the financial services sector. With new rules extending the regulatory spotlight to a wider range of firms, acquirers should consider NFM risks and policies as part of their due diligence processes. This development is set to influence risk assessment and post-completion integration, making NFM compliance a concern for buyers and sellers alike.

On 2 July 2025, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published Consultation Paper CP 25/18, outlining new rule changes and proposals to tackle NFM in the financial services industry. NFM refers to the type of serious misconduct described in the new rules and covers behaviour such as bullying, violence and sexual harassment which do not involve financial wrongdoing but can breach regulatory standards and seriously undermine workplace culture. The publication follows concerns being raised by the regulator about NFM behaviours going unchallenged in certain pockets of the industry.

Previously, only banks were subject to wider scope rules. The new final rules extend the scope of the Code of Conduct (COCON) sourcebook and align the rules more closely between banks and non-banks, so that COCON now applies the conduct rules to staff of all FSMA firms holding a Part 4A permission (eg insurers, consumer credit lenders, asset managers etc) when they are performing tasks for their regulated employer, irrespective of whether or not those tasks are part of the firm’s regulated activities (SMCR financial activities).

The revised rules have also been adjusted to align more closely with employment law and in particular the definition of ‘harassment’ as set out in the Equality Act 2010.

The rule changes will come into force on 1 September 2026 and will not apply retrospectively.

Proposals for consultation include:

• COCON – The FCA’s proposed amendment to the rules on NFM in COCON. In addition, the FCA will consider providing additional guidance in COCON on how NFM can be a breach of the COCON rules with examples of scenarios illustrating the boundary between work and private life, when conduct is outside of a firm’s SMCR financial activities and when NFM may be out of scope in a non-bank.
• Fit and Proper test for Employees and Senior Personnel (FIT) – The FCA proposes including explanatory material on how various types of conduct, including NFM, are relevant to fitness and propriety and form part of the FIT section of the FCA Handbook, including the relevancy of similarly serious behaviour in a person’s private or personal life.

What does this mean?

• Risk and exposure – The extension of NFM rules means that regulatory risk in relation to workplace conduct will be relevant to a much wider range of transactions. Failure to comply and subsequently address any issues of non-compliance relating to NFM could expose a regulated firm and, as a consequence, a buyer to possible regulatory scrutiny and reputational damage.
• Due diligence – Buyers considering the acquisition of a financial services business should now assess whether the target has effective policies and procedures in place to address NFM, including checking staff awareness and training. If such policies are absent post-September 2026, it would be advisable to recommend their introduction post-completion and to align the target’s compliance, HR and governance (eg board) with the buyer’s on NFM going forward to ensure regulatory compliance.
• Integration and governance – Firms should ensure that NFM compliance is integrated into any target’s policies, systems, board reporting and senior management attestations. This will help demonstrate ongoing commitment to regulatory standards and mitigate future risks of both employment claims and regulatory scrutiny, as well as ensuring that a safe workplace culture is being promoted.
• Communication to staff – Although the COCON rule change does not come into effect until next year, firms are reminded of their duty under section 64B of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 to notify staff about the conduct rules and take all reasonable steps to make sure they understand how they apply to them. Firms are expected to keep these requirements under review and will need to update internal conduct documents and training materials to properly reflect the new rules and guidance.

What’s next?

The consultation closed on 10 September 2025. The FCA is currently reviewing feedback and is expected to set out its final regulatory approach before the end of the year.

• The resumption of the early termination program has already resulted in a notable increase in the number of early termination requests granted. Based on historical data (FY2011 to FY2020), roughly 79% of early termination requests were granted each year. With the suspension of early termination granting in February 2021, the percentage of transactions granted early termination essentially dropped to 0%. Although the precise percentage of transactions granted early termination may vary, it is reasonable to expect a return to the pre-FY2021 standard. Note, however, that a grant of early termination does not necessarily result in a substantially shorter HSR waiting period.⁶
• A renewed willingness on the part of the Agencies to consider remedies is providing merging parties with more avenues to resolve antitrust issues and, ultimately, consummate transactions. This is already playing out in practice, with several transactions in recent months addressing concerns raised by the Agencies via consent decrees and settlements.

Up next: forthcoming client alerts

The latest edition of our merger control trends report will delve further into developments in U.S. merger control and impacts on merging parties, as well as provide global trends in merger control enforcement.

Footnotes

1. See, e.g., Jonathan Kanter, Assistant Att’y Gen., Antitrust Div., U.S. Dep’t of Just., Remarks to the New York State Bar Association Antitrust Section (Jan. 24, 2022) “[W]hen the division concludes that a merger is likely to lessen competition, in most situations we should seek a simple injunction to block the transaction. It is the surest way to preserve competition.”

2. Of the total number (2,031) of notified transactions, 1,973 were subject to HSR review. Notified transactions that are not subject to HSR review include: (i) incomplete notifications, (ii) exempt transactions (e.g., which are reviewable by another federal agency but are still subject to filing with the FTC and DOJ), (iii) non-reportable transactions, and (iv) withdrawn transactions.

3. On February 10, 2025, new HSR rules and merger notification forms came into effect. The new rules and forms were unanimously approved by all five FTC Commissioners, with a concurrence from the DOJ, on October 10, 2024. See our prior client alert on this topic. 

4. See supra note 3.

5. The FTC has not yet released September 2025 preliminary HSR Transactions data.

6. Current reporting suggests that, in some cases, the Agencies are granting early termination shortly before, or on the day of, the end of the 30-day waiting period (see Flavia Fortes and Wesley Brown, Early terminations of US merger period being granted at the last minute, MLEX (Sep. 24, 2025)).

LIVINGSTON, N.J. – October 16, 2025 – CoreWeave, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRWV), The Essential Cloud for AI, today announced CoreWeave AI Object Storage, an industry-leading fully managed object storage service built from the ground up specifically for AI workloads. Powered by CoreWeave’s Local Object Transport Accelerator (LOTA) technology, CoreWeave AI Object Storage makes a single dataset instantly accessible, anywhere in the world, without any egress charges or request/transaction fees restricting how or where it’s used. 

AI performance hinges on data mobility – timing and access to the right data can make or break innovation. High-performance AI training relies on large datasets located near GPU compute clusters. Conventional cloud storage is not engineered for that level of throughput or flexibility, leaving developers constrained by latency, complexity, and cost. 

“As the essential cloud for AI, every decision at every layer is focused on optimizing for efficiency and performance,” said Peter Salanki, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at CoreWeave. “Now, we are rethinking storage from the ground up. We’ve built a system where data is no longer confined by geography or cloud boundaries, giving developers the freedom to innovate without friction or hidden costs. This is a truly game-changing shift in how AI workloads operate.” 

‍Unlike traditional object storage, which is constrained to one portion of your IT infrastructure, CoreWeave AI Object Storage performance scales as AI workloads grow and maintains superior throughput across distributed GPU nodes from any region, on any cloud, or on-premises. Private interconnects, direct cloud peering, and 400 GBps-capable ports ensure the data integrity of trillions of objects for workloads across the globe. This multi-cloud networking backbone ensures developers everywhere get the same high-throughput GPU performance without dealing with data sprawl or resource-heavy data replication.

CoreWeave is also introducing three automatic, usage-based pricing tiers that provide more than 75 percent lower storage costs for our existing customers’ typical AI workloads. With no egress, request, or tiering fees, the new model gives customers greater flexibility and visibility, aligning costs directly with usage while constantly maintaining CoreWeave’s unmatched performance and simplicity. This makes CoreWeave AI Object Storage one of the most cost-efficient, developer-friendly storage options in the industry.

“At Replicate, our mission is to make it simple for developers to run and share machine learning models at scale. That requires storage that is both fast and flexible across environments,” said Morgan Fainberg, Principal Engineer at Replicate. “With CoreWeave’s cross-cloud capabilities in CoreWeave AI Object Storage, we can rely on a single dataset to support models no matter where they’re deployed. This eliminates replication overhead, removes egress costs, and ensures our users always have high-performance access to the data they need to innovate.”

‍Today’s announcement marks the latest step in CoreWeave’s ongoing expansion of its software ecosystem. Last week, CoreWeave announced ServerlessRL, the first publicly available, fully managed reinforcement learning capability. CoreWeave fosters a diverse and open AI ecosystem, with its technology team consistently setting new standards for performance, demonstrated by the company’s industry-leading MLPerf benchmark for AI workloads and Platinum rating in the SemiAnalysis ClusterMAX™ system.

CoreWeave is committed to redefining what it means to power AI. The company’s cloud platform unites the essential tools from high-performance computing to the critical software layer builders rely on to develop, test, and deploy AI at scale. CoreWeave continues to expand its capabilities through organic innovation, by supporting founders with capital and compute through CoreWeave Ventures, and with strategic acquisitions including OpenPipe, advancing reinforcement learning; Weights & Biases, powering model iteration, experiment tracking, and inference; and the pending acquisition of Monolith AI, which applies machine learning to complex physics and engineering challenges. 

Additional Supporting Quotes:

“With cross-region and cross-cloud acceleration, CoreWeave is delivering what developers need most: consistent, high-throughput access to a single dataset without replication,” said Holger Mueller, Vice President and Principal Analyst at  Constellation Research. “Leveraging technologies like LOTA caching and InfiniBand networking, CoreWeave AI Object Storage ensures GPUs remain efficiently utilized across distributed environments, a critical capability for scaling next-generation AI workloads.”

“While benchmarking LMCache with Cohere to store large volumes of KV-cache across a distributed cluster, we were truly impressed by the performance of LOTA, the technology behind CoreWeave AI Object Storage. Its speed and scalability are key to minimizing time-to-first-token (TTFT) and maximizing LLM throughput—regardless of context size,” said Juchen Jiang, CEO, Tensormesh
‍

– Three new AI agents, built with Oracle AI Agent Studio for Fusion Applications, automate enterprise tasks

– Additional AI Agents for HR and Supply Chain built on IBM watsonx Orchestrate under development by IBM

Oct 16, 2025

ARMONK, N.Y., Oct. 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced new AI agents now available on the Oracle Fusion Applications AI Agent Marketplace. The three new agents are designed to help Oracle Fusion Cloud Applications customers achieve new levels of operational efficiency. In addition, IBM plans to release complementary agents for Oracle customers built with IBM watsonx Orchestrate for HR and supply chain to help clients across industries transform businesses processes. 

IBM Agents Built Directly in Oracle Fusion Applications

The new agents from IBM Consulting are built with Oracle AI Agent Studio and designed to help organizations automate processes and common workflows within Oracle Fusion Applications. The three new Oracle-validated agents, available on the Oracle AI Agent Marketplace, are:

• Intercompany Agent – Automates the review of intercompany agreements
• Smart Sales Order Entry Agent – Helps streamline the sales-order creation process by generating relevant data needed in the order-to-cash process
• Requisition to Contract Agent – Addresses the complex workflow of converting purchase requisitions to contract purchase orders

“As AI agents rapidly transform enterprise applications, organizations are seeking new ways to drive productivity, agility, and innovation at scale,” said Kaushal Kurapati, GVP of Product Management for Fusion AI, Oracle. “The new IBM AI agents in the Oracle AI Agent Marketplace, seamlessly built with Oracle AI Agent Studio, will help customers to address their unique business needs and drive growth with speed and confidence.”

“Oracle and IBM are combining our collective enterprise AI and business transformation expertise to help clients embrace agentic AI as a driver of innovation and competitive advantage,” said Neil Dhar, Global Managing Partner, IBM Consulting. “These new agents will bring the power of AI directly to our joint clients for the greatest potential impact on their business.”

IBM Plans to Add New watsonx Orchestrate Agents

IBM also intends to expand the ecosystem around Oracle Fusion Applications with the release of new supply chain and HR agents soon, joining an expanding portfolio of agents announced earlier this year.

They are built on IBM watsonx Orchestrate, an enterprise-grade AI solution for developing, deploying, and governing AI agents. Watsonx Orchestrate, running on a foundation of Red Hat OpenShift AI, provides a multi-agent approach designed to work with the expansive AI agents offerings embedded within the Oracle AI Agent Studio and Oracle AI Agent Marketplace. It also serves as a multi-agent supervisor to orchestrate agents across both Oracle and non-Oracle applications and data sources. 

Additionally, Oracle intends to make the IBM Granite 4.0 family of AI models available soon through its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Data Science via AI Quick Actions.

For more information about the new agents for Oracle Fusion Applications and an update on the IBM and Oracle partnership visit here.

To read a new joint study launched at Oracle AI World by the IBM Institute for Business Value and Oracle, “The strategic ascent: How autonomous AI transforms enterprise business operations,” visit here.

Statements regarding IBM’s and Oracle’s future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice and represent goals and objectives only.

About IBM

IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain a competitive edge in their industries. Thousands of governments and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service. Visit www.ibm.com for more information.

About Oracle’s Partner Program

Oracle’s partner program helps Oracle and its partners drive joint customer success and business momentum. The newly enhanced program provides partners with choice and flexibility, offering several program pathways and a robust range of foundational benefits spanning training and enablement, go-to-market collaboration, technical accelerators, and success support. To learn more, visit https://www.oracle.com/partner/.

Trademark

Oracle, Java, MySQL and NetSuite are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation. NetSuite was the first cloud company—ushering in the new era of cloud computing.

Contact:

Joel Rushing

IBM Communications

joel.rushing@ibm.com

SOURCE IBM

Lloyd’s Register (LR) has published Navigating Nuclear Energy in Maritime, a new guidance document providing the first roadmap for the safe and responsible use of nuclear technology in commercial shipping and offshore industries. 

As the maritime sector accelerates its transition towards sustainable energy solutions, nuclear power has re-emerged as a viable solution to achieve net-zero ambitions.  

The guidance, developed in partnership with Global Nuclear Security Partners (GNSP) and marine insurer NorthStandard, sets out the practical steps project teams must take – outlining regulatory, technical, operational and financial requirements for integrating nuclear technology, such as small modular reactors (SMRs), into maritime assets. 

With no international regulatory framework yet in place, the document discusses the roles of key bodies, including the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), highlighting the importance of harmonising maritime and nuclear standards.  

Topics covered include safety classification, environmental impact assessments, structural integrity, and the development of a robust nuclear safety case. Security measures are also addressed, with emphasis on physical and cyber protection systems, as well as insider threat mitigation. 
 
Operational and financial aspects are thoroughly explored, including personnel qualifications, emergency response planning, and quality assurance throughout the project lifecycle. The document also examines insurance and reinsurance challenges, advocating for a predictable liability framework to support commercial viability.  

Mark Tipping, LR’s Global Power to X Director, said: “Nuclear energy has the potential to transform maritime, providing a scalable and zero-carbon energy source that can accelerate the industry’s energy transition. However, its adoption requires clarity, collaboration and trust across regulators, operators, insurers and wider society. This guidance offers a comprehensive starting point for stakeholders to navigate the risks and opportunities ahead.” 

Nick Tomkinson, Senior Partner, Global Nuclear Security Partners, said: “Maritime nuclear will only succeed when safety, security and safeguards are considered together from the start. This guidance document helps first movers align maritime and nuclear frameworks, apply goal-based approaches where prescriptive rules are absent, and build the confidence required by regulators, insurers and the public. GNSP is proud to contribute to this important step for the sector.” 

Helen Barden, Director – External Affairs at NorthStandard, added: “NorthStandard are proud to have been invited to contribute our expertise to the Navigating Nuclear Energy in Maritime guidance document. We collaborated with Lloyd’s Register to explore the insurance and reinsurance considerations for nuclear energy – particularly the interlink between classification and insurance, current P&I limitations around pooling nuclear risks and the importance of liability frameworks. 

“We welcome the growing recognition that nuclear could play a meaningful role in the decarbonisation of shipping and we are proactively supporting the maritime industry when it comes to the insurance and regulatory challenges ahead.”  

LR’s guidance builds on its industry-leading Fuel for Thought: Nuclear research programme and aims to fill a critical knowledge gap. It brings together decades of classification, safety and compliance expertise with specialist nuclear insight to provide an evidence-based framework for project teams at every stage of development. 

The full guidance, Navigating Nuclear Energy in Maritime, is available to download via the link below:

Navigating nuclear energy in maritime