Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
If anyone should know the importance of being a stickler for detail, it is insurance executives. But Zurich’s £8bn takeover bid for FTSE 100 specialist Beazley has produced some slippery arguments from both sides.
At the start of the week, Zurich’s approach looked like a classic “bear hug” — a public bid lobbed in at a high premium to push a recalcitrant target to the table. Chief executive Mario Greco said his prior, private approaches to Beazley had been rebuffed, so it was time to “have shareholders say what they think”. A mooted price of £12.80 per share — 56 per cent above Beazley’s undisturbed share price — looked generous; Beazley’s shares jumped and several analysts said the offer looked compelling.
Or maybe not so generous? On Thursday, Beazley said Zurich had offered a higher price of £13.15 last summer, and that the UK company had engaged “appropriately” at the time. The implication was that Greco is opportunistically taking advantage of Beazley’s 17 per cent share price fall since then.
Beazley may be pushing its luck. For all its emphasis on strong growth prospects and recent milestones, it’s not for nothing that its shares have slumped. The speciality insurance sector — particularly in cyber attacks, where Beazley is a leader — is entering what is expected to be a prolonged rough patch of falling prices, which will weigh on growth.
British boards have long been criticised for meekly rolling over when confronted with a half-decent bid, so Beazley can be commended for fighting its corner. There is a fine line between determination and truculence, but there are signs the companies may not actually be as far apart as their comments suggest.
For one thing, even Beazley chief Adrian Cox has acknowledged the industrial logic for a combination. Zurich would boost its market share in speciality insurance and get a foothold in the Lloyd’s of London marketplace, while Beazley could reach far more customers as part of a global giant.
Some analysts think Zurich can pay even more. Jefferies thinks it could afford to lift the current bid by as much as 10 per cent; Autonomous estimated it could go even higher. Beazley, meanwhile, has already tweaked its language to say Zurich’s most recent proposal is only a “material” undervaluation rather than a “significant” one; it might not take a huge increase from here to win over the board.
This is all, of course, the usual cut and thrust of M&A. But it’s curious to see emotions run high in an industry that specialises in applying a cold analytical approach to stressful events. They should be able to find a number that adds up for everybody.
SBP governor says industry-wide drills tested crisis decision-making; Cyber Shield 2025-30 to be issued soon
Governor State Bank of Pakistan Jameel Ahmad. Photo: screengrab
KARACHI:
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has warned that cyber risk has emerged as a systemic threat to financial stability, public confidence and economic growth, as the central bank prepares to issue a comprehensive Cyber Resilience Strategy for the banking sector.
In an official statement issued on Friday, SBP Governor Jameel Ahmad said Pakistan’s first-ever industry-wide cybersecurity drills for banks were designed to test not only technical response capabilities but also senior management decision-making during simulated cyber crisis scenarios. The drills simulated coordinated cyber-attacks across one or multiple institutions that, if not managed effectively, could pose risks to the stability of the financial system.
The governor said the exercise reinforced the need for preparedness, accountability and leadership, stressing that cyber resilience should be measured by how effectively institutions respond to attacks rather than whether incidents occur. He noted that participating banks demonstrated commitment beyond regulatory compliance by investing in crisis readiness and coordination.
Highlighting the evolving threat landscape, Ahmad said growing interconnectedness, rapid technology adoption and rising geopolitical tensions had increased cyber risks. He added that threat actors were now highly skilled, organised and well-resourced, while the domestic shortage of trained cybersecurity professionals constrained the sector’s defensive capacity.
He emphasised that cyber resilience could not be achieved in isolation and required collective preparedness, transparent information sharing and trust between regulators and regulated entities. Maintaining public trust, he said, was essential as the banking sector continued its digital transformation.
Outlining recent measures, the governor said SBP had established a dedicated Cyber Risk Management Department to strengthen supervision, deepen engagement with banks and improve incident reporting frameworks.
The governor announced that SBP would soon issue a Cyber Resilience Strategy, titled “Cyber Shield 202530”, built on five pillars, with lessons from the drills embedded into future operations across the banking sector nationwide overall.
Powdered whole milk used to make ByHeart infant formula could be a source of contamination that led to an outbreak of botulism that has sickened dozens of babies, U.S. health officials indicated Friday.
Testing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found the type of bacteria that can cause the illness in two samples linked to the formula, officials said.
The agency found that bacteria in an unopened can of formula matched a sample from a sick baby — and it also matched contamination detected in samples of organic whole milk powder used to make ByHeart formula and collected and tested by the company.
FDA testing also found contamination in a sample of whole milk powder supplied to ByHeart — and it matched the germ in a finished sample of the company’s formula.
The findings are not conclusive, and the investigation continues “to determine the source of the contamination,” the agency said in a statement.
A ByHeart official said the finding helps shed light on what has become a “watershed moment” for the company.
“We are focused on the root cause and our responsibility to act on what we’ve learned to help create a safer future for ByHeart and infant formula,” said Dr. Devon Kuehn, ByHeart’s chief scientific and medical officer.
Neither FDA nor ByHeart named the supplier of the powdered whole milk.
At this time, there is no indication of a broader problem in the infant formula supply, the FDA said.
New York-based ByHeart has been at the center of a food poisoning outbreak that has sickened 51 babies in 19 states since December 2023. The problem was identified in November after officials with the California program that supplies the sole treatment for infant botulism detected a surge in cases in babies who consumed ByHeart formula.
No new cases in the outbreak have been identified since mid-December, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
ByHeart initially recalled two lots of formula, but it expanded the recall to all products days later. Federal health officials later said they could not rule out contamination of all products made since the company launched in March 2022.
That followed company testing, announced in November, that found six of 36 samples of formula from three different lots contained the dangerous type of bacteria that causes infant botulism.
Illnesses caused by botulism bacteria in infant formula are rare, and the size and scope of the ByHeart outbreak is unprecedented, food safety experts said.
Some formula companies do test raw materials and finished formula for evidence of the contamination, but such testing should be required, said Sarah Sorscher, director of regulatory affairs for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group.
“FDA has not announced a plan to do testing, and that’s what we really want to see them do,” she said.
Even if the contamination was traced to a milk supplier, the company remains responsible for the harm caused by its product, said Bill Marler, a Seattle food safety lawyer who represents more than 30 families of babies who fell ill.
“Just because they are able to point the finger at dried powder as the ingredient that may have been contaminated, it doesn’t take any of the legal or moral responsibility away from ByHeart,” Marler said.
ByHeart, which accounted for about 1% of the U.S. infant formula market, previously sold about 200,000 cans of the product per month. It was marketed as an option close to human breast milk, one that used “organic, grass-fed whole milk.” Parents of babies sickened in the outbreak said they chose the formula, which cost about $42 per can, because of its touted health benefits.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
At certain moments in a career, you get the rare opportunity to look back and say, this work mattered. Not because of an individual accomplishment, but because it contributed to something larger — something that changed how an industry thinks and operates. The Cyber Threat Alliance (CTA) is one of those efforts.
When the CTA was first conceived in 2014, the cybersecurity industry looked very different than how it does today. Threat intelligence was widely viewed as a competitive advantage, tightly guarded and rarely shared beyond company walls. Collaboration between major security vendors — especially direct competitors — was almost unheard of. The prevailing mindset was simple: information was power, and power was proprietary.
Against that backdrop, a bold idea emerged: What if competitors worked together for the collective defense of customers and the broader digital ecosystem? What if sharing high-fidelity threat intelligence could raise the cost for adversaries and make everyone safer? As Mark McLaughlin, then CEO of Palo Alto Networks, famously put it at the time, the importance of the future CTA was clear: “Don’t let this fail.”
With that charge, four industry leaders — Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet, McAfee (Intel Security) and Symantec — came together on a handshake agreement to prove that collaboration at scale was not only possible, but necessary. It was, by any measure, a radical idea. Yet those early conversations laid the foundation for what would become the Cyber Threat Alliance.
The Architecture of Trust: Turning Vision into Reality
Turning that vision into reality required more than shared intent. A small working group representing each founding company was tasked with answering hard questions: what the CTA should be, what it should not be and how it could operate independently while earning trust across the industry. With guidance from experts familiar with the ISAC and ISAO landscape, the group worked through governance models, legal frameworks and operational structures. This involved reading more bylaws and legal documents than anyone ever hoped to encounter, but it was essential work. The CTA needed to be built deliberately, with integrity and clarity of purpose.
As the organization took shape, strong leadership became critical. That need was met when Michael Daniel, fresh from serving as Cybersecurity Coordinator for President Obama, stepped in to lead the CTA. His experience, credibility and ability to navigate both policy and industry realities helped propel the organization forward during its formative years.
Fast forward to 2026. As the CTA marks its ninth anniversary, the mission that sparked its creation remains relevant and urgent. The CTA has grown its influence beyond data sharing.
The CTA stands in a unique position to provide oversight and technical influence as a global leader in cybersecurity policy by representing the member companies in one place. With the expanding membership that spans across the globe, the CTA is now an essential piece of global cybersecurity infrastructure. Adversaries continue to evolve, borders remain irrelevant to cyber threats and no single organization can defend alone. What has changed is our proof point: collaboration works.
Reflecting on Nine Years and the Road Ahead
For those of us who have had the privilege of being involved since the earliest days, it has been remarkable to watch a bold idea turn into a trusted global institution. What began as a handful of competitors agreeing to try something different has grown into an organization that meaningfully influences how the industry shares intelligence, engages on policy and works together to protect customers worldwide.
Being part of that journey — helping shape the foundation, watching it mature and continuing to support its growth — has been one of the most professionally rewarding experiences of my career.
The CTA’s success is not defined solely by years or membership numbers, but by the collective commitment of its members to act in the interest of the broader ecosystem. Every shared indicator, every technical contribution and every policy engagement strengthens not just individual companies, but the security of communities across the globe.
As we look ahead, the call to action is simple: stay engaged, stay committed and continue to collaborate. Whether through sharing intelligence, contributing technical expertise or helping shape global cybersecurity policy, each member plays a role in ensuring the CTA remains a trusted and effective force against today’s most pressing cyber threats.
The work is far from done. Together, we are better positioned than ever to meet what comes next.
Happy 9th Anniversary, CTA!
Figure1. Celebrating 9 Years of the CTA
Additional Resources
Sharing Threat Intelligence Makes Everyone Safer – Michael Sikorski, Palo Alto Networks
More About The Author
Kathi Whitbey is the Lead Principal Program Manager for Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks, where she has spent more than a decade driving strategic programs and initiatives. She played a pivotal role in the formation and incorporation of the Cyber Threat Alliance (CTA), including leading early efforts to design and operationalize the CTA Platform for secure intelligence sharing among member companies.Deeply committed to the mission of Unit 42,
Kathi is a strong advocate for the team’s work and a dedicated mentor to emerging professionals in cybersecurity and risk management. Her career includes leadership roles in software development management and technical training across multiple U.S. government organizations, including the Department of State, where she traveled globally to deliver training on custom software applications. In addition to her professional work, Kathi has served as a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician, including a 12-month deployment supporting the U.S. Navy at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, Africa. She holds a Master’s degree in Information Systems and brings together technical expertise, operational leadership and a deep commitment to service and collaboration.
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street ended a jittery week on a relatively quiet note, with stock traders digesting the rally of the past two days in the run-up to the Federal Reserve decision and the start of the big-tech earnings season.
While the S&P 500 posted its first back-to-back weekly losses since June, the gauge erased Friday’s drop amid solid consumer sentiment and gains in most megacaps. Nvidia Corp. climbed 1.5% as China told tech firms they can prepare orders for H200 AI chips. Intel Corp. sank 17% on a tepid outlook. Small caps trailed the US equity benchmark after beating it for 14 days.
“Stocks are consolidating,” said Louis Navellier at Navellier & Associates. “The laggards are catching up, and the winners are giving back a little.”
Action was fairly muted in bonds. As inflationary pressures linger amid signs of stabilization in the labor market, the Fed is widely expected to hold rates steady Wednesday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg project reductions only in June and September. The dollar saw its worst week since May.
Markets around the globe were roiled earlier this week by President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on some European countries over Greenland, before softening his rhetoric as NATO’s chief said a breakthrough was secured. The European Union will suspend retaliatory levies on €93 billion ($109 billion) of US goods for another six months.
“This week’s market action is an important reminder for investors to not allow political headlines out of Washington to affect their portfolio, and to be opportunistic when stocks succumb to headline risk,” said Alexander Guiliano at Resonate Wealth Partners.
The S&P 500 hovered near 6,915. A gauge of megacaps climbed 1%. The Russell 2000 fell 1.8%. The yield on 10-year Treasuries slipped one basis point to 4.23%. The dollar lost 0.7%. The yen jumped the most since August on speculation Japan could intervene to halt its slide.
Oil rallied as traders factored in the possibility of American military action in Iran and a massive winter storm in the US. Gold hit all-time highs. Silver topped $100. Copper rallied above $13,000.
Read: CEOs Leave Davos Warning Europe to Shape Up or Lose to US, China
Despite operating in the shadow of political storm clouds in recent weeks, the US stock market is still relatively close to a record, noted Daniel Skelly, head of Morgan Stanley’s Wealth Management Market Research & Strategy Team.
“If those clouds can part, positive sentiment about some of this year’s dominant themes may get a chance to re-emerge,” he added.
US stocks suffered nearly $17 billion in outflows in the week ended Jan. 21, according to a Bank of America Corp. note, citing EPFR Global data. After briefly erasing its January gain, the S&P 500 reclaimed its year-to-date advance ahead of high-stakes results from several tech giants.
“Many of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ names have actually underperformed the S&P 500 over the past 12 months, so these next few earnings reports can be an important catalyst,” said Guiliano at Resonate Wealth Partners.
There were doubters, all across Wall Street by some accounts, that Tuesday’s stock rout would be short-lived, a pullback not sharp enough to dissuade Trump from waging a trade war with Europe for control of Greenland.
Yet individual investors plowed $4 billion into US equities as the S&P 500 suffered its biggest drawdown in three months, according to data from JPMorgan Chase & Co. Another $2.3 billion flowed in on Wednesday, just in time for Trump to unleash a rally by standing down from his tariff bluster.
“Investors remain conditioned to buy every dip — retail money rushed in during this week’s selloff, reinforcing a pattern that’s been in place since 2020,” said Mark Hackett at Nationwide. “That combination of broadening leadership and deeply ingrained buy-the-dip behavior continues to tilt the odds in favor of the bulls.”
Stress-driven selloffs are becoming increasingly short-lived, and the latest one was not echoed in other technical indicators such as credit spreads, the put/call ratio, or financial conditions, Hackett noted.
“Following the strong run to record highs, it is not unusual or unhealthy to see a period of consolidation,” he said.
Hackett also added that the pattern in seven of the past eight quarters is that equity markets rally into earnings season but are met with volatility and market sluggishness, despite better-than-expected results, as skepticism arises, investors are more reactive and companies are unable to buy back shares due to earnings blackout periods.
As the US earnings season gathers momentum, early results are offering a window into the economic and political crosscurrents shaping Corporate America’s outlook for the year ahead. Stocks are trading at high valuations after the S&P 500 clocked in three straight years of double-digit growth, leaving little room for error.
Earnings resilience and stability in the rates market are crucial for stocks to shrug off geopolitical noise, according to Barclays Plc strategists led by Emmanuel Cau.
The slow start of the earnings season suggests geopolitics isn’t the only driver of stock volatility, according to RBC Capital Markets strategists led by Lori Calvasina. They noted that analysts’ 2026 earnings growth forecast has fallen slightly while macro commentary remains cautiously optimistic on earnings calls.
Corporate Highlights:
Apple Inc. accused the European Commission of using “political delay tactics” to postpone new app policies as a pretense to investigate and fine the iPhone maker. Meta Platforms Inc., the reigning leader in the growing smart glasses category, is being sued by another glasses maker over patent infringement in a case that also targets the US entity of eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica SA and its Oakley subsidiary. Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr sees “legitimate competition concerns” in Netflix Inc.’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.’s studios and streaming businesses, concerns he doesn’t share if Paramount Skydance Corp. were to acquire those assets. SLB, the world’s largest oilfield-services provider, raised its dividend and posted fourth-quarter earnings that beat estimates as activity in the Middle East and other key regions accelerated and its data-center business rapidly expanded. DoorDash Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. lost a bid to block a New York City law requiring a tipping option be presented to customers at checkout from going into effect Monday. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted Chief Executive Officer David Solomon’s pay to $47 million, capping a year in which the investment bank’s shares soared and its leader reasserted his control at the top. Capital One Financial Corp. reported adjusted earnings per share that missed the average analyst estimate. The company also agreed to acquire Brex, a financial-technology company that focuses on corporate expense management and accounting, for $5.15 billion. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. has started selling vapes in some stores across the US, a surprise reversal after the drugstore chain stopped selling them more than six years ago amid concerns about their popularity with teens. Software maker Databricks Inc. has lined up $1.8 billion of new financing from broadly syndicated loan investors and private credit lenders. Affirm Holdings Inc. said it applied for a limited bank charter to help roll out additional financial-technology products for the buy-now, pay-later company’s US customers. Short interest in Sandisk Corp. has been climbing for months alongside a sharp rally in the stock, pushing the risk of a short squeeze to an “extreme” level, according to S3 Partners LLC. The online arm of Saks Global Enterprises won court approval to hire a liquidator to sell its inventory separately from the rest of the luxury retailer. Deutsche Lufthansa AG faces the risk of having to block off almost the entire business-class section on its new Boeing Co. 787 aircraft for longer as seat certification drags out, an expensive setback at a time when more passengers are upgrading to the front of the cabin. Ericsson AB proposed its first-ever buyback after fourth-quarter earnings beat analysts’ forecasts, boosted by the Swedish telecommunications equipment maker’s efforts to cut costs and raise margins in a sluggish market. Thyssenkrupp AG is considering the sale of a roughly 30% stake in its Rothe Erde bearings business, people familiar with the matter said, in a deal that could value the asset at about €1.5 billion ($1.8 billion). Pirelli & C. SpA’s biggest Italian investor said it won’t renew a shareholder agreement governing the tiremaker with China’s Sinochem Group, citing an inability to adapt the company’s governance to US legal requirements. French authorities received a report of a second infant death, as a tainted formula crisis that’s engulfed Nestlé SA, Danone SA and Groupe Lactalis widens. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 was little changed as of 4 p.m. New York time The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.3% The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% The MSCI World Index rose 0.3% Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index rose 1% The Russell 2000 Index fell 1.8% Intel fell 17% Nvidia rose 1.5% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.7% The euro rose 0.6% to $1.1825 The British pound rose 1% to $1.3638 The Japanese yen rose 1.6% to 155.80 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin rose 0.4% to $89,506.48 Ether was little changed at $2,944.2 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 4.23% Germany’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 2.91% Britain’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 4.51% The yield on 2-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 3.60% The yield on 30-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.83% Commodities
Every month, hundreds of millions of users flock to Pinterest looking for the latest styles.
One paged titled “the most ridiculous things” is filled with plenty of wacky ideas to inspire creatives – Crocs repurposed as flower pots. Cheeseburger-shaped eyeshadow. A gingerbread house made of vegetables.
But what would-be buyers may not know is the tech behind this isn’t necessarily US-made. Pinterest is experimenting with Chinese AI models to hone its recommendation engine.
“We’ve effectively made Pinterest an AI-powered shopping assistant,” the firm’s boss Bill Ready told me.
Of course, the San Francisco-based tastemaker could use any number of American AI labs to power things behind-the-scenes.
But since the launch of China’s DeepSeek R-1 model in January 2025, Chinese AI tech has increasingly been a part of Pinterest.
Ready calls the so-called “DeepSeek moment” a breakthrough.
“They chose to open source it, and that sparked a wave of open source models,” he said.
Chinese competitors include Alibaba’s Qwen and Moonshot’s Kimi, while TikTok owner ByteDance is also working on similar technology.
Pinterest Chief Technology Officer Matt Madrigal said the strength of these models is that they can be freely downloaded and customised by companies like his – which is not the case with the majority of models offered by US rivals like OpenAI, which makes ChatGPT.
“Open source techniques that we use to train our own in-house models are 30% more accurate than the leading off-the-shelf models,” Madrigal said.
And those improved recommendations come at a much lower cost, he said, sometimes ninety percent less than using the proprietary models favoured by US AI developers.
‘Fast and cheap’
Pinterest is hardly the only US enterprise depending on AI tech from China.
These models are gaining traction across an array of Fortune 500 companies.
Airbnb boss Brian Chesky told Bloomberg in October his company relied “a lot” on Alibaba’s Qwen to power its AI customer service agent.
He gave three simple reasons – it’s “very good”, “fast” and “cheap”.
Further evidence can be found on Hugging Face, the place people go to download ready-made AI models – including from major developers Meta and Alibaba.
Jeff Boudier, who builds products at the platform, said it is the cost factor that leads young start-ups to look at Chinese models over their US counterparts.
“If you look at the top trending models on Hugging Face – the ones that are most downloaded and liked by the community – typically, Chinese models from Chinese labs occupy many of the top 10 spots,” he told me.
“There are weeks where four out of five top training models on Hugging Face are from Chinese labs.”
In September, Qwen topped Meta’s Llama to become the most downloaded family of large language models on the Hugging Face platform.
Meta released its open-source Llama AI models in 2023. Up until the release of DeepSeek and Alibaba’s models, they were considered the go-to choice for developers working on bespoke applications.
But the release of Llama 4 last year left developers underwhelmed, and Meta has reportedly been using open-source models with Alibaba, Google, and OpenAI to train a new model set for release this spring.
Airbnb also uses several models, including US-based ones, hosting them securely in the company’s own infrastructure. The data is never provided to the developers of the AI models they use, according to the company.
Chinese success
Going into 2025, the consensus was despite billions of dollars being spent by US tech firms, Chinese companies were threatening to pull ahead.
“That’s not the story anymore,” Boudier said. “Now, the best model is an open-source model.”
A report published last month by Stanford University found Chinese AI models “seem to have caught up or even pulled ahead” of their global counterparts – both in terms of what they’re capable of, and how many people are using them.
In a recent interview with the BBC, former UK deputy prime minister Sir Nick Clegg said he felt US firms were overly focused on the pursuit of AI which may one day surpass human intelligence.
Last year, Sir Nick left his post as head of global affairs at Meta, the developer of Llama. Boss Mark Zuckerberg has committed billions of dollars to achieving what he calls “superintelligence.”
Some experts are now calling these ambitions vague and ill-defined – giving China an opening to dominate the open-source AI space.
“Here’s the irony,” Sir Nick said.In the battle between “the world’s great autocracy” and “the world’s greatest democracy” – China and America – China is “doing more to democratise the technology they’re competing over”.
The Stanford report also suggested China’s success in developing open-source models could be partly explained by government support.
On the other side of the world, US companies like OpenAI are under intense pressure to increase revenue and become profitable – and is now turning to ads to help get there.
The company released two open-source models last summer – its first in years. But it has poured most of its resources into proprietary models to help it make money.
OpenAI boss Sam Altman told me in October it has invested aggressively into securing ever more computing power and infrastructure deals with partners.
“Revenue will grow super fast, but you should expect us to invest a ton in training, in the next model and the next and the next and the next,” he said.
MEMPHIS, Tenn., Jan. 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — International Paper (NYSE: IP; LSE: IPC), a global leader in sustainable packaging solutions, has completed the sale of its Global Cellulose Fibers (GCF) business to funds affiliated with American Industrial Partners (AIP). As part of the sale agreement, AIP acquired the GCF business for $1.5 billion including the issuance to International Paper of preferred stock with an aggregate initial liquidation preference of $190 million.
The GCF business creates safe, high-quality pulp for a wide range of applications such as towel and tissue products, diapers, feminine care, incontinence and other personal care products that promote health and wellness. In addition, its specialty pulp serves as a sustainable raw material used in construction materials, paints, coatings and more. The GCF segment of International Paper generated $2.8 billion in revenue in 2024, including contributions from mills that have since closed. The business operations sold to AIP generated approximately $2.3 billion in revenue in 2024 excluding the revenue from closed mills. The business has 3,300 employees globally, nine manufacturing facilities and eight regional offices.
About International Paper International Paper (NYSE: IP; LSE: IPC) is the global leader in sustainable packaging solutions. With company headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, and EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) headquarters in London, UK, we employ more than 65,000 team members and serve customers around the world with operations in more than 30 countries. Together with our customers, we make the world safer and more productive, one sustainable packaging solution at a time. Net sales for 2024 were $18.6 billion. In 2025, International Paper acquired DS Smith creating an industry leader focused on the attractive and growing North American and EMEA regions. Additional information can be found by visiting internationalpaper.com.
