Category: 3. Business

During a Belgian Economic Mission to the West Coast of the USA, today we announced plans to invest over €1 billion in Belgium from 2025-2027. This investment continues Amazon’s commitment to innovation and providing an even better experience to customers through low prices, selection, and convenience, while helping small businesses in Belgium succeed.

This represents our largest investment in Belgium to date, supporting jobs, infrastructure development, and Belgian partnerships including our continued work with bpost, Belgium’s national postal operator. In addition to supporting our Belgian customers, these investments will also help small and medium-sized businesses to expand their reach to customers both in Belgium and internationally, helping them grow their businesses while supporting job creation and economic growth. The announcement builds upon our growing presence in Belgium since opening our first office in 2015 and launching amazon.com.be in 2022. After investing more than €250 million in 2023 and €300 million in 2024, this new announcement accelerates our planned investment in the Belgian economy.

“Our planned investment of more than a billion euros in Belgium will go towards expanding our logistics network, enhancing our delivery capabilities, and strengthening our local infrastructure to better serve Belgian customers,” said Eva Faict, Country Manager for Amazon Belgium and the Netherlands. “Since launching amazon.com.be in October 2022, we’ve helped more than a thousand Belgian businesses reach new customers, created hundreds of local jobs, and worked with local delivery partners. This new investment will allow us to further support Belgian entrepreneurs with our technology and expertise, while continuing to offer customers low prices, wider product selection, and faster delivery options.”

Economic impact and growth

We have invested more than €800 million in Belgium since 2015. We now employ over 400 people across Belgium, from our Belgian headquarters in Brussels including AWS, to our delivery station in Antwerp, and our Mechatronics Research & Development Center in Hamme. In 2024 alone, third-party research by Keystone Strategy^[1] estimates that our investments supported more than 1,000 indirect jobs and 200 induced jobs^[2] in construction, logistics, and professional services.

“Amazon’s investment is a powerful endorsement of our region’s economic strengths. As a government, we are committed to fostering innovation and supporting companies that create sustainable jobs and economic opportunities across our regions. This significant investment demonstrates that our region continues to attract global technology leaders, strengthening our position as a strategic hub for digital commerce in Europe,” said Matthias Diependaele, Minister-President of Flanders.

According to Keystone estimates, Amazon’s investments contributed more than €140 million to Belgium’s GDP in 2024, with more than €350 million to Belgium GDP since 2015.

Supporting Belgian Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

The 2024 Amazon SME Impact Report^[3] shows that Belgian SMEs have achieved remarkable international success through e-commerce, with 90% of businesses selling on Amazon exporting their products internationally. These SMEs generated over €350 million in total export sales in 2023, demonstrating the store’s effectiveness in helping Belgian businesses expand internationally.

“Amazon’s €1 billion investment solidifies Belgium’s role as a leading hub for innovation and digital transformation, driving competitiveness, fostering job creation, and fueling economic growth. Today’s announcement demonstrates the strong potential of e-commerce for businesses of all sizes, with particular promise for Belgian SMEs. We see how this lever can help local entrepreneurs strengthen their market presence and even expand beyond borders, reaching millions of customers across Europe and beyond” said Eléonore Simonet, Belgian Minister for SMEs, Self-Employed and Small Businesses.

Building a more sustainable future

As a co-founder of The Climate Pledge, with the goal of reaching net-zero carbon by 2040 – an ambitious commitment we are actively working towards – Amazon is investing in sustainability across its businesses to drive down carbon emissions. Amazon’s commitment to sustainability takes root in concrete actions, from investing in the National Park Brabantse Wouden’s scientific research and habitat restoration to funding technology solutions that enhance biodiversity monitoring and visitor experience in Belgium’s newest national park with Leuven MindGate. We are decarbonising last-mile deliveries across Belgium, with over 9 out of 10 parcels delivered to customers by electric vans in Antwerp and electric cargo bikes serving Brussels’ Pentagon area. More than 50% of European shipments now come in reduced delivery packaging, such as a paper bag or cardboard envelope, or with no added packaging at all. To help customers in Belgium to make environmentally conscious choices, Amazon has launched the Climate Pledge Friendly programme, which features products that are certified by one or more of over 50 sustainability certifications, and to help customers give products a second life, they can take advantage of Amazon Used, Trade-in programs, and the Fix-it store. These initiatives demonstrate Amazon’s holistic approach to environmental stewardship, combining technological innovation, operational excellence, and customer empowerment to build a more sustainable future.

[1] All investment and economic impact figures have been estimated by Keystone Strategy, an independent macroeconomic consultancy.
[2] Indirect jobs = jobs supported through business-to-business transactions (supply chain)
Induced jobs = jobs supported through consumer spending of direct and indirect employees
[3] 2024 Amazon Small and Medium-sized Impact Report available here.

Although dapagliflozin may reduce death or worsening heart failure (HF) in patients with aortic stenosis (AS) undergoing TAVI, it showed limited improvement in patients’ health status post TAVI, according to a prespecified subanalysis of the DapaTAVI trial published Oct. 6 in JACC. Dapagliflozin may be most relevant in patients with a residual symptomatic burden.

A total of 964 patients from the DapaTAVI study group enrolled between January 2021 and December 2023 were included in this independent, investigator-initiated trial. Clara Bonanad-Lozano, MD, PhD, et al., used the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) to assess the effect of dapagliflozin on health status post TAVI. Of note, the primary endpoint was the change in KCCQ score from baseline to one year. The mean baseline KCCQ score was 39.9 in the dapagliflozin group and 39.1 in the control arm (p=0.404).

Using an ordinal logistic regression model to analyze the primary endpoint, the authors assessed the change in KCCQ score from baseline to three and 12 months, as well as the effect of dapagliflozin on the composite of death or worsening HF by baseline KCCQ score.

Researchers found no significant differences in change of KCCQ score at three months (odds ratio [OR ], 0.96; p=0.745) or 12 months (OR, 1.03; p=0.819) between the two groups. Additionally, at 12-month follow-up, similar proportions of patients in the dapagliflozin and control groups showed clinically meaningful improvements, with 43.4% vs. 45.4%, respectively, improving by >50 points, highlighting that the clinical benefits of dapagliflozin after TAVI appeared to be similar across the full range of baseline KCCQ scores.

“…Our findings suggest that future trials should consider targeted inclusion criteria, such as patients with persistent congestion, elevated biomarkers or low KCCQ scores after TAVI, to better identify those patients who may benefit symptomatically from SGLT2 inhibition,” write the authors.

In an accompanying editorial comment, Chetan Prakash Huded, MD, FACC, et al., express their belief that “future studies should focus on patients who remain symptomatic after successful TAVR.” “…Only through such a multidisciplinary approach are we likely to fully achieve the fundamental goals of treatment in valvular heart disease – increasing longevity and optimizing health status,” they write.

ARMONK, N.Y., Oct. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — IBM (NYSE: IBM) will hold its quarterly conference call to discuss its third-quarter 2025 financial results on Wednesday, October 22, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. ET. The live webcast of the earnings call can be accessed at www.ibm.com/investor.

Please also visit the investor website for the earnings press release prior to the webcast. A replay, associated charts and prepared remarks will be available after the event.

Media contact:

Timothy Davidson

tfdavids@us.ibm.com

914-844-7847

SOURCE IBM

Ramon Laguarta was not widely known when he became PepsiCo’s chief executive in 2018, a veteran operator who had spent most of his career in Europe. His low profile stood in contrast to his former boss Indra Nooyi, one of few immigrant women atop corporate America and a regular at Davos with a keen eye for public relations.

Laguarta is now in the spotlight, willingly or not. Like Nooyi before him, he is staring down an activist investor agitating for a shake-up of the drinks and snacks powerhouse that owns brands such as Gatorade, Doritos and its namesake Pepsi cola.

The 29-year PepsiCo veteran on Thursday will face investors for the first time since hedge fund Elliott Management went public with a $4bn stake in the company last month, one of its biggest investments.

Thursday’s third-quarter results will be scrutinised for signs of how Laguarta will respond to Elliott’s demands. The earnings presentation is expected to be Laguarta’s last before the deadline for Elliott to wage a proxy contest at the end of November. How he rises to the challenge may determine whether the hedge fund takes that path.

The activist’s 75-page slide presentation asserts that weakening sales and profit margins in PepsiCo’s North American businesses and an unwieldy product portfolio have put it at a disadvantage to rival Coca-Cola and other competitors, wiping away more than $40bn in market capitalisation over the past three years.

“I think he’s going to get a real test here on his leadership and his resolve,” said Kevin Grundy, a senior consumer goods analyst at BNP Paribas.

Elliott’s case against PepsiCo is less dramatic than Nelson Peltz’s demands for Nooyi to engineer a full break-up more than a decade ago. Nooyi, who promoted a lofty agenda of “performance with purpose”, resisted those calls, but after a two-year stand-off agreed to give Peltz’s hedge fund Trian Management a board seat in 2015. A few years later, she left the top job.

Whether Laguarta decides to play peace broker or dig in may yet define the tactics that Elliott decides to deploy. Marc Steinberg, the Elliott portfolio manager leading the PepsiCo investment, last year masterminded one of the most conciliatory campaigns in Elliott’s history, reaching a speedy détente with industrials giant Honeywell after taking a $5bn position. The company has since added Steinberg to its board.

Laguarta, a cheerful 61-year-old Catalan, oversaw the company’s international growth before taking the reins at its headquarters in the New York City suburbs. Since he became chief executive, PepsiCo’s revenue has increased by nearly 40 per cent. He has divested poorly performing brands such as Tropicana and Naked Juice while making more than $10bn in acquisitions, according to data from S&P Capital IQ.

But over the course of his tenure he became overly focused on quarterly earnings, according to several former executives. He has struggled to sell colleagues and investors on his vision of how to respond to changing consumer habits, such as the impact of weight-loss drugs on taste preferences, rattling the wider consumer sector, the executives said.

He has rankled some of his senior colleagues, in particular by involving his wife Maria in corporate affairs, including strategy meetings and retreats on several occasions, according to people familiar with the matter. His wife also played a role in promoting PepsiCo’s culinary initiatives, which explained how its products could be used in home recipes.

Laguarta has acknowledged a need for a turnaround and has taken steps that include shuttering two snack manufacturing plants to adjust to shrinking US demand.

“Under Ramon’s leadership, PepsiCo has taken a series of steps to best position the company for the long term,” the company said in a statement, pointing to cost-cutting efforts, investments in core brands such as Gatorade and Walkers crisps and the growth of the international business, which has averaged 10 per cent annual growth over the past five years.

“Maria is passionate about PepsiCo and our products, and is an advocate for the culinary aspects of our portfolio,” the company added.

Elliott expressed its “deep respect for the company and its leaders” in a letter to PepsiCo’s board last month, but said investors were sceptical of the company’s prospects. Charts in Elliott’s presentation show how PepsiCo has been outpaced by rivals Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble, set roughly over the timeline of Laguarta’s seven-year tenure.

The hedge fund also called for better corporate oversight and accountability, hinting at the appetite for a board refresh. Elliott declined to comment.

The first part of Laguarta’s reign looked good. Consumers binged on PepsiCo’s fizzy drinks and snacks while locked down during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the soaring price inflation that followed drove its market capitalisation to an all-time high of more than $260bn in 2023 — tantalisingly close to surpassing Coca-Cola’s market value.

But by the end of 2023 the momentum came out of the business as snack and drinks sales in North America began to decline, as higher prices finally drove away some consumers.

Now PepsiCo is valued at $90bn less than its rival. Elliott draws brutal comparisons to Coca-Cola, highlighting PepsiCo’s relentless soda sales declines. Elliott pinpoints Coca-Cola’s decision to farm out beverage bottling to independent companies as key to its continued success, and argues PepsiCo should do the same with its mostly in-house North American bottling system.

Elliott also called for PepsiCo to sell off legacy food brands that it contends no longer fit its snack-heavy portfolio, such as Pearl Milling baking mixes and syrups, and breakfast cereals such as Cap’n Crunch. Proceeds could be reinvested in acquisitions of high-end or healthy snacking brands, Elliott added.

PepsiCo added in its statement that Laguarta has “repositioned the portfolio” through acquisitions, including of prebiotic soda company Poppi and healthy tortilla chips brand Siete Foods.

Some PepsiCo investors have endorsed Elliott’s ideas, but questioned whether they differ from changes already under way inside the company. “I appreciate Elliott’s suggestions as they correspond with many of the ideas the current management has,” said Kai Lehmann of Flossbach von Storch, a large PepsiCo shareholder. Still, he said the company “needs a greater sense of urgency as PepsiCo risks falling behind”.

In a statement last month, the company said it was reviewing Elliott’s proposals as it “maintains an active and productive dialogue with our shareholders”. A former executive close to Laguarta said the company’s previous experience with activism may mean it is better prepared this time around. “They didn’t pick an easy target,” said the person.

From 1 January 2026, new SOLAS requirements for shipboard lifting appliances enter into force under Regulation II-1/3-13 (Resolution MSC.532(107)). If you operate cargo cranes, stores cranes, engine-room cranes, hose-handling gear or similar equipment, these changes affect your surveys, documentation, and day-to-day operations. 

These amendments introduce significant obligations for shipowners, operators, and technical managers, with direct implications for compliance, certification and the safe operation of lifting equipment on board vessels. 

During this session, LR experts will show you exactly what changes, who’s affected, and how to get compliant on time so that you can pass your first renewal survey after the deadline with confidence.  

Date: 18 November 2025
Time: 11:30 – 13:30 CET

During this session, you’ll learn: 

• Exactly how Reg. II-1/3-13 impacts your fleet by equipment type. 
• The evidence pack surveyors expect at renewal: certificates, test records, SWL markings, manuals. Lloyd’s Register 
• How LR CLAME and other acceptable standards can demonstrate compliance.  
• Practical steps to close gaps now, without disrupting operations. 
• Live Q&A: bring your cases and questions. 

PITTSBURGH, Oct. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Viatris Inc. (Nasdaq: VTRS), a global healthcare company, today announced that it has been named to Forbes’ list of World’s Best Employers 2025. This is the fifth year in a row that Viatris has received this recognition, which is presented by Forbes and Statista, the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider.

“Being included once again on the Forbes’ World’s Best Employers 2025 list is a great way to mark our company’s upcoming fifth anniversary and a testament to our dedicated and passionate colleagues who help foster a workplace that prioritizes wellbeing, promotes inclusivity, supports learning and development, and empowers high performance,” said Andrew Enrietti, Chief Administrative and Transformation Officer, Viatris. “Together, we’ve built an environment that makes Viatris an employer of choice — today and for the future.”

The World’s Best Employers were chosen through an independent survey covering a broad sample of more than 300,000 participants across 50 countries. Respondents worldwide rated their “willingness to recommend” their employer on a 1-to-10 scale and had the chance to evaluate their organization across multiple aspects of employment. They were also able to provide feedback on both current and former employers. Additionally, participants could share their public perception of other companies operating within their country and industry. In total, 900 companies were included in the ranking. 

To learn more about Viatris’ culture that enables colleagues to learn, grow and make an impact, please visit its careers site. You can also learn more by reading its 2024 Sustainability Report, which outlines the company’s 2024 achievements and progress across key areas including Access and Global Health, Our People, the Environment and the Community. 

Being named to Forbes’ list of World’s Best Employers 2025 follows Viatris’ inclusion on TIME’s list of World’s Most Sustainable Companies 2024 and Forbes’ list of World’s Top Companies for Women 2024. The Company has also received Great Place to Work^® certifications and Top Employers certifications in multiple countries, among others.  

About Viatris
Viatris Inc. (Nasdaq: VTRS) is a global healthcare company uniquely positioned to bridge the traditional divide between generics and brands, combining the best of both to more holistically address healthcare needs globally. With a mission to empower people worldwide to live healthier at every stage of life, we provide access at scale, currently supplying high-quality medicines to approximately 1 billion patients around the world annually and touching all of life’s moments, from birth to the end of life, acute conditions to chronic diseases. With our exceptionally extensive and diverse portfolio of medicines, a one-of-a-kind global supply chain designed to reach more people when and where they need them, and the scientific expertise to address some of the world’s most enduring health challenges, access takes on deep meaning at Viatris. We are headquartered in the U.S., with global centers in Pittsburgh, Shanghai and Hyderabad, India. Learn more at viatris.com and investor.viatris.com, and connect with us on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube and X .

SOURCE Viatris Inc.

Key takeaways:

• • • Cost centers to strategic business enablers — In-house legal departments and general counsel in particular are increasingly focused on aligning their goals with broader company objectives, moving beyond traditional cost containment to emphasize service enhancement and business growth.

    • Current success metrics are still heavily focused on spend — Although GCs and legal operations professionals want to prioritize service and enable their businesses, most law departments continue to track and report metrics related primarily to costs and spending.

    • Updated metrics are essential for future success — To truly support business objectives, law departments must evolve their metrics and implement new data strategies to better capture service quality, business impact, and enablement.

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In recent years, and especially in the AI age, corporate law departments have been tasked to increase efficiency, doing more with less and contributing back to the business at large. This has contributed to the rise of corporate legal operations as a discipline — what was fairly recently a niche concept for only the largest companies has morphed into a regular part of the corporate legal equation, and one that is increasingly tasked with keeping up with a burgeoning technology ecosystem and aligning the in-house legal function with larger company goals.

Increasingly, corporate law departments are fully embracing their role in enabling larger business objectives, and general counsel in particular are more focused than ever before on service enhancement for the business, according the 2025 Legal Department Operations (LDO) Index, published by the Thomson Reuters Institute (TRI) in conjunction with Buying Legal Council.

“Team mission: We are a trusted partner and strategic enabler, empowering [our company] and its builders to innovate with confidence,” answered one technology company GC about their team goal for legal operations. “We provide clear, practical legal guidance that removes friction and unlocks opportunity — driven by thoughtful leadership, collaboration, and operational excellence. The legal team intentionally tracks its greater vision to be the same as our company-wide mission.”

However, are law departments actually reaching that goal? That answer becomes a bit murkier, not the least of which because corporate law departments aren’t actually measuring what they identify as their goals. While GCs and corporate legal departments are gradually moving away from cost containment as their top priority, the primary success metrics they track by and large all deal with legal spend and spending impacts.

The message is clear: Law departments want to move away from being a cost center, but in order to truly accomplish that goal, they need to update their metrics and data gathering to actually move more in line with the business.

Aligning goals and metrics

Recent TRI research categorizes in-house legal departments’ role into four distinct categories: effectiveness, efficiency, protecting the business, and enabling growth. Each of these should be a focus of the department, but historically not all four have been given equal time. Many business leaders, for instance, traditionally have believed the legal department’s role to be more centered on protecting the business rather than enabling growth, leaving key business enablement to other internal teams in the company.

That shift is slowly changing, however. GCs are increasingly focused on aligning the department’s business goals with that of the larger organization, shifting the department from a cost center to a business generator, the LDO Index shows.

This is particularly true when comparing GC survey respondents with those respondents who hold a legal operations title. Among GC respondents, 47% say they are more focused on service enhancement than cost reduction, while just 7% say they are more focused on cost reduction. For legal ops professionals, that sentiment shifts, with a higher proportion focused on cost reduction (22%) and fewer focused on service enhancement (36%). This tracks with what is asked of each role, as legal operations professionals are typically tasked with more efficiency-centric and technology tasks, but GCs are conduits to the larger business.

Overall, however, both sides agree on one aspect: The legal department is shifting to become more service-focused than being simply about cost savings. It is interesting, then, that when asked what metrics are routinely reported on in their legal department, spend still remains far and away the top one. This is particularly surprising given that GCs are often the ones establishing these metrics, even though they hold a stronger stance towards service enablement than most legal operations professionals.

Indeed, spend by law firm and spend by matter type clearly dominate available metrics across many corporate law departments. Further, even many of the next most commonly tracked metrics available, according to one-third of respondents — forecasted versus actual spend, total spend by business unit, and total spend by practice group — still center around costs. Many of the service-centric metrics — such as quality of legal outcomes, cycle time, and costs avoided — are captured by less than 20% of respondent legal departments, the survey shows.

This also brings up one note about the survey: Respondents to this question leading to the chart above were given a choice from a list of predetermined metrics, meaning that conceptually, there may be service-centric metrics in use that are not listed here. However, additional open-ended research found in Thomson Reuters Market Insights backs up the assertion that many in-house legal departments are still primarily measuring costs, despite wishing to focus their overall priorities elsewhere.

Moving to better metrics tracking

There is recognition that the law department needs to evolve in order to serve constantly shifting business needs. And for many departments, meeting these needs starts by developing data sets that can be shared across the organization.

“I see my role evolving into a more strategic, innovation-focused function — leading digital transformation, leveraging [generative] AI for smarter legal service delivery, and aligning legal operations with enterprise-wide goals,” said one energy industry legal operations professional. “I anticipate deeper collaboration across departments, greater emphasis on data analytics, and a continued shift from process execution to proactive business enablement.”

In fact, many respondents — particularly those at companies with newer legal operations functions — did note that better metrics tracking is on their roadmap for the future. And some said their primary goal at first was simply to become established, and more business-centric goals would come next.

“We have just started to develop the legal operations function at the company over the past year and a half,” said one financial industry legal operations professional when asked how they see their role evolving. “During the first part of this second year, we have been focused on legal spend and tracking our work with outside counsel to see where we can reduce our overall spend and ensure we are receiving the best service from our outside counsel. The second half will be focused on furthering our knowledge management base internally with shared resources and regular tracking of regulatory risks… so as to better be able to support the business.”

Yet, this focus is not universal, and especially for law departments that have not updated their data gathering and metrics capabilities, the time for thoughtful action is now. The LDO Index concludes with 10 practical actions that legal department leaders can undertake, with one of them explicitly calling to implement key metrics for data-driven decision making. This goal should be a top priority for all legal departments, regardless of whether the action comes from a GC or a professional with a background in legal operations.

Entering 2026, GCs and legal operations professionals alike should look into supercharging their metrics for success, focusing on how they can better measure business enablement and promote service enhancement more than ever before.

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WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — The global economy is holding up better than expected despite major shocks such as President Donald Trump’s tariffs, but the head of the International Monetary Fund says that resilience may not last.

“Buckle up,” Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva says in prepared remarks to a think tank Wednesday. “Uncertainty is the new normal and it is here to stay.”

Her comments at the Milken Institute come on a day when gold prices hit $4,000 an ounce for the first time as investors seek safe haven from a weaker dollar and geopolitical uncertainty and before the IMF and World Bank hold their annual meetings next week in Washington. Trump’s trade penalties are expected to be in sharp focus when global finance leaders and central bankers gather.

The worldwide economy is forecast to grow by 3% this year, and Georgieva is citing a number of factors for why it may not slip below that: Countries have put in place decisive economic policies, the private sector has adapted and the tariffs have proved less severe than originally feared.

“But before anyone heaves a big sigh of relief, please hear this: Global resilience has not yet been fully tested. And there are worrying signs the test may come. Just look at the surging global demand for gold,” she says in her prepared remarks.

On Trump’s tariffs, she says “the full effect is still to unfold. In the U.S., margin compression could give way to more price pass-through, raising inflation with implications for monetary policy and growth.”

The Republican administration imposed import taxes on nearly all U.S. trading partners in April, including Canada, Mexico, Brazil, China and even the tiny African nation of Lesotho. “We’re the king of being screwed by tariffs,” Trump said Tuesday in the Oval Office during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

While the U.S. has announced some trade frameworks with nations such as the United Kingdom and Vietnam, the tariffs have created uncertainty worldwide.

“Elsewhere, a flood of goods previously destined for the U.S. market could trigger a second round of tariff hikes,” Georgieva says.

The Supreme Court next month will hear arguments about whether Trump has the authority to impose some of his tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

In her wide-ranging remarks, Georgieva points to youth discontent around the world as many young people foresee a future where they earn less than their parents. She also is calling for greater internal trade in Asia, more business friendly changes in Africa and more competitiveness in Europe.

For the United States. Georgieva is urging the government to address the federal debt and to encourage household saving.

The IMF is a 191-country lending organization that seeks to promote global growth and financial stability and to reduce poverty.