US President Donald Trump
Image: Brendan Smialowski / AFP
Wake up to the shifts shaping the future.
From boardroom shakeups and billion-dollar bets to the latest tech breakthroughs rewriting the rules, The Company Brief is your front-row seat to the stories moving markets and mindsets.
We cut through the noise so you can stay ahead of the curve, one bold business move at a time.
Donald Trump insists South Africa should not be in G20, says he will skip Joburg summit
US President Donald Trump has launched a blistering attack on South Africa, saying the country “shouldn’t even be in the G’s anymore” and declaring he will not attend the upcoming Group of 20 (G20) summit to be hosted in Johannesburg later this month. Speaking at a business forum in Miami, Trump accused South Africa of “going in the wrong direction” and suggested the country’s domestic and foreign policies had undermined its standing among major economies.
Snap tops revenue estimate and unveils $400 million deal with Perplexity AI
Snap beat third-quarter revenue estimate on Wednesday and said it has partnered with Perplexity AI to integrate its artificial intelligence-powered search engine into Snapchat, sending the social media firm's shares up 16% after the bell. AI startup Perplexity will pay Snap $400 million over one year in cash and equity, with revenue contributions expected from 2026. The integration will offer verifiable answers to users' questions within the Snapchat app. "Perplexity will control the responses from their chatbot inside of Snapchat. So, we won't be selling advertising against the Perplexity responses," said Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. The deal positions Snap to better compete against larger rivals such as TikTok and Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram, the preferred destinations for advertisers, thanks to their expansive user base.
Apple to use Google's AI model to run new Siri
Apple plans to use a 1.2 trillion-parameter artificial intelligence model developed by Alphabet's Google to help power a revamp of its Siri voice assistant, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday. After an evaluation, the companies are finalising a deal that would have Apple pay about $1 billion a year for access to Google's technology, the report said. The iPhone maker will use Google's Gemini model as a stopgap until its own systems are ready, Bloomberg reported. The model's 1.2 trillion parameters, a measure of AI model complexity, would dwarf Apple's current systems. Siri has historically been less capable than Alexa and Google Assistant at handling complex, multi-step requests and integrating with third‑party apps. Google had no comment, while Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
A Trump Supreme Court tariff defeat would add to trade uncertainty
The U.S. Supreme Court's tough questioning of President Donald Trump's global tariffs fueled increased speculation that they will be struck down, but raised the spectre of additional chaos as he is widely expected to shift to other trade tactics in the wake of an adverse ruling. On Wednesday, during oral arguments, Supreme Court justices cast doubt on Trump's authority to impose tariffs under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which contains no references to tariffs, only language on regulating imports during national emergencies declared by the U.S. president.