With brands increasingly looking to mixed reality (AR, VR, contextual) technology to create engaging event experiences, the inaugural ExM Live Forum brings together industry thought-leaders to share insights in an events sector ripe for digital transformation.
We didn't just want to sell beds. We wanted to create a brand that families genuinely trust, somewhere parents feel confident buying from. That philosophy has been central to the company's rapid growth.
Adjusted EBITDA totaled $143 million, a 138% increase from 2024. This was a reflection of improved earnings quality and the benefits of scale across the company's platform. Funded loan volume totaled $2.4 billion in 2025, a 24% increase from 2024, with fourth-quarter funded volume reaching $619 million, up 16% from the same period a year earlier.
Hasbro's Q4 result was not a mild beat. Revenue came in at $1.45 billion, up 31% year-over-year, beating estimates by over 14%. The engine behind it is Magic: The Gathering, which grew 141% in Q4 alone and nearly 60% for the full year. The Wizards of the Coast segment ran at a 46% operating margin for the full year, extraordinary for a consumer brand.
The retailer has launched a multimillion-pound strategy centred on what it calls "AI-powered shopping", enabling its products to appear in recommendations generated by chatbots such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini. The move forms part of a wider digital expansion designed to place the brand directly within the new tools consumers increasingly use to search for products and inspiration.
Recently, the popular dine-in theater chain Alamo Drafthouse announced that it would be "retiring the pen and paper order card model and call buttons" in February 2026, and "shifting to only taking orders via QR code." For fans of Alamo, the news didn't quite feel like what CEO Michael Kustermann declared "a custom, smart, and flexible way to strengthen [the business]." It felt like a nail in the coffin of another analog dream.
CMOs need to be versatile, staying curious about technological changes while maintaining focus on creativity and the human element in marketing. This balance between innovation and human-centered strategy enables marketing leaders to effectively navigate evolving business landscapes and drive meaningful organizational outcomes.
Our view is that large-language model digital agents can effectively do a non-immaterial portion of the work currently provided by 20-30k independent agents across the United States. The core of the firm's bearish thesis centers on a massive pool of routine, low-complexity insurance policies.
PENN's diversified retail portfolio delivered a solid quarter during which retail adjusted EBITDAR grew year-over-year, after adjusting for poor weather in December. The company's interactive arm, which includes online sports betting and iCasino, hit a milestone in December by generating positive adjusted EBITDA for the month, attributed to rising iCasino activity, tighter expense management, and better sportsbook results after rebranding its U.S. platform to theScore Bet.
For the first time the Premier League is going to have its own customers. We're looking to build a business, but we're also looking to learn to see how that might be replicable around the world.
The majority of the proposed cuts are expected to fall within the retailer's technology and data division, with Sainsbury's indicating that roles may be selected based on efficiency needs, strategic priorities, and fairness criteria. However, specific criteria and processes have not yet been disclosed, and the company plans to provide further details during consultations.
Because of this massive shift, the pressure on business owners has never been higher. Consumers today have zero patience. If your mobile application is slow, or if your website lacks the features they want, they will instantly move to a competitor. To survive and grow, a modern business must be able to create and update its digital tools incredibly fast. However, rushing to build technology introduces a terrible risk: you might accidentally leave your digital doors wide open to criminals.
IT and tech suppliers to the UK public sector with the fastest-growing revenues increased incomes by an average of 1.8x and £3.8m each between 2023 and 2025. The fastest-growing companies were in the defence sector, with one company - SRC UK - growing revenue by 16x across the period. Those are some of the findings of public sector IT research specialist Tussell in its annual Tech200 report on the fastest-growing tech suppliers to the public sector.
The UK's Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is recruiting a chief digital and information officer, partly to help sort out its bot-ridden practical driving test booking system. "You will lead a critical portfolio that supports DVSA's plan (launched in December 2024) to reduce driving test waiting times, protect learner drivers from exploitation, and improve the customer booking system," stated chief executive Beverley Warmington, who joined the agency at the end of last year.
Founded in Switzerland in 1968, Zühlke is owned by its partners and located across Europe and Asia. We are a global transformation partner, with engineering and innovation in our DNA. We're trusted to help clients envision and build their businesses for the future - to run smarter today while adapting for tomorrow's markets, customers, and communities. Our multidisciplinary teams specialise in tech strategy and business innovation, digital solutions and applications,
More than nine in 10 (91%) private business owners surveyed in London are confident about growth in 2026, according to KPMG's annual Private Enterprise Barometer, up 4 percentage points on the UK average of 87%. The annual survey captured the perspectives of 1,500 privately owned businesses, including 164 in London, from across various industries including professional services, finance, technology, industrial manufacturing and retail.
As we settle into 2026, London's economic landscape suggests a definitive answer. The city is witnessing a profound transformation in how services are consumed, driven by a population that has become increasingly comfortable with a digital-first existence. From financial management to high-end entertainment, the demand for seamless, instant, and secure online services has reached unprecedented levels, reshaping the commercial priorities of businesses across Greater London.
A customer clicks on your perfectly crafted Instagram ad, lands on your conversion-optimized website and completes a purchase. Three days later, they need help with their order. They wait 10 minutes for a response. The chatbot loops them through irrelevant questions. When they finally reach a human agent, they have to explain their problem again. The agent can't access their order history. Resolution takes five days.
There's a palpable tension in IT today. Teams are stretched to their limits with a growing backlog of initiatives, while executives expect IT to lead the charge on transforming an organization into an AI-driven one. And the numbers paint a somber picture. IT teams are drowning in work as digital transformation projects have not slowed down but rather accelerated. In fact, IT project requests in 2025 jumped 18% compared to the year prior,
Bisignano previously spent most of his career in large financial institutions and fintech companies, including serving as CEO of both Fiserv and First Data. Earlier in his career, he was co-chief operating officer of J.P. Morgan Chase and CEO of its mortgage banking unit. Now, Bisignano is running the SSA and IRS much like the private sector firms he has made a career of fixing, according to Tully.
We're looking for a creative and self-sufficient Front-End Developer who loves building exceptional user experiences using the Vue ecosystem. You'll join a cross-functional team working on a complex, modular platform that combines SSR apps, embedded widgets, and AI-powered features. If you thrive in an environment where challenges appear daily - and you enjoy turning chaos into clarity - this is your place.
In order to 'modernise' what we have seen is the TV industry has taken its content, stuck it on a server, and, well, that's it. There's no masking the obvious - It looks like it wishes it didn't have to change. What else could they have done? Have any large TV companies embraced the world outside their own nation? Have any got stuck into interactive formats? Embraced shorter content? New types of ads or funding?
What started as a three-person team has grown into a global company of around 250 employees, with teams across the United States, India, and Mexico. The company's mission is straightforward-create better experiences for customers, employees, and operations using smart, human-focused technology. Rather than replace existing platforms, Epik builds around them. "We extend the value of what's already working," says the CEO. "That's what makes our solutions adaptable."
He said performance indicators for senior officials would be set by ministers and those civil servants not meeting expectations would be shown the door. Instead of the sideways shimmy to another team or department if you fail to perform, I'm afraid you will be sacked, he said, adding that the doers, not the talkers would be in line for promotion.
Traditionally, leaders and managers often treat technology as a tool or capability that can help get work done more efficiently, but doesn't drastically change the nature of that work. Email, for instance, allows for faster communication. The supply chain management (SCM) system reduces supply chain costs, shortens delivery cycles, and ensures that products are delivered to customers quickly and accurately. Increasingly, however, this view is out of date. In recent years, the role of technology in shaping organizations has undergone revolutionary changes.
