Game on for the biggest leveraged buyout
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 30 September 2025
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Elon Musk’s business empire has been hit by a wave of senior departures over the past year, video games maker Electronic Arts is being taken private by a Saudi Arabia-backed consortium, and Downing Street has opened the door for Labour to break its election promises and raise taxes in the Budget. Plus, the euro’s biggest rally since 2017 has further to run, Wall Street banks are predicting.
Mentioned in this podcast:
Elon Musk hit by exodus of senior staff over burnout and politics
Video games maker Electronic Arts strikes $55bn deal to go private
Labour refuses to rule out manifesto-breaking tax rises
Euro’s rally has further to run, Wall Street banks predict
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Today’s FT News Briefing was produced by Fiona Symon, Katya Kumkova, Sonja Hutson, and Marc Filippino. Additional help from Kent Militzer, Michael Lello and David da Silva. The FT’s acting co-head of audio is Topher Forhecz. The show’s theme music is by Metaphor Music.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | For over 40 years, Equinoor has been an energy partner to the UK. |
| 0:04.1 | During that time, we've played our part in the switch from coal to gas, |
| 0:07.1 | and we're working hard to help the UK's energy transition. |
| 0:10.2 | We may not have all the answers yet, but we're determined to find them. |
| 0:13.5 | Equinor, an energy company, searching for better. |
| 0:16.9 | 99.6% of Equinor's energy output is oil and gas. |
| 0:20.5 | Our investment in renewables and low carbon |
| 0:22.4 | solutions has increased from 4% in 2020 to 27% in 2024. Find out more at equinor.com. |
| 0:32.2 | Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Tuesday, September 30th. And this is your FT News briefing. |
| 0:38.7 | Elon Musk is seeing his higher-ups head towards the exits. And investors think the Euro's big |
| 0:44.6 | moment can get even bigger. Plus, the largest ever leveraged buyout of a company is turning heads. |
| 0:51.6 | If you can think big, if you can get the financing to do it, |
| 0:55.4 | it might be possible now in a way it historically wasn't. I'm Mark Filipino and here's the news |
| 1:00.9 | you need to start your day. Senior staff at Tesla and XAI have been leaving in droves over the past year. |
| 1:17.0 | This includes roles like Tesla's chief information officer and XAI's chief financial officer and general counsel. |
| 1:24.3 | The FT spoke to more than a dozen current and former employees to understand the |
| 1:28.3 | recent exodus. Some happily left after a long career to found startups or take a break, |
| 1:34.1 | but others left because of burnout, Musk's political activism or disappointment with his pivots. |
| 1:40.6 | For example, take Musk's beef with ChatGPT chief executive Sam Altman. |
| 1:45.0 | One former employee said that Musk is spending every waking moment trying to put Altman out of business. |
| 1:50.9 | Musk, Tesla, and XAI declined to comment. |
| 2:00.1 | The video game maker Electronic Arts just struck a $55 billion deal to go private. |
... |
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