Wednesday newspaper round-up: SpaceX, NatWest, Anthropic

The UK government has approved the controversial Jackdaw gasfield in the North Sea. This was widely expected, but it will still upset environmental campaigners and several Labour MPs. Labour's 2024 election manifesto promised to ban new licences for drilling in the North Sea. However, the companies behind the Jackdaw gasfield and the Rosebank oilfield project, which is being considered separately, have asked for environmental approval to use licences they already hold. – Guardian

SpaceX released its second-ever public earnings report on Tuesday. Elon Musk said he supported combining the aerospace and AI company with Tesla, his electric car company. He said both companies had set up special committees to look into a possible merger, but they had not agreed on the terms of any deal. “Both SpaceX and Tesla have formed special committees to discuss this idea at the request of shareholders and these special committees are, uh, consist of independent directors,” Musk said during the call. “Because I'm a conflicted party, I can't actually be in the discussions of the special committees.” – Guardian

NatWest is requiring tens of thousands of employees to spend more time in the office as it tightens its rules on working from home. The bank has told about 13,500 employees who are classed as “remote-first” and currently visit the office just two days a month that they must come in at least two days a week. Another 17,000 employees who work in a hybrid arrangement and currently need to be in the office only three days every two weeks will also have to come in more often. The changes will start in February next year. – Telegraph

Anthropic lost more than $80bn (£59.8bn) in the first half of the year as the artificial intelligence (AI) company spent large amounts of money ahead of a major planned stock market listing. The company behind the Claude chatbot reportedly recorded a net loss of $80.7bn in the first half of 2026, far more than the $13bn it lost during the same period last year. Anthropic said the larger losses were mainly due to accounting changes linked to its financing agreements. – Telegraph

The City regulator is facing a new scandal after reports revealed that it had been examining a major promoter of “loan note” investments for more than a decade before starting legal action in the High Court last month. Court documents show that the Financial Conduct Authority is taking action against an entrepreneur and podcaster who is known for interviewing sports stars, including Michael Owen and Harry Redknapp. The regulator alleges that he “knowingly” runs a major “Ponzi” scheme. – The Times