FTI Consulting News Bytes – 3 July 2026

FTI Consulting News Bytes

This week’s TMT headlines draw attention to several dominant themes across the sector with AI competition and regulation, corporate transformation and developments in consumer technology taking centre stage. We start by looking at the intensity of AI competition with reports that Google has restricted Meta’s access to Gemini computing capacity, before turning to the regulatory angle with the Bank of England warning that increasingly autonomous “agentic AI” systems may require a new generation of financial regulation to manage emerging systemic risks. Meanwhile, major industry players are reshaping their businesses to focus on long-term growth, with BT agreeing to combine its international operations with Verizon, and Comcast pressing ahead with the separation of NBCUniversal and Sky as media consolidation gathers pace. Consumer technology is also evolving, with WhatsApp introducing usernames to strengthen user privacy by reducing reliance on phone numbers.

This week’s news

Google caps Meta’s Gemini use as AI demand strains capacity

Google has reportedly limited Meta’s access to its Gemini AI models after demand for computing capacity exceeded what Google could provide, highlighting growing infrastructure constraints across the AI sector. The reported restrictions have disrupted some of Meta’s internal AI projects and prompted efforts to improve efficiency, underscoring the industry’s struggle to secure sufficient compute despite heavy investment in data centres and chips. The Financial Times notes that the constraints illustrate the extent to which Meta has relied on models like Gemini to become an AI leader and improve its own models. Given the restrictions, Meta is increasingly shifting workloads to its own AI models as it seeks to reduce reliance on external providers.

Agentic AI may require regulatory reform, BOE’s Breeden says

Reuters reveals that the Bank of England has signalled the need for more sophisticated regulation to manage the financial stability risks posed by increasingly autonomous “agentic AI” systems. Deputy Governor Sarah Breeden warned that existing regulatory frameworks were not designed for AI agents capable of making independent decisions in areas such as trading and payments, raising concerns over cyber threats, market volatility and systemic risk. She suggested that future safeguards could include circuit breakers or “kill switches” for AI-driven trading and enhanced resilience measures to ensure critical financial services can continue during disruptions, while noting that adoption of agentic AI across financial services is expected to accelerate rapidly.

BT & Verizon’s international businesses couple up

According to The Guardian, BT and Verizon are to combine their international businesses. Verizon will pay a $625m (£473m) “equalisation” fee to BT to guarantee equal voting rights in the new 50/50 joint venture. The deal is expected to create a company with more than 3,000 business customers across about 180 countries and $4bn in combined annual revenue. It marks the end of BT’s long search for a buyer of its international business, as its chief executive, Allison Kirkby, works to refocus the company on the UK market. Kirkby said the deal marked an “important step forward for BT as a whole, as we deliver on our UK-focused strategy”. City AM noted that the announcement of the joint venture sent its shares to the top of the FTSE 100.

Comcast to spin off NBCUniversal and Sky

Comcast plans to separate NBCUniversal and Sky from its mobile and broadband networks, in a move that accelerates a dramatic reshaping of the US media industry, according to the Financial Times. The group said it expected to complete the split of its media and entertainment businesses from its cash-generative communications division within a year. The Wall Street Journal writes that the decision has created the next big deal magnet in an entertainment industry that is poised for yet another cycle of consolidation, noting that NBCUniversal will be “[going] it alone” in a Hollywood where streaming scale and franchises are critical for success. The Journal comments that while Comcast executives say the spun-off NBCUniversal entity will have the wherewithal to thrive on its own and invest in the business, much of Wall Street thinks it will become an acquisition target before long. The move comes after Comcast’s offer to merge NBCU with Warner Bros. Discovery was unsuccessful. Comcast shares are down nearly 30% over the past year.

WhatsApp to let people chat by swapping usernames instead of phone numbers

In further Meta news, the BBC reports that WhatsApp is introducing usernames, allowing users to connect without sharing their phone numbers in a significant privacy-focused update that will roll out globally over the coming months. Users can begin reserving unique usernames this week, with the feature remaining optional and usernames able to be changed or removed at any time. Meta says the change is designed to give users greater control over their personal information, while businesses, creators and organisations will also be able to claim consistent usernames across its platforms. Privacy experts have welcomed the added protection but note that the update does not address broader concerns around WhatsApp’s overall data privacy practices.

Top Tweets of the Week

• Mark Kleinman, City Editor, Sky News: Exclusive: EQT, the manager of the EU’s new €5bn Scaleup Europe Fund, is in advanced talks to take a stake in CuspAI, a Cambridge-based materials science company about to be valued at over £2bn with the backing of Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos.
• Merryn Somerset Webb, UK Wealth, Editor at large, Bloomberg: The key point. From Torsten Slok. “So far there are no signs of profit margins rising outside the tech sector. This is ultimately what we are waiting for, because the value of AI companies today rests entirely on the promise that margins in the S&P 493 will eventually climb.”
• Sifted: LATEST: European deeptech investment hits annual record in just six months.

Number of the week

$2.3tn The value shed by the Magnificent Seven group of megacap tech stocks in June, according to the Financial Times