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Thursday Brief: Barclays Cuts 5,000 Jobs, DeepSeek Doubles Its Round, Apple Loses in Australia

October 22, 2026 Aaron Harme

Barclays is cutting thousands of jobs in the same results that handed shareholders more cash, and DeepSeek’s round doubled at the same valuation.

Plus Australia’s order prying open Apple’s App Store, Meta’s new non-voting shares, and four years in which the S&P 500 beat pro sports teams.

In this Brief

Barclays credits AI for job cuts its CEO mostly ties to tech spending and simpler processes
DeepSeek doubled its round without raising its valuation
Australia’s order goes after what Apple charges on outside payments
Meta’s new share class lets Zuckerberg sell without losing votes
Pro sports teams trailed the stock market over four years of record sale prices

Barclays cuts 5,000 jobs and hands shareholders £500m

Barclays expects to cut about 5,000 full-time jobs, roughly 5% of its 93,000 staff, as part of more than £1.1bn of savings planned for 2027, the Guardian reports. Chief financial officer Anna Cross said around 60% of the actions hit support functions, “including fewer developers, as AI makes our people more productive.” Chief executive C.S. Venkatakrishnan credited technology investment and simpler processes for “the bulk of the efficiency gains.”

The bank also announced a £500m share buyback, and Britain’s Oct. 28 budget is due to raise taxes on banks. CNBC reports third-quarter pre-tax profit rose 12% to £2.3bn, while group income of £7.4bn missed the £7.61bn analysts expected.

A productivity story is a better one to carry into next week’s budget than a lender shrinking its back office in the same release that pays shareholders more.

DeepSeek doubles its round at the same price

DeepSeek is raising about 100 billion yuan, roughly $15 billion, with battery maker CATL and Tencent as its main backers, Bloomberg first reported. The round doubles DeepSeek’s original 50 billion yuan target and should be done in the coming days, though the details could still change, Reuters reports.

The pre-money valuation, the company’s price before any new cash goes in, held at about 500 billion yuan, Caijing reported, as republished by 36Kr. DeepSeek turned away funds raised from individual investors, keeping the pool largely to government and corporate money, CNBC reported this month, as it prepares for a possible listing on Shanghai’s STAR Market.

By my math, 100 billion yuan on a 500 billion yuan pre-money price buys about a sixth of the company.

Australia’s court goes after Apple’s fees, and Fortnite returns

Australia’s Federal Court ordered Apple to open iOS to rival app stores, direct downloads and outside payment systems in Epic’s case, and Fortnite is back on the Australian App Store, Engadget reports. Apple must comply by March 1, 2027, or show by Feb. 15 that it needs more time, and it pays 85% of Epic’s legal costs. Apple told Reuters it will seek a stay, a pause on enforcement, and appeal.

Digital Trends reports the order caps Apple’s fees on sales through outside payment services, bars it from auditing those sales, and lets developers link out and charge less.

A rival store only matters to a developer if selling outside Apple costs less than selling inside it, and Australia tied the outside fee to what Apple charges on physical goods. A stay would keep the old terms running.

Meta’s new share lets Zuckerberg sell without losing votes

Meta is creating a non-voting Class C share and will pay holders one for each Class A or Class B share they own after its new charter takes effect Jan. 19, 2027, according to the information statement Meta filed with the SEC. Mark Zuckerberg can sell 20% of his new shares at once, which the filing puts at 10% of his overall economic stake, “including so that he may pay his potential tax liability under California Proposition 40,” the wealth tax on the Nov. 3 ballot.

The rest unlock at 2.5% a quarter. He committed to live in California, or wherever Meta keeps its headquarters, for eight years while he stays in leadership, Meta’s 8-K says. The special committee’s adviser modeled his voting interest falling to about 53% or lower if the tax passed and he paid it.

The Oct. 20 written consent approving it came from Zuckerberg’s holding entities, so the one investor whose control the deal protects was the only one asked.

Longer cut: Meta’s non-voting Class C share and the board’s eight-year California price

See full breakdown at @Aaron_Harme on X.

The S&P 500 outran pro team values since 2022

Since the bull market began on Oct. 12, 2022, the S&P 500 is up 118% and the Nasdaq 162%, against a 103% average gain in team values across the five biggest North American men’s leagues, Sportico reports from its own estimates. The NHL led at 140%, ahead of the NFL at 126% and the NBA at 121%, while MLB rose 37% and MLS 32%.

Record 2026 sales included the Lakers at $12.5 billion, the Seahawks at $9.34 billion and the Angels at $4 billion. The S&P fell 19% in 2022, a decline sports teams “have never seen” in modern times, Sportico notes.

Buyers at those prices are paying for the missing down year, since a team’s value moves only when it gets re-estimated or sold. Financial World data Sportico cites shows MLB values fell 8% over two years around the 1994 strike, and MLB, the laggard this time, has a work stoppage looming again.

See full breakdown at @Aaron_Harme on X.

Also noted

Xbox is testing pay-by-the-hour cloud streaming of games you already own, from 10 hours for $4 to 50 hours for $12, for Xbox Insiders, Ars Technica reports.
Anthropic’s draft IPO prospectus shows $16.3 billion of first-half revenue, an $80.7 billion net loss mostly tied to fundraising accounting, and computing commitments that could reach $750 billion, per the WSJ, Axios reports; Aaron’s post has the commitments math.
Walmart’s new Agent Gateway lets approved AI shopping agents buy on Walmart and Sam’s Club, with its returns process covering an agent that “doesn’t act as intended,” as Amazon blocks agents from making purchases, TechCrunch reports; Aaron’s post has the spending controls.
Maryland fired Mike Locksley at 2-5 and still owes him nearly $10 million, with nothing knocked off if he takes another job, Front Office Sports reports; Aaron’s post has the payout timing.
Tesla now lets retail holders give a standing instruction to vote with the board at future meetings, its program page shows; our longer read covers what that means for a SpaceX merger vote.

Sources

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