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Good morning and welcome to the Christmas Eve edition of FirstFT Europe/Africa. The newsletter will be taking a short break after today, but I’ll be back in your inbox on Monday. Happy holidays!
On the agenda:
AI data centre debt shifted off tech balance sheets
EU spent less on US oil than pledged
Top Shell auditor leaves EY role
Lawsuits filed on Christmas week
We begin in the US, where tech companies have moved more than $120bn of data centre spending off their balance sheets using special purpose vehicles funded by Wall Street investors, adding to concerns about the financial risks of their huge bets on artificial intelligence.
What we know: Meta, Elon Musk’s xAI, Oracle and data centre operator CoreWeave have led the way on complex financing deals to shield themselves from the large borrowing needed to build AI data centres.
Financial institutions including Pimco, BlackRock, Apollo and Blue Owl Capital, as well as US banks such as JPMorgan, have supplied at least $120bn in debt and equity for the tech groups’ computing infrastructure, according to a Financial Times analysis.
Why it matters: That money is channelled through special purpose holding companies known as SPVs. The rush of financings, which do not show up on the tech companies’ balance sheets, may be obscuring the risks that these groups are running — and who will be on the hook if AI demand disappoints. Tabby Kinder has more from New York.
Five more top stories
1. The EU has spent 7 per cent less on oil and gas from the US over the past four months despite making a pledge to US President Donald Trump in a trade deal to purchase $750bn of American energy over the next three years. Read the full story.
2. Exclusive: One of EY’s top accountants left the partnership this month, just six days before UK regulators announced an investigation into the Big Four firm’s audits of Shell, which he had led for four years. Read the full story.
3. Hong Kong, one of the world’s hottest initial public offering markets this year, is showing signs of weakness after a number of disappointing debuts. Roughly half of the listings since the start of November have failed to rise on the first day, according to an FT analysis.
4. One in seven of the UK’s blue-chip companies changed their leaders in 2025, with three of London’s 10 most valuable listed groups parting ways with their bosses. The 14 FTSE 100 groups that replaced their chief executives this year included BP, Diageo and Ladbrokes owner Entain.
5. Investors in private equity funds are betting on smaller firms in the hope they will be better able to exit holdings during a prolonged dealmaking downturn compared with their larger rivals.
The Big Read
© Carolina Vargas/FT montage/Dreamstime
Amid the rise of streaming services, younger viewers barely watch the broadcasting that once dominated UK Christmas schedules. Read more on the slow death of Britain’s TV channels and what it signals for other countries.
We’re also reading . . .
Subscription overload: Changes resulting from the pending Warner Bros sale could weigh on Americans already struggling to keep track of their accounts, writes Brooke Masters.
Dispatch from Bethlehem: The Palestinian town revered by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus holds Christmas festivities for the first time since the Gaza war.
Trump’s K-shaped economy: Two communities just 30 miles apart have experienced contrasting fortunes under the US president’s second term.
Paradigm shift: Western carmakers are copying China to develop new models and get them on the road faster.
Chart of the day
Notice of a lawsuit is something nobody wants to receive during the holiday season. But data shows that the seven-day period before Christmas Eve is significantly busier for lawsuit filings than the average week.
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Our annual list of London’s best new restaurants is here. The FT’s food writers and editors chose their favourites in what was a bumper year for debuts.
Humble Chicken 3.0 in central London © Carla Barber