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Johannesburg gets a rare bit of good financial news, with strings attached
Moody's has moved the city's outlook to positive, a vote of confidence in a municipality that's still dangerously close to running out of money.
Business Bagel News
Daily news from the Business Bagel desk — the markets, money and company stories shaping South Africa, reported fast and kept clear.
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South32 is quitting aluminium, and the ratings agencies aren't clapping
The miner is selling almost its entire aluminium business to Alcoa for up to R92 billion, and Moody's has responded by putting it on watch for a downgrade.
South Africa's biggest companies are quietly building their way off Eskom
At least 40 listed firms have shared plans this year to power themselves with renewables, and the shift is starting to reshape Eskom's role.
The first pure humanoid-robot company is about to hit the stock market
Agility Robotics is going public at about $2.5 billion, and its CEO is refreshingly honest about how far off a household robot really is.
Microsoft is done subsidising Xbox, and the cuts are coming
After more than $20 billion in five years and a 3% profit margin, Microsoft's new Xbox boss says the business 'cannot continue' as it is.
MTN's Ralph Mupita gets a seat at the UN's new AI table
MTN Group CEO Ralph Mupita has been named a founding commissioner of the UN's AI for Good Global Commission, joining Nvidia's Jensen Huang and Amazon's Andy Jassy on the 44-member body that meets for the first time in Geneva this week.
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A severe El Niño is on the way. Here's why South Africa shouldn't panic
Forecasters have confirmed a severe El Niño will coincide with the 2026-27 planting season, but a record 17.25-million-tonne maize crop and unusually moist soils give South Africa a rare buffer against the coming drought.
'Use it or share it': the telecoms bill that could cut data prices is open for comment
Parliament is taking public submissions until 21 August on the Electronic Communications Amendment Bill, which would force big operators to share unused spectrum and open their networks to smaller rivals.
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Municipalities are sinking deeper into debt, 20 years of data show
Stats SA's two-decade review of municipal finances shows council debt rising faster than revenue, with 17 municipalities owing more than they own ahead of November's local elections.
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Chery takes the wheel at Rosslyn as it becomes a South African carmaker
The Chinese brand has taken over the Pretoria plant Nissan ran for nearly 60 years, keeping all 692 workers and pledging hundreds of millions of dollars to build cars locally.
The little-known fintech making FirstRand's R5bn bet look smart
Optasia's shares had their best day since listing after the mobile-lending group told investors its revenue could jump as much as 60%.
The AI firm behind Claude now wants to make its own medicines
Anthropic has unveiled a research tool for scientists and, more surprisingly, plans to develop drugs of its own for diseases big pharma overlooks.