Bloomberg Earlier this month SoftBank led a $502 million investment in a London-based virtual reality startup called Improbable Worlds. Less than two years ago, the startup was worth about $100 million. Then SoftBank came along, and suddenly it was worth 10 times that. Overnight, Improbable Worlds had become a unicorn. In the months since Softbank Group Corp. unveiled plans for …

Bloomberg Short-sellers crowding into Great Wall Motor Co. are being vindicated — and they’re lining up for more. Shares in China’s largest SUV maker have retreated 18 percent from a February peak in Hong Kong as sales of its aging Haval H6 model fell and the company reported a quarterly profit decline. Now bears are doubling down: short interest in …

Bloomberg Singapore Exchange Ltd. is nearing a deal with the city’s technology regulator to develop a system designed to encourage local startups to list on the bourse, according to people familiar with the matter. Under the agreement, the bourse operator would help pair technology companies with investors with the aim of securing their listing in the city-state, the people said. …

Bloomberg Microsoft Corp. unveiled a new version of its Surface Pro tablet and laptop combination device with more powerful chips and better battery life, updating an aging product with declining sales that hurt financial results last quarter. The Redmond, Washington-based company introduced the fifth version of the Surface Pro at an event in Shanghai, the first time it’s held the …

Bloomberg PPG Industries Inc. Chief Executive Officer Michael McGarry is seeking to extend by two weeks a deadline to make a firm bid for Akzo Nobel NV and ruled out raising its latest $29.5 billion offer, the third to be rejected by the Dutch rival. The US paint maker will challenge a June 1 deadline imposed by the Dutch regulator …

Bloomberg Britain recorded a larger-than-forecast budget deficit in the first month of the new fiscal year as accelerating inflation pushed up debt costs and depressed consumer spending. Net borrowing was 10.4 billion pounds ($13.5 billion) in April, the highest for the month since 2014 and up 1.2 billion pounds from a year earlier. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg predicted an 8.7 …

Bloomberg The European Central Bank is finding out just how hard it might be to avoid the heat in its home country this summer. In the past few days, Germans have been told that their government will push for the nation to get the next ECB presidency and that monetary policy is the cause of a “too weak” euro. Fresh …

Center-left parties throughout the Western world have been tempted to pick dogmatic, hard-left leaders. In Europe, one after another party has succumbed to the temptation, though it has hurt their electoral chances. It seems illogical, but it may eventually pay off. The Spanish Socialists, the party that has been in government most since the country democratized, has just returned Pedro …

I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news: The internet is not a fair place. And the current fight over “net neutrality” is not going to change that. For those of us whose eyes glaze over at the mention of net neutrality, here’s the basic principle: Companies such as Comcast Corp. and AT&T Inc. that sell internet connections shouldn’t …

The newest hurdle for the American Health Care Act, which has yet to win over doctors, nurses, hospitals, health insurers, older people, Democrats and some Republican senators, is something called the “Jimmy Kimmel test.” The bill fails that, too. The shorthand arises from comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s tearful monologue earlier this month about his newborn son’s heart defect. Kimmel told his …