adani charged forfraud — the indian billionaire is indicted in the us over an alleged multi—million—dollar bribery scheme. the ai boom continues — nvidia's profits almost double, as demand for chips keeps growing. crackdown on remote working and mass firings — elon musk and vivek ramaswamy reveal their vision for donald trump's department for donald trump's department of government efficiency. of government efficiency. also on the programme — also on the programme — crisis talks at vw. crisis talks at vw. the german auto giant will meet the german auto giant will meet with unions, in a bid to avoid with unions, in a bid to avoid closing three factories. closing three factories. and... and... the economics of beauty — the economics of beauty — can being physically attractive can being physically attractive earn you more money? earn you more money? we discuss the controversial we discuss the controversial study of pulchronomics. study of pulchronomics.

this is business today. of india's adani group, has been charged with massive fraud. has been indicted — along with seven other defendants — in connection with a bribery scheme involving one of the world's largest solar energy projects. the adani group did not immediately respond to a request for comment. from new york, here's our north america business correspondent, michelle fleury. between 2020 and 2024, gautam adani and his co—defendants allegedly agreed to pay over $250 million in bribes to indian officials to obtain lucrative solar energy contracts. during the same period, the adani group was trying to raise money from us investors. hiding the bribery scheme from them is the fraud that they're now charged with. with a business empire spanning coal, airports, cement and media, the chairman

of adani group has been operating under a cloud in the us since 2023, when a high—profile company published a report accusing it of fraud. the claims, which mr adani denied, prompted a major market sell—off. during the us presidential election, mr adani threw his

during the us presidential election, mr a the threw his during the us presidential election, mr a the flagship s 10% to 22% on the flagship adani enterprises stock the last time i checked. and this essentially has now taken the market capitalisation down by $22 billionjust market capitalisation down by $22 billion just this market capitalisation down by $22 billionjust this morning following those charges of course that had been levelled or filed course that had been levelled orfiled in course that had been levelled or filed in a course that had been levelled orfiled in a us court course that had been levelled or filed in a us court where essentially, what they are saying is $250 million in bribes were paid to indian officials in lieu of getting a massive solar energy contract. as michelle was pointing out, the charge is that these bribes, this big scheme was concealed well adani was raising three odd billion dollars in the united states. it is a big, big blow for the adani group. and a sense of deja vu perhaps. because if you remember, just about a couple of years ago, we also had the hindenburg group, which is a us —based short seller that had said that adani was essentially engaging in market manipulation

and accounting fraud. that had led to a rout with some $100 billion wiped out. and this is happening yet again. for the moment, we haven't had a substantive statement from adanl substantive statement from adani, but a statement has come in from adani green, a subsidiary. they have decided how not to proceed with the us state denominated bond offering. so clearly, the impact has already started to be felt. it impact has already started to be felt. , . ., ., be felt. it is, indeed. what do we think might _ be felt. it is, indeed. what do we think might happen - be felt. it is, indeed. what do we think might happen next i be felt. it is, indeed. what do l we think might happen next and will this go beyond reputational damage? will this go beyond reutational damaue? . , reputational damage? certainly, we have already _ reputational damage? certainly, we have already started - reputational damage? certainly, we have already started seeing i we have already started seeing as i said the impact being felt on the markets. we have also heard from some of the substantial investors in adani, the go g substantial investors in adani, the g0 g group which invested into adani after the hindenburg report. they have said that they are monitoring the situation and reviewing their exposure to the greek. we have just got the statement saying this is negative for adani and

it will constrain their ability to raise capital —— their exposure to the group. the opposition parties in india also which have often accuse the adani group of being close to prime minister narendra modi have said that in many ways, this vindicates their demand there needs to be a joint parliamentary probe against the group. so clearly, the adani group in the eye of the storm. we will keep an eye on that, thank you for now. let's stay in the us, and the chipmaker nvidia has nearly doubled its revenues, reporting record quarterly profits of $19 billion. the firm has been a major beneficiary of the race to develop and adopt artificial intelligence, with demand for its ai chips remaining high. nvidia reported quarterly sales of more $35 billion, far more than market forecasts. its shares are up more than 200% year to date, with a market value of $3.6 trillion. it is the world's most valuable listed company. malcolm penn is chairman and chief executive of future horizons.

hello, malcolm. so nvidia coming out with earnings better than expected, showing it is well ahead of the game when it comes to chips for al. why did the shares go down a little bit? . ., , ., , bit? was thatjust profit-taking? - bit? was thatjust profit-taking? i. bit? was that just - profit-taking? i suspect it profit—taking? i suspect it probably is because at the end of the day, these things happen like that. and also in the longer term, there still is now starting to be a little bit of a worry that there is so much investment going into ai and investors are not the most patient people. they want to see a return on that. and these returns take a lot longer to happen, the real returns take a lot longer to happen than perhaps a lot of people really want them to be. so i think it isjust a combination want them to be. so i think it is just a combination of the normal thing, the part of the cycle, part of what happens, people want to take their profit out and they will probably reinvest it again and go onto the next part of that.

nothing immediately to be worried about.— nothing immediately to be worried about. ~ ., worried about. when you look at their clients, _ worried about. when you look at their clients, they _ worried about. when you look at their clients, they have - worried about. when you look at their clients, they have got - their clients, they have got their clients, they have got the biggest names in tech as clients, the likes of apple, meta, etc, who are investing billions in al. and there is a real close eye on nvidia's new generation of chips known as blackwell to see if they can be implemented at scale. there are a lot of questions still about how far this can go.- how far this can go. there certainly _ how far this can go. there certainly is. _ how far this can go. there certainly is. there - how far this can go. there certainly is. there are - how far this can go. there certainly is. there are two parts to that. in the short term, when you have a market that takes off that rapidly, it is very hard for production to keep up with that because production works in a much longer timescale. production works in a much longertimescale. so production works in a much longer timescale. so the actual making of nvidia's chips takes a lot longer than you would imagine. if you don't forecast that in advance which nobody can, you will always be a bit supply constrained, which then

turns on more pressure on the pricing because the normal supply and demand situation. so i think you have that aspect of it which is quite normal. and the other side of the coin is how long can this demand really lost from these big companies like that? on the market at the moment is focused on those handful of key players. so the real question is, when will ai broaden out into a more broader general market sector and what will the impact of that be? inevitably, competition comes in and that again takes time. and when competition comes in, again, the normal supply and demand economics kick in and prices will start to come down. malcolm penn, for now, thank you. staying in the us, we've had more details on what policies might be enacted by president—elect donald trump's department of government efficiency. this is going to be run by elon musk and vivek ramaswamy, who have written a piece in the wall streetjournal

revealing they want to reduce annual federal spending by $500 billion. so quite a sizeable amount. they've also revealed they want to crack down on remote working for federal employees. joe brusuelas is principal and chief economist at rsm. hello to you. interesting reading to see what these two men have got in mind. that is a massive saving, isn't it? how do you think they will do it? they won't. remember, the doge is not legally—binding. it is going to be part of trump's kitchen cabinets, which in the vernacular of american politics means you have very influential people who can perhaps set some of the ideas around the loose framework that is going to be the trump administration. my big takeaway was that they wanted to severely or significantly reduce the headcount in the federal government employment base. so

the federal government employs about 3 million people. that is down from 3.3 million people about 30 years ago. and that sits within a base of 160 million people in the united states to work. so let's say you just want to reduce that by 10,000, 10%, you have a big number. it is a nice big round number. it is a nice big round number and you number. it is a nice big round numberand you can number. it is a nice big round number and you can talk to your base about it. but it doesn't mean a lot in terms of overall us employment because you have a $29 trillion economy supported by 160 million workers. so what i think this is, these are some ideas that are meant to feed mr trump's political base and really are not going to translate to much of anything. 0nce not going to translate to much of anything. once he takes office. after all, we are all very clear what he intends to do, which is really going to be organised around tariffs and eventually, some form of tighter immigration and enforced deportation policies in the united states. looking at what they _

in the united states. looking at what they have _ in the united states. looking at what they have been - in the united states. looking | at what they have been saying in this article, they say, we will serve as outside volunteers. we not politicians. unlike a government commission or environmental —— or advisory committee, we don'tjust write reports or cut ribbons we will cut costs. what you are saying is employees should not be too worried about what is ahead. because when you look at elon musk and how he runs tesla and how he has run x, he has been very hardcore when it comes to efficiency. very hardcore when it comes to efficiency-— efficiency. without a doubt. but remember, _ efficiency. without a doubt. but remember, the - efficiency. without a doubt. | but remember, the question doesn't run anything. there is no budget. they have no power to hire orfire. they willjust make suggestions. and then perhaps they get translated into actions. but of course, it's easy to say, but it is more difficult to do. i am in my fifth decade now. i have heard this my whole life. i have seen commissions come and 90, have seen commissions come and go, individuals come and go who say these things. they all

sound good and sometimes not so good, they rarely get done. we will hold you to that. we will touch again in the future, i'm sure, thank you for your time. thank you, goodbye. —— talk to you again. let's get some of the day's other news now. the us government has proposed making sweeping changes to the internet giant google to break up its dominance in online searches, including selling off its chrome browser. it comes after a landmark ruling in august that google maintained an illegal monopoly that crushed its competition. australia has introduced legislation to ban under—16s from accessing social media. apps like instagram and tiktok will be made to ensure compliance and will be fined if they fail. they'll have over a year to come up with ways to prevent young people accessing their platforms. gary wang, the co—founder of the collapsed crypto platform fdx has avoided prison time after assisting prosecutors in the sam bankman—fried case. its, the sam bankman—fried case. a hearing on wednesday said he

immediately did the right thing by travelling to the us soon after the firm collapsed in 2022 and offering his full assistance to law enforcement. fdx's other co—founder sam bankman—fried was found guilty of fraud and sentenced to 25 years in prison. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

you are with business today. to germany now, where the crisis at one of the world's largest car manufacturers steps up a gear. today, volkswagen will resume talks with the union ig metall, in a bid to avert the possible closure of factories. volkswagen is planning to shut at least three factories in germany and lay off tens of thousands of staff, as it struggles with falling revenue. let's speak to the auto market analyst matthias schmidt,

founder of schmidt automotive research. it is good to have you on the programme. so is this really when it comes to negotiations, is this it the less chance to broker a deal? from a vw perspective, you would hope so. they have been trying to broker deals for around the last two decades. , ., , 1528 00:15:27,