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Britain’s Finance Minister Rachel Reeves has pledged to make the “necessary”, “urgent” and “incredibly tough” choices to restore the country’s economic stability.

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LONDON — British technology bosses and investors are warning that entrepreneurs may be forced to leave the U.K., if the government moves forward with controversial plans to raise capital gains tax on share sales.

Recent media reports have suggested Finance Minister Rachel Reeves is planning to hike capital gains tax (CGT) — which applies to the profit investors make on the sale of an investments — with The Guardian saying the levy could jump to 39%. Last week, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Bloomberg that such speculation was “wide of the mark.”

Reeves is expected to announce sweeping fiscal changes during her Oct. 30 budget, as she seeks to close a multi-billion funding gap in public finances.

The government is also planning to increase capital gains tax on shares and other assets by “several percentage points,” the Times reported, meaning that those who sell their stakes in an acquisition, initial public offering or secondary share sale will be taxed on any gain in value.

Reeves also plans to cut the so-called business asset disposal relief (BADR), which allows entrepreneurs to pay a reduced 10% tax on profits from the sale of their firms, Bloomberg found.

CNBC has not been able to independently verify these reports. The Treasury did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Several entrepreneurs and investors have warned that the U.K. could face an exodus of technology entrepreneurs as a result of the reported tax changes.

In an open letter to Reeves earlier this month, more than 500 entrepreneurs urged the finance minister to resist calls to hike capital gains tax or restrict the business asset disposal relief scheme.

“Higher CGT or any restrictions on BADR would make this relief less competitive at a time when the rest of the world is making their reliefs more competitive,” read the letter, published by The Entrepreneurs Network on Oct. 13.

“It would mean the UK has the second-highest CGT rate in Europe, and jeopardise the success of our country’s startup ecosystem by enormously weakening the incentive individuals have to build businesses.”

The list of signatories includes the likes of Giles Andrews, co-founder of digital bank Zopa, Rishi Khosla, CEO of financing platform OakNorth, and Victor Riparbelli, boss of artificial intelligence firm Synthesia.

They suggested that the plans would make it harder for entrepreneurs to build businesses in the U.K. — or indeed, force entrepreneur out of the country.

“By discouraging entrepreneurs from starting and growing their businesses, HM Treasury could well end up lowering the tax take overall,” the letter said.

Wiz opened London office to double down on UK market, co-founder says

“I’ve noticed a rising sense of stress in the U.K. tech ecosystem over proposals like this. If implemented, such a move would send a deeply negative signal,” Adam French, partner at seed investors Antler, told CNBC by email.

“There is a real risk of complacency in U.K. tech, in tandem with increasing competition from Paris and Berlin for talent, and a brain drain to the U.S.,” French added.

Harry Stebbings, a venture capitalist known for popular tech podcast “The Twenty Minute VC,” told The Guardian newspaper last week that entrepreneurs would leave the U.K. if the government raises capital gains tax.

Calling the government’s plan on capital gains tax the “biggest” issue for entrepreneurs, Stebbings said: “I know fewer entrepreneurs will be here. They will leave en masse.”

Not everyone agrees that capital gains tax shouldn’t be increased to raise public finances.

In a report by the center-left Institute for Public Policy Research published last week, a group of millionaire business owners said they would welcome an increase in the rate levied on capital gains to match the higher rate of income tax.

The analysis found that capital gains tax was not a primary driver of investment decisions, with entrepreneurs more focused on issues like access to financing, market opportunities and broader economic conditions.

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Anne Wojcicki has a new offer to take 23andMe private, this time for $74.7 million

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Anne Wojcicki has a new offer to take 23andMe private, this time for .7 million

Anne Wojcicki attends the WSJ Magazine Style & Tech Dinner in Atherton, California, on March 15, 2023.

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23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki and New Mountain Capital have submitted a proposal to take the embattled genetic testing company private, according to a Friday filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Wojcicki and New Mountain have offered to acquire all of 23andMe’s outstanding shares in cash for $2.53 per share, or an equity value of approximately $74.7 million. The company’s stock closed at $2.42 on Friday with a market cap of about $65 million.

The offer comes after a turbulent year for 23andMe, with the stock losing more than 80% of its value in 2024. In January, the company announced plans to explore strategic alternatives, which could include a sale of the company or its assets, a restructuring or a business combination. 

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23andMe has a special committee of independent directors in place to evaluate potential paths forward. The company appointed three new independent directors to its board in October after all seven of its previous directors abruptly resigned the prior month. The special committee has to approve Wojcicki and New Mountain’s proposal.

“We believe that our Proposal provides compelling value and immediate liquidity to the Company’s public stockholders,” Wojcicki and Matthew Holt, managing director and president of private equity at New Mountain, wrote in a letter to the special committee on Thursday.

Wojcicki previously submitted a proposal to take the company private for 40 cents per share in July, but it was rejected by the special committee, in part because the members said it lacked committed financing and did not provide a premium to the closing price at the time.

Wojcicki and New Mountain are willing to provide secured debt financing to fund 23andMe’s operations through the transaction’s closing, the filing said. New Mountain is based in New York and has $55 billion of assets under management, according to its website.

23andMe declined to comment.

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Shares of Hims & Hers tumble 23% after FDA says semaglutide is no longer in shortage

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Shares of Hims & Hers tumble 23% after FDA says semaglutide is no longer in shortage

Hims & Hers

Shares of Hims & Hers Health tumbled more than 23% on Friday after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that the shortage of semaglutide injection products has been resolved.

Semaglutide is the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk‘s blockbuster weight loss drug Wegovy and diabetes treatment Ozempic. Those medications are part of a class of drugs called GLP-1s, and demand for the treatments has exploded in recent years. As a result, digital health companies such as Hims & Hers have been prescribing compounded semaglutide as an alternative for patients who are navigating volatile supply hurdles and insurance obstacles.

Compounded drugs are custom-made alternatives to brand-name drugs designed to meet a specific patient’s needs, and compounders are allowed to produce them when brand-name treatments are in shortage. The FDA doesn’t review the safety and efficacy of compounded products.

Hims & Hers began offering compounded semaglutide to patients in May, and it owns compounding pharmacies that produce the medications.

Compounded medications are typically much cheaper than their branded counterparts. Hims & Hers sells compounded semaglutide for less than $200 per month, while Ozempic and Wegovy both cost around $1,000 per month without insurance.

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The FDA said Friday that it will start taking action against compounders for violations in the next 60 to 90 days, depending on the type of facility, in order to “avoid unnecessary disruption to patient treatment.”

“Now that the FDA has determined the drug shortage for semaglutide has been resolved, we will continue to offer access to personalized treatments as allowed by law to meet patient needs,” Hims & Hers CEO Andrew Dudum posted Friday on X. “We’re also closely monitoring potential future shortages, as Novo Nordisk stated two weeks ago that it would continue to have ‘capacity limitations’ and ‘expected continued periodic supply constraints and related drug shortage notifications.'”

Him & Hers’ weight loss offerings have been a massive hit with investors. Shares of the company climbed more than 200% last year, and the stock is already up more than 100% this year despite Friday’s move.

Even before it added compounded GLP-1s to its portfolio, the company said in its 2023 fourth-quarter earnings call that it expects its weight loss program to bring in more than $100 million in revenue by the end of 2025.

Despite the turbulent regulatory landscape, Hims & Hers has showed no signs of slowing down.

On Friday, the company announced it has acquired a U.S.-based peptide facility that will “further verticalize the company’s long-term ability to deliver personalized medications.” Hims & Hers will explore advances across metabolic optimization, recovery science, biological resistances, cognitive performance and preventative health through the acquisition, the company said.

That move comes just days after Hims & Hers also bought Trybe Labs, the New Jersey-based at-home lab testing facility. Trybe Labs will allow Hims & Hers to perform at-home blood draws and more comprehensive pretreatment testing.

Hims & Hers did not disclose the terms of either deal.

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Tesla recalls more than 375,000 vehicles in U.S. due to failing power-assisted steering systems

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Tesla recalls more than 375,000 vehicles in U.S. due to failing power-assisted steering systems

Tesla models Y and 3 are displayed at a Tesla dealership in Corte Madera, California, on Dec. 20, 2024.

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Tesla is voluntarily recalling 376,241vehicles in the U.S. to correct an issue with failing power-assisted steering systems, according to records posted to the website of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

In a safety recall report posted on the NHTSA website, Tesla said the recall includes Model 3 and Model Y vehicles that were manufactured for sale in the U.S. from Feb. 28, 2023, to October 11, 2023, and that were equipped with a certain older software release.

The records said printed circuit boards in the steering systems in affected vehicles could become overstressed, causing the power-assist steering to fail in some cases when a Tesla vehicle rolled to a stop and then accelerated.

When electronic power-assist steering systems fail in a Tesla, drivers need to exert more force to steer their cars, which can increase the risk of a collision.

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Tesla told the vehicle safety regulator that it was not aware of any crashes, injuries or deaths related to the power steering failures, and that it was offering an over-the-air software update as a remedy.

The recall follows an earlier related probe and voluntary recall in China concerning the same systems.

President Donald Trump has appointed Tesla CEO Elon Musk to lead a team that is slashing the federal government workforce, and in some cases, regulations and entire agencies. Those cuts already affected the NHTSA, an agency Musk has long seen as standing in the way of some of his ambitions at Tesla.

The regulator has been engaged in a yearslong investigation into safety defects in the systems that Tesla markets currently as its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (Supervised) options. The features do not make Tesla cars into robotaxis. They require a human driver ready to steer or brake at any time.

The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Musk’s team has led mass firings at the NHTSA, reducing the agency’s workforce and capacity to investigate companies including Tesla by about 10%.

Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment.

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