For three days Donald Trump dominated Davos from a distance.

On the fourth, he did it in person, albeit virtually, with a speech that took his threats of economic conflict with Europe directly to its political leaders.

Beamed from the White House to the World Economic Forum, he delivered a message of total confidence in American might, and a direct challenge to those that do not play along.

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Initially, he stuck to the inauguration script and his domestic program but, teed up by a question from his Mar-a-Lago neighbour and former adviser Stephen Schwarzman, co-founder of the Blackstone Group, he let rip.

Mr Schwarzman identified a theme of this week, frustration at EU regulation among businesses, and the president took full advantage.

He criticised taxes on American companies, and what he sees as a trade imbalance. “They don’t take our food, they don’t take our cars, but they send us cars by the million.”

EU demands for $15bn in back taxes from Apple, as well as investigations into Google and Facebook, were also slammed. “These companies, like them or not, these are American companies.

“Nobody’s happy with it and we are going to do something about it. I’m trying to be constructive, I love Europe, but they treat the US very unfairly.”

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His counter-offer to the businesses listening; corporation tax of just 15% for companies that shift their manufacturing to the US, and tariffs for those that don’t, a position that would inevitably bring retaliation.

In the audience, the heads of the European Central Bank, the World Trade Association, the International Money Fund and sundry cabinet ministers and central bankers, shifted in their seats.

As if to emphasise what Europe is up against, Mr Trump cited a $600bn investment promised by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and suggested “he round it up to a trillion”.

Having parked metaphorical tanks on chancellery lawns, he offered some hope, but not detail, on how he might address the real ones rolling across Ukraine.

Referring to “millions of dead bodies lying on the flat fields” he said efforts to secure peace “should be under way”. Asked when that might happen, he said the answer lay with Russia. “Ukraine is ready.”

Having started the week guessing what Trump 2.0 might mean, Davos’ delegates, that unique mix of money, power, civil society and celebrity, leave the Alps under no illusion of the disruption ahead.

Sainsbury’s has revealed plans to cut more than 3,000 jobs.

The supermarket said the move was a bid to save money ahead of a £140m leap in costs from budget tax measures, due to come into force within weeks.

Head office and senior management roles are among those affected, the chain said, adding that the cost-saving drive would also result in the closure of its remaining cafes, hot food, patisserie, and pizza counters.

All the proposals, Sainsbury’s added, were subject to consultation.

Chief executive Simon Roberts said: “We are facing into a particularly challenging cost environment which means we have had to make tough choices about where we can afford to invest and where we need to do things differently to make our business more efficient and effective.”

He made the announcement despite the company’s decision, a fortnight ago, to award inflation-busting pay rises to store workers across the business, which also includes Argos.

Mr Roberts is among business leaders to have publicly spoken out after October’s budget put firms on the hook for the bulk of £40bn in tax increases.

He warned then that additional costs would result in higher prices for customers as the chain did not have the “capacity to absorb” a “barrage of costs”.

Sainsbury’s, he explained, was facing an additional annual bill of £140m from April to cover the cost of additional employer national insurance contributions alone.

Industry bodies have widely spoken of how higher costs will choke investment and jobs.

Cafes are due to shut at the following locations:

Fosse Park, Leicestershire

Pontypridd, South Wales

Rustington, West Sussex

Scarborough, North Yorkshire

Penzance, Cornwall

Denton, Greater Manchester

Wrexham, North Wales

Longwater, Norwich, Norfolk

Ely, Cambridgeshire

Pontllanfraith, South Wales

Emersons Green, South Gloucestershire

Nantwich, Cheshire

Pinhoe Road, Exeter, Devon

Pepper Hill – Northfleet, Kent

Marshall Lake, Solihull, West Midlands

Rhyl, North Wales

Lincoln, Lincolnshire

Bridgemead, Swindon, Wiltshire

Larkfield, Aylesford, Kent

Whitchurch Bargates, Shropshire

Sedlescombe Road, Hastings, East Sussex

Barnstaple, Devon

Dewsbury, West Yorkshire

Kings Lynn Hardwick, Norfolk

Truro, Cornwall

Warren Heath, Ipswich, Suffolk

Godalming, Surrey

Hereford, Herefordshire

Chichester, West Sussex

Bognor Regis, West Sussex

Newport, South Wales

Talbot Heath, Dorset

Rugby, Warwickshire

Cannock, Staffordshire

Leek, Staffordshire

Winterstoke Road, Bristol

Hazel Grove, Stockport, Greater Manchester

Morecambe, Lancashire

Darlington, County Durham

Monks Cross, Huntington, North Yorkshire

Marsh Mills, Plymouth, Devon

Springfield, Chelmsford, Essex

Durham, County Durham

Bamber Bridge, Lancashire

Weedon Road, Northampton, East Midlands

Hempstead Valley, Kent

Hedge End, Hampshire

Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

Thanet Westwood Cross, Kent

Stanway, Colchester, Essex

Castle Point, Essex

Isle of Wight

Keighley, West Yorkshire

Swadlincote, Derbyshire

Leicester North, East Midlands

Wakefield Marsh Way, Wakefield, West Yorkshire

Torquay, Devon

Waterlooville, Hampshire

Macclesfield, Cheshire

Harrogate, North Yorkshire

Cheadle, Greater Manchester

Part-owners of Chelsea and Manchester United football clubs are among a quartet of finalists vying to buy a big stake in London Spirit, the most prestigious franchise in English cricket’s Hundred competition.

Sky News has learnt that a vehicle controlled by Todd Boehly, a shareholder in Chelsea, and members of the Manchester United-owning Glazer family have been shortlisted to acquire 49% of the Lords-based team from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

The other two shortlisted bidders are a consortium of technology company owners and financiers which includes the bosses of Google and Microsoft; and RPSG Group, the owner of the Indian Premier League team Lucknow Super Giants.

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People close to the process said on Thursday that the four bidders would be asked to submit sealed bids for the ECB stake next week, with the highest bidder expected to be chosen by the ECB.

The London Spirit franchise is expected to be valued at about £140m, meaning the proceeds to be received and distributed by the ECB would be approximately £70m, the insiders added.

The identities of the shortlisted parties means that India’s Ambani family, owner of the Mumbai Indians IPL team, is not in the running to buy the Lords-based outfit.

Instead, the Mumbai Indians’ owners are pursuing bids for the Oval Invincibles and Manchester Originals teams, according to insiders.

Shortlists for some of the eight Hundred franchises are said to number fewer than four bidders, although the process has been complicated by the presence of some parties in several processes.

The Lucknow Super Giants owners, for example, are said to have been in pursuit of four of the eight teams.

In total, the ECB has indicated that it could receive in the region of £350m for its 49% stakes in the eight teams.

The host counties are also allowed to sell their 51% shareholdings, although some have said they do not intend to do so.

The MCC, which controls the London Spirit franchise, does not intend to offload any of its stake at this point, according to cricket insiders.

Sky News revealed earlier this month that the consortium of tech company chiefs was also bidding for the Oval Invincibles, with them also expected to be shortlisted in that process.

CVC Capital Partners, the buyout firm which has made a swathe of sports investments, has also tabled an offer for the Oval-based team.

Investors will only be allowed to own a stake in one of the eight teams, which also include Welsh Fire, Southern Brave and the Northern Superchargers.

A bigger-than-expected windfall from the process could offer a financial lifeline to a number of cash-strapped counties, with part of the proceeds likely to be used to pay down debt.

Concerns have been raised, however, that windfalls from the Hundred auction will not deliver a meaningful improvement in counties’ long-term financial sustainability.

The outcome of the Hundred auction is also likely to intensify other searching questions about the future of cricket, as the Test format of the game struggles for international commercial relevance against shorter-length competition.

The Hundred auction is being handled by bankers at Raine Group, the same firm which oversaw the sale of large stakes in both Manchester United and Chelsea in recent years.

An MCC spokesman declined to comment, while none of the bidders contacted by Sky News would comment.