This week: peaks and troughs...

While the rain may have disappeared (for now...), the contrarian British climate serves as an apt metaphor for the mixed fortunes we've observed this week. WPP lowered its full-year financial forecast following a dip in spend, while linear TV's viewership continues to dwindle. Controversial trading platform Robinhood saw backer Alphabet drastically reduce its stake, while gaming growth slowed in APAC, putting the region behind the global market. Google seemingly had the worst week, however, losing an appeal to bring an ongoing lawsuit regarding Incognito mode to a swift end and being hit with fresh legal action over alleged ad fraud.

But it hasn't been a bad week for everyone – China's Ant Financial acquired a new stakeholder in Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the CEO of India's Paytm. Elsewhere in APAC, South Korea looks set for strong e-commerce growth, and Indonesia's Bintan announced plans to expand into live commerce. In the US, meanwhile, Walmart revealed aspirations to incorporate its retail media to in-store shopping, and Microsoft partnered with Aptos to unite blockchain and AI.

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