La présidente par intérim du Venezuela Delcy Rodriguez s’est engagée, dans un entretien avec la chaîne américaine NBC diffusé jeudi, à organiser des élections libres dans un pays sous pression américaine, plus d’un mois après la capture de Nicolas Maduro. Interrogée pour savoir si elle s’engageait sur la tenue d’élections «libres et équitables», celle qui a pris la relève de Nicolas Maduro, capturé début janvier par les États-Unis, a répondu «oui, absolument», selon la traduction de NBC.

CarMax on Thursday named Keith Barr as its next chief executive, who will take over the helm at the used-car retailer as it navigates a turnaround plan and lower demand. Shares of the company were down more than 5% in early trading. Barr, a veteran from the hospitality industry, most recently served as the top boss at InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG.L), opens new tab. He takes charge effective March 16. CarMax has to navigate a choppy used vehicle market amid a nationwide dip, as cash-conscious buyers hold on to their older cars for longer.

Goldman Sachs general counsel Kathryn Ruemmler will step down after the Jeffrey Epstein files showed she had remained a close ally of the convicted sex offender through his 2019 arrest. Goldman said Ruemmler, 54 years old, would resign as of June 30. Ruemmler had risen to the top ranks of Wall Street and become a key adviser to Goldman Chief Executive David Solomon after a storied legal career. As a prosecutor, she helped try Enron executives. She was picked as White House counsel by former President Barack Obama and was once considered a candidate to be U.S. attorney general.

Elliott Investment Management on Friday said it will not tender its Toyota Industries shares into an extended tender offer at current terms and strongly encouraged other shareholders to follow suit.
Elliott also urged other shareholders to withdraw any shares that have already been tendered. Elliott has been the most vocal opponent of a bid by a group of Toyota Motor (7203.T), opens new tab companies to take private the forklift maker, arguing its offer price was too low and harmed the interests of minority shareholders. The Toyota consortium first offered 16,300 yen per share before raising its bid to 18,800 in January while launching its tender offer, which was due to close on Thursday.

Activist investor Independent Franchise Partners has taken a stake in Universal Music Group and owned 3.01% of the world's biggest music label as of Monday, a filing by Dutch financial watchdog showed on Friday. It will be the sixth largest shareholder in Universal Music Group, according to LSEG data. Independent Franchise Partners also has a 5.37% stake in Vivendi, which together with its top shareholder, the Bolloré family, own more than 30% of Universal Music Group, LSEG data showed. The activist investor also holds a 5.86% stake in British real estate company Rightmove. Founded in 2009, London-based Independent Franchise Partners says on its website its focus is on high-quality franchises with intangible assets that create a durable competitive advantage.

Canada's biggest life insurers, Manulife and Sun Life, are looking at the Middle East for new avenues of growth, chasing wealthy clients from Asia and other parts of the world moving to Dubai.
Both companies now have sales offices in Dubai, a major financial hub in the Gulf region. Dubai is emerging as a preferred wealth center for many entrepreneurs and rich families in Asia as they look to take advantage of favorable tax policies and expand their businesses. Both Manulife and Sun Life have been active in Asia for years, expanding through bancassurance deals, or partnerships between a bank and an insurance company, to diversify beyond North America. The U.S. is still a key growth market.

Constellation Brands said on Thursday it appointed Nicholas Fink as its top boss, replacing Bill Newlands, as the beermaker battles demand pressures. Fink, who was previously the CEO at the security and digital products firm Fortune Brands Innovations, will take over as the top boss of the Modelo beer maker on April 13. He had served on Constellation's board for the past five years. Newlands, who joined the company in 2015 and has been at the helm since 2019, will step down from the board in April, but will continue to serve as a strategic adviser over the next several months to help ensure a smooth transition of leadership, Constellation said.

The NATO alliance will become more European-led, with a continuing strong presence of the United States, as European allies significantly increase military spending, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Friday. "Over the coming years we will more and more sea a NATO that is more European-led, but at the same time with the US absolutely anchored in the organization," Rutte told reporters on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. "We will do this step by step, in close conjunction with the United States, based on the defense planning process we have."

[...] Il s’agit d’un point tournant dans ce conflit entre actionnaires, croit le président-directeur général de l’Institut sur la gouvernance d’organisations privées et publiques (IGOPP), François Dauphin. Ça met des obstacles imposants sur le chemin de l’actionnaire dissident, estime l’expert de la gouvernance en entrevue.

Le gouvernement veut opérer un virage à 180 degrés : après avoir investi des centaines de millions $ dans des technologies américaines d’infonuagique, le nouveau ministre du Numérique souhaite rapatrier nos données et créer des centres souverains grâce à l’électricité québécoise, a appris notre Bureau parlementaire. Pour accroître la souveraineté numérique, il misera sur une plus grande place accordée à l’hébergement des données sur notre territoire, notamment par le Nuage gouvernemental du Québec [lieu pour nos informations les plus sensibles] et par des centres de traitement informatique souverains ici même, au Québec. Le ministre Bélanger fera valoir les atouts stratégiques du Québec, soutenant que l’électricité y est propre et abondante.

Embarrassé par les dossiers Epstein, le premier ministre britannique joue son poste. Les dossiers Epstein créent des remous jusqu’au sommet de l’État britannique. Déjà impopulaire depuis son élection en 2024, le premier ministre Keir Starmer est éclaboussé à son tour par cette tentaculaire affaire de sexe, d’argent et de politique. Son crime ? Avoir nommé l’ex-ministre travailliste Peter Mandelson ambassadeur à Washington en 2024, en sachant que celui-ci avait entretenu des liens avec le milliardaire américain.

Switzerland will hold a referendum on a proposal to cap the rich Alpine country’s population at 10 million, the latest bid by the top right-wing party to limit immigration. Passage could trigger a new showdown with its European neighbours. Proponents of the initiative, led by the anti-immigration Swiss People’s Party that has the most seats in parliament, tallied enough petition signatures to put the issue on national ballots on June 14, the government said Wednesday. The federal statistics office says Switzerland had 9.1 million people as of the end of the third quarter of 2025. Traditionally, people born abroad have made up about 30 per cent of that in recent years. Most have come from European Union countries. Some have taken Swiss citizenship.

Les gens d’affaires feraient plus de démarches à l’international pour diversifier leurs marchés, si l’on se fie aux commentaires d’Air Canada.   Le transporteur aérien a enregistré une hausse de la demande de 30 % pour les voyages d’affaires en Europe et dans la région du Pacifique, rapporte vendredi son chef des affaires commerciales, Mark Galardo, lors d’une conférence téléphonique en marge de la publication des résultats trimestriels.   M. Galardo estime que cette hausse s’explique par les tentatives du Canada de réduire sa dépendance aux États-Unis et de diversifier ses marchés d’exportations.  

Paramount Skydance is eyeing a prominent hedge fund manager and investor in Warner Bros Discovery to run for a seat on the media company's board to try and scuttle its proposed tie-up with Netflix. Paramount is holding discussions with Matthew Halbower, the founder of Pentwater Capital Management, to be a potential director-candidate later this year if the company pursues a board fight at Warner Bros, he confirmed to Reuters. Pentwater is the seventh-largest investor in Warner Bros with about 50 million shares. News that Halbower, who has expressed support for Paramount's bid to buy Warner Bros, might be a candidate was first reported by the Financial Times.

Norway's Elkem said on Friday it has agreed to sell the majority of its Silicones division to its biggest owner, China's Bluestar, and that the Chinese company would cease to be a shareholder in the Norwegian group following the transaction. In return for taking over the Silicones unit, Bluestar will cancel all its 338.3 million shares in Elkem, corresponding to 52.9% of the group's capital, valued at 9.77 billion Norwegian crowns ($1.02 billion) at Wednesday's closing share price. "By divesting the majority of the Silicones division, we are simplifying our business, sharpening our strategic focus and allocating capital where we see strong long-term growth opportunities," Elkem CEO Helge Aasen said in a statement.

Norwegian Cruise Line said on Thursday it appointed John Chidsey as its chief executive officer, effective immediately, replacing Harry Sommer, who is stepping down. The company said Chidsey, 63, who had served at the helm of Subway Restaurants for five years until December 2024 and Burger King Holdings, was appointed to Norwegian's board in 2025, following a previous stint from 2013 to 2022. Sommer, who took the top job at the company in 2023, departed the company and resigned from the board on Thursday, according to an SEC filing. The departure and resignation did not involve a disagreement with the company, the company said.

Citigroup said on Thursday it had approved $42 million for CEO Jane Fraser's total compensation for 2025, up nearly 22% from a year earlier. Investors have cheered Fraser's efforts to streamline management, cut jobs and sell businesses, boosting the stock 65.8% last year. It outperformed peers and an index tracking bank stocks, by a wide margin. The move follows similar hikes for top bosses at rivals Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, as Wall Street giants gear up for what is widely expected to be a bumper year for dealmaking. In a filing explaining the compensation, Citigroup highlighted record revenues across its core businesses, regulatory progress, and comparable pay for CEOs at similar financial institutions.

A new study published Friday by the Canadian Climate Institute says Canada is not on track to meet any of its climate targets – not the 2026 interim emissions reduction target, the 2030 Paris Agreement commitment, or even the long-term goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. The report suggests Canada has moved away from its climate goals thanks to “a slackening of policy effort over the past year, marked by the removal or weakening of climate policies across the country.” That “slackening” includes the elimination of federal consumer carbon pricing, the conclusion of green home retrofit funding and the cancellation of the oil and gas emissions cap, the report says.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday called for a stronger Europe to reset its ties with the United States, wanting Washington to "repair and revive trust" in a dangerous new era of great power politics as the old global order crumbles. In a speech to open the Munich Security Conference, Merz warned the U.S. could not go it alone but also said Europe must beef up its own defences and mentioned confidential talks with France on nuclear deterrence.
The speech underscored how European leaders are increasingly looking to carve an independent path after a year of unprecedented upheaval in transatlantic ties, while also striving to maintain their alliance with Washington.

[...] Puisque l’actionnariat de Transat est fragmenté et que les porteurs de titres sont souvent peu enclins à exercer leur droit de vote, la tâche s’annonce ardue pour M. Péladeau, selon François Dauphin, président-directeur général de l’Institut sur la gouvernance d’organisations privées et publiques (IGOPP). « C’est un gros coup de la direction de l’entreprise, dit-il. La pression s’accroît sur M. Péladeau. Avec des petits actionnaires souvent désengagés, c’est une tâche ardue pour la partie qui exige des changements. »

La successeure de l’architecte de SAAQclic, Karl Malenfant, Caroline Foldes-Busque, qui a d’abord été son bras droit, admet que le déploiement de la plateforme « a été plus difficile que prévu ». Elle rejette toutefois la faute sur les firmes informatiques embauchées pour le réaliser. « En rétrospective », l’ancienne directrice générale principale du Carrefour des solutions d’affaires (CASA), qui inclut la plateforme SAAQclic, explique le lancement raté de février 2023 par le « ciblage des tests à effectuer » qui « n’a pas été optimal afin d’assurer [son] bon fonctionnement ».

Canada would like to see NATO’s new Arctic Sentry mission become permanent as part of a greater focus on the North for the Western alliance, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization announced Wednesday it has launched this mission to strengthen its presence in the Arctic, as part of an agreement to defuse severe tensions within the alliance prompted by President Donald Trump’s desire for the United States to acquire Greenland. Arctic Sentry will co-ordinate the increasing military presence of NATO allies in the region, including exercises such as Denmark’s “Arctic Endurance on Greenland,” the alliance’s military headquarters said in a statement.

Les États-Unis vont commencer « dans quelques semaines » à verser les milliards de dollars qu’ils doivent aux Nations unies, tout en continuant de réclamer des réformes, a déclaré l’ambassadeur des États-Unis à l’ONU mercredi. Le secrétaire général des Nations unies, Antonio Guterres, a mis en garde en janvier contre une paralysie de cette organisation si les pays ne lui donnaient pas les sommes dues. Le gouvernement du président Donald Trump a ces derniers mois réduit ses versements à certaines agences onusiennes et rejetées ou reporté certaines contributions obligatoires.