Victoria Craig

What might he be looking to do on that front?

Clearly, no shortage of topics on the agenda for the next couple of days.

Joe Lei, our Beijing bureau chief, thank you so much for your time.

Software buyout deals have collapsed to their lowest level since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The sector was one of the hottest targets for private equity firms last year, but that started to change in early 2026.

That's because Anthropic launched a range of productivity tools that are challenging existing software programs.

The value of software deals was almost $40 billion less in the first five months of 2026 than in the same period last year.

That is according to pitch book data analyzed by the FT.

Doubts over the durability of the sector have dogged both private equity groups and private credit funds.

Private equity executives say firms are starting to draw clearer lines between the types of software companies when assessing their vulnerability to A.I.

The head of the OECD told the FT he's urging countries not to go it alone when it comes to taxing multinational corporations, including U.S.

tech titans.

Matthias Korman, the head of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, wants governments to stick to a global plan that they made back in 2021.

But some leaders are growing restless and pushing for their own tax systems.

Sam Fleming is the FT's economics editor, and he's here to break down all of this.

Hi, Sam.

So before we get to what's wrong, let's just walk through what the current agreement is.

So like you say, it's that Pillar 1, that tax on 100 of the biggest global companies that's really causing this headache now.

Why is the head of the OECD issuing this warning for countries not to tax these companies on their own?

So what does the U.S.