Welcome to Today in Business - Powered by Spark for Business, an experimental AI podcast by the New Zealand Herald. Each weekday, we bring you five stories, the best of the New Zealand Herald business journalism, summarised and delivered by an AI voice as an easily digestible recap. It's Tuesday, October 28, 2025, and here are five stories you should know about. Fonterra farmer shareholders are voting this week on a proposed $4.2 billion sale of the co-operative's Consumer and related businesses to France's Lactalis. The deal covers global Consumer operations excluding Greater China, plus Foodservice and Ingredients units in Oceania, Sri Lanka, and the Middle East and Africa. It includes brands such as Anchor and Mainland and a long-term supply agreement for milk and ingredients. Fonterra expects to return $3.2 billion tax-free to farmers, about $2 per share, and retain $1 billion for reinvestment. The average farmer would receive around $400,000 from the transaction if completed as planned. In other news, shares in Qualcomm jumped as much as 20 percent on Wall Street after the U.S. chipmaker unveiled two new artificial intelligence processors for data centres. The AI200 and AI250 are optimized for AI inference tasks rather than training, a market led by Nvidia and AMD. Qualcomm, known for smartphone and PC chips, says the AI200 offers 768 gigabytes of memory per card and uses direct liquid cooling to manage heat in high-density racks consuming up to 160 kilowatts. The AI200 is scheduled for commercial release in 2026. Meanwhile, Air New Zealand's first Christchurch-Adelaide flight returned today, days before Qantas launches its Auckland-Adelaide service. The route uses Airbus A320 or A321neo aircraft. Adelaide Airport managing director Brenton Cox says about 50,000 people travel annually between Adelaide and the South Island. South Australia's tourism minister Zoe Bettison says New Zealand remains the state's fourth-largest tourism market. Qantas begins its own seasonal Auckland-Adelaide service on Friday, operating four times a week with Boeing seven three seven eight hundred aircraft, adding more than 30,000 seats. Elsewhere, Mitre 10 is pressing ahead with expansion beyond its 85 stores. Chief executive Andrea Scown says the hardware and homeware co-operative plans both new outlets and growth in trade distribution, a developing area for the brand. The company reported full-year revenue up 12 percent and losses reduced by $71 million. Scown says Mitre 10 aims for a new store in a central Auckland zone currently served only by Mt Wellington, New Lynn, and Ponsonby outlets. And the National Business Review has reached out-of-court settlements with three large companies, including a national law firm, over what it calls the illegal stealing of its subscription content. NBR owner and publisher Todd Scott says the settlements follow investigations into multiple firms sharing limited subscriptions among staff. Two fund managers and one law firm each paid legal costs and purchased the correct number of subscriptions. NBR has not disclosed the names or settlement details due to confidentiality agreements. Scott says one company representative compared the breach to sharing a Netflix account. That was Today in Business - Powered by Spark for Business - your NZ Herald daily business summary. For the best in business, subscribe to Herald Premium at nzherald.co.nz.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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