Big Boss Interview

Don’t cap prices, stop the bots. That’s the argument from StubHub International chief executive Bob Kupbens as he challenges plans to restrict ticket resale profits — and questions whether the company could continue operating in the UK under a cap. Would limiting resale prices make live events fairer, or expose fans to new risks?
On The Big Boss Interview, Kupbens tells Will Bain that the government should prioritise enforcement against automated ticket-buying tools that scoop up tickets before ordinary fans can get them. He argues that these bots create artificial scarcity, pushing buyers towards the resale market.
For anyone who has seen tickets for a sold-out concert reappear online at much higher prices, restricting resale profits may seem an obvious solution. Kupbens disputes that logic. He argues that sellers seeking a higher return would move towards social media and other less protected channels, exposing buyers to scams. But can unrestricted resale prices really put fans first — or do they leave the biggest events increasingly out of reach?
Asked what a no-profit cap would mean for StubHub International, he says: “We have to assess whether maintaining a business in the UK makes sense.” He stops short of announcing a departure, saying he hopes the company will still be serving UK fans for the 2028 Euros.
A separate dispute concerns the Sporting Events Bill, which would provide a framework for hosting major sporting events in the UK, including rules giving organisers control over who can sell and resell tickets. Kupbens warns that extending these powers to recurring events, such as Wimbledon and the British Grand Prix, risks reducing competition and consumer choice.
He also calls for primary ticket sellers and resale platforms to check digital tickets directly with one another. Could better verification and stronger enforcement make buying tickets safer — and would either make seeing your favourite artist or team more affordable?
Presenter: Will Bain
Producer: Olie D'Albertanson

Chancellor John Healey's first Budget has won cautious approval from business. Leading figures say it was a relief, but warn that relief is not the same as ambition. In this Big Boss Interview Budget special, AO founder John Roberts, venture capitalist and founder of Passion Capital and NFG Ventures Eileen Burbidge and Rigby Group chief executive Steve Rigby agreed the chancellor had little room to move, however they disagreed on whether he made the most of what he had.
Steve Rigby runs one of the UK's largest privately owned business groups, with interests across tech, property, aviation and hotels. He described the Budget as a "do-no-harm" statement that went a little further than expected. He pointed to the scale of the change: about £600m of tax rises next year, compared with nearly £40bn raised across the previous two Labour Budgets. He welcomed the absence of new taxes on employing people. He also welcomed a 3.9% rise in the national living wage, which he said was broadly in line with private-sector pay growth. For him, the Budget gives business a base of confidence to build on.
Eileen Burbidge, founding partner of Passion Capital, said what was missing mattered as much as what was announced. Ahead of the Budget, investors had worried about higher capital gains tax, wealth taxes and exit taxes, any of which could have pushed money and talent abroad. None of them came. She saw the new founders' relief, which caps capital gains tax at 10% for qualifying entrepreneurs, as a step in the right direction. She also welcomed changes to employee share options, talent visas and fresh money for the National Wealth Fund. But she noted that the details of founders' relief are still subject to consultation. She said many in the sector had also hoped for relief on gains reinvested in new businesses, and that did not come.
John Roberts was the most critical. He accepted that the chancellor was boxed in by world events and a lack of money. But he argued that the government had again failed to turn talk into concrete plans. He believes cost-of-living support on this scale will be quickly wiped out by any fresh rise in fuel prices. He thinks the government should focus on areas it can control. He dismissed founders' relief as a soundbite, saying no one should start a business because of a tax break. .
The family business tax was a point of agreement. Rigby chairs Family Business UK. He welcomed a measure that protects transfers of family firms from new rules on business sales, but said the wider fight over the family business tax introduced in 2024 is far from won. Roberts said his own company is not family-owned, but argued that family firms tend to think longer-term, invest in their staff and support their local communities. He warned that once that network is damaged, it is very hard to rebuild.
On growth, the panel was realistic rather than gloomy. The Office for Budget Responsibility expects the UK to grow by 1.2% this year, slowing to 1% next year and staying below 2% until 2031. Rigby argued that low growth is a problem across developed economies, not a uniquely British one. He said AI offers productivity gains that forecasters find hard to include. Burbidge pointed to Britain's universities, its cluster of tech talent and its position as the world's third AI power behind the US and China. That makes the UK hard for investors to ignore. Rigby raised the biggest unanswered question: whether AI-driven productivity will create jobs, or leave the country with a growing economy and rising unemployment.
Households are under strain. Roberts described consumers as worried, with spending on non-essentials under real pressure. The OBR expects living standards to rise by just 1% over the decade from 2020. Rigby said inflation of 3.5% leaves very little room for real wage growth. He expects another year of pressure unless an end to the war brings energy costs down.
Presenter: Sean Farrington
Producer: Olie D'Albertanson
Editor: Henry Jones
01:34 First reactions to the Budget
03:47 One million NEETs costing £125bn a year
13:08 Founders' relief dismissed as a soundbite
16:20 Exit taxes and the family business tax
20:52 OBR growth forecasts
25:17 Britain as a world centre for drug research
28:56 Robotics manufacturing and sovereignty
33:00 Living standards and real wage growth
40:53 Budget day in the war room

As France grapples with political instability, rising public discontent and student protests, Renault CEO François Provost says Europe is facing a moment of reckoning.
In this edition of The Big Boss Interview, Theo Leggett speaks to the head of one of Europe's largest carmakers about the economic, industrial and political pressures reshaping the continent.
Provost warns that European vehicle production could fall to around half its historic level after 2030 unless governments tackle the combined challenges of global competition, rising costs and industrial policy. He argues that decisions being taken today in Brussels, Paris and London will determine the future of an industry that supports millions of jobs across Europe.
The Renault boss discusses the growing competitive threat from Chinese manufacturers, the future of electric vehicle regulation, and why he believes European policymakers need a more realistic approach to preserving the region's industrial base. He also reflects on the uncertainty created by political instability in France and elsewhere in Europe, and the risks this poses for businesses making long-term investment decisions.
Presenter: Theo Leggett
Producer: Olie D'Albertanson
04:23 Developing cars in two years and learning from China
05:04 Can Europe beat China at its own game
05:28 Why Europe cannot compete with China on cost
06:10 The call for an EU–China investment deal
07:14 Jobs at stake in France and across Europe
08:13 European production could halve after 2030
09:09 Why EU and UK electric car targets are unrealistic
12:49 Cutting the ZEV mandate to 50% by 2030
13:11 The UK and Made in Europe
13:43 Disagreeing with the French government
15:08 Matching EU tariffs and quotas on Chinese imports
16:06 Closer UK–EU ties and rejoining the EU
18:04 Renault's engineering overhaul and union deal
25:46 Political instability in France
27:22 Students, the French elite and opportunity for young people

Artificial intelligence is advancing faster than the safeguards around it, and industry self-regulation is "not sufficient any longer". That is according to Brad Smith, president of Microsoft. Speaking to Will Bain on BBC's Big Boss Interview, Mr Smith said the world should worry more about AI safety than about any previous generation of digital technology in his 33 years in the industry.
Microsoft is one of the world's largest AI developers and an investor in OpenAI. Mr Smith's comments set out a position that goes beyond the "tremendous self-regulation" praised in a recent White House AI accord.
"Right now I'd argue that AI is moving forward faster than the speed of safety," Mr Smith said. "That's not good for the protection of the public. It's not even good for the industry itself."
Mr Smith set out three measures. The first is a "safety brake or emergency brake" on any AI system controlling autonomous devices or critical infrastructure, an idea often described as a kill switch within the industry. He said it should sit in the companies running the models and in the cloud infrastructure they run on. The second is a legal obligation to report incidents: if AI agents "break loose" and break into systems, the victims should be told, as they are after a data breach.
The third measure, which he called the biggest and most important, is whether government evaluators should have to sign off frontier models before release. "Just remember, right now, your washing machine is subject to more safety rules than AI," he said. He added that cartons of milk and passenger aircraft are subject to inspection and certification.
He said the UK was the country best placed to lead. The AI Security Institute, he said, has the strongest technical capability in the world to test AI models: "It's the United Kingdom. They are the best." In his account, the US began building similar capability and then slowed down. Asked about Anthropic declining UK testing of one of its models, he said the question now was when developers should be required to satisfy a government regulator that a product is safe before it is released. He described Britain as "a bridge across the Atlantic and across the English Channel". He also noted that in Washington, people "don't look at London the same way they look at Brussels".
Mr Smith also responded to Vice President JD Vance, who had accused Microsoft of abusing the H-1B visa system more than any other US company. Mr Smith said the vice president's staff "got the maths wrong". He said about 80% of the company's 6,000 visa applications were for existing employees, every green card applicant was already employed by Microsoft, and the company hired 9,000 Americans last year.
On data centres, he said the cost of new grid capacity "should not be the neighbours… it should be the industry itself".
Presenter: Will Bain
Producer: Olie D'Albertanson
Editor: Henry Jones

Negative perceptions of London’s stock market influenced companies’ decisions about where to list, according to Dame Julia Hoggett, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange. Speaking on Big Boss Interview, she acknowledges that companies had delayed or considered listing elsewhere because of the narrative surrounding London, but says that reflected the mood three or four years ago.
“Markets do operate on sentiment,” she says. “We need to stop throwing shade at ourselves as a nation and being a bit surprised if it’s a bit dark, a bit chilly and a bit damp.”
Hoggett also argues that coverage of London’s difficulties does not fully reflect the scale of its markets. She says the London Stock Exchange is Europe’s largest equity market by capital raised that year, the world’s second-largest fixed-income market and its largest market for closed-ended funds. She also points to Britain’s record of creating and growing businesses, saying the country produces more companies valued at over $1bn than anywhere outside the United States and China.
She challenges the assumption that British companies will necessarily perform better by listing in the US. Citing figures for a group of British businesses that raised money there since 2014, she says many have subsequently delisted and only a minority are trading above their listing prices.
Hoggett also says regulatory reform needs to be accompanied by stronger incentives to invest in Britain. Her argument is that the country has substantial pools of savings and promising businesses, but too little domestic capital flowing into those companies.
She wants a route towards abolishing stamp duty on share purchases, which she calls “a pernicious tax”. She proposes starting with relief for UK investment through ISAs and eligible pension funds, while acknowledging the revenue the government would lose. She also advocates a 10% dividend tax credit and inheritance-tax incentives linked to pension investment in Britain.
Asked whether ISA tax advantages should be restricted to British investments, she says: “I genuinely think it’s worth looking at.” She maintains that she is not asking pensioners to accept lower returns, but wants the tax system to make investing in UK companies more attractive.
Presenter: Will Bain
Producer: Olie D'Albertanson
Editor: Henry Jones