Business Daily

Leah Solivan, founder and former CEO of TaskRabbit, reflects on building one of the world’s most successful gig-economy platforms. She discusses the pressures of scaling a multi-million-dollar business, the stress-related illness that left her in hospital, and the decision to eventually sell TaskRabbit to IKEA.

Presenter: Sarah Rogers

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(Picture: Leah Solivan. Credit: Audrey Anne Photography)

**This episode of Business Daily begins with a real call to 911**

Presenter: Sam Fenwick

(Photo: Two naloxone nasal spray medications used for opioid overdose sit on a brown table on 11 September 2024. Credit: Peg Alexander/BBC Images)

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In the first of two episodes, Ed Butler investigates how one of Europe’s most wanted drug smugglers, Jos Leijdekkers, ended up in Sierra Leone while evading justice. He also explores reports linking Leijdekkers to the family of Sierra Leone’s president, including claims that he has married the president’s daughter.

Presenter/producer: Ed Butler

You can email the team: [email protected]

(Picture: Jos Leijdekkers attends a church service in Tihun, Sierra Leone. Credit: screen grab posted by First Lady Fatima Maada to Facebook/via Reuters)

Will Bain is joined by Nga Pham in Hanoi and Takara Small in Toronto. Following the latest results from Alphabet and Tesla, both companies are under pressure to sustain spending as competition in artificial intelligence intensifies. Is Wall Street beginning to question the cost of the AI race?

Plus, the mounting economic impact of Canada's wildfires, why ketchup-flavoured crisps have become such a uniquely Canadian phenomenon, and what Donald Trump's renewed tariff negotiations could mean for global trade.

(Photo: The Google logo, made up of different coloured letters - blue, red, yellow, blue, green, orange - on the Google house at the CES consumer electronics trade show, in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, 10 January, 2024. Credit: Steve Marcus/Reuters)

You can email the team: [email protected]

Presenter: Will Bain

Cheap flights transformed the way we travel, helping millions of people fly more often and opening up destinations that were once out of reach. But rising fuel costs, changing passenger habits and growing pressure on the low-cost airline model are forcing budget carriers to adapt. Rahul Tandon and Will Bain explore what is driving the turbulence and what it could mean for fares, competition and the future of air travel.

(Photo: EasyJet aircraft at Berlin Brandenburg Airport, 21 April, 2026. Credit: Lisi Niesner/Reuters)

You can email the team: [email protected]

Producer: Rebecca Smyllie

Tessa Clarke is the co-founder and CEO of Olio, the food-sharing app helping millions of people reduce waste by sharing food and household items with their neighbours. She explains how a simple idea grew into a global movement, the challenges of convincing investors to back it, and why changing human behaviour may be key to tackling climate change.

Presenter: Leanna Byrne

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(Picture: Tessa Clarke. Credit:Annabel Staff)

Search for "memecoin" on social media and you'll find plenty of videos offering advice on how to invest and grow your money, with some claiming they can help you make a million. But you don't have to look far to find people who have lost money, and lots of it. So where does the money actually go? Sam Fenwick explores the cryptocurrency phenomenon that almost anyone can launch, including presidents.

Presenter: Sam Fenwick

You can email the team: [email protected]

(Picture: A representation of cryptocurrency dogecoin is seen in front of a stock graph and U.S. dollar in this illustration taken, January 24, 2022. Credit: Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo)

Artisanal mining accounts for around 20% of global gold production and generates an estimated $30 billion a year for some of the world's poorest communities. But the trade is also linked to criminal networks and environmental damage. Ed Butler explores the forces behind the global gold rush and who is bearing the cost.

Presenter/producer: Ed Butler

You can email the team: [email protected]

(Picture: Gold miner Kelly Mbayo in Sierra Leone. Credit: Ed Butler/BBC News)

Connecting the timezones this week are Will Bain in London, David Kuo in Singapore and Emily Peck in New York to unpack the week's biggest business stories. China's economy has recorded one of its weakest quarterly growth rates on record, raising fresh questions about the country's outlook and the impact on the global economy. Plus, why prices for durian, the 'king of fruits', are tumbling across Asia. And New York's move to target AI data centres.

Presenter: Will Bain

You can email the team: [email protected]

(Picture: People walk in the Lujiazui financial district, in Shanghai, China, 14 July 2022. Credit: ALEX PLAVEVSKI/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

This week, Will and Michelle speak to Reuters entertainment business correspondent Dawn Chmielewski about how the Paramount–Warner merger could reshape Hollywood. Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery want to combine in a $110 billion deal that would create an entertainment giant. Executives say it's the only way to survive the streaming wars, but now twelve attorneys general, regulators and a host of creators are saying "no deal". So how do Paramount and CEO David Ellison make this deal a reality? And what could it mean for what's on our screens, big, small or handheld?

Presenters: Will Bain and Michelle Fleury

You can email the team: [email protected]

(Picture: California Attorney General Rob Bonta holds a press conference as he announces California will be suing to block Paramount's $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery in Los Angeles, California, U.S. July 13, 2026. Credit: REUTERS/Daniel Cole)