📰On The Record – 22nd June 2026

FIFA president Gianni Infantino is taking heavy criticism for criss-crossing the globe to attend as many 2026 World Cup matches as possible, with detractors calling it a publicity tour dressed up as leadership. It's landing badly alongside complaints about ticket prices, an expanded tournament format, and scheduling decisions that increasingly feel built for broadcast revenue rather than fans in the stands. None of this threatens FIFA's bottom line today. But this is what institutional reputation erosion looks like in real time — not one scandal, but a slow accumulation of optics that eventually makes sponsors, broadcasters, and host cities start asking harder questions about who the tournament actually serves. Read full story →

The must read articles that are moving the business landscape today.

Donald Trump is calling the Iran ceasefire a win, and on paper, the markets agree — oil's down, panic's faded, the immediate crisis has passed. But the bill for the conflict has already been written elsewhere. Gulf economies are bracing for a slowdown, Europe is paying more for energy, and developing nations are eating higher food and fuel costs that don't just disappear when a deal gets signed. The bigger story isn't whether the ceasefire holds. It's that the war exposed exactly how fragile global energy and trade routes still are. Read full story →

Germany's government has agreed to buy a 40% stake in KNDS, the maker of Leopard tanks, from the company's family owners — clearing the runway for an IPO that values the business at up to €18 billion. The move keeps Berlin's stake level with Paris, which already owns a chunk, ensuring neither government loses influence over a company becoming central to Europe's rearmament. Defence isn't just a geopolitical story anymore — it's one of the continent's hottest growth sectors, and governments want a seat at the table before outside investors do. Read full story →

Danone has taken Chobani to court, arguing its rival's "20G Protein" yogurt label overstates how much protein is actually in the tub. Chobani denies it. Behind the legal jab is a bigger fight: protein has become the most valuable word in the supermarket, partly thanks to GLP-1 weight-loss drug users trying to hang onto muscle mass while they shed pounds. Chobani's been eating into Danone's share of that boom. Whoever wins the lawsuit, the real prize is shelf space in the fastest-growing aisle in the store. Read full story →

Ryanair has locked in CEO Michael O'Leary until 2032 with a pay package that could top €150 million — but only if the airline hits eye-watering targets, like €4 billion in annual profit or a share price holding above €42. The board frames it as pay tied directly to shareholder returns. Supporters note O'Leary turned Ryanair into Europe's biggest airline by passenger numbers. Critics will ask whether any executive needs a nine-figure incentive to keep doing the job that built his reputation in the first place. Read full story →

A daily score of business conditions (scored out of 100), with a breakdown of what’s driving it.

The Daily Business Index ticked up slightly today to 51.6, staying just above the neutral line of 50. The big story was a split-screen world: Wall Street closed at record highs on Thursday, riding relief over the US-Iran ceasefire and a semiconductor rally, while plans to firm up that ceasefire in Switzerland were cancelled over the weekend and oil tankers paused in the Strait of Hormuz. Falling oil prices are easing costs for drivers and businesses alike, but the path to lasting calm in the Middle East is still far from settled.

The one story from the archives worth remembering today, so you can spot the pattern before everyone else does.

A year ago this weekend, the US struck three Iranian nuclear facilities — Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan — in an operation codenamed Midnight Hammer, sending oil prices and stock futures lurching as markets braced for a Strait of Hormuz shutdown that never quite came. A ceasefire took hold within days and oil drifted back under $70. It's almost eerie reading today's Iran story next to it: the playbook of shock, spike, and uneasy calm repeated itself almost exactly one year on. Markets, it turns out, have a short memory and a long bill.

The one piece of business jargon demystified today, so you can nod along with confidence.

What it means: It's the extra return investors demand for putting their money somewhere uncertain instead of somewhere safe. Think of it as a danger tax baked into prices. It's exactly what's priced into oil right now after the Iran conflict — traders aren't just paying for crude, they're paying for the chance something goes wrong with it.