Fried chicken, now with Coke

Their partnership began when PepsiCo acquired KFC in a bid to expand into food and snacks. PepsiCo later spun off KFC in 1997, but continued to be a beverage partner. This week, though, that four-decade relationship finally ended as the fried chicken giant signed rival Coca-Cola as its beverage partner for US stores.The loss of the beverage partnership with KFC, which has 3,718 US locations, could be a setback for PepsiCo as it works to improve soda sales in the country, while its snacks business grapples with high prices and a shift to healthier options. Coca-Cola products will be available at KFC US restaurants by spring 2027, the company said. Financial details of the partnership were not disclosed. Coca-Cola is a long-standing beverage partner at burger chains McDonald’s and Wendy’s. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

(Adapted from ‘KFC picks Coca-Cola as US soda supplier, ditches longtime partner PepsiCo’, by Juveria Tabassum, published on Oct 15, 2026, by Reuters)

Case for a third Heathrow runway

Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer says there is a pro-growth case for going ahead with a third runway at Heathrow, despite the prime minister declining to back it. Since arriving in No 10 in July, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has ducked the issue of whether the runway should go ahead, suggesting it should be “a matter for London and Londoners”. A recent Sunday Times report suggested the prime minister had told the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, that he was “unconvinced” by arguments for the megaproject. The airport’s owners include Qatar’s investment authority; the French private equity firm Ardian; Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, GIC. They are expected to decide in the coming months whether to apply for formal planning permission.

(Adapted from ‘Healey backs pro-growth case for Heathrow third runway after Burnham ducks issue’, by Heather Stewart, published on Oct 16, 2026, by The Guardian)

From satellite to cellular

SpaceX called its recent multibillion-dollar purchase of US airwaves a critical step towards building a mobile network. But constructing a true rival to major American carriers will require a terrestrial network and likely years of work and billions more. Starlink became a money maker by offering internet services in rural and sparsely populated areas, where it faced little competition, but mobile will be a harder nut to crack. Cities are particularly tough places for mobile telephony and are technologically challenging for mobile-to-satellite connections. The rocket and satellite company will likely need to invest heavily in ground infrastructure, customer service, handset subsidies and promotions costly parts of the wireless business in which AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile already have extensive operations. “Starlink Mobile will deploy a flexible architecture combining our satellite-to-mobile constellation in space with an advanced terrestrial deployment that can seamlessly connect devices everywhere,” including “indoors, outdoors, in cellular dead zones, and everywhere in between”, SpaceX said, announcing the purchase. SpaceX has received regulatory authorisation for up to 15,000 Starlink Mobile satellites and plans to deploy traditional terrestrial infrastructure such as antennas on towers and rooftops a hybrid approach rather than pure satellite-to-phone it laid out in a regulatory filing made public last week.

(Adapted from ‘SpaceX’s spectrum deal still leaves it far from rivaling telecom giants’, by Harshita Mary Varghese, published on Oct 16, 2026, by Reuters)

Cyber attack

The total cost of a “bizarre and unprecedented” cyber-attack on French departmental stores has yet to be calculated but the CEO of Intermarché said losses could run to “tens of millions of euros”, which many companies say is unlikely to be covered by their insurance, reports The Guardian.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, October 19th, 2026