The most valuable startup in India’s history, a tech company with Silicon Valley cachet, a charismatic founder and visions of dominating the online-education business seemed sure to be one of the post-pandemic’s next big things. More importantly, Think & Learn Pvt — more widely known as Byju’s — was willing to pay handsomely to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars in the U.S. just as the world’s central banks were holding interest rates at next to nothing. So when JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley went to line up buyers for Byju’s debt in late 2021, orders poured in.

Donald Trump kicked off a new era of Western economic rivalry with Beijing when he took office in 2017. As he prepares for his second term, China’s dominance of global manufacturing is greater than ever, the Wall Street Journal reported. China just posted a trade surplus with the rest of the world of almost $1 trillion for 2024, according to official data released this week.

Brazilian airline Gol released a revised five-year strategic plan on Wednesday as it prepares to exit chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, saying that the new forecasts would serve as a base for its reorganization, Reuters reported. Gol said in a securities filing that it expects to emerge from chapter 11 in May, and sees its net leverage "substantially improving" going forward as it rebuilds its network and returns to "normal levels" of core earnings by next year.

Any moves to pursue financial deregulation by the incoming U.S. administration would increase the risk of a financial crisis occurring one day, France's central bank governor warned on Wednesday, Reuters reported. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's return to office has raised the prospect of radical changes to the U.S. regulatory framework built up over decades to oversee financial services and banking, as well as digital currencies.

The question of who owns the European unit of Sam Bankman-Fried’s former crypto enterprise appeared to be settled: Dubai-based Backpack Exchange said that it had purchased FTX EU after months of wrangling, Bloomberg News reported. Backpack, a crypto trading platform founded by one-time employees of Bankman-Fried’s FTX and Alameda Research businesses, said the $32.7 million acquisition would expand its derivatives offerings in the region. But according to the US-based FTX estate, the ownership situation is less clear.

Gokada, Nigeria’s largest-mile logistics delivery startup, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in 2024, Tekedia.com reported. The filing highlighted significant financial difficulties, with liabilities exceeding $5.4 million against assets valued at just over $564,000. According to the court documents, Gokada principal assets include its 100% ownership in Gokada Rides limited, it’s Nigerian operational entity which it valued at $500,000, and $64,132.56 in cash held in a Silicon Valley bank account.

Backpack Exchange, a crypto trading platform founded by one-time employees of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX and Alameda Research businesses, has acquired the former European entity of the failed FTX exchange for $32.7 million to expand its derivatives offerings in the region, Bloomberg News reported. FTX EU was one of the business units that ended up as part of the bankruptcy after Bankman-Fried’s firm collapsed in 2022.

The U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday it will share $50 million in forfeited assets with Estonia in recognition of Estonia's assistance in the successful prosecution of Danske Bank and related forfeiture, Reuters reported. The bank became the subject of several investigations after an internal probe in September 2018 uncovered about 200 billion euros ($207 billion) of payments made through its now-shuttered Estonian branch, with many payments appearing suspicious.

Northvolt AB is asking for shareholder approval to keep building battery cells while the bankrupt electric-vehicle supplier seeks the new funding needed to emerge from chapter 11 protection, Bloomberg News reported. The extraordinary general meeting scheduled for Wednesday at Northvolt’s Stockholm headquarters is billed as a “procedural step” by the company. The gathering, announced in December, is required when equity falls below one-half of registered share capital, spokesman Martin Hofelmann said in an email.

Cobalt miner Jervois Global said on Thursday that one of its lenders will take the company private as part of a pre-packaged bankruptcy, the latest Western miner scrambling to survive as competition from China intensifies, Reuters reported. U.S. fund manager Millstreet Capital Management will take control of Jervois as part of the pre-packaged chapter 11 filing, inject $145 million into the company and convert more than $100 million of loans into equity.