After a big year of spending, Canada’s no longer the underdog in the EV battery space.

What happened: Canada has surpassed China as the world’s most promising country for lithium-ion battery production, according to a new global ranking — a sign that its efforts to become an EV manufacturing hub are starting to pay off, per The Globe and Mail. 

As Ozempic becomes more challenging to acquire than a Cabbage Patch Kid on Christmas Eve in 1983, the drugmaker behind it is making a big money move to help increase production. 

What happened: Novo Nordisk — maker of blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy — struck a US$11.5 billion deal to acquire three factories from Catalent, a drug manufacturer that was bought by Novo Nordisk’s parent as part of a larger transaction. The deal will increase capacity to help meet relentless demand for the drugs. 

Done with the days of throwing millions at anyone with a microphone and a few Instagram followers, Spotify is taking a new approach to its podcast business. 

Driving the news: Joe Rogan has reached a new multi-year deal with Spotify that will distribute The Joe Rogan Experience — the world’s most popular podcast — across all major audio platforms, the latest move in the company’s shift away from keeping its shows off of rival platforms. 

A recent court ruling had Elon Musk advising his 170 million X/Twitter followers to never incorporate a company in Delaware (relatable).

Driving the news: Tesla CEO Elon Musk will not cash in on a US$55.8 billion pay package that had been agreed to by the company’s board back in 2018, after a Delaware judge ruled that Musk “dominated” the pay negotiation process to secure “unfathomable” compensation. 

While it seems like layoffs are happening left, right, and centre these days — because, well, they are — some companies are going to great lengths to retain workers.

Driving the news: Walmart managers in the U.S. can now make upwards of US$400,000 a year after the world’s biggest retail store granted them the opportunity to earn up to $20,000 in annual stock grants and bonuses of up to 200%, in addition to increasing base salaries. 

The dollar signs tech companies once saw in video games are turning into pink slips.

What happened: Microsoft laid off 1,900 staff from its gaming division. Activision Blizzard — which Microsoft acquired in October after a long review by regulators — got the brunt of it, with smaller cuts at Xbox and ZeniMax, which operates developer and publisher Bethesda.

Like a super spy who awakens from a long cryogenic slumber (sorry, we just re-watched Austin Powers), Canada Post needs help getting with the times. 

Driving the news: Canada Post is selling Innovapost, its in-house IT wing, to Deloitte for an undisclosed sum. The move comes as the national mail carrier looks to improve its digital operations and capabilities, and find some way to stop hemorrhaging cash. 

The company that supplies the T-shirts for your work off-sites is at the centre of a power struggle filled with almost as much corporate drama as a Succession episode. 

Driving the news: Canadian clothing manufacturer Gildan claimed that Browning West — a U.S. hedge fund leading the charge to bring back ousted Gildan CEO Glenn Chamandy — illegally acquired additional shares in the company by failing to follow U.S. regulatory laws. 

As if supporting Canadian sports teams wasn’t hard enough on its own (please don’t talk to us about the Leafs), broadcasters could soon make it even tougher (and expensive) to tune in to games. 

Driving the news: ESPN is in talks to sell equity stakes in the network to major sports leagues, including the NFL, NBA and MLB, as part of the company’s effort to transition into the streaming era, per Axios. 

Tech leaders have been trying to assure everyone that we aren’t heading for another year of mass layoffs, but the more troubling trend might be how companies are conducting themselves.

Driving the news: So far in January, 58 tech companies have laid off nearly 8,000 employees. That continued this week on Google’s advertising sales and YouTube teams, while Amazon’s Buy with Prime became the latest unit at the company to face cuts.