BizNews Radio

When you’re filling in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, the idea of an international competition testing those skills is probably far from your mind. Yet Excel has become an esport, with competitors from around the world solving high‑pressure challenges on a major stage in Las Vegas. This year, University of Pretoria student Pieter Pienaar became the world champion in the 2025 Microsoft Excel Collegiate Challenge. Pienaar, who is currently completing his chartered accountant articles with PwC, told BizNews that for him Excel is a powerful problem‑solving tool, and that is exactly what the championship tested. When it comes to future developments in Excel, he strongly supports the role of AI because it democratises problem‑solving, provided companies act responsibly and ensure proper auditing. But, he adds, it should definitely not be used by the National Treasury to do your taxes.

Seize the day with the freshest news you can use to help you conquer another active business day - from the team at BizNews and our global partners. This episode features a rundown of the best (and worst) performing SA stocks for 2025; an overnight rebound in tech stocks on Wall Street; Donald Trump's downgrading of cannabis laws didn't go far enough for disappointed investors; the battle for weight drug supremacy between Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly - and more. This is the final episode of BizNews Daybreak for 2025 - it returns on Monday, January 5.

Tshwane's numbers tell a very different story — and I share one from my past I've never told before.

Seize the day with the freshest news you can use to help you conquer another active business day - from the team at BizNews and our global partners. This episode features an analysis of the Tshwane 2025 financial report released on the JSE Stock Exchange News Service yesterday. Donald Trump takes to the US national airwaves to praise Donald Trump; Institutional cash holdings at a record low (Buffett's is at a record high); hope for Arcelor Mittal and Hulamin shareholders; and more.

South Africa has been rocked by the second assassination of a private security company owner. In his latest interview with BizNews, Willem Els of the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) speaks to Chris Steyn about the assassination of DJ Warras who was gunned down brazenly yesterday (Saturday) in the Johannesburg CBD under a CCTV camera in front of a hijacked building. He was killed on the eve of the memorial service for Witness D. Marius “Vlam” van der Merwe who had testified at the Madlanga Commission and had vowed to expose links of State officals to illegal mining, but was gunned down in front of his family. “If you have a problem, you're making a lot of money, you wanted to remove a problem, you call in the inkabi. The inkabi gets paid a few thousand rand and it just removes your problem.” Els charges that the organised crime syndicate king pins are “very often in government, in a political sphere, because they need to be able to afford protection for these syndicates. And these syndicates won't be so brazen if they don't know that they are being well protected.” Els warns that if government does not get the message and step up to change the status quo and come up with real good strategies to reclaim “our cities and our country…we might not have a country to work for and to live for”.