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Organizational management

Week in review: October 21-27, 2026

7 min read

AI-generated image: Week in review: October 21-27, 2026 AI

Anthropic showed $16.3 billion in half-year revenue in its prospectus, Microsoft offered voluntary departures to 60,000 employees, and the Sejm passed new PIT thresholds. We selected what this means for companies and teams.

In our view, three stories from the past week are worth reading more carefully than the rest. The first is Anthropic's prospectus. The company's revenue grew more than 13-fold over the year, but it relies on a few large customers that may start competing with it. The second is the wave of voluntary departures: Microsoft offered them to every fourth employee, and Skydance across the entire Warner Bros. Discovery group, including TVN, is ending hybrid work. The third is the new PIT thresholds. If they come into force, they will give some higher-earning employees higher net pay, while leaving HR and payroll departments little time to prepare.

Anthropic before its debut: growth, accounting losses and customer dependence

Anthropic filed a public S-1 prospectus on Monday, October 26, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This is the document that starts the formal path to an initial public offering (IPO). The company is set to list on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “ANT”. According to Yahoo Finance, revenue for the first half of 2026 amounted to $16.3 billion. A year earlier it was $1.1-1.2 billion, and in all of 2025 it was $4.6 billion. For the third quarter, the company showed investors $16.8 billion, but that figure does not come from the S-1 itself.

In the results, operating loss must be distinguished from net loss. Operating loss fell from $2.1 billion to $693 million, and gross margin rose from about 12 to about 85 percent. Net loss for the half-year, however, reached $80.7 billion. This was mainly driven by a non-cash charge of $72.4 billion, that is, the revaluation of convertible bonds and other financial instruments. In our view, the core business itself is approaching profitability (in the second quarter the company even had $974 million in operating income), and most of the net loss is an accounting entry, not a cash expense.

For companies building products on AI models, the risks section is more important. It runs to 93 pages and more than 70,000 words, as described in detail by Ars Technica. The five largest customers account for nearly one quarter of revenue for the first nine months of 2026, and most of them do not have long-term contracts. Yahoo Finance gives a different measure: about 20 percent of half-year revenue came from two customers. The sources refer to different periods, so both figures should be read with caution.

The company explicitly writes that firms offering software in the subscription model (SaaS) may create their own solutions competing with its models. This works the other way too. Anthropic states that its main focus is foundation models, but notes that in selected categories it may compete with application startups. Amazon, Google and Microsoft are at once its cloud providers and its rivals. Future commitments to providers of computing power amount to about $417 billion.

Voluntary departures at Microsoft and the end of hybrid work at TVN

On October 26, Microsoft offered a voluntary departure program to about 60,000 employees, roughly 27 percent of its 223,000 staff. This was announced by Amy Coleman, Chief People Officer, as reported by CNBC. The offer covers employees in the U.S., Canada, India and the UK, including teams in Xbox, Windows, Copilot and finance, as well as some managers up to vice presidents. Data centers, sales and marketing, among others, were excluded. The decision must be made in early December, departures will take place on December 31, and the severance amount depends on length of service.

This is another staffing move by the company. According to GeekWire, the previous voluntary retirement program was accepted by about 30 percent of those eligible, and in July Microsoft laid off 4,800 people. At the same time, capital expenditure on AI is expected to reach $175 billion this year.

Skydance, the new owner of Warner Bros. Discovery, has announced five days a week in the office across the entire group. The change will be introduced gradually and will also cover TVN, according to Wirtualne Media. A parallel voluntary departures program, according to Press.pl, does not apply to the Polish station. In the background are debt restructuring after the takeover and a savings plan exceeding $6 billion. For managers, this is a signal that large corporations, alongside classic layoffs, are reaching for voluntary departures and tighter office-work rules.

New PIT thresholds: who gains and what employers need to prepare for

On October 22, the Sejm passed new PIT thresholds (print no. 3147). The 12 percent rate is to apply up to PLN 130,000, the new 24 percent rate from PLN 130,000 to PLN 150,000, and 32 percent above PLN 150,000. The tax-free amount remains at PLN 30,000. According to the Ministry of Finance, 3.5 million taxpayers may benefit, and an employee on an employment contract will save a maximum of PLN 3,600 per year. People earning less than about PLN 11,900 gross per month will not feel the change (pulsHR).

An HRK Payroll simulation for a gross salary of PLN 16,000 gives an average of PLN 300 per month. However, the benefit will appear mainly in the months when thresholds are crossed, not in every paycheck.

It should not be assumed that tax benefits will automatically replace salary increases.
Irmina Gocan, Consulting Director for Compensation Management and Analytics, HRK Payroll Consulting

Piotr Juszczyk from inFakt, speaking to Polish Radio, called the change above all a relief for people who fell into the 32 percent tax bracket because of the frozen threshold.

The bill is not law yet. On October 26, the Senate budget committee backed amendments by Senator Kazimierz Kleina: removing annual indexation of thresholds from 2028 and restoring the CIT increase from 19 to 22 percent for companies with revenue above EUR 50 million. The Sejm had previously removed that increase. The Senate has 30 days from October 22. If it introduces amendments, the bill will return to the Sejm, and at the end it must be signed by President Karol Nawrocki. The planned start date is January 1, 2027.

Technology: AI-managed companies, a UEFI flaw and a Danish pilot

Delaware is working on a new type of entity: the Artificial Intelligence Company, that is, a company managed on an ongoing basis by an AI agent. It could enter into contracts, take on debt and appear in court. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, on October 26 demanded documents from Governor Matt Meyer by November 9. He warns that the solution could shield AI companies from liability (WHYY).

In the reference code of TianoCore EDK II, used by most UEFI manufacturers (the software that starts a computer before the operating system), the vulnerability CVE-2026-97631 was detected with a severity score of 9.5 out of 10. It allows remote code execution before the operating system starts. It affects machines booting from the network (PXE), mainly servers in companies (Ars Technica). IT departments should check updates from suppliers AMI, Insyde and Phoenix.

The Danish Ministry of Digitalisation halted its pilot of replacing Microsoft Office with the Collabora suite. The 38-person team testing it reported problems with formatting, blank pages and track changes (Spider's Web).

Marketing: Gmail data in ads and long-form video on Instagram

Since October 16, Google may use data from Gmail, Photos and Drive to personalize ads, including in AI Mode. This happens only when the user personally connects these apps to the Personal Intelligence feature. The change does not apply to Europe or to corporate Workspace accounts (9to5Google).

Instagram is testing a tab with horizontal videos lasting up to 90 minutes, to which short Reels act as trailers. It was presented on October 26 by Instagram head Adam Mosseri and Vice President of Product Tessa Lyons (NowyMarketing). For creators and brands, this is a potential alternative to long-form formats on YouTube.

Law and market: EU Inc., Temu and anti-bullying regulations

On Friday, October 23, the EU Council adopted its position on EU Inc., an optional pan-European company form registered online within 48 hours for at most EUR 100. The EU-ESO employee stock option program with tax deferred until the sale of shares remains, but only for companies with up to 750 employees and EUR 150 million in turnover. The central register and common insolvency rules were dropped from the project (Mam Startup). The European Parliament will now take up the project. The Council proposes a 21-month implementation period, so registrations will not start quickly. Dr. Peter Möllmann from the PXR law firm warns that further national safeguards may mean founders simply do not use this form.

On October 26, the European Commission approved Temu's corrective action plan to limit the sale of dangerous products, prepared under the Digital Services Act (DSA). In May, the platform received a fine of EUR 200 million (Fashion Biznes).

New anti-bullying regulations come into force on November 5. As pulsHR notes, however, they do not give the employer a way to check whether a candidate engaged in workplace bullying in a previous job.

Editors' picks

We recommend three pieces from other media outlets:

Key takeaways

  • Anthropic filed its S-1 prospectus on October 26 and disclosed $16.3 billion in revenue for the first half of 2026 versus $1.1-1.2 billion a year earlier.
  • Anthropic's net loss reached $80.7 billion mainly because of a non-cash revaluation of financial instruments, and its five largest customers account for nearly one quarter of revenue.
  • Microsoft offered voluntary departures to about 60,000 employees with a departure date of December 31, while Skydance is introducing five days a week in the office across the WBD group, including TVN.
  • On October 22, the Sejm passed PIT thresholds of 12, 24 and 32 percent, which may give an employee on an employment contract up to PLN 3,600 a year, but a Senate committee backed amendments removing threshold indexation and restoring the CIT increase.
  • The EU Council adopted its position on EU Inc. with online registration for EUR 100, but without a central register and common insolvency rules.

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