BUSINESS NEWS
Zen is Three Times Ten B Corp certified Zen Internet has marked its 30th anniversary with a celebration at its Rochdale headquarters, honouring three decades of innovation, growth and doing business “the right way”. The company officially opened its doors for business on 13 October 1995, following its incorporation by founders Richard Tang, who is the current CEO, and his brother Daniel on 13 September 1995. The pair had launched their first £10-a-month dial-up service, created from Richard Tang’s kitchen table, which could support six simultaneous users sharing just 64 kbps of bandwidth. Richard started Zen with just £5,000, a few Linux PCs, and those six dial-up modems. The company has grown from a two-
person start-up into one of the UK’s leading independent ISPs, employing more than 650 people and serving businesses and consumers nationwide. It’s 30-year milestone makes it the UK’s longest-standing
Richard Tang
independent Internet Service Provider (ISP). The company remains privately owned and headquartered in Rochdale, Greater Manchester. “It’s testament to our longevity that we are the UK’s oldest ISP,” said Tang. “All our main competitors when we started have long since disappeared – yet we’re still here, stronger than ever, and still independent.” n
zen.co.uk
OpenAI and PayPal Team Up
PayPal will adopt the Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) to expand payments and commerce in ChatGPT. Millions of ChatGPT users will be able to check out instantly using PayPal, and PayPal will support payments processing for merchants leveraging OpenAI Instant Checkout through the delegated payments API. PayPal will also connect its global merchant network to OpenAI,
creating a platform for millions of small businesses and large brands to sell within ChatGPT. “Hundreds of millions of people turn to ChatGPT each week for help with everyday tasks, including finding products they love, and over 400 million use PayPal to shop,” said Alex Chriss, President and CEO of PayPal.
“By partnering with OpenAI and adopting the Agentic Commerce
Protocol, PayPal will power payments and commerce experiences that help people go from chat to checkout in just a few taps for our joint customer bases.” The partnership unlocks the convenience of PayPal's wallet in Instant Checkout, including multiple funding options such as bank, balance, and cards, as well as PayPal’s buyer and seller protections, and post-purchase services such as tracking and dispute resolution, benefits that consumers value when checking out with PayPal. n
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